Fang Yun quickly outlined the relationship network of the housekeeper in his mind. The housekeeper had a close relationship with King Kang, who had coveted the throne of Jingguo for a long time. There was even a rumor among the people that King Kang used a strange poison from the demon world to poison the late emperor, causing the late emperor to be bedridden since he was a teenager and unable to walk. Even with Chen Sheng's treatment, he did not live past the age of 30. Even the current king was the son of King Ning, not the late emperor's biological son.
Prince Kang has been in power for many years and has deep roots in Jing State. He is the most powerful person besides the Queen Mother and the Left Prime Minister.
Prince Kang followed the royal rules and did not need to take the Jinshi examination to claim the throne. He was only a Juren. However, his wife was of extraordinary status. She was the legitimate daughter of the head of the Semi-Saint family of Wu State. With the support of the Semi-Saint family and Wu State, Prince Kang's power in Jing State was growing. If the late emperor had not prepared to adopt Prince Anyue, Prince Kang would have become the king of Jing State by now.
"Master's wife, please come in and tell me if the brothers can give us a favor?" Fang Yun said and looked at the soldiers.
"We naturally cannot stop our elders from visiting us. Just say whatever you want and just pretend we are not here." A sergeant said with a smile.
"Thank you, brothers."
Fang Yun invited Mrs. Wang to the living room, ordered someone to serve tea, and then said, "Please continue."
Mrs. Wang sighed and said, "My son Zhengying is studying in the capital. Do you know about this?"
"I heard from my classmates that Mr. Wang is a good father and has a good son. Brother Zhengying was among the top ten scholars in Dayuan Prefecture five years ago. He went to study at the Mingzhi Academy in the capital two years ago. It seems that he will come back next year to take the imperial examination." Fang Yun said.
Mrs. Wang's face turned bitter. She said, "As soon as the man named Guan Changyu came in, he started talking to us about Zhengying. He even said that Zhengying had fallen in love with the third daughter of the famous Huang family in Beijing and was planning to get married. We all knew all this, but he also said something we didn't know. Even though the third daughter was born to a concubine, they were still a famous family in Beijing. The Huang family made three demands. One was that Zhengying must pass the imperial examination, two was that Zhengying must settle down in Beijing and have a house, and three was that they wanted ten thousand taels of silver as a betrothal gift."
Fang Yun understood as soon as he heard it. Wang Zhengying had a good chance of passing the imperial examination, but that might take three to five years. As for settling down in the capital and getting a house there, that was much more difficult than passing the imperial examination. Only Jinshi could become a citizen of the capital directly. Without a relationship with an official of the fifth rank or above, even a juren would find it difficult to settle down in the capital.
The capital of Jing State was built into a powerful fortress by successive semi-saints and great scholars. Especially in the years when the demon race was about to break through the Liangjie Mountain, the royal family of Jing State used all their wealth to strengthen the capital. It can be said that the Holy Academy, Kongcheng and the capital of the Ten Kingdoms are the last fortresses of the human race.
"We are just an ordinary family. Even if we have other jobs, we can only save 400 to 500 taels of silver a year. More than half of it is given to Zhengying to study in the capital. The mansion that the Huang family mentioned must not be an ordinary mansion. It is impossible to move here without 5,000 taels of silver. In fact, the most difficult thing is to transfer the household registration to the capital, which is harder than climbing to the sky! By the time our Zhengying passes the imperial examination, the Huang family's daughter will have given birth to countless children for others!"
Fang Yun asked: "Then Chief Yu threatened Brother Zhengying's future?"
"Isn't it? That man said. As long as we sell the longevity fruit to him, he will take care of everything about Zhengying and the Huang family's daughter, and he will also guarantee that our master will get a lucrative position in the capital, and he can even discuss entering the Jingguo Academy."
"The other party is willing to do so." Fang Yun said.
"Yes. Our master also admitted that the price was not low. But ten years of life cannot be bought! Even if he agreed, I could not agree, human life is at stake! The steward Yu saw that it was not going to work, so he told the truth. Wu Guo's Yi Zhishi was about to be canonized, and King Kang wanted to send a gift and was trying to find a way. Then we understood. The steward wanted to curry favor with King Kang, but what good things could he, a famous family, have? He could only go to Yuhai City, after all, there could be transactions with the Dragon Palace of the East China Sea, and maybe he could buy some treasures."
"And then Chief Guan Yu heard about the four longevity fruits?"
"Yes. Our master didn't agree, so Guanzhang Yu had to leave. On the second day of the Chinese New Year, my master met the other four people and found out that Guanzhang Yu had also been to the four people's homes, but the four of them didn't agree. Alas, these five people have the same temper and have become friends. Now they don't care who gets the longevity fruit, but get together to chat and drink tea all day long. They really think of themselves as old men!"
"Could it be that Guan Changyu went to your house again?" Fang Yun asked.
"Isn't it!" Mrs. Wang wiped her eyes with a handkerchief in a sobbing voice, "The steward Yu said that if we don't sell the longevity fruit to the steward, they will not only try to separate my son Zhengying and the Huang family's daughter, but will also expel my son from Mingzhi College. Our master scolded the steward Yu and kicked him out. I thought about it and was afraid that he would harm our Zhengying, so I had to come to you."
Fang Yun suddenly smiled coldly and said, "He knew that I gave the longevity fruit to several scholars to prolong their lives, and he knew that Mr. Wang was my teacher, and he knew that Mr. Wang and the other five people saved my life, but he still dared to go to your house?"
Mrs. Wang said, "He was very polite on the first day of the new year, but he is particularly overbearing today. Although he didn't mention you, his words implied that he was sure that you were in trouble before he dared to come to our house. I didn't come here to ask you for a big favor. Otherwise, you can tell us to give a longevity fruit to our old Wang, and we will sell it to the housekeeper. If you can talk to people in the capital, we don't ask for anything else. We don't want to study anymore. We can't afford the daughter of the Huang family. We just ask you not to harm Zhengying. Mrs. Wang doesn't know any high-ranking officials, so we can only ask you. Mrs. Wang also knows that your situation is not good. If you are really in trouble, I will never force you."
Mrs. Wang was a little deliberate at first, but when she talked about her son, she was overwhelmed with grief and tears kept flowing.
Fang Yun thought for a moment and said, "Captain Yu left you his address, right?"
"He stayed on the first day of the new year and told us to go find him if we had any news."
"Well, then go find him now and tell him that I, Fang Yun, said that I gave the longevity fruit to the five of them and no one can take it away! Tell him that if he doesn't leave Dayuan Mansion tonight, I will have someone break his legs tomorrow to teach him where he can walk and where he can't step!"
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Wang wiped her tears and shook her head, saying, "I only beg to spare our Zhengying. I can't let you offend anyone. I'm leaving now. Please don't tell our master. If he knows I'm here to beg you, he will beat me to death." Then she turned and left.
Fang Yun said, "Wait a minute, Master's wife. I want to teach Guan Changyu a lesson, not to help you, but for myself. I gave the longevity fruit to someone else! Although I am in trouble now, I cannot let others bully me! If Master's wife Wang is afraid, tell me the address of that person and I will find someone to make him go away!"
Mrs. Wang looked at Fang Yun in surprise. She didn't expect that the well-mannered little scholar her husband often talked about actually had such a cruel side.
Wiping away her tears, Mrs. Wang said, "Since you are willing to help me, then I, as your wife, cannot be afraid! I will go find him right now. Whether it succeeds or not, I cannot trouble you any more."
After Fang Yun sent Mrs. Wang away, he stood in the yard for a long time and snorted coldly. He didn't expect that once something happened to him, all kinds of monsters would jump out. If nothing had happened to him, even if Guan Changyu had a hundred guts, he would not dare to go to the Wang family again.
Fang Yun was about to go to the study when he suddenly received a letter from Cai He.
"Your cousin Fang Li is really a badass! After learning that I had severed our friendship, he brought his son Fang Zhongyong to my house and presented an article that was considered a proclamation, titled "Remembering Uncle Fang Yun". The whole article was full of bad things about you, saying that you can tell a person's character by looking at him when he was three years old, and that you have brought all the suffering you have today upon yourself. Fang Zhongyong has been tortured to death, and his eyes no longer have the spirituality they once had."
Fang Yun smiled after seeing this. He had always felt that Fang Li was a bad person, and today it was finally proven.
After a while, Fang Li actually sent a letter.
Fang Yun opened it and saw the words written by wild geese: "Brother Yun's affair has embarrassed our Fang family. It is rumored that Magistrate Cai wants to punish the Fang family. For the sake of our Fang family, I asked Zhongyong to write a short article, which can not only make the magistrate give up blaming the Fang family, but also spread your nephew Zhongyong's literary reputation. I have no intention of harming you, and I hope Brother Yun will not blame me for my painstaking efforts. When you return to Ji County tomorrow, I will host a banquet to apologize for my sins. Good morning, Qiu.
Fang Yunqi smiled. Just a few days ago, Fang Li's letter had "Lord Wenhou" on the left and "I" on the right. Today, "Lord Wenhou" was changed to "Brother Yun" and "I" became "brother". The so-called apology was just to prevent himself from being reinstated in the future.
Fang Yun was too lazy to pay attention to this villain, so he told Wenhou Jinyin to never accept any letters from Fang Li again.
An hour later, Fang Yun was reading when a soldier outside knocked on the door.
When Fang Yun walked out, he saw a soldier respectfully handing over a letter, saying, "A man claiming to be the personal attendant of Guanzhang Yu sent a letter, saying that it was to explain the misunderstanding."
"Thank you very much."
Fang Yun took the letter and read it as he walked into the yard.
The letter was polite on the surface, saying that since Fang Yun gave the longevity fruit away, it had nothing to do with Fang Yun, and that Guan Changyu and the Wang family were private matters, and others should not interfere. Finally, there was a reminder.
"The wind in the capital is strong, not as strong as in Dayuan Prefecture. I hope Marquis Wen will prepare more clothes."
A hint of coldness emerged between Fang Yun's brows. Guan Changyu's last sentence clearly had two meanings. The first was to ridicule him for not meddling in other people's business when he himself was in trouble. The second was to warn him that the capital was in deep trouble and a small Wenhou could not cause any waves, not to mention that he would not be Wenhou any longer.
"If you don't leave today, you don't have to leave tomorrow." Fang Yun threw the letter away.
After taking a few steps, I received an urgent letter from Zeng Yuan.
"Fang Yun, something bad has happened! Ji Mengxian, the number one scholar in Qing Kingdom last year, wrote an article called "An Edict to Punish Fang Yun"! It is being circulated like crazy, and is climbing higher and higher on the Holy Academy's literary rankings. I will send you the original article right away! Don't take it lightly!"
Fang Yun took a closer look and found that it was indeed the word "檄", which sounded the same as "习". It was an uncommon style of writing used for conscription, expedition or listing crimes to the world. Once the proclamation was issued, disputes were bound to arise.
Just yesterday, Fang Yun finished reading "Exhortation to Punish Wu Zhao" by Luo Binwang, one of the Four Great Talents of the Early Tang Dynasty, and "Exhortation to Punish Cao Cao" by Chen Lin from the Three Kingdoms period. These two exhortations had a great influence on him.
"I thought it was just Guan Changyu and Fang Li and other small snakes, and was just getting bored, but I didn't expect a big python to run out." (To be continued...)