Chapter 70: Don't Call Me Board (Middle)

  On the wutong wood, a few tears slowly left their mark, and the adhesive marks on the tail of the qin drew near, leaving behind a faint sorrowful color.

  The beautiful sound of the guqin accompanied by a gentle breath gradually surrendered to the surrounding silence, like jade-like hands gently stroking the seven-stringed zither, Cai Yan's figure was inexplicably trembling at this moment.

  Cao Xin didn't know why the other person was so moved, but at this moment, he also vaguely felt the knot in the other person's heart.

  "Alas..." Seeing this, Cai Yong couldn't help but shake his head. He stared blankly at Cao Xin, and amidst the gaze, a hint of emotion flickered in his eyes. A tinge of melancholy appeared on his face as he said, "It's been ages since I've seen Yanyu play such heavenly music... Anmin, thank you..."

  The words were filled with complex gratitude, causing the surrounding crowd to be stunned, but Cao Xin suddenly understood and nodded in agreement.

  In ancient times, many women were chaste and virtuous, and a woman like Cai Wenji was hard to find. As for Cai Wenji's life, Cao Zhen didn't want to say much, but when a person accumulates years of resentment and buries everything in their heart, it gives rise to melancholy.

  What Cao Xin did was just a poem, but it lifted the knot in Cai Wenji's heart for many years. It was also a kind of understanding like knowing oneself.

  Cai Yong must have worried about his daughter for many years, but at this moment, a single clear tear was enough to wipe away all of that.

  "Thank you, General..." A light silk skirt brushed past Cao Xin's horse tail, Cai Yan lightly stepped forward and knelt before him.

  "Miss Cai, don't be like this! Cao Xin would never dare to!" A powerful hand suddenly pulled the beauty in front of him back, and Cao Xin reacted first.

  Suddenly, his heart was racing with excitement.

  This was Cao Xin's first physical contact with Cai Yan.

  An inexplicable, unutterable sense of understanding...

  Feeling a scorching heat transmitted from Cao Xin's hand, Cai Yan suddenly looked at those large hands and felt an extraordinary strength, a kind of masculine aura she had never felt before, causing her face to flush red instantly.

  "Hehe, sister, if you don't mind, from now on, don't call me General or anything like that. You're older than me by a few years, just call me An Min." Cao Xin helped the other person up and said with a gentle smile.

  "An, an min......" A low murmur of a few words escaped his lips, and Cai Yan suddenly saw the former's smile. He felt his heart racing like a deer, and his beautiful face was stunned for a moment, with only a faint trail of tears remaining in its original place.

  The hall was filled with all sorts of flavors at once.

  At this moment, the sons of the aristocratic families at the banquet couldn't help but cast envious glances, filled with jealousy, anger and even gritted teeth. Each of them saw their goddess acting strangely in front of Cao Xin, and these noble-born aristocrats all shook their heads and sighed incessantly.

  Cai Yong smiled silently, while Xu Shao chuckled and understood Cai Yan's thoughts. Liu Yue stared at Cai Yong with sparkling eyes, lost in excitement...

  Dian Wei... is still stuffing his mouth with food, forgetting about me...

  It was as if time had stopped, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly froze, leaving only Cao Xin with a smile on his face and Cai Yan with a strange expression.

  "Hum, this is the biggest joke in the world. A lowly-born commoner like you dares to call Miss Cai 'sister'? How ridiculous! Haha... "

  Suddenly at this moment, a discordant voice suddenly came from the main hall.

  Everyone was shocked again...

  However, at this moment, Chen Ying suddenly stood up from his seat. At this moment, he was smiling coldly all over his face, but the color of his face had already turned iron blue.

  Cai Yong and others frowned one after another, seeing Chen Ying walking over, the words in their mouths were even more sarcastic.

  Chen Ying walked towards Cao Xin, sneering and cursing: "Who are you? As I expected... your uncle is Cao Cao, right? Ha! Who is Cao Cao anyway? A eunuch's descendant!! A court lackey!!! Are you worthy of being in the same league as us scholars? You even have the face to show up here, such a lowly person, it's simply presumptuous!"

  "Who are you again?" From Cai Yan's line of sight, he turned to look at Chen Ying with a face full of disdain. Cao Xin sneered in his heart, but on his face, a hint of coldness flashed by, which was not easy to detect.

  "What did you say? Who am I? You scoundrel! You heard clearly, I am Chen Ying, the grandson of Chen Fan, the former Taifu of the previous dynasty! My Chen family has been a prominent clan in Yuzhou for generations, inheriting the title of minister! What are you? How dare you ask who I am?" Chen Ying was majestic and domineering at this moment, constantly pointing at Cao Xin and scolding him with disdain.

  At this moment, looking at Chen Ying, neither Liu Yue nor Dian Wei could help but have a gloomy face, and even Cai Yong and Xu Shao were frowning, but Cao Xin was just a cold smile, as if he was unmoved.

  At this time, Chen Ying seemed to be getting more and more excited, suddenly bursting into a loud laugh, then deeply bowed to Cai Yong, and suddenly said in a loud voice: "Mr. Boji, you are one of the three most talented people in the world, with a reputation as a national scholar, and an unshakeable position among us scholars." As he spoke, he suddenly pointed at Cao Xin, and immediately sneered, "Who is this? Cao Cao's nephew? A eunuch! Cao Xin's great-grandfather Cao Teng was once all-powerful, and in league with the ten constant attendants, causing chaos and disorder in the imperial court, without a king or father! If you insist on associating with such a lowly person, then you will lose the hearts of us scholars..."

  When Chen Ying said this, Cai Yong's old face suddenly froze, and he actually showed a hint of embarrassment.

  At this moment, Chen Ying saw Cai Yong wavering slightly, and immediately disregarding Cao Xin's expression, he suddenly looked at the people in the hall, sneered: "Gentlemen, am I wrong? This world has really changed, a mere eunuch can sit with us on an equal footing! Think about your families, aren't they all high-ranking officials, aristocratic families, how is it?! Don't you gentlemen have anything to say?"

  "That's right..."

  "That's right, Mr. Chen Ying has a point..."

  "En en, that's right."

  For a moment, with Chen Ying's provocation, the hall was filled with discussions among the disciples, all of whom were inclined towards the former.

  Cao Xin listened to Chen Ying's words, word by word, sentence by sentence, and remained silent until the surrounding area was filled with curses.

  That's right, Cao Cao's origin is not good.

  Of course, this is not a good origin, not to say poor.

  But Cao Cao's family, although large and powerful with wealth and influence, lacked one thing, which was the very thing that people in the world valued most.

  Noble, noble...

  Cao Cao was born into a family of high-ranking officials, but his family was not of noble descent.

  No matter how rich your family is, you can't buy people's respect.

  In ancient times, agriculture was valued over commerce. Unlike later generations, having money did not guarantee social status. In the past, merchants had wealth, but their pursuit of profit was too extreme, calculating every ounce, and went against the teachings of the sages. Therefore, in ancient times, the social status of merchants was actually quite low.

  Think about why great Chairman Mao wrote in his family rules that his descendants must never engage in business. This is a miniature of the times.

  So Cao Cao's family had money, but after all, they were eunuchs and of humble origin.

  In this era, reputation is paramount; a bad reputation is equivalent to being discriminated against and cannot be considered noble.

  Looking at the smug expression on Chen Ying's face, Cao Xin couldn't help but reveal a hint of murderous intent, but after all, in front of Mr. Cai, he didn't dare to make a move, so he could only coldly stare.

  "Hmph, you lowly wretch..." Chen Ying obviously still didn't want to shut up, but instead looked at Cao Xin again with a cold snort.

  "Bang——"

  But suddenly at this moment...

  A crisp sound suddenly echoed in the hall, and it was Cai Yan who had appeared in front of him at some point, his face frosty, and with a slap...

  "You..."

  It all happened so suddenly that everyone was caught off guard.

  Cao Xin and others stared in shock, it was Cai Yan's icy frost that was terrifying at this moment, her beautiful body trembling lightly, as if she was furious with Chen Ying.

  Suddenly grasping a small hand, Cao Xin subconsciously hesitated for a moment.

  Cai Yan's face was tinged with shame as she looked at Cao Xin and said, "Anmin, don't bother with such common people. What's the point of talking about being a scholar-official or an official's descendant? It's just these ordinary scholars indulging in their own self-importance."

  The two words "An Min" suddenly stunned everyone, Cao Xin stared blankly.

  Chen Ying's face was slightly red, apparently from the previous slap, which wasn't light.

  In an instant, the entire venue fell silent.

  "Haha, okay, okay."

  At this time.

  A ferocious smile suddenly appeared on his face, and he rubbed the red mark on his face fiercely. He immediately looked at Cao Xin and gritted his teeth: "You wait for me, you've offended me! You'll come to no good end, heh heh heh..."

  "Anytime, I'll accompany you."

  Compared to his previous anger, Cao Xin suddenly felt an unusual warmth coming from Cai Yan's hand, and smiled lightly.

  "Excuse me..."

  Under the gaze of everyone, Chen Ying ruthlessly dropped a sentence and walked downstairs first. Suddenly, she turned her head and saw Cao Xin and Cai Yan.

  A faint chill, quietly appearing...

  *

  PS: Wow! Just saw that White Eyebrow Brother has 100 starting coins as a reward, thank you for your support! I'm so happy!!