Summary of the previous chapter: Bei Mingxue is interested in Ma Xiaoquan, Ma's mother can tell, but Ma Xiaoquan... It's really hard to say about feelings...
At night, Ma Xiaoquan came to Ma's father's study and talked to Ma's father about recent events.
Ma Xiaoquan was very curious about the development of the Ma family over the past thousand years, especially in the past hundred years. He had heard Mrs. Ma mention it before, saying that the Ma family was still a prosperous reclusive wealthy family at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. For some reasons, Ma Xiaoquan asked Mrs. Ma the reason for her decline. Mrs. Ma shook her head and said nothing...
Father Ma gave a wry smile, shook his head and said, "What mother said is indeed true. Our Ma family was indeed strong at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, but because of the appearance of Zhu Yuanzhang, our Ma family was completely in decline... "
"Zhu Yuanzhang? Well, is it possible that our Ma family is tied up with Zhu Yuanzhang to help him conquer the country?"
Father Ma hummed softly and said, "That's not true. I heard my grandpa say that our Ma family was extremely wealthy at that time, and our Ma family had a good friend named Shen Wansan."
"Shen Wansan?" Ma Xiaoquan was slightly stunned and said: "So, it is said that Shen Wansan supported Zhu Yuanzhang to destroy Yuan Jianming, but who knew that Zhu Yuanzhang regretted it later and not only confiscated most of Shen Wansan's family property, but also harmed him. .....”
Father Ma nodded and answered, "Hey, almost half of Shen Wansan's family wealth at that time belonged to my Ma family."
"What? From my Ma family?" Ma Xiaoquan was startled.
"Yes, in the past, Emperor Taizu invaded Suzhou City. In order to survive, Shen Wansan took the initiative to cling to Emperor Taizu for a way out and promised to help him build one-third of the city. But... just build the city, who? I think Shen Wansan made his own private decision to reward the soldiers, which immediately angered Taizu... So, he was sent to Yunnan."
Ma Xiaoquan smiled and said: "With Shen Wansan's methods, he should live well even if he is sent to Yunnan, right?"
Father Ma said humbly: "That's true. It was because he still lived a carefree life that he caused the final disaster of killing people. After Shen Wansan's death, although Emperor Taizu did not hold his clan members accountable, the Shen family The decline of the country has been completely realized.”
"Well, what does our Ma family have to do with Shen Wansan?"
Father Ma shook his head and said: "The first generation of family masters didn't know something. Everyone in the world knew that Shen Wansan could make money. It was rumored that he had a cornucopia and could amass tens of thousands of dollars a day. But little did he know that all those so-called millions of dollars were actually mine. From the Ma family."
Ma Xiaoquan pondered: "Then why does my Ma family want to cooperate with Shen Wansan?"
Father Ma shook his head: "I don't know about this, and there is no record in the genealogy. However, when I was a child, my grandfather told me that when Shen Wansan was young, he made an agreement with the then head of my Ma family. contract."
"Contract? What contract?"
Father Ma recalled for a moment, squinted his eyes and said: "I can't remember the specifics, but roughly... Well, he should have asked my Ma family to help him and make him the richest man in Jiangnan."
"The richest man in Jiangnan?"
"Yes, it seems... Shen Wansan came to do business, and my Ma family provided money for him to use. When he made money, Shen Wansan gave me the Ma family's dividends."
"Oh? There is such a thing? Interesting, interesting..." Ma Xiaoquan nodded, thinking that my Ma family is really forward-thinking. I learned how to invest so early. Well, investment is a big deal. You win or lose, and there are risks.
"What happened next?" Ma Xiaoquan asked again.
"Later... Later, because of Shen Wansan's incident, my Ma family also suffered heavy losses. Although money cannot be said to be everything in this world, there is absolutely nothing you can do without money."
Ma Xiaoquan nodded, he agreed with the second half of Ma's father's point of view.
"There is one more thing." Father Ma paused and said, "I also found out by chance... It is said that before Shen Wansan rewarded the soldiers, he met an expert who gave him some advice. Him, let him be generous, so... Shen Wansan committed this taboo."
Ma Xiaoquan said: "So, Ruiqing, do you doubt that the so-called master is actually a member of the Zi family?"
"It's very possible." Father Ma nodded, feeling a little indignant. "Although the hidden wealthy families do not participate in the world's disputes, their desire for money is stronger than those of the powerful families. The Zi family saw Shen Wansan's growth, Seeing the benefits that my Ma family had gained, I felt jealous, so Zhu Yuanzhang followed up his hatred of the rich and plotted to kill Shen Wansan. Of course, when Shen Wansan fell, my Ma family naturally suffered serious losses, and then suffered bad luck."
"Then the Hua family...how did the Hua family decline?" Ma Xiaoquan asked.
"The Hua family...this is interesting to say. The Hua family has a main family and a branch family. The relationship between the main family and the branch families has never been harmonious. The decline of the Hua family is generally due to their own internal strife. Then the Zi family took advantage of the situation and led Emperor Taizu to destroy their clan..."
"Well, that's it." Ma Xiaoquan sighed inwardly. It seems that the dispute between the Hua family has not yet been resolved.
"What happened to my Ma family?" Ma Xiaoquan asked again.
"Shen Wansan's decline caused heavy losses to our Ma family. Since then, our Ma family has lost its former glory. The head of the family at that time, er, my great-grandfather, saw that something was wrong and gradually faded out of the wealthy circle and entered the imperial court. .. ....This way we barely managed to preserve the bloodline of our Ma family.”
Ma Xiaoquan nodded and said with approval: "I have to say, Ruiqing, your great-grandfather still has great foresight."
Father Ma nodded, cupped his hands and said, "Thank you very much, the first generation head of the family, for the compliment."
Ma Xiaoquan waved his hand and said with a smile: "Grandma wrote to you saying that I am the first generation head of the family. I guess you still have some concerns in your heart. If I let you see something, you should understand everything."
As Ma Xiaoquan spoke, he took out a manuscript from his arms and handed it to Father Ma.
Father Ma took the manuscript, opened it and looked at it, and said in surprise: "Isn't this the genealogy of my Ma family?"
"That's right, it's the genealogy of my Ma family. This genealogy was handwritten by grandma, er, your mother. It contains the characters of the Baiyi clan. Ruiqing, how much do you know about it?"
Father Ma shook his head with a wry smile and said sheepishly: "I'm so sorry, I...I only know a few of them."
Ma Xiaoquan sighed and said: "It doesn't matter, as long as I'm here, I can tell you the contents of this manuscript... Well, let you meet... someone again, well, that's it. Come on, Xiaoshuang, come out and meet the current head of the Ma family..."
As soon as Ma Xiaoquan finished speaking, a light blue flame slowly rose from the back of Ma Xiaoquan's neck.
The flames gradually solidified and turned into a flaming pretty face that looked like a girl.
"Oh my God!" Ma's father was startled. He quickly pulled out the saber from his waist and looked at Xiaoshuang in horror.
"Don't be afraid, Xiaoshuang won't hurt your Xiaoshuang. Stop being scary and come out."
"Woooo..." Xiaoshuang slowly rose up and completely separated from Ma Xiaoquan.
Father Ma's eyes were so wide open that he said after a while: "The first-generation head of the family is indeed the real first-generation head of the family... That's great. There is hope for the revival of my Ma family, there is hope...