Chapter Thirty-Three: An Unexpected Encounter
Su Tang put down the case file in his hand, slowly stood up, perhaps because of some kind of talent or something else, after looking at it for four whole days, he actually really sniffed out a certain smell, just like Long Qi said.
United!
Local organizations like Miao Dao Ge are increasingly connecting with each other and their attitudes towards one another are becoming more friendly.
Want to secretly transport goods, just make a phone call in advance, and the other side will naturally send someone to take care of it; Want to hunt down someone or investigate who, can quickly get a lot of intelligence; Just like Mo Xiaobai sent someone to Kaiyuan County to investigate that Wu Dawei, everything was clear at once, if Miaodao Pavilion went to investigate itself, even after ten days and half a month, it may not be able to investigate so thoroughly.
Su Tang clearly saw a trend, the connection between different places will become closer and closer, maybe in a few years, maybe in decades or even hundreds of years, a super giant alliance will inevitably emerge.
Soon, Su Tang couldn't help but laugh again. A small county town's small leader, thinking about such things was a bit too ridiculous...
Pushing open the door, Su Tang walked out slowly. Maybe one day he would see Long Qi again and have a chat with him, who knows if he had similar thoughts too.
As they passed through the front hall, the wandering warriors inside saw Su Tang and stood up one after another, with an attitude more respectful than the last. For them, it was better to offend anyone else rather than Su Tang. Not giving them a commission would be considered lenient; giving them a dangerous commission, intentionally concealing information, and then handing it over to them - at that time, they wouldn't even know how they died.
Su Tang was very easy-going and chatted with several familiar warriors for a few sentences before continuing on his way out.
Su Tang had thought of just taking a casual stroll and clearing his mind, but before he could walk far, a surprised voice suddenly came from the side: "Young Master???"
Su Tang looked in the direction of the voice and saw a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes rushing towards him, grinning foolishly. He was taken aback: "You are... Bao Ping?"
"Ha, young master, you still remember me!" The young man walked over with a big laugh, stretching out his hand to pat Luo Cheng's shoulder, but then reacted and awkwardly put his hand down.
"What are you doing here?" Su Tang asked with a smile. The young man in front of him was named Zhao Baoping, the son of Zhao Tiejiang from the fort.
"Master, I was just going to ask you, what brings you to Changshan County?" Zhao Baoping called out.
"I'll just take a walk." Su Tang said.
"Young master, it's not me saying this, but you should have come out and broadened your horizons long ago! Staying in that place for a lifetime, what kind of prospects can you have?" Zhao Baoping said, then turned around to look: "Young master, come, I'll introduce you to a few friends." After finishing speaking, he pulled Su Tang's arm and walked into the wine shop.
Su Tang had nothing to do, and seeing Zhao Baoping, who had been together since childhood, couldn't bear to lose face, so as not to be looked down upon when returning to the castle by Zhao Tiejiang, he followed Zhao Baoping into the tavern.
"Hanuo, Gu Xizheng, let me introduce you to this young master of my house, Su Tang." Zhao Baoping exclaimed with gestures, looking extremely delighted.
Hua Nuo and Gu Xi Zheng were both around twenty years old, with dark complexions, as if they had been traveling outside for many years. When Zhao Bao Ping brought over a stranger, and they heard that he was the young master of the Zhao family, they looked bewildered, seemingly unsure of how to address him.
"Just call me Su Tang." said Su Tang.
"How can that be, Master?!" Zhao Baoping's eyes widened. In his understanding, hierarchy and distinction of ranks were to be strictly observed. Moreover, it was Old Man Su who had taken them in, father and son, which made him their family's great benefactor. No matter what time passed, he would never forget that.
"It's not like we're in a fortress, so let's just relax." Su Tang said with a smile.
"Then let's call him Su Shao." The one called Huano had a brighter mind and came up with a compromise.
After all, it's a respectful title, Zhao Baoping hesitated for a moment and reluctantly accepted. He then carefully poured a cup of wine for Su Tang, while Hua Nuo and Gu Xiren chimed in from the side, obviously having a very close relationship with Zhao Baoping.
Su Tang has been hiding in the Miao Dao Pavilion for several days, partly to avoid drinking. Others didn't mention it, but Bai Zhenyu from the White family alone had looked for him several times. According to Long Qi's intention, he should go out and take a walk more often, but Su Tang felt that was purely a waste of time, so he stayed in the secret room of the Miao Dao Pavilion to read through materials.
Su Tang licked his lips and finally picked up the wine glass, clinking it with Zhao Baoping and others.
Just then, a middle-aged man dressed in attire walked into the tavern, Zhao Baoping and Hua Nuo, Gu Xi hurriedly went up to greet him, smiling and respectfully leading the middle-aged man to the table.
Su Tang looked up at the newcomer, not speaking a word. As the leader of Miao Dao Pavilion, he was well aware that he had gained recognition from several respected figures. Su Tang's demeanor had already begun to subtly change.
There's something called "aura", when accompanying a girlfriend to the mall, people with 100 yuan and 1 million yuan in their pockets have vastly different gazes and complexions when looking at goods.
The middle-aged man observed Su Tang and then smiled: "Zhao, old brother, aren't you going to introduce us?"
"Brother Guan, this is the young master of my family, Su Tang." Zhao Baoping hastily said: "Young Master, Brother Guan is the manager of the White family in Changshan County. In these few years, we have been fortunate to have Brother Guan take care of us, otherwise we would have ended up on the streets."
Su Tang smiled and nodded slightly.
"What's the use of saying those useless things?" the middle-aged man said with a smile.
"Brother Guan, what's going on?" Hua Nuo asked anxiously.
"It's all settled." The middle-aged man's face turned serious, and he said solemnly: "I'm telling you, don't slack off in front of others. Originally, they didn't think much of you people at all. I spent half a day persuading them, and only because of my reputation did they reluctantly agree."
"Brother Guan, if it weren't for you, we..." Zhao Baoping let out a long sigh, his eyes reddening slightly, clearly very moved.
"Heh heh... Alright, you all go back and get ready. We'll set off early tomorrow morning." the middle-aged man said.
"Tomorrow morning?" Hua Nuo was taken aback: "Didn't they say that the Miao Dao Pavilion's plaque removal requires at least three days? We haven't even gone to hang the plaque yet..."
The middle-aged man almost spat out the wine in his mouth and shouted: "You've only pulled seven or eight carts of Zangqing fruit, and you want to go to Miaodao Pavilion to entrust a mission? Are you crazy?"
"Brother Guan, didn't you just say it was all settled......" Hua Nuo said timidly.
"I... I mean, I've found someone for you! They'll escort you to Kaiyuan County!"
"Smuggling goods?! Zhao Baoping and others' faces changed drastically, all turning somewhat pale."
"Preposterous!" The middle-aged man was both angry and anxious: "What do you think the Miao Dao Pavilion is? Do you think a few carts of hidden goods are private goods?" In fact, he was right. The Miao Dao Pavilion only accepted commissions that met certain specifications. If the West family lost a chicken or the East family wanted to find someone to beat up their romantic rival, all sorts of trivial matters would come knocking on the door, and the Miao Dao Pavilion would become a laughingstock.
