I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 311 Yuan Ji's Anger

However, there are not many candidates who meet this condition and the conditions are quite stringent.

First of all, this person must be a core member of the Yuan Group and have development prospects, so that he can become Yuan Feng’s legitimate successor in the future, control the entire Yuan regime, and smoothly realize the transformation of the Yuan regime into a scholar regime.

The scholars can be considered as establishment people in a sense. As the vested interests of the Han Empire system, they do not like chaos and fighting. They desire and pursue stability.

Therefore, since the Yuan regime has been able to gradually stabilize and demonstrate a certain degree of ruling power and deterrence, they do not want to destroy this established fact, but they need this regime to represent and safeguard their interests.

If the Yuan regime could only safeguard the interests of the Yuan group itself and suppress the interests of scholars, it would not meet their needs.

For this, they have to do something.

Anyway, they have already had some concerns about Yuan Shu's ascension to power. Yuan Shu is no longer the best choice for party members and ordinary scholars.

So, Yuan Ji was the first to enter their sight.

As Yuan Feng's eldest son, Yuan Ji has an advantage in terms of righteousness and status. If Yuan Feng wants to depose the eldest son and enthrone the youngest son in the future, it will naturally not be that easy. If Yuan Ji's position can be confirmed and then supported, then it will naturally be a good choice.

But one Yuan Ji was not enough, and Yuan Ji's political stance was still uncertain. For this reason, some people turned their attention to Yuan Shao.

It can be said that at this point in time, some ordinary scholars and most party members have already developed new political demands. They do not like Yuan Shu, an overly strong successor, to inherit Yuan Feng's position.

Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao naturally became backup options.

However, this trend did not become a group consensus, and the scholars and elite party members did not have a public chat channel, so it was impossible for them to learn about each other's ideological trends in a timely manner. Moreover, Yuan Shao and Yuan Ji were not in Luoyang all year round, so even if they wanted to unite with them, there would be some time costs.

But now is indeed a good time.

Because Yuan Shu was getting married, Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao both returned to Luoyang to attend Yuan Shu's wedding. They were in Luoyang, so beneath the apparent hustle and bustle, there was an undercurrent slowly surging.

In fact, for Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao, the fact that they came back to attend Yuan Shu's wedding made them both more or less dissatisfied.

When Yuan Ji got married, Yuan Shu was studying under Ma Rong, so Yuan Feng did not let him attend.

When Yuan Shao got married, Yuan Shu was in mourning for Ma Rong, so Yuan Feng did not let him attend.

As a result, when it was Yuan Shu's turn to get married, Yuan Shao and Yuan Ji were called back by Yuan Feng with a letter. They had no chance to refuse and had to come back to attend their brother's wedding.

What's this?
The old father's partiality is already blatantly exposed on the surface.

So when Yuan Shu was surrounded by his subordinates and toasted, Yuan Ji was drinking cup after cup at the table not far away.

Although there was no change in his expression, the low pressure around him was well captured by Yuan Shao.

In fact, before this, Yuan Shao was not in a good mood because he saw Cao Cao at the banquet.

Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun were both there, as was Wang Lang whom he had met yesterday. There was also a group of young people around them, probably Cao Cao's current colleagues. Cao Cao was drinking and chatting with them, looking very proud of himself, as if a bright future was just around the corner.

He couldn't remember the last time he saw Cao Cao like this.

The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable Yuan Shao felt.

Once upon a time, Cao Cao was just a little follower beside him, or in other words, a lapdog. Coming from a dirty and smelly family like the Cao family, he was completely looked down upon by him. The reason why Cao Cao was able to follow him was purely due to the eunuchs' autocratic and chaotic politics at that time.

The Yuan family needed external aid, and the middle approach pursued by the Cao family just met the needs of the Yuan family. The two families became closer and closer for their common interests.

Despite this, the Yuan family was a wealthy and powerful family that inherited the New Text Confucianism, while the Cao family was a family that rose to prominence with the help of eunuchs. The social status of the two was as different as heaven and earth. The relationship between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao was just as different as heaven and earth. Yuan Shao was high in the clouds, looking down at Cao Cao who was in the mud.

Yuan Shao was not a person of particularly high status in his family, but he still felt very superior to Cao Cao. On the surface, the two were friends since childhood, but Yuan Shao never sincerely regarded Cao Cao as a friend.

He felt from the bottom of his heart that Cao Cao was not worthy of being his friend and could only be his follower, and this idea has not changed until now.

He always believed that Cao Cao was the olive branch extended to him by the Cao family. The identity of the Cao family only allowed Cao Cao to follow him, but he could not touch Yuan Ji and Yuan Shu, his direct descendants.

But who would have thought that this idea, which was like a stamp of thought, would be shattered at this moment.

Yuan Shu actually took a fancy to Cao Cao, and took him under his wing, giving him a career and a future. In this way, not only would Cao Cao follow Yuan Shu, but the Cao family behind Cao Cao and the Xiahou family tied to him would also follow Yuan Shu and become his loyal dogs.

The political capital that might have originally belonged to Yuan Shao instantly belonged to Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shao was so angry!
Since childhood, Yuan Shu has always been against him, and has always been competing with him for things that he regards as treasures. No matter whether it is the love of the elders or the later family resources, Yuan Shu is better than him in all of them. He cannot compare with Yuan Shu in anything. In the end, Yuan Shu even has to compete with him for that dirty and smelly thing called Cao Cao!

You want all of this!
Yuan Shu!

Yuan Shu!

I will never forgive you!! The anger, jealousy, and hatred in Yuan Shao's heart completely erupted and merged together to form an extremely firm obsession to trample Yuan Shu under his feet.

Yuan Shao knew that his fate would be rewritten from this moment on.

Otherwise, he would succeed in turning the tables and send Yuan Shu to the eighteenth level of hell.

Otherwise, he would be thrown into the eighteenth level of hell by Yuan Shu and would never be able to stand up again.

However, Yuan Shao was still relatively clear-headed. He was clearly aware that he alone was no match for Yuan Shu. Whether in terms of background, ability, or helpers, he was far inferior to Yuan Shu and could not compete with him.

So he needs friends, he needs many, many friends to help him.

Yuan Ji is the best candidate among them.

Before, he was not sure what Yuan Ji thought of Yuan Shu, but now, Yuan Shao felt a little more confident.

So Yuan Shao took a deep breath, prepared himself mentally, then walked to Yuan Ji's desk with his wine glass in hand, sat down, and extended the wine glass to Yuan Ji.

"As a younger brother, I would like to ask my elder brother for a glass of wine, is that ok?"

Yuan Ji looked up and saw that it was Yuan Shao. He forced a smile, nodded, picked up the wine jug beside him and filled Yuan Shao's glass with wine.

"Benchu, use it slowly."

After saying that, he continued to drink glass after glass and eat bite after bite, as if the main reason for attending this wedding was to eat and drink his fill, and he didn't care at all about what Yuan Shao wanted to do next.

Yuan Shao was not angry. After drinking a glass of wine, he put the glass on the table and spoke with a smile.

"Today is a happy day. Our little brother is finally getting married. Why doesn't brother look happy about such a happy event? Is there something on his mind?"

Yuan Ji paused for a moment as he stretched his chopsticks into the bowl. Then he continued to reach into the bowl, picked up a piece of stewed meat, and slowly put it into his mouth.

"Benchu, what do you mean? I am not unhappy, I just never like to laugh. You and I have been brothers for so many years, don't you know this?"

Looking at Yuan Ji's nonchalant look, Yuan Shao laughed in his heart, but remained expressionless and just sighed.

"I vaguely remember that you loved to laugh when you were young, but now you don't like to laugh anymore. Maybe I remembered it wrongly? But brother, today, even uncle is so happy. If you don't look happier, I'm afraid uncle will be unhappy."

After Yuan Shao finished speaking, Yuan Ji's expression changed.

He couldn't help but look towards where Yuan Feng was. He found that Yuan Feng was drinking and talking with someone while laughing heartily, and seemed to be really happy.

And such an expression, as far as he could remember, rarely appeared in front of him.

Whenever Yuan Feng faced him, he always seemed to have an expression of dissatisfaction and disappointment, and he rarely smiled.

Yuan Ji suddenly felt a sour feeling in his heart.

He took a deep breath and looked at Yuan Shao, who looked relaxed, with a little displeasure.

"Benchu, if you just came to ask for a glass of water wine, then you have already drunk it, and now you can return to your seat. The wine we drink is wine, there is no difference."

"No, brother, there is something different."

Yuan Shao raised his wine glass, swirled the liquid in it, and said with a smile: "These wines are said to have been transported thousands of miles from Liangzhou by Zijia's caravan. The quantity is extremely limited, so they are extremely precious and almost out of stock.

Zijia also tasted the wine and classified the wines into different grades. He said that the wine made from grapes produced in Wuwei County was the most mellow and sweet, and even better than the wines produced in other counties. Therefore, it was rated as the best quality wine, more valuable than gold, and ordinary people would never be able to drink a sip of it in their lifetime.

"You mean, this is it?"

Yuan Ji looked at the liquid in the glass and couldn't help but sneer: "Our little brother is really good at tasting wine. He can tell the difference. No wonder father loves him so much."

"No, it's not."

Yuan Shao shook his head and said, "This is probably just wine produced in Longxi County or Hanyang County. It is said that only Zijia and his father have the real Wuwei County wine. Only the wine they personally give is the real Wuwei County wine. With so many people here today, this kind of treasure will not be brought out. What we are drinking now is just an ordinary wine."

Yuan Ji was stunned for a moment, and then a nameless anger suddenly jumped out from a corner of his heart for no reason. As soon as it landed on the ground, it began to burn fiercely, burning his heart.

He suppressed his dissatisfaction and turned his gaze to Yuan Shu who was surrounded, with a cold light flashing in his eyes.

"There is really some estrangement between this little brother of ours and us. He didn't even leave some of this good stuff for his two brothers, but only enjoyed it himself. Does he think that the two brothers don't deserve to drink it?"

As he spoke, his hand had already clenched the wine glass and his expression became increasingly stiff.

(End of this chapter)