"Your great-grandfather knew you must have wondered why I hinted that you should take the initiative to do Chen Pingzhi a favor."
"But Little Nine, today I'll teach you a principle: taking a loss is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, the losses we suffer for the moment are meant to earn us even greater benefits!"
"I have known Chen Pingzhi for decades. I know well that although he appears easygoing and indifferent on the surface, he is exceedingly proud and greedy within. Today, you achieved Foundation Establishment with the aid of his cave abode. No matter how many benefits I gave him beforehand, he will certainly think it was not enough."
"So if you do not do him a favor today, when the Chen family needs to make decisions concerning our Zhou family's interests in the future, he may very well secretly cause trouble."
"Looking at it the other way, since you have done him a favor today, whether he thinks you are worth befriending or wants to make use of that favor someday, when the Chen family needs to make decisions related to our Zhou family, as long as his own interests are not involved, he will certainly be willing to put in a few good words for us."
"Lastly, although Chen Pingzhi will never amount to much, his elder half-brother, Chen Pingan, is someone our Zhou family should make every effort to befriend."
"Chen Pingan has a great chance of Opening the Violet Palace. If our Zhou family can establish ties with him before he Opens the Violet Palace, then after Old Ancestor Chen Yaohui passes away and Chen Pingan takes charge of the Chen family, our Zhou family will not be marginalized or squeezed out of the Chen family's circle of allies."
Within a quiet chamber