Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1193 Oolong
Yuan Xi opened the door and saw that it was Madam Cai. When she saw Yuan Xi asking questions, she looked a little uneasy and whispered, "I have something to report to the king."

Yuan Xi did not move aside, but stood at the door and said, "Madam, please speak."

Mrs. Cai was stunned. She didn't expect that Yuan Xi wouldn't even let her into the house. This further confirmed her guess. If the other party didn't want to destroy the bridge after crossing it, why would he be so rude to her?

Thinking of this, Madam Cai knelt down and said, "If the king wants my life, you can take it, but please spare Cong'er's life for the sake of my late husband."

Yuan Xi was startled. He looked up and met the gloating look from Sun Li at the door. His scalp tingled. He did not let Mrs. Cai into the house, naturally to avoid suspicion, because he was too familiar with the development of such things.

But the troops were about to be dispatched, and Yuan Xi didn't want to cause trouble because of these things, which would affect morale. He guessed that Mrs. Cai had misunderstood for some reason, and it would not be good to see her kneeling at the door, so he had to say, "Let's talk about it, come in."

He let Mrs. Cai into the house, but left the door open. Mrs. Cai thought of what happened last time and couldn't help biting her lips, wondering if she was so unbearable in the other person's eyes?

She felt an inexplicable grievance in her heart, and her eyes turned red, but thinking of the matter concerning Liu Cong's life, she could only force herself to speak out: "It is my fault for disturbing the king so late at night. I heard that the king was not going to let me and my son go to Qingzhou, so I wanted to ask if this was true."

Yuan Xi was startled, then he slapped his head and said in a lost voice: "This is my negligence."

He had previously told Madam Cai to let her go to Qingzhou, but he had forgotten about this matter in the past few days as he was in a hurry to send troops. Although he remembered it in the middle, he thought that Qingzhou was now in turmoil, so it would be safer to let Madam Cai and her son stay in Shouchun and send them to Qingzhou after the battle in Jizhou was settled.

He expressed his thoughts, and then said, "Qingzhou has suffered from floods and wars recently, so it may not be safe to go there now. In comparison, if Wu had not attacked, Shouchun might be the safest place in the world."

"But now it seems that this possibility is not very high, so please rest assured, ma'am."

"But I am very curious, why does Madam think that I will harm you and your son?"

Mrs. Cai heard this and hesitated, "I was just misled by the rumors and over-thinking. Since the king has made proper arrangements, I am relieved. I am sorry for disturbing the king's rest, so I will take my leave now."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi was about to get up and send Madam Cai out, but after taking two steps, he felt something was not right. Suddenly, he thought of something and said, "Wait."

Mrs. Cai stopped and heard Yuan Xi say, "I want to see Liu Cong."

Mrs. Cai didn't understand what was going on, so she brought Yuan Xi, Sun Li and others to the other courtyard. She knocked on the door of Liu Cong's room, but found that there was no movement inside. She turned to Yuan Xi and said, "Cong'er seems to have fallen asleep. Shall I go in and wake him up?"

Yuan Xi glanced at the door and said calmly, "No need, he is probably not in the room."

He winked and Sun Li understood. He pushed the door and found that there was no bolt on it. The door opened and it was pitch black inside. Sun Li picked up the oil lamp in his hand and found that there was no one inside.

Seeing this, Yuan Xi sneered, "He is really brave."

"I'm afraid that before Madam came, Liu Cong hinted to Madam that I might harm you and your son, right?"

Mrs. Cai’s face turned pale. She could never have imagined that Liu Cong, who was usually well-behaved, would actually lie to her!
Yuan Xi said to Sun Li, "Liu Cong is probably still in the palace. Call the guards and search everywhere to find him."

"But we cannot rule out the possibility that he ran away. People outside this mansion cannot easily get in, and it is not that easy to get out."

"Tell someone to block the streets outside to prevent anyone from helping him out of the city."

Mrs. Cai vaguely guessed something and her face turned pale for a moment. Liu Cong, who usually obeyed her, actually dared to run away without her knowledge!

What made her even more disheartened was that Liu Cong was obviously using her. He had used rumors to trick her into meeting Yuan Xi. He probably thought that she could delay Yuan Xi for a while, and Liu Cong would take the opportunity to escape!

Mrs. Cai was very angry. For Liu Cong, she was ready to sacrifice her looks to please Yuan Xi, but she didn't expect that Liu Cong would treat her as a pawn!
The guards followed Sun Li's order and searched the house brick by brick. Even Zhang Fang, who was guarding the door, was alarmed. He came in to answer the question. When he heard that Liu Cong might have escaped from the house, he said flatly, "That's unlikely."

"I have been patrolling back and forth at the front and back gates. Even if he escapes by climbing over the wall, he will not be able to hide from the sentries I have placed."

"So in all likelihood, he is still in the mansion."

Yuan Xi was a little annoyed. If Liu Cong could escape from the mansion quietly, it meant that Liu Cong was either able to hide from his guards or might have bribed his own people.

This is not something that ordinary forces can do. The ones that have the strength to do this are either Wei or Wu. This makes Yuan Xi shocked and angry. Doesn't this mean that his own men are unreliable?

However, after Zhang Fang's analysis, Yuan Xi calmed down immediately. If Wei and Wu were not good for him and could bribe his subordinates, why would they need to rescue a little Liu Cong? Wouldn't it be better to just kill him? As Zhang Fang and others joined the search, they finally found Liu Cong shivering in the straw pile in the firewood room.

Liu Cong was discovered together with a maid from the mansion. Both of them were half-naked and it was obvious that they were exchanging ideas.

After asking about the consequences, Yuan Xi couldn't help but laugh and cry. It turned out that this was purely a trick that Liu Cong made by taking advantage of Madam Cai because of his adultery!

After Liu Cong was brought to Shouchun, he somehow hooked up with the maid who was in charge of the kitchen. The two met several times, but there was no chance for them to take the next step.

This was mainly because Mrs. Cai was worried about Liu Cong's safety, so she would wait until Liu Cong fell asleep every day before returning home.

This made Liu Cong quite depressed. Finally, he came up with a plan. He took advantage of Mrs. Cai's fear and lied to her that Yuan Xi was going to execute her and her son. When Mrs. Cai heard this, she naturally became anxious, so she hurried to Yuan Xi to plead for mercy.

Liu Cong pretended to be asleep. When he saw Madam Cai go out, he sneaked out and went to the woodshed to find the maid. The two of them naturally ended up together.

But Liu Cong did not expect that Yuan Xi did not waste time talking to Madam Cai because he was busy with affairs. He brought Madam Cai back directly and exposed Liu Cong's affair.

Yuan Xi figured out the situation and couldn't help but feel angry and amused. He said to Liu Cong who was kneeling in the hall, "Why do you think Madam Cai would waste a lot of time with me?"

"Didn't you expect Mrs. Cai to come back after saying a few words?"

Liu Cong was shaking, and hesitantly said, "I, I thought that given the king's character, if my mother went, she would definitely not be able to come back for a while."

Sun Li in the hall couldn't help but chuckle, but Yuan Xi and Madam Cai's faces turned red at the same time. The meaning was self-evident. Liu Cong actually sold out Madam Cai for such a thing!

Mrs. Cai was heartbroken. Cai Mao wanted to sell herself to Cao Cao, but Liu Cong wanted to sell herself to Yuan Xi. One was her brother, and the other was her son. She had spent so many years of her youth on the Cai family, but in the end, the people who stabbed her back were her closest relatives!
Yuan Xi asked the maid a few more questions, but the woman's body was as weak as a sieve and she spoke stutteringly.

It turned out that in ancient times, maids were tacitly considered to be the private property of the owner of the house. However, Yuan Xi had many wives, so naturally he had no interest in getting involved with the maids. In addition, he had been away fighting in recent years and had little time to return to Shouchun. These women saw their youth wasted and hopeless, so naturally they had some thoughts in their minds.

Now that Liu Cong was temporarily settled in the mansion, he got involved with a maid by chance. The woman was already over the marriageable age, so she naturally wanted to seize the opportunity, so she and Liu Cong hit it off.

The idea of ​​sending Mrs. Cai away was actually Liu Cong's. It can only be said that for the sake of the lower body, a mediocre upper body can sometimes come up with good ideas.

After understanding the whole process, Yuan Xi also felt it was ridiculous. He slammed his fingers on the table and said to Liu Cong, "You were once the ruler of Jingzhou. Why are you wasting your brain on this?"

"If you had managed Jingzhou with this mindset, how could you have ended up like this with the generals and soldiers of Jingzhou?"

Liu Cong was speechless and could only kowtow and apologize. Madam Cai also kowtowed repeatedly and said, "My son has offended the king. Please spare his life. I am willing to exchange my life for yours."

Liu Cong felt even more ashamed when he heard this, and repeatedly told Yuan Xi that it was his own fault. Yuan Xi couldn't bear it and said, "Forget it, it's just a farce."

"But I originally wanted to arrange for you to go to Qingzhou, but now that I see that you have a restless personality, you should go to Kuaiji in a few days."

"Although that place is dominated by Shanyue people, it also has prospects. I will let you start from one county. When your character is honed and you can make real achievements in the local area, I will make other arrangements."

Mrs. Cai's face turned pale. Kuaiji was a place of malaria in Lingnan and was much more dangerous than Shouchun. But she also knew that this matter could be a big deal or a small one. It was okay for Yuan Xi to find a pretext to execute Liu Cong. This was already a leniency!

She immediately pulled Liu Cong to kowtow and thank him. Liu Cong felt guilty and begged, "My mother was implicated by me. I hope the king will let her live in Shouchun. I will be grateful!"

Yuan Xi stood up and said, "I'll think about it later. It's getting late, let's all go back."

He said to the maid, "From now on, you will follow him, and I will give you a dowry."

The maid burst into tears and quickly knelt down to thank them. Yuan Xi sighed, no longer looked at them, and got up and left.

He walked out of the house and looked up at the night sky above his head. There, the Milky Way spanned the sky and countless stars twinkled in it, just like the countless living beings in this world who were struggling hard.

Yuan Xi thought that even the humblest people at the bottom of society had their own ideas and wishes. After all, they were living people.

(End of this chapter)