The city lord called for Xie Yang in the morning, so he went to meet him after having breakfast with Lin Hua, who didn't say a word after waking up as she knew everything she had done last night while she was drunk. Remembering that she used her husband's body as a pillow and her husband's jade stick as a handwarmer made her so embarrassed that she felt the need to dig a hole and hide in it to sort out her feelings and set straight her nervousness and only then face her husband. If it weren't for Xie Yang putting food in her mouth, she would have missed out on breakfast.
Xie Yang entered his father's office and sat opposite him.
After they exchanged basic greetings, Xie Yang went straight to the point, "Why have you called for me? Is it about what I requested?"
City Lord Xie Yong removed the fatherly smile from his smile and exposed sharp eyes and set his serious gaze on Xie Yang before saying in a clear voice, "If I publicize that you were the one who got the yellow merchant's record booklets, a lot of devious people will turn their eyes towards you. You'll be attracting unwanted trouble your way. They won't do anything to you in person as the empire needs our family to stop the enemies from breaching the northern border, but there's a chance you'll face assassination. If one fails, then they will attack you from the dark again. Are you sure? Are you sure that you want to experience a troublesome life instead of the peaceful one you're enjoying right now?"
Leader Xie Ye had told every achievement of his young master to his master. Hence, his master knew everything Xie Yang had done, from killing an entire bandit group and a wanted man worth 2000 gold taels to finding out the secret treasures of the bandit's lair and opening a sealed inter-spatial ring. All of them were hard to achieve feats, but his son successfully performed each of them!
Father Xie Yong was feeling extremely proud of this son of his.
He wanted to give him gifts after hearing what he did because he was his son.
As for the royal family and the neighboring feudal Lord, they would very likely feel the need to put poison in his throat or drown him after they hear what he had achieved after regaining health.
He knew that his son wouldn't get to experience life as peaceful as this if words of his achievements became known to those outside the Cloud City Xie Manor.
That's why he wanted to stop him from putting himself in the limelight so fast.
Xie Yang thought, 'It's good that the royal family has to play nice in front of my father and also me, at least on the face.'
He remembered that whenever the royal family got new things, they would send the best their way.
'They treat us so well because they need our family to guard the northern Frontier against the vicious snake-men and other races.'
Xie Yang straightened his back, gave his father an unwavering look, and said, "Because of some reason, I want people to know that it was me who hunted down the Yellow Merchant. So, father, I hope you can publicize it. Even if we keep it a secret, it won't be long before the other finds out the truth of the matter. The empire's intelligence agency is second to none. It's better to make the matter clear by ourselves than let the royal family, especially the emperor, hear about it from the mouths of other people."
City Lord Xie Yong stood up from his seat, clasped his hands behind his back, turned around, and looked out the window, only to see the sun rising to its rightful place.
"It isn't a piece of good news to share. You know why. If anyone else had secured the record booklets, it would have been pleasant for everyone's ears. However, it is you who none of the families support. The royal family supports your eldest brother, so do the people in the army, and both want me to pass the seat to him, not you. They will think that you're trying to earn achievement to fight your eldest brother for the seat if I make it public that you're the hand behind us finding out the corrupt officials and noble families of the empire. You'll gain fame and honor for sure, but you'll make many enemies. Many people will try to put you down before you can truly grow. Why do you still want to tell everyone?"
Xie Yang stood up, went up to his father, and squeezed his shoulder, and while giving him a shoulder massage, he whispered, "Father, killing the snake hiding in our midst matters more to me than worrying about the response of the enemies staying ten thousand miles away. The reason I want to stand out is to make whoever poisoned me come for my life again. Whoever it is, I am sure he won't be able to stay still after seeing me jumping around and raking in one achievement after another. To poison someone with an extremely vicious poison means you hate them to the bones. Since the poisoner hates me so much, they will not like seeing me grow and will make their move as soon as they can. When they move against me, they will leave behind many traces. Through those pieces of evidence, I will get to them and eliminate them for good. I want to get rid of them, so please do it."
City Lord thought about it for a second.
If the royal family and the others who were in support of his unwilling brother to succeed his father as the next feudal lord knew about his rise, they would only try to attack his son from the dark.