Yusui Chang'an

As he spoke, Cheng Qi's smile became brighter, and he stepped forward to salute Gu Ruizhou, his expression revealing a hint of intimacy:

"The general stayed back, because I just made these probing words. I offended the general, so I must apologize to the general."

Facing Cheng Qi's several changes, Gu Ruizhou's defenses only increased:

"Testing?"

Cheng Qi apologized, persuaded Gu Ruizhou to sit down again, and talked about the Cheng family on his own.

The main branches of the Cheng family all live together, and there are four rooms in total. He is the eldest son, and there are seven brothers and nine sisters in this generation.

He is the Third Master, and everyone in his family calls him the Third Young Master. Since he showed his intelligence when he was young, his elders have trained him as the next head of the family.

When the late emperor was there, all the talented people in the Cheng family could display their ambitions in the court, and the entire Cheng family followed the late emperor with all their heart.

When the late emperor passed away, the Cheng family was grieved. They wanted to do their best to protect the country that the late emperor had devoted so much effort to, but the new emperor's philosophy of governing the country was far from that of the late emperor. After he ascended the throne and secured his position, he started to fight against the Cheng family who had tried to dissuade him several times. Suppress.

Officials of the Cheng family in the government will not be rewarded with promotions for their achievements, but they will be punished with the harshest punishment if they make the slightest mistake.

The Cheng family knew that they had displeased the emperor, and because the emperor's behavior was far inferior to that of the late emperor, they were disappointed and resigned one after another and went into seclusion. In order to protect themselves, the Cheng family closed their doors and ignored the court affairs.

I thought I could stay away from the disputes, but I didn't expect that the emperor was still on guard. He often sent spies from the palace into the Cheng family on the pretext of getting married, and Mingyue was one of them.

After the Xue family's accident, the emperor had an absolute reason to take the salt away from the aristocratic family openly, even though he established the Salt Transportation Department and asked the aristocratic family to send people to supervise it.

However, in the past, several major families had a share of the profits from salt, but now they get less than 10% of what they used to. The aristocratic family has a large population, and if it loses its source of wealth, it will naturally slowly lose. What's more, the Yanyun Department only allows one family from aristocratic families to participate in management, and changes them every year, just to divide the relationships between the aristocratic families and disintegrate them one by one.

The Xue family, who was extremely wealthy, was defeated in the blink of an eye. If the royal family really wanted to take action, the Cheng family would be unable to protect themselves.

As the next head of the family, Cheng Qi is responsible for the prosperity and life of the entire family, so he naturally has to take responsibility.

Gu Ruizhou listened quietly before speaking in confusion;
"Why is Young Master Cheng looking for me?"

Being weighed down by burdens all year round, Cheng Qi is stained with a maturity that is beyond his age:

"I never thought that I would have contact with the general. I didn't expect that the seventh sister would be instigated by Ming Yue and her daughter to attack your younger sister, which made me interact with the general. I have always heard that the Gu family is upright. After meeting the general, I This gave birth to selfishness. This selfishness is not for fame and fortune, but for the sake of seeking shelter for the entire Cheng family."

Listening to the solemnity and sadness in Cheng Qi's words, Gu Ruizhou retreated slightly:

"Why does Young Master Cheng trust my Gu family? And why do you think the Gu family can protect the Cheng family?"

"Nowadays, most of the officials in the court are sanctimonious and add insult to injury. I really don't dare to risk the whole family. The general is thinking of the reputation of the Cheng family and letting the Cheng family deal with the seventh sister on their own. This is because he means to protect our Cheng family and trusts our Cheng family."

"If the general trusts the Cheng family, why doesn't the Cheng family trust the general? It's just...after all, we have never had any contact with the general, so that's why I offended the temptation. It's true that I want to find shelter for the whole family, but I don't want to find a tiger that is unfavorable to Tianchu. Now. Only when you know the general’s character can you speak frankly.”

Gu Ruizhou's personal entourage waited at the door of the house for a full hour, but Gu Ruizhou did not come out. There was no answer when he knocked on the door. Worried, he was about to force his way in when Gu Ruizhou opened the door and walked out alone.

He glanced at the house with complicated eyes, looked around sharply, saw no one around, and left with his entourage. (End of chapter)