Currying Favor
The darkness before dawn felt especially heavy and endless.
The main leaders of the House of Zhao had gathered in the ancestral hall. Below the dais, several Zhao family members knelt, dressed in black and soaked through.
"We've killed Mrs. Penny Zhao and her son, but... but we missed one of the Qians' guards, and he escaped!" The drenched Zhao clan members reported nervously.
"What? One got away!" Zachary Yan and Edward Yu rose to their feet in unison, their expressions instantly changing.
Edward Yu, furious, kicked out and cursed, "Useless fools! You can't even finish off a few stray dogs! Now look, one of the Qians' guards escaped—tell me, when he gets back to the Qian family, what do you think he'll say!?"
Everyone present was silent as mice, not daring to breathe, their faces dark and grim.
Edward Yu continued to rant, "The House of Zhao and the Qians used to be the top two of the Southeast Big Four Families, bound by marriage, trading and helping each other for over ten years. Now, thanks to you, the moment the Qians learn that we wiped out Mrs. Penny Zhao's entire branch, they'll know we were eager to finish the job! Tell me, what are we supposed to do now!?"
"This... this... sigh..." Zachary Yan's gray beard trembled as he groaned in frustration. "Now we're finished. Our original plan was to secretly kill Mrs. Penny Zhao and her son, then frame Alexander Hayes for their deaths so the Qians would go after him. But now, we've shot ourselves in the foot! The Zhao Clan Guards lost tens of thousands, our strength is depleted. If the Qians come for trouble, tell me—how do we clean up this mess!?"
Edward Yu paced back and forth, his anxiety mounting. The trouble was simply too big to fix. He scratched his head hard and said, "Big Brother, what do we do? Zhao Jun and the old patriarch have already offended Prince Alexander Hayes, and now we've angered the Qians too. It looks like the House of Zhao is in for some seriously hard times."
Despite his experience, Zachary Yan stroked his beard and sighed, "The House of Zhao is gravely weakened, nowhere near its former power. We can't afford to offend either side. Mrs. Penny Zhao was the Qian patriarch's only legitimate daughter, and her young son is adored by his maternal grandfather and uncles. By killing those two, we've made ourselves mortal enemies of the Qians. The only way to save the House of Zhao now is to cling tightly to Prince Alexander Hayes. Only then might we catch a break. If Prince Alexander Hayes and the Qians join forces against us, we'll truly have nowhere left to turn!"
"But, Big Brother, our Zhao family attacked Prince Alexander Hayes on the very first day. Can we really ingratiate ourselves with him and gain his protection now?" Edward Yu asked anxiously.
Zachary Yan let out a heavy sigh. "Whether we can or not, we have to try to ingratiate ourselves with him, or we'll all be finished! Fortunately, the attack on Prince Alexander Hayes was led by the old patriarch and Zhao Jun. Now that both are dead, we can blame everything on them, say it was their unauthorized action, and claim it had nothing to do with the rest of the Zhao family."
"Will Prince Alexander Hayes believe us?" Edward Yu still looked deeply worried.
Zachary Yan, utterly dejected, said, "Sigh, right now, our Zhao family can only show the utmost sincerity and convince Prince Alexander Hayes we have no intention of rebelling... Edward Yu, go smash the memorial halls of the old patriarch and Zhao Jun, remove their ancestral tablets from the clan shrine, and immediately expel them from the family! Hopefully, this will ease some of Prince Alexander Hayes's suspicions against us..."