Fan Zhongzhi took the hint and slipped away. Ling Zheng brought the newcomer before Tang Changsheng and said with a smile, "Changsheng, this is Ling Yunfei from the main branch of the Ling family. By my reckoning, he's Ling Xiaoyu's uncle..."
Tang Changsheng smiled faintly. Ling Zheng usually called him Mr. Tang, never daring the slightest disrespect. Calling him Changsheng now was plainly meant to suggest they were close.
Tang Changsheng could grant him that much face. If not for Ling Zheng's sake, then for Ling Xiaoyu's.
He smiled without correcting him. "So you're Mr. Ling Yunfei. Young and accomplished!"
It sounded like an elder praising a junior, though Ling Yunfei was clearly ten or twenty years older than Tang Changsheng. He did not find it awkward. If anything, he looked flattered.
Of course he did. Did they know who stood before them? A Noble Peer of Great Chu, and a Third Watch of the Elder Council!
With a status like that, even a great family like the White Lake Ning Household would have to bow its head, let alone the mere Ling family.
Even Ling Zheng breathed a sigh of relief that Tang Changsheng had not taken offense on the spot. Calling him Changsheng to his face had taken an enormous amount of courage.
The influence of Great Chu's Three Elders far exceeded what most people imagined. The Three Elders Council might be called a sinecure, but it held the power to check the Five Watches Council and the Grand Secretariat. Under ordinary circumstances, both the Five Watches Council and the departments of the Grand Secretariat had to show it some respect!
What was more, every one of Great Chu's Three Elders was a noble of Great Chu. Each possessed a vast family and deep financial resources...
In other