The incident happened so suddenly that Princess Fenyang had not even had time to rejoice over her success in bringing Yang Canzhi back to the capital before she was so frightened by the news that Cui Yuandao had volunteered to join Xiao Heng in suppressing the rebellion that she broke her own nails. Her nails were trimmed long and round, but now they were completely broken and blood was oozing from the cracks between her nails.
The girl next to her hurriedly tried to stop the bleeding, but she was so impatient due to the pain that she waved her hand and brushed the man away, angrily questioning Cui Yuan, "Uncle, do you know what you are doing?!"
If his previous refusal to take up a government post could be forgiven, his current behavior was undoubtedly a complete betrayal of the Cui family and the family's support for so many years.
She couldn't tolerate it, and she couldn't understand it.
Cui Yuandao looked at her deeply, and then sighed softly after a while: "Yao Niang, I know what you are thinking... You are too greedy."
Princess Fenyang sneered.
Is she greedy
"Uncle, what he said is so simple. He just described me as greedy." She couldn't bear it any longer, and her words were particularly sharp and unpleasant. "What do you mean by greed? If it weren't for my greed, with my uncle's status and position with the deposed emperor, would you still be standing here? How could our Cui family escape unscathed? If it weren't for my greed, how many nobles would have died during the change of dynasties? Did your uncle think that our Cui family could still survive until now? Now that the crisis is over, and seeing that my uncle's reputation is getting better and better, you accuse me of being greedy. But based on the benefits we have received and the business our Cui family has with the southeast, if we are not greedy, how can we survive!?"
Princess Fenyang choked up, looked at the gray-haired Cui Yuandao, and said sharply: "Uncle, aren't you afraid that our family will become enemies in the future?!"
If the positions are different, the interests will not be consistent, and inconsistent interests will inevitably lead to conflicts and hostility.
Cui Yuandao closed his eyes and sighed slowly. He could fully understand his niece's anger, but life was like this, there were gains and losses.
After weighing for a long time, he lowered his voice and said, "Forget it, Yao Niang, go back. We have different ideals and cannot make plans together."
What a saying! People with different ideals cannot work together! Princess Fenyang stared at him for a while, then suddenly sneered: "Okay, I hope that my uncle's path will be smoother than ours!"
After she said that, she turned away.
Cui Liuye had been hiding in the corner, not daring to speak. He waited until Princess Fenyang left angrily before he shrank out, stammering and lowering his head: "I'm sorry, Dad. It's all because of my unfilial son that someone caught me and caused you and your family to have such a bad relationship..."
Princess Fenyang's father is the head of the Cui family. Cui Yuandao is highly respected, but he cannot exist independently from the clan. Now with such a commotion, Cui Yuandao is really at odds with the head of the Cui family. If he doesn't show any signs of improvement, Master Cui Liu knows that his father has really given up everything for him.
He just coveted beauty and liked excitement, but he was not without brains or conscience. After he realized what was going on, he couldn't help but burst into tears.
Cui Yuandao stared at him quietly for a while, then stroked his beard and asked him calmly, "Do you know what you did wrong?"
"I know." Master Cui Liu said in a muffled voice, "You have always taught us to be obedient and not to forget our status and act arbitrarily. It is my son's fault. I should never disregard the family reputation and do such a thing that humiliates the family reputation..."
"You know you're wrong, but you haven't really changed. You have to never make the same mistake again, only then can you be true to your father." Cui Yuandao looked at him, his voice still unhurried.
Cui Liuye immediately knocked his head hard on the ground, almost breaking it with a loud thud. With trembling lips, he said hastily, "Father, rest assured, I won't dare to do it again. I won't dare to do it again. If I make a mistake again, I will die a miserable death and be struck by lightning!"
If he still doesn't know how to restrain himself, then he is truly worse than a human being. Master Cui Liu wishes he could immediately cut open his chest and take out his heart to show his father.
"In that case, today's sacrifice is meaningful." Cui Yuandao closed his eyes and sighed, then opened his eyes and sighed softly: "Forget it, things have come to this point, there is no point in saying more, the only right thing to do is to be cautious in words and deeds in the future. In addition, you can write to your brothers. Now that I have a big fight with the clan, their life in their hometown will not be easy. I am afraid that they will be looked down upon everywhere. Tell them to retreat if they can, endure if they can, don't be greedy for benefits, give up what they can, and separate from the clan as soon as possible."
This is a real intention to completely cut off ties with the clan. Master Cui Liu felt a chill in his heart when he heard this, but he knew that his father had always had his own ideas in mind. Since he said so, there must be a reason for him to say so. Therefore, although he felt sad, he still agreed without any objection.
Sure enough, after returning home, Princess Fenyang wrote a letter to the head of the Cui family, that is, her father, asking her father to find a solution.
He had received benefits from the clan for so many years, but in the end he had set up his own faction after he had tricked the clan. Is it so easy to destroy the Cui family's rice bowl? There is always a price to pay.
The head of the Cui family was also in a very bad mood. Cui Yuandao's fickleness was a great blow to them. Several children in the family who had managed to hold high positions were also affected. As the head of the Cui family, he naturally could not tolerate Cui Yuandao's behavior, so he first took action against Cui Yuandao's sons.
As long as people are not true saints in this world, it is inevitable for them to make mistakes.
The head of the Cui family quickly found the faults of Cui Yuandao's two sons, opened the ancestral hall, and expelled them from the Cui family.
This could be considered an extremely severe punishment. Over the years, there were only a handful of people in the Cui clan who had their ancestral hall opened and were expelled from the family tree. Seeing that Cui Yuandao, who had once been the living face of the Cui clan, was the first to enjoy this treatment, even the Cui clan members were talking about it.
But the clan leader was the clan leader after all, and after his efforts, the matter was finally accomplished. Even the plaque presented to Cui Yuandao by local officials was thrown out from the clan's ancestral hall by the head of the Cui family as a way of venting his anger.
From then on, Cui Yuandao's branch parted ways with the Cui clan.
Fortunately, Cui Yuandao was well prepared. He was not very sad when he got the news. Instead, he looked at his sons with sad faces and smiled: "Forget it, don't be sad. Isn't your father still alive and well? Besides, a blessing in disguise? Maybe God has given us, the Cui family, another smooth road!" (To be continued)