Talisman Emperor

“Hi, I’m Wu Chuanliu, I’m one of the staff from the capital’s Administrative Council.” The man who was wearing a windbreaker smiled as he took the initiative to introduce himself.

Chen Lan shook his hand and said, “You should be aware of our identities, so let’s cut to the chase. What exactly was all of that?”

Wu Chuanliu smiled and said, “It was just a tiny misunderstanding. I heard Young Master Zhao Zhicheng suffered an accident and was slightly injured during a reunion dinner.”

“Oh, I understand now.” Chen Lan instantly understood that it was actually the Zhao Family that was pulling the strings!

Mu Qing clearly understood it as well, and her beautiful brows couldn’t help but raise as she spoke angrily, “Why are they doing all of this? It was clearly Liang Liang who hit him and not us!”

Wu Chuanliu smiled yet didn’t explain.

Chen Lan shrugged and said, “It’s very simple. The Zhao Family doesn’t dare to offend Liang Liang, so they can only vent their anger on me. I just never expected that they would actually choose Dragon Rise County as the location to act against me, and it was even on new year’s eve.... Looks like the Zhao Family doesn’t intend to let me have a peaceful new year.”

Wu Chuanliu was stunned. He was just about to say something when Chen Lan had taken Mu Qing’s hand, paid the bill, and left the restaurant in the hummer.

Wu Chuanliu shook his head and returned to his seat.

There was an old man seated on the other side of the table, and he was peeling a salted egg in a neither swift nor slow manner. He seemed very carefree.

“Senior Lin, I seem to have said something I shouldn’t have.” Wu Chuanliu thought for a long time before he spoke softly, “I seem to have sown discord between the Zhao Family and Mu Family. It’ll probably cause a huge amount of trouble if those old men from those families are to find out.”

The old man finished eating the egg before he spoke slowly, “Why care about all of that? Liang Liang even lent her hummer to that pair of youths. That’s all we need to know.”

Wu Chuanliu thought for a moment, and then he couldn’t help but arouse admiration as he said, “It’s all thanks to Senior Lin’s guidance or even I wouldn’t have been able to think of that.”

Indeed. The entire conflict had arisen because those police officers intended to arrest Chen Lan and Mu Qing with the excuse that they were using the army’s insignia without authorization. If it was at any other time, then it wouldn’t be a big deal. But it was a big deal right now. Because that was Liang Liang’s personal car, and that specific insignia utilized on it was recorded as A rank throughout the military, Ministry of Defense, and the Imperial Security Bureau. So, how could it possibly be fake?

Under such circumstances, regardless of whether it was the Zhao Family or Mu Family, both of them could blame everything on the insignia. As for who would take the blame in the end, it was definitely those unfortunate souls in police uniform.

So, Wu Chuanliu was able to rest at ease when he thought up to this point.

Senior Lin seemed to have thought of something and sighed. “Wu, my boy, have a little more to eat. We’ll probably be unable to have a proper new year’s eve dinner today.”

Wu Chuanliu was stunned, and then he nodded.

If Chen Lan knew that the reason Wu Chuanliu had helped them deal with the situation had merely been because Wu Chuanliu had recognized the hummer as Liang Liang’s and not because of him or Mu Qing, one could only imagine what he would think.

However, it made sense because only a small handful of people in the entire empire knew of his true identity.

...

Dragon Rise Guest House.

Zhao Zhicheng was dressed stylishly as always, but the injuries on his face hadn’t healed completely. So, his face seemed quite swollen, and it spoiled his handsome appearance.

At this moment, he had surprise covering his face, “You’re telling me that the Secretary of the Commission of Politics and Law in this tiny county town stopped them?”

A middle aged man in a suit who was standing at the side said, “Exactly. I made a call to him, and I found out that Secretary Chen received a call from Secretary Wu of the Imperial Administrative Council.”

The Imperial Administrative Council!

Such a title was horrifyingly powerful, and it was absolutely one of the most authoritative councils in the empire. So as the Secretary of such a council, Wu Chuanliu’s identity was simple at all.

At this moment, Zhao Zhicheng couldn’t help but frown, “Was it Mu Qing who asked Wu Chuanliu to lend a hand through the Mu Clan’s networks?”

That was the crux of the matter.

The middle aged man in a suit hesitated for a moment before he said, “It didn’t seem like that. Wu Chuanliu is in Dragon Rise County right now.”

Zhao Zhicheng’s pupils constricted, “What’s he doing here? How could someone of his status come to such a remote place during new year’s eve?”

When he spoke up to this point, Zhao Zhicheng asked, “Do you know what he’s doing here?”

The middle aged man shook his head. He was puzzled as well because he wasn’t even aware of Dragon Rise County’s existence until he came here.

The reason he was here was entirely because Zhao Zhicheng was anxious to take revenge on the young man called Chen Lan, so he had no choice but to follow Zhao Zhicheng here.

In other words, both he and Zhao Zhicheng had only come to Dragon Rise County to teach Chen Lan a lesson. However, he hadn’t imagined that a figure like Wu Chuanliu would actually be at Dragon Rise County as well, and he truly wondered what the reason for it was.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Someone knocked on the door, and it wasn’t long before a strong black clothed man walked in and said, “Young Master, they’ve left the county, and they seem to be heading to Yellow Millet Village. Moreover, I found out that Chen Lan’s hometown is there.”

Zhao Zhicheng frowned, thought for a moment, and then he spoke with slight annoyance, “This truly puzzles me! Why would Qing’qing fall for a useless bookworm like him, and she’s even going to such a lousy place to spend new year’s eve with him. This is simply... simply beyond comprehension!”

“Young Master, what should we do now?” asked the middle aged man who was wearing a suit.

“Let’s forget Wu Chuanliu for now. We’re following them to Yellow Millet Village as well. Let me see exactly how horrible Chen Lan’s hometown is, and I’ll seize this opportunity to have a talk with his family.” Zhao Zhicheng gritted his teeth.

“Young Master, should we be a little ruthless?” asked the middle aged man.

“No, I’m just going to chat with his parents, and I’ll achieve my goal if I’m able to make them ask their son to leave Mu Qing obediently.” Zhao Zhicheng waved his hand.

“But... what if they refuse?” asked the middle aged man.

“If they refuse?” Zhao Zhicheng laughed with ridicule, “We’ll just toss money at them, of course! Bumpkins like them haven’t experienced the world at all, and they lost money the most. I refuse to believe that it won’t work!” His voice was filled with deep disdain.

Zhao Zhicheng immediately led the middle aged man who was wearing a suit and the other strong man out of the guest house, and then they got on a land cruiser and headed to Yellow Millet Village.

...

At the same time, within a motel in Dragon Rise County.

Mu Tianyuan and his wife packed up their luggage, walked out of the motel, got on a black SUV, and then drove off into the distance.

“I hope we won’t be disappointed by the state of that kid’s family.” Mu Tianyuan rubbed his forehead with slight exhaustion as he sat in the car. It was the first time he’d travelled on new year’s eve to such a remote village. Not to mention how arduous the journey was, the key was that his mind was rather heavy.

On one hand, he was worried that his daughter had found a bad match for herself, and on the other hand, he was worried because of the injuries Zhao Zhicheng suffered. The Zhao Family had been constantly pressuring him throughout the last few days, and it made him feel utterly exhausted from dealing with all of this.

“Don’t worry, Liang Liang even lent her hummer to that young man, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” Liu Xiuzhi spoke in a gentle tone.

“Alas, it’s not that I despise the poor and favor the rich, but their living conditions are completely different. How can people who live in two different worlds become united as one? Once they get married, their views on consumption, life, and work would definitely conflict greatly. That’s the greatest misfortune one could suffer during a marriage, and I don’t want Qing’qing to regret her decision.” Mu Tianyuan sighed as he spoke. A daughter was always the most precious child to a father, and he naturally doted on her greatly. So, he was utterly unable to allow his daughter to do as she liked when it came to choosing her husband.

“Why think so much about all of that? We’ll arrive at Yellow Millet Village today, and there’ll naturally be an outcome to all of this once we see the state of his family.” Liu Xiuzhi seemed to be speaking in a relaxed manner, but she was actually rather worried in her heart.

“That’s all we can do.” Mu Tianyuan spoke powerlessly in a soft voice.

Their car left the county town and continued along an extremely muddy and bumpy countryside road. The entire road was extremely rough, and there were no lamp posts at the side of the road, so they were surrounded by complete darkness.

This made Mu Tianyuan feel even worse. After all, it was the new year’s eve. He should have been celebrating happily at home. Never had he imagined that his daughter’s willful decision would exhaust him and his wife to the point they couldn’t even celebrate the new year and even had to suffer a bumpy and muddy journey to a remote village.

...

It wasn’t just Mu Tianyuan and his wife, or just Zhao Zhicheng’s group that were suffering, there was another group.

This group had left even earlier, and they were travelling at high speeds. It was even to the extent that they’d overtaken Chen Lan and Mu Qing who’d left before them.

They were in a total of 9 cars, and every single one of them were black SUVs. If Liang Liang saw these SUVs, she would definitely immediately determine that the tires and performance of these SUVs were even much more superior to her hummer. Not to mention trying to buy them, even Liang Liang found them difficult to obtain.

Wu Chuanliu and Senior Lin were sitting in the same SUV.

“Senior Lin, exactly which influential figure are we going to visit this time?” Wu Chuanliu asked the question that he’d been keeping in his heart until now. All along the way, he’d thought that they were heading to some famous area, but never had he imagined... that they would actually be headed to a remote village. Coupled with Senior Lin’s solemn expression throughout the journey, it made him feel even more curious.”

“You’ll understand once we get there. Remember that you can only watch but not speak.” Senior Lin instructed.

Wu Chuanliu nodded. Since he was able to possess his current status, he was naturally no fool. So the more Senior Lin acted in this way, the surer he was that this journey was absolutely not ordinary.

After all, had anyone ever seen all the peak authoritative figures of the entire empire gathering together and setting out on new year’s eve to pay a visit to someone?

Just thinking about it was horrifying.

Suddenly, Wu Chuanliu seemed to have thought of something, but he shook his head right after.

“What’s wrong?” asked Senior Lin.

“It’s nothing. I just suddenly recalled that Mu Qing’s boyfriend seems to have grown up in Yellow Millet Village.”

Senior Lin was stunned, “What a coincidence.”

Wu Chuanliu smiled, “It really is.” However, he hadn’t that Senior Lin seems to have fallen into deep thought.

...

New year’s eve was a day that all houses were brightly illuminated while fireworks reverberated incessantly. It was the most anticipated and celebrated day throughout the year for ordinary folk.

On the other hand, Chen Lan, Mu Qing, Zhao Zhicheng, Mu Tianyuan, Liu Xiuzhi, Senior Lin, and the others, they were quite exhausted instead.

It couldn’t be helped because heavy snow had covered the entire empire, and it had made the road to Yellow Millet Village become extremely rough and muddy.

Young Master Zhou Zhicheng was already annoyed to the point of cursing incessantly, and his curses were more or less filled with his intentions to never step foot on such a damnable place in his entire lifetime....