Yue Fuguang nodded. "It's common for merchants to seek the protection of powerful officials."
The man next to him, dressed in greyish-white, is named Huang Lifan. He comes from a poor family and his clan has stopped helping him because of his repeated lack of support. He now mainly relies on the help of his classmates, among whom Bao Zihui has taken the most care for him.
The man opposite them, dressed in dark red, was named Hong Feng. He came from a prominent family; his father and brothers were all officials in the imperial court. Oh, I forgot to mention, his family was a branch of the Sima clan.
"So, what role did the Hong family play in the Bao family being framed?"
Not only Hong Feng, but Huang Lifan and Song Mingwei also did a lot of work in the matter of the Bao family being framed by Sima Jing.
Lord Bao was quite adept at managing his household, so Sima initially tried to put Bao Qianjun's correspondence with the Dongyi people into the Bao family study, but failed.
Later, these three people gained access to Bao Zihui's study under the guise of borrowing books, thanks to their relationship as classmates and "friends".
The three worked together: two entangled Bao Zihui in asking him questions, while the third secretly hid evidence of the Bao family's "collusion with the enemy."
"What kind of accomplice is this? The other two are one thing, but why would Huang Lifan do this? Didn't Bao Zihui help him a lot?"
[It's all for power and profit. If he pulls this off, the Sima family will give him even more. Besides, this guy thinks Bao Zihui's daily care is just condescending charity.]
He was even more envious of these sons of officials, hoping one day to pull them down from their pedestals, throw them into the mud, and then trample them under his feet.
"So they all became Sima family's lackeys, what happened to them afterward?"
Apart from Hong Feng, who was a loyal lackey of the Sima family due to his father and brother's relationship, Song Mingwei and Huang Lifan did not receive the Sima family's favor as they had hoped.
The two gradually neglected their studies and were practically nonexistent in the Sima family's pool of talent, so they soon switched sides and joined Qian Yi's faction.
"They invested money, yet their old master, Sima, isn't angry?"
Sima Jing didn't think much of these two people from the start. Bad people don't trust villains either!
Originally, his betrayal of the Sima family would have meant certain death, but Sima was surprised to see that they had invested in Qianyi.
Qian Yi was a man of the Prince of Kang, so Sima Jing didn't pursue the matter further out of respect for the Prince of Kang.
Later, Huang Lifan found Hong Feng and acted as a matchmaker, connecting Sima Jing, who was far away in Jiangnan, with Qian Yi, who was in the capital.
The master was not surprised that Qian Yi was able to stand out among a group of low-ranking officials and be noticed and even promoted by Emperor Mingxi.
The reason lies in the strong recommendation of his cousin and former study companion, Sima Jing.
Qian Yi also rewarded Sima Jing for this recommendation. Later, the court of Dayan was in chaos, and there were fewer and fewer capable, principled and loyal officials of Dayan.
They were either defeated by Qian Yi and his group, or marginalized by the forces they supported. Behind all of this, there's a faint trace of Sima Jing's influence.
The Crown Prince sighed, "That's it. If I tell my father this when I get back, he'll probably be furious."
The princes had obviously thought of this as well. They stopped eating and started brainstorming how to slip away after the banquet, making sure they didn't go to see their father with their elder brother, the Crown Prince.
Otherwise, the Emperor might consider the Crown Prince's status as the heir apparent and not actually lay a hand on him, but he wouldn't hold back when it came to his sons!
The brothers exchanged glances; silence spoke volumes.
Those who considered themselves capable, principled, and loyal to Dayan felt a chill in their hearts. Could they be the group that lost the court struggle and died young, as Little Immortal Lord had mentioned?
"Emperor Mingxi was poor at judging people, no wonder the country was destroyed and his family was wiped out, and his descendants were almost slaughtered."
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Even without looking back, Yue Fuguang could tell who made those sounds.
Apart from the crown prince, who was known to have died young, he remained calm and ate his meal slowly and methodically, while his foolish younger brothers were completely terrified.
They had actually thought about whether they would die long ago, and perhaps they would be among those who died young, but this was the first time they had clearly heard the little immortal lord talk about the fate of their father's children.
The Little Immortal Lord used the word "slaughter," which shows how gruesome the deaths of some of them were. And although there's a "nearly" before "almost," who knows how close they were?
Father has over twenty children, not counting those yet to be born. Who knows if this 'almost' includes them?
For the upper class, the commotion they made was already somewhat impolite, but fortunately, the officials at the table were all seasoned veterans.
Immediately, someone bowed and apologized, saying, "Your Highnesses, colleagues, I'm so sorry, I accidentally knocked over the dishes. My apologies!"
Immediately someone said, "It's alright, it's alright, the tea is indeed a bit too hot."
Someone thoughtfully reminded him, "Brother Chongming, you should change your clothes first and check if you have any burns."
"Yes, yes, Brother Chongming, hurry back, the wedding party should be arriving soon."
These people worked together very well. Yue Fuguang glanced back curiously, then stopped paying attention.
Those around her breathed a sigh of relief when they saw her like this.
Indeed, his lineage nearly died out despite having over twenty children; his fate was only slightly better than that of the Ancestral Dragon on Planet Water Blue.
"Little Bead, what happened to those three little people afterward?"
Hong Feng's father and brothers became subjects of the Wei Kingdom along with the Sima family, but the Wei Kingdom, a separatist regime that only controlled a small part of the country, did not last long.
After the fall of the Great Wei Kingdom, Hong Feng's attempt to join a new power failed, and his entire family was wiped out.
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