Chapter 1651 - 616: Teachings (Part 2)
Fang Jie answered honestly:
"The entire morning passed, and only then did I gain something."
"Then how did you tell these people about the matters of Nong Yue Villa?"
"Hmm... At the beginning, I wrote about the matters of Nong Yue Villa in a letter and asked Uncle Chen to help deliver it to them."
When Fang Jie mentioned this, his brows slightly furrowed:
"But just after sending out one letter, I found this method was not feasible."
Su Mo paused, picked up the letter, blew the ink dry, folded it, and put it into a bamboo tube.
Fang Jie noticed that there were already three bamboo tubes on Su Mo’s table.
This was the fourth one.
Just as he was considering who the letters within these bamboo tubes were for, he heard Su Mo ask:
"Why is it not feasible?"
"...Because that person is illiterate."
Fang Jie gave a bitter smile.
Su Mo was taken aback:
"This plan doesn’t work, what did you do next?"
"After that... I discussed it with Uncle Chen and decided to take advantage of that person going out, and in a hidden place, disguise ourselves and talk about the affairs of Nong Yue Villa.
"It just happened that this person could overhear."
"Oh?"
Su Mo’s smile deepened: "How much did he hear?"
"...Heard quite a lot."
Fang Jie hurriedly said:
"The Blood Lotus Sect invaded Nong Yue Villa and went on a killing spree, how they came in and left, everything was explained clearly."
Su Mo glanced at Chen Dinghai.
Chen Dinghai slightly lowered his head.
"How many people did you involve?"
After withdrawing his gaze from Chen Dinghai, Su Mo refocused on Fang Jie.
Fang Jie quickly replied:
"Three, as the saying goes, ’three men make a tiger.’ Although our information is true, we also need several people to vouch for it to earn people’s trust."
"When you disguised and talked about this matter, in what identity did you speak?"
Su Mo fired one question after another.
Fang Jie was momentarily unprepared, but he bit the bullet and said:
"I... I and Uncle Chen talked about this matter as passing Jianghu guests.
"We said we randomly met the Young Master of Nong Yue Villa and got this news."
After hearing this, Su Mo fell silent.
Fang Jie grew somewhat uneasy.
He couldn’t help but look up at Su Mo’s expression, only to see his face showed neither joy nor anger, as calm as an ancient well.
His heart couldn’t help but be filled with doubts.
Su Mo remained silent for a quite long while until Fang Jie couldn’t help but speak:
"Brother Wu, did I do something wrong?"
After saying this, Su Mo’s lips finally curved into a slight smile:
"Remember, no matter what you encounter in the future, you must not lose your composure.
"Even if a monumental event occurs, you must remain calm, as if Mount Tai were collapsing before you without changing your expression.
"Never be intimidated by someone else’s expression, to the point that you become flustered before anything even happens."
Upon hearing this, Fang Jie was first startled, then after two breaths, he finally understood, and joy filled his heart. Just when he was about to express his happiness, Su Mo’s earlier words echoed in his mind, and he gently nodded:
"Yes, I will remember."
But saying this, he still couldn’t help but glance at Su Mo:
"Did I do well?"
"There are minor issues, but nothing major."
Su Mo spoke plainly.
"Minor issues..."
Fang Jie was stunned; he thought he had done very well.
Su Mo glanced at Fang Jie:
"I instructed you to spread this message without revealing your identity.
"You shouldn’t have used letters as the medium.
"You are the Young Master of Nong Yue Villa; it’s possible someone could recognize your handwriting.
"Fortunately, that person couldn’t read.
"Otherwise, no matter how slim the chance, the fact that this message came from you could not be concealed."
"Understood."
Fang Jie nodded repeatedly.
Then he heard Su Mo speak again:
"Secondly, spreading the message with ’three men make a tiger’ is indeed fast.
"But it inevitably makes people think someone is doing this deliberately.
"If interested parties investigate this matter, they will inevitably be filled with suspicion.
"As for tracing the matter back to Baisui City, whether they can find traces or not is anyone’s guess.
"This point must be kept in mind in the future.
"However, fortunately, this time it worked out inadvertently."
Fang Jie did not understand why Su Mo said it worked out inadvertently, but he still took Su Mo’s words to heart.
"And the biggest mistake you made today was in conveying the entire matter of Nong Yue Villa, every detail, without omission."
As Su Mo spoke of this, he glanced at Chen Dinghai again:
"Fang Jie is inexperienced, which is why I had you accompany him.
"He made such a foolish mistake, and you did nothing to stop it?"
Chen Dinghai was thrown into a panic, quickly kneeling on the ground:
"As your subordinate, I deserve the death penalty!!"
Fang Jie’s face turned white, seeing Chen Dinghai’s reverence toward Su Mo, he immediately followed suit and knelt on the ground:
"Brother Wu... Please, please don’t punish Uncle Chen.
"It was my lack of foresight, don’t blame him."
Su Mo glanced at him and softly said:
"Although this approach caused no harm, it did reveal a flaw.
"Stating the matter too clearly inevitably raises suspicion.
"You, as the Young Master of Nong Yue Villa, saying such things is logical.
"But as just a Jianghu guest... why would he know so much?
"Merely because he met the Young Master of Nong Yue Villa?
"If it were said that the Young Master was captured by this Jianghu guest and hence knew so much, that would be more plausible.