Volume 5: If you are poor, you should be alone Chapter 160 Wolf King’s Claws of Friendship
In his previous life, he was lucky enough to live in a peaceful country, and even a rising power. As a result, Xiao Yun was inherently indifferent to the security issues of the surrounding environment and had a numb mentality. Although he knew to be prepared for danger in times of peace and to develop the basic foundation when he first traveled through time, he did not have a clear enough understanding of the cruelty of this world.
It was not until Yu's patrol was attacked and a tribesman as powerful as a Snow Wolf warrior was carried back half-dead that Xiao Yun realized that he had underestimated the naked law of the jungle between different races and ethnic groups - pretending to be a grandson and giving blood transfusions to the big guys obediently did not mean that he would be absolutely safe!
Even if you have enough value and interests tied to you, if the boss thinks your bone is too hard and it will be difficult for others to stroke it, this bone will definitely be broken!
This is not some profound truth that is difficult to understand. In fact, Xiao Yun has seen and experienced similar things in his previous life... Post-Cold War China can be described as "docile and low-key", and it has done a lot of things like actively currying favor with its American father, but the embassy was still bombed, the Galaxy incident still happened, and 811192 was gone forever - no matter which world, between different destinies and different interest groups, it is impossible to earn true peace by being docile and low-key and trying to gain sympathy!
Afterwards, Xiao Yun adjusted the direction of the tribe's development. He no longer stayed at home and focused on farming. Instead, he carefully and cautiously let the Snow Wolf Tribe enter the vision of other tribes, and faced the world with the most peace-loving attitude, the most humble, obedient, safe and harmless image; at the same time, he worked hard to gather people of the same tribe, expand the tribe, and expand the symbiotic ethnic group... All of this was to prevent his own tribe from being easily kicked out by some big boss who was in a bad mood.
Wearing a harmless mask, Xiao Yun walked towards the forest elves with a smile. When he was about to get close, he slowed down and looked at these "neighbors" curiously and shyly, most of whom he had never seen before.
“Teacher Ayun!” Evelin spotted him and quickly stood up and waved, walking out of her seat to greet him, “Mr. Sean, Hongye is here too? Teacher, where do you live? How come I’ve never seen you before?”
"We did see you yesterday morning." Xiao Yun said with a smile, "There are so many of you."
"Hehe... By the way, teacher, this is my good friend." Evelyn pulled Xiao Yun towards her seat. The two forest elves who were originally sitting on the sofa stood up at the right time, "Elizabeth, Susan, Elizabeth is the daughter of General Crest!"
Jumping briskly to the two friends, Evelin said proudly: "Elizabeth, Susan, this is Teacher Ayun, and Mr. Sean and Hongye."
Elizabeth is a short-haired elf warrior. Her facial features are indeed somewhat similar to the elf generals Xiao Yun had seen several times. She is very heroic and seems to be very interested in the Snow Wolf Tribe: "Wow, Ayun! And Hongye!" She happily came up and held Hongye's big hand, looking her up and down. "It's much more handsome than the illustrations drawn by Crest. Hello, Hongye, my name is Elizabeth, you can call me Liz."
Hongye: "Uh..."
"You are really strong, one and a half times as strong as Gretel (nickname of Crest)." Elizabeth touched Hongye's arm curiously and pulled her to sit down. "Would you like some wine or juice? Your shoulders are so broad. These are the ginkgo nuts that are a specialty of the snow elves. Eat these!"
Hongye: “Hmm…” She felt very uncomfortable being touched all the time, so she looked at Ayun for help.
Xiao Yun turned his head away silently, pretending not to see it...
Susan's attitude was different from that of the frank and direct Elizabeth. The elf in robes just smiled faintly at Xiao Yun, but she was somewhat interested in Sean and started chatting with the legendary magician in a reserved manner.
Xiao Yun took the opportunity to blend into the disciples' circle of friends, chatting with Evelyn one sentence at a time, and kept glancing at the queen who was surrounded in the center.
There were dozens of forest elves who came. As far as Xiao Yun observed, apart from Gwendolyn, the only ones who could get close to the queen were a few men and women who were also wearing robes and looked very high-ranking, as well as two ladies-in-waiting who always stood behind the queen's seat. Young people like Evelyn and Elizabeth were mostly excluded. They were separated from the queen by several circles of people and had no chance to get close at all.
Evelin noticed that Xiao Yun was a little absent-minded. She was alert and observed where Xiao Yun's eyes were going. She smiled and whispered, "Teacher, are you interested in our queen? Her Majesty the Queen doesn't have a partner, but your age-"
"Don't talk nonsense!" Xiao Yun glared at her. "We, the Snow Wolf Tribe, were invited by your teacher Gwendolyn and happened to be favored by the Queen. I was just wondering if there was a chance to express my gratitude."
"Teacher Gwendolyn doesn't care about these things~" Evelyn said with a smile, "As for Her Majesty the Queen... I don't think you are likely to thank her in person." She winked and lowered her voice, "Did you see those court mages beside Her Majesty the Queen? They don't allow 'extra' people to get close to the Queen. Even Teacher Gwendolyn had a chance to get close to the Queen with great difficulty."
"Oh?" Xiao Yun showed just the right amount of surprise.
"Her Majesty is not in good health." Evelyn said softly, "After Her Majesty ascended the throne, she was unable to handle the affairs of the clan herself. Part of the royal power was divided among the ladies-in-waiting in the royal city, and part of the royal power was divided among the court mages... The ladies-in-waiting were the group closest to Her Majesty. Even the court mages had to take a step back in front of the ladies-in-waiting. How could they tolerate the presence of other people around the queen?"
Evelyn used to not care about these things. Even if the fiercest struggle happened right under her nose, this elf girl would ignore it. But after becoming Xiao Yun's disciple, especially after listening to so many stories about the "Human Kingdom" with the Snow Wolf Clan... she also learned to distinguish the factions surrounding power.
Xiao Yun understood immediately. This was the dispute between the inner court and the outer court over the kingship. The Elf Queen didn't look like a strong person at all. With her intentional or unintentional indulgence, this kind of internal fighting would only intensify over time... For kings like the Elf King and the Dark Elf Matron, who fought against heaven and earth, this kind of thing would never happen.
After getting this information from his disciples, Xiao Yun laughed in his heart... Her Majesty the Queen is so weak, and Gwendolyn, who was once a court mage, has actually ended up in the embarrassing state of being "demoted". No wonder this paratrooper from Ananas has connections and networks, but is still full of flaws.
But in this case, it was obvious that as a foreigner, he had no way to find an excuse to get close to the queen, so he had to think of other ways.
"Is it only your teacher who came to Ananas, or are there other 'sages' as well?" Xiao Yun asked in a low voice.
"Elder Meli is here too, Elizabeth's teacher." Evelyn pointed to the seat next to her.
Xiao Yun looked over as Evelyn had pointed out, and was suddenly startled... It wasn't because of Elder Meli, but because of the guy sitting next to Elder Meli—wasn't that Warrior Kai?
"Hi, Kai!" Xiao Yun immediately waved excitedly.
Kai, who had his back to this side, stiffened for a moment and turned his head away with a look of regret… He had been hiding his face, how could he still be recognized by this guy?
If Xiao Yun knew what Kai was thinking, he would definitely say - Among Ananas' elf warriors, the one I'm most familiar with is you, besides Hailin. I can even mold the back of your head out of mud!
Elder Meili, who was whispering something to her disciple, moved her ears, raised her head and looked over here, looking at her disciple with a sharp gaze: "Kai, are you friends with Ayun from the Snow Wolf Clan? Why haven't I heard you mention it?"
"Uh..." Kai's face was full of confusion.
Elder Meili frowned in disapproval, and Kai had no choice but to stand up with his nose pinched, and greeted stiffly: "Ayun."
“Hehehe…” Xiao Yun immediately shamelessly pulled Evelin to the table, “Long time no see, Kai, Elder Meili, hello, I’m Ayun.”
"Sit down and talk." Elder Meili, who was wearing neat light armor and looked heroic, warmly invited Xiao Yun to sit down. She also used her eyes to force Kai to get a glass of fruit wine for Xiao Yun. She said kindly, "I have heard of you, Ayun from the Snow Wolf Tribe, for a long time, but unfortunately I have never had the chance to meet you. I heard that you have a close personal relationship with Crest?"
The invisible friend-or-foe radar in Xiao Yun's head was instantly activated - the teacher of Crest's daughter, a slightly more enthusiastic attitude compared to the arrogant forest elves, and mentioned Crest as soon as he opened his mouth to bring the two sides closer - conclusion: this person is very likely a local member of Ananas, and he and Gwendolyn of the airborne faction are not on the same page.
This is also logical. Even if Gwendolyn is in control of Ananas, the local faction cannot be completely helpless. This can be seen from the fact that General Kleist, a member of the local faction, is still able to hold military power.
"I'm sorry to say this, but General Crest has indeed taken good care of us Snow Wolfs." Xiao Yun immediately put on a flattered and shy expression that matched his age. "By the way, Kai and Hailin were also very friendly to us. Kai was the first forest elf I met."
Kai's hand trembled as he was pouring fruit wine from the pot, and he almost spilled the wine on the coffee table.
"Is that so, Kai?" Elder Meili asked with great interest.
"Ha, ha...Ayun, do you remember everything?" Kai Jiang laughed.
"Of course, I am still confident in my memory." Xiao Yun raised his eyebrows meaningfully.
Kai: “Hahaha…” So angry ! But I still have to laugh. So angry!
Elder Meili: "..." Seeing her disciple's reaction, she could tell with her knees that Kai and Ayun were not very friendly when they first met...
This elder was also a man of character. He acted decisively... pretending not to notice Kai's embarrassment, he turned around and looked at Xiao Yun kindly: "Your tribe happens to be very close to our Ananas. Even if Kai wasn't here, we would have known each other sooner or later."
Elder Meili had placed the bamboo pole here neatly. It would be tactless for Xiao Yun not to follow the lead. He nodded and smiled, "Yes, when our tribe migrated here a few years ago, the chief thought it was safer to be closer to the forest elves, so he chose to live in the place closest to the forest."
Elder Meili smiled happily at the flattery: "This is an honor for us Ananas. Your Snow Wolf tribe is very good at cooking. If there is no Snow Wolf vermicelli and seasoning on the table now, my children will not be happy."
After a lot of business praise, both sides were basically sure of each other's attitude and position. Xiao Yun immediately took a bold step closer and said with a smile: "We in the Snow Wolf tribe like to eat vermicelli very much. We thought that if everyone is tired of bread, it would be better to have other staple foods to change the taste... Last year, our tribe worked hard to make 5 million kilograms of vermicelli to sell to you. I was a little worried that you would get tired of it. Now that you like it so much, I feel relieved."
The pupils of Elder Meili's beautiful green eyes shrank slightly, and even Kai, who had complicated feelings towards Xiao Yun, couldn't help but gasp.
Evelin felt that something seemed to be wrong, so to avoid an awkward silence, she echoed, "How could that be, teacher? Every time I go back to Ananas, I see a long queue at the Municipal Material Management Office's vermicelli store. My brother also said that it's much easier to have vermicelli instead of baking bread every day~"
Although Evelyn, the elf girl, had been trained by Xiao Yun, she obviously still lacked political sense. When this was said, not only did Elder Meili look speechless, even Xiao Yun felt a little embarrassed...
The five million kilograms of vermicelli sold to Ananas twice last year would not be eaten up from the beginning of the year to the end of the year due to the consumption of all the residents and villagers of Ananas City plus the consumption of the adventurers. With such a saturated sales volume, the residents in the city have to queue up in long lines to buy vermicelli. What does this indicate?
This means that most of the 5 million kilograms of vermicelli did not go to Ananas!
Elder Meili couldn't control her facial muscles, and her hands on her knees unconsciously clenched into fists. It was obvious that this number was the first time this elder had heard it. If it wasn't for the wrong occasion, Xiao Yun doubted whether she would jump up and curse...
"Guessed it right." Xiao Yun thought to himself, this is very stable.
He did not dare to openly seek information from Ananas, so he had to obtain it secretly from outside, and then summarize and infer it logically:
Two years ago, Gwendolyn, the parachuted leader, was in a rather awkward situation. When proposing to expand the scale of trade, she only mentioned soy sauce. Last year, the volume of soy sauce transactions exceeded 10 million kilograms, which should be the bulk of the funds that Gwendolyn had previously obtained for her political activities.
Last year, because the tribe had sufficient manpower and farming machinery in the early spring, Xiao Yun expanded the scale of sweet potato planting and the output of sweet potato flour increased. Xiao Yun used his identity as Evelyn's teacher, the only buyer, to sell 5 million kilograms of vermicelli to Ananas.
In the first transaction, Evelyn was reluctant to take away two million kilograms. In the second transaction, Evelyn took away three million kilograms without saying a word. After that, in the team of forest elves that appeared in the Ice and Snow King City, Gwendolyn, the "marginal person" who had failed to lick the forest elf military leader two years ago, appeared beside the queen.
It is really not much more difficult to calculate the destination of this batch of vermicelli than to solve a math equation... At this moment, I will pretend to be ignorant and reveal it to see the reaction of Elder Meili. The answer can be written directly on the paper.
On the timeline of the Earth, 2,000 years ago, the terrorists instigated by the Americans brought unspeakable pain to the people of the Earth, but the Americans did not react at all and watched the excitement happily. In 2001, the terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center, and the Americans immediately jumped up as if their butts were on fire, and launched a military attack on Afghanistan with red eyes...
If you cry to the local faction of Ananas about the Snow Wolf warriors being maimed and injured by the summoned Nightmare Knights, they may sympathize with you and shed a few tears, but they will never empathize with you, let alone sacrifice their own interests to stand up for you.
Only by making them know for sure that their interests have been damaged and seriously harmed, can Xiao Yun gain reliable allies!
Xiao Yun chuckled proudly, and said with the vanity of an inspired young man: "In that case, we will also produce more this year. If you Ananas are willing to buy, we can prepare 10 million kilograms of vermicelli for you, just like we did with the soy sauce last year."
Evelyn said happily: "Teacher, you are bragging, Barr... Where can you make so much vermicelli, and you have to sell vermicelli to Carlisle!"
"What's the big deal? People's explosive power is forced out. There is motivation when there is pressure!" Xiao Yunhun said indifferently.
"Haha, teacher, if others hear what you said, they will cry!"
Elder Meili clenched her teeth and took several deep breaths, trying very hard to control her emotions that were about to go out of control. Her green eyes were so green that they glowed, and her teeth were almost bleeding.
Evelyn was a leader among the younger generation of Ananas. Elder Meli had no doubt about Evelyn's loyalty to Ananas. Just looking at the fact that this young man, who was less than 200 years old, had no idea how much the actual transaction volume with the Snow Wolf Tribe was, it was clear that Evelyn, the tacit "purchaser" of the Elders' Council, was being played around by her teacher, Elder Gwendolyn.
Elder Meili had no idea about the expansion of the vermicelli trade last year!
The city of Ananas was still the same as the year before. In the two transactions, the Municipal Materials Management Department only received 500,000 kilograms of vermicelli, 300,000 of which flowed into the market, and 200,000 were distributed to the troops of General Crest and another elven general.
The whereabouts of the additional 4.5 million kilograms purchased with Ananas’ financial funds are unknown!
This was enough to make Elder Meli angry. Then, when Xiao Yun revealed that the soy sauce trading volume last year was as high as 10 million kilograms, Elder Meli was very well-educated and didn't vomit blood on the spot... Even if Ananas only made twice the profit (three copper coins per kilogram) from these soy sauces and sold them to other cities or the Dwarf Kingdom, that would still be a full 60,000 gold coins in fiscal revenue!
This amount of money even exceeds the total annual mining amount of the two gold mines... Where did this money go?!
Elder Meli looked at Evelyn's extremely gorgeous spider silk robe with a gloomy expression. This four-hundred-year-old forest elf warrior was still able to remain rational. After suppressing her anger, she remembered that Evelyn had an extra income - the two travel notes she co-authored with Ayun of the Snow Wolf Clan allowed her to earn several hundred gold coins more every year than other young elves.
As far as she knew, even the illustrations provided by Crest were paid around 200 gold coins, so as a co-author, Evelyn certainly wouldn't lose much.
Taking another deep breath, Elder Meili looked at Ayun of the Snow Wolf Clan who was chatting and laughing with Evelyn, and the muscles on her face relaxed... This God of Wealth had been monopolized by Gwendolyn for so long, it was time to "return" it to Ananas.
Having made up his mind, the local elder smiled gently and said, "I don't know much about trade. Elder Gwendolyn is in charge of all this. Changes in trading volume must be subject to Elder Gwendolyn's opinion. Please forgive my curiosity. I heard that your tribe has a smaller population than our Ananas. Can you handle such a large trading volume?"
Xiao Yun seemed to see Elder Meili holding an olive branch with both hands and offering it with full sincerity. If he didn't put forward conditions now, when would he? He immediately acted a little embarrassed and said shyly, "Hehe... It's true that we are a little too busy. In the past two years, our tribe has been working hard to gather more Snow Wolf and Cat tribes. If there are more people, everyone won't have to work so hard."
Elder Meili's eyes lit up. The Snow Wolf Tribe's request was really too low!
The Snow Wolf Tribe had only such low requirements for the blood they donated to Ananas, but Gwendolyn still angered such a perfect ally and forced Ayun of the Snow Wolf Tribe to seek cooperation with her on the occasion of the Frank Banquet. Elder Meli simply didn't know how to comment on this!
It is obviously not the job of a mature politician to make a promise rashly. Elder Meili did not take on too much responsibility, but said tactfully: "I heard that it is difficult to survive on the grassland. The Snow Wolf and Cat tribes that originally lived together have to split up into tribes of varying sizes to survive on their own. Since you, a sage of the Snow Wolf tribe, can make your people no longer worry about food, then it is time for you to return to the lifestyle of your ancestors. If the Snow Wolf tribe can establish a city-state on the grassland, as your neighbor, we Ananas will be very happy for you."
Xiao Yun suddenly felt refreshed, and he found this elder from the local Ananas faction very pleasing to the eye - this was a normal elf leader, this was the style that matched the elf personality! !
As long as the Snow Wolf Clan doesn't become rebellious like the Tiger Clan and doesn't know how to cover up, and knows how to tie their interests closely to Ananas, it's strange that the normal Ananas high-level officials would deliberately make things difficult for them - they run Ananas as if it were their own family, and what's wrong with having more sensible and smart brothers who can provide blood transfusion nearby? Who would dislike having too many allies, especially allies who can bring practical benefits to themselves and pose no threat? !
There is no doubt that the olive branch extended by Elder Meli must be accepted, and it must be accepted with both hands!
"Elder Meili, I'm sorry to say that you really give me the same feeling as General Kleist!" Xiao Yun said with a smile, "When I first met General Kleist, I felt that he was a very reliable elder. Now that I see you, I have that feeling again... Oh, is it rude of me to say this?"
"No way! I'd be so happy if I had a disciple as smart as you." Elder Meli understood immediately and accepted the claw of friendship handed over by Xiao Yun without hesitation. "Look at my two disciples, Kai and Liz (Elizabeth). If they were half as smart as you, I would have less worries." As she said that, she patted Kai's shoulder hard, making Kai neither cry nor laugh.
"In my opinion, Kai is very good. After Hailin got a partner, he always boasted about how good his partner was. Kai is much better." Xiao Yun also understood the implication of Elder Meili's words, and immediately hit the snake with the stick, "Isn't that right, Kai? Hailin is really annoying now."
"Uh... yes." Kai looked awkward, but he did find Xiao Yun a lot more pleasing to his eyes.
Xiao Yun immediately pulled Evelin and Kai to say some harmless things about Hailin who was not present. With Elder Meili's covetous gaze and Kai's resentment towards Hailin who was always selling dog food, this somewhat arrogant guy unknowingly became friends with Xiao Yun...
Elder Meili looked kindly at the disciple who had finally not let her down too much, then turned her gaze in the direction of the queen and revealed a barely perceptible sneer.
Halfway through the banquet, Xiao Yun, who had been hanging around in the forest elf area for more than half an hour, saw that the party was almost over, so he stood up to say goodbye. Before leaving, Elder Meili gave him a meaningful look, saying, "Elder Gwendolyn once served in the Queen's Mage Corps. It is said that she left due to some misunderstanding and came to this remote border town of Ananas." (Translation: I will kick Gwendolyn out, and you Snow Wolf Tribe will continue to play with us Ananas in the future.)
Elder Meili had made it so clear that Xiao Yun didn't understand what she meant. He smiled back and said to Evelyn, "Evelyn, your teacher is very good." (Translation: This girl is a fool, she is not the same as her smart teacher, don't hurt her by mistake.)
“Hehe.” Evelin, this silly girl, didn’t understand the true meaning of the two people’s communication at all, and was still grinning foolishly.
Elder Meili smiled slightly. In fact, even without Xiao Yun's special hint, she would not target Evelin, a local disciple of Ananas. She gave Xiao Yun a comforting look (don't worry, I'm not stupid), and turned to look at her useless disciple.
Kai had no choice but to stick to Xiao Yun awkwardly, not knowing where to put his hands and feet.
Xiao Yun pretended not to notice this guy's awkwardness and naturally pulled Kai to find Sean. The moment he turned around, he had four words in his mind: the situation is settled!
As the saying goes, a villain takes revenge from morning to night. Xiao Yun believes that he is definitely not a gentleman. It would be fine if he didn't know, but since he knew that Gwendolyn was not a good person, it would be strange if he didn't think about revenge.
It's obviously not easy to take revenge on the elders of a city... Xiao Yun had considered using the incident of monsters appearing in the cursed land to deceive the queen, but the difficulty of this operation was too high - not to mention whether he could get close to the elven queen, just because he was a foreigner and Gwendolyn was a forest elf, he couldn't do this performance. The principle of "distant relatives cannot separate relatives" is universal in any world.
Fortunately, he had already made preparations to secretly communicate with the local Ananas faction, and the huge sum of money invested in Crest was not wasted. The process of establishing contact with Elder Meli, who was allied with Crest, was as smooth as silk.
The local faction may not know how much Gwendolyn has gained through her manipulation, but they are certainly aware of it; his goal is to get Gwendolyn to leave Ananas, the interests of the local faction are consistent with his, and the local faction has a natural advantage over him as an outsider...they are forest elves themselves!
Gwendolyn is full of flaws, and the court ladies and the current court mages are eyeing her covetously. Elder Meili wants to "send her off", and the difficulty of operation is much lower than that of Xiao Yun, a foreigner~
Therefore, uniting all possible allies is the hard truth of the struggle. Mr. Mao is never lying to me!
Returning to Evelin’s seat, Xiao Yun’s body trembled again.
Kleist's own daughter, Elizabeth, was cuddling with Hongye, hugging her arm like a little bird, but Hongye didn't understand what the little stars in her eyes meant, and was still enthusiastically telling her "The Daughter of the Sea"...
"... Damn, the situation here is also decided." Xiao Yun stared with dead fish eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
