Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3561 It’s a joke!

Just as Cao Ren was doing his best to resist the attacks of Liao Hua and Li Dian, undercurrents were surging in Jingxiang.

In Caizhou, the blue brick floor of the Cai Family Ancestral Hall was soaked with the chill of the spring night, making the fine white grass mats laid on the wooden boards slightly cold.

Elder Cai's fingers tapped out a delicate rhythm on the low table, just like his chaotic heart.

The candlelight flickered on the bronze crane lamp, casting the carved patterns of loyalty and filial piety stories on the huanghuali screen onto the wall.

The faces of those saints were distorted in the light and shadow.

Cai Mao could not stay for long. After all, neither Cao Ren nor Cao Zhen allowed Cai Mao to come back, so once he was discovered, there would be big problems. On the one hand, Cai Mao's substitute in Fangling could only cover up for a few days at most, and it would inevitably arouse suspicion if it stayed for a long time. On the other hand, Cai Zhou was under the surveillance of Cao's army. Although it was not to the extent of house arrest, if he made any large-scale actions, it would inevitably trigger the alarm, so Cai Mao could only come quietly and leave quietly.

In Caizhou, the elders of the Cai family had to decide whether to follow Cai Mao's suggestion in the end...

"Cao's spies are at the entrance of the village..." Cai Wen, the third son of the Cai family, lowered his voice. The jade buckle on his hair was shining coldly in the dark. His voice was also a little cold, "Should we send someone to kill them first..."

"Not right, not right!" Before Cai Wen, the third wife of the Cai family, finished his words, Cai An, the first wife, said anxiously, "If we act now, if things go wrong, won't it endanger the lives of the entire family? There are still women and children in Caizhou!"

At any time, people with families will always have more concerns than those without families.

"If we don't get rid of the spies, how can our people get out? How can we act?" Cai Wen said in a deep voice, "If we want to accomplish great things, how can we avoid taking risks?"

"No, no..." Cai An waved his hands repeatedly, "If there is any mistake... there are so many old, weak, women and children in the whole family, where can they escape to? I'm afraid... there will be heavy casualties!"

The Cai elder's eyes swept over the representatives of the two branches of the Cai family.

These two faces, which usually live a life of luxury, are now covered with a layer of gray, and look blurry and unpredictable.

The damp night wind blew outside the ancestral hall, as sticky as flowing blood.

"Elder, we can't hesitate any longer!" Cai Wen suddenly stood up, and the Hetian jade pendant on his waist hit the table with a crisp sound. "Yesterday I heard that the general of the cavalry will leave Hangu Pass and will soon pacify Shandong! Even if we ignore the situation in Heluo, just look at the Wuguan army, it has already reached Danjiangkou! Who knows when it will arrive in Jingzhou!"

When he said the words "General of the Cavalry", his voice suddenly became as light as a feather, as if saying these words loudly would break some special taboo.

Elder Cai was in a trance.

Speaking of which, Cai almost married the General of the Cavalry...

How great it would have been if the girl from the Cai family had married the General of the Cavalry!

The elder of the Cai family couldn't help but feel a little emotional. If he had known earlier, he would have asked Cai Feng to raise more maids. Isn't it just to have more mouths to feed? Educating a nanny, teaching one is also teaching, isn't it also teaching a group? What a pity...

Elder Cai reached into his sleeve and touched the secret letter sealed with wax.

The secret letter contained a map of Xiangyang’s city defenses and the surrounding military deployments.

Although the Cai family was excluded from the control of the army by Cao Ren, they still had some tentacles in Xiangyang City.

The only problem is who to send it and how to send it.

If things go wrong, the "evidence" might be delivered directly to Cao's army!

By then, Caizhou will be in chaos!

From afar, the sound of the clappers of the first watch could be heard.

The candle wick had burned very long, and no servant dared to come in to trim it, so the flame flickered violently.

Elder Cai looked at the loyal and filial sages, Confucius and Mencius on the screen, who seemed to be swaying in the light of the candle. The cinnabar and gold powder filling the carvings seemed to be as red as blood under the light.

He couldn't help but think of the old attendant who was buried alive by him two days ago...

That was an old man of the Cai family, who had worked in the Cai family for more than ten years. Logically, he should be the most loyal, but he discovered that there was a secret dealings between the old attendant and the Cao family.

Then, will the two people in front of me...

Elder Cai's eyes moved slightly.

"What the third room said makes sense!"

After a long pause, the Cai elder finally spoke, "But we can't move now. Let's wait a few days and see what happens. The Cao army spies at the entrance of the village should not move for the time being, but if we want to take action, we must do it cleanly!"

Elder Cai deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of the words "clean hands and feet".

Cai Wen bowed and responded, "Please rest assured, Elder."

The elder of the Cai family glanced at Cai Wen, cracked the wrinkles on his face, and smiled, "The Third House has always been reliable, so of course I feel assured. Well, it's late at night, so we should take a long-term view on this matter, and there's no need to rush... Let's all go back first..."

Although Cai An and Cai Wen, the first and third wives, felt a little surprised, it seemed reasonable. After all, this concerned the lives and deaths of hundreds of people in Caizhou, so it wasn't wrong to be cautious.

Therefore, Cai An and Cai Wen said goodbye and separated at the door of the ancestral hall after leaving it.

Cai An originally wanted to talk to Cai Wen, but Cai Wen obviously had no intention of talking. He just said perfunctorily that it was getting late and they could talk about it tomorrow, and then he left.

Cai An watched Cai Wen walk away with a frown on his face. After a long time, he shook his head and sighed.

When we were young, we were all brothers, studying and playing together, but when we grew up, we were divided into different levels.

Cai Mao is from the second wife, and now he has become the head of the family. Of course, the second wife has the best treatment and benefits, followed by the first wife, and then the third wife. After all, there is order of seniority...

Cai An had just taken a few steps forward when someone suddenly called out from behind, "Da Lang, the elder wants to see you..."

"Huh?" Cai An was stunned for a moment, and turned around to see that it was the old servant who followed the elder of the Cai family, who was greeting him, "What's wrong?"

Didn’t he just come out of the ancestral hall?

However, since it was the elder's confidant who came out to greet him, Cai An turned around and followed the old slave back to the ancestral hall.

As soon as they met, Cai An saw the sealed letter on the desk of the Cai elder...

"Elder, this is..."

Cai An was a little surprised.

"An'er, take the letter."

The voice of Elder Cai sounded like it came from a deep well, dull and deep.

Cai An suddenly noticed that there seemed to be some light and fire flickering in the eyes of the Cai elder, as if the surrounding cinnabar color had spread into the eyes of the Cai elder.

"You go and deliver the secret letter."

Elder Cai said in a deep voice.

"Ah? Me?" The voice was not loud, but it startled Cai An.

Cai An raised his head suddenly and looked at the Cai elder in disbelief.

The candlelight cut bright and dark cracks on the face of the Cai elder. "Take the defense map and go around Zhangjiawan from the river fork."

Elder Cai used his skinny fingers to push the secret letter on the table forward, "The Changfu Society should prepare the eel boats. Remember to pass through the Liulin Lock before 3:45 pm tomorrow."

"But..." Cai An swallowed his saliva, "Cao's army is densely packed with soldiers at Danjiangkou..."

The Cai elder grinned, "Don't go to Danjiangkou... go to Jiangling! Don't go home, follow Changfu now!"

……

……

On the other side, Cai Wen returned to his courtyard. He had just taken off his coat and threw it to the servant when Meiji flashed out from behind the screen, waved away the servant, and personally helped Cai Wen change his clothes.

"My dear..." Meiji's voice was soft, "What's the matter that makes my dear suffer so much..."

Her nails were as red as blood, and her charming figure swayed gracefully.

Cai Wen took off his outer robe, revealing the coarse linen short jacket underneath.

He sat down at an angle and sneered, "You old man, you really have rebellious intentions!"

Meiji's hands trembled for a moment, but soon she turned into a concerned voice, "My dear, are you... okay?"

Cai Wen waved his hand, "The old man hasn't made up his mind yet... But I think he will do it sooner or later..."

The cry of a night owl came from afar, like the wailing of a wild ghost.

Cai Wenwai took a look. It was dark at night and he could not see anything, but he could not help but lower his voice, "As long as we can find evidence of the old man's rebellion..."

Meiji leaned behind Cai Wen and massaged his shoulders. "If we can't find any evidence, won't we just have to wait like this?"

Cai Wen was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed grimly, "I'll definitely find it!"

……

……

When the midnight watch drum sounded from afar, Cai An was already squatting in the black sail of the eel boat.

He couldn't understand why Elder Cai insisted that he deliver the letter, but since it was the elder's order, he was free to obey.

He changed into a coarse linen shirt, straw sandals, and a straw rope around his waist instead of a silk belt. Cai An hadn't worn such rough and dirty clothes for a long time. The river water that seeped in from the bottom of the boat soaked his leggings, and the dampness with the fishy smell seemed to climb up along his skin, making the hairs on his body stand up.

The old slave Changfu was rowing at the bow of the boat. The rustling sound of calluses rubbing against the wooden handle mixed with the croaking of frogs and the sound of water rippling gently, making Cai An's heart beat faster.

Although the old servant Changfu is very old, his boat skills do not seem slow at all.

The loach boat moves flexibly among the reeds, like a fish escaping from a net.

When they were about to bypass the reed marsh, a fire suddenly lit up on the shore and the flags of Cao's army fluttered in the night wind.

"Get down, don't show your head!"

The old slave Changfu lowered his voice and lay down on the deck.

Through the gaps in the reeds, Cai An saw a group of Cao's soldiers patrolling along the river bank with torches in their hands.

The firelight flickered through the leaves of the reeds, reflecting on Cai An's arms, which were tense due to nervousness. He touched the hard secret letter in his arms, and remembered the instructions given by the Cai family elders before they left, and he couldn't help but grit his teeth...

The safety of the Cai family is in your arms!

If he lives, he can ensure that the Cai family continues to be glorious. If he dies, he cannot let this secret letter fall into the hands of Cao's army!

Fortunately, Cao's army seemed to be just on routine patrol and had no intention of conducting a thorough search.

The fire gradually faded away, Changfu climbed up and continued rowing.

"Don't worry, Dalang..." Changfu seemed to have noticed Cai An's nervousness and put the short blade in his hand back into his sleeve. "From here to Jiangling... I am familiar with all the waterways..."

Changfu narrowed his eyes and looked at Cai An, seeming very kind, but his eyes were still vigilant. If Cai An had made any unusual movements just now, then...

Cai An didn't notice anything strange about Changfu, but after hearing what Changfu said, he suddenly remembered that Changfu had been in Caizhou for the past few years, so Cai An almost forgot what Changfu was doing...

Back then in Jingzhou and Yunmengze, there were a large number of clan bandits!

……

……

early morning.

Cai Wen, who had used his early breasts, sat behind the desk as usual, stroking the white jade on the table.

White jade is warm and delicate, and when you play with it, it feels like a piece of solidified grease.

Perhaps humans have a desire for oil engraved in their ancient genes, so they are particularly fond of white jade that is similar to oil.

Cai Wen likes jade, but these jades are relatively expensive.

A gentleman is like jade...

What gentleman doesn’t like jade?

Just like in later generations, there are also many people who like to study, especially learning foreign languages...

But at the beginning, Cai Wen had no jade at all. Even a piece of inferior jade was thrown to him by others because others didn't want it.

If Cai Wensheng were alive in the future, he would definitely curse his original family, thinking that his parents were useless and could not give him an environment where he could have whatever he wanted. He should not even have been born in the third room. Even if he was not born in the second room, it would have been much better to be born in the first room!

Warm blood is flowing beneath the cold jade.

Beneath the gentle appearance, there are endless ambitions.

He felt that his original family did not bring him any sense of satisfaction, security, or the other feelings he needed. Everything he had now was accumulated bit by bit later...

He was like a wild boar rushing around in the wild, trying to carve out a space for himself. He didn't care at all whether he would hurt anyone or trample on anyone's crops in the process.

Even very pleased.

Cai Wen suddenly remembered the tenant farmer who had caught him meeting Cao some time ago. When he chopped off the tenant farmer's neck, the crisp sound of the tenant farmer's neck breaking seemed to be strikingly similar to the sound of his brother smashing his pottery toys when he was a child.

He sneered and pressed the jade toy in his hand onto the table, like placing a piece on a chessboard.

In this world, all family ties and blood ties are fake!

Only money and power are real!

"My dear!" The servant outside the door bowed his head and reported in a low voice, "The master of the first house said he was ill... He won't see any visitors..."

"Are you sick?" Cai Wen was stunned.

We just met last night, and Cai An didn't seem to be ill. How come he fell ill after just one night, no, half a night?

Cai Wen stared, and suddenly slammed the table, "Go check! Who betrayed Cai Zhou last night!"

……

……

Elder Cai slowly walked into the dungeon.

Even though he was very old and the stone steps were slippery, his steps were still steady. He walked step by step, and only took the next step after he had stepped firmly, just like the wind and rain he had walked through over the years.

The man hanging in the dungeon was smoking from the scorched areas where the branding iron had burned him.

"Splash it on him to wake him up."

Elder Cai ordered.

The cold water splashed over.

"Tell me... who asked you to snoop around?" The Cai elder said in a steady voice, "But even if you don't tell me... I know who it is... There are indeed a lot of people in Caizhou, but they are not many either..."

The man who was hanging up raised his head slightly, looked at Elder Cai, then quickly dropped his head weakly, still without saying a word.

"It's rare..." Elder Cai shook his head and sighed, "It's a pity to have such a loyal servant..."

Elder Cai turned and walked out, leaving behind a few words, "He is a loyal servant... Let's give him an intact body..."

After coming out of the dim dungeon and stepping into the sunlight, Elder Cai's steps began to waver, revealing his old age.

"It's just as I expected..." Elder Cai looked up at the sky, thought for a long time, and then waved his hand, "Go, call the third branch to the ancestral hall."

The sunlight in the sky was dazzling, but Elder Cai couldn't help but have tears in his eyes.

……

……

"What did that old man ask me to do again?" Cai Wen frowned and said, "Has Anzi not come back from his investigation yet?"

The servant shook his head, "The elder's men are waiting outside..."

Cai Wen pondered. Although the servant who went to inquire had not returned yet, he felt that there should be no problem. After all, the elder of the Cai family had just summoned him and Cai An to discuss matters last night. Perhaps something had happened again, or the elder of the Cai family had changed his mind and wanted him to deliver a secret letter or contact someone?

In this way, doesn't it mean...

Cai Wen stood up and sneered, "Change your clothes!"

Maybe this is his chance!

When Cai Wen arrived at the ancestral hall, he saw the elders of the Cai family sitting in the dim shadows, and his heart was full of sarcasm. Only these dying old guys like such a dim place. If he became the head of the Cai family, his first order would be to demolish this dim ancestral hall and then build a bright and spacious ancestral hall of his own!

Cai Wen thought with a bit of pride, but he forgot that the ancestral hall was used to worship the souls of ancestors, not for living people to live in for a long time...

"Please sit down."

The Cai elder waved his hand, motioning Cai Wen to sit down.

"Elder, why did you call me here? 】

Cai Wen still asked in a gentle and polite manner.

The Cai elder closed his eyes slightly, raised his chin, and shook his long beard, "When people get old... they always think of many things... I remember when you were little... you got some maltose once, and you hid it in your sleeves for fear that others would snatch it away... As a result, the maltose got wet and stuck to your sleeves. You couldn't bear to part with it, so you stuffed the sleeve into your mouth and sucked and gnawed it... I don't know how much maltose you ate, but you tore and bit my sleeves..."

Cai Wen twitched the corner of his mouth and laughed dryly, "That was when I was young and ignorant..."

"Yes," the Cai elder nodded, "When I was young, I didn't know much, it doesn't matter..."

Elder Cai raised his head and looked around, "Now that he's grown up, he's still ignorant, so what?!"

Cai Wen almost jumped up on the spot, and really wanted to pretend to be calm, but he was suddenly held down by someone who rushed out from behind the screen. "Elder! What are you going to do?!"

The elder of the Cai clan sighed, "I originally thought... that if you wanted to do business with the Cao clan and have dealings with them, it wouldn't matter as long as your heart was still with the Cai clan and you were still thinking about Cai Zhou... But I didn't expect... I didn't expect... that you would actually betray the Cai clan!"

Cai Wen twisted and struggled, trying to deny it at first, but when the Cai elders laid out the evidence one by one, even revealing the location where he killed the tenant farmer, he stopped denying it and just stared at the Cai elders viciously, "You owe me! You forced me to do this! You sold out the Liu family back then, and now you're selling out the Cao family. How dare you talk about loyalty? What qualifications do you have to talk about benevolence in front of me? You can sell out others, but I don't need to sell out you? Justice, what is justice? It's a joke, it's a joke!"

The Cai elder stopped talking and waved his hand, signaling that Cai Wen should be taken away.

Cai Wen's mouth was blocked and he was dragged away. He kept whimpering along the way. No one knew what he was saying or cursing...

The Cai clan elder stood up and personally pulled out the genealogy of the third branch from the altar in the ancestral hall. He then unfolded it and said, "Ah..."

The elder of the Cai family looked up at the tablet of the Cai family ancestor on the ancestral hall and sighed, "It is indeed a joke... I am sorry to have embarrassed our ancestors... It is unfortunate for our family... The third branch... Dear ancestors, from today on, there will be no more third branch..."