“Er…”
Rong Wei was already enraged. On hearing the first few sentences from Jiang Yi, he felt the anger inside him intensifying. However, on hearing his last two sentences, the anger turned to shock. He had met many thick-skinned people in his life, but not one like that.
Young Master Jiutian and company were all shocked as well. They were all from noble backgrounds and held high ranks. Everyone they met treated them courteously. Nobody dared to act as scoundrels in front of them. At that moment, they had no idea how to react. They had come here to cause trouble, but Jiang Yi was cheating them instead?
“City Lord Jiang…”
Rong Wei gritted his teeth and growled. Jiang Yi took a huge step forward and slapped him on the shoulder. “Of course, I have enough divine roots to replace a few floor tiles even though I might be poor. I will not ask you to compensate me. Pavilion Lord Rong, please take a seat!”
Once he finished speaking, Jiang Yi ignored Rong Wei completely. Instead, he walked inwards. Grinning, he turned to face the Young Master Jiutian and Young Mistress He. Cupping his hands, he said, “The Jiang Residence is privileged to host the three of you distinguished guests. Someone, brew my most precious tea. Guests! Fifty grams of these tea leaves cost a million divine roots. If the three of you were not here, I would not even bear to drink the tea myself…”
“Fifty grams for a million divine roots?”
Young Master Jiutian shot him a mocking look as he waved his hand. “City Lord Jiang, don’t stand on ceremony. Since your tea leaves are so expensive, we shall not have them. We wouldn’t dare to drink such expensive tea. We have come to discuss serious business with you, City Lord.”
Jiang Yi sat down at the host’s seat. The moment he heard these words, his expression turned angry. “Young Master Jiutian, what are you talking about? Are you looking down on me? Or do you think that the tea would taste awful? You are my guests. If word gets out that I did not serve you tea, people might think that I don’t know manners or that I am a bad person. We can talk about serious things later, but have some tea first.”
Young Master Jiutian was rendered speechless. Even Pavilion Lord Da turned to look at him. Rong Wei’s expression darkened even further. Did Jiang Yi know manners? If he did, would he have gone to Crazed God Castle to cheat others? Would he have sent troops to lock down the mountain?
Young Master Jiutian and Young Mistress He were well brought-up. They did not cause a scene on the spot but swallowed their anger, agreeing to taste the tea first. Since neither of them said anything, neither Pavilion Lord Da nor Rong Wei could.
A group of maidservants entered the hall, serving cups of extremely fragrant tea. The tea this time was indeed much better than earlier on. However, fifty grams for a million divine roots was really ridiculous. Young Master Jiutian and company took several sips and then deduced that these were only ordinary tea leaves. Fifty grams of it was probably only worth several hundred divine roots.
As Jiang Yi spilled his tea, he said nonchalantly, “Young Master Jiutian, Young Mistress He, Pavilion Lord Da, these tea leaves aren’t too bad, are they? These tea leaves from Saint Spirit Domain. Only one kilogram of it is grown each year. I pulled many strings in order to get this little bit.”
“Pfft!”
Young Master Jiutian spat out a mouthful of tea and began coughing at once. He took the handkerchief that the maidservant beside him was holding out and then wiped his mouth. He saw that Jiang Yi’s expression had changed so he quickly waved his hand and said, “City Lord Jiang, I’m sorry, I choked. These tea leaves are not bad indeed, they’re really not bad! However… I’ve seen a better type of tea leaves. A friend gave it to me as well the last time he went to Saint Spirit Domain. I’ll send some to you to taste once I get home.”
Young Master Jiutian could not take Jiang Yi’s thick-skinned nature any longer. He began to make fun of the latter subtly. The hidden meaning in his words was obvious: ‘Stop boasting about tea leaves like that. I’ve really gone to Saint Spirit Domain, and I really do have friends there.’ Young Master Jiutian was trying to emphasize his own status so that Jiang Yi would stop showing off in front of him.
“I’ll bet it’s good!”
Jiang Yi’s expression changed once again, and he said warmly, “I’ve already heard about Young Master Jiutian’s loyalty. I’ve seen today that it is true indeed. I’ll agree to take you as a friend then. Oh, right… I don’t really like to drink tea so you don’t have to give me too much!”
“Pfff!”
Young Mistress He, Pavilion Lord Da, and Pavilion Lord Rong were all drinking their tea and avoiding looking at Jiang Yi’s ugly expression. At that moment, all of them spit their tea out. This was the first time they were hearing people asking for less when being offered gifts.
“Hahaha!”
Without waiting for Young Master Jiutian to reply to him, Jiang Yi laughed out loud and waved his hand. “I’m just kidding. Truthfully, though, Brother Jiutian, you are not bad. There really aren’t many people in Earth Emanations Domain whose character, patience, and skills surpass you. I’ll bet the role of Pavilion Lord in Demon-Killing Pavilion’s General Pavilion will be yours in the future.”
“Brother Jiang, you are flattering me! Brother Jiang, you are the true young talent…”
Young Master Jiutian cupped his hands. He wanted to carry on with the pleasantries but discovered that something was amiss. What did they come here for? If he recalled correctly, they were here to cause trouble. Why was he bothering to form good relations with Jiang Yi? Did Jiang Yi count for anything? What right did he have to become friends with Young Master Jiutian?
At that moment, Young Master Jiutian changed his tone. His expression turned serious again as he said, “City Lord Jiang, I will cut all the formalities. I came here because of what happened in Crazed God Castle. I heard that there has been some misunderstanding between Crazed God Castle and you?”
Pavilion Lord Da and Young Mistress He stopped drinking their tea. Their expressions became stern as they turned to Jiang Yi. Jiang Yi had no idea what treasure Young Mistress He carried on her, but her entire body was blurry. However, at that moment, her eyes became especially bright. It was obvious that she was trying to show how important this matter was to her. She wanted to add pressure on Jiang Yi.
“Misunderstanding?”
Jiang Yi’s feigned innocence. A second later, he acted like something huge dawned upon him. “Oh! This is what happened. I went to Commander He to buy a Pandan plant. Commander He looked down on my offer and decided not to sell the Pandan plant to me. I just left after that. This is not really a misunderstanding, I think. We were just negotiating. If the negotiation had succeeded, it would have been good. However, the negotiation fell through, and that was it. If you had not brought it up, I would not have remembered this matter.”
“…”
Young Master Jiutian was rendered speechless. Commander He had already sent him a voice transmission earlier to tell him exactly what happened. It was obvious that Jiang Yi was spinning a different tale. Now, he was feigning innocence. Still, it would not be good for Young Master Jiutian to expose his lies. He turned to Rong Wei who caught his drift immediately. “Since there was no misunderstanding, why did City Lord Jiang send soldiers to surround Crazed God Castle?”
“Was there such a thing?”
Jiang Yi jumped to his feet and said in a cool voice, “I had no idea about this. From the moment I returned from Crazed God Castle, I went into seclusion. Everyone in Jiang Residence knows this. Which bastard was so ignorant as to do something like that? Someone, get Commander Liu in to punish them!”
Once he finished speaking, Jiang Yi cupped his hands towards Young Master Jiutian and Young Mistress He. “Don’t worry, everyone. I will look into this matter myself. If I find that someone had overstepped his role, I will dismiss them or execute them accordingly. I will deal with them as the rules provide and make sure that justice is done. Then, I will give you all a proper explanation.”
“…”
Young Master Jiutian and company once again witnessed his story-spinning skills. However, since Jiang Yi was acting so cooperative, there was no way that they could say anything more. All they could do was sit back and wait for Jiang Yi to settle the matter.
Still, what happened next rendered everyone present speechless once again.
Commander Liu came into the hall almost immediately. He was holding a document in his hands as well. Jiang Yi interrogated him angrily, but Commander Liu was able to answer every one of his questions smoothly. He kept insisting that someone made a report and that they were just going by the books. What’s more, he even brought the person who made the report. Every document related to this person had been prepared as well.
“So that’s the case!”
After the interrogation, Jiang Yi gestured for Commander Liu and company to be dismissed. Finally, he turned to Young Master Jiutian and said, “Everyone, it looks like there really had been a misunderstanding. I don’t know how these little bunnies became so brave; they even dared to cause trouble at Crazed God Castle. Don’t worry… once I get a hold of the mastermind, I will dismiss him immediately. All of you can go back in peace. The Crazed God Castle is an industry under my government. I will make sure that they will remain safe.”
This show that Jiang Yi put on caused everyone’s expressions to darken completely. They could not find a single loophole in this entire thing. There would be no use even if the Earth Emanations Pavilion’s General Pavilion conducted investigations. Jiang Yi had shown that this had nothing to do with him and that his subordinates had not done anything wrong as well. Everything was by the books.
“Keke!”
Young Mistress He, who had been silent all the way until then, suddenly started laughing. Her laugh was music to the ears. There was not a hint of anger in her voice. Her bright eyes focused on Jiang Yi as she said, “City Lord Jiang, there’s no meaning in doing this. We’re here to talk about things openly. This entire situation has been exposed. If you’re good, I’m good, and everyone’s good. Otherwise… you bear the consequences!”
Young Master Jiutian had had enough of Jiang Yi’s games as well. Since Young Mistress He was prepared to fall out with Jiang Yi, there was no point in him acting nice any longer. He got to his feet and said in a cold voice, “City Lord Jiang, give us an answer: are you going to call your troops back?”
