Not only was Yuan Shang stunned, but most of the people present had only learned the whole story at this moment.
Including Liu He, including the Huan mother and daughter in the carriage.
After listening to Yuan Xi's words, the first thought that came to everyone's mind was.
absurd!
How ridiculous!
He didn't act according to common sense at all, completely breaking everyone's understanding of how nobles behave.
Most of the nobles want to save face and reputation, but when a noble, or a top noble, throws away these shackles, how outrageous things will be, until this moment, everyone has a full understanding.
Marriage between noble families requires the support of both families and mutual success, but Yuan Xi doesn't need it.
He was originally a descendant of the Yuan family. One more Zhen family was not a big deal, and one less Zhen family was a lot. Besides, the Zhen family had already let him vacate it.
Of course, it was an expedient measure for Zhen Mi to be kicked out of the Zhen family in name only. She might not be able to return to the Zhen family in the future, but in order to have a status when she got married, Yuan Xi also specially found a foster mother for her.
Zhen Mi recognized Huan as her adoptive mother, and she counted several birds with one stone.
Originally, Yuan Xi wanted to take back the Huan clan from Cao Cao in the name of rescuing the widow, but he was slandered by people with ulterior motives as a mother and daughter.
Later, Yuan Xi asked Cao Song to expel the Huan clan, which confirmed this rumor, and his reputation fell to a low point for a while.
But Yuan Xi only used one move to easily resolve it.
Let Zhen Mi, who has not yet passed the family, recognize Huan as her adoptive mother and take advantage of the Bian family's status.
This not only clarified Yuan Xi's motive for rescuing the Huan family, but also married Zhen Mi, who became Bian Rang's widow and adopted daughter, allowing Yuan Xi to occupy the moral high ground.
Because from now on, he wanted to support Huan as his adopted mother.
In this way, he is very likely to gain the support of the nobles who sympathize with Bian Rang, and thus inherit all of Bian Rang's political legacy!
Yuan Shang felt a chill running down his spine. How did he come up with such an outrageous idea?
Huanshi in the carriage hugged Cao Xian with mixed emotions.
Is it true that Yuan Xi is such a person who understands justice well?
Huan couldn't help but feel extremely ashamed that he was really a villain with a heart that judged a gentleman.
What makes everyone even more confused is Zhang's courage.
In order to cooperate with Yuan Xi, he was willing to change his daughter's family and gave away all the Zhen family's property. Why is this?
Isn't she afraid that the Zhen family's attempt to fetch water from a bamboo basket will be in vain?
Mrs. Zhang met Yuan Shang's gaze with a calm expression.
Now that the Zhen family has been involved in the Yuan family's family affairs, it is impossible to stay alone and can only choose to take sides.
On the surface, Yuan Shang, as the future leader of Jizhou, must have a much brighter future than Yuan Xi.
But Zhang didn't think so.
After she learned about Zhen Rong being deceived, she knew that Yuan Shang just treated the people around him as pawns that could be used and discarded at will.
The power of the Zhen family is not worth mentioning to Yuan Shang, so it may be given up at any time.
But Yuan Xi is different. He is on the rise, and every investment in him is valuable and may reap huge returns in the future.
Of course, it is possible to lose all your money, but how can there be no risk in doing business?
And the most important thing is that Yuan Xi made a very heavy oath to Zhang.
According to the promise, Yuan Xi's fate will be connected with Zhen Mi's in the future, and the Zhen family will never suffer from this.
The Huan family was convinced of this, because Yuan Xi swore a poisonous oath in the name of a descendant of the Yuan family. This was the greatest guarantee.
Yuan Xi had sworn poison before, but people who heard it would not think there was anything wrong at all, but would think it was natural.
Unlike some people in later generations who believed that only children liked to swear, the Han Dynasty was an era that liked to swear to make clear its intentions and attached great importance to oaths.
The poisonous oaths made by the nobles, especially the children of the rich families, must be strictly abided by. It not only insults the family's reputation, but also restricts one's own reputation and morality.
Whether it is the words "I will swear allegiance to the lord to the death" when the subordinates take refuge, or the words "I will never betray you" said by the lord to his subordinates, they will be taken seriously. If he betrays later, he will definitely be reviled by the world.
So in this era, people are willing to make oaths to be believed by others, and they are also willing to defend this oath with their lives. Such as Guan Yu, such as Zhuge Liang.
Of course, there are exceptions. In this era, for various purposes and reasons, there are many people who fail to keep their promises in the end.
For example, Lu Bu once promised Dong Zhuo, "I would like to swear to be like father and son," which was also a kind of oath. Later, he killed Dong Zhuo. No matter whether Dong Zhuo was good or bad, Lu Bu was despised by the nobles because of this.
For example, Liu Bei also deceived Liu Zhang by breaking his promise in order to seize Yizhou, and he was still grudges all his life. Before his death, he said a warning not to do evil for small things.
Although the things Liu Bei did were not a big deal in the eyes of other heroes.
At this time, the world is fighting. As long as you are thick-skinned, promises are as insignificant as farts. For example, Sima Yi's Oath of Luoshui completely broke the bottom line between noble families.
From then on, evil consequences were sown, creating a curse for the Sima family to have no good retribution.
Throughout the two Jin Dynasties, the imperial power was weakened to the point where it was almost on an equal footing with the gentry. The emperor was despised and used, which had something to do with Sima Yi's broken promise.
But before Sima Yi did such a thing, the nobles in the late Han Dynasty still had a moral bottom line worth defending with their lives, and a large number of widely praised loyal figures emerged for this purpose.
This is an era of decline, and it is also an era of declining social norms. In this era, there is a breakdown of etiquette, conspiracies, massacres, and a wilderness of bones.
But there is also a group of people who use their lives to protect the ideals and morality in their hearts, which is why this turbulent era is so praised and praised by future generations.
The more Yuan Xi understands the thoughts of people in this world, the more he realizes how shallow and ignorant he was before about human nature and dignity.
Of course, when Yuan Shang framed Zhen Rong, he also made a promise to him.
It is precisely because of the specialness of the gentry's oath that Zhen Rong easily believed Yuan Shang and fell into a trap.
But then Yuan Shang suffered backlash. He deceived Zhen Rong about Gao Lan's life and death, and therefore lost his trust, making the Zhen family no longer able to trust him.
After that, Yuan Xi's private operations completely bound him to the Zhen family. Even if Zhang wanted to turn back, it was too late.
Including intentionally meeting Zhen Mi to be seen by others, so as to spread rumors, was also part of the plan.
Mrs. Zhang sighed inwardly, she could also guess some clues from it.
What Yuan Xi will do in the future is not simple, so he wants to separate the Zhen family, which is a kind of protection for the Zhen family.
But from now on, only Zhen Mi's honor, disgrace, life and death will be completely entrusted to Yuan Xi.
Now that everyone has figured out the cause and effect, their hearts are filled with surprise, admiration, sigh, and joy.
Only people like Yuan Xi can have such a unique idea. It seems to break the unspoken rules among the gentry, but it does not touch the bottom line. In this unique way, it maintains the relationship between the gentry. rules.
Guo Jia and everyone else have different ideas.
He guessed that by doing this, Yuan Xi was actually alienating his wife's family!
As a prince, he did not want to seek support from his wife's family, but did the opposite. A large part of it may be because Empress Lu relied on her family's exclusive power.
But here comes the question, why should Yuan Xi consider Liu Bang's position?
Guo Jia's eyes were full of excitement, mixed with a hint of ambition.
Yuan Shang found that things were completely beyond his imagination.
Now the Zhen Visit card in his hand is completely ineffective!
He snorted coldly and said, "Congratulations to Mr. Xian Yi!"
He didn't want to stay any longer, so he turned around and headed outside Zhen's Mansion.
Yuan Xi spoke up: "Master Xianfu, don't you want to see an adoption ceremony? It must be very exciting."
Yuan Shang stumbled, staggered a few steps, and almost fell. He gritted his teeth and said, "No need!"
After saying that, he quickened his steps and walked out angrily.
When Zhen Fang saw it, he panicked and hurriedly followed him. Before leaving, he turned to look at Zhang and others, and found that everyone ignored him at all, so he had to walk out in despair.
Yuan Xi said from behind: "Master, walk slowly."
Zhen Wang turned around and met Yuan Xi's unexplained smile, and her heart suddenly tightened for no reason.
I have offended Yuan Xi to death, and now I can only surrender to Yuan Shang and seek asylum!
He ran out of the house with hatred in his heart, don't look down on others, I am also the head of the Zhen family now, and when I am awarded the official position, I must squeeze the Zhen family clean!
Seeing that Yuan Shang was about to board the carriage and leave, he hurried up and shouted: "Master, wait for me!"
Yuan Shang stopped and sneered: "What are you going to do?"
Zhen Fang was stunned and said, "Sir, I am conferring an official..."
Yuan Shang laughed angrily: "Zhen Fang, you are really shameless."
"Tell me, what's your use now?"
"You're a loser, but you still want to be a high-ranking official with two thousand stones?"
"Before I get angry, go back to Wuji County and be your idle man!"
Zhen Wang watched blankly as Yuan Shang ignored her, closed the door, and the carriage turned around and left. She felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
Was his dream of becoming the head of the Zhen family and a hereditary high official shattered like this?
He suddenly remembered that Yuan Xi looked at him with a meaningful smile when he left. Yuan Shang's cold and biting eyes just now made him shudder.
He was suddenly afraid of coming, so he hurried back to the house where he was staying before leaving, and packed his luggage in a panic.
Looking at a bag of tattered clothes and bedding, he wanted to cry without tears. He thought of coming to Yecheng and becoming a successful person, but in the end he was in vain!
But if he doesn't leave, someone will come looking for him sooner or later. Now that he has been abandoned, neither Yuan Xi nor the Zhen family can fight against him.
Thinking of this, he hurriedly walked out of the city carrying his baggage.
At that time, there were a lot of people going in and out of the city gate. The crowds were crowded in and out. Zhen Wan was so crowded that he couldn't breathe. He tried to push away the people around him, but instead he was elbowed several times by the people next to him and almost lost his breath.
He was afraid of having long nights and having many dreams, and he did not dare to argue with others, so he had no choice but to swallow his anger and leave the city gate, heading towards Wuji County.
He was afraid that someone would be chasing him, so he chose a secluded path and walked for more than ten miles before feeling relieved.
As soon as he relaxed, he felt a dull pain in his side. He thought he was out of breath, so he couldn't help but press hard, but his tentacles were smooth and greasy.
When he raised his hands, he found that they were covered in blood.
Zhen Wang lowered her head tremblingly and saw that the clothes on her flank were soaked in a large area of blood.
His vision turned black and he felt his strength gradually disappearing. He finally realized that he still hadn't escaped!
He stumbled for a few steps and then fell into the weeds, his mouth ringing with joy.
He looked up at the sky, feeling that his eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, and the sky was getting darker and darker. Finally, he closed his eyes in regret and unwillingness.
(End of chapter)
