After Steward Yang left.
Chong Xuan Sheng looked at Jiang Chen with bright eyes: "What exactly are your good points that you can so easily win the favor of the elderly?"
Old Matriarch Li had given him special treatment back then, presenting him with Stone Gate Grass as a meeting gift on his first visit. At that time, Chong Xuan Sheng had been feeling quite sour.
From the old monk who cried and shouted about taking him as a disciple, to Old Matriarch Li who had favored him greatly, to this overly enthusiastic Qing Xi this time.
"You're a friend of the elderly!" Chong Xuan Sheng sighed.
Yan Fu's shoulders trembled, barely holding back his laughter.
"That doesn't seem right." Chong Xuan Sheng mused again: "Shouldn't the elderly prefer someone like me, fair and plump?"
Regarding Qing Xi's sudden goodwill, Jiang Chen was actually quite confused too. Listening to Chong Xuan Sheng babbling away, he subconsciously replied: "It's not like we're raising pigs."
Chong Xuan Sheng choked on the words, thought for a moment, then turned to glare fiercely at Xu Xiangqian.
It was all this high forehead who had led Jiang Chen astray!
Before, he never used to be so good at talking back.
Xu Xiangqian, who was gobbling down pastries, was utterly baffled.
He thought to himself, this fat guy is too stingy! I just ate a few extra bites, is that any reason to glare at me?
Li Longchuan swept away the pastry crumbs that Xu Xiangqian had spilled between them with a look of disgust, and jokingly reminded: "Giving this and that, the Four Seas Trading Alliance is in the business of making deals, they won't make you pay for it later, will they?"
"Then I definitely can't accept it, hurry and give it back to him!" Xu Xiangqian was now very sensitive about money.
Chong Xuan Sheng wasn't sure if this high forehead was truly stupid or pretending, and couldn't be bothered to figure it out. He simply reached over and took the jade box from in front of Jiang Chen: "I already prepared a medicinal supplement for you once, this extra one might as well benefit me instead. What Alliance Leader Qing gave must be good stuff. I can use it to stock up on Desheng's warehouse... As for this information, you should take a careful look."
When did you ever prepare medicinal supplements for me?
Jiang Chen certainly wouldn't say those words out loud, and understood the vigilance Chong Xuan Sheng was expressing. This was naturally not something that could be made explicit in front of others.
He could only shake his head, expressing helplessness at such shameless behavior.
Gao Zhe pondered for a moment, then spoke up: "I heard that the Four Seas Trading Alliance also sent someone to Great Marsh Commandery this time. Alliance Leader Qing is sending gifts as a show of goodwill, is that because he hopes Brother Jiang can look after things a bit when the time comes?"
None of the others present had plans to participate in this Seven Star Tower gathering. Xu Xiangqian had previously shown some interest, even enthusiastically announcing some plan for the "Ganma Mountain Duo" to sweep all opponents, but now he had suddenly changed his mind, saying he wanted to leave the State of Qi to study abroad (wander around) in the coastal islands—who knows if he was trying to avoid debts. He heard that Dean Liu of Qingya Academy had been looking for him everywhere lately.
Hearing Gao Zhe say this, Xu Xiangqian asked: "Who is the Four Seas Trading Alliance sending?"
"Uh." Gao Zhe paused, clearly not clear about the specific personnel.
Yan Fu twirled his tea cup and said softly: "First-Rank Steward, Fang Chong."
When it came to intelligence, he was clearly superior to Gao Zhe.
"Tsk." Chong Xuan Sheng clicked his tongue: "Old Jiang, you're quite impressive now, even the Four Seas Trading Alliance's First-Rank Steward needs to ask you for help and care!"
The Four Seas Trading Alliance had only twelve First-Rank Stewards in total, who were unquestionably senior executives of the Alliance, with cultivation at least at the Inner Fane realm.
And the maximum cultivation level allowed for the Seven Star Tower was the Inner Fane realm.
In theory, below the Inner Fane realm, including the Inner Fane realm itself, cultivators of any level could participate in the Seven Star Tower.
But in reality, cultivators who hadn't opened the Heaven and Earth Gate didn't even need to consider the Seven Star Tower, because it was impossible to even get an entry quota.
The quota rules for the Seven Star Tower were different from the Celestial Residence Secret Realm—not every family had a quota allocation. Except for the Tian clan of Great Marsh who were the local hosts and had fixed quotas, all other quotas needed to be obtained through competition.
Of course, because of the interest exchange between Rizhao Commandery and Chongjia Island, the relationship between the Chong family and the Tian family was in a relatively close period.
Chong Xuan Sheng had already smoothed things over, so Jiang Chen could directly take one of the Tian clan of Great Marsh's quotas to enter the Seven Star Tower, without needing to compete for it separately.
The upper limit for the Seven Star Tower was the Inner Fane realm, and the First-Rank Stewards of the Four Seas Trading Alliance would certainly not be weak.
Chong Xuan Sheng said this merely to remind Jiang Chen not to become too inflated. If he let a few words of flattery go to his head and truly thought he had the ability to look after Fang Chong, that would be a sign of unclear thinking.
Jiang Chen naturally wouldn't take it seriously, and simply responded with a smile.
But Gao Zhe said: "With Brother Jiang's current strength, how could he not be able to look after things? Not to mention him defeating the Three Masters of Pingxi and Overturning Tide with one against three, but just the Inner Fane realm itself—what is there to fear? Even the Divinely-Graced Inner Fane would be easily within Brother Jiang's reach."
These words could be seen as flattery, or as probing his strength.
But just listen and let it pass—if you really took it seriously, that would be unnecessary.
Actually, Jiang Chen and Gao Zhe's personalities didn't really mesh well. The reason they still gathered together occasionally was purely because of the current cooperation between the Chong family and the Gao family.
If Chong Xuan Sheng didn't take advantage of his position controlling Yangdi to secure the Gao family, the Chong Zun faction would grab them instead.
Everyone understood the principle of one rising while the other falls. The more mature people became, the harder it was to act according to their own wishes.
"Brother Gao, what you said isn't that big of a deal." Yan Fu smiled warmly and waved his teacup in a small circle in front of him: "Everyone here, except for you and me, is at the Divinely-Graced Inner Fane level, easily within reach."
Everyone laughed.
Come to think of it, Jiang Chen, Chong Xuan Sheng, Li Longchuan, and Xu Xiangqian were all winners of the Celestial Residence Secret Realm. And now they had all opened the Heaven and Earth Gate, so the Divinely-Graced Inner Fane was indeed not difficult.
Even Gao Zhe himself scratched his nose and smiled somewhat embarrassedly.
As everyone was chatting and laughing, a servant from the Li residence suddenly entered and whispered something in Li Longchuan's ear.
At this short distance, all present deliberately controlled themselves not to listen, out of respect.
Then they saw Li Longchuan's sword-like eyebrows slightly lift, clearly somewhat surprised.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Chen asked: "If you have something to do, you can leave first. I'll be setting off soon anyway."
"It's not that." Li Longchuan shook his head: "It's my sister..."
"Li Fengyao is coming? Oh right!" Xu Xiangqian sprang to his feet: "Everyone, nature calls, please excuse me. Brother Jiang, safe travels."
Without waiting for anyone to respond, he darted off.
Jiang Chen's teeth ached just listening. "Safe travels"—it didn't sound like a very nice thing to say, no matter how you heard it.
"How strange." Jiang Chen was somewhat puzzled: "I've met Brother Longchuan's sister, she's very nice and extremely beautiful. Why does Xiangqian seem to fear her like a tiger?"
He'd had this doubt for a long time. Back at the Destroying City Marquis's mansion, when Li Fengyao appeared, the fearless Xu Xiangqian had instantly transformed into a different person, always appearing cowed and timid.
"You don't know?" Chong Xuan Sheng asked loudly on purpose, holding back a mischievous smile.
Jiang Chen was baffled: "How would I know?"
Li Longchuan covered his face and said: "Why Xu Xiangqian is afraid of my sister... it's because he started pursuing her a long time ago, and then got beaten up by her several times."
"It was a beating." Chong Xuan Sheng added.
"A total of eighteen times." Yan Fu also filled in the data with an expressionless face.
These people were clearly all interested in Xu Xiangqian's embarrassing affairs. Not to mention the delighted Chong Xuan Sheng and the focused Gao Zhe—even the usually calm Yan Fu... his eyes were obviously excited!
"...So he was beaten into submission, right?" Jiang Chen understood.
But it was really hard to imagine, the cold and aloof Li Fengyao, what the scene looked like when she was beating up Xu Xiangqian...
It must have been quite amusing, right?
"Cough. It wasn't exactly a beating." Li Longchuan had to maintain his sister's image after all: "A spar, a spar."
"As for why you should know..." Chong Xuan Sheng held back his evil grin: "The day before yesterday, someone deliberately teased him about this, asking why he wasn't pursuing Li Fengyao anymore. High Forehead said... he wasn't afraid of Li Fengyao, but that a gentleman doesn't steal another's love. Since you, Jiang Chen, were so captivated by her, he officially decided to withdraw from the ranks of Li Fengyao's suitors."
Jiang Chen: ...
Silence for a moment.
"You knew?"
"You also knew?"
"You all knew?"
After asking around and getting affirmative answers from everyone.
Jiang Chen looked at Li Longchuan with his last hope: "Your sister... she also knows?"
"Yes, she does." Li Longchuan answered honestly.
Jiang Chen: ...
So that's why! That explained why Xu Xiangqian had slipped away so quickly. Last time, although he'd been timid, he'd at least dared to chat a bit.
Jiang Chen looked at Fourteen who stood nearby like a statue: "Fourteen, which direction did High Forehead just go? Point me the way."
Fourteen's shoulders twitched, seemingly unable to hold back laughter.
Although everyone called him High Forehead, this was the first time Jiang Chen had directly called Xu Xiangqian that. This guy really was... too asking for a beating!
Back during the You Kingdom incident, after he'd been beaten up by the onlookers, he'd been scheming to drag Jiang Chen down with him. That was when they first met. Now that they were familiar, he was still playing these tricks!
"Brother Longchuan." Chong Xuan Sheng urged with a tone of watching a good show: "You just said your sister... how about it?"
Thinking that soon a great beauty would come to beat up Jiang Chen...
He was actually looking forward to it quite a bit.
Even the usually calm Yan Fu's eyes were noticeably bright.
Li Longchuan looked at Jiang Chen, his expression somewhat complex: "My sister said she also wants to participate in this Seven Star Tower gathering, and asked if Brother Jiang would like to travel with her."
"What?" Chong Xuan Sheng was initially somewhat disappointed, but then immediately agreed: "Of course, of course!"
He was grinning from ear to ear.
This was going to be a beating all the way to Great Marsh Commandery!
That was really too excessive!
"The kindness is hard to refuse, Jiang Chen, you absolutely shouldn't decline." This fatty was being earnestly persuasive.
"Brother Longchuan's sister is your sister too. For one's sister, it's only right to be at her service, that's definitely a duty one cannot refuse." Gao Zhe was righteous about it.
"That's true, at least we're all acquaintances, and traveling together provides some care." Yan Fu appeared very objective, looking as if he absolutely wasn't watching the show.
Jiang Chen: ...
Jiang Chen actually really wanted to ask—"If I say no, will your sister beat me?"
But he wasn't completely stupid. He didn't ask such an obviously beating-worthy question.
He just gave two dry laughs: "Ha, ha. Your sister is also going to the Seven Star Tower."
"It's quite sudden, huh." He added dryly.