Chapter 918, Paying respect to Lord Deputy Envoy
Ye Qingyu gave a smile, saying, “Oh? They"re all here. Good. Let them all in.”
Soon, the chiefs of the three major chambers of commerce, including Xie Yuyun, arrived at Fire Grove under the escorting of the armoured Light soldiers.
“Chief Xie, Chief Li, and Chief Zheng, you have arrived on time.” Seeing that his "companions" had finally come according to the plan, there was a complacent twinkle in Li Wanhai"s eyes. He nodded at the three chiefs of the three major chambers of commerce, before he swept a disdainful glance over the officials of the Heaven Wasteland Empire and smiled coldly. “What, now this has proved that what I said is true? Are you panicking? Now hurry and take a stand, there is still time, as long as you sanction that Mad Dog Ye, then our four chambers of commerce will continue to cooperate with your Heaven Wasteland Empire, as well as give a favourable policy... Hehe, isn"t that right, Chief Xie?”
In the end, Li Wanhai turned to the chief of the True Spirit Chamber of Commerce, Xie Yuyun, and secretly made a wink at him, motioning him to quickly act according to the plan that they had previously discussed in the hidden chamber, and push Ye Qingyu into a helpless situation.
At this moment, Li Wanhai felt incomparably complacent.
He thought his plan and response were simply timely and perfect. Now, as long as he finished off this matter well, then it would reduce his responsibility regarding the death of Fu Yan, and he would be forgiven by President Fu Tianao. After all, the president"s conduct and action had always been the interests of the chamber of commerce.
But he did not notice that the way that Xie Yuyun was looking at him was as if he was looking at a dead man.
The chiefs of the other two major chambers of commerce did not even take a glance at Li Wanhai, as though they had never knew the man.
Since the situation had developed to this state, that fool Li Wanhai had offended Deputy Envoy Ye Qingyu, then there was no need to remind that fool anymore, and it would be better to let him fend for himself.
“Xie Yuyun of the True Spirit Chamber of Commerce pays his respects to Lord Deputy Envoy.”
Xie Yuyun moved a few steps forward, came to stand in front of Ye Qingyu, straightened his clothes, and then said in a loud and clear voice. He then directly knelt down, and incredibly respectfully kowtowed, like a junior paying respect to an elder.
Li Wanhai was speechless.
He rubbed his ears in disbelief, and could not believe what he had just heard and seen.
That Xie Yuyun, what does that mean? Didn"t they have a plan that they discussed before?
Why would he kneel to that Mad Dog Ye... what was going on?
Yet before Li Wanhai could figure out anything, something more shocking and infuriating had happened.
“Li Yu of the Divine Symbol Chamber of Commerce pays his respects to Lord Deputy Envoy.”
“Zhen s.h.i.+ of the Engraved Cauldron Chamber of Commerce pays his respects to Lord Deputy Envoy.”
The chiefs of the other two major chambers of commerce also knelt down in front of Ye Qingyu, just like Xie Yuyun. Their posture could be described as extremely polite, or even more respectful than Xie Yuyun.
Such a formal polite behaviour was close to that seen between the monarch and his subjects.
Everyone around were dumbfounded.
The courtiers at the banquet were all astonished.
Even Gao Han, who incomparably respected Ye Qingyu, as well as Lin Zheng, Shang Rui, Hang Weilin and the others who had extreme trust in Ye Qingyu were also completely baffled. They did not know what was happening. It should be said that they had met the chiefs of the major chambers of commerce more than once during the previous business meetings, and not only were they arrogant every time, they looked at them with disdain and their words and actions were full of superiority. They simply did not take the officials of the Heaven Wasteland Empire seriously. It was only because of the wealth of resources and potential that Heaven Wasteland Domain had that they only occasionally said a few words to them. Moreover, they left the majority of the affairs to the ordinary people of the chamber of commerce to negotiate with them...
But now they directly knelt down and bowed.
It was a kowtow.
What was going on?
Lin Zheng also felt that his brain was not enough.
Wait a minute... just now, the chiefs of the three major chambers of commerce addressed Palace Lord Ye Qingyu as "Lord Deputy Envoy", what does it mean? Deputy Envoy? What kind of official position would this be, that it could make the chiefs of the three major chambers of commerce act so respectfully?
Just as many people were racking their brain trying to think about what was going on, Li Wanhai on the other hand was completely enraged.
What Xie Yuyun and the others had done was simply a slap in the face. Thinking of how he had said such harsh words before in front of so many people, Li Wanhai felt an anger of betrayal. He pointed to Xie Yuyun and others, and instinctively roared, “You... you guys... what are you doing? Have we not already planned to revolt together to get rid of that Mad Dog Ye, you... you"re all on your knees... you...”
Before his voice faded away.
“The one with the surname Li, you don"t have to watch what you eat, but you have to watch what you say. When did we plan to revolt with you?” Xie Yuyun looked at Li Wanhai with an unfamiliar gaze as if the two people had never met before. “My True Spirit Chamber of Commerce came to Heaven Wasteland Domain to work with the Heaven Wasteland Empire. As a chamber of commerce of the Human Race, the True Spirit Chamber of Commerce is honoured to be selected by the Empress to become the first group of cooperation with the Heaven Wasteland Empire. Even if it there isn"t profit, we are still willing to offer our strength for the rise of the Heaven Wasteland Empire. How would I negotiate with you to get rid of Deputy Envoy Ye Qingyu, are your dreaming?”
“You... I...” Shocked and furious, Li Wanhai could not even speak for a moment.
Now that the situation had reached this point, he felt that it wasn"t quite right.
“Chief Li Wanhai must never say anything like that again, it"s as if our True Spirit Chamber of Commerce has a very good relations.h.i.+p with your chamber of commerce.” Xie Yuyun looked at Li Wanhai with a mocking expression, “I am not close with you at all, our chamber of commerce has always only had business dealings with you, as well as a compet.i.tive relations.h.i.+p. Please pay attention to what you say, Chief Li Wanhai.” ”
“Yes, it is the same with my Divine Symbol Chamber of Commerce. We have nothing to do with the Sky Suppressing Chamber of Commerce. That Li Wanhai is stupid, arrogant and willful to offend Deputy Envoy Ye Qingyu. He really deserves to die.” Li Yu, the head of the Divine Symbol Chamber of Commerce also immediately declare their position afterwards.
“These days I have been disrespectful. I feel really ashamed. Today I, Zhen s.h.i.+, will declare my stance in front of everybody and Lord Deputy Envoy Ye Qingyu. With an order from Lord Ye Qingyu, my Engraved Cauldron Chamber of Commerce is willing to cooperate fully with Lord to do anything.” The chief of Engraved Cauldron Chamber of Commerce was more ruthless, blatantly expressed his stance, and acted extremely humble and courteous.
Because Zhen s.h.i.+ knew well that his situation was different from the Divine Symbol Chamber of Commerce and the True Spirit Chamber of Commerce, in that the two had only planned to attack Heaven Wasteland Domain and had not really carried it out yet. However, the Engraved Cauldron Chamber of Commerce had really committed a real crime, and was accountable for the disappearance of the Brute Race. At that time they just thought it was a group of foolish and ignorant barbarians, and that it would not matter even if they were dead. Also he had done too much of similar things in the other domains, and even if they were discovered by the people of Heaven Wasteland Domain, they also could not do anything to them.
But now, trouble was coming.
Given Ye Qingyu"s strength, he certainly would be able to find out the truth about the disappearance of the northwest Brute Race, and at that time the Engraved Cauldron Chamber of Commerce would really be in big trouble. Therefore, he had no choice but to make a hasty last-minute effort to win the favour of Ye Qingyu.
Ye Qingyu simply gave a faint smile, and did not say a word.
He did not even cast a glance at the three men. Instead he turned around and walked slowly towards the main seat in the depths of the banquet venue.
At this moment, when the officials and ministers present at the banquet looked at Ye Qingyu again, the expression in their eyes had already completely changed.
If at the beginning of the banquet, everybody only had respect and reverence for Ye Qingyu, then that had now become awe and fear.
The Ye Qingyu that could make the chiefs of such high and mighty chambers of commerce kneel down was not the Ye Qingyu who they knew.
This was a supreme existence that they couldn"t understand, and did not belong to Heaven Wasteland Domain.
As Lin Zheng recovered from the great shock, he came to realize another thing——the chiefs of the three chambers of commerce were still kneeling on the ground. If kneeling down was just to show respect and courtesy, then they had already paid their respect, yet they were still on their knees. Their actions simply could not be explained with etiquette or respect. Lin Zheng, who had a deep understanding of the officialdom, understood that it was clearly extreme fear that made them kneel down and dared not to get back up.
Deputy Envoy!
What Deputy Envoy was it that could make Xie Yuyun and the others so terrified?
He couldn"t figure it out.
The Fire Grove was so quiet that even the drop of a needle could be heard.
The atmosphere was extremely bizarre and solemn.
Li Wanhai"s face flickered between green and white.
He had already begun to come out of his trance.
From the business dealings over the years, Li Wanhai had a clear understanding of what kind of people Xie Yuyun, Li Yu and Zheng s.h.i.+ were, as well as their character.
To say that these three people had been stung by their conscience, repented their past mistakes, wanted to turn over a new leaf, and give up the profit and desire in order to wholeheartedly help the rise of the Heaven Wasteland Empire was really as impossible as seeing a ghost. There was only one possibility that could make these three cunning men leave their dignity and status behind and kneel down in front of so many people as well as say such flattering words——They were really afraid of Ye Qingyu, not only did they fear him, perhaps even the people behind them were afraid to provoke Ye Qingyu.
What was going on?
Li Wanhai asked himself again and again.
He realized that there was most likely some information that he did not know of.
He also came to understand that he might have made a huge mistake today.
Li Wanhai looked up, and saw that on the main seat in the distance, Ye Qingyu, clad in a white robe, was sitting calmly and holding a wine gla.s.s in his hand. The way he looked at him with that half smile and those eyes made him both fearful and furious. For some reason, he vaguely wanted to instinctively retreat, but seeing the look in Ye Qingyu"s eyes, he grew furious again.
“Hahaha, good, good.” Li Wanhai looked up and howled with laughter. “The chiefs of the top chambers of commerce had unexpectedly kowtowed to a mad dog of a lower domain. Hahaha, you three people really don"t want your dignity. You have really lost the face of the True Spirit, Divine Symbol, and Engraved Cauldron Chambers of Commerce... Then, kneel to him. I, Li Wanhai and the Sky Suppressing Chamber of Commerce still want our face. Lin Zheng, I will ask you again, today will you give an explanation to our Sky Suppressing Chamber of Commerce?” ——