"Everyone in the world is curious." Ye Rongchen was straightforward and unpretentious.
“I’m not as magnanimous as you are, brother. I don’t interfere in my children’s relationships. I used to be quite dissatisfied with them and even tried my best to stop them.” Li Ruiyu didn’t hide anything and told the truth. He shook his head with a wry smile and said, “Don’t laugh at me, brother. Back then, I also mocked Xu Zhengyang, that country bumpkin, for wanting to climb the social ladder and marry the golden branch and jade leaf of my Li Ruiyu family.”
Ye Rongchen frowned slightly, pondering what Li Ruiyu was about to say, but said aloud, "What parent wouldn't care about their child's future? It's understandable."
“My father told me back then, ‘Zhengyang is an upright, kind, and courageous boy…’”
"I've heard about it," Ye Rongchen nodded in agreement.
“Of course I won’t deny these advantages, and I see them very clearly. Xu Zhengyang is of good character, but his shortcomings are also very obvious.” Li Ruiyu smiled and took a sip of tea, saying, “This kid is uneducated, which is laughable. He only graduated from junior high school, and he has a violent personality, is protective of his own, and you could even say that he has low moral character and sometimes even disregards the law… In short, there are many young people who are more outstanding than him.”
"As long as the children are willing, that's fine. When it comes to relationships, it's all about fate." Ye Rongchen laughed and generously advised, as if he could tell that Li Ruiyu still had some regrets and was afraid of being ridiculed, so he said these words first.
Li Ruiyu laughed and said, "To be honest, it was Xu Zhengyang who cured Bingjie's illness."
"Hmm?" Ye Rongchen looked puzzled. This was a question that had always puzzled him. He wasn't unaware of Li Bingjie's illness, nor was he unaware of the immense effort the Li family had put into treating the child over the years. When he first learned that Xu Zhengyang had cured Li Bingjie, Ye Rongchen found it hard to believe, but it wasn't a big deal, so he hadn't paid much attention to it.
Upon hearing Li Ruiyu mention this matter today, Ye Rongchen immediately thought of Li Ruiyu's words earlier, which seemed to be gradually leading the conversation toward this topic and laying the groundwork.
"Unbelievable, isn't it? Right now, no one in the world can cure Bingjie's illness," Li Ruiyu said, seemingly quite pleased.
"Well, now we have Xu Zhengyang."
"Haha, yeah!"
Li Ruiyu stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and chuckled, "Xu Zhengyang cured Bingjie. A few days later, after his father passed away, he fell seriously ill and became a vegetable for two years and six months... Then, at the end of last autumn, he suddenly recovered..."
Ye Rongchen's expression turned serious. He had a vague feeling that what Li Ruiyu wanted to tell him today was something very important.
In recent days, everyone who has been paying attention to the Li family's new son-in-law has heard about what has happened to Xu Zhengyang. However, no one has thought about it from another angle, because in their minds, they never consider the absurd.
So Ye Rongchen pondered for a moment and said two words: "Miracle."
“It truly is a miracle.” Li Ruiyu smiled and continued, “Do you know what Xu Zhengyang did after recovering from his illness?”
Ye Rongchen remained silent, looking at Li Ruiyu.
Li Ruiyu smiled and calmly recounted the uproar Xu Zhengyang had caused in Fuhe City after his recovery. In fact, people like Ye Rongchen had certainly heard of these events, so it was nothing surprising. With a powerful and wealthy family like the Li family backing them up, it was really nothing.
However, when Li Ruiyu then recounted how Xu Zhengyang, amidst a fully armed military presence, directly entered Huatong Network Technology Co., Ltd., and displayed unparalleled dominance towards Jiang Lan, and even towards Li Ruiyu and Li Ruiqing, reprimanding, threatening, warning, and acting with an air of righteous indignation…
Ye Rongchen was truly incredulous.
Ye Rongchen lit another cigarette, his brows furrowed as he pondered.
Ye Rongchen was aware of the incident where Li Ruiyu brazenly deployed heavily armed special forces and police to enter Oriental Plaza, but no one knew the specific reason or what happened that day.
Looking back now... it was all because of Xu Zhengyang.
And Xu Zhengyang, the son-in-law of the Li family, actually did something so incredibly audacious!
I can't understand it!
"On that day, Jiang Lan had no choice but to agree to Xu Zhengyang's request, or rather, his order, to transfer all her shares in Huatong to Bingjie..." Li Ruiyu was still smiling, as if he didn't feel ashamed at all. "You should know what kind of person Jiang Lan is, brother. Right now, the Jiang family is still angry without knowing why."
Ye Rongchen became increasingly puzzled. Could it be that Xu Zhengyang had an even more powerful background?
You can't find a single family in the whole country or even the world that would dare to do such a thing to the Li family, and the Li family actually suffered this humiliation. How is that possible?
This is exactly the effect that Li Ruiyu wanted to achieve.
Yes, if Xu Zhengyang's identity were revealed to Ye Rongchen directly, it would be utterly ridiculous and absurd.
By gradually bringing up these issues, Ye Rongchen slowly begins to wonder, struggle to understand, and speculate.
So, when Ye Rongchen finally believes that these things are inexplicable, then revealing them will bring him absolute shock, and he will believe them without a doubt.
As expected, Ye Rongchen asked with an extremely serious expression, "Why?"
"It's very simple."
Li Ruiyu sighed and said, "If we have to talk about matching social status, I'm afraid my daughter is not good enough for Xu Zhengyang..."
Ye Rongchen shook his head.
Li Ruiyu looked intently at Ye Rongchen and slowly, word by word, said, "Because... Xu Zhengyang, he is—a god!"
Ye Rongchen was immediately stunned, his right hand trembled involuntarily, and the cigarette, which was not even half-burnt, fell to the ground.
Meanwhile, two high-ranking political figures who were chatting and drinking coffee with Li Ruiqing were also stunned at the table. A cup of coffee was accidentally knocked over, spilling the fragrant coffee and sending up wisps of steam...
Volume 5, Spirit Official, Chapter 269: The Land of Gentle Comforts, Busy with Work
The fact that Li Ruiyu and Li Ruiqing revealed Xu Zhengyang's identity to certain individuals was naturally due to prior permission from Xu Zhengyang.
Xu Zhengyang didn't care about the little schemes, or rather, the big schemes, that his father-in-law and his brother were plotting.
In any case, as a son-in-law, it would be unreasonable not to help his father-in-law at a crucial moment. It's not a matter of morality or conscience, and it's just a matter of using his position to bully others.
Well, the two elders aren't scoundrels.
Furthermore, it is indeed necessary for them to know this secret, which will make things much easier for me in the future, so that I won't have to resort to violence and bloodshed to achieve my goals at crucial moments.
Xu Zhengyang was concerned that revealing this information to Ye Rongshen might indirectly help Chen Chaojiang, ensuring that his relationship with Ye Wan wouldn't be hindered by family backgrounds and could develop smoothly. The reason for going through such a roundabout way was, of course, because Xu Zhengyang didn't want to play matchmaker. Just as he didn't want Ye Wan's family to interfere, he wouldn't interfere either, lest he end up in a situation where he's disliked by both sides—that would be a tragedy.
So far, the results seem quite obvious.
Chen Chaojiang and Ye Rongshen must have had a good talk that night, judging from their expressions. Xu Zhengyang thought to himself: Well, this has nothing to do with me. If you two can't make it work in the future, don't blame me.
This time, Ye Wan obediently and contentedly followed her father back to Jiangnan. Chen Chaojiang, on the other hand, was arranged by Xu Zhengyang to temporarily leave Jinghui Logistics and return to Zehe City to learn management experience at Ronghua Group. Xu Zhengyang believed that a lack of formal education was not a problem; continuous learning through experience would compensate. He was confident that with Chen Chaojiang's character, he could excel at anything he set his mind to, provided there were no major surprises or disruptions and he was given a sufficient platform.
Before leaving the capital, Ye Rongyan made a special trip to Li Ruiyu's home. He chatted with Xu Zhengyang for a few minutes over dinner and drank a few glasses of wine. Although they didn't discuss anything specific, Xu Zhengyang believed that Ye Rongshen had probably already guessed why his son, Ye Jun, had inexplicably and bizarrely committed self-harm and suffered serious injuries.
However, since Ye Jun was in the wrong first, Ye Rongke probably wouldn't hold a grudge against Xu Zhengyang.
Of course, I doubt he would dare.
In the warm spring of March, flowers bloom and grass grows tall.
Xu Zhengyang was in high spirits after his wedding. He thought that after being a country bumpkin for so many years, he should at least catch up with the trend and go on a trip, have a so-called honeymoon, and enjoy some romance. When he made this suggestion, Li Xuan received the support of everyone, including both sets of parents. Let's go have fun! Let's have a good time!
Li Bingjie naturally wouldn't object. She was of a tranquil and unambitious nature; if she had any particular hobbies, they would simply be traveling, sightseeing, and getting close to nature.
However, no one knew that Bing Zhengyang was a workaholic. Even during their honeymoon period, he never neglected his duties and always did his best.
Yes, he had already made plans for this trip. He would be taking Judge Li Haidong, along with the ghost messengers Su Peng and Wang Yonggan.
Upon arriving in a new city, he immediately established a nominal city god's palace on the spot.
In a grander sense, this is to do more good and punish evil, to speak up for the people, and to seek justice in the world. As the saying goes, "Heaven's justice is clear." In a narrower sense, Xu Zhengyang naturally wanted to expand the territory he managed and gain more faith to increase his divine power.
What does Xu Zhengyang lack most right now?
Without a doubt, divine power!
It could be said that no matter how much faith power he were given now, converted into divine power, he already had places where he needed to expend it. A third of his divine power had to be unconditionally and helplessly contributed to that damned Heavenly Law, supplying its normal operation. The saying "what goes around comes around" applies to the god Xu Zhengyang. After all, the depletion of his divine power was due to fighting with this one and only god who didn't follow the Heavenly Law, which depleted so much of it.
In addition, some divine power is used to supply the ever-growing City God's Palace. The ghost messengers need divine power, and nominally, the existence of the City God's Palace requires divine power to maintain.
Furthermore, he needs divine power to create the divine artifact. This is a task that requires an enormous amount of divine power.
After all these calculations, it's practically impossible to accumulate enough divine power in a short period of time to support one's potential promotion dream.
To be a god, a god with ideals and ambitions, and the only remaining god in the three realms—it's not easy.
With so many things on his mind, Xu Zhengyang, after sending his sister and Ouyang Ying abroad, seemingly relaxed, took his wife and three bodyguards to enjoy their honeymoon and expand his network of influence. Perhaps, in the future, he could even rebuild a celestial court, creating a heavenly realm on earth.
For his first stop, Xu Zhengyang chose Tianya Haijiao in the South China Sea Province, where he could enjoy the vast sky and the beautiful scenery of the sea and sky meeting on the sandy beach under the blue sky and the gentle waves.
For his second stop, Xu Zhengyang chose to go to Tibet, to visit the Tibetan Plateau, known as "the place closest to the sky on the roof of the world." Legend has it that the area is filled with ancient and mysterious tales, and countless natural phenomena yet to be fully understood by humankind.
Although Haihe City currently has the highest proportion of people with faith in God, a closer look reveals that Shijiazhuang, Anping, and the capital city of Hebei Province have countless people who adhere to other religions, regardless of their loyalty or which deity they worship. Their faith is unknowingly absorbed by Xu Zhengyang, the deity, and by the unseen laws of Heaven.
Thus, with the supply of faith from these four places, Xu Zhengyang's mental state had long since recovered, and he was no longer in a pitiful state of having a sallow face, a long neck, and having to lean on the wall to walk.
Besides, there's still surplus power to establish a nominal city or government upon reaching a certain location, since it's merely a matter of will. It's like someone wanting to build a skyscraper in a certain place, even though it hasn't been built yet. But they have the idea in their mind, buy the land, and then get started.
Does Xu Zhengyang need to buy land? No.
Therefore, establishing a nominal City God's Palace did not require much effort.
What truly required divine power was his arrival at a certain place, where he ordered Judge Li Haidong, Ghost Messenger Captain Su Peng, and Wang Yonggan to search for suitable ghosts to appoint as ghost messengers. Since appointing ghost messengers naturally required essential tools like ghost messenger tokens and soul-beating rulers, this also required divine power.
For a deity whose divine power is currently extremely limited, each additional ghost messenger he appoints is like having another child who opens his mouth to feed him every day—it's heartbreaking.
You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub, so even though it pains Xu Zhengyang, he still has to continue this kind of work.
Of course, Xu Zhengyang had a bottom line when doing these tasks: he needed to conserve enough divine power to support the ghost messengers who were constantly following him around, tugging at his clothes for food and water before they could work. At the very least, his own safety required the protection of these ghost messengers! Not to mention his three bodyguards, Chen Hanzhe, Zhu Jun, and Qingling.
As the saying goes, it's easy to dodge an open arrow, but hard to guard against a hidden one. The protection of unseen agents is a force many times stronger than any bodyguard.
While it's true that stories don't happen without coincidences, how many coincidences in this world could possibly happen that Xu Zhengyang keeps encountering by sheer luck?
Therefore, Xu Zhengyang's honeymoon was smooth sailing, happy, and sexually fulfilling.
Although his divine consciousness hadn't fully recovered, his body was already in good health. Of course, compared to ordinary people, the body forged by divine power was still quite extraordinary. Fortunately, Xu Zhengyang knew how to cherish his wife and had the willpower to restrain his sex life. Otherwise, where would Bingjie have the energy to accompany her to enjoy the scenery?
Xu Zhengyang appeared to be living a carefree life, with no one daring to provoke him. However, that didn't mean no unlucky scoundrels were being punished. That was the business of the ghost messengers; Xu Zhengyang didn't concern himself with it.
Almost a month has passed in the blink of an eye.
Xu Zhengyang and Li Bingjie's journey to western Tibet is drawing to a close.
The honeymoon is not over yet.
Xu Zhengyang shamelessly said, "We still have many places to explore, shall we go and have some more fun?"
“It’s been a month,” Li Bingjie said, blushing and looking down.
Let's wander around some more.
"Mm." Li Bingjie nodded.
Xu Zhengyang immediately decided to go to Zhonghai City, which is known as the largest city in the country, and its wealth, prosperity and development are absolutely among the best.
At this moment, in the most secure room on the top floor of the Ronghua Group Building in Haihe City, Zheng Ronghua and his son Zheng Yaokai were slumped on the sofa, looking at each other in bewilderment, their faces filled with despair.
what to do?
Before Xu Zhengyang went on his honeymoon, he left a pile of ebony and over twenty kilograms of pure mutton fat jade with them for safekeeping. The mutton fat jade is still there, but the ebony is noticeably less.
This is incredible!
Zheng Ronghua and his son were still wary of Xu Zhengyang's temper.
After much deliberation, the father and son made a decision. They would immediately purchase more ebony as compensation, and they also had to inform Xu Zhengyang about this matter; they dared not conceal it.
Poor Zheng Ronghua and Zheng Yaokai, how could they possibly know that these lost ebony roots were retrieved by Xu Zhengyang in the dead of night, his divine sense traveling thousands of miles to retrieve them and use them to make the Ghost Messenger Token and the Soul-Slaying Ruler? Thankfully, Xu Zhengyang doesn't have enough divine power to forge a city scroll artifact right now; otherwise, if the mutton-fat jade were exhausted, wouldn't Zheng Ronghua and his son be so frightened that they would commit suicide on the spot?