Chapter 63 The Complex Inside Story

Seeing Wei Changying and Wei Qing in dismay, Wei Xinyong sneered and said, “I’m Wei Xinyong, the son of the concubine of the lineal branch of Zhiben Hall. As a matter of fact, First Miss, you should call me uncle!”

“You are… The nephew of Marquis Jingcheng?” Wei Changying stared at him.

Wei Xinyong said lightly, “Yes, my father’s given name is ‘Ji’. He is Wei Qi’s half-brother!”

Wei Changying and Wei Qing looked at each other. They all had doubts in their eyes.

Zhiben hall coveted the position of the leading branch of Ruiyu hall. Wei Qi, the Marquis Jingcheng, coveted the position of the Family Head and the senior commander of Wei Huan. Although no one publicized it, as the younger generation and grandchildren of Wei Huan, who he had high hopes for, how could they know nothing about it? According to the fact, since Wei Xinyong was a member of Zhiben Hall and a nephew of Wei Qi, he was mostly inseparable from the assassin. It was also absurd that there was no malice and no guilt in his heart before.

But Wei Xinyong called Wei Qi by the name and had no respect for Marquis Jingcheng. Did he look like a son of Zhiben Hall?

Wei Xinyong continued, “I have a big feud with Wei Qi and his son. I volunteered to be a spy ten years ago and spied on the secrets of Zhiben Hall and reported to Duke Changshan. As a reward, Duke Changshan secretly sponsored me with a lot of money, so that I was able to live and study. This deal used to be very stable, but in the past two years, Fengzhou was in a turbulent situation and Duke Changshan was getting old. I couldn’t decide whether to continue contacting Duke Changshan or to find someone else to work for. When I have decided to leave the capital, I came to see it myself. Now, seeing that you two were OK, I think this cooperation can be continued.”

Wei Changying didn’t like his condescending tone very much, so she said coldly, “I haven’t seen my grandfather. I’m not sure whether the truth is what you said. It’s hard for me to trust you just by your words. You said that you had a big feud with Wei Qi and his son, but I don’t know what happened between you and them and made you betray the whole Zhiben Hall. According to the fact, Wei Qi is the lineal son and now he has taken over Zhiben hall. Why should he care about you a junior?”

After being asked this question, Wei Xinyong, who had been calm for a long time, didn’t speak for a long time. After a long pause, he looked up at Wei Changying with indifferent eyes and said, “I don’t want to hear people mentioning this question. You’d better never ask. When I found your grandfather, I was younger than Hu Nu. Even so, Duke Changshan didn’t get me to be his subordinate. We each got what we needed! Do you think you are smarter than the Duke Changshan ten years ago? It’s common for us to test each other in our first negotiation. But if we overstep each other’s bottom line, it will be harmful and unprofitable, and we will also be stupid!”

His sudden toughness made the atmosphere in the room stiff. Hu Nu took a kind of dark pleasure in this situation. Wei Qing frowned and thought quickly about how to finish the scene. However, at that moment Wei Changying sneered and said proudly, “I’m not as smart as my grandfather! But don’t forget, as you said, in this room, you and your servant have no power, and I can decide whether you can survive! How dare you talk to me like this?”

Neither of them would let each other off. They stared at each other for a moment. Finally, Wei Xinyong took back his eyes, shook his head, and said, “That’s why I want to talk to Wei Changfeng. He is regarded as the future Family Head, and he knows when it’s time to finish! And you, the spoiled First Miss, only know how to win the quarrel!”

Obviously, Wei Changying stepped on his sore spot just now. Wei Xinyong’s tone suddenly became extremely cold. Without waiting for Wei Changying to refute his words, he immediately said, “I don’t want to say anything more with you. The following words are for you to tell Duke Changshan. I only say them once. You’d better remember them!”

“The people who assassinated you and your brother were brought here by the Liu Family under the pretext of sending his heir to Fengzhou. He has been lurking near Fengzhou! The reason why they were able to ambush you this time is that Liu Xixun, who had been to the banquet in Ruiyu Hall before, told Duke Jingping’s daughter-in-law about when they would leave Fengzhou!”

“On the surface, your branch has suffered a great loss this time. In fact, since you and Wei Changfeng are safe and sound, you’ve taken advantage of this matter. Maybe Duke Changshan is now making an excuse to investigate ‘Biwu’ who didn’t arrive in time. In the future, Ruiyu Hall’s elite would be really controlled by Duke Changshan….”

Wei Changying didn’t have time to care about what he said before. She was shocked and said, “Wait a minute! ‘Biwu’ is the secret army of the Wei Family. How couldn’t it be in the charge of my grandfather?”

Wei Xinyong glanced at her coldly and said sarcastically, “You are the eldest lineal daughter of the eldest branch. Did you forget that Duke Changshan is not the lineal or the eldest son! At that time, the former Duke Jingping passed the position of Family Head to Duke Changshan, and as a matter of fact, ‘Biwu’ should also be in the charge of the Family Head. But the former Duke Jingping’s wife was worried that Duke Changshan was not satisfied and sought the hereditary title of Duke Jingping, so she persuaded your great grandfather not to give ‘Biwu’ to Duke Changshan, but to the present Duke Jingping. Whenever Duke Changshan wanted to use ‘Biwu’, he had to report to Duke Jingping and get his order first! Although Duke Jingping likes Qingtan Idle Talk and doesn’t like these worldly things, every time Duke Changshan proposes, he agrees without even asking about the reason. But when your uncle, the royal heir of Duke Jingping, has grown up, he will take over them all!”

He sneered and asked, “How noble are you and Wei Changfeng in Ruiyu hall? Why there were rarely people of ‘Biwu’ around you? This is because Duke Changshan has worked hard for many years. Although he has some people of ‘Biwu’ who are loyal to him, it’s not right and proper! He is afraid that seizing ‘Biwu’ by force will push the royal heir of Duke Jingping to make a desperate effort. That’s why there are only ordinary bodyguards around Wei Changfeng! This is also the reason why Wei Changfeng is already 15, but Duke Changshan still doesn’t let him go to the capital to be an official. ‘Biwu’ can’t be used directly or even be trusted! What’s more, how dare Changshan takes risks with his only lineal grandson”

“A few months ago, Duke Changshan went to Fengqi mountain to suppress bandits in person. Oh, the rest bandits are those people outside the door and the people who have saved you. Do you know why?” Wei Xinyong said, “these bandits were my reward for what I have done for Duke Changshan in the past the ten years. And this battle… Duke Changshan asked for the most elite and loyal people of ‘Biwu’ from the royal heir of Duke Jingping before he left. Almost all of them died in Fengqi mountain! Just the people outside each killed a dozen of ‘Biwu’ who were tied up by their own people in their sleep! In another battle in north of the province, the same thing happened…. If these people are in the control of Duke Changshan, how could the assassins that Liu’s Family has tried their best to get attacked you so easily?”

“Of course, this time you are attacked has a lot to do with what Duke Changshan did to ‘Biwu’ twice. After all, Duke Changshan’s strategy and seniority are all above the royal heir Duke Jingping. If Duke Changshan takes action several more times, sooner or later, ‘Biwu’ will be out of the control of the royal heir of Duke Jingping! This time, the royal heir of Duke Jingping is also pushed too far by Duke Changshan.”

Wei Changying’s face turned deathly pale. She almost stood up and said, “Do you mean that this attack was planned by my uncle and the Liu Family?”

“Maybe the Empress is also in this.” Wei Xinyong said in a mocking way, “There are many people who want to overthrow Duke Changshan. For example, Zhiben Hall is also prepared to involve this time.”

Wei Changying frowned and said, “What did Zhiben Hall do?”

Wei Xinyong said lightly, “You should ask that what they planned to do. You and your brother are fine. Especially, Wei Changfeng is out of danger. Of course, Zhiben Hall couldn’t do anything.”

“…” Wei Changying looked down and thought for a moment. She understood, “Is it related to my second uncle?”

The assassin was brought by the Liu Family. The time to act was decided according to Liu Xixun’s words. People in the mansion of Duke Jingping were not sure that Wei Changying would pester Old Madam Song to let her go to the countryside to send him, so the target of this assassination was Wei Changfeng.

Wei Zhengya, the royal heir of Duke Jingping, was called “uncle” by Wei Changying, Wei Changfeng, and Wei Gaochuan. He deliberately planned to kill his lineal nephew. Could his purpose be something other than the position of Family Head?

Although Wei Huan was repeatedly persuaded by Old Madam Song and decided to cultivate Wei Changfeng to take over Ruiyu Hall, if something happened to Wei Changfeng, Wei Huan would be sad. But he had other heirs under his knee. How could he give the chance to his nephew? Except for Wei Changfeng, Wei Shengyi was most likely to take over the position of Family Head.

It was not a secret that Old Madam Song was wary of this son of the concubine. A few months ago, because Wei Changying was irritated by Madam Su, she was ablaze and asked Wei Changsui to come back as a hostage.

If Wei Changfeng had died and when the Wei Family traced the real murderer, they found that it had something to do with Wei Shengyi, even a little bit, how could Old Madam Song have let off this son of the concubine?!

Even though she knew it might be someone else’s provocation, she originally thought that Wei Shengyi would be harmful to Wei Changfeng. Who knew what she would do when she lost her only lineal grandchild?

But if Wei Huan had lost Wei Changfeng, his lineal grandson with great hope, he would have tried to protect his most capable second son Wei Shengyi.

In this case, the branch of Wei Huan would collapse without being attacked. This would be the chance for Wei Zhengya to take over Ruiyu Hall and take back the position of Family Head!

The answer was so obvious that Wei Xinyong didn’t even bother to confirm. He continued, “I’m afraid that Duke Changshan already knows that there are people of northern Rong tribe in the bodies of assassins. I heard that when Liu Family sent their heir to Fengzhou to let your cousin raise him, they brought along a group of servants and said they were Liu Jizhao’s servants in Eastern Hu. This time, they sent them together to serve Liu Jizhao’s widow and the heirs who adopted. But then Duke Jingping sent people to the countryside on the pretext that there was no empty room in the mansion. After you go back, you should ask if there are any traces of those people in the countryside! You and your brother were attacked outside Fengzhou. If he didn’t put the responsibility on northern Rong tribe, no family in this country would be willing or able to take such a big blame.”

“A short time ago, wasn’t there an imperial edict praising the victory in the north of the province? It is said that they also killed some famous generals of the enemy. Now, naturally the soldiers of the northern Rong tribe sneaked into Fengzhou to retaliate.” Wei Xinyong said lightly, “When your cousin came back to her mother’s home after she was widowed, she was supposed to live in widowhood, but she didn’t bring her husband’s servants back, and she didn’t immediately adopt any heirs. I’m afraid that she left a foreshadowing here. After all, the charges can be transferred to the northern Rong tribe. But if there are too few people of the northern Rong tribe, it won’t be convincing. If too many people of the northern Rong tribe cross the Nu River into Fengzhou, not to mention that the Liu Family would be responsible for their poor defense of the border, because people of the northern look different from people in the Great Vi, it will be inevitable for them to be caught. Therefore, they could only hide in the servants of the Liu Family of the Eastern Hu. Only with the power of the Liu Family, they could deceive people and make Duke Changshan not aware in advance!”

After a pause, he continued, “If it were not for this accident, I would not think that there were many soldiers of the northern Rong tribe among the so-called servants!”

Wei Changying thought for a while and said, “There is one thing that I don’t understand. If Zhiben Hall plotted against Changfeng for the position of the senior commander and my second uncle for the position of Family Head, what would be the purpose of the Liu Family? Although both aunts are the daughters of the Liu Family, now the Liu Family also has other daughters. Changfeng is not engaged yet. Why can’t they marry their daughter to Changfeng? Why bother? In the end, when my uncle and Zhiben Hall gang up, they will surely promise the position of the senior commander to Changfeng! At that time, even though Ruiyu Hall was in the control of my uncle, how the power be compared with that of today?”

Wei Xinyong said lightly, “I don’t have to explain it for you, but I appreciated that you have the courage to go to the appointment for your younger brother today. It doesn’t hurt to give you a hint. Not only doesn’t your cousin want to marry the Crown Prince, but the Empress also doesn’t need the lineal daughter of the Song Family so much now.”

Wei Changying was surprised and asked subconsciously, “Do you mean that the Empress wants Liu’s daughter more now? This time Standby Guard passed by Fengzhou… Deng Zongqi… Did the Empress do it on purpose?”

“It’s none of my business.” Wei Xinyong said indifferently, “I don’t want to bother to solve your doubts. In a word, take my words to Duke Changshan. Tell him that this time I saved you and your brother, and these words. For exchange, I want to get some money, food, and a person from him!”

Wei Chang Ying frowned and said, “Who do you want?”

She didn’t care about money and food. Fengzhou was a developed state. In recent years, the wind and rain came in their time. The state treasury was abundant. Although the north of the province was attacked by the northern Rong tribe from time to time, its influence on the whole Prefecture was not great. What’s more, even if there was no money or grain in the state treasury, with the background of the Wei Family, the Wei Family had always stored enough grain for more than ten years.

Wei Family was not the only one that stored so much money and grain. Nowadays, the world was not peaceful. Even the common people wanted to save more for future use when they had spare money. For the Wei family, a noble family which had experienced more than one dynasty, once they realized a sign of disturbance or trouble, they would prepare a plan for the whole family. Otherwise, they would not have thrived all the time.

So Wei Changying keenly realized that the most important reward Wei Xinyong asked for was the man he wanted.

Her intuition was right. Wei Xinyong said lightly, “Mo Binwei!”

“It’s impossible!” Wei Changying refused him without even thinking about it. “This man is loyal to Changfeng. Better off that way!”

However, Wei Xinyong just smiled mysteriously, “Your words don’t count. Why don’t you go back and ask Duke Changshan?”