Chapter 959 The Returning Men (Part-4)

Chapter 959 The Returning Men (Part-4)

"Do you think Pyanos would become captain without your father's help! He is the one who paid for that!"

This very interesting remark made by the matriarch of the house drew quite a bit of attention from all those present, who all sent her curious looks.

While her husband sent scorching glares.

Clearly she was not supposed to tell this.

And feeling this displeased glare, the realization of her mistake made the woman shrink a bit.

"Oh, what's all the secret! It's been years. And we are all family here." And then tried to brush the whole thing as being insignificant.

"Loose lipped woman." However, Jamiz's light muttering clearly showed he was not buying it, before turning his head and exhaling a bit in resignation.

"Well since it's out, might as well tell you." And then, feeling all the curious gazes shift to him, decided there was little point hiding.

So he began,

"When I first started my wine business using the booty from the war as capital, it was not going too well. Many of you brats might not remember, but Zanzan was in quite the mess. And people could barely afford grain, forget wine."

"But then by luck, one day Pyanos noticed my shop while walking by the market."

"He said by wine was too cheap and that he knew a new merchant who was looking for peddlers for his own wine business."

"Claimed the man was related to some noble close to the Pasha."

"Back then I was desperate. So I took the deal. And as a back door agreement, I promised to pay Pyanos a portion of our profits."

At this point of the reveal, Jamiz's voice suddenly turned from placid to a bit high pitched,

"Of course, I do not hate the man for this. In fact, I'm very grateful to him. I have made many, many times the profit I thought I even could with my family's own wine recipe."

"And using that, I expanded my business to selling many more things. So all my business would have been impossible without him. In fact, without Pyanos, we might all be living in the slums." While saying these, Jamiz's voice sounded very soft and pleasing, further revealing,

"And it was not like he was ungrateful either. Remember, it was actually him who allowed your eldest brother Niloy to dodge the levy by taking to the recruitment officers. If not for that, our business would have never grown so much in the last two years."

"Your mother is right, my old body cannot take all the work like before."

"Also, when you four brothers joined the army, he personally promised to look after you."

"And lastly, it was through him that we got this apartment floor. He introduced us to one of the officials handling these housings and we only managed to convince him to give it to us using Pyanos's name. Or there was no way we would have gotten the entire floor all to ourselves.

Jamiz's use of the word 'convince' really implied one thing and one thing only- bribe.

And no one present mistook it for anything else.

While the man continued,

But one that Alexander would need to address eventually in time.

For now though, the man was busy celebrating his victory.

Yes.

Even after standing on a chariot all day, Alexander was scheduled to appear in a huge party to be held in the evening, taking place at a large open ground remodeled especially for this occasion.

Which was really normal considering that since the commoners were celebrating, it would be too uncouth for the nobles not to be.

If anything the Zanzan nobles knew how to do, it was to party.

Now, traditionally, a noble held feasts in his house.

But since Alexander's house was pathetically small to host the few hundred guests that would be attending, he had Cambyses instead arrange this.

The large, open ground was brightly lit with literally hundreds of huge burning braisers, while above, on ropes hung another set of bright lamps, turning the once dark ground into the most dazzling part of the city.

On stage, a large group of minstrels and bards played music, while opposite of them laid rows and rows of tables filled with every food and flavor one could desire in a buffet type feast.

There were many small private tents dotted around the premises, filled with luxurious couches and chairs for guests to rest and lounge, while at the very center of the ground, was a large, luxurious, round table reserved for Alexander and his family, as well as any guest he invited.

It was currently occupied by Alexander, Cambyses, Ophenia, Gelene, and Mean, with all of the girls holding one of Alexander's children on their laps.

Then there was the little girl Fabiyana who seemed very excited to be here and Alexander's latest mistress Camelia, who was at last given the respite of being allowed to have a turquoise headscarf and a fashionable red hat, making the cold woman appear like a ice beauty.

And accompanying her were her mother and brother, Lady Parthia and Prince Perikles.

These two were his trophies.

And the various nobles attending the feast would all flock to Alexander to view them, first congratulating him on his win, and then making various remarks about his two guests.

Some of them were neutral, but some were quite biting for the queen, such as the ones asking Alexander if he had any desire to 'show the queen a good time later', clearly alluding to the after party festivities the nobles planned to host later.

Such frank reveal of their proclivities really shocked Lady Parthia, as she did not think the Adhanian nobles were that depraved!

And Alexander clearly noticed how her lips twitched and her eyes pleaded to not allow this.

She would rather die.

Alexander would of course not give the queen, or even the prince, as asked by some noble ladies and even men.

But he did have a good them teasing both.

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

Please come Here!