Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 109: Turbulent Times (Second)

“Why in the world is Zhao Jun here?”

Within the lounge of the Chenshi Corporation, when Wang Chao saw Zhao Jun appear, he began to have a bad feeling.

That crown prince of the Ike Corporation. Ever since Wang Chao was a nobody to the person he was today, the curse of Zhao Jun lingered with him. At the beginning, Zhao Jun had hired a group of axemen to try to first blind with him quicklime powder and then kill him. Afterwards, he had Zhang Wei fight him in a competition in an attempt to kill him.

The reason for the feud between the two had been simple. It was because of Zhu Jia.

But the Wang Chao of today had money, fame, and a powerful support backing him. He had made friends in the Wulin like Liao Junhua, Dai Jun, and Chen Aiyang along with some other high-ranking members of society. With his martial arts, power, and the many friends he had on this day, he was no longer worried of a confrontation with the unbridled princeling.

Zhao Jun’s entrance had been very smooth. Dressed in western-styled clothing and talking with a smile, he had smiles all around.

But when he entered the room and glanced around, he saw Wang Chao and Zhu Jia standing right next to each other. Straight away, his face slipped for a moment and a sinister light entered his eyes.

If Zhao Jun’s sinister glare was said to be well hidden, then the middle-aged man that had entered the room with Zhao Jun had a malicious stare that leaked hostility without even hiding it.

This hostility had been so obvious that Wang Chao’s pores began to swell together in anticipation.

This middle-aged man was one of the Three Tigers of Guangdong, the “Little Arm Saint”, Xu Zhen. The man who bore hatred with Wang Chao for killing his disciple.

When Zhao Jun saw Wang Chao and Zhu Jia, he had stopped for a moment. A smile later slipped its way back onto his face as he walked forward with Xu Zhen.

“Hello! Chen Bin, you look beautiful tonight!” Zhao Jun turned to look at Chen Bin who was right next to Zhu Jia.

Giving a slight smile, Chen Bin’s eyes glanced to Wang Chao.

Zhu Jia looked at Zhao Jun for a moment as well with a clear-as-day cold smile before turning to look at Wang Chao too.

Coming across such an awkward event, Zhao Jun’s face drained of color.

Just at that moment, Xu Zhen came forward with an ashen face towards Wang Chao. With clenched teeth, he spoke in an icily frigid tone, “Master Wang, what strategy you have. In such a short amount of time, you have made such an illustrious name for yourself! First excluding the death of my disciple, you managed to open up a martial arts school in Shandong. Then, you killed the genius from Japan, Ye Xuan and then managed to heavily injure the daughter of my friend, Yagyu Haruko. It seems that the grievances between us two must be resolved one day.”

Yagyu Haruko was the daughter of Xu Zhen’s friend from Japan, Yagyu Suimei. The affair that had happened in Manchuria had naturally made its way to his ears fast enough.

The Japanese martial arts world had brought several talented Japanese youths to Manchuria with the intent of training them in Russia. That much Xu Zhen knew.

The Japanese martial arts world were using this as a test to see if there were any experts amongst the People. A toss of a stone to see what was in the lake.

When the moment came for them to understand just how strong the Chinese were, they would immediately send over even more martial artists for a large-scale invasion of the martial arts world.

Now was an era of peace and stability. These exchanges in martial arts meant nothing in terms of practicality when someone won or lost. But whomever gained the upper hand here would deeply impact the culture, beliefs, and faith of whichever ethnicity that came out on top.

“Master Xu, when I killed your disciple, I had no other choice. It was an official competition with no ulterior motives. If you wish to take vengeance for your disciple, I will not object. All I can ask is for you to find a time, and I will accept.” Wang Chao sighed as he tried to think of a way to dissolve Xu Zhen’s hate.

Xu Zhen was a master of Tongbei with a deep understanding of martial arts after all. If he were to die from his wounds in an official competition, then the school of the White Ape style Tongbei would lose a precious sect. That would then be a tremendous blow that the already deformed and withered Chinese martial arts world.

Wang Chao was no longer the foolish little boy he was a few years ago. Aside from Xu Zhen’s vast martial arts, Wang Chao’s scope of the world had been expanded. Guoshu was for the nation, and his aspirations were as lare as the ocean. Righteousness remained key, and personal hatreds should be disregarded.

“Xu Zhen my friend, is this the master Wang who kicked my daughter?” Just at that moment, another middle aged man approached Xu Zhen from the back with a slightly accentuated Chinese manner of speech.

This man stood behind Xu Zhen since he himself was a little shorter than Xu Zhen and was not as conspicuous as Xu Zhen was.

When he first heard the words between Xu Zhen and Wang Chao, the man’s ears had perked to attention as he caught the meaning behind Wang Chao’s words. It was only when he understood the entire thing that he had stood up. Both of his eyes flared with a glaring light that reeked of hostility to the point where he could be heard cracking the joints in his body.

This man’s killing intent had been so massive, and his eyes had been like a viper staring down its prey that Wang Chao had felt that the air around them had begun to feel a little stifling.

“Judging from this man’s words, he must be the father of Yagyu Haruko. Yagyu Suimei then?” From his words, Wang Chao could swiftly guess just who this person was.

Yagyu Suimei was about 1.7 meters tall. Standing behind the 1.8 meters tall Xu Zhen, Yagyu Suimei was noticeably short. Even to Wang Chao, who was 1.8 meters tall as well, the difference was quite big,

Although Yagyu Suimei was a good head shorter than Xu Zhen and Wang Chao, the amount of frosty presence he exuded was no less than either of the other two.

“Hm? Brother Yagyu, he is the one who killed the expert Ye Xuan. Similarly, he is the one who kicked your daughter Haruko. Brother Yagyu, this is an expert that is truly worthy of you fighting against.” Xu Zhen immediately confirmed Wang Chao’s identity for him.

“Very well then!” Yagyu Suimei suddenly had a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes appear on his face as all of the hostility drained away from his body. It was almost as if it was a mistake at first. “We aren’t the main characters for the next two days, we only wish to invite several of the guests here. If we wish to compare notes, then there will be ample time to do that later, what is the rush after all?”

Finishing his words, Yagyu Suimei’s eyes glanced over from Wang Chao to Chen Aiyang. When the eyes of both persons met, Yagyu Suimei had a pleased look on his face. With a nod, he moved to sit down by himself on a sofa and closed his eyes as if he was resting.

Xu Zhen gave a deep stare at Wang Chao too before leaving.

Seeing how Xu Zhen and Yagyu Suimei had placed the blame onto himself, Wang Chao hadn’t bothered to try and refute it. Although it had been Liao Junhua’s leg that kicked Yagyu Haruko, it had been said to be Wang Chao’s doing, though, he too could unleash the very same kick.

Zhao Jun had crashed into an awkward experience after meeting with Zhu Jia, so he had been furious. Turning to Wang Chao, he spoke, “You are quite strategic and bold; it is no wonder you have the support of the Europeans. With such an exceptional backing, the cooperation of Liao Junhua, and the conspiring with the Chen family, you must be thinking of spreading your power all over the world. In comparison, we three at the Ike corporation cannot compare to your great skill and strategy.”

With that, Zhao Jun looked to Chen Aiyang and Chen Bin with an eye. He had intentionally spoken of the intel he had gathered for the brother and sister to hear.

“Director Zhao, master Wang and I are only friends from the Wulin. For now, we have not engaged in any business talks.” Chen Aiyang smiled.

“That’s very well.” Zhao Jun shrugged his shoulders, “Brother Chen, I can only hope that in the future when you do business with master Wang, no inconveniences will come your way.”

“Wang Chao, can I speak with you for a moment” When Zhao Jun left, Chen Bin had finally managed to speak out after several hesitant attempts.

“Sure!” Wang Chao knew what Chen Bin was thinking about and moved to a corner of the lounge with her.

“The elder investigated your information thoroughly, but he is quite uneased in regards to you. What Zhao Jun said just then, do you really have the Europeans as your patron?” Chen Bin’s eyes stared straight at Wang Chao almost as if she was trying to stare straight through him.”

“Chen Bin, please be assured, the Europeans are of no way behind me. But, I do have people supporting me. With your eyes, you should be able to see through this. I cannot open my eyes and state I am blind so easily. Your elder’s concern with me is to see if I have some sort of plot against the family business. I can guarantee that I have no such thing. Do you believe me?”

Chen Bin’s eyes dropped a bit, “I believe you of course.” She whispered.

“Then that’s great.” Wang Chao sighed in relief.

“Actually….” Chen Bin hesitated as her words trailed off in an attempt to say something.

“Actually what?” Wang Chao asked in curiosity.

“Actually….nothing, it’s nothing.” Chen Bin smiled sweetly as she moved about in her evening dress. It had moved in such a manner that she resembled some sort of heavenly angel. Even in Wang Chao’s heart, he had to admit that Chen Bin was truly beautiful tonight.

“What are you talking about?” Zhu Jia had finally walked over to Wang Chao and Chen Bin in curiosity.

“It’s nothing.” Wang Chao had nothing to hide. “Zha Jun’s words had made her doubt something and asked me to clarify.”

“Oh!” Zhu Jia had an unconvinced smile on her face. Drawing close to Wang Chao, she spoke closely to his ears, “That idiot Zhao Jun. He investigated you and said that you had the Europeans as your backer! Let me tell you, Zhao Jun has flour paste for brains in his head.”

“Why do you say that?” Wang Chao was surprised, but, he hadn’t thought their positions were strange at all.

“Haven’t you already joined a political party? A secretive one at that. You are definitely some sort of official now. If my guess isn’t wrong, you must hold some sort of military rank. Your backers must be some sort of organization like the Military Commission, am I right?” Zhu Jia smiled as she whispered as softly as a mosquito into his ears.

Wang Chao didn’t reply back.

“Cao Yi’s background is something people in my circle already know. With you being so excellent and that Cao Yi often communicates with you, there is no reason that he wouldn’t bring you into his own group. In the time I’ve known you, you’ve been with Cao Yi since the beginning. Actually, I can already guess your situation. I bet that you are some sort of military person, your assistant, Lin Yanan, she must be from the military as well.”

Hearing Zhu Jia’s logical analysis that accurately spoke of Wang Chao’s situation, he had been speechless.

Suddenly, Zhu Jia’s tone shifted.

“Wang Chao, I’m concerned for you. Cao Yi’s relationship with his backers is quite complicated. After joining with this secretive department, nothing from it can be leaked, or death will come quick. It is a very deep department, and you are a man of purely martial arts. Such a department like this is not suited for you. However, I know your character and situation well, you wouldn’t join such a thing if you weren’t forced. In the end, it was because of me that you were tied up. If not for that day where I used you as my shield, you wouldn’t have been targeted by Zhao Jun. Things led to another, and now you have been brought into this mess.”

“Don’t say it like that. With everything considered, I should thank you instead. If not for this organization, I wouldn’t be able to have so many life or death opportunities. The achievements I made today wouldn’t be possible since failure and success come one after another. You shouldn’t worry at all.” Hearing Zhu Jia’s faint words, Wang Chao suddenly remembered everything. From the bottom of his heart, a feeling that was melded from disaster and success wafted upwards like a cloud of smoke.

Zhu Jia went quiet for a moment as she turned to look at Chen Bin. Suddenly biting at her lips, she spoke, “Chao Chao, I’ve discovered that I’ve come to like you.”

A confession that was as sudden as a bolt of thunder from a clear sky! Wang Chao’s mind had been sent into a buzz when he heard her speak. He never would have thought that Zhu Jia would suddenly confess to him. Her words had been far more powerful than any strike from an expert of the Wulin, causing Wang Chao to be shocked.

“Jia…Jia…you…what did you say?” Wang Chao felt himself be at a loss at this very moment. Against Zhu Jia’s words, his martial arts had been of no use. His arms and legs had been shelved so he wouldn’t be able to use them even if he tried.

Although he knew Zhu Jia had a favorable opinion of him, Wang Chao had only thought of the two of them as close friends that could joke and make fun of each other. When it came to love, he had thought it to be false. First off, Zhu Jia had been five or six years older than him. Secondly, their family backgrounds were worlds apart.

Most importantly, within the depths of Wang Chao’s heart, he still had lingering feelings for the Immortal-like sister of his who had walked across the waters.

He wasn’t a bimbo, and neither was he a master of martial arts with no knowledge of the mortal world. At his age, he had naturally knew of the subtle feelings between man and woman.

“I…” Zhu Jia spoke before suddenly regretting it, “I’m a woman, how could you make me say it first…”

The two suddenly felt extremely embarrassed.

Just at that moment, the lounge suddenly grew restless as Chen Aiyang gave a cough and Xu Zhen stood up to see the newcomers to the banquet.