Chapter 1170 - 1170: Ruining His Own Image

After distancing himself from any connection with "Xiao Feng," Xiao Feng found an excuse to leave Third Master's room and gave Wang Lubo a call…

"Hello, Brother Feng, I've been missing you like crazy!

I've been wanting to call you, but I was worried you were too busy.

Got any free time lately?

Let's have a proper get-together, just us brothers."

The moment the call connected, Wang Lubo's nonstop chatter poured into his ear.

Xiao Feng snapped, "I'm calling you this time on serious business. Let me ask you, is Chen Xiuxiu's grandfather named Chen Fu?"

"Yeah, his name is Chen Fu, what's up?" Wang Lubo asked in confusion.

"You sure?"

"What is there to be unsure about? He's called Chen Fu. Brother Feng, why are you suddenly asking this?"

Xiao Feng didn't answer, just took a deep breath and unloaded a torrent of curses, blasting Wang Lubo so hard the guy couldn't even react.

After cursing him out for a full five minutes, Xiao Feng directly hung up the phone, not giving Wang Lubo any chance to respond. The frustration in his chest dropped by… maybe one-tenth.

The main thing was, Xiao Feng felt this whole situation was just too damn unjust—got praised a few times and somehow ended up with disaster falling out of nowhere.

Since when did being too outstanding become some kind of crime?

But thinking about it carefully, sometimes being too outstanding really does come with original sin baked in.

Otherwise there wouldn't be sayings like "the tree that stands out in the forest is the first the wind will destroy."

"Sigh…"

Xiao Feng let out a sigh, forcibly cutting off his own train of thought about "being outstanding."

For now, even though the odds of Third Master continuing to help Wang Tingwei target him weren't high, he couldn't say it was completely impossible either.

After all, Third Master had basically "deliberately let himself be tricked." Who could guarantee he wouldn't deliberately keep doing it?

"I've got to think of a way to stop this old guy from stirring up more crap…" Xiao Feng muttered to himself as he started working his brain.

The first thing that came to mind, of course, was… just get rid of the old man.

Clean, simple, once and for all.

Of course, Xiao Feng quickly dismissed that notion.

The reason was simple: for someone like Third Master, there definitely wasn't a shortage of people who wanted him dead. If he'd managed to survive this long, there had to be a reason.

If an impulsive move on his part brought even bigger consequences, that would not be ideal.

Besides, things hadn't gotten to that point yet. If it could be resolved peacefully, better to spill less blood.

After a while, Xiao Feng walked back into the room, sat down opposite Third Master, and cleared his throat twice. "That Xiao Feng you mentioned just now, I've actually met him a few times…"

"Oh?" Third Master frowned. "Don't tell me you're gonna start singing his praises into my ear too?"

Xiao Feng shook his head. "Not really. I just think he's not as impressive as the rumors make him out to be. He's just an ordinary guy… aside from being a bit better looking."

This was the first step in Xiao Feng's plan: smash his own image.

Why was Third Master targeting him? Wasn't it because Chen Fu had put him on too high a pedestal?

In other words, as long as Xiao Feng made sure what he said about "himself" was completely different from what Chen Fu had said, and got Third Master to believe it, he'd have half the battle won.

What he didn't expect was for Third Master to immediately retort, "Ordinary guy? An ordinary guy could pull off what that kid did?

What that old bastard Chen Fu said might grate on my ears, but taking down Shen Group and the Duan Guotai father-and-son duo—that's solid, real stuff.

You really think that's something an ordinary person can do?"

"That's where you're wrong!" Xiao Feng argued. "Xiao Feng just happened to catch the right tailwind. He didn't actually do that much himself. Swap him for someone else and it'd be the same."

Third Master waved his hand and shook his head. "Being able to catch the tailwind—doesn't that count as a skill?

The tailwind's there for everyone, so how come others can't catch it, but Xiao Feng can?"

Xiao Feng was just about ready to start swearing.

So you're hell-bent on butting heads with me, huh?

I'm already dragging myself down this hard and it's still not enough for you?

You really want to force me to draw my knife?

With a stampede running wild in his head, Xiao Feng still forced his expression to remain unchanged and quietly decided to move on to Plan Two.

Simply put: reason with him, appeal to his feelings, use your sincere heart to warm his palm… ahem, in short, put some heart into it.

"Third Master, hearing you say all that, I also feel that for Xiao Feng to get where he is, it can't be just luck." Xiao Feng said in a somewhat wistful tone.

"Stop right there!" Third Master cut him off. "I've already heard more than enough people flattering Xiao Feng. You don't need to repeat it to me."

Xiao Feng's hand, resting on his knee, suddenly clenched. He almost couldn't stop himself from throwing a punch.

Damn it, I'm not allowed to trash-talk myself, and I'm not allowed to praise myself either—are you just tired of living or what?

As he was thinking that, he heard Third Master sigh. "Flowers can bloom again, but a man can't be young twice.

Life is short, like a white horse leaping through a crack—it feels like just a blink from youth to old age…

Forget it. You kids probably don't want to hear me ramble on about this stuff anyway. If there's nothing else, then go. I won't keep you for lunch."

Tang Mingbo stood up. "Third Master, I just thought it over. By helping Wang Tingwei go after Xiao Feng, you might be making the Tang Family a target of Xiao Feng's retaliation.

If Xiao Feng vents all his anger on the Tang Family, then I…"

"Isn't that a perfect chance for you to gain some real experience?" Third Master said calmly. "All these years, you've been walking on flat, easy roads for too long. It's about time you tried some rough ones.

As long as I'm still around, the Tang Family will have flat ground to walk on. But if the day comes when I'm gone, things won't be so smooth for the Tang Family anymore.

Your personality means you're not someone who can stand being idle. But if you want to grow, you have to walk every kind of road first—even if it's a detour, it doesn't matter."

"Third Master!" Tang Mingbo's expression shifted, moved. "So you were actually trying to create a chance for me to grow?"

"If you can understand my good intentions, then I'm satisfied…" Third Master showed a pleased smile and said:

"If I'm not mistaken, Xiao Feng has already set his sights on you—maybe he did even earlier.

Just pretend I don't exist and handle this according to your own ideas. Resolve this crisis."

Tang Mingbo nodded, his tone solemn. "I definitely won't let you down."

"Good." Third Master picked up the big tea mug and gulped down half of it in one go, letting out a contented sound, then said:

"As for Wang Tingwei, you don't need to worry on my account. Whether it's her or the people behind her, they wouldn't dare do anything to me.

Otherwise, when you came over this time, you'd already be looking at my corpse.

Of course, I won't be helping her with anything anymore either. Everything has a limit—push this any further and this little 'trial by fire' of yours might just vanish."

Hearing that, Xiao Feng let out a breath of relief, though he couldn't help feeling a bit depressed.

If he'd known it would turn out like this, why did he bother wrecking his own image?

"Third Master, please stay seated. We'll take our leave now." Tang Mingbo bowed in farewell.

"Go, go. People have to learn to grow up on their own…" Third Master half-said, half-sang.

Xiao Feng and Tang Mingbo both had black lines all over their faces, though what they were thinking wasn't the same.

Xiao Feng was thinking: this song is ancient.

Whereas Tang Mingbo was thinking: at my age, if I still haven't grown up, wouldn't that make me one of those legendary giant babies?