The cousin's family is extremely wealthy; she deserves to be a concubine.

Lord He stared intently at He Zhizhang and asked a seemingly unrelated question, "If Rong'er needs your help someday, will you help her?"

He Zhizhang didn't understand why Lord He asked that question. His feelings for Hua Sirong were more lust at first sight.

Marquis Kehe and Consort Shui not only share a childhood sweetheart relationship, but are also entangled in various conflicts of interest.

So he said, “If it benefits the Marquis’s mansion, I will not hesitate. If it does not harm the Marquis’s mansion, I will not be stingy.”

Lord He nodded, "Do you still remember that rare book that was lost from your residence?"

The reason I took such a great risk to help the Shui family back then, besides friendship, was the secret hidden in this rare book, and the possible hidden wealth of the Leng family.

He Zhizhang was so shocked that he almost forgot to breathe, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.

"Father was taking too much of a risk."

If it weren't for my grandfather's decisive action back then, not to mention that unknown wealth, the declining Muqing Marquis's mansion might have been lost.

Lord He laughed heartily, “In one’s lifetime, there are things one should do and things one should not do.”

"Back then, I was young and impetuous, and with your grandfather handling the aftermath, it was inevitable that I acted somewhat radically."

"It's just a pity that your grandfather passed away too soon because of me."

Seeing that Lord He was briefly downcast, He Zhizhang asked, "I am from the Leng family? And what about the wealth you mentioned, I don't know..."

Lord He rarely showed a hint of confusion, "You also looked through that copy in the inner study before, did you find anything suspicious?"

He Zhizhang was puzzled. At the time, he thought it was just an ordinary book and did not pay much attention to it.

Lord He sighed and continued, "Back then, the Shui family used this rare book as a bargaining chip to get me to help them."

With the wealth of the Leng clan luring him in, he has naturally been very accommodating to the Shui family over the years.

Moreover, unlike Shen, Shui was extremely skilled at capturing a man's heart and making him soften his heart towards her at crucial moments.

Even now, even if he doesn't gain any benefit from the rare book, even if the Shui family tells him that the Leng family's wealth is just a facade.

He would no longer sacrifice Shui Shi, who bore his children, for personal gain.

Look, he's clearly a politician, but he also has a soft spot in his heart.

How ridiculous!

He Zhizhang pressed on, "Father, could you tell me what secret that rare book holds?"

Since they are hiding a secret that cannot be known to others, why go through the trouble of arranging a marriage to send the second younger sister to the Meng family?

Lord He already regarded He Zhizhang as his successor, so he naturally didn't hesitate to say a few more words about the past.

"I only learned the secret of the rare copy after going through some trouble."

The above is merely a special record of the secrets of some powerful families and important officials during the reign of the late emperor, some concerning the survival of their families, and others concerning their own life and death.

He Zhizhang was filled with disbelief. Such things were always kept secret by each family. Even if they were to be investigated in depth, only the henchmen of the royal group would be able to capture them.

Yet this matter of life and death was held in the hands of a small noble family.

Seeing He Zhizhang's expression, Lord He felt a little more relaxed and asked with a smile, "What's wrong? Were you scared?"

"At that time, your grandfather was still alive. I originally intended to use those things to help the Marquis's mansion, which had been severely damaged, to recover."

But your grandfather stopped me.

He not only stopped me, but he also made me continue to redeem the Shui family according to the agreement, and that I must take good care of the Shui family.

But that's all.

"Don't you understand? I didn't understand it back then either. What I understand even less is that your grandfather actually presented that rare book to the late emperor behind my back!"

He Zhizhang was sweating profusely as he listened.

Lord He stood by the window, gazing at the cold, clear moonlight outside, and let out a long sigh.

"Your grandfather never told me about this before he died. He only instructed me that although the Marquis's mansion was not as prosperous as before due to the struggle for the throne."

However, precisely because it was during the transition from the late emperor to the new emperor, and the Marquis's mansion was in a precarious position, it was even more important to keep a low profile.

We hold those leverages, and we should use them at crucial moments, not at a time of transition and instability, to once again put the Marquis's mansion in the spotlight and draw attention to itself.

That would be unwise.

So I heeded your grandfather's words and followed his dying wish, spending these years in a sinecure without any advancement.

However, opportunity always favors the prepared.

The Shui family gave me a second chance, so I began to use the resources at my disposal to build up strength for the Fourth Prince.

"But I kept running into obstacles."

What was initially thought to be a valuable resource turned out to be a thing of the past, with everything changed and people no longer the same.

"The powerful families still exist, perhaps rising to a higher level, or perhaps gradually declining to the bottom. The officials in the court have been replaced by new ones, and the major powers have long been reshuffled."

As for me, I was trapped in place by your grandfather's dying words. When I finally wanted to make a big splash, I suddenly realized that what I could use was actually very limited.

"You must think your father is an exaggerating coward, otherwise why would I be completely unaware of all that has happened in the capital?"

"In fact, if I didn't need to restart these resources, I would have to go out and do it myself."

I never imagined that such earth-shattering changes would occur so quietly over the past decade or so, right here in the capital, and even throughout our entire court.

Lord He's eyes were bloodshot, and he spoke with great emotion.

He Zhizhang felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this.

Without waiting for He Zhizhang to ask, Lord He continued to explain, as if responding to the answer He Zhizhang had been searching for all these years.

“One morning I suddenly woke up and realized that only the Heavenly Family could accomplish this silently.”

"How did the imperial family come to know this information?"

I am certain that this must have been the time your grandfather went to the palace before his death, when he personally handed that hot-button rare book to the late emperor.

All our Marquis's mansion has painstakingly guarded for so many years is nothing but a copy! Poor Meng Silang, that little brat, is still determined to trick Er Yatou into revealing the original copy.

Everything He Zhizhang heard tonight was enough to shock him, so hearing such speculation now made him much calmer.

Lord He's voice was slightly hoarse, probably because he had talked too much.

He looked at He Zhizhang and continued, "Only in this way can we explain why those aristocratic families recorded in the rare books either disappeared in the tide of time or changed hands frequently."

Needless to say, high-ranking officials in the court were subjected to a barrage of tactics, including being promoted in name only but demoted in reality, or being dismissed for making mistakes.

Those who couldn't see the situation clearly had long since lost their place in the capital.

After a long silence, He Zhizhang finally uttered a sigh, "My grandfather was prescient."

Lord He chuckled, "Yes, it's a pity that he never told me about such a big matter himself. If I hadn't been able to resist the temptation back then and had taken a wrong step, our Marquis's mansion would have been reduced to ashes long ago."