Chapter 153: Tixiang’s Surprise

When Lin Qi led people into No.1 Shenghui Street, Tixiang was dancing inside his small standalone building.

The Hualishi Family was subtly the top noble clan of the Empire. Their mansion in Borelly was right next to Victory Palace, separated from Victory Palace’s western wall only by a two-lane road. In fact, the main gate of the Hualishi residence faced Victory Palace’s western gate directly across the road.

The huge estate was shaded by ancient trees, with over a dozen buildings of various sizes scattered neatly across the grounds.

As the most valued young member of the Hualishi Family and Old Hualishi’s favorite legitimate son, Tixiang had a separate small building for his use in the southwest corner of the estate. Not far from the building was a side gate. Using this gate made it very convenient to enter or leave the estate, and it definitely wouldn’t disturb the older family members.

This was the residence Tixiang deliberately chose because of that side gate. Whether he was sneaking out late at night to fool around or helping some delicate, lovely guests secretly enter his building at midnight, it was absolutely private.

The furnishings inside Tixiang’s building, just like those in all the noble young masters’ homes in the Imperial Capital, were messy and cluttered, but everywhere exuded an air of luxury.

In the spacious reception hall, there was a large square table in the center. On it sat a sand table of the Western Continent made from the bone of a Frenzied Unicorn Whale. Skilled artisans used various pigments to carve mountains, rivers, swamps, and forests on the sand table, which was several meters long and wide. They also marked the borders of dozens of empires and kingdoms on the Western Continent. Particularly, the Norman Fortress and the North Sea defensive line in the North Sea area were deliberately highlighted using a pigment as crimson as human blood.

Besides this expensive large sand table, several sets of ancient armor were piled on the east side of the room. Each set of armor looked mottled and very old. Moreover, these armors were quite ornate, inlaid with gold and silver. Judging by the emblems on them, these haphazardly stacked armors belonged to some great nobles who had already vanished from the Continent. Each set was priceless.

On the west side of the room, several mannequins made of fragrant sandalwood were piled up, with a few sets of custom-made luxurious formal clothes hanging on them. Among these clothes, three sets were male styles, but there were also two sets of gorgeous female palace gowns. These two female palace gowns were studded with pearls and diamonds, and many extremely precious peacock tail feathers were sewn into the seams. Clearly, they were very expensive to make.

But these two female outfits were covered in dust; they hadn’t been taken care of for at least half a year. These were prepared by Tixiang a few months ago for a stunningly beautiful young girl from a fallen noble family he had recently charmed. He had wholeheartedly hoped to use these two magnificent dresses to become her sweetheart. But now, Tixiang’s old father had become that young girl’s sweetheart, so Tixiang could only resentfully let these two dresses, which had cost a great deal, gather dust here.

Maybe one day in the future, Tixiang would clean these two palace dresses and give them to another young girl. Who knew? In the extravagant and flashy city of Borelly, anything was possible.

Apart from these large items, Tixiang’s reception hall was also filled with porcelain and lacquerware from The East, along with some artworks from other continents all jumbled together. For example, Elf textiles were placed alongside great axes from the Black Spirit Continent; a gemstone statue worshipped by Goblins stood next to an Ogre’s crystal Totem Pillar. These precious artworks were practically no different from trash in Tixiang’s eyes.

The large reception hall was crammed with messy things. Only near the Terrace was there a barely clear space of a few square meters. Tixiang, clutching a pale yellow letter tightly, was dancing triumphantly in this small open area.

The letter contained the latest news brought to him just now by his personal bodyguard and chief spy, You. It was about the latest news concerning Lin Qi.

The Blood Lion General Stane, who controlled the garrison authority of the Imperial Capital, was called the Mad Lion by other countries on the Continent, but within the Gaul Empire, he was referred to as ‘His Majesty the Emperor’s most loyal old dog.’ He indeed had some special, thought-provoking relationship with Lin Qi’s father, Lin Hu.

Towards the end of the Hundred-Year Land-Island War, Blood Lion General Stane, serving as the frontline commander around Dun Er Ke, was surrounded by the allied Alien Race forces three times. But all three times, Lin Qi’s elders led the Dun Er Ke Militia to desperately rescue him. It was in those three bloody battles that Lin Qi lost his grandfather and two uncles.

Stane was also severely wounded in those three major battles, but the merits he achieved were truly remarkable—he completely thwarted the Northern Alien Race’s plot to bypass Dun Er Ke and launch a surprise attack on the Imperial Capital. Therefore, the Imperial Emperor specially awarded him a life-saving Secret Elixir. But this Secret Elixir was ultimately used on Lin Qi’s father, Lin Hu.

According to the intelligence, in the thirty years since the war ended, Stane went to Dun Er Ke every three years for vacation and recuperation. Each time, he stayed in Dun Er Ke for exactly seven days before returning to the Imperial Capital. Details about his earlier vacation trips were unknown, but during the most recent two trips, Stane had gone out fishing on the boats of the Trident Whaling Company. It was known that the Lin Hu family held a substantial share in the Trident Whaling Company.

In other words, both times, Stane had quite reasonably met with Lin Hu!

What made Tixiang even more pleased was that You carefully investigated the native places of the soldiers in Stane’s personal guard unit, the ‘Blood Fang Battalion.’ Out of the total one thousand soldiers in the Blood Fang Battalion, five hundred were from Stane’s hometown, and the other five hundred actually all came from Dun Er Ke! It was said this was because Stane had a great fondness for the brave and fierce northern men from Dun Er Ke!

Even within the Imperial Capital’s Imperial Guard, nearly three thousand soldiers came from Dun Er Ke! They were all elites transferred from the local forces in Dun Er Ke.

What did this mean? The implications made Tixiang overjoyed!

Without a doubt, this general, who controlled the most powerful armed forces within a thousand miles of the Empire’s Imperial Capital, shared a life-and-death bond with the Lin Hu family, and this relationship was a hidden secret unknown to others. Undoubtedly, as long as Tixiang could win over Lin Qi properly, one day in the future, Tixiang could gain Stane’s friendship through Lin Qi!

The Hualishi Family was already a top-ranking power among the Empire’s elite. If the Hualishi Family could also gain the friendship of a key military figure, especially one who single-handedly controlled all the military forces in the Imperial Capital!

Hooray, gods, this was just perfect!

No one knew that behind Lin Qi stood a colossal figure like Stane. Not even Lin Qi himself knew. But now, Tixiang knew too!

“Cunning old lion, that Secret Elixir of yours actually wasn’t recorded in the military archives; it was recorded in the archives of imperial bestowals of Secret Elixirs. My god, who would pay attention to the records of who consumed the Secret Elixirs bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor? Especially records from over thirty years ago!”

Tixiang crumpled the letter in his hand into pieces and sighed softly.

“Alright, I’m even more interested in those two beauties now! It’s just too wonderful!”