Chapter 2263: Sudden Storm

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“Dao Calendar 3928, seventh month, ninth day: The main lineage of the Li family in Yan City was slaughtered, and the branch families divided their assets.”

“Dao Calendar 3928, eighth month, sixteenth day: The head of the Wu family in Han City was found dead in his study, with blood coming from all seven orifices. He had no heir, and the side branches did not continue the lineage, thus the succession was cut off.”

“Dao Calendar 3928, ninth month, fourth day: The direct son of the Song family disappeared...”

In the study of the former Bai Pingfu, in Langya City.

Bai Yuxia sat at the desk, pasting intelligence papers with different handwriting one by one onto the desktop. As he pasted, he read. Each paper was aligned very neatly, in perfect order.

All the furnishings inside the study were as they had been. After Bai Pingfu’s death, no one had used this study until his only son returned.

Bai Yuxia still remembered when he was shorter than the desk, how his father would hold him on the table, happily making him recite essays. His father would then dip his brush in ink and drink wine, wildly practicing calligraphy, calling it "my son assists in prosperity."

Later, when he was a bit older, those times became less frequent. His father increasingly emphasized rules, requiring him to become a noble son of the Bai family who completely conformed to norms.

He knew that in his final moments, his father was disappointed in him.

Because he had cast aside the responsibility bestowed by his family, discarded all the rules he had followed in his past life, and wandered with Xiang Qian—

He thought he was just seeking an answer to life, but his father did not wait for his return.

Bai Yuxia faced the papers one by one, like playing the spelling game he had played as a child.

But those who truly understood the people of Yue Country would know the weight of these words.

Yan City and Han City were important cities in Yue Country.

The Li family, Wu family, and Song family were all famous and prestigious families within Yue Country, just one level below the Ge family and Bai family.

In the eyes of the arrogant Chu people, only the Ge family and Bai family in the entire Yue Country could be considered famous households. But the Li, Wu, and Song families were well-known surnames within Yue Country.

These powerful families consecutively having incidents naturally caused widespread panic.

Rumors were flying wildly everywhere in Yue Country, and everyone resented Chu but dared not speak.

Who killed Gao Zheng?

The master of the Three Points Fragrance Building, Luo Sha Ming Yue Jing.

Why would Luo Sha Ming Yue Jing, who was doing fine, want to kill Gao Zheng?

Everyone with a clear head knew it was related to Chu Country.

So now that these powerful nobles in Yue Country were consecutively having incidents, where exactly was the source of the disaster?

Besides Chu Country, which other side could it be?

How vicious the Chu people were!

Six months ago, the Chu Country envoy Zhong Li Yan arbitrarily intruded upon Yin Xiang Peak, alarming Gao Zheng's former residence. It was precisely Gao Zheng's direct disciple, Ge Fei, who woke up from his confusion and angrily drove him away.

Ge Fei greatly defeated Zhong Li Yan, and the Yue court even imprisoned the Chu Country vice envoy Dou Mian for accountability—but finally, forced by Chu Country's great power, they could only release these two people back.

The Chu people were guilty, so they remained silent on the surface. But turning their heads, incidents frequently occurred within Yue Country. Officials and powerful nobles all felt endangered. Who could say it was unrelated to the Chu people?

A majestic world-dominating country actually used such underhanded means. What a disgrace to a great country!

Bai Yuxia, of course, also knew about this surging public opinion.

He knew far more than public opinion.

So he remained silent in the study.

Thud thud thud.

Along with the sound of knocking on the door, it was his mother Wen Juan Ying's voice: "Xia Er, can Mother come in?"

Bai Yuxia casually wiped the desk, used a sheet of snow-white Xuan paper to cover the desktop, and lightly chuckled, saying: "Come in—I remember when I was a child writing characters in this study, you were never willing to knock."

Wen Juan Ying then pushed the door open and walked in. She was also laughing: "Wasn't I guarding against your dad? Men, oh, they keep talking about social obligations and work, but once the door is closed, it's several hours. Who knows what they're hiding inside and doing? Mother calls this a surprise check."

Bai Yuxia lifted his pen and drew a branch on the paper, laughing faintly: "My dad was famous for his honesty and adherence to rules. Your suspicion of him is truly unreasonable."

"Ai! What do you know, when he was young—" Wen Juan Ying stopped speaking mid-sentence and gave him a white look: "What am I saying all this to you for?"

Bai Yuxia didn't lift his head from his painting, but grinned: "If you want to talk to me about his foolish matters when he was young, as his son, I can listen. See the wise and reflect on oneself, right?"

"Slap your mouth!" Wen Juan Ying scolded: "You should say 'see the unwise and reflect on oneself'!"

Bai Yuxia chuckled: "It's the same meaning, as long as you understand."

Wen Juan Ying looked at her son, and at the painting in progress spread open on the study table—one bare branch, one cold crow, a few drops of wind and rain.

A very lonely painting.

Without knowing when, she had already lost her smile. Bai Yuxia also pursed his lips.

Mother and son did not laugh.

"What's pressed under the painting?" Wen Juan Ying asked.

Bai Yuxia paused his painting pen and lightly said: "This is about matters within Yue Country. It doesn't matter if you don't know."

"Child," Wen Juan Ying said: "You should return to Star Moon Plain. A good man's ambition is in all directions. Always staying at home has no future either."

"There's no future at Star Moon Plain either. The East House is quite stingy and never raises salaries," Bai Yuxia said: "I'll stay with you a bit longer. If you're happy and a bit of pocket money leaks from your fingers, isn't that stronger than me working like a cow and a horse outside?"

Wen Juan Ying was silent for a while, then said: "It's quite chaotic recently, you say—"

"It has nothing to do with our family," Bai Yuxia said: "All the incidents are with the powerful families, those few families who have been in power for generations and monopolize resources. Our family has long been battered by wind and rain. We don't even count in Langya City. It's not our turn."

During the time Bai Yuxia was idle at home, he didn't do too many things. He just caught some of the old habits of the clan relapsing and kept talking about the revival of the Bai family to annoy them.

The Bai family after his return was even colder and quieter than when he was not there.

Wen Juan Ying said: "What powerful families, what not powerful families? It's all the sins of the Chu people. The Chu people are used to being barbaric. They may not care about your actual situation. Do they still pick days to kill people?"

"Is it really the Chu people?" Bai Yuxia asked.

Wen Juan Ying's face changed: "Yu Xia!"

Bai Yuxia said: "I've thought about it until my head hurts, but I can't figure out which side in Chu Country could possibly use such underhanded means. An Guo Gong? Huai Guo Gong? If they made a move, it would be to subvert the country. Qu Shun Hua? Zuo Guang Shu? Xiang Bei? Hehe, from my understanding of them, no matter how they fall, their methods would not be limited to this."

"How vast is Chu Country? There are bound to be rotten branches and leaves. My child, you say they are all heroes, but you haven't seen the bears," Wen Juan Ying said: "Like Gu Chi, what kind of dirty things can he not do?"

"Mother," Bai Yuxia sighed with a complex tone: "You are truly a person from the imperial family!"

Wen Juan Ying originally had many things to say, but hearing her son sigh, she couldn't help but lower her eyelids: "Your mother's surname is Wen. Your father and your mother are all Yue Country people. Child, you are also a Yue Country person. You were born and grew up here."

Bai Yuxia simply flipped open the painting he had just drawn, exposing the densely packed papers on the study table. He pointed at the words on them and said: "The Li family in Yan City is said to have their assets divided by the branch families, but what they divided were just some gold, silver, and sundry items. Where did the power go? Where did the promotion channels go? They were all confiscated by the state. The Wu family in Han City is said to have their side branches not continue the lineage. Such a large family business, wealth, and noble titles, are the side branches unwilling to continue? They were not allowed to continue. So the succession was cut off—"

"Enough," Wen Juan Ying interrupted.

Bai Yuxia was still unwilling to stop: "Our Emperor is a heroic figure with great strategy. He is determined to cut out the rotten sores. My father was lucky to die early. If he had died later, he would have inevitably suffered a blow."

"Can't..." Wen Juan Ying's voice was close to pleading.

Bai Yuxia continued: "Since the Emperor has such determination, it's impossible for him not to shed blood himself. The Wen surname imperial family has spread out for so many years. It will soon be thoroughly trimmed—see, Min Jun Wang has already been reprimanded for his faults, and his fief will definitely not be kept. If he is not sensible enough, his head will also be hard to keep."

"Bai Yuxia, what do you want to do?" Wen Juan Ying's voice was very sharp as she shouted, then eased down, tears already in her eyes: "What do you want to do? Do you know that as long as these words of yours spread out, you will instantly become a national traitor? Your father, your grandfather, the reputation of all your Bai family ancestors will be ruined—what do you want to do?"

Bai Yuxia was still very calm: "My grandfather died for the country, shedding his last drop of blood on the battlefield. My father cherished his reputation all his life and adhered to moral principles. My Bai family ancestors never once let down the country. Why is their reputation ruined? Is it because I spoke the truth?"

Wen Juan Ying looked at him sadly: "Once the flood of public opinion forms, anyone who tries to block it will be crushed. What does truth mean? How important is evidence? People don't care about the truth, they only need to vent their emotions—you perhaps don't understand this reason as well as I do? What a mother, a woman, knows."

Bai Yuxia said: "They all say a crowd's mouth can melt gold, and accumulated slander can destroy bones. But I think, what can be defamed and demeaned by words is not true gold. What will be struck down by rumors are not hard bones."

"What does this have to do with us? Mother doesn't understand. Yu Xia, they say the Chu people did it, then let it be the Chu people. Chu Country is aggressive and bullying. It's also not unreasonable to blame many things on them," Wen Juan Ying took a step forward: "Don't say these words again."

"Rest assured, I'm just saying this to you now," Bai Yuxia smiled: "Moreover, this is what Yue Country needs, right? The Emperor wants thorough reform, wants everyone to be of one mind, wants to control public opinion—Mother, I can understand."

What Li, Wu, Song? What couldn't he understand? They weren't originally close. All things considered, it was the matters of Wen Jingxiu's family. The only thing he couldn't understand were the matters that happened in the past, unrelated to today.

Wen Juan Ying wiped her tears, reluctantly looked around the room, and walked to the study desk: "Yu Xia. Mother has thought it through. Let's go to Star Moon Plain together, just the two of us, mother and son."

Bai Yuxia was surprised: "Uncle Zhang, Aunt Deng, my uncles and brothers, my seven great-aunts and eight great-aunts, what about these people? Aren't you going to manage them?"

"Don't manage them. They are all adults. They are responsible for themselves," Wen Juan Ying said: "Your dad is gone, and you have no interest in the family business. It's very hard for Mother to support it. I'll simply divide all the family business among them, just bring some personal belongings, and follow you to retire elsewhere, far from right and wrong."

Bai Yuxia, of course, knew this would be the result early on, because it was precisely by leveraging the turmoil within Yue Country that he forced his mother to make such a choice.

It was hard to leave their hometown, the family business was huge, and Wen Juan Ying herself was surnamed Wen... if he hadn't deliberately shown some signs of danger, he knew his mother would absolutely not be willing to go.

"But you can't just bring some personal belongings," Bai Yuxia laughed: "Yuan stones and such, not a single piece can be left behind. You're relying on your son's meager salary to retire? That's not reliable enough."

Since she had already decided to leave, Wen Juan Ying's worries also suddenly disappeared. She poked her son: "Spoiling family virtue!"

Bai Yuxia laughed and begged for mercy, pushing his mother towards the outside: "You quickly go pack your luggage. I'll arrange the carriages here and send you to Star Moon Plain."

The study door closed.

The master of the study left the room and would be forever cut off from here.

Spring rain fell, summer rain fell, autumn rain fell. The entire Dao Calendar 3928, Yue Country seemed to be all in rain.

Sudden rain knocked on the window, a feeling of dampness permeated. Finally, a wisp of autumn wind, through the gaps in the screen, killed its way into the study.

The papers pasted on the table were like they were printed on the desktop, unmoving.

The Xuan paper on which Bai Yuxia had casually drawn his work almost lifted with the wind, but it was held down by a paperweight. More than half of it was rolled up, but one corner was still nailed to the table.

At this time, lifted by the autumn wind, the back of the painting could be seen with two lines of words—

"Wind and rain sudden, wind and rain sudden. Thick quilt curls around sick bones, lonely branch perches thin cold crow."

Tap tap tap.

The sound of horse hooves and the sound of the sudden rain hitting the roof seemed to be in concert. The former was slow, the latter urgent.

"I say, this rain is quite annoying. Just chop it broken," Xiang Qian sat in the coachman's position, leaning against the carriage door, his eyes drooping, saying spiritlessly.

Sitting beside him, Bai Yuxia said listlessly: "Can't you chop it off yourself?"

Xiang Qian glanced at him languidly, too lazy to speak because he was lazy.

Bai Yuxia barely maintained his patience: "The sun rises and the moon sets, the rain falls and the wind blows, these are all natural principles. Although we cultivators can change heavenly phenomena, too much interference is not a good thing for the environment..."

"Fine," Xiang Qian was too lazy to listen, only saying: "Go."

Bai Yuxia instructed: "My mother has no cultivation and can't endure bumps. Drive the carriage slowly, no rush. I'll catch up after I'm done."

From Yue Country to Star Moon Plain, if they traveled slowly, it might take three to five months.

Xiang Qian's head hurt greatly, but he could only give a grudging "um."

"Don't tell others about this matter," Bai Yuxia emphasized again.

Xiang Qian's dead fish eyes showed no ripples: "It's too much effort. Just tell me directly not to tell Jiang Wang."

Bai Yuxia said: "He is just worrying about his life. If he knew, he'd come to pick her up himself—are the Dongzhen of different races that easy to kill? Which racial battlefield doesn't require desperation? This small matter will not bother him yet. Wait until we rendezvous and arrive at Star Moon Plain together, then tell him."

Xiang Qian covered his eyelids, then lifted them again, using this action to indicate a nod of agreement.

Bai Yuxia raised his voice, saying to Wen Juan Ying inside the carriage: "Mother, the wind outside is strong. Don't open the window to avoid catching a cold. If you have anything, just tell Xiang Qian directly. He is my good brother. He's a bit lazy, but he's reliable."

Xiang Qian also tried to make his voice sound more energetic: "Aunt, just instruct me if you need anything!"

"It's hard for you, little Xiang. It's troublesome to make you run this trip," Wen Juan Ying's voice sounded from inside the carriage, carrying some inevitable sadness of leaving her hometown.

"It's nothing, Aunt. I have no other advantages, I just have diligent legs and feet. I've been on the road all these years—" Xiang Qian said all his polite words for the year, then added: "You speak to Yu Xia, he's the one who wants to go."

Wen Juan Ying's voice said again: "Yu Xia. Uncle Zhang, Aunt Deng, they have dedicated more than half their lives to the Bai family. We can't treat them unfairly. Also, your sixth aunt, her life is not easy..."

"You don't need to worry about these family matters, seven relatives here, eight relatives there. I'll arrange it. I'll divide the family property among them clearly, so that no one has anything to say. Rest assured!" Bai Yuxia advised: "You, have a good sleep, eat when you should eat, drink when you should drink. I'll catch up after I finish dividing these family assets cleanly and explaining everything that needs to be explained."

"Ai." Wen Juan Ying had many words, but they all turned into a single sigh.

Tap, tap, tap.

Bai Yuxia disappeared in the rain.

2024 has arrived. I hope everyone is truly happy.

Let all the bad things stay in the past.

Asking for the first guaranteed chapter of 2024.