Chapter 94 Reunion (1000 words added) It's rare to have two chapters released...

The capital city.

The Yang residence.

Xue Rang stepped into the Yang family's gate, enduring the hateful gazes of the Yang family's children and fellow officials.

The second son of the Yang family roared, "You actually dared to come! If it weren't for you..."

"Second brother!" The eldest son of the Yang family said in a deep voice to stop him.

The second son of the Yang family looked at his elder brother and reluctantly shut his mouth.

The eldest son of the Yang family said apologetically to Xue Rang, "My younger brother was worried about my father's health and did not mean to offend him. I hope Minister Xue will not take offense."

Xue Rang smiled faintly, "No."

The eldest son of the Yang family led Xue Rang to the backyard to "visit" Grand Commandant Yang Yun, who was bedridden due to vomiting blood after being angered by Prime Minister Lu Wei.

Xue Rang maintained a gentle smile throughout, following the eldest son of the Yang family through the corridor and garden. It was impossible to tell that he had played a significant role in this political struggle, and that he had also contributed to angering Yang Yun.

The door to Yang Yun's bedroom was open, and his wife, Madam Lin, and daughter-in-law were attending to him.

The eldest son of the Yang family entered the room and said softly, "Father, Xue Situ has come to see you."

Upon hearing this, Yang Yun, who was drinking his medicine, suddenly coughed. Madam Lin quickly reached out and gently patted his back, then took a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.

The eldest son of the Yang family did not want to see his father lose his composure in front of Xue Rang, so he stepped forward and grabbed Yang Yun's hand, "Father, Prime Minister Lu and Minister Xue are both concerned about your health. You must take good care of yourself."

After Yang Yun finished coughing, he waved his hand, signaling Lin Shi and her daughter-in-law to leave first.

Lin looked at him with concern, and Yang Yun said, "It's alright, I have something to discuss with Minister Xue."

Madam Lin nodded, put down the medicine bowl, and led her daughter-in-law toward the door.

Xue Rang nodded politely, and Lin returned the gesture.

Xue Rang sat down in the room and smiled as he looked at Yang Yun on the sickbed.

In just two days, the imposing Grand Commandant Yang had transformed into a haggard-looking patient.

That's power. The winners continue to flaunt their power, while the losers are like stray dogs.

The young man didn't even raise an eyebrow, but spoke up to inquire about Yang Yun's health.

Yang Yun stared at the young Situ in front of him.

He came from a poor family and never participated in the provincial examinations, but because he was favored by Lu Yingfang and became Lu Wei's son-in-law, he was promoted by Lu Wei all the way to the position of Minister.

He was indeed shrewd and capable; he could do his best in anything Lu Wei assigned him. For example, this time, when Yang Yun made a move against Lu Wei, Xue Rang stopped him and even killed Yang Yun. Yang Yun was so angry that he vomited blood in front of the emperor and all the officials.

Heaven is truly unfair; it gave Lu Wei a useless son, but gave him an excellent son-in-law.

The eldest son of the Yang family sat to the side, listening to Yang Yun and Xue Rang talk.

The conversation started with Yang Yun's health, then moved on to the struggle two days prior, the major events in the court, the state of the nation, and loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

Xue Rang's smile deepened, and he said, "I'm sorry, Grand Commandant Yang, I don't agree with your way of thinking."

Yang Yun narrowed his eyes. "Oh?"

Xue Rang said, "Loyalty to the emperor and love for the country? Which emperor to be loyal to? Which country to love? The Wei Dynasty's empire was obtained by its founding emperor from the last emperor of the previous dynasty. If he himself was not loyal to the emperor and loved the country, how could he teach his ministers to be loyal to his descendants?"

Yang Yun's expression immediately changed. "You... Xue Rang! How dare you!"

Xue Rang's expression remained unchanged.

He continued, "If a large ship can still sail, the people on board will row it forward. But if it breaks down, the people on board will naturally have to find another way out. Why not dismantle it and build a new ship?"

"If the founding emperor of the Wei Dynasty did this, others can naturally do the same."

Yang Yun retorted angrily, "Others? You think Lu Wei is that 'others'?"

Xue Rang calmly replied, "If you have the ability to defeat Prime Minister Lu, you can also be that 'other person'."

Yang Yun said coldly, "And what about you? Don't you have any ideas?"

If Lu Wei were to take the throne, his successor would only be his son, not his son-in-law.

Xue Rang smiled and said, "I only want power and influence, I don't care about empty titles." As long as he has real power, it doesn't matter what official position he holds on the surface.

Yang Yun closed her eyes. "How could you be..."

Xue Rang asked, puzzled, "You seem to have some misunderstanding about me?"

Yang Yun could not understand how Xue Rang, a young man, could have no ambition, no monarch, no country, no common people, and only wanted power.

Xue Rang's smile vanished.

His handsome face turned cold in an instant, filled with suppressed pain and regret.

“You were born into wealth and privilege, you don’t understand the yearning for power that people like us who have climbed up from the bottom have.” The young Situ’s pupils were dark. “I have no ambition, and I don’t care about the people in this world. I just want to hold great power in my hands.”

The young man's desire for power stems from his hatred of his own incompetence:

If I were a descendant of the Yang family, would I still be unable to protect Caiwei?

If I were a descendant of the Yang family, would those bastards still dare to lay a hand on my fiancée?

Without the Lu family's help, could I have killed the person who killed Caiwei with my own hands?

Xue Rang stood up and looked down at Yang Yun, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's impossible for me to betray Prime Minister Lu and side with you."

Not to mention that, given the current situation, Yang Yun is no match for Lu Wei.

Even if Yang Yun could defeat him, Xue Rang would never side with Yang Yun, because they are not on the same side.

Xue Rang took his leave.

Yang Yun watched him leave and sighed deeply.

After leaving the Yang residence, Xue Rang sat in his carriage, where his subordinates respectfully presented him with a letter.

Xue Rang opened the package, glanced at it, and was surprised: Mei Leshu hadn't come directly to the capital to see him, but instead went to Jinzhou with the doctors there?!

How could that be?

How could Senior Sister Mei not care about Caiwei's news?

He squinted. What's in Jinzhou?

Yuanxi County.

The newly established county town welcomed guests from Anling County and Sifang County, making it lively and bustling.

The local people were overjoyed, as they had never seen the legendary goddess or anyone from other counties.

The guests were also very happy. Everyone is usually so busy, where would they find the time to go out and have fun? This time it was a blessing from the goddess that we were able to come to Yuanxi County all at once. We had to cherish this opportunity and see what this place was like.

The streets were still under construction, the houses were still being built, and the foundation for the administrative building hadn't even been dug yet, making the county town look somewhat chaotic.

However, the guests didn't care. Anling County and Sifang County didn't become what they are now all of a sudden; it would take some time.

After meeting up with her friends from Anling County, Mo Jingchun strolled all the way to the library and academy under construction.

"Hey!" The tall girl tossed her ponytail and ran forward, looking up at the sculpture whose shape was already discernible. "Is that a bamboo slip? Using bamboo slips as the library's iconic structure, that's quite an idea."

A slightly plump woman slowly pushed Mo Jingchun's wheelchair over. She looked up and said, "Bamboo slips with a calligraphy brush, that's quite nice. But aren't people usually making human figures with them?"

Mo Jingchun laughed upon hearing this, "Sculpt a human statue? Sculpt whose?"

Just as the chubby girl was about to say "the first teacher Confucius", she suddenly remembered that the new prefect of Yuanxi County was Zhu Youchuan, a Legalist scholar who was a sure thing!

Her eye twitched. "Then why not sculpt the Legalists..."

A young woman from the Taoist school present scoffed, "Taoism has Lao Tzu, Confucianism has Confucius and Mencius, Mohism has Mozi, Legalism..."

A woman nearing thirty smiled gently and said, “Prefect Zhu himself is a student of Legalism, but he does not intend to guide the people of the entire prefecture because of it.”

Being the Minister of Justice and being a county governor represent different roles and therefore different meanings.

The goddess clearly advocated "a hundred schools of thought contending," and Zhu Youchuan would not disobey her and insist on promoting Legalism.

Mo Jingchun nodded, "That's right, bamboo slips and brushes are quite good."

Zhu Youchuan and Yun Youning were taking a walk in "Beishi".

Yun Youning looked at the barren land in front of her, turned to Zhu Youchuan, and smiled faintly, "This is your 'Beishi'?"

Zhu Youchuan snapped his folding fan shut and sighed dramatically, “There’s nothing we can do about it. We’ve only just moved to Taipei, and we have so much to do. We haven’t even had time to build a market yet.”

To do business, you have to wait until you have the goods.

Yun Youning clasped her hands behind her back and continued walking forward.

Zhu Youchuan slowly caught up, saying, "Let's reserve the market area first, and then build it later."

Yun Youning asked, "The nearby residential areas have also been reserved?"

Zhu Youchuan tapped the folding fan in his palm and said, "Of course, this will be the future central business district, and it will be sold to the people at a high price."

Yun Youning smiled upon hearing this.

"By the way," Zhu Youchuan asked, "Are Youqing and the others staying in Anling instead of moving to Sifang?"

Yun Youqing is Yun Youning's younger sister.

Yun Youning nodded, "She and Xiaowei (the housekeeper's grandson) are doing well at Longyuan Academy, so it's better for them to continue their studies. I'm not sure how many years I'll be staying in Sifang, and if they follow me around, it will affect their studies and friendships."

She thought for a moment, "If I stay in Anling, Zhao Yong and the others will help me take care of them."

The finance department of Anling County wouldn't be so lenient as to not give her, the former minister, any face.

Gu Lanying invited a few of her old friends to have tea.

The heads of the propaganda departments of Sifang County and Yuanxi County both came from the propaganda department of Anling County. They were sisters who had fought together and had a very good relationship.

They start nagging as soon as they meet.

First, they talked about the bizarre things they encountered at work, then they talked about the bizarre people they met in life, and then they talked about the difficulties at work.

"That old woman has no sense of propriety at all. She actually tries to act like a mother-in-law and expects her daughter-in-law to serve her. Doesn't she even know what the girl does for a living?"

"That old man from the Liu family is lazy and doesn't want to work every other day. He deserves to be dealt with by the city guards."

"Those idiots in the Xu family actually want to take a concubine? Do they really think their son is a gold ingot?"

"That youngest son of the Sun family is spoiled rotten by his parents. He'll cause trouble sooner or later. If they don't discipline him now, he'll be crying in front of the judicial authorities in the future!"

...

Cheng Hui and Chi Xi were playing Go, while Qian Shiwen, Pei Wenzhao, Ji Zhun, Zhong Mingqi and others watched.

Qian Shiwen and Zhong Mingqi glanced at the chessboard, occasionally exchanging a few words.

Pei Wenzhao and Ji Zhun lacked the composure of "watching chess in silence." One stood behind Cheng Hui, and the other behind Chi Xi. One said, "Place it here, three talents seventeen, three threes," and the other said, "Wrong move, wrong move, eighteen pines sixteen."

Cheng Hui threw his white piece onto the chessboard, looking displeased at the two men who were pontificating. "I'm not playing anymore, you two take over?"

Chi Xi smiled and said, "Elder Cheng and I will step down. Lord Pei and Lord Ji, please step down. I also wanted to have a chat with Elder Cheng."

The two men didn't stand on ceremony. After Cheng Hui and Chi Xi made way for them, they sat down and continued playing the game.

Cheng Hui was both amused and annoyed.

Qian Shiwen laughed heartily.

“But speaking of which,” Qian Shiwen asked Cheng Hui, “you’re playing chess with us here, aren’t you going to check on your student? She was assassinated.”

Cheng Hui laughed and said, "No rush, it's not like we're going back to Anling today."

The young girl has friends her own age, and they've been wanting to hang out since they haven't seen each other in a while. We old folks should just have our own get-together and not bother them for now.

Upon hearing the word "assassination," Ji Zhun looked up and said, "Your student is quite something; he managed to come to Yuanxi County for his coming-of-age ceremony after being stabbed."

Cheng Hui was very proud, "How could I become the governor of Sifang County if I wasn't capable?"

Zhong Mingqi raised an eyebrow. "Prefect Mo didn't suffer that blow for nothing; those who tried to assassinate her paid the price with their homes being confiscated." He subtly admired her. "But Elder Cheng, Prefect Mo is, after all, a young woman. You taught her to harm herself... wasn't that going too far?"

Cheng Hui: "..." No, I didn't teach this move.

Instead of going out for a stroll, some of the workshop staff sat in the reception room of the temporary administrative hall (formerly the Yuanxi County Government) chatting, drinking tea, and eating melon seeds.

because:

"Yuanxi County isn't even finished yet, what's there to see?"

"What am I supposed to see outside? The surrounding mountains? Haven't I gotten tired of seeing them in Sifang? Why would I come all the way to Yuanxi? Aren't the mountains in Yuanxi the same as those in Sifang?"

"I'm so tired lately, my back and legs ache, all I want to do is lie down, and nobody can drag me out for a walk!"

"It's a rare holiday, so you should stay indoors."

The staff at Yuanxi County thoughtfully refilled everyone's tea and melon seeds, and chatted with them.

We started by talking about everyday things:

Where is your daughter doing now?

"My daughter-in-law recently gave birth to twins!"

Tutoring my younger siblings with their homework is absolutely agonizing!

“My mother has taken a fancy to a handsome old man at the printing shop and asked me to help her out.”

As the conversation progressed, the topic turned to work:

"Minister Zhang, how does it feel to be a minister?" The new head of the firearms workshop deliberately teased his former boss.

Zhang Yiwen, the newly appointed Minister of Public Works of Anling County, was troubled. "The Ministry of Public Works has just been established, and there are too many things to do."

Lee Yeom, the Minister of Public Works of Sifang County (former head of a timber workshop), took a sip of tea, his expression blank. “Especially recently, many workshops are moving, making it difficult to prepare the data.”

“That’s true,” Cheng Ji, the printing workshop owner, calmly chimed in. “Although we plan to open printing and paper mills in every county, we also want to have our own county and grow bigger and stronger.”

Aunt Feng from the teahouse nodded, "It's much better to have my own county. Tea trees can be planted on several mountains, and I can use all the resources of the county."

This is something the people at their teahouse learned from a book: once a business becomes a pillar of the local economy, it will receive strong support from the local government. If there are too many industries, resources will inevitably be taken away by others.

Jiang Zhou, the winery owner, was very proud. "Back then, I thought that since the production of fruits and grains was limited, we could choose a good place in Sifang County and move there."

He shrugged. "You guys learn really fast."

He Xiuxiu, who had just opened a chicken farm in Yuanxi County, laughed and said, "Master Jiang is indeed farsighted. We traditional farmers also need a large area of ​​mountains and water."

It's not just about providing a good environment for poultry and livestock to grow, but also about having land to grow grains for them.

She continued, "After all, we don't have the conditions described in the book, such as feed, lighting, and air conditioning."

Sun Yu, who runs an orchard, nodded in agreement, "When we can make money in the future, we want to merge the neighboring county with us."

Their orchard now supplies wineries and fruit processing plants (dried fruit and canned fruit), and once business picks up, they won't have enough fruit.

Gao Dazhi from the ceramic workshop chuckled, "Hearing you say that, I'm really tempted. Our ceramic workshop fires pottery, porcelain, and glass, and we also want to dominate an entire county."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yong from the brick and tile workshop volunteered, saying, "If their embroidery and weaving workshops move to one county, and their paper and printing workshops move to one county, then our brick and tile workshop and your ceramic workshop can also move to one county."

Gao Dazhi was taken aback and turned to look at Zhou Yong.

Zhou Yong deliberately put on a sullen face, "What, do you think we brick and tile makers are not good enough for you ceramic and glass makers?"

Gao Dazhi quickly replied, "How could I dare?"

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Author's Note: Zhu Youchuan: Author, with your level of writing romance, you still want to be a master of romance novels?

Yun Youning: A giant in theory, a dwarf in action.

Xue Rang (coldly): She can only write about unrequited love and tragic endings, not about the process of falling in love with each other.

Ning Huai'an: ...So what are your plans for me?

Author: Arrange my ass! Has Jinzhou been captured yet? Go and capture Jinzhou already!