Golden Branch

"Mischievous!"

Lou Yu uttered these two words in a low, hoarse voice.

Giving the property to Shen Du is fine, dear sir, nothing is too much.

Even Lou Yu himself has given Shen Du many things in recent years.

Houses, fields, slaves, book collections, calligraphy and paintings... these tangible wealth are still not as good as Shen Du's teachings and actions to Lou Yu.

Yang Rui told Lou Yu what great wisdom and a true gentleman are, while Shen Du taught Lou Yu how to become a true gentleman with great wisdom.

To paraphrase Wang Mian, Yang Rui told Lou Yu to act cool, while Shen Du let Lou Yu act cool without realizing it.

A man of culture is naturally elegant.

If you have nothing in your heart and just put on a mask of being gentle, elegant and refined, you will only become a laughing stock.

Only with real talent and knowledge, and extensive reading, can one achieve outstanding skills.

He knows music, chess, calligraphy, painting, the six arts of a gentleman, astronomy and geography... No matter what topic others bring up, he can handle it with ease.

Only when you can easily come up with all kinds of allusions and talents can you truly impress people.

What Shen Du gave Lou Yu was genuine talent, the knowledge gained from years of traveling around the world, and that kind of detached, unrestrained and free-spirited mentality.

In Lou Yu's heart, Yang Rui is both a brother and a father, and Shen Du is both a teacher and a friend.

These two people are the most important male elders in his life. Their appearance makes up for the lack of guidance from his father and brothers.

Therefore, Lou Yu is truly grateful to them and will do his best to repay them.

Gold, silver and other valuables are actually the least valuable things that Lou Yu can produce.

In the past few years, Lou Yu paid for all of Shen Du's luxurious life in Hedong.

Lou Yu even bought real estate and land for Shen Du in the capital.

As long as the gentleman comes to Beijing, he can live in "his own" mansion!

Lou Yu is Shen Du's disciple, and so is Wang Heng.

Lou Yu benefited a lot from Shen Du, and Wang Heng also learned a lot.

It’s just that the two people’s identities and situations are different, which leads to different “performances”.

Lou Yu is the head of the eldest branch of the Lou family. Although he is young, he has to support the family and enter the officialdom in the future.

He needs to be high-profile and have a good reputation known throughout the world.

Therefore, Lou Yu not only shows his friendship, but also does not hesitate to "hype" himself.

In just three or four years, Lou Yu's reputation for talent spread from Yizhou to all directions, and even the capital had heard of him.

As for Wang Heng, what she needs is low-key and mediocrity.

Even though she is smart, she is not bad at studying and having talents.

But if she wants to hide her incompetence, she can only be an "unworthy disciple".

Even though she was known as the first female disciple of a famous scholar, Wang Heng never showed off, as if she was a poor student in elementary school who had sneaked into a class for geniuses.

This is Wang Heng's own problem, not Shen Du's lax academic research or poor teaching.

Wang Heng felt grateful to Shen Du, but also a little guilty.

Ahem, this “bad disciple” of mine almost ruined Mr. Shen’s reputation.

She hides her incompetence and is determined to be an unremarkable "mediocre person" to avoid being sold off by her scumbag father. This has nothing to do with her husband.

The master treated her and Lou Yu the same and never treated them differently.

But she almost ruined her husband's good reputation as a "famous teacher".

I have not been able to make my husband proud and have even held him back. I really have no way to repay him, so I can only compensate him in other ways.

Accompanying the teacher for meals and helping him cure strange diseases are just my responsibilities as a disciple.

Giving the gentleman some real estate and ancient books is just a token of my appreciation.

So, now that Wang Heng said she wanted to give some property to Shen Du, neither Lou Yu nor Wang Heng thought there was anything wrong with it.

But, Wang Yan——

Lou Yu raised the corners of his lips slightly and looked at Wang Heng with a doting look.

It seemed as if he was saying, you fat girl, you are not "transferring assets" at all, you are clearly causing trouble for Wang Lin.

What does Wang Lin care about most?

Of course, it is the identity of Wang family of Langya.

What has been the most worrying thing for Wang Lin in recent years?

His dispute with the Wang family of the Southern Territory over "legitimacy"!

The only thing that Wang Lin could "prove" himself was that the Wang family's ancestral home, ancestral temple, etc. were all under his name.

Wang Yan and his family returned to the northern border, but found nothing.

Now, Wang Lin was about to fall into a trap and the Wang family's property would be lost, so Wang Heng took the opportunity to transfer it to Wang Yan.

To put it nicely, it means returning the property to its original owner; to put it bluntly, it means disgusting Wang Lin.

Wang Heng: ...Why? Is it not possible?

Wang Lin is her father. Due to the father-daughter relationship, she cannot disobey Wang Lin even if he uses her or hurts her, otherwise it would be unfilial.

If you can't resist openly, you can only resort to some small tricks.

Uh, no, it’s not a small trick.

Now Wang Lin is still working as an official in the capital. Before leaving, Wang Lin even dealt with his important industries in Yizhou.

I think those that are left behind are not important.

Since Wang Lin didn't value them, it wouldn't be a big deal for Wang Heng to take these properties to settle old grudges.

Maybe, if Wang Yan is happy, he can even take out the family tree that Wang Lin has been longing for, so that Wang Lin can complete his own family tree.

In this way, Wang Heng can be said to have made a contribution to Wang Lin and the Wang family!

This can be considered an open conspiracy.

I guess even if Wang Lin knew about it, he would have to accept it reluctantly.

After all, family tree is much more important than ancestral property.

If you lose your ancestral property, you can buy it again.

If we lose this opportunity to "repair" the family tree, it will never be restored again!

Even though Wang Lin knew that it was Wang Heng who deliberately caused trouble, he could only swallow his bitterness and remain silent.

He even "praised" his daughter for being smart, caring about the family, and knowing how to make choices.

Lou Yu's eyes were deep. He knew that in addition to disgusting (taking revenge on) Wang Lin, Wang Heng did this for another reason.

That is to dispel someone's almost absurd delusion.

Wang Yan refused to "reconcile" with Wang Lin and refused to admit that the Yizhou Wang family had any relationship with the Langya Wang family. Starting this year, he was secretly looking for evidence to prove that Wang Lin was not a branch of the Wang family, but perhaps just a slave who had taken over the family.

He tried hard to prove that Wang Heng's surname was not Wang.

Because the current rules are not only that "gentry and commoners cannot marry", but also that "people with the same surname cannot marry".

If Wang Yan wanted to satisfy a certain delusion, he had to prove that Wang Heng's surname was not Wang.

However, Wang Yan was a reserved person, and his many thoughts and emotions were perfectly concealed.

He never showed it.

He had always been indifferent to Wang Heng, as if she were just a fellow disciple with whom he had some conflicts.

However, Wang Heng has a keen intuition and can always perceive emotional fluctuations that ordinary people cannot feel.

As for Lou Yu, he himself is a wolf cub who is good at disguise, so he can naturally detect the breath of "his own kind".

Tsk, this Wang Yan, who looks extraordinary, aloof and self-contained, is actually a dark and crazy person inside.

In fact, even if they had the same surname or even the same clan, after two or three hundred years, Wang Heng and Wang Yan had no blood relationship.

That's just how etiquette is.

Wang Yan had no choice but to "find another way".

Wang Heng, however, did not appreciate it: What a joke! If she lets Wang Yan do whatever he wants, she, a girl from a noble family, will be turned into a slave!

Of course, the Wang family of Yizhou prospered for more than two hundred years. Even without the reputation of the Wang family of Langya, it could still be considered a noble family.

But, your reputation will eventually be affected.

Wang Heng didn't want to have such an ignominious background.

Wang Heng did not feel flattered or touched by Wang Yan's "favor".

She couldn't even tolerate Lou Yu's domineering attitude, let alone this kind of almost perverted paranoia.

When considering a marriage partner, Wang Heng was only wavering between Lou Yu and Xie Yanzhi, and never considered Wang Yan.

Now, Wang Heng even expressed his feelings directly on the grounds of "returning the property to its original owner": Senior Brother Wang, you and I are from the same school and clan!

I will return the Wang family's ancestral home and other things to you, and you should also give up those unrealistic delusions.

Wang Heng knew that Wang Yan, like Xie Yanzhi, was a smart man.

Some things don't need to be explained too clearly; just a hint is enough for both parties to understand and then make a decision that is decent for both parties.

Of course, the so-called "delusion" may just be Wang Heng's narcissism, and Wang Yan does not like her.

Lou Yu would like a chubby little girl, who is not a peerless beauty or a heartthrob, but what matters more is the friendship they had growing up together.

Others, such as Xie Yanzhi, are more concerned about their own interests.

Although Wang Yan has more fellow disciples than Xie Yanzhi, they should not fall in love with each other because of this.

This is better. Wang Heng will still insist on "returning" the Wang family's ancestral property to Wang Yan, and completely resolve the grudges from two or three hundred years ago.

From then on, the Wang family was simply the Yizhou Wang family, a branch of the Langya Wang family.

Although it is not orthodox, it is more genuine and legitimate.

Lou Yu fully supports Wang Heng's idea.

He had long known that the fat girl was the most perceptive and the most sober.

She will not be complacent because of the admiration of others, but will only calmly consider her own interests.

If it is not in your own interests, then reject it decisively.

Thank you for the banquet, that’s it!

The same is true for Wang Yan!

...So, although Lou Yu was obviously very unhappy, he still tried his best to suppress the darkness and madness in his heart, and showed gentleness and tolerance as much as possible.

He cannot follow his nature and be a pervert. He must try hard to restrain himself and disguise himself perfectly to become someone the fat girl can trust and rely on!

……

"Cousin, this year is our eldest mother's sixtieth birthday. Although I am far away in Hedong and cannot be with her and celebrate her birthday in person, I still want to show my filial piety."

"I know that Great Mother has everything she needs, but she only misses her relatives in the maternal clan."

"Cousin, I specially ordered someone to add a courtyard to the east side of the academy. It's not big, with three courtyards, but it's exquisite."

Wang Heng found Xie Yanzhi, smiling sweetly and speaking in a soft voice.

What he said also raised the banner of filial piety.

However, the clever Xie Yanzhi still understood the meaning of "send the guests away".

He frowned slightly, "Ajiu, you--" You want to drive me away?

"I know this birthday gift is still a little meager."

"Cousin, please consider my filial piety and don't refuse."

"Also, there is one more thing that Ajiu wants to ask my cousin."

"You are a master of both poetry and painting. I wonder how many students admire you and want to learn from you."

"I would like to invite you to be a teacher at Dongshan Academy and teach students how to write poetry and paint."

"...If you go to Dongshan Academy, then this small courtyard will be very convenient..."

Wang Heng's meaning was very clear. Although she wanted to drive Xie Yanzhi away from Wangjiazhuangzi, she gave him a "letter of employment" from Dongshan Academy.

Although Dongshan Academy has not yet become one of the most famous schools in the world, it has gained a certain reputation and status.

The gentlemen who were able to teach at Dongshan Academy were basically all famous teachers and great scholars.

Xie Yanzhi is only seventeen years old and has not yet reached adulthood, but he can already teach at Dongshan Academy, which will definitely enhance his reputation and improve his resume.

Xie Yanzhi's eyes flickered.

He was so smart that he naturally understood that this was Wang Heng's "compensation" to him.

This girl looks naive and innocent, but in fact, she is very careful in her actions.

Xie Yanzhi discovered that he had underestimated Wang Heng.

She is not a little girl who has no plans and is just eating and playing.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Xie Yanzhi's mind——

Is Wang Heng, who acts so cautiously, really as he thought, a child who can't even control her appetite?

Could it be that Wang Heng’s fatness was not due to her gluttony, but was intentional?

His well-intentioned "discipline" was actually self-righteous and touched Wang Heng's bottom line.

That's why Wang Heng drove him out of the Wang family and even gave up the idea of ​​marrying him.

Xie Yanzhi: ...

Amidst the indescribable annoyance and regret, there is also a faint joy of discovering a treasure.

Wang Heng is not as mediocre as she appears to be or as others believe. She is very smart and ruthless enough.

For a certain purpose, a little girl who loves beauty destroyed her own appearance with her own hands. This kind of mentality is enough to make her achieve anything!

If she becomes the head of the family, what kind of surprises will she bring to her husband and the family?!

Thinking this way, Xie Yanzhi was not disappointed or angry about being expelled. Instead, he became more motivated.

So what if I get rejected now?

Jiu Niang is still young, and he also needs time to work hard.

In two or three years, things might turn around.

Just as Xie Yanzhi was pondering this, Wang Heng threw out the biggest bait: "Cousin, a few days ago, I sent your poems and drawings to you for evaluation, and you liked them very much..."

Xie Yanzhi: "...Thank you very much, Ajiu. I appreciate it!"

……

Xie Yanzhi moved out of Wangjiazhuang very quickly, and things also went very smoothly on Wang Yan's side.

Wang Yan looked at the dozen house deeds and land deeds in front of him, his eyes deep and his handsome face showed no emotion.

After a moment, his eyes focused on Wang Heng's face: "Wang Jiu, are you sure?"

Although they are fellow students, they have been together for three or four years.

However, Wang Yan has always been cold towards Wang Heng.

The most standard way to address someone is "surname + ranking".

If Wang Heng's intuition had not been so sharp, just looking at Wang Yan's attitude, Wang Heng would never have thought that this "cousin" had feelings for her.

"...I'd like to ask my uncle to lend me the family tree. If these properties aren't enough, the Wang family also has a mansion in the capital..."

Since I can’t keep it anyway, I might as well give it away.

Wang Heng "sold her father's land as a son" without feeling any pain at all.

Wang Yan looked at Wang Heng intently for a long moment before he slowly uttered a single word: "Okay!"

He had the intention, but Jiu Niang had no intention.

And there are also clansmen... The Wang family has fallen into decline. If we don't gain a foothold in the northern border as soon as possible, there will be no more Langya Wang family in the world.

Wang Yan has too much on his shoulders, and he doesn't have the capital to act recklessly.

……

Wang Lin didn't know yet that his hometown had been "raided" by Wang Heng.

He had been in the Ministry of Industry for less than two weeks when he ran into trouble...