Cui Shihuai's expression was uglier than swallowing a fly.
The aristocratic family has been entrenched for many years and has strong power. Although the imperial court has changed constantly, the aristocratic family has remained standing. With the strength and wealth accumulated over generations, the aristocratic family has even divided the world from the royal family.
However, times have changed and those glorious years are gone forever.
At that time, aristocratic families held power, and the nine-level Zhongzheng system recommended talents. Those who became officials were all children of aristocratic families. There were many party members in the court. Even if the head of the aristocratic family did not serve as an official, he could still control the overall situation from behind the scenes. Even if his children did not become officials, they would have no one.
Dare to despise.
What now?
The imperial court continued to weaken the strength of the aristocratic families, abolished the nine-level Zhongzheng system, and chose to select scholars through the imperial examination. Even though the aristocratic families had mastered knowledge and enjoyed advantages, after generations of impact, the poor families prospered, and the children of the aristocratic families who relied on their talents and arrogance had fewer and fewer opportunities. In the end, they relied on their arrogance and could not
I am willing to beg for help from the imperial court.
The most important things for aristocratic families are their farms and tenants. The imperial court has taken many measures to tax people and liquidate their land. As a result, aristocratic families have fewer and fewer fields and tenants. They no longer have the wealth and luxury they once had. Some aristocratic families are even stretched thin, but they are just trying to maintain their dignity.
The Cui family would not have fallen into such a state, but Cui Weizhen was right. In the past, a mere doctor from the Ministry of Rites would not have the qualifications to interact with the head of the Cui family.
They only have the reputation of being a family. According to worldly status, the head of the Cui family is far inferior to a doctor from the Ministry of Rites. If Cui Shichang was still here, Cui Shihong could look down on the Su family, but now his reputation is not justified.
Cui Shihuai lost face and no longer maintained the illusion of gentleness. He said coldly, "Whether you are willing or not, you must go back to the clan with me today."
"What if I don't want to?" Cui Weizhen asked.
Cui Shihuai smiled and said, "I know you are a filial son, so you won't abandon your mother, right?"
Cui Weizhen raised his eyebrows.
Cui Shihuai felt that he was afraid, and showed a slight complacency, "You think I don't know where you live? The servants accompanying me have already gone to your house to invite your mother, and there should be results by now."
Cui Weizhen's crimson thin lips were slightly raised, with a bit of sarcasm, indifference and pride. He even echoed, "Well, Fourth Uncle, I hope everything goes as you wish."
He brushed off the dust on his body and left calmly.
Cui Shihuai frowned, suddenly having a bad premonition.
He quickly followed and found that Cui Weizhen had disappeared. The servant who was sent out found him, "Sir, I sneaked in to investigate. The fifth lady and her daughter-in-law were not at Cui's house. According to what people nearby said,
I haven't seen their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law go out recently, they seem to have been away for many days."
Cui Shihuai's face was ashen, and he finally understood why Cui Weizhen was so confident, "Where did Wang go? When did he leave?"
The servant shook his head, "The servants of the Cui family are very tight-lipped, and outsiders don't know about it, so there's no way they can find out."
"Asshole!"
Cui Shihuai cursed angrily, and he didn't know whether he was scolding the servant or Cui Weizhen. He said with a cold face, "Send a greeting card to Li Xuandao. I will pay him a visit tomorrow."
"Yes, sir."
When Cui Weizhen returned home, Hong Zhiyuan immediately greeted him, "Master, someone really climbed over the wall and came in today. They even forced me to ask about the whereabouts of the old lady, but I didn't answer."
Hong Zhiyuan didn't accompany him to the county school today just to deal with Cui Shihuai's people.
Cui Weizhen looked at him and said, "You're not injured, are you?"
Hong Zhiyuan shook his head. He opened the door to his house as ordered by his master and stood guard at the door. In broad daylight and in full view of the public, those people did not dare to be presumptuous. They just threatened him and left after a few words.
However, he couldn't hide his worry and asked hesitantly, "Master, do you want to avoid it too? I'm afraid the other party won't let it go."
"No need."
The Cui family specially came to visit. In addition to having a deal with the Su family, it is impossible that they realized Cui Weizhen's value and wanted to control him as a chess piece.
Cui Shihuai would not take action against him if he was not sure of capturing him. He would most likely continue to search for Aunt Cui's whereabouts to force him to compromise.
Now I just hope that Zhen Zhen can receive his reminder and carefully hide the traces. Thinking of this, Cui Weizhen has a little worry on his eyebrows.
Ye Zhenzhen did receive the letter from Cui Weizhen.
It is actually very easy to find out when she and Aunt Cui left Linxi County and where they might have gone. After all, Shopkeeper Xu visited her. If anyone knew that they were not at Cui's house, it would be easy to become suspicious.
Ye Zhenzhen moved very decisively.
Although only shopkeeper Xu knows where she lives, for the sake of safety, it is best to change her residence.
She had lived in Fucheng for less than half a month and was very familiar with the surrounding area. She quickly found a safe and reliable yard and quickly moved in. She asked Yuxiu to purchase a large amount of food for cold storage and did not plan to go out in the short term.
As expected, Cui Shihuai got the news from Li Xuandao.
Li Xuandao did not send anyone to keep an eye on the area. After all, the Cui family was a residential area and it would be too conspicuous for sneaky people to come and go. However, it was still easy to check something.
So with his enthusiastic offer, Cui Shihuai knew that Wang might have gone to Fucheng.
He immediately rushed to Fucheng, found Man Tingfang's shopkeeper, and inquired about Wang's whereabouts. Shopkeeper Xu naturally would not betray his boss. Even if he pretended to be the Cui family, he was unwilling to tell it, but if he didn't say it, it did not mean that the shopkeeper
Others could resist the temptation, so someone tipped off the store and said that Zhang San in the store had been sent to work as a nurse in Diagon Alley a while ago.
Cui Shihuai took the informant to Diagon Alley and found Zhang San, but there was no trace of Wang in it.
Realizing that he had been tricked, Cui Shihuai's face turned green, "Where are the people living inside? Where are they?"
Zhang San was pushed to the ground, his face turned pale with fright, "I don't know, my aunt gave me a leave that day. When I came back, my aunt and the others were gone. I don't know where they went."
Cui Shihuai estimated that he did not dare to speak, so he continued to interrogate Shopkeeper Xu, "You found this yard for them. Do you know their new residence?"
After being betrayed by his subordinates, Shopkeeper Xu looked very ugly. After seeing Ye Zhenzhen and the others leaving, he felt completely relieved. He said respectfully, "Fourth Master Cui, this villain is just a servant. There is no need for the master's family to move.
Inform the villain."
"Very good, but he is a servant of the Wang family branch and he dares to fool me."
Cui Shihuai was completely angered and went directly to the government office.
He didn't believe that those two weak women could completely hide their traces.
One day later, wanted notices for the search for the two female fugitives were plastered all over the city, and the government officials conducted a thorough search, knocking on doors and asking questions. It was only a matter of time before they found out who was hiding in the dark.
Can Ye Zhenzhen and Aunt Cui escape this disaster?