Chapter 342 Bell Ringing
Such voices seemed to be mocking his life and his pursuit of power.

Therefore Shen never thought, pondered or felt.

Because once he thinks deeply, once he truly listens to his own heart, it will be difficult for him to continue ruthlessly on this path of pursuing power.

On the road to pursuing power, confusion is a taboo!
If the mind is confused, there are weaknesses.

If he had any weaknesses, he would be attacked by those who wanted to bring him down.

Therefore, he couldn't think about it and suppressed the voice in his heart.

He cannot lose his power, because if he loses it, he will have nothing.

In the past, every time I suppressed the voice in my heart, I always had success.

But this time, his heart seemed to be deliberately going against him.

The voice that had been suppressed in the past burst out from his heart frantically, merging with the thoughts that were flowing freely in his heart, turning into a huge force that destroyed all his disguises.

He saw himself making friends with Chef Tang and doing his utmost to curry favor with Chef Tang. He once thought that these actions were done intentionally for profit, but they actually had a real sincerity that he himself had not noticed.

He really hopes to become friends and brothers with Chef Tang.

Although Shen Cong himself could not see this voice, Chef Tang understood it.

He understood that this brother who was chasing after power was treating him sincerely.

But how long can this sincerity last?
The true love that Shen Cong has suppressed by himself will one day be eroded by power and eventually disappear.

One day, Shen Cong will really become the kind of person he thinks he should be.

A cold-blooded person who is willing to give up everything in pursuit of power.

Chef Tang's sigh kept echoing in Shen Cong's heart.

Then, another memory emerged.

The protagonist of this memory is Huang Yang, the most loyal Huang Yang.

For Shen Cong, this person is the easiest to control and use.

Because as long as he becomes his brother, Huang Yang will do his best to be nice to him and really treat him as his own brother.

At the same time, Huang Yang is the president of the Boatmen's Union and one of the most powerful people in the city.

Even the government is unwilling to offend Huang Yang easily.

It would be a pity if we don't make friends with such a person and don't use him.

Therefore, Shen Cong carefully studied Huang Yang's preferences and brought the gift that would please Huang Yang the most to meet him.

That was the dish that Shen Cong specially asked Chef Tang to make that best represented loyalty and righteousness.

The dish uses black carp as its main ingredient, and because it symbolizes the fish leaping over the dragon gate, fish is usually used to represent the dragon in the dish.

The dragon here refers to the loyal and brave Zhao Zilong of Changshan.

The dish is based on the life story of Zhao Zilong, creating a dish that symbolizes loyalty and righteousness.

This dish is not only delicious, but also has good meaning. I believe Huang Yang will like it very much as soon as he sees it.

But Shen Cong couldn't just go to Huang Yang's house to look for him, because that would be too deliberate. Deliberate flattery would only make people wary.

Therefore, the opportunity he was looking for was a banquet hosted by the government, inviting the leaders and celebrities of major forces in the city to attend.

Shen Cong was already somewhat famous at that time, so he was also invited.

But when he brought the dishes with him, he didn't see Huang Yang.

After asking, I found out that Huang Yang did not come.

Shen Cong had planned many things, but he forgot to consider one thing: Huang Yang did not like to make friends with government officials. This was a mistake.

Afterwards, Shen Cong carefully designed the timing of the meeting and successfully got in touch with Huang Yang.

Sure enough, after becoming friends, Huang Yang really treated Shen Cong as a brother and always tried his best to take care of him. Whenever Shen Cong came to him for something, Huang Yang never refused and always tried his best to get it done for him.

And what about Shen Cong?

How much sincerity is there in this exploitation?
There was more sincerity in this than Shen Cong himself had expected.

Shen Cong heard his own voice clearly.

His inner voice told him that the reason he really wanted to make friends with Huang Yang was because although Huang Yang was in a high position and had great power, he did not seek higher power and did not curry favor with those in government offices.

If he had met Huang Yang at the banquet, if Huang Yang was the kind of person who fawned on the powerful and was servile, Shen Cong would not have sincerely made friends with Huang Yang even if he was worth using.

Love is not an exchange of interests. Only one true heart can be exchanged for another true heart.

But how could Huang Yang not know that Shen Cong was using him?
After all, there is more exploitation than sincerity between them, and Huang Yang's one-sided efforts will always have a limit.

Another sigh echoed in my heart.

Then, new memories emerged eagerly.

These numerous memories seemed to be suppressed to the extreme and must burst out, rushing through his heart.

Among the many memories, the clearest ones are those about the old official.

Shen Cong believed that he made friends out of his own interests, and his efforts in friendship were only for the sake of maintaining the relationship.

If power and friendship conflict, he will ruthlessly abandon these so-called friendships.

But is it really so?

If Shen Congruo was really as cold-blooded and heartless as he thought he was, there wouldn't be so many people pleading for him.

At least the official won’t.

Having been in officialdom for a long time, he is used to seeing people who desperately try to climb up for power. The life and death, success or failure of such people are all their own fault. Yuanwai will not give such people any extra sympathy, let alone have any friendship with such people.

Because when you make friends with this kind of person, you have to be on guard at all times because they may stab you in the back and then use his body as a stepping stone to help them rise to the top.

The gentleman is old, and he doesn't want to waste his last years on intrigues with such people.

As for Shen Cong, the official was not willing to pay much attention to him at first.

Shen Cong persevered in bringing gifts to chat with Yuanwai, talking about his ideals and ambitions.

The official's ears were almost callused from hearing this kind of talk, and there was nothing attractive about it.

However, the old and experienced official could see Shen Cong's repressed heart.

If Shen Cong really wanted to cling to power, why would he look for a useless old man like him to chat with, and spend so much money and effort to please him?

As the saying goes, when a person leaves, the tea gets cold. He has long been out of officialdom, so it will be useless to try to please him.

Wouldn't it be more effective to use these things to please those in power?

Yes, it really is twice the result with half the effort.

But Shen Cong still kept convincing himself that the old man was more valuable.

However, deep down in his heart, he still longed to become someone like Yuanwai, away from all power and leading a leisurely life.

Sound after sound, those memories that Shen Cong did not want to see and the voices that he did not want to hear kept appearing before his eyes and echoing in his heart, like the sound of evening drums and morning bells, deafening.

(End of this chapter)