Chapter 528: Utility
Translator: DavidT Editor: DavidT, Rock
Shui QianRou immediately blew up. "Didn't I explain everything clearly before all of you set off?! I even explained who was coming and what their status was! Before all of you even set foot onto the continent, all of you should have known that Ling Chen was Ling Tian's woman and the spokesperson of the Ling Family Courtyard. However, all of you guys felt that you were descendants of an aristocratic family and looked down on others, completely ignoring what I had said. At the most important moment, you were overwhelmed by your lust and performed such actions that disgraced the family. At the end of the day, you even have the guts to blame me for the matter? Turning black into white, pathetic!"
After taking a few heavy breaths, Shui QianRou looked at the two of them coldly, "If you were to put yourself in Ling Tian's shoes and Ling Chen was your wife, would you allow anyone else to lay their eyes on her?" There was another thing that Shui QianRou didn't say: If Ling Tian was present, the three of you would probably be in pieces by now. How would you guys be able to sit here and talk to me so comfortably?!
Shui QianJiang rolled his eyes and said unreasonably, "Our Shui Family went with the utmost sincerity when going into this negotiation, but the Ling Family actually dared to treat us in such a manner and even heavily injured younger brother Hu! They obviously do not have any sincerity to work with us! They also did not give us any face and even want to collect 50,000 taels of silver every day! Do they think we are fools? We must definitely let the Ling Family pay in blood for this humiliation!"
Shui QianRou rolled her eyes and sneered, "No sincerity? The three people in the Ling Family with the highest authority arrived at the meeting together. Is this considered sincerity?! Face? Face is something that is given but you threw it away yourself! If not for someone being unable to control his hands, would he have been seriously injured? Paying them back in blood? If you are capable, go and seek Ling Jian on your own! When you are outside, you didn't even dare to say a single word but are acting in such a majestic manner the moment you are back home! Shui QianJiang, you truly have guts! If you have the ability, go and find Ling Jian to make him pay in blood right now. I definitely won't stop you from doing that. Why aren't you going?! If you dare to go, I will definitely clap my hands in admiration!"
"As for the silver, this was something that the Ling Family did not mention at all previously. If not for the three of you frustrating them, do you think that the Ling Family could be bothered with this little bit of silver? The total value of the products they are allowing the Yu Family to sweep up in this operation is 1,000,000 taels of silver at the very least! However, you guys have chosen to provoke the Ling Family and they have now drawn a line with us! Lest someone turns foolishly conceited and does not even know what their surname is!"
Shui Qian Jiang's face turned red instantly as he retorted, "What kind of a status do I have? How can I negotiate with a servant of some third-grade family? Wouldn't it be too far below my status? In the whole Ling Family, only the spokesperson of the Ling Family, Ling Tian, would be a match for my status."
"Hahaha…" Shui QianRou was angered to the point she began laughing. "Since all of your statuses are far above theirs and you guys looked down on them from the start, why do you want to work together with them right now? Why can't all of you just settle everything on your own? What is the point of cooperating with the Ling Family? Why do you still have to look for me? What kind of ideas could I possibly have?"
"Enough!" The First Elder roared with impatience, "All of you can continue arguing after we take care of the Yu Family! What is the point of us fighting among ourselves? Is there any meaning to doing that? What we should be thinking about now is how we can cooperate with the Ling Family again! How can we continue cooperating with them under such circumstances? If we cannot continue this cooperation with them, could it be that we are going to go back empty handed?"
The moment the First Elder mentioned returning empty handed the arguing parties had shut up immediately. This time, even Shui QianJiang and the rest understood that after witnessing the strength of the Ling Family, cooperating with the Ling Family was the most beneficial action for them! If the Ling Family were to reject the cooperation with the Shui Family, their Shui Family would only be left with two options. They could either launch an all-out attack and take over all of the Ling Family's forces or they could leave in defeat. There wasn't a third option for them!
However, was it possible for them to even take over the Ling Family? Was it possible? Was it realistic?
In actual fact, all the members of the Shui Family who had come to Heavenly Star came with such an intention. Wouldn't it be an easy matter for them to capture a small third-rate family?
But after witnessing the splendor of Ling Jian's sword, all of them were woken up from their daydream! What a joke, with such an expert present in the Ling Family, it would be extremely good if the Ling Family did not try to swallow them. How could they even think about swallowing the forces of the Ling Family? This plan of theirs had naturally died in their hearts.
But to leave in defeat? Wouldn't the lot of them become a big joke? This would be even worse than Shui QianHuan's failure! Traveling more than ten thousand miles and returning without doing anything? If the three of them were to do that, their status as a prospective successor would probably be taken away as well! On top of that, their outcome would definitely be far worse than Shui QianHuan. At the very least, Shui QianHuan had fought and had been seriously injured! As for the three of them, they did not even do a single thing! Well, it wasn't accurate to say that they did not do a single thing. They had offended a 'third-rate' family in Heavenly Star! While it wasn't really a big deal, the only problem was the fact that this 'third-rate' family had at least one expert at the level of Shui WuBo!
Furthermore, their old enemy was still watching them ferociously from the side! Even if they wanted to leave the continent, they wouldn't necessarily be able to leave the continent safely…
In fact, if they were to think about it carefully, the Yu Family was an existence on the same level as their Shui Family. However, even the Yu Family did not think about swallowing the Ling Family but only dared to take a bunch of silver and gold when they left. How could an outsider like them possibly rule over Sky Bearing so easily?!
However, even if they were to realize all of these right now, was there even a meaning to it?
"Now that things have developed to such a point, this old man can only throw this old face of mine and make a personal trip to the Ling Family Courtyard. Princess Rou, can I request for you to accompany me? The matters of the Family are still the most important! Can I hope for Princess to put aside your prejudice for the time being?!" The First Elder let out a long sigh and rolled his eyes at the three Shui brothers. If not for these three useless disciples, how would they be placed in such a difficult position and have to lower their pride?
"QianRou is willing to listen to elder's instructions and place our family's benefits above all else." Shui QianRou said helplessly. At the same time, she also felt elated in her heart. If she could make use of this opportunity to suppress the three Shui brothers and make some contribution to the family, her family might overlook to mistakes of her brother when they return. At the very least, she would be able to help her father reduce the pressure that he was facing.
...
In the secret chamber of the Ling Family Courtyard, four people were standing there with an odd expression on their faces. Of the four of them, three of the girls were looking at Ling Jian with a look like they had a headache. However, Ling Jian's expression looked extremely innocent and he even had a self-righteous look on his face!
Finally, Ling Chen let out a sigh and shook her head helplessly. "What do you guys think about the matters today? Do you think that it is necessary for us to salvage matters?!"
Ling Jian chuckled and said in a cool manner, "There is no need to think about anything! Why is there a need to salvage the situation?! Settling them all with a single sword is the right way to take care of these scums! Lest young noble gets frustrated when he sees them."
Ling Chen, Yu BingYan and Li Xue looked at each other with the urge to give Ling Jian a kick to the face.
Yu BingYan had just left her seclusion and naturally wasn't clear about what had just happened. She only understood the rough situation through the description of the other two girls. She then shook her head and said, "I believe that the Shui Family would not accept a cooperation under such circumstances. As a thousand-year-old family, they would have the prestige and pride of a thousand-year-old family. Now that the Shui Family had fallen out with the Ling Family, how would they put down their pride and work together with the Ling Family again? I think that it is best for us to make preparations to prepare for the Shui Family's revenge."
"Not necessarily!" Ling Chen and Li Xue shook their heads, "While Ling Jian's action was a little rash today, even if Ling Jian could suppress his anger, the two of us would have taken action for sure! With the performance of those three b*st*rds, it was inevitable for the meeting to fail. Thus, Ling Jian did not do anything wrong and it was definitely necessary."
Ling Chen nodded her head, "That's right, what Ah'Jian did wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The only reason why the Shui Family dared to act in such an unbridled manner is because they did not understand our strength and thus did not respect us. Ah'Jian's action would not ruin matters but only increase the chips we have to bargain with the Shui Family. This is something extremely beneficial to us! The Shui Family will certainly not retreat but there is something that Ah'Jian is wrong about."
"What thing?" Ling Jian said gloomily.
"You said that the young noble would be frustrated because of them. This is where you are wrong." Ling Chen said with a smile.
Li Xue never imagined that Ling Chen would have the same thoughts as her and burst out laughing, "That's right. If Tian'ge returns and sees the three Shui brothers, he will definitely be overjoyed."
Yu BingYan pondered for a moment and finally understood what the two girls meant. "Two elder sisters are trying to say that these three despicable fellows are still of some worth?"
"That's right!" Ling Chen and Li Xue replied together and said with a weird laugh, "To the Shui Family, these three fellows will be incapable of accomplishing anything and will only ruin everything. But to us, the three of them are extremely rare commodities."
Ling Jian snorted and was a little bit depressed, "Wouldn't it be easier to kill them with a single sword… isn't it better than going around in circles? Didn't young noble say that one should reason with the size of his fist?"
Ling Chen glared at Ling Jian, "You only know how to fight and kill. Young noble said many other things. Why aren't you talking about his other sayings? How many times did young noble warn you to use your brain? Why are you still a boorish brute?!"
Ling Jian grunted and said, "Talking about coming up with plans and scheming, young noble would naturally be stronger than anyone in the world. Furthermore, there is still the few of you and that villain Meng LiGe to come up with schemes for the young noble. I am only the young noble's sharpest sword and I will do whatever the young noble commands. I will kill whoever the young noble asks me to kill. The only thing I am concerned about is whether or not I am able to complete my mission and not how I should complete my mission! I do not need to care about the process of the mission either! Young noble had once said that everyone needs to find their own position and my position would be to slaughter!"