Chapter 27: Loyalty and Treachery

  Outside, the sky was cold and the ground was frozen. Inside, it was warm like spring. Zhao Ke leaned against a chair, holding a book and flipping through it occasionally. At the side, Hua Hua and Gui Hua were embroidering flowers while chatting and laughing. A small black dog barked and chased a white cat around.

  Suddenly the room fell silent, Zhao Ke turned his head and saw that the white cat had jumped onto the bookshelf, arched its back, puffed out its fur, and was staring at the small black dog below. "Hehe, you're a treacherous minister, you're a loyal minister! A treacherous minister can never defeat a loyal minister!" he said with a smile, pointing at the two small creatures facing off against each other.

  "Second Master, who do you say is a loyal minister and who is a treacherous minister?" asked Guihua.

  "Cats are treacherous officials, dogs are loyal officials!"

  "Second Master just mixed words, Xiao Bai is so lovely, how can it be a treacherous minister!" The little cat was hugged and fed by Gui Hua, hearing Zhao Che say that the cat is a treacherous minister, couldn't help but speak up for it.

  "There's a saying that goes 'a dog doesn't mind its owner being poor, and a son doesn't mind his mother being ugly.' A dog can share hardships with its master, but a cat is lazy and gluttonous. It will follow whoever is rich and noble, but once it has to suffer, it will run away from home and never come back!" Zhao Yan smiled and said.

  "Second Master actually said some nonsense, Xiaobai is clean and beautiful, can also coax people to relieve boredom, Xiaohei is dirty and ugly, hearing a little noise will bark randomly, annoying to death!" Guihua walked over and shooed away the small black dog, picking up the cat from the bookshelf. The cat rubbed affectionately against her chest, making Guihua laugh out loud.

  "Little Hei, come here!" Zhao Zhe put down the book and called over the helpless little dog. He took a piece of pastry from the plate and placed it at its mouth, stroking it while saying: "Sister Guihua and the others are all deceived masses, unable to distinguish between loyalty and treachery. Don't bother with them, soon it will be sent away, our family doesn't need traitors!"

  "Second Master, are you going to give away the little white cat?" Guihua asked in surprise.

  "Yes, I exchanged it for a house and some livestock!" Zhao Xiang said with a smile.

  "Second Master" didn't say a word, but tears had already begun to fall drop by drop.

  At this moment, the door was pushed open and Xi walked in excitedly, as if he had picked up a golden ingot. "Second Master, that Chen Zhifu really listened to us. He sent someone to hand over the estate early in the morning. The steward arranged for people to go there. We made a big profit this time!"

  "Fool, we didn't make a profit, but instead let him take advantage of us. Two heads plus the official's black hat aren't worth 200 mu of land?" Zhao Ye said with a sarcastic tone. This was not unexpected for him, as he knew Chen Tang would follow the path he had laid out for him. Having been in the official circle for many years, he wouldn't not understand the principle of sacrificing wealth to avoid disaster. Moreover, he hadn't tried to kill him off, so Chen Tang should still be grateful for his mercy.

  "Yes, yes, we gave him five thousand yuan and even threw in a cat. It wasn't for nothing, or else we would have been cheated and he wouldn't have dared to fart!" Xian Xi said after some thought.

  "Bastard, we're not paying, a prince eating for free and not paying debts is no different from being a bandit! You have no shame but I do, hurry up and give them the money, and take that cat away!" Zhao cursed.

  "Alright, I'll go inform the butler right away!" Jian Xi said, "Give me the cat, Osmanthus!" he turned around and said.

  "Second Master, can't you spare Xiaobai?" Guihua said with tears in her eyes, pitifully addressing Zhao Che, while holding the cat tighter in her arms.

  "Osmanthus, why are you so disobedient? You even dare to disobey Second Master's words!" Xi Hu said with a stern face.

  "Second Master, I really can't bear to part with you." Guihua burst into tears again.

  "Never mind, never mind, just keep the cat!" Zhao Chu said helplessly, waving his hand.

  "Second Master, it seems we've misspoken," Xixi asked cautiously after being scolded twice.

  "You're so stupid, just say the cat's dead, run away or find a wild cat from outside and give it to him, isn't that settled? We didn't specify which cat we'd give him!" Zhao Ze said in exasperation, seeing Xi usually being clever but now at a loss for what to do.

  "Yes, yes, Second Master, don't get angry, I'll go to the warehouse right away and find a cat for them to send over!" Seeing Xi glared at Guihua and ran off in a flash. This girl got herself scolded again, although he didn't know what "six zero cannon" was, but it definitely wasn't a good thing.

  That lazy cat, who relied on catching mice and eating leftover food every day, never thought that it would be lucky enough to have its fate changed by a single sentence from the king. Although it was born into a poor family, it has now become a nouveau riche, with its value rising to several thousand taels of silver. When it arrived at the governor's house, without asking, it was treated like an ancestor, being fed and pampered, and will surely grow up to be a legendary cat in everyone's mouths!

  Osmanthus seems to be afraid of being robbed by the cat, hiding away, while Sophora takes a small black dog out for a walk. Zhao Yi is left alone in the house, leaning on the table and gazing at the two green-haired turtles swimming leisurely in the crystal jar. Their long "hair" floats in the water, and the algae that grows on them may be a burden, but it also increases their value, avoiding becoming a disaster to satisfy people's appetite, and they can enjoy a carefree life.

  "Are you very satisfied with this life?" Zhao Ye tapped the glass jar, and the two green-haired turtles sank to the bottom of the water, shrinking their heads and limbs into their shells.

  "Do you think hiding will make you safe for the rest of your life? Your green fur only makes you feel special because some people are more interested in freaks like you. They can still smash the glass jar and catch you, play with you until they're bored, then crack open your shell and eat your flesh. You'll die an even more miserable death!" Zhao Ye muttered to himself.

  "Alas," Zhao Zhan sighed, wasn't he just like a green-haired turtle in a jar now? Although he had temporarily escaped the crisis before him, it was all thanks to the 'green hair' on his head - the halo of being a prince.

  Ten years later, twenty years later, when the war of annihilation comes, what will you do? There are two roads in front of you. One is to be killed by the Golden Army like a pig, and it's also possible to leave one life to die in the cold and hunger in the city of five countries; The other road is that you rely on your foresight and awareness, like those two turtles, hiding in Jiangnan for the rest of your life.

  "Can it be that I, an elite from a later era, can only live a mediocre life again? No way! I want to take the third path and live a brilliant life. It won't be in vain for me to have been reborn in this era!"

  What can I do now? I've already made a handgun, and I can also make cannons, rifles, produce many 'high-tech' weapons. With cavalry and guns, I can sweep across the entire back, conquer Western Xia, destroy Liao State, and conquer the Eurasian continent! Thinking of this, Zhao Ze became somewhat excited, walked around the room twice, suddenly wanted to smoke a cigarette, his hand involuntarily touched his pocket, but felt it wasn't right. He smiled wryly and shook his head - tobacco was still growing in South America, waiting for the great discovery of the Age of Exploration!

  "Woof woof!" Suddenly, a burst of dog barking came, "Second Master, everything has been taken care of, our estate has doubled in size, from now on this entire area within ten miles is ours!" Xian Xi, with a smile, led in the little black dog wagging its tail.

  "Ah!" Zhao's excitement was like a basin of cold water poured over his head, making him feel chilly and numb all over. "Still sweeping across Eurasia? The only ones he could trust were the person and dog in front of him. He was really daydreaming! His grand ambitions just fell into the Mariana Trench!

  In the warm shed, Zhao Chu's mind was not on the lush green vegetable field. He had a hidden worry in his heart. Huang Jingchen had already returned, and he thought it would definitely be another "political lesson". But he just asked a few simple questions like "Have you eaten enough? Are you cold?" and then went back to the house. Zhao Chu was very surprised, he felt that Huang Jingchen already knew what happened two days ago, but now pretended as if nothing had happened.

  "What does he mean?" Zhao Che was puzzled, and although he lived under the same roof as Huang Jingchen, his understanding of him was still too little. Huang Jingchen was like an elder in the family, caring for himself with great care, and the affairs of the mansion were also handled in an orderly manner. However, through more than a year of getting along, Zhao Che knew that Huang Jingchen was not as simple as he seemed on the surface. From handling the "Garden Assassination" incident, he showed his own ruthless methods, clearing out all suspects in the mansion without hesitation, killing everyone involved in the incident, and his cruel methods were far from being as gentle and kind as he appeared to be.

  "No matter what he does, it all revolves around him. If he has malicious intentions towards himself, then he can only get rid of him as soon as possible. If he can lend a helping hand to himself, that would be a great help!" As the de facto ruler of the Wang Fu, Huang Jingchen knew that Zhao Che had planted 'nails' around him, and it could be said that every move was under his surveillance. But now he didn't say anything, and Zhao Che felt like he was sitting on the mouth of a volcano, not knowing whether there was an active or dormant volcano beneath his butt."

  Zhao Dan has been tormented by his own thoughts for days, unable to eat or sleep. To change the current state of the world, the best approach would be to tell his father straightforwardly: 'You should work diligently and love your people, don't spend every day indulging in wine and women, finding him new stepmothers, trusting Cai Jing and other six traitors, and you can't listen to that eunuch Tong Guan's words a few years later, allying with Jin to destroy Liao. If you don't listen, your family will be destroyed and you'll end up eating snow in the northeast.' However, this is also the most impossible path to take. Putting aside whether his father would listen or not, the people in power and his brothers who are eyeing him covetously would first have to kill him off as a heretic!

  "Zhao Ren, pick these crooked gourds!" Zhao Yi pointed at the two melon seedlings that had shown signs of abnormal growth.

  "Second Master, these melons will be ripe soon. It's a pity to pick them now!" Zhao Ren said, looking at the several yellow cucumbers that had already grown as long as chopsticks.

  "They must be picked, they've grown too big, if not the other melons won't grow, can't let them affect the whole vine!" Zhao Che said as he pulled down a yellow cucumber, having made up his mind to kick away the obstacles in his path.