Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 413 Five Stone Powder

Kuaiji Mountain
A few clouds were floating in the air, flowing continuously like an endless river.

This place has always been a good place for many children from noble families in the south to gather.

Xie Xuan walked aside with a slight smile on his face: "Brother Chen, this is the place for this gathering."

"Huiji Mountain has always been a place of great beauty and natural beauty."

Chen Xiao walked aside with a slight smile on his face. He just said admiringly: "It is indeed a good place. It is worthy of Brother Xie's praise."

He walked and looked curiously: "Who is the host of this gathering?"

Xie Xuan slapped his forehead and then remembered that he had not introduced Wei Ning to Chen Xiao yet, so he immediately started to explain.

"Brother Chen, this rally was organized by Wei Ning from the Wei Clan."

"Wei is——"

Before he finished speaking, Chen Xiao nodded and said, "I know Wei's."

"In the previous dynasty, the Wei family was the Shangshu Ling in the Cao Wei court. Later, they followed the Xie family and the Wang family to Linjing City and joined our dynasty. Later, they were favored by the emperor during the "Wuxu Incident" and finally became one of the four great families in Jiangnan."

Chen Xiao's eyes sparkled: "I have never heard of this Master Wei Ning, but I have heard of his brother's name."

"The Wei Jie who 'watched Wei Jie being killed' is his elder brother?"

Xie Xuan didn't expect that Chen Xiao actually knew Wei's name, but when he heard the rest, he slapped his forehead helplessly. This was not a good reputation.

"It is indeed that Wei."

Chen Xiao was somewhat moved, but also somewhat curious: "How similar is the appearance of this Young Master Wei Ning to his brother?"

Xie Xuan replied: "About 70% to 80%."

He explained: "In the Jiangnan area, Wei Ning is also quite famous for his talent."

"Most of the Jiangnan noble families like to have idle conversations, and this Master Wei Ning is a master of such conversations. Many people have been defeated by him, but none of them have any resentment towards him - it's all because of his face."

Xie Xuan said, whether intentionally or unintentionally, "Back then, a young man from the Chen family came to travel in the south of the Yangtze River. He hit it off with Master Wei Ning right away and talked with him for three days, but in the end, he was defeated."

"When they were defeated for the last time, the Chen family member drank the wine in his cup and then sighed."

"When it comes to elegant conversation, who in the world can surpass Master Ning of the Wei family?"

"I'm afraid the only one in this world who can surpass Master Wei Ning is my brother."

Speaking of this interesting incident, Xie Xuan's face still flashed a helpless look: "At that time, this remark made Wei Ning famous - after all, even if the son of the Chen family is not a famous figure, he is still a son of the Chen family, and is much better than the children of ordinary noble families."

"He was defeated by Wei Ning, which shows how talented Wei Ning is."

Chen Xiao did not say anything about this, but just smiled and said: "I do know that Chen family member, he is the son of my seventh uncle, he was always arrogant before, he stayed indoors after returning to the Chen family, I thought something happened to him, it turns out that he fell into the hands of Master Wei."

The fan in his hand suddenly closed and hit his hand.

"Come on, let's meet this famous Master Wei."

"I am really curious."

Kuaiji Mountain
Many children of noble families have already gathered in the pavilions and towers here. Building these pavilions and towers on the top of the mountain naturally consumes countless wealth and manpower. According to rumors, in order to build this "Xiuning Pavilion", the four major families spent millions of money and mobilized countless manpower during the period, with hundreds of thousands of laborers and craftsmen alone being recruited.

This is a pavilion made of human blood.

Wei Ning sat on the top of the mountain with a calm expression on his face. His hand holding the cup made his fingers look even whiter and more flawless, like a piece of beautiful jade, and his face, which looked like that of a beautiful girl, was even more attractive.

Many young men from aristocratic families gathered around him, all with ulterior motives.

Wei Ning himself knew this, but he didn't care.

Ever since his elder brother died, the Wei family has been getting worse day by day. His father promoted Wei Ning, who resembled "Wei Jie", just to save face for the Wei family.

He lowered his head, with a hint of sarcasm in his brows.

How long can you enjoy the happiness of serving men with your beauty?
It's a pity that his father had gained countless benefits by relying on his brother's fame, and had already lost himself in it, unable to see that the danger was approaching step by step.

How could the person behind the scenes be such a good person?

There was a hint of sadness in his brow.

However, it was these sorrows that made him look even more "cute" and "charming", and made the hearts of several young men from noble families around him burn with anger.

There were footsteps heard in the distance, followed by a series of greetings.

"Master Xuan is here. This must be Master Chen, right?"

Wei Ning also stood up and looked at Chen Xiao and Xie Xuan who were walking over. He bowed and said, "Hello, brothers."

He said with emotion: "It really touched my heart that you two could attend the banquet at Kuaiji Mountain, and it also made Kuaiji Mountain glorious."

Chen Xiao smiled and said a few polite words to him, while Xie Xuan lowered his head and said nothing.

This is not his home ground.

What are the banquets of the many noble families in the south like?

It is different from the gatherings of northern families. Most of them are gentle and comfortable, with some literary tastes, and this is even more so for the Jiangnan families, except that they have one more thing than ordinary southern families - idle talk.

Since the late emperor ascended the throne, he began to suppress the aristocratic families again, and until the current emperor ascended the throne, he has never relaxed the suppression of the southern aristocratic families.

The late emperor and the present emperor are well aware that the southern noble families helped Emperor Muzong ascend the throne and take control of the world, thus making him the emperor's successor. Then they used this favor and the general trend to establish themselves in the south.

Rather than saying that this south is the south of Dayu, it is more accurate to say that it is the south of the four great families in Jiangnan.

Among the four great families, the Wang and Xie clans had been supporting Dayu during the reign of Emperor Ming, while the Wei clan was opportunistic and, with the secret instructions of the Lu clan, was able to help Emperor Mu, who was unpopular at the time and had been exiled to the south three times by Emperor Yuan. As for the last Ye clan, it was even more outrageous.

The Ye family also defected to Dayu in the early days of Dayu. However, among the many aristocratic families in Dayu, it was never considered a very powerful family. At most, it was a second-rate or even third-rate family, not even as good as the Wei family.

It was just that during the reign of Emperor Yuan, the ancestor of the Ye family controlled a part of the imperial guards in the capital.

At that time, Emperor Yuan died suddenly, and Chen's ancestors had not yet entered the court.

The ancestor of the Ye family used the imperial guards to control the situation in the capital - by the time the Chen family reacted, Emperor Mu had already ascended the throne.

Overnight, everything changed drastically.

Apart from the fact that Emperor Mu may have obtained the throne in an illegitimate way, he was qualified to be the emperor. Chen did not want to and could not interfere.

After Emperor Mu ascended the throne, because he came from many aristocratic families in the south, he lavishly rewarded and conferred titles on many of the southern aristocratic families, and even rewarded many places in the south of the Yangtze River.

It is precisely because of these policies that many aristocratic families in the south were able to develop.

Emperor Mu came to the throne illegitimately, so naturally he had to indulge the noble families who had made great contributions. It was also because of this that the inferior Ye and Wei families were directly promoted to the position of the four major families in Jiangnan.

It is almost the same as the Wang and Xie families who have made real great contributions.

When the daughter of the Ye clan married a barbarian, Emperor Mu even personally conferred a title on her - she was given the title of princess, which was an unprecedented reward.

When Emperor Su ascended the throne, he was no longer so "tolerant" of these parasites who occupied many places in Jiangnan and even acted recklessly in the court. He continued to suppress these noble families. At the worst time, it was almost impossible to see a child of a noble family in Jiangnan serving as an official in the court.

By the time of the previous emperor, Emperor Xuan, the suppression of these children of aristocratic families was even more severe. Among the four major aristocratic families in Jiangnan, except for Xie An who held an idle official position, the rest were all unemployed at home.

So this group of wealthy children from noble families began to have “pure conversation”.

As for making irresponsible comments on state affairs?

They don't want to die yet.

Emperor Su, the previous emperor, and even the current emperor are not the bastard "Emperor Mu" who came to the throne illegitimately. They are bent on improving their own reputations and even do not hesitate to slander the reputations of Emperor Yuan, Emperor Ming, and even Emperor Taizu for this purpose. They are not afraid of these messes.

How dare you discuss state affairs and ridicule the emperor?
Then let’s go to the vegetable market tomorrow to visit your family’s nine clans.

What is pure conversation?

It is about talking about the sky, the earth, flowers, water, the origin of all things in the universe, and the evolution of heaven and earth. In short, it is about being a riddler and saying some specious words.

Why was the Chen family member unable to defeat Wei Ning in the debate?
Because he himself is well-versed in knowledge and only knows how to do things down to earth, he cannot argue with Wei Ning.

The same is true for today's banquet. Many young men from noble families are not allowed to discuss state affairs, so naturally they can only continue to have casual conversations.

The topic they talked about was random and they all became excited as they talked.

During this period, several celebrities took out Wu Shi San and took it. After taking it, they opened their minds and seemed more free and easy.

A slight breeze from the mountaintop ruffled their loose robes.

It makes them look more like gods from heaven.

Just when everyone was talking the most, Wei Ning, who was sitting there, raised his head and said with a smile: "Why don't you join us, Master Chen? Don't you want to chat with us ordinary people?"

As he said this, he pushed a glass of wine in front of Chen Xiao.

"Since you look down on us vulgar people, drink this cup of wine."

"Then there's no need for idle talk."

"These are the rules of the gathering."

Chen Xiao's expression remained unchanged. He just spread his hands and said, "I'm not good at idle conversation."

His tone remained calm, but one could hear some sarcasm in it.

"You are taking the slow-acting poison Wu Shi San on this mountain top, hoping to ascend to heaven and become immortals and gods as soon as possible, and pursue great freedom. What a noble sentiment this is. How could Xiao think that you are vulgar people?"

"Speaking of laymen, Chen is the layman. At least Chen is very afraid of death and dare not take this Wushisan."

"How dare you guys take it?"

He pointed at a young man from an aristocratic family who was already in a state of ecstasy and said, "This fellow is even more free than before. He actually dared to take such a large dose of Wushisan. I'm afraid he has long wanted to be free, right?"

There was a smile in Chen Xiao's voice, but his words instantly sobered up everyone present - including those idiots who had become restless and had very happy minds after taking Wu Shi San.

Chronic poison?
Want to ascend to heaven soon?

Get great freedom?

Everyone woke up instantly. Although they were idiots, they were not stupid to this extent!

They have money, power and status, so what can’t they get?

Why bother asking for great freedom?

Aren’t they very free now?

But all of this is based on the premise that they are alive! If they die, all of this will naturally be gone!

One of the young men from the noble family swallowed subconsciously.

"What does this mean, sir?"

"Wu Shi San is a chronic poison? How is this possible!"

His face was extremely pale and beads of sweat were dripping down. It seemed that he had taken a lot of medicine.

Chen Xiao said in surprise: "Ah? You didn't know?"

He sighed, his voice sounding as if he didn't care, but also as if it contained some meaningful hints.

"In the past, my seventh brother traveled to Jiangnan and ended up getting addicted to this Wushisan."

"As you know, my uncle is the Bian Que of this generation. After he took a look at the Five Stones Powder, he concluded that it was poison. He even used a mouse as an experiment. After taking the Five Stones Powder for a few days, the mouse became restless all day long. It died in just a dozen days."

Chen Xiao shook his head and sighed: "This also confirms the claim that Wushisan is a poison."

He looked at everyone and asked, "Don't you know?"

"Then you guys."

Chen Xiao said with a choked voice, and it took him a long time to react: "You don't know? How dare you eat something you don't know? Who gave you this thing? This person must have bad intentions."

The group of children from aristocratic families didn't react for a long time; they just stood there in a daze.

"vomit--"

After many people reacted, they directly poked their throats with their fingers, trying to spit out the Wu Shi San they had just swallowed.

In an instant, the top of Kuaiji Mountain, which seemed like a fairyland, became like a place where grains are reincarnated.

Chen Xiao then looked at Wei Ning with a smile, and said with a smile amid the sound of "Ouch——" "Since Brother Wei Ning just mentioned this idle talk, I would like to ask for your advice."

"Back then, Xiao's seventh brother fell into the hands of the Wei brothers. After returning home, he stayed indoors and has been trapped in a small hut even now."

There was a hint of desolation and solemnity in his voice.

"Today, Xiao also wants to ask Brother Wei for advice."

"As for the prize?"

Chen Xiao touched his chin and said, "There is no hatred between you and me. If you gamble too much, it will hurt the harmony between the Chen family and the Wei family."

"Why not use this wine as a prize?"

"Ruo Xiao won by chance."

"This cup of wine originally prepared for Xiao, please drink it up, Brother Wei."

"Just like before."

"how?"

(End of this chapter)