The reason why Li Ran asked this question was based on what basis he had? That can be said to be completely absent.
But for some reason, Li Ran always had a vague feeling of déjà vu, feeling that the plan to sell grain to the family was not as simple as it seemed.
So he was very interested in who came up with this idea. Even judging from Ji Xian's reaction just now, Ji Xian was completely aware of this decision. However, relying solely on intuition, he still had doubts about this.
Sure enough, his intuition was completely correct.
When Ji Xian heard what Li Ran said, he was obviously stunned for a moment. His eyes flashed, as if he was a little embarrassed, and he looked like he was hesitant to speak.
This scene made Zichan on the side immediately interested and asked in surprise:
"Sacrificing elders? Is this really not your own idea?"
Although the food that Jishi plans to transport to Weiguo this time is not too much compared to the disaster relief aid from various countries, it is not a small amount. And these grains can be regarded as a huge sum of money for such a large Ji clan.
If this idea is really not from Ji Xian, then who else within the Ji clan can decide on such a large-scale grain trade?
"Sigh... To be honest, this is my son's intention... Seeing that this is a good thing, I didn't think about it in detail, so... I agreed... But I didn't expect... Sigh..."
At the end of the words, Ji Xian sighed again, depression and regret appeared on his face at the same time, and he lowered his head, feeling very guilty.
As he said, he didn't think there was anything wrong with the incident at first. But today, after listening to what Li Ran said, she realized how much disaster this incident might bring to the Ji family and even to Zheng Guo.
If Li Ran hadn't woken him up today, I'm afraid he would have made the same mistake again and again, and it would be hard to recover. If he made another mistake, then Jishi and Zheng Guoke would really have made a huge joke in front of the whole world. .
However, when Li Ran heard Ji Xian's words, the bad intuition in his heart did not fade away at all. Instead, it became clearer.
Before he could speak, Zichan asked again:
"Erecting a cow? You mean, he proposed this?"
Ji Xian nodded slightly and sighed:
"Yes... He has been responsible for taking care of our clan's external business over the years. Now that he is old, it is inevitable that he is a little unable to do what he does. He has not asked about this trivial matter for a long time. If the doctor hadn't spoken this time Please, I won’t get involved in this matter.”
Being entrusted by officials of Zheng State to transport grain to Wei State for disaster relief, and Ji Shi privately transporting grain to Wei State for sale, are two completely different things. Even if Ji Xian felt free to stand up, he would still have to take care of it personally.
After all, no matter how small the matter in Zheng's court was, it would have a huge impact on the Ji clan.
It was precisely because of this that both Li Ran and Zichan mistakenly believed that Ji's plan to transport grain and sell it was Ji Xian's own decision.
But in fact this is not the case.
When Li Ran heard this, he suddenly remembered that the uneasiness in his heart had appeared before in the Lu Kingdom.
That was before the death of Ji Ye, the former crown prince of Lu State, when he and his uncle Sunbao were thinking about why the Ji family opposed Prince Ye's move to the Chu Palace.
At that time, Li Ran felt that Ji's objection to the prince's wild move to the Chu Palace was not as simple as it seemed on the surface, and there must be a bigger conspiracy hidden behind it.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for Prince Lu to be assassinated and died.
Now, when Li Ran heard that Ji's grain selling plan was planned by Shu Niu, he suddenly felt that this plan was definitely more than what it seemed.
Thinking back to that day, when he went to visit the family of the sacrificer, he could still vividly remember the murderous intention of the standing bull next to him. The killing intent was not only strong, but also extremely determined, as if he and Shu Niu had a sworn hatred.
He had been thinking about it for the past few days, but he still couldn't figure out why Shu Niu treated him like this. Therefore, he always suspected that Shu Niu had some relationship with the Ji family of Lu State, so he specially asked Sun Wu to investigate.
But Sun Wu was also new here, and he was not very familiar with everything around him, so what could he find?
"Ziming, what do you mean...?"
Zichan seemed to notice that Li Ran was worried, and immediately frowned and asked.
You must know that this plan for the sacrifice of the clan will not only affect the sacrifice of the clan, but also the entire Zheng State. Zi Chanzi is very concerned about it right now.
However, Li Ran was also unsure at this time, so he immediately replied casually after hearing the sound:
"Oh, what I mean is, now that the matter has come to this, we should ask clearly whose idea it is..."
He didn't say it clearly. After all, he wasn't very clear about the matter at the moment. If he said something wrong, wouldn't it just make others more troubled?
Zichan nodded slightly when he heard the sound. After thinking for a moment, he turned to look at Ji Xian and said:
"In this case, let's make arrangements for the sacrifice today. Make sure this matter is done properly and no more troubles will occur."
After Zichan said this, he looked outside the house again, but saw that the full moon was hanging high and it was already late at night. Then he stood up to say goodbye to Li Ran.
"It's getting late, let's say goodbye first and come back to visit another day."
With that said, he and Ji Xian stood up at the same time. After Li Ran bowed to them, they left in a hurry.
In fact, when Zichan saw Li Ran like this before leaving, he knew that he must have something to say, but since Jixian was also present, he didn't ask more questions.
After spending more than ten years in Zheng Guo's court, Zichan had already mastered the ability to observe words and emotions.
After the two of them left, Ji Le walked out from the backyard sadly, with the same guilty look on his face as Ji Xian did before.
A pair of bright and transparent eyes looked at Li Ran and kept rubbing the corners of his clothes.
She had also heard Li Ran's words just now, and also knew how dangerous it was for the Ji clan to transport grain to the Wei Kingdom for sale. As a member of the Ji clan, she felt even more scared.
"Brother Ziming...I..."
"This matter has nothing to do with you. Girl Ji, don't blame yourself too much."
Li Ran couldn't help but comfort him.
But who would have thought that Ji Le shook his head and said, still a little sad:
"No, my father has always taught me that our clan has been doing business for generations, and everyone in the clan is one family. We depend on each other and share weal and woe."
"Even if I did not participate in this matter, I am still responsible... If I had known this... If I had known this, I should have opposed Brother Meng earlier..."
Ji Le's brows were filled with regret.
It turned out that when she first heard Shu Niu propose this idea, she thought this business was just an ordinary one. But he never thought of linking this business with the safety of the people of Weiguo.
She has traveled to many places over the years, and has a deep understanding of the hardships of people's lives.
Now that the country of Wei has suffered a major disaster, how can the people have any spare money to buy food? Wouldn't it be true that the grain that the Ji family shipped to Wei was resold to those high-ranking officials in the end? In the end, the people of Wei State were starving to death everywhere, and probably no one cared about them.
It's a pity that although she is the apple of Ji Xian's eye, as a daughter, she is very quiet about the internal affairs of the Ji family.
Moreover, she could not think as thoroughly as Li Ran, so when Shu Niu proposed this suggestion, she did not object.
Thinking about it now, I was really scared. If Li Ran hadn't dissuaded him, it would have been impossible to know that Ji Shi would have suffered a serious crime this time.
After thinking about it, Ji Le immediately raised his hands and eyebrows towards Li Ran and saluted. He actually changed from his usual playful demeanor and now looked very respectful.
