Chapter 452 – Homely

Dillan played around with the Ghost Staff for a while, when he finally got tired of it, he turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Little Hai, didn’t you say that no matter where this Magic Staff is, it will always return to your hand? Go try and let me take a look.”

Zhao Hai smiled and nodded. When he saw Dillan gripping the staff tightly, he faintly smiled and with an intention Dillan’s hand suddenly felt light. Then the staff disappeared from Dillan’s hand as it appeared on Zhao Hai’s.

Smith and the other two who were observing couldn’t help but stare. They just saw the staff vanish from Dillan’s hand and then suddenly appearing on Zhao Hai. They had seen a lot of things, but this was something that they had seen for the first time.

After some time, Smith and the others recovered at looked at one another. Then with a surprised expression, they turned to Zhao Hai. Seeing their faces, Zhao Hai faintly smiled and said, “How this thing happens is a mystery, even I don’t know what’s going on. I still haven’t seen the full capability of this staff, but I’m slowly exploring it.”

Smith nodded and said, “So this is it. No wonder your strength rose in such a small period of time. It was actually because of this Magic Staff.”

Zhao Hai nodded, Mike, who sat next to him, turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Little Hai, what level of strength have you reached right now?”

Zhao Hai smiled, “I should be 8th rank, I can cast 8th rank magic spells.”

Smith and the other’s eyes went bright, an 8th rank expert can already do whatever they want in the continent. Smith was amused even more, “No wonder the Third Prince is very polite to you, so it was this.”

Zhao Hai nodded, “The Third Prince knows my strength, that is why he wanted to win me over. Although I agreed, I am actually not his subordinate. What he have is a simple partnership, he helps me, I help him, you could say that I’m more like his adviser than anything else.”

Advisers were also quite common among Noble Clans. These people were like Foreign Elders, but they are more free. They and the host Noble would only have an employment relationship, if a disagreement occurs, the two could just go on their own separate ways.

Advisers in the Continent were typically well-known people. Not only do they need to be strong, they should also be quite talented enough to give ideas and advice to the Nobles. Advisers receive very high respects inside a Noble Clan.

Smith nodded, “Right, it’s good that Little Hai chose to not sell himself off to the Third Prince, otherwise, matters would get troublesome. Alright, no need to talk about this anymore, let’s go have some drinks.”

Then the group headed to the dining room. When they arrived, Smith invited them to sit down. The madam and Megan actually drew back, leaving the dining room to the men.

After the servants provided the food and wine, Smith, who sat in the seat of honor, smiled and held his wine glass, “God’s Grace Day is near, we brothers rarely have the time to eat a meal together. I actually invited Fifth Brother, but he has a grudge with Little Hai, so he refused. I cannot do anything about that. My invitation this time doesn’t have any other purpose. I just want you to meet Little Hai and also introduce you to him. This way, we might avoid offending each other in the future.”

Zhao Hai also held his wine glass up, he looked awkwardly at the other people. When Peter and the others looked at Zhao Hai, they couldn’t help but laugh. Although they struggle with each other for the seat of Patriarch, they were smart people and knew that they cannot harm the Calci Family, unlike Juwan. This was also the reason why Juwan was quite distant with his brothers. Juwan rarely came to gatherings with his other brothers.

Mike looked at Zhao Hai and smiled, “Even if I only met Little Hai today, I’ve already heard a thing or two about him. I’m very sure that if younger brother didn’t provoke Little Hai before, then there would be no conflict that would happen. And if Third Uncle didn’t send those ships off to Little Hai, then the family wouldn’t have lost all those ships.”

Zhao Hai showed a faint smile and said to Mike, “Fourth Uncle overpraises me. This one is just an inexperienced junior, I don’t deserve your praise.”

Mike smiled faintly, “Little Hai, no need to be too polite. You’re quite commendable, otherwise the Buda Clan wouldn’t have reached its height in such a short time. And even if you don’t use your strength, oh well, no need to talk about that, come, come, let’s drink.”

Smith and the others held their wine glasses and drank the wine. It was good wine since what they were drinking was Zhao Hai’s Milk Wine. This Milk Wine was roughly manufactured, so it wasn’t that strong, therefore they can down an entire glass in one go.

Peter and the others didn’t discuss the matters of the clan too much, they just idly talked about their daily lives, like how brothers did. This made Zhao Hai confused, he didn’t understand the purpose of this gathering, are they just here to discuss their feelings?

Only after a while of talking about their daily activities did Zhao Hai slowly understand. Even if these brother were very polite to each other, in the end, they were still fighting with each other for the seat of Patriarch. So naturally, they wouldn’t go deep into their matters and risk giving the others a chance to get ahead. This would affect their relationship, so this shallow conversation was the best thing that they could do.

While sitting there, Zhao Hai looked at the Smith and the other who were calmly chatting away. He couldn’t help but sigh, these people acted very kind to each other right now, but he knew that when this ends, they would go back to contesting with each other. This made Zhao Hai think of hypocrisy.

After having eaten their meal, Zhao Hai and Smith lead the three others to the exit. After which they returned to the living room along with Kristen and the others. When the group sat down, Smith looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Little Hai, what do you think?”

Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “From what I’ve seen, it’s been very good. Everyone fights with each other, but it must be based of ability other than outside intervention. This is the essence of healthy competition. I think this is very good, only with such talents can the Calci Family become better in the future.”

Smith looked at Zhao Hai and nodded, “You’ve observed well, Little Hai. Actually, in addition to the family’s elders, there is also the family’s law enforcement group. This group is directly controlled by the family’s 9th ranks, the Patriarch held no power over them. Because of this, even if the core of the family’s functions are in a fight over the seat, they couldn’t go far in the face of the law enforcement group. Little Hai, your Buda Clan is still struggling despite its strength. Emerging Clans perish in the continent every day. You have a lot to learn in our Calci Family, this way, in the future, you won’t be going blind when going forward, understand?”

Zhao Hai nodded, “I understand, Uncle, rest assured I will study hard.”

Smith looked at Zhao Hai and sighed, “Your Buda clan is connected to the Aksu Empire in the past, if you continue on this way, your clan won’t become great. But because of your disaster this time, an opportunity to cut your ties with the Aksu Empire has arrived. Then your family can survive for a thousand years.”

Zhao Hai stared, he really didn’t think about this, he also felt that he lacked confidence. He was only a nerd, now someone told him to build a Thousand-year Great Clan. Although he had the Space, he still wasn’t convinced.

Smith saw Zhao Hai’s hesitation and said seriously, “Little Hai, don’t blame me If I lecture you too much. You’re very talented, a capable leader, competent, and also a good natured person. The only problem with you is that you don’t have a lot of confidence. You always make the worst moves and just fix the consequences afterwards. Although you can fix them later, you will still lose opportunities, and that is not right.”

Zhao Hai looked at Smith and forced a smile, “I know that, but I have no other choice, that’s just my character. You may not know this, but the Buda Clan doesn’t really have much right now. We don’t have that much people to farm. Outside the 100 Human slaves that we bought and the 1000 Giant Horned Bulls we got from the Cow-headed race, we really have too few people in the Clan. Moreover, these few people cannot walk the continent openly. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be running around right now.”

Smith nodded then looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Your assembly line method is very good. Father is preparing to use it in the family. Your factory should be using them, yes?”

Zhao Hai smiled, “I won’t hold anything from you. Although the assembly line method gives efficiency in production, the products made are all of standard quality. There are some things that doesn’t need assembly line production, and are much better produced the old way. Although they are produced slowly, the quality is better and are generally more durable, giving you the leverage to charge a higher price for them. People may not feel it, but they will slowly understand, they might even prefer those produced in the old method. It was only because I have no other choice that I had to resort to the assembly line method.”

Smith smiled, “That’s quite a good method. But you’re right, there’s no way for our Calci Family to produce high quality goods like you because of the numerous products we make. This made it even more applicable to use the assembly line method for our factories.”

Zhao Hai nodded, “It’s because of that point why our Buda Clan cannot have the same arrangement as you have right here. I can say that the advantage of our Buda Clan is that point, thus I don’t dare take any risks.”

Smith nodded, “What you said is also right, don’t worry, you can work on it slowly. After all, you’re now 8th rank, you still have a lot of years left in you. As long as you make the right moves, the Buda Clan would do well.”

Zhao Hai nodded, but he sighed, “I really didn’t dare think of these things before. I don’t know for how long I can live with the Water of Nothingness. Now that the toxin has been cured, I can now feel relief.”

Smith naturally knew how fierce the Water of Nothingness was. How its effects trickle down even to your descendants, thus he didn’t feel any wrongs from Zhao Hai’s words.

Zhao Hai then shook his head and said, “Uncle, after celebrating the new years, I’m preparing to head back to sea and get some more products for Charlie. After that, I’ll be heading to the Prairie, I still have a lot to do there.

Smith nodded and then said, “I don’t mind, but if you have any good business, you shouldn’t forget about Sky Water City.”

Zhao Hai smiled and said, “Right, we were thinking about opening a shop at the city after the new years as well. I’ll have Megan handle this matter, I’ll make her discuss it with you later.”

When he heard Zhao Hai, Smith couldn’t help but stare, he looked at Zhao Hai and said, “You really want Megan to handle your shop in Sky Water City? She has no prior experience in this matter.”

Kristen and Diya were also giving Zhao Hai a surprised expression, they didn’t expect Zhao Hai to give any responsibilities to Megan. In the past, Megan was a tender young lady, the family just let her go eat, play and wander around. But now, Zhao Hai actually wanted to have her handle a business? Is this okay?

Zhao Hai looked at the surprised faces and smiled, “It’s fine, I’ve already talked about this with Megan. She had grown up in Sky Water City since childhood, she was the most familiar with the place. Therefore I decided to let her handle the business, moreover, I think she would love doing it.”

Smith smiled bitterly, he didn’t expect Megan to develop such a personality. Her tender young lady who only knew how to look good was now going to handle such a heavy responsibility.

Zhao Hai looked at the time and turned to Smith, “Uncle, it’s already quite late, I must go back.”

Smith nodded, then Zhao Hai gave him a bow before leaving. Seeing Zhao Hai leave, Kristen looked at Smith and said, “Father, Zhao Hai didn’t seem to trust us. Why didn’t he tell us their location?”

Smiled bitterly, “Just like what he said, the Buda Clan is still relatively weak. Because of this, he just can’t take any risks, otherwise their location would be compromised, resulting in their end. However, I think their location shouldn’t be very far from the Prairie, otherwise he wouldn’t just run to the Prairie by coincidence and acquire a lot of Beastman slaves.”

Kristen nodded, “Zhao Hai offended the Radiant Church before, one of the most powerful forces in the continent. There are no other places to relocate his family other than somewhere close to the Beastman Prairie.”

Smith nodded and said, “You pay attention to the Noble banquets happening in the capital. Find one where we have a good relationship with. Little Hai needs to attend a lot of banquets in order to establish himself. No matter what, Little Hai is now engaged to Megan. For the good of Megan, we must help the Buda Clan prosper. If the Buda Clan is doing well, Megan would get to live a happy life.”

The two nodded, then turned around to leave.