Chapter 319: The Difficult Situation
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
“Xie Yujia is your girlfriend, so she can go for you if you couldn’t make it!” The guys who were going to celebrate Huang Jianfeng’s birthday kicked up a fuss after seeing Xie Yujia volunteering herself to go in Hao Ren’s place.
Hao Ren didn’t want to neglect his friends.h.i.+p with the guys. However, he had to head over to Zhao Yanzi’s place to see where the situation lied.
“I’ll come back if I have time,” Hao Ren said.
Xie Yujia slightly nodded toward Hao Ren, setting his mind at ease.
“What are you arguing about! Time for cla.s.s!”
Bald Professor Zhang walked into the cla.s.sroom with books in his hand.
The cla.s.s suddenly quiet down and got ready for the lesson.
After cla.s.s, Huang Jianfeng and the other guys headed to the Hongji Square for dinner, and Xie Yujia went along with Ma Lina. Ma Lina had gotten close to the guys since the trip to Xinan City last time. Therefore, she kept chatting with them and didn’t feel awkward.
Hao Ren went to the bus stop to take the bus straight over to Zhao Yanzi’s house. Inspectors were allowed to travel freely in the sky, but it wouldn’t be a wise idea to fly since this was a personal issue.
By the time he got off the bus and walked to Zhao Yanzi’s home, it was exactly five o’clock.
Zhao Hongyu was cooking in the kitchen, and Zhao Guang and Zhao Yanzi hadn’t gotten back yet. Usually, they would be back around twenty past five, so Hao Ren could spend this 20 minutes helping Zhao Hongyu with housework.
“Auntie,” Hao Ren walked into the kitchen. U.p..dated by BoxNo vel.com
“You are here, Ren.” Zhao Hongyu smiled at Hao Ren.
“Um,” He rolled up his sleeves and started rinsing the vegetables beside Zhao Hongyu.
Since vegetables took less time to cook and would get cold quickly, she usually prepared them in the end. When the vegetables were done, the meat dishes on the stove were ready as well; that was exactly when Zhao Yanzi and Zhao Guang would arrive, and all of them could have a hot dinner immediately.
All these were carefully scheduled by Zhao Hongyu when she went grocery shopping in advance. Hao Ren thought about how nice his life would be in the future if Zhao Yanzi were half virtuous as her mom.
The two of them working together undoubtedly accelerated the speed. Zhao Hongyu was not only a top architect but also a great cook. Her entire cooking process was as smooth and elegant as a performance.
“Mom! I’m back!”
Zhao Yanzi’s clear and melodious voice came from the living room.
She ran into the steaming kitchen and realized that Hao Ren was already there. She snorted at him; she invited Hao Ren over for dinner on Sunday night when they left Zhao Hongyu’s studio, but Hao Ren didn’t accept the invitation.
“Go wash your hands now that you are back. Rest for a bit in the living room and wait for your dad; the dinner will be ready in a moment,” Zhao Hongyu pinched Zhao Yanzi’s little nose and said with love.
“Oh!” Zhao Yanzi dashed out like a bird in her sky-blue school uniform.
Hao Ren helped Zhao Hongyu and placed the dishes on the dining table. The door opened all of a sudden, and Zhao Guang walked in with his bag. He took off his coat and hung it in on the hanger beside the door.
“Dad!” Zhao Yanzi shouted cheerfully. Then, she immediate zipped her mouth when she noticed Zhao Guang’s gloomy expression.
“Get ready for dinner,” Zhao Hongyu wiped her hands and said softly.
Without saying a word, Zhao Guang walked to the dining table and sat down at the head of the table.
Zhao Yanzi had no idea what was going on. Without hesitating, she walked to the dining table timidly and sat down beside Hao Ren.
From her experience, she could tell that her dad was probably upset about some trouble she had caused. But after recalling the past few days, she felt like she had been behaving pretty well.
“Could it be… Dad learned about us sneaking into Fifth Heaven?” she thought.
Zhao Yanzi slightly turned to Hao Ren, inquiring for more information with caution.
Yet, Hao Ren looked very calm and stiff, which set her off. She stomped hard on Hao Ren’s foot under the table.
She thought to herself sadly, “We went to Fifth Heaven together. We should both be in trouble for it. How come you are so calm!”
But she knew that if she caused trouble with someone else, Zhao Guang would always scold her more in most cases.
Zhao Yanzi picked up her chopsticks carefully, waiting for Zhao Guang to say something.
“Eat first; if there’s an issue, we’ll talk about it after dinner.” Zhao Hongyu eased the situation.
Zhao Guang picked up his chopsticks, thought for a bit, and put them back down.
No one dared to start eating since he put his chopsticks down.
Zhao Yanzi was worried. She nervously put the chopsticks down and looked to her mom, seeking for help.
Although Zhao Guang always looked serious at home, it was the first time that he was this serious.
Zhao Hongyu ignored Zhao Yanzi; she held her breath and looked at Zhao Guang calmly.
“Hem…” Zhao Guang coughed loudly.
“I’ll confess, I’ll confess, Dad,” Zhao Yanzi said quickly, “I shouldn’t have gone to Fifth Heaven! I shouldn’t have asked Hao Ren to take me up there! And… and… I shouldn’t have taken anything from the human cultivators!”
She took out a storage bag from her pocket, placing the short sword Hao Ren gave her onto the table.
She knew from experience that as long as she fessed up, Zhao Guang would lessen the punishment. Therefore, she made a confession before Zhao Guang said anything.
Zhao Guang was surprised by Zhao Yanzi’s words, and Zhao Yanzi was stupefied by Zhao Guang’s reaction.
“Ah? Dad didn’t know about us going to Fifth Heaven?” she got nervous.
“I’ll deal with your issue later.” Zhao Guang looked stern.
She blinked, thinking, “Ah? Even going to Fifth Heaven is not a big deal in comparison?”
This completely befuddled her little head.
Zhao Guang slowly turned to Hao Ren.
Hao Ren automatically sat up straight as Zhao Guang fixed his eyes onto him.
“Today, we are talking about Hao Ren’s issue,” Zhao Guang said word by word.
Hao Ren’s heart was cold, but he laughed awkwardly since he wasn’t as panicky as Zhao Yanzi.
“Elder Sun told me about your trip to the martial arts dojo today. I believe you are aware of the situation, right?” Zhao Guang continued.
Zhao Yanzi looked at Zhao Guang and then at Hao Ren, having no idea what was going on, “Um…what situation?”
“Yes, I’m aware. I came here today to tutor Zi as well as to hear what you think about it,” Hao Ren said.
“We have two options now.” Zhao Guang pushed his chopsticks forward, demonstrating that he didn’t plan to eat yet. “First, the East Ocean Dragon Clan can call for an early Dragon Tribe Conference. Second, if we could get a Heavenly Dragon Realm grandmaster who could truly dominate over other forces.”
“Dragon Tribe Conference? Doesn’t it happen every two years?” Zhao Yanzi asked, but she immediately shut her mouth when Zhao Hongyu looked in her direction.
“If it were the Dragon Clan Conference, it would be a very tough negotiation. The West Ocean would make a big deal out of this and make us East Ocean pay their loss. Otherwise, East Ocean will be isolated. If we can obtain a Heavenly Dragon Realm grandmaster, they wouldn’t have much to say because we will be much more powerful than the other dragon clans.”
Hao Ren nodded. He understood that the latter option was almost impossible. Therefore, a negotiation seemed to be the only way to save East Ocean.
“What would it be like if we are to call for the early conference?” Hao Ren asked.
“The West Ocean Dragon Palace is one of the four ocean dragon palaces no matter what. They possess almost one-sixth of Qian-level and Kun-level masters in the Dragon Tribe. For us, it is a good thing that the West Ocean Dragon Palace is destroyed. But for the entire Dragon Tribe, our act was nothing but small destruction of our own kind.”
Zhao Guang’s tone was cold, showing his att.i.tude toward this situation.
Hao Ren nodded again. When he went to the West Ocean Dragon Palace with Little Daoist Zhen, he didn’t think enough, and he also didn’t expect the dharma treasure to be that powerful.
It was a great feeling when destroying half of the West Ocean Dragon Palace. However, it put the East Ocean Dragon Clan under the accusation of violating alliance. This trapped East Ocean in an awkward position in the public’s eye.
Now the West Ocean Dragon Clan lost so much resources and face that it was beyond repair, they wanted to drag the East Ocean Dragon Clan down as well. They acted as the weak party and painted East Ocean into an invader.
All the dragon clans could see the damage dealt to the West Ocean Dragon Palace, and it was impossible for West Ocean to destroy half of what they possessed to put on a show as the victim.
Therefore, all the powers made a sudden switch from respecting the East Ocean Dragon Clan to taking precautions against it. They even reduced the number of regular interactions.
Instead of benefitting from the defeat of the West Ocean Dragon Clan, the East Ocean Dragon Clan earned nothing and was isolated by all the other dragon clans.
On the contrary, the West Ocean Dragon Clan obtained sympathy from many other dragon clans, and it secretly became the core of the ‘Anti-East Ocean Alliance’.
In short, the East Ocean Dragon Clan was faced with the most critical diplomatic crisis.
Once abandoned by the Dragon Tribe, the East Ocean Dragon Clan would sure foresee its decline. Yet, the West Ocean Dragon Palace still had a chance to rise since only the wealth and strength were damaged instead of key diplomatic relations.h.i.+ps.
This was what Zhao Guang was worried about.
Hao Ren should never destroy the West Ocean Dragon Clan by turning half of its palaces into ruins.
“Tell me what you are thinking, Uncle,” Hao Ren thought for a bit and asked.
Hao Ren didn’t plan to blame this on Zhen Congming since he was just a little boy. Hao Ren was the one who used the conch and destroyed the dragon palace, and all Zhen Congming did was to offer him the opportunity.
“We will try to save the situation at the Dragon Tribe Conference. The worst-case scenario the elders came up with,” Zhao Guang looked into Hao Ren’s eyes and said, “Is that the East Ocean Dragon Clan will have to sever all ties with you.”