Free Web NovelChapter 815: Chapter 69 Bad Friends
Jiang Wang thought for a moment and said, "The Master of the Hua Ying Palace should be able to understand this."
Yan Fu gave a bitter smile, "The marriage arrangement with the girl from the Liu Family was supposed to be terminated long ago, but the Liu Family of Fufeng has kept delaying the transfer of the direct lineage, claiming that Liu Xuanhu is diligent in his cultivation and is about to make a breakthrough... The Yan Family did not feel it appropriate to press them for action. Thus, the matter kept dragging on."
Yan Fu was a gentle and untainted man, and there were some things he did not say, but they were not difficult to imagine.
The Family Head of the Liu Family was reluctant to transfer the direct lineage and kept pushing his younger son Liu Xuanhu, while also holding onto the marriage arrangement with the Yan Family, not without the thought of using the Yan Family’s influence to consolidate his own line’s position.
It was likely that until the Liu Family internally transferred the direct lineage, they would not speak of dissolving the marriage arrangement.
The subsequent events became easy to understand.
Although Yan Fu did not formally terminate the marriage arrangement, it was clear to discerning eyes that this was only a matter of time. If it wasn’t for the Master of the Hua Ying Palace stirring up trouble this time, many people might not even have known about Yan Fu’s earlier engagement to the girl from the Liu Family.
Given Yan Fu’s prospects, he need not worry about marriage alliances. The threshold of the Yan Family was never short of such arrangements. Hence, the old Master Yan started looking for another match for his grandson. This led to Zhongxuan Sheng telling Jiang Wang in the Taixu Illusion Realm before the New Year that Yan Fu was going to be arranged into a political marriage.
In fact, Zhongxuan Sheng didn’t even know about Yan Fu’s previous betrothal—a matter that certainly wasn’t a big secret, but one that few paid attention to.
"Later on, the Wen Family showed interest in forming an alliance with us. My ancestor found me a match from the Wen Family, a girl named Ting Lan. Since we were to form a connection, the earlier betrothal naturally had to be resolved cleanly, so I went to Fufeng Commandery and withdrew from the engagement. Because Wen Tinglan is the daughter of the Imperial Court Adviser Wen Yanyu, the Master of the Hua Ying Palace then accused me of despising the poor and loving the rich, currying favor with those in power, and being vain and greedy for glory."
Yan Fu’s face was embarrassed as he continued, "That day, I was just drinking with Brother Chongxuan when the Master of the Hua Ying Palace showed up, and I had no choice but to flee in disarray."
The position of an Imperial Court Adviser was indeed prestigious.
The political system of Qi Country was not complex.
Politically, it was led by the Prime Minister, who headed the Political Affairs Hall.
Within the Political Affairs Hall, there were nine Imperial Court Advisers deliberating on policies. Below the Political Affairs Hall were three departments: Ritual, Household, and Official. These were in charge of etiquette, economy, and administration respectively.
Zhao Xuan, who was killed by Hell Has No Door, was the Chief Officer of the Ritual Department, a Grade-4 official.
The entire country’s decrees were issued from the Political Affairs Hall, and one can imagine the status of the nine Imperial Court Advisers. All were servants of the second rank.
Military matters were led by the Grand Marshal of the nation, who controlled the Military Affairs Hall. Nine Soldier Commanders were within the Military Affairs Hall, which had jurisdiction over the army and horses of the entire nation. Any campaign would be initiated from the Military Affairs Hall.
For instance, Zhongxuan Chuliang, the Marquis of Ding Yuan, was one of the Nine Soldier Commanders and ranked within the Military Affairs Hall.
Beyond that were the local Prefectural Governor’s offices, responsible for local administration and military affairs and managing the subordinate City Lord’s offices.
Overall, it could be said that the system was parallel without conflict but occasionally intersected.
For example, if the Golden Needle case could not be dealt with by the local Prefectural Governor’s office, it would be reported up to Linzi.
There were also some special government offices, such as the Inner Officials, Watchmen, Imperial City Inspection Mansion, and so on, which were not under the Political Affairs Hall or Military Affairs Hall but were directly commanded by the emperor. freёwebnovel.com
Among these, the Imperial City Inspection Mansion was a very special office. The Beiyar Commander might be low in rank but wielded significant power, in charge of the Capital City’s order but in fact, had some jurisdiction over all thieves across the nation, a power that could be quite astonishing when expanded.
This is also why, after the Beiyar Commander became God Arrives, he had to "promote" himself.
The Beiyar Commander was a Grade-4 official position in itself, but the forces that the Imperial City Inspection Mansion could command were far beyond that. Just the Green Plate System alone was an extremely strong system, yet was under the control of the Beiyar.
Of course, exactly how much power the Beiyar Commander had depended on the person holding the position and how many people he could command. After all, some Qing brand catchers did not have to show face to the Beiyar Commander.
For example, the divine catcher Yue Leng. He was a Grade-3 Qing brand catcher and was given a Grade-2 retirement rank, several levels higher than Zheng Shi.
If Zheng Shi was not careful, Yue Leng could completely ignore the orders from the Beiyar.
In short, Yan Fu had secured a fine marriage alliance.
A court adviser’s position was almost on par with the murderous Zhongxuan Chuliang. Of course, Zhongxuan Chuliang also held the title of a meritorious marquis, which was beyond what a court adviser could compare with.
It was no wonder that the Lord of Hua Ying Palace cursed Yan Fu for despising the poor and loving the rich.
Although, with Yan Fu’s family wealth, it seemed unnecessary for him to chase after riches... Who could be richer than his family!
This matter was actually quite unjust for Yan Fu; when the engagement was decided upon earlier, he had no power to dissent from within the womb. Later, when the Liu Family of Fufeng faced continuous disasters, and the marriage agreement existed in name only, it was not within his power to decide. Afterwards, when his grandfather Yan Ping arranged the marriage with the court adviser Wen Yanyu, could he possibly jump out and disagree? Naturally, he could only go to Fufeng Commandery with a dejected face to dissolve the engagement.
But he indeed caused the fact of initiating the breakup of the engagement, and being harshly reprimanded by the Lord of Hua Ying Palace, and even chased and beaten, he had no room to resist.
From the perspective of Liu Family’s girl, Liu Xiuzhang, she was even more innocent. Originally a legitimate daughter of a noble family, she had secured an enviable marriage. But before anything could develop, the pillar of the family suddenly collapsed, her outstanding brother was killed by a madman, and the family’s power plummeted. As a result, her worthless brother couldn’t hold up the resources, causing a fuss about changing the heir.
She hadn’t done anything, yet she was about to become a daughter of a branch of the Liu Family and even had her engagement broken!
She had provoked no one and caused no trouble, yet she suffered such immense humiliation.
How tragically ’sorrowful’ describes it.
As the close friend of Liu Xiuzhang, the anger of Lord Jiang Wuyou of the Hua Ying Palace was perfectly understandable. No matter how angry she was, she couldn’t possibly go looking for trouble with the former prime minister Yan Ping, could she? Regardless of Yan Fu’s innocence, he could only be the target for her to vent her frustration.
Jiang Wang sympathetically took a few bites of his food, and after chewing slowly, he said, "No wonder you have to sneak around to see me, it’s because you are afraid of bumping into the Lord of Hua Ying Palace again."
"Not to hide it from Brother Jiang, I have been feeling somewhat suffocated lately. Hearing that you were back, I quickly had someone arrange a meeting with you. It would be good to talk about anything." Yan Fu shook his head and sighed.
"Your timing is actually quite good, as in a few days, I was planning to go out to sea to take a break. Aren’t Longchuan brother and Xiang Qian brother in the Near Sea Archipelago? I’ll go there to clear my mind, and take in the sea views too."
Jiang Wang’s expression was odd, "That does sound rather nice."
Engrossed in his own grievances, Yan Fu failed to notice the implied problem and instead asked, "Brother Jiang, would you like to come along?"
Jiang Wang replied, "I do indeed have matters that require a trip to the Near Sea Archipelago, but they’re not so urgent."
He didn’t tell Yan Fu directly about his business, not out of estrangement. Compared to Gao Zhe, he actually got along with Yan Fu a bit more. But as for the matter of rescuing Zhu Bijing, he was already indebted for a great favor and did not wish to owe any more.
As for why he hadn’t told Yan Fu that Jiang Wuyou would also be going to the Near Sea Archipelago...
It was simply because he wanted to see Yan Fu get beaten up. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Zhongxuan Sheng had already seen it, but he had not.
It was rather regrettable.
Yan Fu could not comprehend Jiang Wang’s mood.
He was still pleased with himself for having stepped down from the dispute, blissfully unaware that all his friends were of the detrimental sort, and he raised his glass in toast, "Then I’ll go ahead and scout out the route for Brother Jiang! We’ll meet at sea!"
"Certainly!" Jiang Wang’s face beamed with a smile.
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ps: This background really fits well, so well that it makes me want to create an alter ego to write for the female readership. Writing a female protagonist like Liu Xiuzhang, "Do not bully the poor because they are young! Punch Yan Fu the faithless love, step on Jiang Wang the vile lackey. Control the family with one hand, preserve the status of the direct lineage, seek revenge for her brother on the other, and face off against Tian Anping. Lead the family to rise and fight for victory with her best friend over the dragon..."
