Super Soldier in the City
Chapter 710 - 749 Provocation

Chapter 710: Chapter 749 Provocation

Ye Zhenyang continued, "Additionally, there’s the Zheng Family and the Chu Family. One has a good relationship with the Song Family, and the other is closely connected with the Hu Family, but with our Ye Family, we’ve always maintained a Well Water does not interfere with River Water approach."

Li Yifei asked, "Uncle Ye, you seem to know a lot about these matters. I remember you used to work in Mile City and not here in the provincial city."

Ye Zhenyang couldn’t help but feel a bit proud as he said, "Just because I worked in Mile City doesn’t mean I don’t get involved with the Ye Family’s affairs. The struggle between the big families is mostly about business and the officialdom, especially the officialdom. Whenever someone from any family is up for promotion, they’re watched by all the other families, so progress must be logical and step by step. Every family’s offspring who enter the officialdom have to start locally, just like Yunzhu. She could only start from a small township in Mile City. Initially, she hadn’t attracted the attention of the other families, but then she was suddenly promoted to Deputy County Head. Now, every family is keeping an eye on Yunzhu, and she must be even more careful in her future actions."

Li Yifei frowned slightly, "Then it seems I’ve brought some trouble to Yunzhu."

Ye Zhenyang chuckled, "Such trouble is exactly what I’d advise you to get more of for our Ye family members. We Ye people aren’t afraid of such trouble."

Li Yifei rolled his eyes, "There’s no such good deal. After all the things I’ve done, I only managed to owe this one favor, and they’ve already repaid me for it. I wouldn’t dare to ask for their help again."

Ye Zhenyang was just speaking off the cuff. If every official could rise so quickly, then the entire Huaxia would be in chaos. Ye Yunzhu was extremely fortunate to have such an opportunity.

The next big families to arrive were the Hu Family and the Zheng Family; these two had clearly formed a strong alliance, or rather, they’ve always used this approach to signal to other families that their cooperation was so tight that to provoke one was to provoke both.

Following them was the Lin Family. Although their broken engagement was a private matter, such big families have many eyes and ears, and naturally, they all knew of it. The Lin Family was well aware of this too, which is why they arrived a bit later today, expressing their dissatisfaction with the Ye family.

Lin Sihao did not attend. In such a setting, he couldn’t show up. While it was officially to celebrate the Old Master of the Ye Family’s birthday, the family rivalries could easily exploit the situation involving Lin Sihao to make sardonic comments. If they could provoke the Lin Family into hostilities with the Ye Family, it would benefit the other families without any downsides.

Finally, the Song Family and Chu Family arrived. From the Song Family, apart from the Old Master, Song Shucheng, there were Song Ziqiao and his father, Song Xiaojie.

Song Ziqiao’s leg had healed, but he could no longer walk as normally as before. If you looked closely, you could still spot the awkwardness in his posture, which was the greatest hatred in his heart. During this time, aside from recovering, he had only one thing on his mind: to seek revenge on Li Yifei. He wanted to dismember Li Yifei to quench his hatred.

But his grandfather strictly warned him not to cause trouble now. Li Yifei had an even bigger backer, and going after him could bring great trouble to the Song Family. So, Song Ziqiao had to temporarily restrain himself, and the more he held back, the deeper his hatred for Li Yifei grew, imagining Li Yifei’s face whenever he closed his eyes.

Today, having finally ventured out to distract himself, Song Ziqiao felt a bit calmer. As a key figure groomed in his generation of the Song family, he had a respectable presence even among his peers from the other big families.

Although Li Yifei and Ye Zhenyang were chatting together, they had tucked themselves away in a more secluded area. Firstly, they didn’t want others overhearing their conversation, and secondly, with only heavyweights around, Ye Zhenyang’s status did not suit him to welcome those guests. In his generation, it was only Ye Zhenlong and Ye Zhenwei accompanying the Old Master.

Additionally, Li Yifei had important tasks to attend to later, so it was also best for him not to show his face now.

Thus, Song Ziqiao did not see Li Yifei, or his expression would certainly have turned ferocious.

Li Yifei had no interest in those old men’s empty flattery and insincere words. He was secretly observing the attendants that these old men had brought with them.

Watching those attendants, Li Yifei couldn’t help but inwardly praise the deep foundations of these big families; many of them were clearly experts, the kind you could tell just from their appearance, and a few others were inscrutable.

Li Yifei had clashed with the Song Family’s Third Tribute, and that guy’s strength was indeed remarkable. Even earning a spot in the Flying Hawk Squad would be well within his qualifications. The members of the Flying Hawk Squad are meticulously chosen, only a few dozen in total. It seems like each of these large families has several masters like him.

However, the treatment that the members of the Flying Hawk Squad receive is completely different from that of these family retainers. Li Yifei and his comrades have to go through life and death trials time and again; every mission could be their last, while these retainers seem to be raised by the big families, obviously living under much better conditions than Li Yifei and his team.

For this reason, Li Yifei could deduce that, if these masters were to spar with members of the Flying Hawk Squad of the same level, they might be evenly matched, but in a fight to the death, these retainers wouldn’t stand a chance. Without the true test of life and death, even the most skillful martial arts are difficult to apply to real combat.

Among these elders, aside from the Old Master of the Wang Family who knows martial arts, the rest are just ordinary people.

Ye Jingfeng led these people from the large families into the inner part, where there was a hall. The direct descendants of the several big families all gathered here. This time, the heads of these families were not here for secret discussions but rather for social interactions. In these interactions, they also displayed the status and power of their own families. Having these second and third-generation successors take part was also a form of training for them.

After some polite words were exchanged, the Song Family’s head, Song Shucheng, looked towards the head of the Lin family, Lin Fenglin, and said, "Old Lin, I’ve heard that your Lin family is planning a marriage alliance with the Ye family. I’ve been looking forward to the wedding feast, but why haven’t I heard any news yet?"

Lin Fenglin had anticipated that this subject would come up, and just as he was about to reply with a laugh, Old Master of the Ye Family, Ye Jingfeng, had already spoken, "The fault lies with our Ye family. Our Yunzhu already has someone in her heart, and she is even pregnant. To marry into the Lin family now would be an insult, so we could only call off the engagement to avoid angering you, Old Lin."

Song Shucheng narrowed his eyes and said, "Oh? Yunzhu is already pregnant? That’s quite surprising. She’s now the Deputy County Head, with a limitless future. Isn’t pregnancy at this time going to affect her career?"

Ye Jingfeng laughed heartily and replied, "Even if Yunzhu is capable, she is still a woman who will eventually marry and have children. It’s not bad to have them earlier, and as for her career, since Yunzhu could be promoted from Township Chief to Deputy County Head so quickly, even if she’s delayed by childbirth for a year or two, it won’t affect her much."

Ye Jingfeng spoke with such arrogance that it stunned the other elders. In the officialdom, although the Ye family had several high-ranking members, compared to the other families, they were still slightly weaker. Usually, if someone in the Ye family was promoted, Ye Jingfeng would keep a low profile. Now, Ye Jingfeng’s high-profile stance was quite out of the ordinary, making it seem like the Ye family had gained a significant backing.

Part of Ye Jingfeng’s statement was to declare that from now on, the Ye family would step into the inter-family strife. Additionally, because Yunzhu’s pregnancy couldn’t be kept secret indefinitely, hiding it for a month or two was feasible, but as her belly grew, there was no way to conceal it. Furthermore, Yunzhu would certainly need to rest during childbirth, so rather than let others uncover the truth, it was better for him to mention it first.

At this point, the Old Master of the Hu Family, Hu Liduo, said with a chuckle, "Old Ye, since Yunzhu has already chosen her partner, why haven’t you invited us to drink the wedding wine?"

Ye Jingfeng laughed heartily again and said, "This wedding wine can only be drunk together with celebrating the childbirth."

Hu Liduo, known as an old fox, was extremely shrewd. Upon hearing Ye Jingfeng’s words, he immediately narrowed his eyes and commented, "Oh, could it be that your family’s Yunzhu does not plan to hold a wedding?"

Ye Jingfeng, looking somewhat helpless, replied, "To be frank with everyone, the man Yunzhu has chosen is a classmate from her high school days, just a nobody. Our Ye family has always been opposed to it, but now that she’s pregnant, we’re out of options. However, as for entering our Ye family’s door, he can forget about it."

Upon hearing this, everyone showed understanding expressions. For big families like theirs, the marriage of their children was mostly arranged, and daughters were even more vital chess pieces. Marrying off to some nobody in such a hasty and careless manner was something none would accept.

At this moment, Song Shucheng turned to Lin Fenglin again with a grin and said, "Old Lin, since the Ye family disapproves of the man Yunzhu chose, you should still pursue the marriage. To marry one and gain another, what a great deal that would be."

These words were blatantly insulting. Families like theirs valued face greatly—marrying a woman who already carried another’s child would become a joke amongst other families. By saying this, Song Shucheng was clearly trying to provoke Lin Fenglin, whose expression had not changed yet, but the rest of the Lin family members were now all showing signs of anger.