The next day, at dusk.
Inside a private room on the fifth floor of Yanhe Pavilion, in Little Liuzi Town.
At this moment, besides Chen Guan and Bandit Brother, there was also a middle-aged man with a large belly.
He had just walked in.
As he entered, Bandit Brother rose with a smile and told the waiter waiting in the room to have the kitchen bring out the dishes. Then he gestured the middle-aged man over and introduced him to Chen Guan:
"Young Hero Chen, this is the official I've been telling you about all these days—Official Liu!
Official Liu oversees matters of the martial world in the Martial Bureau at the government office.
If there are any manuals you're looking for, you can ask Official Liu to keep an eye out for them."
"Official Liu." Seeing Bandit Brother introduce him, Chen Guan raised his cup from across the table. "A pleasure to meet you."
"Young Hero Chen! I've heard so much about you!"
Official Liu laughed as he returned the greeting, clinking his cup against Chen Guan's. "We're all one family. If you need anything, just say the word.
I already knew Shopkeeper Sun back when I was a low-ranking clerk in the Martial Bureau.
We've been friends for eight or nine years now."
"That's right, we're all one family, so don't be shy." Seeing that the introductions had gone well, Bandit Brother clinked cups with them too.
The three of them drained their cups.
Once the wine had gone down,
the dishes were brought out one after another. The three men ate and chatted, and the atmosphere was pleasant.
Several lovely young women from Spring Blossom Pavilion arrived in the private room with their instruments and began to play.
For a while, the scent of rouge and the lilting music filled the room, making the food and tea seem all the more fragrant—and the women a feast for the eyes.
Over the past few days,
besides trying to win Chen Guan over, Bandit Brother had also introduced him to some of his own connections, just as he had today.
It was a way to deepen their shared network and bind Chen Guan to him completely.
Of course, it was also an indirect way of showing Chen Guan just how extensive his connections were.
In particular, he treated Chen Guan as one of his own, which was why he had introduced him to his contacts.
In a sense, this already counted as a substantial "investment."
Sometimes, sharing and investing in connections was even more important than handing over real gold and silver.
Still, it couldn't be denied that
thanks to Chen Guan, the Zhao Family's finances were no longer anything to sneeze at.
With a few people lending a hand, they were even beginning to look like they could secure their place as the town's "foremost rice merchant."
And Chen Guan's own value and abilities might be even greater in the eyes of many.
With that in mind,
Bandit Brother introduced Chen Guan to these people partly to let them see the depth of his "connections."
For example, the genius Strange Hero Chen Guan was now one of Bandit Brother's connections!
You officials and martial heroes had better think twice about Bandit Brother's influence now.
It was a simple social tactic: borrowing another's name and power to make himself seem formidable.
Bandit Brother was well practiced in this art.
Especially when it came to someone like Chen Guan, who outsiders saw as a cold-blooded martial expert who had wiped out an entire household.
A vicious expert who killed whenever he said he would, and was very hard to defend against.
His power to intimidate was astonishing.
At least, in the private room at that moment,
Bandit Brother's most important connection, Official Liu,
was quite courteous when speaking with Chen Guan. He wanted to befriend this genius Strange Hero.
After several rounds of drinks, the women from Spring Blossom Pavilion withdrew, leaving only their lingering fragrance in the room.
By now,
Official Liu had drunk quite a lot. But when he saw that Chen Guan was still perfectly sober, he couldn't help admiring him from the bottom of his heart.
"Chen... little brother... your capacity for drink... is... impressive...
About... those saber manuals we discussed... I'll send people... to search... and copy them... as soon as I get back..."
His words had grown a little slurred, and his head was spinning.
Even so, he made sure to emphasize that he still remembered what Chen Guan had asked about.
"Has Official Liu had too much to drink?" Bandit Brother asked, still speaking clearly. He had an excellent tolerance for alcohol.
Chen Guan had simply used his inner strength to dispel the effects of the wine—a bit of cheating.
"Thank you, Official Liu."
"What official? Just call me your big brother!" Official Liu waved his hand in protest, then stood and staggered a few steps closer to Chen Guan. His breath reeked of wine as he said,
"If you don't mind, little brother... I'm older than you, so let me take a little advantage...
Just... just call me Brother Liu... Big Brother Liu!"
"Big Brother Liu." Since the man was genuinely offering him manuals, Chen Guan figured the word "brother" was well worth saying.
After all, he was only twenty in this life, certainly young compared with Official Liu, who was over forty.
But then he remembered that Official Liu worked at the government office.
He also regularly dealt with the Literary Bureau, which oversaw the scholars of the realm.
After thinking it over, Chen Guan added, "My Sixth Brother will be recommended by his academy teacher next year to take the imperial examinations.
The first round, the county examination, will be held at Daqing Academy in our town.
Could you ask someone to arrange a little consideration for him?"
"The imperial examinations?" Hearing this, Official Liu sobered up a little and answered seriously,
"Little Brother Chen! The imperial examinations have always been a major matter for this dynasty!
As far as I know, there's no such thing as bending the rules..."
Seeing Chen Guan's smile fade as he spoke, he hurriedly continued,
"But if you mean finding our little brother a more comfortable exam room... leave that to your big brother!
Once our little brother confirms he'll be taking the examinations, I'll ask someone to make the arrangements..."
"Thank you." Chen Guan rose to express his gratitude. Before possibly leaving this place in the future, he had managed to take care of one matter, neither big nor small, for his family.
The rest was up to Sixth Brother's own ability.
If he managed to earn an official degree, it would add another layer of strength to the family's foundations.
"Young Hero Chen, don't worry!" Bandit Brother waited until they had finished talking before laughing and joining in. "For Brother Liu, this is a piece of cake!"
As he said this, he turned his back to Chen Guan, smiled at Official Liu, and held up five fingers. He was offering to spend fifty taels of silver to arrange things for Chen Guan's Sixth Brother.
"Right, Brother Liu? A piece of cake?"
"Of course!" Seeing there was money to be made, Official Liu was certainly happy to call it a piece of cake.
But just ten seconds earlier,
he had already been prepared to help Chen Guan for free, then ask him for a small favor in return.
As for the manuals, those were simply ordinary gifts for a first meeting.
As head of the Martial Bureau, his main duty was dealing with martial world experts.
Sometimes, he used manuals as stepping stones to befriend them.
That couldn't be counted as a favor.
Otherwise, with so many martial artists who valued their word like gold and took social obligations extremely seriously,
if receiving a manual from the Martial Bureau counted as a favor,
they wouldn't casually incur debts of gratitude or deal with the Bureau.
Night fell.
"Safe travels, Official Liu."
"Until next time, Official Liu..."
Chen Guan and Bandit Brother stood downstairs, watching as Official Liu, now sober, climbed into a carriage.
"Until next time, you two."
In public, Official Liu no longer behaved like the worldly man he'd been in the private room. He simply lifted the curtain slightly and nodded calmly to Chen Guan and Bandit Brother outside the carriage.
That was more befitting of his status as head of a bureau.
One had to speak and act according to the occasion.
If he went around with his arms over people's shoulders in public, it wouldn't be good for anyone once word got out.
But
none of them knew that, two hundred meters away, on the opposite bank of the lake beside the restaurant,
Chen Changhong, dressed in ordinary clothes, was watching them from afar.
He had arrived ten minutes earlier.
He had also overheard part of their conversation and learned Chen Guan's name.
But the fact that Chen Guan was with the "master of Yanhe Pavilion"
left him dazed for a moment.
"The man beside the killer of my grandfather is named... Chen Guan?
Is this... a trap?
Or... a coincidence carried over from my past life?"
Before you continue