Chapter 426: Chapter 426

This matter required explaining the relationship between the Wei and Xuanwu families. It wasn't a friendly neighborly relationship but a generational feud—they had been adversaries for hundreds of years, ever since the Wei family's first generation.

Why had they remained enemies? There was a story behind this!

Back in the day, the Wei family's first generation was just an ignorant youth, a poor scholar. But he was also a genius—this had already been evident in his childhood. From a young age, he was given great expectations to pass the imperial examinations, become a high official, and bring honor to his ancestors.

That year, he met a girl and they fell in love. But they were separated by the girl's family on the grounds that their social statuses didn't match. He went to the girl's home many times. Although rejected countless times, his persistence eventually earned him an audience with the family head.

However, the family head paid him little attention, merely saying that one day, when he had the strength to match their status, the girl would be betrothed to him.

So he began studying diligently by lamplight, preparing to pass the imperial examinations. With his talent, he eventually achieved the glorious rank of zhuangyuan (top scholar). He felt he was now qualified and could marry the girl, so he went to propose.

But he was still rejected and received these words: "Just a minor zhuangyuan—do you really think you're somebody important?!"

This was also a fact. The girl's family was an extremely powerful clan. A zhuangyuan meant nothing to them. The girl's parents still looked down on him, feeling he wasn't qualified. Moreover, they had already arranged a marriage for the girl and were preparing to marry her off.

As a result, the girl chose a path of no return. He lost that girl forever. That time he cried—cried for three days and nights until his tears ran dry. From then on, he would never shed tears again!

Finally, he made an oath to that family: "I will achieve equal status. On that day, I will marry her, even if she's no longer there—I'll make her a ghost of my family!"

"And I will make you pay the price—I'll never let you have peace!!"

When a scholar's fury changes heaven and earth!

This poor scholar caused unbelievable changes throughout the entire empire. He eventually became the empire's prime minister—the kind with real power. He built his own mansion directly across from that family, with his main gate facing theirs—truly equal status!

Because of his existence, that family suffered unprecedented political defeats, losing considerable power to other families while the poor scholar also devoured some of it. The poor scholar had now established his own clan—an equally formidable family.

Under this poor scholar's machinations, the girl's parents were executed for certain matters—executed by him personally. He gave that family no chance to protect them, acting first and reporting later.

By then, no one dared provoke this poor scholar, not even that family, because his schemes had reached a terrifyingly outrageous level. With this, relying on his power alone, he created a scholarly family that lasted hundreds of years. Generation after generation held high court positions, and even the great super families didn't dare easily provoke the clan he founded.

In the end, he indeed married that girl who was no longer there, always keeping the wife's position for her. To continue the family line, he married several women, but they were all concubines—not one was a wife!

He made the world understand that even in a world where martial force decided everything, scholars had their place and were a very terrifying group!!

His family was the Wei family, and that girl's family was the Xuanwu family!!

The Wei family's first ancestral rule: All Xuanwu family members are enemies!

Hundreds of years ago, the Xuanwu family wasn't originally at the bottom of the Four Symbols families—they could still compete with other families. But because of that first generation Wei, the Xuanwu family lost considerable power and became the last among the Four Symbols families.

This made the Xuanwu family understand how terrifying these scholars could be, while also designating the Wei family as their mortal enemy. The grudges between the two families accumulated more and more. In court, their political views were never aligned. Read full story at NoveIꜰire.net

Now, if Xiaoyao's relationship with the Wei family became public, he would naturally be kicked out by the Xuanwu family—this was indisputable!

Shang Lingjian also understood this point. After learning about Xiaoyao and Wang Yanyu's situation, he had never revealed it because he wanted Xiaoyao to stay, not be kicked out.

Now that he had reached an intolerable point, he exposed this matter. Only then did he learn that his uncle had already known but was just turning a blind eye.

After hundreds of years, although the two families still didn't get along, it wasn't as intense anymore. Xiaoyao's matter wasn't really a big deal, so it was naturally set aside!

But now that it had been dug up, it needed to be addressed.

"It's not so easy for you to leave now!" Shang Lingjian jumped out again.

"Why are you so despicable in your speech? Just now you clearly said I must leave, but now you say leaving isn't so easy. Xuanwu Family Head, what exactly are you trying to do?" At this point, Xiaoyao was no longer polite, and even his form of address changed. This showed he was no longer a Xuanwu family servant—that previous deference could be dropped.

Of course, this didn't mean losing respect—as long as you were worthy of respect!

"You think the little things you've done could be hidden from me?" Shang Lingjian said coldly and arrogantly, looking at Xiaoyao as if saying: "No matter how you pretend, it's useless—I've seen through you."

"What have I done? Are you talking about me tricking you, laughing at you, or have you already discovered that matter?" Xiaoyao looked at Shang Lingjian with surprise, as if caught in some misdeed.

"See, everyone? He's already slipped up. He's that person," Shang Lingjian said.

"Shang Lingjian, that's impossible. If he had such abilities, would he still be here working as a servant?" Xuanwu Lingxiao spoke up. She knew what Shang Lingjian was talking about, but it was too incredible.

She felt that what Xiaoyao was referring to wasn't the same matter Shang Lingjian mentioned!!

Xuanwu Wenyuan looked at Xiaoyao, examining him up and down, seemingly thinking about something.

"He does have ulterior motives—maybe this was exactly his purpose," Shang Lingjian's fawning smile appeared again—his usual expression toward Xuanwu Lingxiao.

"If he could come and go silently in front of us, why bother becoming a servant for over a year? He could have just come directly," Xuanwu Lingxiao said irritably.

"This... this..." Shang Lingjian couldn't give a reason. This was indeed the most inexplicable point.

"Could you speak clearly? I'm getting confused listening to this," Xiaoyao said, feeling somewhat puzzled. Could they not be talking about that matter? It sounded like they were discussing yesterday's events. He didn't need to admit to this—they wouldn't have any evidence anyway.

"He's saying yesterday's incident was your doing," Xuanwu Lingxiao said.

"Yesterday's incident?" Xiaoyao put on a confused expression without any flaws. As such a minor servant, how would he know about yesterday's events so quickly? If he showed he knew, that would be problematic.

"You might not know—a thief came yesterday," Xuanwu Lingxiao replied.

"A thief? What does that have to do with me?" Xiaoyao didn't show surprise. Showing surprise would seem too forced. Since he was no longer part of the Xuanwu family, why should he care if they had thieves? Moreover, it was normal for such a great family to have thieves.

"Originally it wouldn't concern you, but your whereabouts exactly match the thief's appearance time. Tell us where you were last night," Xuanwu Lingxiao said.

"My whereabouts?" Xiaoyao was stunned.

"That's right. Don't think you were being careful. You usually meet with the Wei family woman before the hour of zi, but yesterday you appeared after zi hour. Your appearance time exactly matches when that thief disappeared. There can't be such a coincidence," Shang Lingjian said.

"Why can't there be such a coincidence? There are countless coincidences in this world. I was late last night because I was doing something," Xiaoyao said. Yes, being a book thief, so he was late.

"What were you doing? Who can testify?" Shang Lingjian questioned.

"Yesterday I was in the alchemy room, the sword forging workshop, the kitchen for a while, cleaning the West Garden's sewers, and guest-chanted sutras at the Meditation Hall..." Xiaoyao listed the places he'd been yesterday. With such a long list, even if they wanted to investigate, they probably couldn't make sense of it. Whether he had actually worked at night would be hard to determine.

Xiaoyao hadn't been idle at night. Often in the deep of night, when almost no one was around, he could do certain things. Because of this, many people were used to him working alone at night. If asked, many would think he had worked at their location last night.

Xuanwu Lingxiao looked at Xiaoyao, feeling he was becoming more and more interesting. One person doing so many things in a single day—never mind whether there was enough time, most importantly, you had to know how to do all these things. For one person to have so many skills was very surprising.

At this point, Xuanwu Lingxiao and the others felt that what Xiaoyao had said earlier didn't seem like a joke—he really was learning all servant skills, suitable for any servant position.

"If you want proof, go ask them. I don't really remember the sequence," Xiaoyao said with a wave of his hand.