Book 4, Chapter 10: Discussion

Chen Chuan followed the secretary into Zhu Xian’s office and found him there. Zhu Xian smiled and beckoned at him to sit down. “Have a seat, Lead Investigator Chen.”

He then instructed his secretary to take out the tea leaves he had been storing as part of his collection. After Chen Chuan sat down, he said, “It’s been two years since we last met, hasn’t it? I still remember the first time I asked you to come here. Back then, I had only just assumed office. Time does fly.”

“Yangzhi City has become much better since two years ago,” Chen Chuan pointed out.

“I benefited from this. I took office after all of you cleaned the house for me. If Black Orchid had still been here, I wouldn’t have been much better than the previous director. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything, even if I had the talent for it. We’re just like stage actors. If the stage isn’t properly set, we can’t put on a good show. I checked the case file from back then. You participated in taking down Black Orchid. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that you fired the first shot. That’s why while other people think you’re getting promoted too quickly, I think this pace is just right. The Great Shun Republic needs capable youngsters like you. All we can do is pave the road for you and build a solid path. We need to make sure there aren’t any stones jutting out so that you can walk faster,” Zhu Xian said with a smile.

“But if the road is too smooth, we might not understand how difficult things were for you,” Chen Chuan countered.

“You’re right. People need to be polished to truly shine. Come, have some tea. This is the Cloudsong Tea from my hometown. The best time to harvest it is when you hear the sound of stones knocking against each other from the mountains. Then, tea harvesters will sing songs while climbing up the mountains shrouded in clouds. I’ve been away from my hometown for years, and it’s been a long while since I’ve last seen such a sight.”

He struck the armrests and started chanting, “The stream strikes the mountain stone, and serenity fills the woods at night. As a traveler listens against a pine tree, they hear the music of the clouds.”

Chen Chuan took a sip of the tea. Zhu Xian had really served him with something good. The tea was refreshing, sweet, enticing, and lingered in his mouth.

After taking a sip, a nostalgic look appeared on Zhu Xian’s face. “Speaking of which, I was also filled with hot-blooded passion when I was young. I was fearless and reckless and achieved plenty of things, but also offended a lot of people. My colleagues grumbled about me, and even my superiors didn’t regard me favorably.”

Suddenly, he chuckled. “A colleague of mine once joked that while I was stumbling forward, I was traveling in the wrong direction. I should be falling backward, not forward.

“I couldn’t accept it and wasted a lot of years doing things my way, which gave me a frontline seat to seeing many people who weren’t as skilled as I get promoted. Now that I think about it, I can’t put that feeling into words. You won’t necessarily get promoted even if you’re outstanding. You need people to admire you, support you, and help you.

“There are plenty of outstanding talented people everywhere, but you need others to see those talents, you know?

“Without anyone giving you a leg up, no matter how good and talented you are, you won’t be able to show them off.”

“Who do you think can help me, Mr. Zhu?” Chen Chuan asked.

Zhu Xian looked him in the eyes. “I watched you leave Yangzhi City, Lead Investigator Chen, so I’ll be sincere with you. I don’t know whether those who came will be able to help you, but there’s no free lunch in this world. Those who give benefits expect even greater returns.

“If you reject them and they ignore you, that’d be a good thing. I’m just worried that they’ll start targeting you instead. Many people, who can’t achieve anything, are great at destroying things. You must be careful.”

Chen Chuan nodded. He took another sip of the tea before setting it aside. Then, he stood up and said, “Thank you for telling me this, Mr. Zhu. I understand what you’re saying. Thank you for your tea too. I believe it’s time for me to leave.”

Zhu Xian stood up with a smile. “Have a safe trip, Lead Investigator Chen.”

“Send him off,” he said to his secretary.

Chen Chuan gave him a nod and walked out. Zhu Xian watched him leave before returning to his desk. Then, he put on his glasses and started reading documents.

A while later, his secretary walked in. “I’ve sent him off, Mr. Zhu.”

“Got it,” Zhu Xian said without looking up.

The secretary hesitated for a moment before drawing closer and whispering, “You seem to favor Lead Investigator Chen, Mr. Zhu, but those people might be from Central City’s municipal government.”

Zhu Xian approved a document before removing his glasses. “We’re in the day and age of martial artists being promoted everywhere, but I’ve never seen anyone get such attention before. This means that this is the current trend, and we need to follow it.

“As for the municipal government? With Lead Investigator Chen’s strength, even if he suffers a setback, he won’t stay down for long. Once he gets a chance, he’ll rise to power again. There’s no way they can keep him down. Getting on his good side won’t be bad for us.”

The secretary was impressed. “You think far ahead, Mr. Zhu.”

***

After Chen Chuan left the Department of Administrative Affairs, he asked the motorcade to send him back to the constables’ residential area. Since it was the afternoon, Wen Tong should be in the Constabulary, so Chen Chuan didn’t go and bother him. Instead, he went back home and used the free time to call his friends and set up a time to meet up with them.

Then, he did some simple training to maintain his condition.

At around 10 p.m., Wen Tong should have gone back home, so he went to the phone in the living room and called him. Once the call went through, he said, “It’s me, Mr. Wen.”

After a brief pause, he said, “I got rid of Kenwa.”

Wen Tong was quite surprised. He had predicted that the exam wouldn’t be hard for Chen Chuan, but it still surprised him that he had acted so quickly. It had been less than two days since he got his exam.

“I’ll call Mr. Zhuan, but he might be busy and unable to make it over. I’ll call you once he arrives.”

After some thinking, Chen Chuan said, “I should go over instead. I shouldn’t let Mr. Zhuan wait for me. Besides, I have some questions I’d like to ask you.”

Wen Tong laughed and said, “Alright. Come over, then.”

After setting the phone down, Chen Chuan changed into another set of clothes, took the things he took from Kenwa, and left.

In less than ten minutes, he arrived at Wen Tong’s place and was brought in. Wen Tong smiled and said, “Mr. Zhuan is staying in a hotel not too far away from here. I’ve already called him. He’ll come eventually if we just wait.”

Chen Chuan nodded. After sitting down in the living room, he said, “Mr. Wen, someone from the refined training faction came looking for me today.”

“The refined training faction?”

Wen Tong was quite surprised. After some thinking, he said, “You’re talented and outstanding, so I’m not surprised that the other factions noticed you. Since they came all the way to Yangzhi City to look for you, it means some higher-up in the refined training faction gave them the order to do so.

“But don’t worry. There is an agreement between factions. As long as you join the purity faction, they won’t bother you again. If they do, the faction will deal with it.”

“Do you know anything about the refined training faction?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Just like us, they’re a martial arts faction that existed since the old era. They’re quite influential among the middle- and upper-class.

“In the old era, this faction picked talented children of aristocrats to train and guide them. This tradition lasted for several dynasties.

“They have plenty of legacies and a large foundation. During the old era, the royal family used them, but was also wary of them. They drew them to their side during every dynasty and era, but also kept oppressing and weakening the faction.

“Even in the new era, this faction continues recruiting only elites and people from the upper-class society. They have a wide pool of connections in the government and companies, and they’ve made use of the faction to form a large net of interests.

“The refined training faction often recruits people with potential as backup members. They make them join so that they can work for them.

“If they came to recruit you, they must be thinking about making you an external member and one of their frontliners, because up to this date, what determines your status in the refined training faction isn’t your strength, but your background and position in society. Only those who have a high enough position are favored and get guidance. The only other way to get accepted into their inner circle is through marriage.

“But don’t look down on them because of this. They only give their resources to those who truly have talent. Many of their martial artists are truly strong.”

“Based on what you said, this faction seems to have always survived by depending on the rich and powerful,” Chen Chuan said. It was a very traditional method for martial arts factions to survive.

“That’s what they’re showing on the surface. I have a strong reason to believe that this is superficial and they have greater pursuits, but I don’t know what they are,” Wen Tong clarified.

“Is there conflict between the refined training faction and the purity faction?” Chen Chuan asked.

“As long as they don’t collaborate with the existences from the other world or are corrupted by them, we can work together,” Wen Tong answered with a smile.

The Great Crash was right around the corner. Even though the factions were always in some form of conflict and inevitably fought due to different beliefs, they would never allow major conflicts to occur among them in the physical world. It couldn't happen between the higher-ranking members, nor among the lower-ranking members. This was a shared belief among all parties.

Chen Chuan understood what Wen Tong was saying. He asked a few more questions about the factions, and Wen Tong answered them patiently, which gave him a general understanding of the current situation among factions.

Even though Zhuan Liang had yet to arrive, neither of them grew impatient. They just chatted while drinking the tea. At around 3 a.m., they heard clear footsteps in the street.

“Mr. Zhuan has arrived,” Wen Tong said with a smile.