The middle-aged man who came to deliver the food greeted Ren Xiaosu and was about to leave after putting down the food. Luo Lan grumbled for a bit in the yard, “Stop right there! As the elder brother of the Qing Consortium’s CEO, shouldn’t I get some respect too? Why didn’t you all deliver any food to us?! I’m Qing Zhen’s elder brother!”
But the middle-aged man ignored him.
Luo Lan stopped yelling when he saw them leaving. Then he took a closer look at the food delivered by them. “Wow, these are ingredients for hot pot. The beef slices are already marinated, the tripe is served on ice, and there’s even a broth!”
Ren Xiaosu and the others looked at each other. They had also eaten hot pot before, but they never really had any meat dishes in the past.
The refugees would always have their hot pot in a nine-sectioned pot. In this case, the nine grids were not used for separating the ingredients while cooking, but rather because everyone was poor. Therefore, those who gathered together to eat in one hot pot would get a grid each so that no one would be able to take advantage of the other.
But back then, the grids were not fixed and were actually only bamboo strips. Therefore, there would always be some who liked stealing other people’s food through the bottom of the pot.
Even though there were plainclothes cops outside keeping watch, they were finally able to get some good rest now that they had arrived at this new place. Besides, they even got food delivered to them.
Just as Ren Xiaosu had said, the most important thing for them now was to wait for him to recover rather than cause any further trouble.
Several tables had been set up in the spacious yard that had three entrances. Up to 100 people could sleep in here. 30 people could easily live here.
When the broth in the hot pot started boiling, Luo Lan said as he started eating, “Did Yang Xiaojin get you all into Stronghold 88? Why didn’t you head to the Qing Consortium’s territory to look for my brother instead?”
“Why should we go to the Qing Consortium?” Ren Xiaosu glanced at him. “Your Qing Consortium is in utter chaos at the moment. We might even get implicated if we head there.”
“It’s better than coming here to the Yang Consortium at this time, especially since you’re with the Saboteurs,” Luo Lan said.
“Why do you say that?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.
“Do you know that most of the Saboteurs have already left the Yang Consortium?” Luo Lan said.
“Yeah,” Ren Xiaosu answered.
“Now that the main faction is holding power, the Saboteurs are a marginalized group. Furthermore, the Saboteurs have always been isolated from the organization and became an independent force of its own, so that made the Yang Consortium’s Board extremely upset. As such, they ended up parting ways with each other!” Luo Lan said with a chuckle, “I must say that I’m really impressed with the Saboteurs since the entire Yang Consortium could not even do anything about them. This is something that can only be done by a group of supernatural beings.”
“You’re still praising them when the Saboteurs are trying to destroy your nuclear test site?” Ren Xiaosu said.
“Hehe, there’s no contradiction at all.” Luo Lan laughed and said, “I’m just telling the truth. I don’t have to belittle others to make myself look good. Besides, they won’t be able to find our site. No one can find it!”
“Alright.” Only now did Ren Xiaosu realize the Saboteurs were actually disliked within the Yang Consortium. “By the way, how are you going to leave the Yang Consortium? They probably won’t let you go anymore, right?”
Luo Lan suddenly changed the subject. “Hahaha, have some tripe. Y’know, there’s a particular way to eat tripe. I’ll teach you, after you dip it into the broth—”
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But Ren Xiaosu suddenly grabbed Luo Lan’s wrist tightly. “There’s no need to teach me. You’ve already taught us using half a plate of tripe. We can handle it ourselves.”
…
The north of Stronghold 88 was the rich side of the stronghold. The entire area was covered in greenery, a stretch of garden manors.
In a 3,210-square meter villa, servants were bustling in and out of the dining room. Two steel knives with jewels mounted in their hilts were hanging from the wall in the dining room. They looked extremely valuable. But this exquisitely crafted melee weapon was just a decoration in the era of firearms and explosives. They would only be touched when the servants were cleaning them.
There was also the symbol of a bronze ram that was exclusive to the Yang Consortium on the hilts. It was said that the founder of the Yang Consortium had almost starved to death in the wilderness a very long time ago. But before he could die from starvation, a ram came up to him and knelt down in front of him, willingly offering itself to be eaten.
If Ren Xiaosu learned about this story, he would probably flip the table.
The servants placed all kinds of dishes onto the table, while there were only three people seated at the long table. They were Yang Xiaojin and a middle-aged couple.
The middle-aged man rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt and said, “Xiaojin, I heard that you brought some refugees back?”
Yang Xiaojin stayed silent for a moment before answering, “That’s right, Third Uncle.”
“It’s not a good habit to be making friends with refugees.” Yang Xiaojin’s third uncle picked up his chopsticks. “The class of a person’s friend determines the class of said person as well. You’re allowed to go outside because we don’t have to worry about you and so that you can broaden your horizons. But don’t let yourself get carried away, and don’t you pick up those bad habits from your aunt either.”
Yang Xiaojin said calmly, “They’re different.”
Currently, the head of the Yang Consortium’s Board was very old. So half of the organization’s affairs had been handed over to Yang Xiaojin’s third uncle, Yang Yu’an.
The woman seated across from Yang Xiaojin said, “Your third uncle is also doing this for your own good. If your parents were still around, they would say the same too. Refugees aren’t educated, and they don’t have any manners. There are also no topics in common to discuss when dining together. Therefore, it’s better not to have any close interactions with them. If you want to help them, you should just offer them an appropriate amount of help.”
When the woman said to offer help to the refugees, her expression looked like she meant it as performing charity.
To Yang Xiaojin, she somehow felt that the vision of her third uncle, Yang Yu’an, and her third aunt, Meng Rong, was still stuck at the level of normal people. However, this world had changed. The quality and strength displayed by that young man had already surpassed most supernatural beings.
However, that was not the most important issue here.
Yang Xiaojin put her chopsticks down. “I’m full.”
“I still have some important matters to discuss with you.” Yang Yu’an said, “Currently, there shouldn’t be any issues with the battles at the front lines. The opponent we’re facing next will be the Qing Consortium. Qing Zhen is an ambitious man, so it’s not a good thing for our Yang Consortium that he succeeded in seizing power. Have the Saboteurs located the Qing Consortium’s test site yet?”
“No.” Yang Xiaojin shook her head. “But I doubt they’ll resort to using that kind of weapon in this war.”
“We still have to guard against it nonetheless,” Yang Yu’an said. Currently, the Yang Consortium still supported some of the Saboteurs’ activities. Actually, the reason he was willing to let Yang Xiaojin go out previously was that he was hoping that the Saboteurs could locate the Qing Consortium’s test site so they could destroy the last unknown factor of their expansion plans.
Yang Yu’an continued, “There’ll be a lengthy conflict with the Qing Consortium in the future, so we should also plan ahead and make the Zong Consortium in the north our ally before the Qing Consortium does so. On one hand, it will help cover our rear. On the other hand, our combined forces will act as a deterrent to the Qing Consortium. It’s not only him who can form alliances. Our Yang Consortium is capable of that as well.”
Yang Xiaojin looked at Yang Yu’an. “Third Uncle, what are you getting at?”
“Someone from the Zong Consortium will be arriving in a few days. I want you to go and welcome them,” Yang Yu’an said.