Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 339

A hint of surprise flashed across Ambrina's face. "To have such strength at such a young age, a genius." She knew Yang Nian was at the second level, but she didn't expect him to be so young.

Yang Nian felt no pride, only disappointment, and asked in return, "Is it useful?" She couldn't help her older sister now, nor could she avenge her.

“Why didn’t it work?” Ambrina retorted. “When I was your age, I was weak and stupid, even the servants made fun of me, but later I still achieved some success. You are so young now, one day you will be able to do what you want to do.”

"I just want revenge," Yang Nian said simply.

"Is she your sister?" Ambrina asked again.

Yang Nian shook her head slightly, "No, she picked me up. I didn't have anything to prove my identity, only a pair of strange weapons, so I took her surname."

Ambrina raised her hand, manipulating the magically materialized strings to grab a pair of objects, and asked, "Is this it?"

"What are you doing here?" Yang Nian's expression finally began to change.

Ambrina replied, "After I drugged you yesterday, I picked up the map and went to your place. I took everything inside and cleared away all traces of anyone having lived there." As she spoke, she handed the double hooks to Yang Nian.

Yang Nian held the double hooks, which had been with her since she was found and had been with her for more than ten years. They were a pair of hooks that she both loved and hated.

A short weapon, with a crescent-shaped halberd at the handguard and a hook at the front, the tip of which is sharp.

The eldest sister used a pair of dual-wielded weapons, and so did she; naturally, she loved them.

The hatred stemmed from the poems engraved on the hooks, which together read, "It's better not to meet than to see each other; it's better to be heartless than to be affectionate." Yang Nian always felt that she had a father who abandoned her after starting a relationship, and that her mother had thrown away the pair of hooks her father had given her, along with her.

"Where did they go?"

Yang Nian asked, and by this time Yang Nian, who had almost completely calmed down, realized that there were even fewer people in the courtyard than yesterday, and neither Ronan nor the white-haired woman were there.

"They were both invited to a banquet. The person who invited them was that Scholar Chen. Don't worry, it's not because of your relationship. The reason is something else."

"Ambriina said."

Normally, Chen Zuolin would not connect Yang Huaien and Luo Nan, after all, Yang Huaien was the assassin who took He Xinjin's life before, and He Xinjin was originally a very important pawn in Luo Nan and Liu Menglong's hands.

Ronan met Chen Zuolin probably because, after meeting Heath, he figured out exactly how Ronan had persuaded Zhao Junyong, the King of the South China Sea.

"Then..." Yang Nian hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping herself.

“Unlikely,” Ambrina said.

She knew what Yang Nian was expecting, and Yang Nian also knew what she was saying was impossible.

But then Ambrina put her hand on Yang Nian's shoulder, "We won't turn against the people of Seris for the time being, but that doesn't mean we won't pay attention to the other group. The person who directly poisoned your older sister is also our enemy."

Heath is a traitor. We already have the two technologies he possesses, so he must die now. As for her second uncle, not only are he and his men still restless in Seris, looking like they're about to cause some big trouble, but even if they are calm, the past can't be erased. And since he aims for immortality, he's destined to be an enemy in the future. There's nothing more to say; he must be killed.

Upon hearing this, Yang Nian clenched her fists tightly. "Fine, as long as you kill him, I'll be your slave! I'll even pay you with my body." She spoke with utmost seriousness, with only a hint of shyness.

Hearing this, Ambrina almost laughed in anger. "You little kid, don't you understand? I'm saying that person is also one of our enemies, not that I'm helping you get revenge."

"There's no difference." Yang Nian seemed stubborn.

Ambrina laughed for real this time. "You still want to be a slave and pay with your body? You're dreaming."

"I can't let others help me for nothing," Yang Nian said.

Yang Huaien taught her loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness from a young age, but she wouldn't listen to any of them, only acknowledging the word "righteousness."

Ambrina was exasperated; she and the child were simply not on the same wavelength. "Fine, kid, I'm not going to talk to you anymore. Let's talk after your older sister's funeral is over. Until then, you can stay with us."

Meanwhile, Ronan and Dinia arrived at a teahouse.

This teahouse has three floors, each floor representing a different level of quality.

However, as I said before, in this era, openly operated shops are just that—places for normal people to drink tea, eat snacks, and chat. On the third floor, it's just a matter of charging 30 coins per person for tea, with snacks charged separately.

"Mr. Luo, Mr. Chen has been waiting for a long time," Chen Zuolin greeted him as she came up.

Ronan feigned surprise and said, "I'm so sorry, didn't I make Scholar Chen get up so early?"

"No, not at all." Chen Zuolin waved her hand, then her expression changed. "I just couldn't sleep at all, hahaha." She suddenly laughed as she spoke.

"Hahaha," Ronan laughed along, "What could be so exciting that you can't sleep?"

"Immortality." Chen Zuolin uttered two words simply.

Dinia suddenly interjected, "Isn't it cultivation level and talent?"

Upon hearing the words "cultivation level" and "talent," Chen Zuolin's expression changed drastically. Then she thought back to how she had been forced to stop the pursuit yesterday and had secretly mobilized people to search for the suspect, only to find nothing.

"Master Luo, did you run into a cat yesterday?" Chen Zuolin asked tentatively.

Ronan smiled slightly, "No, it's just that a dead cat came to the house."

Chapter 785 Importance or not, sincerity or not, a little bit of cleverness

After a few meaningless pleasantries and tentative exchanges, the snacks were served one after another, and neither side rushed to start talking, so they began to eat.

It can only be said that the variety of tea snacks in this era is much less than that of the era before Ronan's time travel. They are quite exquisite, but the taste is just so-so. Ronan's assessment is that they are not as good as the breakfast stalls near the government office.

It's not that the chef here is bad at cooking, but in order to justify the price, they had to add some unnecessary ingredients that ruined the original flavor.

Ronan couldn't help but sigh, "Indeed, food culture can only truly take off after the rise of the middle class."

“On this point, Mr. Chen disagrees. There are always people who come from modest backgrounds and have limited wealth, but they still have an urgent need to distinguish themselves from others. As the number of citizens increases, there will only be more of these people, and there will be more shops like the one we are sitting in now,” Chen Zuolin said.

Ronan was slightly surprised, then smiled and said, "Ha, I didn't expect that a man of such noble character as Scholar Chen could see these things so clearly."

"I am just a person of humble origin. I once tried to fit in with certain people, but all I got was ridicule, just like some of the people sitting on the third floor of this teahouse right now. Unlike Lord Liu, who has a good background. Just think, if my family could inherit the bloodline, why would I need to pursue those things?"

Chen Zuolin said that what he was referring to was talent and cultivation transplantation.

“But Scholar Chen seems more interested in immortality,” Ronan added.

Chen Zuolin took a small sip of tea, which he considered only of average quality, and said, “No one in this world can resist the allure of immortality.”

“You know the Taoist Master Jingxin; he’s the leader of that group. Actually, he also knows the secret of immortality,” Ronan said. “Think about it, if it weren’t for that, how could a foreigner of unknown origin be able to join the sect and become the sect leader’s disciple?”

A hint of anger flashed across Chen Zuolin's face, because he didn't know that the group possessed such a secret. But Ronan's mention of it didn't seem like he was being lied to. Even though he knew Ronan was trying to provoke him, he still couldn't completely suppress his anger.

After barely suppressing her anger, Chen Zuolin spoke again, "If you can tell me a little bit about these things in Foshan, I won't care anymore."

"Does Scholar Chen still think that some businesses in Foshan, or Liu Menglong's future, are important to us?" Ronan asked rhetorically, then added, "Let me tell you, the main reason we've been causing trouble in Foshan is to attract attention and see how the Seres court will react to us. So far, there hasn't been any. Perhaps the court doesn't care about a few foreigners at all, or perhaps they already know our identities but simply pretend not to know and do nothing."

“In that case, after some time, once Liu Menglong has settled down here, we can find a caravan and leave this place with them to go to our real destination.”

"In short, this matter in Foshan is not important to us."

"Then, what does Mr. Luo want?" Chen Zuolin asked.

Ronan said casually, "First, hand over the person you met yesterday, as a small token of your sincerity."

Chen Zuolin sighed softly, "This is no small show of sincerity; it's tantamount to turning against them completely. If Mr. Luo could tell me how to achieve immortality, that wouldn't be impossible."

“That’s obviously impossible,” Ronan said.

The King of the South Sea wouldn't spread the word about Ronan and his group's ability to perform cultivation transplants, and those merchants wouldn't reveal the talent transplantation, because such dissemination would only harm them, not benefit them.

But if Chen Zuolin knew about the method of immortality, then it would become a bargaining chip for him to make deals with others, or a stepping stone for his advancement.

"It seems there's no point in negotiating again," Chen Zuolin couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.

Making enemies isn't his style; making friends is. However, Ronan's friendship comes at a really high price.

“That’s settled then. From now on, it’ll just be some minor business competition,” Ronan said.

Chen Zuolin shook her head helplessly. "I can't do anything to you in business competition, so I can just leave. If someone else comes, they probably won't be able to beat you either. But they won't try to keep things from getting out of hand like I do. Instead, they'll get their superiors to find a way. Mr. Luo, you should understand that to grow your business in this place, you need to have a channel for paying tribute and have your superiors support you."

"Does Lord Liu have no one above him?" Ronan asked rhetorically.

"That's precisely why it's troublesome; the two groups at the top are bound to fight each other," Chen Zuolin said seriously.

Ronan laughed. "What does the infighting in the Seris court have to do with me?"

At this, Chen Zuolin was suddenly speechless.

That's right, what does it have to do with a foreigner like him, especially since Ronan doesn't expect to make money in Foshan and isn't really concerned about Liu Menglong's career.

Chen Zuolin couldn't help but sigh, "Now I suddenly understand why I lost. I had too many things to maintain, and I was weak in every way. But Mr. Luo, you don't care about anything and you are impeccable."

"That's not necessarily true. If you were to spread our true identities around the world, we wouldn't be able to do anything in Seris. Every move we make would be watched."

Ronan laughed.

Chen Zuolin laughed along, her words taking on a self-deprecating tone, "Doing that wouldn't have been good for me either. Besides, if I reveal your identities, can't you also reveal my collusion with foreigners?"

The morning tea session ended abruptly before we even got to lunchtime.

After leaving the teahouse, Ronan and Dinia went straight home.

Upon entering the central courtyard, they discovered that the body in the main hall was gone, and the little girl was nowhere to be found either.

"Where did they go?" Ronan asked Ambrina.

“She buried the body,” Ambrina replied.

"Bury it directly?" Ronan asked.

Ambrina replied, "They got a cheap one from the coffin shop, stuffed the body in it, and carried it to be buried."

People with a little money usually have their coffins custom-made, but coffin shops also have cheap, readily available coffins made with mediocre materials and rough workmanship, which you can buy directly.

“She’s pretty daring,” Dinia remarked.

Chen Zuolin herself already knew the news had been leaked, so killing her wouldn't make a difference. But her subordinates were still unaware and probably hadn't stopped their search for them. If they didn't notice a little girl carrying a coffin on her way, they would truly be blind.

“She’s really bold,” Ambrina said. “She deliberately lured people out.”

"You're courting death." After saying this coldly, Ronan couldn't help but chuckle. "But you do have a bit of cleverness."

Her ostentatious display made it difficult for Chen Zuolin's men to make a move. Moreover, as a second-tier cultivator, she was not easily subdued by ordinary people.

They probably hoped to lure out the foreigner who killed Yang Huaien.

All I can say is that they were incredibly naive.

With Heath, who had run away countless times, and others who had followed Ambrina and her two comrades for many years, how could they dare to show their faces so easily when Ronan and his group were all in the city?

“Actually, she’s quite interesting,” Ambrina said with a smile.

Chapter 786 He's Been Sticking to Her, He's Prone to Daydreaming, and His Cultivation Method

In the afternoon, after tending to the flowers and plants in the backyard, Ambrina sat in a rocking chair, eating the still-warm sugar-coated glutinous rice balls that Ronan had just bought from outside. One coin here was a copper coin worth one-tenth of a coin of silver. You could buy a meat bun that was bigger than your palm, but you could only buy one sugar-coated glutinous rice ball the size of your palm, because sugar was more expensive than meat.

Ronan also brought over a glass of chilled fruit tea.

The cold and heat were nothing to her; when Ambrina was queen, she would make ice cream even in the dead of winter, and she never had an upset stomach in all those decades.

Ronan was eating braised goose feet with a small pot of rice wine. He was the only one in the group who liked this food. Even Ambrina, who was the least picky eater, complained that it was just a layer of skin and had no meat, so it wasn't satisfying.

The two had just started eating when Ambrina was telling Ronan what Yang Nian had said that morning. A little while later, Yang Nian returned.

Ambrina chewed on a sweet and sour glutinous rice ball, looking at Ronan with a smile, "I knew this kid was sticking to us."

“Nobody said she wasn’t coming back, Annie,” Ronan said while gnawing on a goose foot.

This young girl is truly loyal and righteous; if she were heartless, she would have run away with the money. She is also bold and reckless, daring to use herself as bait to lure people out at this time. However, she is also clever and cunning, as evidenced by what she said to Ambrina this morning.

It reminded Ronan of Elena when he was a child.

Ronan sat there and asked Yang Nian in a completely unserious manner, "What are your plans for the future?"

“I will learn cultivation methods from you,” Yang Nian replied, answering decisively as if he had prepared the answer long ago.

Ronan shook the goose leg bone he had already gnawed clean. "We don't know Seris, the cultivation method commonly practiced in the Kingdom of David."

“I’m not using this either.” Yang Nian stood still and made a chop motion with her hand. At the same time, a phantom behind her made the same motion.

This is a substitute, oh no, this is pure summoning magic.

Ambrina put down the sugar-coated glutinous rice ball she had just picked up, her gaze becoming slightly serious. "Then this is troublesome for you. This kind of power is called summoning magic in the West. Summoning magic grows through cultivation, and different summoned spirits have completely different cultivation methods. Usually, if there is no relevant family inheritance, you can only rely on your own exploration. Some are relatively easy to explore, for example, a friend of mine, whose summoned creature is in the shape of a gun. It can grow by hunting different types of monsters. But another one is very troublesome. I still don't know how her summoned creature grows."

Alice's summons grow by killing their prey, while Zhao Yingqi's summons remain a mystery to this day.

“She’s right. Summoning is a power that can be passed down through bloodlines, but it’s not easy to improve.”

Ronan said.

Even with family traditions, they are often not very useful, because while summoning magic may be similar among blood relatives, it is difficult for them to be exactly the same. Some may even be vastly different, only similar in essence.

The Seris fusion training method transforms summoning into a source power for achieving balance. It uses a similar training method to improve oneself, which is more stable than the Western laissez-faire approach. Furthermore, while the power of summoning diminishes with each generation, it doesn't have a significant impact as a source power. Therefore, the Seris training method can raise the minimum skill level for those who have been born summoners for many generations.

What truly gives the West an edge is elemental magic, which has been continuously refined over hundreds of years and ultimately constructed using mathematical logic.

This system is still evolving over time.

In Seris, those with elemental powers also practice that fusion-style cultivation method, which Ronan considers opportunistic and an oversimplification.