The Empress’ Livestream

Sensing that Feng Jin was about to deny it, Han Yu smirked and said, “There is no point in playing dumb now. How can you pretend that nothing has happened?”

Feng Jin was very aware of his friend’s personality. He would dig the truth out of him, even it took him the whole night without sleep.

After taking a second, Feng Jin came up with the perfect pretext. He calmly revealed, “I encountered County Chief Liu a couple of days ago and I could tell that he was an amiable and generous elderly person. And can you believe that County Chief Liu would not see through him with his filthy, cunning mind? But how come he still made a promise to betroth his daughter of his concubine to Wuma Jun? I don’t mean to be offensive, but wouldn’t it be the same as burying your own blood relatives yourself?”

True, he was an easy counterfeit that even Han Yu and Feng Jin could look through––how could County Chief Liu not see that? It didn’t make sense.

Moreover, Feng Jin mentioned that County Chief Liu was a caring and family-oriented person… What would make him cast his only daughter’s marriage behind?

“So, that’s what shook you?”

He squinted at Feng Jin. He seemed still having doubts with Feng Jin’s lines.

Feng Jin put his serious face on and scolded him. “What else? The daughter of the Liu’s is not even nine years old, but I will be eligible to marry someone in less than two years. What bonds could I have with her? Besides, she has been raised up in purdah ever since she was born. She barely steps out of her room and hardly has a chance to see her own brother, Lanting. As a man who doesn’t belong to the Liu’s, what kind of entanglement could I possibly have with her? The truth is that you are a typical playboy. It is just unacceptable to throw dirt on a girl’s innocent reputation from a noble family––even for you.”

Han Yu lost interest with the topic and sat on the edge of the bed with a sense of disappointment.

Han Yu changed the subject and questioned, “If it is as what you say, then what explanation do you have for County Chief Liu’s behaviour?”

Feng Jin couldn’t come to a conclusion, but he was relieved that he got away from Han Yu’s interrogation.

Han Yu was not that easy to deceive. It would get nasty if there were any signs of lies visible in front of him.

Feng Jin shook his head with confusion. “It’s not clear to me, either. County Chief Liu must have his own considerations.”

A kind and family-oriented man with an extremely sharp sense to judge and tremendous experience would have an issue with revealing such a lame disguise? It just didn’t sound right––unless it had to be done in such a way.

Han Yu’s face showed that he was interested. Feng Jin, however, found that he was hardly curious about it at all.

It was Liu She’s family affair no matter if he wanted to seek someone to be his future son-in-law or not. It had zero to do with two outsiders that had no relevance to the family.

Feng Jin read for a bit in the lamplight and felt ready to go to bed.

Han Yu murmured with worry when Feng Jin just laid on the bed. “I hope this has nothing to do with politics. County Chief’s tactics are kinda of… spooky.”

Feng Jin found it funny and laughed. “If it is not for politics, then why else would a big guy like County Chief Liu do it? Some personal grudges?”

If it was for personal grudges, then what sense did it make to agree to marry his daughter, who had been raised by himself, to Wuma Jun?

Han Yu was bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. He had no clue about Liu She’s intentions. “Never mind… Thinking too much gives me a headache.”

Han Yu and Feng Jin caught up with the changes in their lives over the past few years and sighed about what had happened.

Suddenly, Han Yu remembered and made a mention of Master Yuanjing’s worries.

Master Yuanjing had been concerned about the current situation. Aristocratic families had their ascendancy prospered almost to a uncontrollable level and it would collapse eventually if nobody was going to take measures to fix it.

It was a perfect topic for them to kill some time before bed.

Feng Jin grinned. “You mean, stop short of the precipice?”

How?

It was not like no one oversaw it. The problem was that aristocratic families were not much different from a wagon set on a slope––they were about to slide and uncontrollable.

“Only if the future dominator of the world is part of our aristocratic families will the prosperity continue. What if he is not? To say the least, he is an aristocratic member. But who will tolerate being restrained by other aristocratic families, especially if you are standing at the peak of world? Who will tolerate when you are the noblest person in the world, but you need to be a cut below them? What aristocratic families have done has pushed the bottom.”

Han Yu’s heart missed a beat. He never imagined that Feng Jin had such an ambitious mind.

It was undebatable to what Feng Jin claimed, though.

Wuma Jun seemed to be part of the royal family in the current Dongqing Dynasty. But as common knowledge, the four aristocratic families were behind Wuma in taking control of the realm.

There were big people in a critical position in every single state, county, or town… Which one didn’t come from the aristocratic families? And how many of them on earth had a poor family background?

Dongqing had been emphasizing literature and restricting the military, which led to the weak military force; they had lost the major portion of the force on the North Borderline battlefield. The remaining military forces had separate sponsors from different influents.

There would be no orders from the emperor––even out of Shangyang Palace––if the aristocratic families said no to them.

Didn’t the royal family have scruples with the aristocratic families?

They did!

Of course they did!

When the time of emperors alternated, the royal family had lost the advantage and been forced off their high horses through the numbers of years fighting against the aristocrats.

Fortunately, aristocratic families were not unified; they had split interests and conflicts. Dongqing royal family kept their throne in a puzzled, weird balance somehow, yet they took some actions to retrieve power all the time.

Feng Jin, who spotted the drawbacks easily as the son of the Fengs, was not average.

“It didn’t cross my mind before until… I came to Hejian County and met County Chief Liu. He helped to clear my mind and it felt like all the mist got blown away by the breeze. I can see the truth now. The chaos of Hu County was partially the call of the god, but you cannot deny the role that the people are playing in this––and the cause from people overweighs the cause from god. But why the hell did the other party of interest get involved? They found it troublesome and some of them even lost their lives for it––but not County Chief Liu. He stuck around to deal with the chaos and made a great contribution to turn Hu County into a better place.”

Only few people would like to dig into the significance of how and why he could do such a thing, while everyone else lionized him.

They didn’t want to find out, or they just simply didn’t dare to?

Liu She chose not to eliminate every last one of the gentry clans; however, they no longer had the easy life like they used to. They were frightened, remained wary, and tried not to cross the line to hold onto every single day of their life… But, did he eliminate all the threats?

Not really.

“County Chief Liu was nominated to be the General Evaluation Officer this time; it might indicate that there would be more transfers for him. If some transfers happen to take Hu County away from him even it looks like he gets promoted to be a governor… do you have any idea how many people covet Hu County? Will you take a good guess if there was no more County Chief Liu, or if he passed away, or if someone else took his position, what could happen to Hu County?”

Han Yu knew the answer; the truth made him feel anxious and speechless.

Hu County was just like a well taken care of little pet lamb: it was growing big, its wool was getting thick gradually, and it had numerous people casting their greedy eyes on it.

Once County Chief Liu, the Shepard, had one mind-wandering moment or got pulled away, the fat, big lamb would have its wool shaved by some voracious predators. Predators with insight might still keep it for more wool, but the greedy, nasty ones who didn’t have any patience might just kill it for good.

Han Yu commented, “County Chief Liu still looked out for gentry clans’ dignity, after all. He could have gone for overkill and gotten rid of all of them to eliminate all the threats.”

Reason told them that would be the most efficient way, but both Feng Jin and Han Yu were part of the people who were supposed to be eliminated.

If they eventually had to cope with the same issue, they might have to do it the same way as Liu She had, or more gently.

Han Yu frowned; apparently he was not impressed by this conversation.

What made him more upset was that it was inevitable to him, after all.

He could leave everything he had behind and bury himself in a hideaway place… Then he would never be bothered by the battles and divisions.

Was there a chance for him?

Never!