Chapter 422 - Pomp
Chapter 422: Pomp
On the side, Ye Xiu was becoming a little unhappy listening to this. “Grandpa, am I really your biological grandson or not?”
What he meant to say was, What do you mean I don’t have to go, but Big Brother Cheng has to?
Grandpa Ye gave him the white eye. “You should ask your dad about this heavy topic. The reason that you don’t have to go is that you are not qualified.”
Ye Xiu looked at Minister Ye in disappointment. “Dad?”
Minister Ye’s words also dealt a blow to Ye Xiu. He just dry-coughed and said, “The people going are all people with tons to brag about. You don’t really have anything you can brag about, so you indeed aren’t qualified.”
Ye Xiu: “…”
Xu Cheng couldn’t go against Grandpa Ye’s orders so he had no choice but to follow him into the car with a red-flag at the front.
Watching the red-flag car driving off, Ye Xiu asked his dad in confusion, “I’m not qualified, but the key is, is Big Brother Cheng qualified? I remember, Dad, Grandpa didn’t even compliment you or brag to others about you when you became the minister, right?”
Minister Ye sighed. “In your grandpa’s eyes, soldiers that can fight the Wei Nation are good soldiers. My minister position was partly given by your grandpa, so there was indeed no reason for him to compliment me. But, Little Cheng has the assets to go and brag with those old guys.”
Ye Xiu: “But how come I don’t know what he can brag about?”
“If you knew what he can brag about, then you wouldn’t be standing but actually kneeling before him to talk to him.” After Minister Ye said that, he quickly poured himself a small cup of that alcohol and downed it, savoring the aftertaste.
“What?!” Ye Xiu didn’t know whether his dad was joking or not.
In the car, Xu Cheng sighed, “Old Man, I don’t know what you have planned but I’m really a bit tired now and I want to rest.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Grandpa Ye pretended to be confused. Then, after some thought, he decided to stop going in circles. He looked at Xu Cheng and sighed, “Child, it’s not good to be too smart.”
Xu Cheng bitterly smiled. “Yeah, that’s why I’m not in politics.”
Grandpa Ye nodded and said, “Tsk tsk, you are a smart child. In fact, we have many ways to prove our worth during the time we are alive, and there’s no need to stand at the top. If you stand at a spot too high, you will catch a lot of attention, and it will also hurt a lot when you fall. This time, what you did was very right. You have at least reached the realm Zhang Chenfeng wanted you to realize.”
The car drove to a restaurant opened by the stewards of Yanjing, and you couldn’t get the degree of authenticity in the cooking here anywhere else, and many of the chefs that stayed here to cook could have their lineages traced all the way back to royal chefs that served the imperial families before.
The interior was definitely on the low-key side in comparison to those luxurious restaurants located in golden locations with splendid decor, but this was definitely not a place you could just come to even if you had money or power!
This place required a reservation, and generally, this place wouldn’t host guests other than officials of the government. So, if a wealthy businessman in the country could be invited here for a meal with a certain government official, it would be enough for them to brag about it for the rest of their life.
The pictures of all the famous and accomplished officials in history that came to eat here were hung along the corridors of this restaurant, and the earliest ones were with the old chefs of this restaurant sharing a photo with the imperial relatives of the Qin Dynasty. From then on, there had been countless photos with nation leaders. Just this sight alone was worth millions of dollars for the officials and businessmen that came here to take pictures.
And today, from the afternoon all the way to the night, the restaurant was completely reserved, and many officials were confused why their reservation was pushed back a day on such short notice.
Li Menglong, the one who was responsible for stimulating Yanjing’s economic development and was also responsible for providing hospitality for the investing giants, was one of the few that reserved the seats earlier. Today, he was already at the place with a few wealthy guests to talk about an investment here, and yet they were told that the whole place was clearing out guests to make room for a group of patrons. The few top-tier businessmen in the country were quite confused and they asked Li Menglong, “We haven’t finished talking about the projects yet, why are we leaving already?”
As a local, Li Menglong knew something was definitely going on. He gestured for the businessmen to calm down and be patient first and then he turned to ask the manager who was asking for them to leave. “Who had this place reserved?’
Before the manager could speak, groups of armed special forces came in to help begin guiding people out of this place, and the whole scene suddenly became a bit exciting to watch. Even Li Menglong’s eyelids jumped. Judging by this pomp, it really looked like the preparation of the Commander-in-Chief coming out to visit.
Immediately, he looked at the three businessmen with him and said, “How about we go to another place?”
At this moment, those businessmen were thinking that it was such a rare opportunity for them to come here, they should at least finish a meal, right?
“Boss, look man, we already sat down and began eating, why do we have to leave now? Isn’t this a bit unreasonable? Besides, we already paid, right?”
The manager said, “Sir, it’s not that we are not letting you guys eat here, but we just have to push back the schedule. We just received a call from General Administration and was told about this arrangement on short notice, and that this whole place will be reserved. Please don’t make this difficult for us.”
He then looked at Li Menglong and said, “Mayor Li, you are an official here, you know we wouldn’t do this unless there really is something important happening.”
Li Menglong nodded. Seeing many of the guests already leaving, he was already planning to leave. And then, especially when the manager mentioned “General Administration”, his face also slightly changed.
“Alright, we will come back another time.” Li Menglong immediately stood up and told the three businessmen, and then the four of them got prepared to leave.
As soon as they walked out of the hotel, they saw the majestic scene of a trail of police cars leading the way as five extended-sedans with red flags flowing at the front of the vehicle slowly stopping by the restaurant. Then, special forces came forward and opened the door for those cars. When a couple of youngsters walked out from the cars, Li Menglong wasn’t too surprised, but when he saw the five elders that slowly walked out of the cars…
Li Menglong felt an earthquake in his kokoro (heart)!
Holy fack!
These five… these five elders weren’t simple characters!
They could be said to be the prominent veterans of the country, those five generals that were responsible for killing the most Wei Nation invaders during that war! The five of them already rarely appeared in public, but now, all five of them were in one frame, coming to one restaurant to dine! It had been over a couple dozen years now, right? It was no wonder that this restaurant would treat this with such high importance and clear out the whole place for their arrival!
Li Menglong felt a tsunami in his heart, because he also saw the old Commander Ye that he almost offended earlier!
Holy fack, so close, if he didn’t make it out in time and ran into these five higher-ups, he would be in a ton of sht!
Then, he saw a youngster holding onto Elder Ye. Elder Ye was treating him like a buddy of the same age and had his arm around Xu Cheng laughing as they walked, clearly having a good time. Li Menglong immediately squinted his tiny eyes and tried to get a clearer look of that young man, hoping to get to know him. And, this young man was none other than Xu Cheng!
“Mayor Li, who are these five elders? Do you know? I thought it was the Commander-in-Chief that came, such pomp,” those three businessmen said in confusion.
Li Menglong bitterly smiled. “Even when the Commander-in-Chief sees these five, he will respectfully call them ‘uncle’. These five are enough to represent the pinnacle of power in Huaxia.”