Small Trump Card and Something's Not Right

The next day, at dusk.

In 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 pot-bellied middle-aged man present.

He had just walked in.

And as he entered.

Bandit Brother stood up with a smile, signaled the waiter waiting in the room to fetch dishes from the kitchen, and gestured toward the middle-aged man to introduce him to Chen Guan:

"Young Hero Chen, this official is the very Official Liu I have been telling you about all this time!

Official Liu is in charge of martial arts affairs within the Martial Bureau at the yamen.

As for the secret manuals you desire, you can have Official Liu keep an eye out for you."

"Official Liu." Seeing Bandit Brother's introduction, Chen Guan tapped his wine cup against the air, "A pleasure, a pleasure."

"Young Hero Chen! I have long admired your name!"

Official Liu laughed as he returned the gesture, clinking his cup against Chen Guan's, "We are all our own people; if you need anything, just say the word.

Back when I was a minor clerk in the Martial Bureau, I already became acquainted with Shopkeeper Sun.

It has been a friendship of eight or nine years now."

"Indeed, we are all our own people, no need for formalities." Seeing the opening go well, Bandit Brother clinked his cup with both of them as well.

The three of them drained their cups in one go.

Once the wine was finished.

The dishes were brought in one by one, and the three ate and chatted, the atmosphere quite pleasant.

Furthermore, several delicate women from Spring Blossom Pavilion had arrived at the private room with instruments to play music.

For a time, the scent of rouge and the melodious music made the room full of fragrant food and drink, a feast for the eyes as well.

And over these past few days.

Besides trying to win Chen Guan over, Bandit Brother had, just like today, introduced Chen Guan to several of his own connections.

It was a way to deepen their shared network and bind Chen Guan to him completely.

Of course, this was also a disguised way of showing Chen Guan that his connections were extremely extensive.

Especially since he treated Chen Guan as "one of his own," he was willing to introduce his own contacts.

In a sense, this was already a significant "investment."

Sometimes, the sharing and investment of such connections were actually more important than cold, hard cash.

However, it could not be denied that.

Because of Chen Guan, the Zhao Family's financial power was no longer insignificant.

Coupled with the help of others, they were faintly showing signs of establishing themselves as the "number one rice shop" in the town.

And Chen Guan's own value and ability were, to many people, perhaps even greater.

Thus.

Bandit Brother introducing Chen Guan to these people was also a way to let others see his "depth of connections."

For instance, the genius knight-errant Chen Guan was now a connection of his, Bandit Brother!

You officials and martial arts heroes must now weigh the influence of Bandit Brother.

It was a simple social tactic, a case of borrowing someone else's power to intimidate others.

Bandit Brother was very skilled at this game.

Especially with someone like Chen Guan, who in the eyes of outsiders was a cold-blooded, ruthless martial arts expert who would wipe out entire families.

A vicious expert who killed without hesitation and was nearly impossible to guard against.

His deterrent power was truly astonishing.

At the very least, in the private room at this moment.

Bandit Brother's highest-ranking connection, Official Liu.

Even he was quite polite when speaking to Chen Guan, eager to befriend this genius knight-errant.

After three rounds of drinks, the women from Spring Blossom Pavilion withdrew, leaving only the lingering fragrance in the room.

Now.

Official Liu had drunk a bit too much, but upon seeing Chen Guan, who showed no signs of intoxication, he said with genuine admiration from the bottom of his heart:

"Brother... Brother Chen... such a capacity for liquor... is... impressive...

Regarding... the blade technique manual we discussed... I will send someone... to search... find... and transcribe it when I return..."

His speech was already stuttering, and his head was spinning.

However, he still made a point to emphasize that he remembered what Chen Guan had discussed.

"Is Official Liu drunk?" Bandit Brother spoke quite fluently, his tolerance for alcohol clearly high.

Chen Guan was simply using his internal energy to dispel the intoxication, which was essentially cheating.

"Many thanks, Official Liu."

"What official? What 'sir'?" Official Liu waved his hand in dissatisfaction, then stood up and swayed a few steps closer to Chen Guan, reeking of alcohol as he said:

"If Brother Chen doesn't mind... I am older, so I'll take advantage of our age gap...

Just... just call me Brother Liu... Big Brother Liu!"

"Big Brother Liu." Chen Guan felt that since the man was truly gifting him a secret manual, calling him brother was a bargain.

After all, in this life, he was only twenty years old, which was indeed younger than the forty-something Official Liu.

However, when he considered that the man held a position in the yamen, and regularly dealt with the Literary Bureau, which oversaw the talented figures of the pugilistic world, Chen Guan thought for a moment and added, "My sixth brother is being recommended by his school teacher next year to take the imperial examination.

The first round, the prefectural exam, will be held at our town's Daqing Academy.

Could you possibly pull some strings to look after him?"

"The imperial examination?" Upon hearing this, Official Liu suddenly sobered up a bit and said earnestly:

"Brother Chen! The imperial examination has always been a major affair for this dynasty!

As far as I know, there is no such thing as favoritism or malpractice..."

As he spoke, seeing Chen Guan's smile fade slightly, he quickly added, "But if you're talking about finding a more comfortable exam room for our younger brother... leave that to your big brother!

Once our younger brother confirms he is participating, I will have someone arrange it..."

"Many thanks." Chen Guan stood up to express his gratitude, feeling that before he potentially left this place, he had managed to do a small favor for his family.

The rest would depend on his sixth brother's own abilities.

If he could earn some scholarly honor, it would be another boost to the family's foundation.

"Rest assured, Young Hero Chen!" Bandit Brother, seeing that the two had finished their conversation, chimed in with a smile: "For Brother Liu, this is a trivial matter!"

He said this while facing away from Chen Guan, smiling at Official Liu and gesturing with a five, indicating he would spend fifty taels of silver to handle the matter for Chen Guan's sixth brother.

"Right, Brother Liu? A trivial matter?"

"Naturally!" Seeing that there was money to be made, Official Liu certainly considered it a trivial matter.

Yet, just ten seconds ago, he had been prepared to help Chen Guan for free, hoping to gain a small favor in return.

As for the secret manual, that was merely a standard greeting gift.

As the head of the Martial Bureau, his primary duty was to interact with martial arts experts.

Sometimes, befriending these experts required using secret manuals as a stepping stone.

This could not be counted as a favor.

Otherwise, many martial artists were men of their word who placed extreme importance on social debts.

If the Martial Bureau considered gifting manuals a favor, people in the pugilistic world would never dare to interact with the Martial Bureau for fear of owing debts they couldn't repay.

Night fell.

"Take care, Official Liu."

"Farewell, Official Liu..."

Chen Guan and Bandit Brother stood downstairs, watching the now-sober Official Liu board a carriage.

"Farewell to you both."

Outside, Official Liu did not act with the worldliness he had shown in the private room; instead, with a calm and detached air, he slightly lifted the curtain and nodded to Chen Guan and Bandit Brother outside the carriage.

This was more befitting his status as a bureau head.

One must know what to say in which setting.

If they were still acting chummy in public, it would reflect poorly on everyone once word got out.

However, what none of them knew was that

two hundred meters away, on the opposite bank of the lake outside the restaurant, Chen Changhong, dressed in plain clothes, was watching them from afar.

He had already arrived ten minutes ago.

He had also overheard part of the conversation and learned Chen Guan's name.

But the very fact that Chen Guan was with the "Yanhe Pavilion shopkeeper" caused his thoughts to stall for a fleeting moment.

The person standing beside the murderer of my grandfather is named... Chen Guan?

Is this... a trap?

Or... a coincidence in this afterlife?