Starting with choosing a wife, creating the most powerful Xia

An unnamed village.

The carriage that abruptly stopped outside the village broke the tranquility.

Chu Xuan stretched and got out of the car first. After seeing the scene before him, he frowned. He had thought that Wuming Village would be poor, but he still greatly underestimated the extent of poverty here.

At the entrance of the village, along a muddy road, there were scattered thatched huts, drafty from all sides. You could see inside from the outside, and they would shake after a rain shower.

The village had about a hundred people, most of whom were poorly clothed. The best they wore was a coarse linen garment that had been worn for who knows how many years, and some children were even naked.

"It seems that making a fortune here is really not an easy task."

Chu Xuan thought to himself.

After him, the three women followed him down. At just one glance, Chu Ling'er's eyes welled up with tears. Having experienced hardship herself, she naturally couldn't bear to see others suffer.

Ah Leng glanced at it once and looked away, seemingly uninterested in these things. However, Chen Xuening, a former scholar, was quick-witted and immediately noticed something was amiss.

She leaned close to Chu Xuan's ear and whispered a reminder.

"It seems someone isn't very welcoming to you."

Chu Xuan looked at her with some surprise. He hadn't expected Chen Xuening to have such insightful eyes. He nodded and sighed with a wry smile.

"It's just that some people feel that my arrival is disrupting their business."

Today is the day of the Chu family's enfeoffment. Wuming Village is the fiefdom chosen by Chu Xuan. Long before he arrived, the Chu family would send someone by express horse to inform everyone in the territory so that the original person in charge could prepare to welcome him. This is the rule, and even though Chu Xuan is only a collateral branch, he is no exception.

But looking at the puzzled expressions on the faces of the villagers, it seemed they knew nothing about it.

Someone deliberately concealed the news of his arrival.

The coachman had worked for the Chu family for many years and was quite shrewd. Sensing something was amiss, he didn't plan to linger. He unloaded the luggage from the group, got into the carriage, and left.

Chu Xuan didn't care about his rudeness. He led the three women to the lord's mansion that the Chu family had prepared for him, under the villagers' puzzled and curious gazes.

Despite being called a mansion, it was really just a small wooden courtyard. The front yard was an abandoned vegetable garden, and further in, there were four old huts, each about two zhang square, which made up the entire courtyard.

Chu Xuan had anticipated this. Wuming Village was naturally not comparable to the Chu family's place, but it was still habitable enough and could be repaired later.

The three women each chose a room to put their luggage in, and Chu Ling'er excitedly started cleaning, as if she had finally found something she could do. Later, even A Leng and Chen Xue Ning started helping her.

Chu Xuan didn't get involved. He sat on the threshold with his water bag, as he needed to think about the future development of Wuming Village first.

The courtyard wasn't large, and the three of them finished tidying up in an afternoon, just as they saw a young man walking briskly towards them.

Upon seeing Chu Xuan, the man greeted him with a broad smile, bowed respectfully, and quickly said...

"This must be Young Master Chu Xuan. I am Lu Han, the son of the village chief of Wuming Village. My father went out of the village to visit relatives and friends today and just returned. He was unaware of Young Master Chu Xuan's visit today. I did not mean to be disrespectful to you. Please forgive me."

Although Lu Han spoke with a smile, a barely perceptible shadow flickered in his eyes.

Chu Ling'er hid behind Chu Xuan; the way he looked at her made her very uncomfortable.

Seeing this, Chu Xuan smiled and patted Chu Ling'er's hand, then looked up at Lu Han and smiled.

"It's alright, I'm not one to care about such formalities."

Upon hearing this, Lu Han was overjoyed. He apologized a few more times and then invited Chu Xuan to the Lu family home that evening as a way of making amends.

Chu Xuan was also eager to see who was behind the person who had given him a hard time during the day, so he immediately agreed.

Lu Han got the answer he wanted and didn't linger. After promising to pick up the three of them that evening, he hurriedly said goodbye and left.

After he left, Chen Xuening stared at Chu Xuan with her beautiful eyes and said, "Are you really planning to go? I'm afraid it won't be a good banquet."

Despite Chen Xuening's aloof demeanor throughout, she was still grateful to Chu Xuan for saving her. Even though he didn't consider her his wife, she didn't want to see him suffer.

Chu Xuan chuckled, pleased with the beauty's reminder, and explained.

"Although Wuming Village has always been poor due to its terrain, it should not be in such a state as it is now. Lu Yongyuan has been the village chief here for many years, so there must be some shady dealings behind his back."

“He gave me a hard time during the day, and then couldn’t wait to meet me that night. This Village Chief Lu is obviously up to no good.”

"It's called a banquet, but it's more like a test of me. If they feel I'm a threat, they probably wish they could get rid of me as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuening's gaze towards Chu Xuan became more complicated.

I originally thought he was just an ignorant rich kid, but I never expected him to have such insight into people and things.

"Husband, it's too dangerous, maybe we shouldn't go."

Chu Ling'er wasn't that cunning; she was just listening to their words and couldn't help but feel worried. She spoke softly and timidly.

Upon hearing this, Chu Xuan shook his head, indicating that she shouldn't worry, and said.

"Since I have received the fiefdom of Wuming Mountain, a conflict with him is inevitable. Even if I manage to get away with it today, I will inevitably have to deal with it in the future. On the contrary, I am in the open while he is in the dark, making it even more difficult to deal with. It is better to cut the Gordian knot sooner rather than later."

As he spoke, Chu Xuan stood up, dusted off his clothes, and revealed a confident smile.

"Pack your things, you'll all come with me tonight."

After darkness fell, Lu Han arrived as promised and led the four of them to the Lu family home.

Chu Xuan looked around carefully. If the others lived in slums, Lu Yongyuan's family was living in extreme luxury.

The green bricks and blue tiles, the neat carvings and lacquer, all required a lot of money to build.

Chu Xuan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and followed Lu Han into the house. There were already two people sitting at the dining table. One of them looked to be in his sixties, wearing a hair crown and a blue robe. His goatee was neatly combed, and he looked seven or eight parts similar to Lu Han. This was naturally Lu Yongyuan.

The other man was around forty years old, dressed in all black. What was most striking was that he was one-eyed, and his face, full of fleshy muscles, forced a smile, which sent chills down one's spine.

Upon seeing the group enter the room, the two men quickly stood up to greet them. Lu Yongyuan, all smiles, kept apologizing for what had happened that day. He pulled them to a seat and showered them with compliments.

Chu Xuan also chatted for a few minutes.

The dinner consisted of simple home-style dishes, and after a few rounds of drinks, several people's eyes became somewhat glazed.

Seeing that the time was right, Lu Yongyuan and the one-eyed dragon exchanged a glance, then looked at Chu Xuan and said.

"I wonder if you, sir, would like to get rich?"

Chu Xuan chuckled, "I am a member of the Chu family, and I have always lived a life of wealth and luxury. Why would I need to worry about this?"

Lu Yongyuan noticed that his expression was a little unnatural and immediately laughed.

“Young Master Chu, since you took office, I have been under your command. Why hide these things from me? Although you are a member of the Chu family, you are not a direct descendant. Otherwise, you would not have come to such a poor and remote place. It is called a fiefdom, but it is actually just an exile. Or is it that you would rather deceive me and be looked down upon by the Chu family?”

Lu Yongyuan's voice was extremely seductive, like a venomous snake burrowing into your ear.

Upon hearing this, Chu Xuan paused, and a fleeting look of disappointment crossed his face, which Lu Yongyuan noticed. He pressed his advantage.

“From now on, I will share your glory and your loss. There is a way to make money, but I don’t know if you are willing.”

"tell me the story."

Chu Xuan became interested, sat up straight, and looked at him intently, but inwardly he kept sneering, thinking, "Finally, we've gotten down to business."

"I wonder if you have ever heard of a salt field about forty miles southeast of the nameless mountain?"

Lu Yongyuan stood up, walked to Chu Xuan's ear and whispered, his eyes slightly red.

"I've inquired about it. That salt field hasn't been discovered by the government yet, and its salt content is extremely high. If it's mined, it would be easy for you to become richer than a country! My lord, that's a salt field with tens of thousands of tons of salt. With a fortune in hand, would you still need to be restrained by the Chu family?"

Lu Yongyuan's voice was extremely excited, but he gripped the cup tightly in his hand, waiting for Chu Xuan's answer.

Even though Chu Xuan knew from the beginning that Lu Yongyuan was doing some shady things, his heart still raced at this moment.

Be nice!

Lu Yongyuan was actually planning to illegally mine salt fields!

He was immediately shocked and looked around in a panic before gritting his teeth and saying to Lu Yongyuan.

"Are you crazy?! Unauthorized salt mining and selling of smuggled salt is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family! You might get the money, but you probably won't live to spend it!"

Lu Yongyuan was very satisfied with Chu Xuan's reaction. Only now was he completely convinced that Chu Xuan was not deliberately acting.

The distinct fear mixed with a hint of greed on his face couldn't be faked.

He felt increasingly contemptuous of Chu Xuan; in his eyes, this kid was just an innocent rich young master who had never experienced the hardships of life.

If Chu Xuan weren't the nominal lord of Wuming Mountain, this matter would have eventually come to light, and Lu Yongyuan wouldn't have revealed it.

What he didn't expect was that Chu Xuan's greedy expression just now was indeed from the heart, but it wasn't because of his cooperation with Lu Yongyuan.

Although Wuming Mountain was his territory, the Chu family would not leave it unattended forever; at any time, someone would secretly patrol it.

As time goes on, the existence of Yantian will inevitably be exposed, and Chu Xuan, who was involved in this matter, will surely die.

Lu Yongyuan was unaware that while he was speaking eloquently, Chu Xuan had already planned to put his salt fields to other uses.