The banquet didn’t end, but the main star didn’t stay either.
The banquet continued for the ministers and the king, but Lin Fan was shown to a private room that he summoned the head of the Duanmu Family to.
When it was just the two of them in the room, Lin Fan suddenly said with a smile, “There’s no need to be this tense. I just said what I said out there because of the status that I have, but I’m not that kind of person in the first place.”
The Duanmu Family Head was surprised to see this, but he was also someone that could react quickly.
After taking a second to adjust himself, he also revealed a smile and said, “Sir envoy, it must have been hard on you having to act like that the entire time.”
Lin Fan gave a nod before saying with a wave of his hand, “There’s no need to call me sir envoy, you can just call me Brother Lin when we’re in private like this. After all, you’ve already said all those kind things about me, what kind of person would I be if I were to continue addressing you so distantly. Isn’t that right, Brother Duanmu?”
The Duanmu Family Head quickly nodded in agreement with a wide smile on his face before saying, “Of course, Brother Lin. I know that you have your position to think about, but there’s no need to worry about that tonight.”
After saying that, he quickly brought over two cups and a bottle of wine that had been prepared for them.
Of course, before bringing it over, he also made sure to test for poison since there was no telling what the royal family would do.
After making sure that it was clean, he poured two cups for both him and Lin Fan. He took one of the cups and raised it before saying with a wide smile, “Brother Lin, how about we have a drink to celebrate our meeting?”
Only to his surprise, he found that Lin Fan didn’t take the cup that he offered him.
Rather, he just raised his hand and said, “There’s time for that later, we still have some things that we need to discuss before that.”
The Duanmu Family Head was caught off guard by Lin Fan’s words, but he still slowly put down the cup of wine and nodded in agreement. Then he looked at Lin Fan as if he was waiting for him to say what they were going to discuss.
Lin Fan just calmly looked at him and said with a smile, “I said before that I have some questions for you and as long as you satisfy me with your answers, then we can discuss further cooperation.”
The Duanmu Family Head was a bit confused by this, but he still said with a nod, “Please ask. I’ll answer any question that you have that I’m capable of answering.”
Lin Fan gave a scoff on the inside when he heard this.
This really was a perfect politician’s answer.
He didn’t make a commitment, but he was showing that he would do all that he could to flatter him.
If this person was on Earth, he certainly would have been a very powerful politician with how good he was at manipulating people.
But Lin Fan didn’t think too deeply about this as he didn’t beat around the bush, he just directly asked, “What can you give me?”
The Duanmu Family Head was once again taken aback by this, but he wasn’t confused by these words this time. Rather, it seemed like he was just surprised that Lin Fan would be this direct with him.
He had to take a second to see if Lin Fan was serious about this before saying, “How much would you want?”
Lin Fan once again revealed a smile as he said, “I’m the one that’s asking the question here, so you should be the one answering me. It shouldn’t be you asking me questions back, right?”
The Duanmu Family Head slightly gritted his teeth when he heard this.
He knew that this would put him at a disadvantage when it came to negotiating, but it seemed like he really had no other choice in this matter.
After a moment of thought, the Duanmu Family Head suddenly said in a slow voice, “A quarter.”
Lin Fan gave a nod as if he was satisfied by this, but then he narrowed his eyes to say, “That is a generous offer, but I think that you can do more than that. I was thinking more like a third.”
The Duanmu Family Head couldn’t help gritting his teeth again when he heard this.
As for what they were referring to…
It was the wealth of the Duanmu Family.
He had offered a fourth of all the wealth that the Duanmu Family had, but now this envoy from the Mu Empire was directly demanding that he hand over a third instead.
A third of all the wealth of the Duanmu Family was not a small amount.
They were a family that was able to compete with the royal family, so the wealth that they had collected over the generations with their power was not small. It was already more than most other large families in kingdoms of similar size would have.
So to give up a third really was a large blow to the Duanmu Family…
Lin Fan could naturally see the look that was on the Duanmu Family Head’s face and could guess what he was thinking, but he didn’t say a thing as he let his words settle into the mind of the Duanmu Family Head.
It was only after he had fully digested this that Lin Fan said, “But think of it another way. If this succeeds, you won’t just get the wealth of the royal family, you’ll also get the wealth of the two other families. At that time, you would get far more than you invested.”
The Duanmu Family Head finally couldn’t control his emotions when he heard this.
A look of shock appeared on his face as he looked at Lin Fan.
He was looking at him as if he was trying to figure out if Lin Fan was being serious or not, but Lin Fan just calmly looked at him with a confident smile on his face. It didn’t seem like he was joking one single bit.
The Duanmu Family Head didn’t say anything in response.
Instead, he just looked at Lin Fan and couldn’t help giving a gulp.
That was because Lin Fan had brought up something that had been in the back of his mind the entire time.
Before this, none of the three founding families had addressed this matter since it wasn’t something that they had the freedom to think about. Before they could take down the royal family, there was no need to decide this matter yet.
But now that there was someone who was helping them…
It might have actually become easy to make this decision.
It wasn’t as if the three families could rule the Han Kingdom together, they had to decide on one family that would be the ones that would rule the kingdom. Whether that was by coming to a unified decision or if someone were to take it by force…
It was something that couldn’t be evaded in the end, so it had to be settled eventually.
After a long silence, the Duanmu Family Head’s eyes trembled as he looked at Lin Fan and he slowly asked, “Sir envoy, are you truly willing to support our…”
Before he could finish, Lin Fan raised his hand to cut him off. Then he brought his hand to tap his finger on his nose with a smile.
The Duanmu Family Head’s eyes widened when he saw this.
It took him a minute to gather his emotions, but then he said with a wide smile, “Sir envoy, I promise that we’ll deliver a third of the Duammu Family’s fortunes to you.”
Lin Fan didn’t seem to react when he heard this, to the Duanmu Family Head’s surprise.
After another moment of silence, the Duanmu Family Head slowly said, “As well, we’ll give you a third of the fortune of the other three families when the time comes.”
It was only then that Lin Fan revealed a smile and picked up the cup that was on the table. Raising that cup up, he said, “Brother, a toast to a good cooperation!”
The Duanmu Family Head complained inside of his mind, but he also raised the cup that he had poured for himself before and said, “Brother, to a good cooperation!”
Though it was a third of the combined wealth of the three families, it was still a price that he was able to accept. As long as the Duanmu Family could take the throne, it wouldn’t be hard for them to get this amount of wealth back.
It was just a matter of time.
Not to mention that this was the price that was being paid for the Mu Empire’s support in the future.
With the support of this envoy from the Mu Empire, it meant that the future Han Kingdom…or rather the future Duanmu Kingdom would be supported by the Mu Empire.
It was certainly a great backing that would be helpful.
At the same time, if they were to create another bond between the Mu Empire and the Five Great Sects…then they might even be rewarded by the Five Great Sects.
So it was all an investment for the future.
That was how the Duanmu Family Head convinced himself that everything would be alright.
It was just that Lin Fan still had meetings with the other two family heads…
Please check out my new novel for Rising Stars, These Familiars Are Strange.
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