I, the villainous eldest prince, will suppress everything!

After watching Chen Wangju turn and leave, his figure quickly disappeared from sight.

The two young monks put their hands together in prayer, bowed to Master Wuliang, and said:

"Master, are we just going to let him go like this?"

The monk just brought the two of them here, and on the way he told them that they must leave this person at Jinguang Temple.

But now, Master Wuliang didn't insist on keeping him, and they really didn't know what Master Wuliang meant.

Master Wuliang, still with a kind and benevolent expression, slowly rubbed the prayer beads in his hands and said:

"Just now, I glimpsed the secrets of heaven and discovered that this person's worldly ties are not yet severed. If I let him sever his worldly ties, he will naturally join my Golden Light Temple."

"Just wait, it won't be long!"

After saying this, Master Wuliang turned and walked deeper into the temple.

The two young monks believed Master Wuliang's words wholeheartedly and followed closely behind him.

……

At the entrance of Jinguang Temple.

Chen Wangju spotted his older brother, Chen Shoutian, at a glance.

He not only received a free bowl of porridge, but also two steamed buns.

"Wangju, drink it quickly, it's still warm."

Chen Shoutian eagerly handed over a steaming bowl of porridge and stuffed two steamed buns into Chen Wangju's hands.

Jin Guang Temple was very wealthy, so the porridge they ate was made of white rice and the steamed buns were made of white flour, which was better than what they ate at the rice shop.

"Brother, I'm not hungry, you drink it."

As I said before, Chen Wangju is a future top scholar. If he were to drink free porridge here and it got out, where would he put his face as a top scholar?

"Why aren't you hungry? Your stomach is growling. Come on, drink up, it's not embarrassing."

Chen Shoutian only wanted to feed his younger brother, Chen Wangju.

But to everyone's surprise, a commotion suddenly broke out in the distance. The beggars who were queuing up for porridge at the entrance of Jin Guang Temple abandoned their queue and rushed toward the commotion.

"Brother, what happened?" Chen Shoutian stopped someone and asked curiously.

The man replied, "You must be new here. Don't you know? The Song family is giving out meat again. It's much better than the porridge and steamed buns you have. This is real meat, real meat. Hurry up, or it'll be gone."

After saying that, the man slapped away Chen Shoutian's hand that was grabbing his sleeve and quickly ran over with the crowd, afraid that if he was late, he wouldn't get a turn.

Meat?

A small question mark appeared on Chen Shoutian's forehead.

Then, regardless of whether Chen Wangju agreed or not, he pulled him towards the riot.

Before they even reached the front, the two brothers smelled a strong aroma of meat in the air, which made them involuntarily swallow.

The two brothers hadn't eaten meat in ages—three or four months, they couldn't quite remember—they'd almost forgotten what meat tasted like.

Thinking of this, Chen Wangju didn't care about losing face anymore and pushed forward even harder than his brother Chen Shoutian.

Finally, the two brothers managed to squeeze to a relatively close spot and join the queue.

However, Chen Wangju was stunned as soon as they lined up.

Because he saw a familiar face among the crowd of people getting fat.

Chen Shoutian also noticed, and he reached out his hand, exclaiming in surprise:

"Wang Ju, look! Isn't that Cao Quan?"

Among the crowd of people getting their meat cut, Cao Quan stood at the head, his clothes clearly different from the others.

Everyone else was wearing light blue clothes, but he was wearing dark blue, as if he were the leader of the group.

"Looking ahead, it seems Cao Quan has become wealthy and powerful."

Chen Shoutian couldn't help but say.

"Oh, you actually know Manager Cao?"

The beggar standing behind the two suddenly spoke.

The two looked at him together, puzzled, and asked, "Manager Cao?"

The beggar, holding a broken bowl, spoke eloquently: "Isn't that Manager Cao? Speaking of Manager Cao, well, that's a long story."

"He's an outsider, I think he's from the Jiangnan region. It's a miracle that he became the head manager of the Song family, a royal merchant family."

"The Song family has five head managers who report directly to the head of the Song family."

"Which of these managers hasn't worked for the Song family for decades?"

"But this manager surnamed Cao is new, and he is currently highly trusted by the head of the Song family."

"With just a word from him, he can decide the life and death of countless people!"

After hearing what the beggar said, the two brothers were both wide-eyed with shock.

How long has Cao Quan been away from the rice shop, and yet he's already become the head manager of the Song family? It just doesn't seem like it.

They are from the same hometown as Cao Quan, so why is there such a big difference between them?

On New Year's Eve, they have to queue up to get meat to eat.

But Cao Quan was the one who led the people to distribute meat.

"Brother, let's go."

They realized that the meat they were about to receive was distributed by Cao Quan.

Chen Wangju felt a pang of unease.

He pulled his brother Chen Shoutian, intending to leave the group and return to the rice shop.

"Why are you leaving? It'll be our turn soon. Maybe Cao Quan will give us a couple more pieces of meat out of consideration for us being from the same hometown!"

Chen Shoutian stopped Chen Wangju from leaving, insisting that he must have some meat tonight, otherwise it would be a huge loss.

"Let go!"

Chen Wangju was so angry with Chen Shoutian that he shook off his hand, left the group, and turned to leave.

Chen Shoutian was stunned. In his memory, Chen Wangju had never been so angry with him before. What was wrong with him tonight?

He was torn between wanting to catch up and wanting to stay in line.

In his predicament, Cao Quan noticed this side.

Upon seeing two familiar faces, Cao Quan smiled and walked over to them.

"Hey, isn't this Brother Morita and Brother Nozomi?"

Cao Quan took the initiative to greet him.

Chen Shoutian replied, "Isn't it just the two of us brothers?"

After speaking, Chen Shoutian reached out and patted Cao Quan on the shoulder, looking Cao Quan up and down:

"Cao Quan, you're something else! It's only been a short time since we last met, and you've already made a name for yourself. If you become rich and powerful, don't forget us brothers."

"How dare you! Where did this beggar come from?"

The men behind Cao Quan couldn't help but scold him.

"Hey, not a beggar."

Cao Quan stretched out his arm to stop them and said to Chen Shoutian, "Of course I, Cao Quan, will not forget you two brothers. Men, bring two more pieces of meat."

Upon hearing this, Chen Shoutian smiled so much that wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes.

However, when the waiter turned to get the meat, Cao Quan noticed that Chen Wangju seemed not to have heard him and walked further and further away.

So he asked Chen Shoutian, "What's wrong with him?"

Chen Shoutian scratched his head awkwardly: "I don't know what's wrong with Wang Ju. He probably still remembers what happened at the rice shop. Cao Quan, please don't hold it against him. He's young and doesn't know any better."

Cao Quan waved his hand and said, "Why should we be so calculating? We're from the same hometown, so we should help each other out here."

After he finished speaking, the waiter brought over the meat. Chen Shoutian quickly took it, said a few more words to Cao Quan, and then hurried off to catch up with Chen Wangju.

Watching the two brothers walk away, Cao Quan shook his head for no apparent reason and smiled softly.

After finishing, he stretched, looked at the gate of Jin Guang Temple not far away, and said loudly:

"Guys, we've got work! Get to it!"

The men all shouted in unison, "Yes!"

……