Book 14: Chapter 42
Su Xiao’s Strategy Philosophy: Simple and Aggressive (Part 2)
Xun Feng affably gave Tang Ye, who was still on the couch, a nod.
Tang Ye turned his eyes towards Su Xiao.
Su Xiao directed his open hands towards Xun Feng. “This is our new ally, Monk Xun Feng!”
Tang Ye rubbed his head similarly to an alcoholic double checking himself. “… You incited him to defect?”
“As if. The Seven Champion White Princes are an alliance that have been built and consolidated over generations. Who could convince them to defect.”
“Thought so…” Unsure what to criticise first, Tang Ye decided to start with questions. “So, how did you convince them to ally with us.”
“Simple.”
Su Xiao’s smile told Tang Ye that he shouldn’t expect anything good.
“I formed alliance with the four of them.”
Tang Ye nearly pa.s.sed out. “Four?”
Xun Feng chuckled. “We were all surprised when Baihu Su approached us, too.”
“How did you do it…?”
“Simple.” Su Xiao counted off on his fingers as he reported, “I know Sister Jin Zhaoying, who introduced me to Sister Bai. Sister Bai introduced me to Monk Xun Feng. I then sought out Song Chi, and our alliance was formed.”
Xun Feng said, “Baihu Su told us that Quanmu cla.s.s needs the win and that everything else could be negotiated. As such, we were offered the prizes as long as the cla.s.s could win. We have no reason to refuse.”
“… You believe in such a childish alliance?”
“We have a written agreement.” Xun Feng added, “All students of Quanmu have signed the agreement. If you win, the prizes go to us.”
“Give me a moment to sort it out…” Tang Ye held on to his head as he a.n.a.lysed everything he’d been told. “Monk, can you give us a moment? We need to discuss how to back out of the agreement.”
Xun Feng heartily laughed. “Of course. Backing out is always an option. Whether it is a fair contest or not, we will never lose. I shall excuse myself.”
After Xun Feng left, Tang Ye glared at Su Xiao. “Are you serious?”
“Absolutely!”
“Why are we creating an alliance?”
“Are you stupid? If we’re allies with our enemies, we no longer have enemies.”
Tang Ye blinked a few times and then lied back down. “Pretend I never woke up.”
“Get up! Do you have hemorrhoids?!”
They froze and then looked out the window to see me waving.
“Big Brother Ming!”
“You’re back, Big Bro.”
“Wait.” I climbed through the window, shut the window behind me and announced, “Yes! I am back!”
Su Xiao rushed over to hug me, while Tang Ye greeted me with a smile. I gave Tang Ye a nod and Su Xiao’s head a scrub whilst smiling. “Are you stupid?! If we’re allies with our enemies, we no longer have enemies?!”
“Hey, you called me stupid again!” Su Xiao broke free and ducked behind the pillar. “I’m smarter than you!”
Thank heavens that’s all you have for brains. If you were a hundred-times smarter, our country would probably be doomed already!
I strolled over and sat beside Tang Ye, then asked, “What’s your opinion?”
“Obviously suspicious,” answered Tang Ye.
“What makes you say so?”
Tang Ye shrugged. “I a.s.saulted the monk, yet he’s giving me smiles now. He’s definitely looking to stab me in the back.”
Su Xiao, learn from Tang Ye! This is what you call keeping your wits about you! All you do is screw me over!
“The plan doesn’t end at the alliance. I have more layers to the plan,” exclaimed Su Xiao.
“Like what?”
“You see, they were bound to accept the alliance suggestion.”
“Even I would! Who’d refuse a free win?!”
“There’s more to it!”
“You know how to deploy strategies now? Stop while you’re ahead. You’re probably going to screw me over a few more times. Tang Ye, what ideas do you have?”
The pillar Su Xiao hugged was too hard to pull him off.
After he had a chance to contemplate, Tang Ye opined, “Pinch the agreement after the contest?”
I wagged my hand. “Song Chi will be prepared for any thieves. He just needs to entrust the contents to a credible body or person, and he’ll be insured once they announce it; the written agreement itself will be useless. Song Chi wouldn’t have any issue finding someone credible in the capital.”
“Let me finis.h.!.+” Su Xiao jumped onto the bed, in between Tang Ye and I. “Let me finis.h.!.+”
“You have two sentences,” I replied.
“Hmph! All you do is look down on me!”
That’s two.
Su Xiao sat down and hugged the blanket he rolled up for some reason. “The four of them have to take part in the special imperial exams. If their problem is simplified, they save time and effort as well as the need to search for team members.”
“So? They’ll form a team with you? You’ll give them the prizes, too?”
Do you realise giving away the prize means I can’t repay my debt?!
“We are in a pickle ourselves. He s.h.i.+ also needs to take the imperial exams. Our individual practices… haven’t gone well. Sister Ye Luo said we have no chance at winning archery, but we might be able to shoot our compet.i.tors. Sister Jin said we have no chance at winning in rites, but we might be able to make our compet.i.tors laugh to death.”
Why am I feeling more and more uneasy every time I hear more? So, all the training is only good enough to harm your compet.i.tors?!
“That is why forming an alliance is the only option!”
That’s not an option! I need the prizes!
“What other good ideas do you have?” I still didn’t know what Su Xiao’s end game was.
Su Xiao cackled. “I didn’t just form an alliance with them.”
That’s not the only problem you caused?!
“Are you going to give me your head, or do you want me to go over to whack it?”
“Why would you hit me?!” Su Xiao took out a sheet of paper with a bunch of signatures on it from his s.h.i.+rt. “Look.”
“What’s this? Agreement with Che Gulu. If he wins, he won’t take the prizes?”
Che Gulu? Isn’t he the guy from Kiliya, Biliya or whatever? Why would he…
“Young Master Che has a crush on Sister Jin, but she spares him no attention, so he tried to start on me.”
“So you formed an allied with him?”
“Of course not so fast. I told him that Sister Jin likes heroes, so I suggested he stop clinging to her. I told him that Sister Jin would think more highly of him if he won the idol compet.i.tion, so he gleefully agreed. We have no hope of winning, but we can hinder them. We can’t win ourselves, but we can sabotage our compet.i.tion. Hehehe, simple, right?”
So, Song Chi’s clique would let Su Xiao win. Then, Su Xiao’s group would sabotage the clique to help Che Gulu win. Finally, Che Gulu would give Quanmu cla.s.s the prize, which renders the agreement with Song Chi’s clique invalid? Is this what they call shorting? Is Xiao secretly a genius?!