stand back, let me come

Chapter 1161: Build a High Wall (Part 1161) [Seeking monthly pass]

Cui Mi looked at Shen Tang, who was showing no disguising his anger, and smiled as usual: "My mother has been in the wild for a long time, so it is understandable that she does not know the national conditions in Qi. Not every country in troubled times is like Northwest Kangguo, do you understand?"

When he mentioned the word Kangguo, Cui Mi clearly saw that his future began to shake violently again, and bloody scenes switched back and forth. This meant that his life and death had changed at this moment, and the person who caused the change was right in front of him.

Cui Mi said: "Survival is the most important thing."

Whether they are the lower class common people or the higher class nobles.

In troubled times, it is not uncommon for the status of both sides to be overturned overnight.

Wang Ting's approach may seem cold and heartless, but it is the best solution at the moment. This is a lesson and experience gained from the subversion of a country. Cui Mi made a heavy statement that was not in line with his age.

"Faced with a continent that is about to be overturned, everyone wants to board the ship to escape. As for the fight that will cause the ship to be scarred or even sink, who cares? No one cares about the fate of the ship, or where it is heading. They only care about whether they can get on the ship, whether they are the captain at the helm, and whether they can grab this straw!" Cui Mi's metaphor made Shen Tang's heart jump secretly. She wanted to know if he knew something or was just a metaphor. "Sister Shen, you have to get on the ship first to have a chance to repair the ship. It's a pity-"

"It's a pity that repairing the ship requires dismantling many things to patch up many others." Shen Tang interrupted him and added, "The people whose things are being dismantled are not happy about it."

Naturally I am not happy about it.

If their positions are demolished, sea water will flow back in, and they will be swept away by the waves, and eventually buried in the sea without a complete body.

The ship repairmen can only settle for the next best option, which is the lesser of two evils. This way of collecting taxes is a good thing for prosperous areas with large populations and large fields. The burden will be lighter, and the royal court can collect enough taxes every year to ensure its operation.

But it is a disaster for areas with more mountains, more water and less farmland.

The common people under his rule could only choose to endure or leave their homes to seek a living in richer places. The royal court sacrificed the most vulnerable people in the country. These people belonged to the lowest of the lowest. They were old and weak and had no strength. They could only curl up in the most barren places to survive. Their deaths did not shake the stability of the royal court in the slightest, and their voices were not heard by anyone.

Shen Tang went straight to the point without any hesitation.

"Your father, Patriarch Cui, is not happy about this either, right?"

Cui Mi shook his head and said, "Sister Shen, you don't have to be so prejudiced against father. As a husband and mother's man, father may not be so satisfactory, but as a clan leader that the clan members rely on, he did his best. On this basis, he maintained some conscience. If he didn't have a conscience, how do you think he owed the taxes for three years? Of course, someone paid it."

Mei Jinghe and others saw the drawbacks and wanted to save the situation.

But he didn't dare, nor did he have the ability to take a strong dose of medicine.

Mei Jinghe and others were not sure whether this dose of strong medicine could bring the patient back to life, cure the disease, or just kill him instantly!

No one can afford to gamble.

The lesions can only be removed bit by bit.

Cui Mi hinted that Shen Tang could take up a new position: "It's okay for this account to remain uncollected, but Sister Shen has to take it over... After the clan elders settle the accounts, we have to be able to explain to my father..."

Shen Tang pointed at himself.

"Do you see the words 'sucker' on my face?"

  It's fine to pay off Xun Zhen's loan. After all, Xun Zhen spent money on Kangguo, and Shen Tang could see the money back. But what about owing Cui Shi's three-year bad debt as soon as she took office? Did Cui Zhi think she was easy to bully and a fat sheep?

Cui Mi said: "Of course not."

He could only say: "Sister Shen, why don't we change places?"

Shen Tang raised his eyebrows and asked, "Where to change?"

Cui Mi said: "Anywhere is better than here."

Shen Tang crossed his arms and laughed angrily.

The next moment, Shen Tang's face quickly enlarged in front of Cui Mi, and the distance between them was less than two fists. This was a very ambiguous distance, but Cui Mi had no other thoughts at all. Because a cold hand was gently strangling his neck.

Cui Mi's vitals fell into the hands of others. Goose bumps all over his body exploded, and his scalp felt numb. Shen Tang smiled and joked in his ears: "I have a question, has Cui Erlang ever been kidnapped and blackmailed? How much did the kidnappers offer for your father's ransom?"

Cui Mi's wildly beating heart gradually calmed down.

He said honestly, "Sister Shen, you also said that I am the second son of the Cui family. I am usually accompanied by servants and guards when I go out and come in, and I am well protected. The bandit who has the ability to kidnap me and extort a ransom from my father, I am afraid he has not yet been born."

Shen Tang said: "It's far away in the horizon and yet it's right in front of us!"

  No one dared before, but now some people dare to do so, right?

Cui Mi: “…”

Not long after, a letter appeared in Cui Zhi's study.

The eldest son, Cui Xiong, was holding a letter in his hand. He was clearly extremely anxious. His hurried steps made the hem of his clothes rustle, but he still suppressed his temper and did not run. He rushed to the door of the study like a gust of wind and said, "Father, father, something terrible has happened—"

"Er Mi is missing, and my son is kidnapped—"

Cui Zhi glanced at him and Cui Xiong fell silent instantly.

"Father already knows."

As soon as Shen Zhongli got his official certificate and took office, Cui Mi packed his bags and followed him. Now he was right under Shen's nose. Fortunately, Cui Mi knew to report his safety and wrote a letter to himself. Cui Zhi took the "letter from the kidnappers" from Cui Xiong, scanned it quickly, and understood: "Don't worry about Er Mi."

Cui Xiong was not so careless.

"But the two elks were tied up..."

The man whose surname was Zhongli and who changed his name to Shen Zhongli when he fled, escorted my mother all the way to Qi State safely, but his origins were still questionable. It was really worrying to let my second brother hang out with this man. There were still many problems left in that place. Cui Xiong was really worried that Shen Zhongli would think that his father was playing a trick on her, and then get angry and implicate the poor Er Mi. Thinking of this, he sighed.

Cui Zhi said: "Er Mi is smarter than you."

To survive in troubled times, strength is important, but brains are also important.

The big bear is much more straightforward than the two elks.

"No matter how smart you are, you can't stop swords, guns, sticks, or clubs, right?"

Cui Zhi sighed and said, "So what are you going to do?"

Cui Xiong volunteered: "Let my son take some people over and snatch the two elks back! Only then can we rest assured."

Cui Zhi asked back: "You were also tied up?"

  It’s impossible that both sons were caught by Mr. Shen, right?

Cui Xiong said: "It shouldn't be the case."

He could see clearly that this was kidnapping, but it was more likely that Er Mi was deliberately staying there, unwilling to be forced to get married. Cui Xiong did not bring people there to kidnap him, but just to find an opportunity to persuade his brother to come back. No matter what Cui Xiong said, Cui Zhi did not give in, but ordered people to pack up all the daily necessities and servants that Cui Mi used and mail them over.

Shen Zhongli can detain his son if she wants.

Just remember to pay back the three years of bad debts that Cui has paid for.

Cui Xiong: “…”

Cui Zhi couldn't convince himself, so he could only go to his mother.

In the past few days, my mother seemed to have returned to her previous daily routine as the mistress of the Cui family, except that she no longer had to deal with those trivial matters, such as arranging food, clothing and expenses for the mansion, managing relationships with various families, or caring about those women from side branches who came to complain about being poor and asking for money.

Pruning flowers and plants, and practicing swords and sticks.

Do whatever you like.

As soon as Cui Xiong arrived, he heard the whirring sound of spears being swung. Before he could greet them, he saw the woman waving the spear in the yard use her skillful strength to move the spear along the body of the spear to the tip. With a flick of the spear tip, another spear on the weapon rack flew up from the ground and stabbed straight at him.

The speed of this spear is not too fast.

Cui Xiong was able to hold it easily: "Mother?" "Big Bear, practice with me."

Cui Xiong rarely heard his mother's full-throated voice. Just by listening, he could feel the vigorous vitality and passion in every word. He obeyed his mother's order and practiced with Cui Hui. Until there was a crack, the gun barrel broke, and the force was so great that they all stepped back several steps, and numbness came from the palm of their hands.

"Why did it break?"

Cui Hui picked up the broken gun on the ground with some regret.

Cui Xiong followed suit and bent down to pick it up. While picking it up, he told her about how Cui Mi went to look for Shen Zhongli but was kidnapped by her. He thought his mother would be worried, but she just made the same arrangement as his father. She asked someone to pack up Er Mi's things and send them to him.

Cui Xiong asked, "Mother, don't you worry about Er Mi?"

Of course Cui Hui was not worried.

Cui Mi is safer staying with Shen Jun, as long as he doesn't do anything stupid.

"But my son was worried that Er Mi would suffer, so he never ran so far since he was little. He couldn't take care of him so far away from home."

"If you're worried, just give him a few more people."

Cui Xiong was puzzled: "Sai people?"

Since the place is already full, why not just bring them back?

Cui Hui said: "You can also give me money."

She was careless and sent Shen Jun to a remote place without knowing the situation. Now he is restricted everywhere. If she could use the name of Er Mi to give Shen Jun more money and people... No, she should give him more money. With the money, Shen Jun could use it to recruit more people, but if he gave it to people... With Cui Zhishan's character, he would definitely plant his trusted spies there.

This action will not be fatal, but it will cause more trouble.

Cui Xiong: “…”

Cui Hui asked: "How much money do you have?"

Cui Xiong: “…”

As the eldest son of the Cui family, the heir, with a stable status and an engaged wife, he began to enjoy the privileges that only adult men had. For example, he no longer received pocket money and had his own private treasury, which he could manage freely. Cui Hui obviously knew about this.

She swindled all her eldest son's money away.

When Cui Zhi heard about this, he did not stop it.

He said calmly, "Let her be."

But his trusted aides were puzzled.

  He knew the headmaster's feelings for the mistress, but he also knew that the family came first and the mistress came second. The mistress's return this time was full of cunning, but the headmaster turned a blind eye to all of this, which was really strange. Did the headmaster never think that the mistress would endanger the Cui family?

During the years since the mistress divorced her parents, she has also had interactions with Qi Yuanliang, the head of the Northwest branch. Could the latter not have intervened here?

And also, that Shen Zhongli.

Especially her, it was obvious that she was Qi Yuanliang's eyes and ears.

Even if the mistress said that Qi Yuanliang had given this person to her and that he was hers now, it didn't mean that Shen Zhongli would stop contacting Qi Yuanliang. Keeping this person would be like raising a tiger to cause trouble... whether it was from a family perspective or the head of the family's personal feelings.

Cui Zhi raised his hand to suppress the words of his trusted aide.

"No need to say more."

"Parents, what is the most important thing to you?"

This staff member is not only Cui Zhi's confidant, but also an elder of the Cui family, a half-master of Cui Zhi, and a witness who deeply remembers the difficulties of the Cui family in leaving their hometown and fleeing all the way here to settle down. Cui Zhi trusts and respects him, and can only tell him some of his inner thoughts: "Of course it is a family. As long as I am the patriarch of the Cui family, nothing can surpass it."

"Really? No selfish motives?"

"If you have selfish motives, you should have had them back then."

The trusted aide sighed deeply: "It's good enough for the parents to remember it."

Cui Zhi looked at him, but the conversation between father and son before his son left came to his mind. Cui Mi didn't look like a child raised by a noble family. He didn't have any sense of family honor and disgrace, and he was indifferent to life and death. His temperament was very similar to his mother-in-law who had practiced Buddhism for many years.

This child is most disdainful of the continuation of the family.

The shackles that bound Cui Zhi seemed a joke to him.

Cui Zhi asked him why this happened.

Cui Mi said: [Because it is meaningless to know the predetermined ending in advance. In this ending, Cui will die, my father will die, my mother will die, my grandmother will die, my elder brother and I will die, and there will be no natural death. After half a lifetime of hard work, only to get such an ending, no matter who it is, it will be boring.]

He asked back: [Can't my father see it? ]

His father didn't have the ability to see the future like him, but as the head of the branch of the Gods in the southwest continent, his father could see too many truths that ordinary people couldn't see. Seeing these truths, he should know that the world was heading towards the abyss.

【This is a broken ship that is about to sink. 】

  The person at the helm doesn't care where the ship is going or when it will sink, he only cares if he is the captain. The crew members don't know the wind and waves outside and the holes in the ship, they only care about the immediate benefits and enjoyment. What will he do standing on the deck?

Even if you haven't seen that far, you should know that troubled times are a meat grinder, and the Cui family is just a floating leaf in front of it!

Cui Zhi looked at his son indifferently.

【At least it won’t sink now. 】

Cui Mi said: [Soon.]

Did you see it sink?

[I also saw a scene where it didn't sink.] It was just a moment, but it didn't sink. [Ants only fight for immediate gains and losses, but they don't know that a catastrophe is about to come. If the ship didn't sink, Cui might die, but if the ship sank, Cui would definitely be destroyed.]

Cui Zhi did not comment on this statement.

I didn't say I believed it, nor did I say I didn't believe it.

It was just that the guard at the mansion was a little lax that day, so Cui Mi packed a small bag and escaped over the wall. No one went to look for him for several days.

When the next news came, he had become a "hostage".

Cui Zhi looked at the message and muttered to himself, hesitating.

"The one who repairs the boat?"

Shen Tang used Cui Mi as a "hostage" to extort a large sum of money.

When Shen Tang saw that what was sent was money instead of knives, guns, sticks and clubs, he was shocked: "Tsk tsk, Cui Zhishan has a good temper."

Cui Mi held a pen in his mouth, sneezing non-stop as he looked at a pile of dusty scrolls, and fanning his nose with his hand. "Sister Shen, don't have too many fantasies about the head of a wealthy family. He is a heartless person. He may be in a good mood now, but he will change his temper quickly."

"For example?"

"For example, if there were three years of bad debts, he would turn hostile."

"If I can't make it, I'll sell you by weight."

"I told you, he has no heart. His son won't sell for a high price. If you cheat the mother away, you can still deter her a little."

  |ω`)

I have the third subject exam tomorrow, wait for my good news.

Wow, I'm a little nervous. The route to the Yueqing examination center is so complicated.

PS: Cui Zhi did not turn against Tang Mei because he knew that she had a close relationship with Qi Shan, or the Northwest Branch. The three years of bad debts were an inspection. If Tang Mei could settle the accounts, Cui Shi might not be unable to cooperate with the branch behind Qi Shan (the inner club of the Gods Society disappeared for too long, and the branches were scattered, and Cui Zhi also noticed something was wrong). If they could not settle the accounts, it was clear that their strength was just like that, so it was better to continue betting on Qi State.