Chapter 591: 590
Yang Fei made a call to Tong Yunshu after his conversation with Qin Yanyang, asking her to leave and not to worry about the situation here.
Tong Yunshu had complete faith in Yang Fei’s words, and considering this was within Divine Continent Country and Qin Yanyang was the Qin Family’s young miss with an extraordinary status in the military, and Yang Fei her husband, it was unlikely that anything would happen. So she said to Tong Jinchuan, "Alright, let’s go."
Tong Jinchuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He had been genuinely worried that something might happen on Yang Fei’s end and Tong Yunshu would insist on staying.
In his view, even if these military aircraft were heading for Yunwu Mountain, Tong Yunshu couldn’t be of any help, could she? Were disputes of this level something the Tong Family could meddle in?
While thinking this, he asked with concern, "Everything’s settled?"
Tong Yunshu shook her head.
Tong Jinchuan then told the driver to speed up.
Yunwu Mountain Medicinal Herb Base.
Yang Fei and Hu Lizhong were chatting while smoking cigarettes below the dormitory building.
"Old Hu, are relations not good between the Military Department and the Central Battle Zone, or should I say, between the Qin Family and the leaders of the Central Battle Zone?" Yang Fei asked amidst billows of smoke.
Hu Lizhong glanced at Yang Fei, thought for a moment, and said, "You could say that, but normally it’s manageable. There are no absolute enemies in the official world, nor are there ever-lasting friendships. For certain interests, even those who usually have good relations might diverge."
Yang Fei nodded in understanding.
Where there are people, there is a Martial Arts World, and the official world is the biggest battleground of interest, with intrigue and deception far more vicious than anywhere else.
"But I’m curious, ever since the Zhang Family was taken down, in theory, my wife’s family should now be one of the top entities in Divine Continent Country. Nowadays, my wife is even the acting minister of the Military Department; the Qin Family is at its most prominent, so why would anyone still attempt to put the Qin Family in a tight spot?" Yang Fei voiced the true question in his heart.
Hu Lizhong gave Yang Fei a look as if he were staring at an idiot.
"Are you truly clueless or just pretending?" Hu Lizhong asked with a probing tone.
Yang Fei shook his head: "Truly clueless."
Hu Lizhong explained, "For our Divine Continent, there’s no such thing as one family having absolute dominance.
The higher-ups need absolute balance and would never allow one family to overshadow the others as that would be very dangerous.
Therefore, when the Zhang Family was rising, there were still the Qin Family and other departments. Similarly, even though the Qin Family appears to have no rivals now, if the higher-ups wished, they could easily set up several to restrict the Qin Family’s growth and to prevent them from becoming uncontrollable in the future.
As for today’s situation, it’s probably because a matter that may change the destiny of all mankind has attracted the attention of all parties, and they wouldn’t allow the Military Department to have sole control over this technology.
Perhaps, from the day you administered that elixir you refined in the Military Department’s lab to Xiang Yunfei, the higher-ups have been watching."
Yang Fei squinted, saying nothing.
Hu Lizhong didn’t know if his expression was due to the smoke or some irritation, so he said nothing more.
Yang Fei’s mind flashed with what Tong Yunshu had told him about the future a few days ago.
He had never really thought about such long-term matters before.
Especially since anyone hearing what Tong Yunshu said would think it seemed a bit like instigating discord between him and Qin Yanyang.
Reflecting now, Yang Fei felt he had underestimated Tong Yunshu.
She knew that the relationship between him and his wife, Qin Yanyang, couldn’t be destroyed by anyone, so the purpose of her words was entirely for the sake of considering his, Yang Fei’s, future.
In contrast to himself, Tong Yunshu had seen through the ruling class’s method of controlling the country earlier and had anticipated the possible developments in the future.
And if Tong Yunshu could think of such things, could Qin Yanyang not?
Born into a family like the Qin Family, Qin Yanyang should have had a clearer understanding than Tong Yunshu, having been immersed in that environment from a young age and given her own position.
Thinking this, Yang Fei flicked his cigarette butt to the ground, lightly grinding it out with his foot, and said to Hu Lizhong, "I still don’t quite understand the forces throughout Divine Continent, and I can’t get a full picture all at once, either. Old Hu, tell me, in your opinion, how many forces does the Qin Family currently need to worry about in Divine Continent?"
Hu Lizhong was taken aback, not expecting Yang Fei to ask such a question.
That was pretty direct and straightforward.
After a slight pause, he shook his head and said, "If you’re talking about forces that the Qin Family needs to be wary of, to tell the truth, there aren’t any at the moment. At the Qin Family’s current stature, there’s no one to be wary of."
Yang Fei didn’t quite understand, "If that’s the case, why are there still people causing trouble for my wife?"
Hu Lizhong’s mouth twitched.
Dammit, I’m dealing with a political novice here.
This reminded him of Yang Fei’s background.
He grew up in Huangyang County before the age of thirteen, a true small-town farmer.
Even though he was later chosen as a disciple by Huang Chengcheng and learned many skills, he had primarily been exposed to lower social strata, and later on, to people from the Martial Arts World. So in a sense, Yang Fei might instinctively think that whoever had the biggest fist was the boss, the idea that "I am number one in the world, nobody dares to mess with me."
"Cough cough, haven’t you heard that line from a TV show?" Hu Lizhong asked.
"What line?" Yang Fei inquired.
Hu Lizhong replied, "The Martial Arts World isn’t just about fistfights; it’s about human relationships and worldly wisdom. You can think of the power struggle as a type of Martial Arts World where, though the struggle is most intense, what is primarily sought after is balance and stability."
Seeing that Yang Fei was still somewhat confused, Hu Lizhong patiently explained, "Take for example, when the Zhang Family was at its most powerful—didn’t they know that the Qin Family was the biggest threat? So why didn’t the Zhang Family eliminate the Qin Family in advance?"
"Yeah, why not take out the threatening opponent earlier?" Yang Fei nodded.
Hu Lizhong said speechlessly, "You think the Zhang Family didn’t want to? They couldn’t, and they didn’t dare."
Yang Fei was even more puzzled.
It’s a matter of life and death, and they still couldn’t and didn’t dare?
In the end, they simply lacked the overwhelming might to crush everything.
But he had caught on to Hu Lizhong’s point.
Here, what those above needed was balance, not dominance by one, in order to prevent despotism.
"But the problem now is that the biggest enemies facing Divine Continent and the other major powers are the Hidden Sect, Heaven, and Penglai. So if our Divine Continent wants to remain a powerful country in the future and keep the current system from being destroyed, we must unite as one, strive to improve our overall strength, and quickly build a team capable of dealing with those formidable forces.
Right now, not even the foundations have been laid, yet there’s already infighting happening behind the scenes, which disappoints me greatly."
Hu Lizhong’s mouth twitched again.
Your disappointment is of no concern to those in power above you.
It’s just that the elixir you refined packs too much power, and that technology is entirely in the hands of Qin Yanyang and Yang Fei, so what are others supposed to think?
The saying goes, ’What’s good for everyone is really good.’
Something everyone can master, that is something truly beneficial.
Although here, ’everyone’ also refers to only a very select few.
Just then, a red dot appeared in the distant sky, and shortly after, a buzzing sound could be heard.
People from the Central Battle Zone had arrived.