Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 251, 250 words, easy to chew.

Two days flew by.

Although Feng Xiuhu was idle, he did not neglect any of the tasks that needed to be done.

First, the brothers were successfully brought to the city.

There were some twists and turns. Miao Gensheng and his Owl brothers failed to obtain residence permits for the upper city. No matter how much influence Feng Xiuhu had or how notorious he was, the police station still refused to process their applications. The steward, Lao Huang, also subtly reminded Feng Xiuhu that the Owls belonged to the "surrender faction" and were inherently inferior, so there was never any precedent for this.

Feng Xiuhu had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being. He first brought the Ma Zi brothers and others up and settled them in, and then ordered Miao Gensheng and others to stay and guard Dicheng. The road construction work in Dicheng was nearing completion, so it was a good opportunity for Miao Gensheng and the others to continue to keep an eye on things.

Secondly, Xiong Guiyuan and Xiyao'er have compiled a list of the powerful and influential family networks in Shangcheng and handed it over to Feng Xiuhu.

Due to the rush, this file is somewhat rough and cannot be guaranteed to be completely accurate, but it is more than enough for Feng Xiuhu.

Shunzi's promotion order also came down, and he officially became a guard officer of the Divine Guard. According to the normal procedure, Shunzi was responsible for guarding the sanctuary in the factory area, and his squad should rightfully belong to the command of Chief Guard Byrne.

But after Feng Xiuhu "came back to life," Carius, who had just been promoted, did not want to sever this friendship, so he took the initiative to transfer Shunzi's squad to his command.

Shunzi's workplace remained the same, but she was no longer under the direct jurisdiction of Chief of the Guard, Byrne.

……

With everything in place, Feng Xiuhu felt it was time to let the gentlemen of the upper city witness the choir's skills.

After careful consideration, Feng Xiuhu selected the first target from the list given to him by Vadragio.

Qin Xiuyuan, the deputy director of the Finance Department, has a youngest son named Qin Shuzhe, who is Charlie, a deacon at the Upper City Church.

More importantly, Qin Xiuyuan was originally an official of the Duke of Daguo's faction.

Starting with the easy tasks and moving on to the difficult ones, Feng Xiuhu's strategy was to tackle the easy ones first.

Considering that Qin Xiuyuan was a staunch supporter of the Duke of Daguo, Feng Xiuhu felt that there shouldn't be any major problems after the negotiations, so he didn't consider using any extreme measures and didn't even bring his brothers.

He only brought one person with him, Gu Zhili.

Having served the Duchess for so long, Gu Zhili's understanding of these officials surpasses even that of Xiong Guiyuan.

This is also why Feng Xiuhu brought her along.

After dinner, Feng Xiuhu didn't send a visiting card in advance; he led Gu Zhili directly to her door.

The gatekeeper didn't recognize Feng Xiuhu, but when Feng Xiuhu introduced himself, he was clearly startled and trembled. Then, the arrogance of a servant of an official immediately disappeared. He smiled obsequiously and told Feng Xiuhu to wait a moment before hurriedly running inside to report.

Before long, the steward came out to open the door and welcomed Feng Xiuhu and his companion into the mansion.

No wonder he's a finance official; you can tell he's made a lot of money off the system.

Meanwhile, the Qin family mansion was clearly more imposing and luxurious than the place where Feng Xiuhu lived.

As we walked through the garden, Qin Xiuyuan stood at the threshold to greet us, accompanied by his wife and Qin Shuzhe.

Upon seeing Feng Xiuhu, Qin Xiuyuan stepped forward with a smile: "Father Feng, it is an honor to have you here. I am sorry for not welcoming you sooner."

Feng Xiuhu sniffed, smelling the aroma of the food: "Eating?"

Qin Shuzhe, who considered himself to be quite familiar with Feng Xiuhu, chimed in, "My father and I just got home from work, so we're eating late—Father Feng, why don't you join us? I'll have the kitchen add a few more dishes, and we can have a few drinks."

"I've already eaten." Feng Xiuhu waved his hand in refusal and followed the family inside: "I'm just here to deliver a message, I'll leave once I've delivered it."

Qin Shuzhe, puzzled, blurted out, "What message is so important that Father Feng would personally come to convey it?"

Qin Xiuyuan narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile, "If I'm not mistaken, Father Feng's message was delivered on behalf of Elder Vadra, right?"

Feng Xiuhu said in surprise, "Wow, you're quite well-informed."

Qin Xiuyuan stroked his beard and smiled silently.

He didn't seem to be in a hurry to eat anymore. He led Feng Xiuhu to the tea room for guests and arranged for servants to serve tea.

After Madam Qin bowed and left, Qin Xiuyuan pondered for a moment and then asked Qin Shuzhe to stay and keep him company. This was mainly because it was also his first time dealing with Feng Xiuhu, a man with a notorious reputation. Qin Xiuyuan was somewhat unsure of himself and wanted Qin Shuzhe to act as a buffer.

After pouring the tea, Qin Xiuyuan spoke.

“Father Feng misunderstands. It’s not that I’m well-informed, but rather that Da Guogong has privately mentioned to me the matter of officials converting to Christianity.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Shuzhe looked at his father in surprise—the matter of officials joining the church had not been publicly promoted, and even though he was a deacon of the church, he had not actually received any news about it.

After saying that, Qin Xiuyuan stopped talking and gently blew on the tea foam as he picked up his cup.

His ambiguous attitude made Feng Xiuhu feel uncertain.

He tentatively asked, "Let's put aside whether you want to join the church or not. This Friday afternoon, in the main prayer hall of the cathedral, I'll reserve a front-row seat with a good view for you. You can bring your family along, okay?"

Qin Xiuyuan chuckled and said, "I appreciate Father Feng's kindness. If I have the opportunity to listen to Elder Vadra's teachings, I would be more than happy to do so. However... the Financial Secretary is very busy and I have to go to work on Friday afternoon, so I'm afraid I won't be able to go."

Feng Xiuhu frowned: "If all else fails, how about asking for leave?"

Qin Xiuyuan didn't know whether Feng Xiuhu was genuinely unaware or pretending not to understand, so he could only chuckle awkwardly and say, "This isn't appropriate. Let's do it next time."

Suddenly, Qin Xiuyuan noticed Qin Shuzhe beside him. His eyes lit up, and he pointed at Qin Shuzhe, saying, "How about this, I'll have Shuzhe participate in his place? He's a deacon, so he'll probably be better able to understand the teachings Elder Vadra is explaining."

Qin Shuzhe, who was unaware of what was going on, was about to nod in agreement when Feng Xiuhu's face darkened.

Feng Xiuhu pointed to his nose: "Do I look like someone who's easy to fool?"

Qin Xiuyuan quickly waved his hand: "Not at all!"

Feng Xiuhu laughed: "So they think I'm easy to talk to and are taking advantage of my honesty."

Feng Xiuhu's laughter made Qin Xiuyuan feel uneasy, and he was already ready to get out of his seat at any moment. He quickly denied it, saying, "Of course not!"

Feng Xiuhu saw that he wanted to escape and reached out to grab Qin Xiuyuan's wrist: "Then I don't understand, why won't you go? Even if you don't give face to the church, you won't give face to the Duke of Da Guo?"

Qin Xiuyuan felt a heavy force on his wrist and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "I think I can see that Father Feng is a straightforward person, so I'll just be frank with him."

“There are some things that a great duke can do, but we can’t.”

“If the Duke of Daguo is willing, he can even live in the church without anyone questioning him or gossiping. But we are different. No matter how close we are to the Duke of Daguo, officials still eat the food of the government office.”

He pointed to the ceiling: "Officials don't worship gods, they only worship the one on the dragon throne—otherwise, should officials listen to the gods or to that one? Wouldn't that create chaos?"

(End of this chapter)