Chapter 958 - 797: Poisonous Scholar

In Shi’en Hall, Xu Chongyi watched the chaos outside with a fluctuating expression, while Xu Chuanyin had already abandoned the mess and left.

He turned his gaze to Zhang Xia and Mrs. Zhang, speaking in a deep voice: "Are you outsiders intent on turning the Xu Family into the laughingstock of the Jiangnan scholars before you’ll be satisfied?"

Zhang Xia stood behind Mrs. Zhang, calmly saying, "The Xu Family didn’t just become a laughingstock today; it started when Xu Chuanxi and Xu Chuanyin couldn’t measure up. If either of them could bear the responsibilities of the Xu Family, the Second Grandfather wouldn’t have passed the position of Clan Leader to my uncle."

Xu Chongyi said in a solemn tone: "Nonsense! Your so-called incapable Xu Chuanxi is now the Minister of the Ministry of Justice and is about to enter the cabinet any day now."

Zhang Xia chuckled, "In our Daning Dynasty, only one Minister of the Ministry of Justice has entered the cabinet, and that was Xue Xuan. But Mr. Xue was a renowned law minister; he first joined the Ministry of Rites as Vice Minister and then had the opportunity to enter the cabinet. Our dynasty emphasizes background for cabinet entry, either from the Hanlin Academy, having been in the Master’s Mansion, or a Ministry official. Xu Chuanxi entered as Minister of Justice as a ’Law Clerk,’ cutting off his path to the cabinet."

Xu Chongyi hesitated.

Zhang Xia stared into his eyes: "There’s no longer anyone from the Xu Family who can enter the cabinet. You hold this huge wealth like a child clutching a precious gem; has the Jinling Xu Family thought about their future?"

Xu Chongyi glanced at Xu Shu, who was still dozing in the chief seat, sneered, rose, and left with a swish of his sleeve: "The Zhang Family need not concern themselves with this matter. We’re leaving!"

Leading the Jinling Xu Family out of Shi’en Hall, within just thirty minutes, the hall was cleared completely, leaving behind shattered hairpins and torn clothes.

In the vast Shi’en Hall, only Zhang Xia and his group remained.

At this moment, Xu Houye hurriedly returned, followed by twelve servants, carrying six boxes.

The servants placed the boxes in the hall, and Xu Houye pointed at the boxes, saying: "All the clan assets I hold are here. When will you release my son?"

Zhang Xia responded calmly: "No hurry. Xiao Man, please summon Mr. Li and the others."

Xiao Man dashed out, bringing back five accountants from the Zhang Family, who arranged chairs and opened their abacuses. Zhang Xia sat at the chief position, perusing land deeds and account books, wrote a paper and passed it out. As it passed through the five accountants’ hands, the abacuses sounded rapidly, each noting down the accounts, and the paper finally returned to Zhang Xia.

Xu Houye watched the six of them finish accounting for a box in just an hour, and suddenly felt a chill on his scalp: "Don’t you trust me?"

Li Si grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from Xiao Man’s wallet, chewing while mumbling: "Should we trust you? Go wait over there."

When the sun reached its zenith, Zhang Xia looked up at Xu Houye: "Seven stores in Jinling, two in Suzhou, eighteen in Ningbo Prefecture. Before you handled them, they were profitable; after you took over, they incurred losses year after year."

Xu Houye replied impatiently: "I’m not good at business, so I made them unprofitable."

Zhang Xia sneered: "Phoenix Pearl Cloth Shop in Jinling uses the Xu Family’s location, but the goods are supplied by your own weaving workshop, the goods and money don’t go through the books, yet the staff and shopkeeper’s pay come from the books—of course, it will lose money."

Xu Houye shouted angrily: "Nonsense! Where’s the evidence?"

Li Si leisurely took out the previous paper from his sleeve and tossed it to Xu Houye, who caught it and asked confusedly: "What is this?"

Li Si smirked: "My adoptive father anticipated you might renege. This is a confession your own son wrote on the ship. Why else do you think my Anti-Japanese Army sent news promptly to Jinling?"

Xu Houye looked at the writing on the paper and immediately tore it to shreds: "Ungrateful son!"

Li Si cast a sidelong glance at him: "Tear it up, tear it up. I can get as many confessions like this from my Anti-Japanese Army as needed. Your son idle on the ship can write a hundred a day. Deliver twenty thousand silver before sunset, and the past shall conclude here. Rest assured, our target isn’t you; you’re just incidental."

Xu Houye took a deep breath: "When will you release my son?"

Li Si sneered: "Return to this Shi’en Hall in seven days; at the agreement, you know what choice to make in your heart. Choose correctly, and father and son reunite; choose wrong, and you both collaborate with the Japanese, reunite in prison."

Once Shi’en Hall calmed again, Li Si looked at the accounts computed by the accountants and Zhang Xia, admiring, "I’ve long heard that my adoptive mother never forgets what she’s seen, and indeed, her reputation isn’t exaggerated."

Xiao Man frowned at his sleeve: "Why didn’t you produce this earlier?"

Li Si innocently replied: "Who would play their hand from the start? We have to turn cards one by one, watching the enemy despair each time."

Finally, unable to resist, Zhang Xia asked in a serious tone: "Who exactly are you, and what are the identities of those four adoptive sons?"

Li Si didn’t hide it, clasped hands, and said: "I am Li Si, County Man of Chengping County in the Jing Dynasty. The others are Right Martial Guard Commander Yuan Xing, Viscount of Hualai County Zhou Chang, Hou’an County Marquis Jiang Chai, and Four Peace County Marquis Yuan Xi."

They all exchanged bewildered looks.

Mrs. Zhang hesitated: "You five are all nobles of the Jing Dynasty?!"

Xiao Man exclaimed in awe: "It really is Yuan Xing, amazing..."

Li Si scoffed: "Yuan Xing, a mere commoner."

Zhang Xia mused: "And Yuan Xi?"

Li Si thought for a moment: "A minor County Magistrate."

Zhang Xia asked again: "And Zhou Chang?"

Li Si smiled: "Just a harsh official."

Zhang Xia inquired further: "And Jiang Chai?"

Li Si dismissed: "A paper strategist at best."

Zhang Xia finally asked, "What about you?"

Li Si earnestly replied, "National Hero."

Zhang Xia and the others were speechless.

Xiao Man sighed, "The way you put it, the young master has brought back a bunch of straw bags. I’ve long heard that the Jing Dynasty has many noblemen, and now it seems it’s true. Without your five lords, there’s actually no difference at all..."

Li Si widened his eyes, choked and unable to speak for a while.

Xiao Man glanced sideways at him, "What’s the matter?"

Li Si was silent for a moment and then suddenly sighed, "As Miss Xiao Man said, with or without us, it really makes no difference to the Jing Dynasty."

Zhang Xia changed chairs and sat at Meng Shan Gong’s chief seat, "Why did you follow Chen Ji to the Ning Dynasty?"

Li Si sighed, "It’s a long story. It started with being kidnapped. My foster father first kidnapped Yuan Xing, Yuan Xing then kidnapped Yuan Xi, Yuan Xi and Yuan Xing then kidnapped..."

Zhang Xia couldn’t help but smile wryly, "What a mess."

Li Si lamented, "Looking back now, I also feel it was a mess. Initially, I was always thinking about how to escape, planning to go to Southern Ocean Siam first, then take a merchant ship back to the Jing Dynasty. The route was all planned out, but when I finally had the chance to leave, I didn’t want to anymore."

"Why didn’t you leave?"

Li Si first recalled Old Ears’ figure, but this was something he couldn’t say. Moreover, whether they stayed here because of that person was hard to say now.

He suddenly smiled and said, "Because it’s interesting."

Xiao Man discontentedly said, "What kind of reason is that?"

Zhang Xia no longer dwelled on it, instead turning to ask, "Since you claim to be a National Hero, tell us, if it were you, how would you handle Jiangnan?"

Li Si found a chair to sit down on, tapping the armrest with his fingers, "Wait for a century-old disaster."

Zhang Xia and Zhang Zheng exchanged a glance, and Xiao Man asked confusedly, "What’s the use of waiting for that?"

Li Si stroked his goatee and said cryptically, "Jiangnan’s stakes are deep-rooted, it’s time to break to rebuild. Although you’re now consolidating the Xu Family and dealing with the Eight Great Merchants, which can fill the national treasury, it’s just drinking poison to quench thirst. The only solution is to wait for a disaster year, let the common folk behead the Jiangnan scholars until heads roll, and then let the court come to clean up this mess."

Li Si looked at Zhang Xia, "It’s not just the Ning Dynasty that’s sick. My Jing Dynasty is also critically ill. It’s just that everyone’s pretending not to see it. The dynastic changes are like cutting away rotten flesh or gangrene. New military merits and nobles will naturally uproot and eradicate the old noble scholar families, then become the new noble scholar families themselves, and so the cycle repeats. But our Ning and Jing Dynasties have been immortal for a thousand years, and have nurtured too many towering rotten trees, it’s time to burn it all down with one fire... But neither dynasty has the courage, scared that the fire will burn themselves."

Li Si continued, "Whether the fire will burn onto them depends on when to extinguish the uprising. You must wait for the right timing, too early and the roots won’t be properly removed, too late and it’ll be mutual destruction... Once the timing is right, the court will pacify one group and exterminate another..."

Xiao Man murmured, "You’re not a National Hero, clearly a Poisonous Scholar."

Li Si smiled, "Earlier I evaluated the other four, if they were to evaluate me in turn, it would be the two words ’Poisonous Scholar’."

Xiao Man was curious, "How does Yuan Xing evaluate himself?"

Li Si, "A match for ten thousand."

"What about Yuan Xi?"

"An able minister in times of peace."

"And Zhou Chang?"

"A pillar of the court."

"Jiang Chai?"

"A renowned general under the heavens."

Zhang Zheng chuckled, "You all should go to Southern Ocean and start a nation instead of staying here as adopted sons, you’re surely capable."

Li Si’s eyes lit up, "Oh?"

Zhang Zheng lightly coughed, "I was just speaking off the cuff. Back to business, the meeting in seven days, Xu Chuanxi has four votes, Xu Chuanyin has three votes, and we have one vote. Even if we pull Xu Mengshan to our side, we only have two votes. Xu Chuanyin won’t give up easily either, who knows what underhanded tricks they’ll use."

Zhang Xia looked at Li Si, "What about your foster father’s plans?"

Li Si smiled and stood up with a salute, "Foster father didn’t say, only instructed me to make a trip to Suzhou to meet someone for him. Madam, foster mother, Miss Xiao Man, farewell, see you in seven days."

With that, he turned and left.

Zhang Zheng leaned on the armrest, watching Li Si’s figure disappear through the door, jokingly said, "What an interesting man, truly capable and truly poisonous... Chen Ji dares to let him out to work, isn’t he afraid of causing great trouble."

He turned back to look at Zhang Xia, "What are you thinking?"

Zhang Xia stood up and walked to the threshold of Shi’en Hall, looking out, "Seeing him, I suddenly thought of another Poisonous Scholar. The world called him a Poisonous Scholar, but only one person treated him as a National Hero. The Poisonous Scholar then locked himself in a dark house, diligently working for thirty-one years, truly turning himself into a National Hero."