Chapter 203 “Marquise of Lister’s request” (part 1)

Facing Du Wei’s enthusiasm, Dardaneier is somewhat apologetic: “Du Wei…… Oh, should be Duke. Haha, how could I ever forget your kindness? I have long wanted to come see you; it’s just that her ladyship sent me out on a trip with the fleet, that’s why I was so late in coming. This time, I’ve brought along some new year’s gift from the marquise!”

Seeing the gifts sent over by the Lister family, even Du Wei had to gasp for a breath of cold air!

Compared to the last batch of gifts, this time around can be considered luxurious to the extreme!

Beyond the countless number of precious treasures, Marquise of Lister sent over something Du Wei lacked the most: Enough high quality equipment to outfit 5,000 soldiers and 1000 war horses. Lastly, there are 4,000 young slaves!

“Outside of these gifts, there is also me.” Dadaneier smiled at Du Wei: “My Lord, remember the words I said to you in the frozen forest? I vowed that for the rest of life, I will closely stay by your side! The marquise already agreed to my request. Now that I’m here, I won’t have to go back!”

Du Wei is surprised to no end because the number of staff he can rely on is simply too little. Though his skill isn’t the best, but Dadaneier’s origin is of the Lister household and a close associate of the marquise. More importantly, he had plenty of experience from his adventuring days and is truly faithful towards Du Wei!

“My Lord, I also brought along a letter from the Marquise.” Dadaneier then removed a sealed letter from his bosom and carefully handed it over: “Her ladyship asked me to convey to you. Once you finish the letter, even if you’re unable to decide, you can take your time to consider. However, no matter what your decision is, please be sure to give her a reply.”

Du Wei was stunned: “Oh, do you know what request the Marquise has for me?”

Dardanelle shrugged his shoulders in reply: “This… I don’t know, her lady wrote everything in the letter.”

Du Wei did not bother asking for more; instead, he enthusiastically brought Dadaneier into the governor’s castle. That night, Du Wei he held a banquet and invited all of his subordinates to attend. From his point of view, Dadaneier’s loyalty is unquestionable because he did not leak Hussein’s secret even after all this time.

During the party, Du Wei publicly appointed Dadaneier as the commander in chief of the new city’s defense garrison. On top of this, he is also officially awarded him the title of being a guardian knight of the Tulip Household.

Knowing Dadaneier is a friend that once weathered true hardship alongside the Duke; everyone was very warm in their welcome.

It wasn’t until late into the night did the celebration come to a stop, but once it did, Du Wei had Marde arrange a room for Dadaneier in the governor’s manor. With everything settled, Du Wei returned to his own room and opened the Marquise letter.

Towards the current female head of the Lister family, Du Wei greatly admires her. As the richest family on the mainland, their wealth even rivals that Taklanshan weapons dealer. In addition, this lady also holds a nobility title, so she is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Though he managed to conveniently help the Lister Household in the frozen forest, but the other party already gave him loads of gifts when he returned to the Rowling Plains. Then there was also his business with the mercenary groups in the North. If not for the Lister family’s care, things wouldn’t have gone so smoothly…… Arguably, even if the Lister family owed him a favor, the other party should have already repaid him by now., yet now, they are sending such gifts again……

Du Wei only briefly glanced at the gifts today and he could already estimate the worth at roughly more than a million gold coins. If the other is so kind then it’s not a simple favor. More than likely, it’s a request for him….

Sure enough, this letter is clearly personally penned by the Marquise. Delicate and modest, the style is fitting that of noble women.

The first part is just some congratulatory words of how he became a Duke and was awarded the Desa Province. Then what came next are a few New Year greetings and how Dadaneier is hence forth classified as Du Wei’s subordinate.

The majority of the letter may contain only praising words, but everything was carefully phrased and planned out. Clearly, this marquise is a well-educated lady because of the lacking ass kissing feeling one would normally get from such letters, instead, he could only feel a sense of comfort after reading it.

Then at the end of the letter, the focused changed to that of how Du Wei is an acquaintance of Mr. Blue Ocean from the capital. One of the key points here is her expression of admiration towards this famous scholar and that she also has a younger brother and sister. Due to their young age, she is worried over their lack of discipline. That’s why, she sent someone over to Mr. Blue Ocean’s place with the hope of having him or one of his student be their teacher. Unfortunately, the other party outright rejected her request. The marquise explained that she did not dare force the famous scholar, but since Du Wei has so many of Mr. Blue Ocean’s students under him, she is hoping he could put in a few words……

Dear Du Wei, for the sake of both household’s relationship, please lend a helping hand. The Lister Household will definitely return the kindness and so on……

After Du Wei puts the letter down, he started to contemplate the idea for a while. The matter is neither big nor small, but such a request from the Marquise is really intriguing.

Scholar Blue Ocean’s fame may be far and wide, but based on the Lister Household’s status, it wouldn’t be hard to invite some other famous scholar, so why? Even if they can’t get Mr. Blue Ocean, they still want his student to do the job?

Du Wei may have 80 student of Blue Ocean, but even like this he is still lacking in man power, especially when it’s been so busy recently. It can be said that every one of these scholar is carrying a wide range of duties, and now he is supposed to send one of these guy’s to act as a tutor in the Lister Household? Du Wei really is somewhat reluctant to do it.

Although it’s a bit difficult, but the Lister Household really have been good to him and even sent Dadaneier to his side. If he didn’t return such a big favor, how can he possibly make it slide? Just as he was about to make a reply, Du Wei suddenly had a thought and called for Philip.

Philip still wasn’t asleep yet because in recent days, he was always working till dawn over the migration matter.

After Du Wei sent for Philip, he simply asked if he knew about the occasion when the Lister Family asked Blue Ocean to be their teacher.

Philip thinks for a moment and said, “There is indeed such an occasion. However teacher thoroughly rejected the request that day. From rumors, the young master of the Lister family is really smart and his personally is also very good. All of us originally thought teacher would agree, but who would have thought teacher would reject it so thoroughly without any leeway left….. Of course, as his student, we did not dare ask about the details.”

Philip may say it like this, but Du Wei saw through Philip and knew the guy was hiding something. This is after all a private matter so it’s not his place to pry any further. Letting Philip go, Du Wei then called for Dadaneier to his room and explained the request from the marquise;

“Dadaneier, I also didn’t want to make it difficult, but I can’t call the shots in this matter either. From what I heard, the Marquise’s younger brother is quite smart, so why did scholar Blue Ocean refuse the request? If it was just some general thing, then I can grant her ladyship’s wish with a few words, but I fear there is some hidden story behind this. It may not be good for an outsider like me to speak. You know it too, most of the people supporting my place here is from Mr. Blue Ocean.”

Dardanelle hesitated for a little before speaking: “My Lord, I didn’t know the letter was such a request…. Hmm, I shouldn’t be saying this before, but I’m no longer part of the Lister Household. Since you are my master now, I can’t hide anything from you if you ask. From what I heard, her ladyship’s father, the previous family head, is good friends with Mr. Blue Ocean when they were young! But later…. It seems there was some friction between the two…..”

“Oh?” Du Wei was interested: “The Marquise’s father had such a relationship with Mr. Blue Ocean?”

Dadaneier thought for a moment: “Not many people know this, but from what I hear, the previous head of the family was very good with Mr. Blue Ocean. It wasn’t until later that they had a falling out due to their ideology. Mr. Blue Ocean spends most of his effort caring for the people while the Lister head only cares for his family business. Days gone by, Mr. Blue Ocean felt he was too profit orientated…..” Dadaneier smiled wryly at this point: “Everyone knows that the Lister Household only started to grow at the hands of the former head. Back then, there was indeed some shady business…. So…..”