Li Gongxiang was the imperial envoy secretly appointed by the Emperor to go to the south of the Yangtze River. Only a few important ministers in the court were aware of this. It was not easy for the Jin family to get wind of the court's attention on the Furu Commerce Association and the dispatch of Li Gongxiang beforehand. To avoid a catastrophic disaster, they spent countless silver in a desperate struggle, only to end up with a clean and comfortable cell, excellent food, and polite treatment, and finally, the three family members could stay together.
Xiaobao initially cried and made a fuss emotionally. After being thrown into the cell, he lay on Mrs. Jin's lap with his swollen and tired eyes closed, letting Mrs. Jin gently stroke his forehead, falling into a long silence.
Eventually, he sat up with effort, his eyes lifelessly staring at the bare walls, and said, "Dad, tell me, what exactly happened to the Jin family? Let me die with some understanding."
And Zongzheng... Huai en, if I have a chance to see you in this life, I also want to understand. If I, Jin Xiaobao, have wronged you in any way, if you have any true feelings for me, otherwise, I will not rest in death. I will keep asking in heaven and earth, through reincarnation, over and over again.
Old Master Jin sighed deeply, as if it took all his strength to regulate his breath before he could slowly speak.
"Where should I start... Furu Commerce Association, you've never heard of it because it's an underground commerce association. Including the Jin family, it encompasses five major families in the south of the Yangtze River with extremely strong financial power. None of these families are hereditary noble families; their wealth was accumulated in recent decades or even just a few years. They became rich during the early reign of the new Emperor, relying on risky ventures. When the Emperor settled external and internal troubles and brought peace to the four seas, we wanted to clean up and do legitimate business, but by then, it was already too late to get off the tiger's back..."
"Our five families were able to come together to make this short-lived fortune, which cannot be mentioned without the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau and the royal family's internal strife and sibling rivalry at that time..."
Old Master Jin fell into a lengthy reminiscence, his face showing a calmness that comes from being in a desperate situation.
"The weaver of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau at that time... was named Xue Wei."
"Xue Wei?" Xiaobao exclaimed, wasn't Xue Wei...
"Yes... the grandfather of Xiaoyu, the head of the Xue family."
Xiaobao's heart pounded. His father had acted as if he didn't recognize the Xue family at all. What complex secrets were hidden inside?
"Xue Wei, when the previous Emperor was in power, had already been appointed as the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Works. He was originally from Suzhou. His eldest daughter, Xue Tong'en, you must have heard of her. She was once regarded as the most beautiful woman in the south of the Yangtze River, famous for her talent and beauty, far and wide.
Later, she caught the eye of the Crown Prince, who is now the Emperor.
When the Emperor ascended the throne, Xue Tong'en became the Imperial Consort. Among the three thousand beauties of the harem, she was second only to the Empress but was the sole favorite of the Emperor. Thus, the weaving bureaus of Jiangning, Suzhou, and Hangzhou were placed under Xue Wei's supervision. The Jiangnan Weaving Bureau was mainly responsible for supervising and purchasing silk and embroidery for the palace, a very lucrative job. Moreover, it secretly gathered intelligence on the four provinces for the Emperor, and Xue Wei had a very close relationship with the Emperor. If not for his daughter's favor, it would not have been his turn.
Later... later, there were only a few mentions in historical records, nothing more than the difficult childbirth and death of Consort Xue, the Emperor's first son died in the womb, and Xue Wei, advanced in years, grieved for his lost daughter and voluntarily resigned from his weaving position to live out his days in Suzhou."
"But the truth is far from that. The Jin family's situation today has a thousand threads of connection with the grudges and affections between the royal family and the Xue family over the past twenty years."
"Ah... this matter has to start from when the previous Emperor Jia Yun was alive. Emperor Jia Yun was as incompetent as you've heard. He was weak and reclusive in nature. During his thirteen years on the throne, he was nothing but a puppet in the hands of the power ministers, always depressed, indulging in pleasures without caring for state affairs, allowing the eldest prince and the second prince's relatives to manipulate politics. As the country was on the verge of destruction, he finally realized the principle of mutual dependence and decided to abandon Jia Yun and promote a new Emperor to save the country. The death of Emperor Jia Yun, the mutual accusations between the eldest prince and the second prince, are still debated to this day. In short, after a series of open and secret struggles, countless sacrifices, the eldest prince ascended the throne, and the second prince fled.
To speak of the royal family's power struggle and usurpation, it can be said that it all started with this calamitous beauty.
The eldest prince and the second prince had been indulged in rivalry since childhood, never willing to give in to each other. The families of their mothers had been fighting for half a lifetime, and by their generation, the power had already taken shape, and the struggle intensified."
"Xue Wei was originally on the side of the second prince. The second prince had a special affection for Xue Tong'en and boldly declared that if he became the Emperor, Xue Tong'en would be the mother of the nation.
Unexpectedly, at a palace banquet, this stunning beauty caught the eye of the eldest prince. It was said he was smitten, trying all means to please and win her over. After the defeat of the second prince, Xue Tong'en had to adapt to the situation and entered the harem.
The second prince, with great wealth and power, naturally did not fade away so easily. Soon, he carved out a place for himself in the martial world, and in the court, he had numerous loyal followers, always waiting for an opportunity to rise again."
Not long after the Emperor ascended the throne, Consort Xue became pregnant. It was rumored that Consort Xue had already secretly pledged herself to the second prince. The Emperor was naturally furious and banished her to the cold palace. The Empress had always harbored hatred for Consort Xue and took the opportunity to have her killed. The Empress's relatives, having contributed to the Emperor's rise to power, held unshakable positions in the court. Thus, whether or not the Emperor tacitly approved, Consort Xue died in vain.
Although it was publicly claimed that she died in childbirth, many people in the palace knew that the child had already been born and was taken out of the palace by the second prince's loyalists."
"The Xue family naturally fell from grace, stripped of real power and given a nominal position in Suzhou. At the height of his power, Xue Wei could sit on an equal footing with the highest officials of the court, so glorious, but in an instant, he fell to the bottom. Moreover, his doting on his eldest daughter surpassed the love for a sole son passed down through three generations. Losing his beloved daughter and his career, he was immediately disheartened. But such days did not last long before the second prince came to him."
"Xue Wei was originally the second prince's man, but because of his weakness and greed, he switched allegiance to the eldest prince. However, the second prince did not blame him. Instead, he persuaded him to help him rise again and avenge his daughter. Xue Wei was initially very hesitant.
Although he was frustrated, the Emperor still had old affections for him, and his family was living a stable life. He did not dare to risk the lives and fortunes of his whole family on a gamble. Unexpectedly, the second prince brought out a baby, the product of his secret affair with Consort Xue. It was said that the child inherited Consort Xue's celestial beauty and was a boy.
The second prince also showed deep and unwavering love for Consort Xue, which meant that if the second prince succeeded one day, the world would also belong to the Xue family."
"Although Xue Wei no longer had real power, he had many connections in the weaving bureau and various business circles in the south of the Yangtze River. Many people owed him favors. Xue Wei himself was very astute and capable, and with the large amount of gold and silver provided by the second prince as a door-opener, he quickly used the various conveniences of power in the weaving bureau to pave dark paths for some profitable but shady businesses. He also chose a few merchants with weak financial power but strong momentum at the time, lured them with huge profits, and operated with them. That was our five families."
This memory was too shocking for Xiaobao. He had always thought that the Jin family's prosperity was due to fate, skill, and destiny. He never imagined that the vast fortune accumulated in just a decade or two was actually based on what.
"The feeling of getting rich overnight... was too crazy, I couldn't stop even if I wanted to, and I didn't want to stop at all. You know, when your dad was young, he was a rough bandit..." Old Master Jin silently looked at his wife and child, "Always looked down ...down upon by your grandfather until your birth, when the situation slightly improved. I was determined to make a name for myself, although I knew that the business I was involved in was life-threatening. But when I was robbing people on the mountains, wasn't that life-threatening too? So at that time, I was the most reckless, and also the one who grew the fastest and strongest. Moreover, at that time, the second prince had planted forces in the court and the martial world to protect us, and things went smoothly beyond imagination. We did not know about the entanglement between the Xue family and the royal family, and blinded by greed, we did not consider that such good fortune could not come without a price."
"When one morning I suddenly realized that I had built such a large family business, I then knew fear. The Emperor was young and capable, had settled the internal chaos, and was about to triumph over the barbarians.
What followed would inevitably be a thorough reorganization. We made a fortune in the chaos, and the court knew but had no time to deal with us.
But a tall tree catches the wind. Sooner or later, the Emperor would start to sort out the realm, and our amassed wealth would just fill the empty state treasury, making us the prime targets for slaughter."
"So we began to discuss, to rapidly expand our legitimate businesses, hoping to whitewash ourselves. Unfortunately, the dark dealings we were involved in were too extensive, pulling one thread would move the whole body. We wanted to retreat, but it was impossible, and one wrong move could provoke the hidden second prince."
"Intermittently, we learned many secrets not known to the public. When we connected them, we suddenly realized that we... we were just tools for the second prince's rapid accumulation of wealth, to provide a vast fortune for his rebellion. At this point, Old Master Jin even laughed bitterly.
Xiaobao felt as if his heart was soaked in ice water, chilling to the core. "It's laughable that we thought we were blessed with good fortune, that we had such an opportunity to honor our ancestors. It turns out that after being gloriously prosperous for over a decade, we were just pigs being fattened for slaughter, the fatter we grew, the closer we were to death..."
Old Master Jin's face turned ashen, and Xiaobao, worried, called out, "Dad..."
After a pause, he continued, "Eventually, the court noticed us. For the past few years, we have been trying to bribe our way out, hoping to suppress the matter, or at least divert the Emperor's attention, to give us more room to maneuver... but all in vain..."
"Over a year ago, we knew our days were numbered. Whether it was the Emperor or the second prince, they were eyeing our fat piece of meat, waiting for the right moment to strike. No matter what, it was a dead end for us. So we began to transfer our assets. With the face of the Su Alliance Leader, Prince Li has already agreed to try to save the lives of our family of three. At the very least, at least, we could secretly send you and Xiaoyu away. But when we received the news, the Emperor had already secretly dispatched Li Gongxiang as the imperial envoy to the south of the Yangtze River. At this critical moment, an epidemic suddenly broke out in Yunnan, and Prince Li was stretched thin. When we decided to save ourselves, we didn't expect to have already let a traitor in. The damning account book was stolen, and isn't this just heaven wanting to destroy our Jin family..."
Xiaobao's lips trembled, and in the end, he was too heartbroken to speak.
From beginning to end, it was all a scheme. He came with a purpose, and many things were explained. Ridiculously, he was infatuated and self-deluded, still believing that others truly cared for him. In the end, he foolishly sold his own family.
He even naively comforted himself that even if Huaien really had an ulterior motive, he could surely afford it. He didn't expect that what Huaien wanted was something he could never afford. He discarded propriety, integrity, and shame to face disdain and contempt, willingly spreading his legs for others. After being played inside and out, once the goal was achieved, they left without looking back, leaving him to watch as his family was about to be destroyed. For someone like him, what was the point of living? Even animals are not as stupid and cheap as him, it's simply ingrained in his bones. No wonder he doesn't see himself as a person.
Thinking this, he actually laughed softly a few times. Now, he really wanted to chop himself up and feed himself to the dogs. He hated no one more than himself!
The Jin elders looked at their son with some concern, just about to speak, when suddenly a few crisp claps echoed in the quiet and gloomy cell, followed by a lazy but cold laugh.
The three of them were shocked, not knowing when someone had appeared nearby.
A person slowly emerged from the shadows of the corner, walking leisurely yet powerfully, with an imposing and deadly aura, but his face bore a cynical smile. He spoke teasingly, "Old Master Jin's story is well told and mostly true. However, I wonder whether intentionally or not, some thrilling content seems to have been conveniently omitted."
Xiaobao recognized the newcomer, and his scalp felt like it was about to explode with fear, as terror instantly engulfed him.