Chapter 15 What to Choose: Face or Substance

I paused slightly, then re-examined the entire task: "This time, Qiao Gongliang's mission seems to revolve around a storyteller, but everything seems to have little connection to the story. What is this person trying to do?"

I lit a cigarette in the car and said, "Ye Yang, Feng Ruoxing, I have a question for you. Which should we choose, face (mianzi) or substance (lizi)?"

"What face, what substance?" Feng Ruoxing clearly didn't understand my meaning.

I said slowly, "I mean, if we want to see that person, we can see him soon. Judging from our two encounters, the other party doesn't have much killing intent. Otherwise, they wouldn't have only given us the beginning of a story."

"The other party is forcing us to find him. Each of his stories is actually increasing our psychological pressure. In the end, when he pushes us to the point where we have to compromise with him, he will stand out."

"If we want to find him, it should be easy. We just need to follow a certain story to find him, like the Azure Dragon Tomb (Qiu Long Fen) now, or the Devil's Curse Chat Group."

"But what happens after we find him?"

"The other party will negotiate with us, forcing us to make concessions. What is this condition? It may be beneficial to both of us, or it may be a small gain for us at the cost of a big loss."

"This compromise may lead us to compromise every time. When we have nowhere to retreat, Liangjie Tang may no longer be Liangjie Tang."

"Stop the car!" I called out to Ye Yang, "I'm getting out to have a cigarette. I need to think about some things."

Ye Yang stopped the car by the side of the road. I got out and lit a cigarette. Feng Ruoxing stood beside me and said, "Li Po, actually, I think you can meet the other party first. I don't know if you've heard a saying: the martial world (jianghu) is not just about fighting and killing; it's also about human relationships and worldly wisdom."

"Human relationships and worldly wisdom are your weaknesses. You can kill someone at the slightest disagreement, but you never think about taking a step back and seeing a broader world. Sometimes, taking a step back may be a win-win situation. Why insist on bloodshed?"

I took a deep drag of my cigarette and said, "I understand what you're saying, but..."

Feng Ruoxing continued, "But you don't want to do it?"

"No!" I shook my head. "Human relationships are based on the foundation of equal strength between me and the other party. If I am weaker than him, there is no such thing as human relationships. So-called human relationships are just selling face to survive."

"If I am stronger than him, human relationships may not be human relationships. They may be a knife buried beside me."

Ye Yang said, "Ben Gou, have you already thought of a solution, but you just don't want to use it?"

I nodded slightly. "The provincial capital's esoteric circles (shu dao) all say that I, Li Po, am overbearing, but am I really overbearing? I have always been reacting passively."

"If I use the solution I thought of, regardless of whether I can get the result I want, Liangjie Tang will be labeled as the overlord of Liaodong's esoteric circles. This is not what I want to see."

Feng Ruoxing said, "What's wrong with that? If you become a regional overlord, Liangjie Tang will continue to grow stronger. No matter what you want to do in the future, it will be much easier."

I shook my head. "I have never regarded Liangjie Tang as a gang. It's my home, and you are my family."

"Becoming the overlord of the esoteric circles may be infinitely glorious. However, I will lose much more."

"Just like when I suspected Lao Liu in the mass burial grounds, emotionally, I shouldn't have suspected my family, but rationally, I couldn't give up any possibility."

"If I chose to dominate, then friends would no longer be friends; only subordinates would remain. Even if I wanted to treat you as friends, I couldn't! I've been holding Lao Liu back for so long, not letting him call me 'Lord,' because I never thought of treating him as a strategist."

"The relationship between a lord and a military advisor would make me very uncomfortable. Do you understand?"

I took a deep breath of the cigarette, and it took a long time before I exhaled the smoke. "Also, in the provincial capital, the fact that we, Liangjie Tang, have no rivals doesn't mean we can be invincible in the martial world. If Liangjie Tang's reputation becomes too great, it will attract powerful enemies sooner or later."

"Can we win every time? Even if we are invincible, who can guarantee that Liangjie Tang won't lose anyone on the path to dominance?"

I turned to look at Feng Ruoxing and said, "Am I not suited to be a person of the martial world?"

Feng Ruoxing looked at me for a long time before retreating to the side. "I understand what you mean. I'll contact Lao Liu. Only Lao Liu can solve this matter."

After Feng Ruoxing called Lao Liu, he directly turned on the speaker and told him about the situation on my side: "Lao Liu, do you have a way to get the key clues without using esoteric circles power?"

Lao Liu was silent for a while on the other end of the phone before saying, "I understand the owner's meaning. Leave this matter to me. Let the owner find a suitable place and wait for me!"

I took the phone from Feng Ruoxing's hand and said, "Lao Liu, thank you. At the same time, I also have to say I'm sorry."

Lao Liu laughed and said, "Owner, who told you to be my owner? A strategist (shiye) can give the owner advice, but cannot control the owner. Wait for me; there will be results soon."