Four, how can little wisdom be sufficient for the Tao?

  After leaving Yu Yixuan's house, Yu Guozhen let out a long breath, and the mature and steady expression on his face completely disappeared, replaced by liveliness.

  "For crying out loud! Talking and doing things in such a pretentious way is really exhausting!" He cursed, but even Gao Dazhuang, who was following closely behind him, didn't quite catch what he had said.

  Xiang'an Town in Wuwei Prefecture is a large town, with many shops along the main street. Yu Guozhen walked while glancing around, but his reputation in Xiang'an was not very good, so those women who twisted their waists and saw him would dodge far away.

  "Dazhu, am I ugly?" Yu Guozhen asked somewhat dejectedly.

  "Zhen Ge is not ugly at all! Zhen Ge is the number one handsome young man in Xiang'an!"

  What kind of nonsense is "the first beautiful youth" and the like, it's not something that Gao Dazhuang would come up with on his own, Yu Guozhen's usual boastful words have been learned by him.

  When they arrived at the town entrance, Yu Guozhen saw a group of people surrounding a pack mule walking towards them. The man riding on the mule was tall and sturdy with sharp eyes. At a glance, he recognized the person: "Brother Zhen, it's Second Master!"

  The one on the mule was Yu Yiqin, the current head of the Yu family. Yu Guozhen's face turned serious again as he stepped back and bowed his head in respect when Yu Yiqin approached him.

  "Big Brother Zhen? How do you have time to come into town today?" Seeing him, Yu Yi Qin revealed a hint of surprise. For the past three years, Yu Guo Zhen wouldn't enter Xiang An Town unless it was absolutely necessary.

  "I've seen Second Uncle." Yu Guozhen smiled and said, "Fourth Uncle doesn't know why he's called me over, there are some things going on at his place, so I'll head back first and talk about it later."

  "Hmm?" Yu Yiqin felt that something was off in his heart. He knew the thoughts of the Fourth Room clearly, but he thought that over the past few years, the Fourth Room had been quite useful, so he turned a blind eye to it. With Old Four's temper, since he had called Yu Guozhen over, he must have been prepared to strike, how could he leave in such a grand and leisurely manner?

  However, he was somewhat tactful and merely nodded without asking further questions, gesturing for Yu Guozhen to leave. After Yu Guozhen had walked far away, he immediately ordered a servant: "Sanshunzi, go take a look at the fourth house, what exactly happened."

  Not long after, he knew what had happened. After listening to it, he first laughed twice, and then his smile was retracted: "Zhen Ge later went to Lao Wu's place? What did he go to Lao Wu's place for, stirring up the water in the fourth house, and still wanting to stir up the second house?"

  San Shunzi was his confidant, so Yu Yiqin did not hide his doubts in front of him. San Shunzi glanced at him secretly and said cautiously: "The Fifth Master is not the Fourth Master."

  Yu Yiqin nodded and said: "Lao Si is a fool, Lao Wu... I'll go to Lao Wu's place."

  Yu Yixuan was not surprised at all by the arrival of his elder brother, and Yu Yiqin did not take a seat either. He directly asked: "Old Five, have you heard about the commotion in the fourth house?"

  "I heard that first, Guofu beat Li Jinbao, then the fourth brother beat Guofu, and then the fourth sister beat Li Yinniang. It's so lively, how could I not know?" Yu Yixuan smiled slightly: "In our family's next generation, there is a clever and cunning young one."

  "Are you saying... all the commotion in the fourth house was stirred up by Guo Zhen?"

  "Second brother, isn't this a deliberate question? Fourth brother is a hot-headed fool, he wouldn't think of this for a while, can't you see that?"

  "I heard Guo Zhen came here later too?"

  "Yes, he said a few idle words and then ran to me to chat about Song poetry... It's for the sake of Fourth Brother, so that when Fourth Brother comes back to his senses, he'll know he's arrived at my place. I'm afraid he might suspect that I'm behind him."

  Yu Yixuan said that and also glanced at his second brother, smiling slightly. Yu Yiqin's old face turned slightly red, it wasn't just for the fourth to see, but also for him to see, otherwise why would he come home and run here in no time.

  "Guo Zhen is only... fifteen years old this year, and will be sixteen in the second half of the year. At such a young age, he already has such a heavy heart, I'm afraid it's not a blessing for the family." Yu Yiqin pondered slightly: "Lao Wu, what do you think we should do?"

  "Fourth brother is just confused for the time being, and he will come to his senses sooner or later. If second brother wants to teach Gu Zhen a lesson, it's better to wake up fourth brother directly. However, I think it's better to let the Fourth House make a fuss for two more days before saying anything, lest fourth brother gets too anxious and tries to have it both ways. Yu Yixuan said calmly: "Being clever is not enough... I want to read books now, second brother can do as he pleases if there's nothing else."

  Yu Yiqin smiled and stood up. As he walked to the door, he couldn't help but turn his head back and say: "Old Wu is indeed worthy of reading the books of saints and sages, haha!"

  When the two brothers of Er Fang were discussing something, Yu Guozhen had already returned to his own home. He wrote a letter and then called Lao Gao over: "Lao Gao, there's something that I don't dare entrust to anyone else, so you have to go take care of it."

  Lao Gao immediately straightened his back: "Zhen Ge'er just give orders!"

  "I have a letter and a small booklet here, you take them to the address on the letter, it will probably take one or two days for the round trip." Yu Guozhen said: "After delivering the letter to the other side, come back, don't delay."

  Lao Gao carefully took over the letter and the book, and followed Yu Guozhen to learn some characters. The address was still recognizable.

  "What about me? What about me?" Er Zhu, who was fifteen years old, came up and said somewhat anxiously: "Father and Da Zhu have things to do, what about me?"

  "You must have something on your mind too. Have those little brothers of yours keep watch around the town, and if there are any suspicious strangers coming, tell me right away."

  At a young age, he mixed with a group of cowherds and became the king of children. After hearing Yu Guozhen's words, he was only happy, but Old Gao beside him realized that something was wrong: "Brother Zhen, is something going to happen?"

  Nothing big will happen, just in case. Yu Guozhen smiled and said: "Others say I'm stupid Zhen, you don't think I'm stupid Zhen, that's enough."

  Although he said so, Lao Gao was still worried. He glanced at Yu Guozhen and his lips moved twice, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

  Yu Guozhen knew that in order for someone to carry out orders without discounting them, they had to be convinced. So he said: "Old Gao, say what you want to say."

  "Otherwise... let Zhen Ge'er return to town and stay with the old masters. It would be better, even if something happens, there will be someone to take care of him."

  "Heh, Old Gao, you also know that on the third house's side, there's only my father. Those few old masters, nominally I should call them Uncle or Brother, but in reality they're not my father's biological brothers." Yu Guozhen said slowly: "Especially the fourth house, which has never gotten along with our house. If we were to squeeze together with them, it would be inevitable that every three days or so they'd look at us disapprovingly. They might not be able to do anything to me, but they'll definitely make things difficult for you."

  Gao was not stupid, he immediately understood what Yu Guozhen meant, and after responding with a "yes", he went to find his wife to prepare dry rations for the road.

  In Xiang'an Town, Li Jinbao had been down in the dumps for several days, not only because he was sporting a pair of black eyes, but also because what happened that day made him lose face. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that his group had been outsmarted by Yu Guozhen, but this was something he didn't dare to say to his own father. It wasn't until Yu Yigou was summoned by the clan leader and returned home, smashing two cups in a row, that Li Jinbao cautiously asked: "Father, why are you so angry?"

  Looking at his still swollen eyes, Yu Yigong also felt a little guilty. He sighed and said, "Jinbao, I've been troubling you for the past few days."

  "This is where the old master is, Fu Ge is the young master, and Xiaoren is the lower person. The young master beating the lower person is nothing, it's just for the lower person, provoking Nainai to get angry and blaming the inner house..." Li Jinbao was a bit clever and didn't say anything about Yu Guofu, but said something for his own sister.

  The more he did this, the more uncomfortable Yu Yiguo felt in his heart, but Yu Yiguo would not blame his own son, nor would he blame himself. He could only blame Yu Guozhen for stirring up this trouble. As soon as he thought of Yu Guozhen, Yu Yiguo's anger surged again, and he said indignantly: "It was all caused by that little beast from the third house!"

  "Master Mingjian, these past few days I've been thinking and feeling that something is off. Master's words have awakened me from my dream, it's actually Zhen Ge..."

  "What a naughty boy, he's just a little beast! He was disobedient to his father from the start, and now at such a young age he dares to cheat me!" Yu Yigou said this, looked at Li Jinbao for a moment, and suddenly had an idea: "Jinbao, you've always been full of ideas, think of a way."

  Li Jinbao scratched his ears for a while, then said in a low voice: "Actually, there is a way. That kid lives outside the town. At this time of year, the world is not very peaceful. The water bandits from Chao Lake will occasionally come ashore..."

  When Yu Yigou heard this, his face changed greatly. Although at this time the world was in chaos and bandits were rising in Shaanxi and Henan, pirates were rampant in the southeast, but the Yu family had been law-abiding for a long time. Except for getting rid of Yu Guozhen, Yu Yigou had no opinion, but colluding with water thieves far exceeded his tolerance.

  "Shut up! You're in cahoots with the water bandits... That's a calamity that'll get your family exterminated!" He rebuked in a low voice.

  "Don't worry, old master. It's just a matter of finding some local rascals outside and spending a few coppers to get them to do the job."

  Yu Yigu's eyes blinked, and after thinking for a while, he shook his head: "Don't mention this again, is there another way?"

  "There is indeed a reversal, but it's just that the clan leader and Wu Lao Ye are on the other side..."

  "You just rest assured, the brothers in the second house don't have any good intentions either. I only want those 80 mu of land, but they've already occupied the old man's courtyard that was left behind by Little Chulu, and that courtyard is worth more than 80 mu of land!" Yu Yigou sneered: "Those two are just like prostitutes who still want to put up a virtuous wife's archway!"

  "If the clan leader and Wu Lao Ye don't take action, I have another plan..." Li Jinbao lowered his voice: "Moreover, this plan is almost risk-free, it's just that we might need to grease some palms in the government."

  "You're right, let's hear it." Yu Yigong's heart skipped a beat: "Lao Wu has some connections in the government, if things go well, the second house will get a free mansion, and he'll also lend a hand!"

  "This method sounds simple, I know a habitual forger who can imitate the handwriting of that deadbeat old man, write an IOU and stamp some blurry fingerprints..."