Chapter Thirty-Six: I'm Going to Die Suddenly

  If calculated by generation, Li Yuan is the nephew of Li Xiaozong. However, the aristocratic families seem to have a strict hierarchy and clear rules on the surface, but in reality, they are also chaotic. When the old master of the Li family was almost 80 years old, he took a 14-year-old girl as his concubine, and two years later, she gave birth to a son. Not to mention others, even the old master himself did not believe it, so he had to recognize the child by dripping blood, if the child was not his, let alone the child, even the child's mother would probably drown in the Yangtze River.

  It's strange, but after the blood test, this kid really is his. The old man was overjoyed and held a three-day banquet. This matter only proves that Old Master Li is vigorous and powerful, and can only prove that the internal affairs of this noble family are truly chaotic. The old master is the father of Li Luan, also the grandfather of General Li Yuanshan, the great-grandfather of General Li Xiaozong, and the great-great-grandfather of Li Yuan.

  Mr. Li, the old man, has lived to be over ninety years old. The teenager who is only in his teens, although he is Mr. Li's senior by generation, has no status because he was born out of wedlock. Those three days of feasting were more like a celebration of the old man's continued vigor rather than a celebration of the young man's birth.

  But also don't know why, that child looks especially like his elder nephew...

  Li Xiangzong was also a bastard son, so even if he had the military position of a fifth-grade general, as soon as he returned to the Li family's mansion, he didn't have much status.

  Li Yuan was the legitimate grandson of Li Xian, although he was not the eldest grandson in the main line.

  The Li family in Longxi County was originally a prominent family, so Li Yuan's arrogance is also understandable. The Li of Xiangcheng, looking at the entire Great Sui, is also a big tree.

  At the foot of the mountain, Fang Jie had specifically instructed Da Quan to drive the carriage to a place relatively far from Hong Zhour's camp, and also let Mu Xiaoyao go to Hong Zhour's side for the night. Mu Xiaoyao's first sentence was to ask Fang Jie what he was going to do that would harm the heavens and reason. Fang Jie said solemnly that this time it was to replace heaven and carry out its will, and Mu Xiaoyao said that this was a fresh thing, saying that she couldn't leave and had to stay and take a look.

  Mei Xiao Yao said she wanted to stay, Fang Jie was fine with it, and so was Da Quan.

  So, Mu Xiao Yao was still sleeping in the carriage, while the big dog reluctantly squatted on one side to skin the roe deer they had hunted. This was something he rarely did himself, although he was a meat lover. Every time Fang Jie asked him to do it personally, he would say something like "a gentleman keeps away from the kitchen", but there was never any sign of gentleness on his body.

  He loves eating meat, but he will never cook for himself unless absolutely necessary.

  Nor did he know if there was any secret hidden behind his meaningless persistence, Fang Jie had tried to probe but got nothing.

  So when Fang Jie led Li Yun and Cui Lue back to the carriage, the big dog was still staring at several dead wild game with worry. In front of him was an iron pot, the water in which had already boiled, but the pheasant was still motionless on one side, and two roe deer were hanging from a branch on the other side.

  After Fang Jie returned, he saw this and pretended to be angry, scolding a few sentences before smiling and letting Li Yuan and others wait. He personally took the initiative to pluck the hair and skin of those wild game, such a crude thing that Li Yuan and others would not dare to intervene, even watching Fang Jie's hands move quickly and skillfully, throwing the wild chicken into boiling water to scald the hair, then throwing a roe deer on the ground and peeling it with a sharp blade. At this time, every person's eyes showed an extremely strong disdain and contempt.

  The gentlemen kept a distance from the kitchen, and the young masters of noble families would not even think of getting involved in such coarse and disgusting things. Even if Cui Lüe had taken a look, he felt uncomfortable, so he pulled Li Yuan and others to climb up a high slope to watch the night view of the mountains. Li Yuan and Cui Lüe chatted and laughed, giving Liu Yīnāi, who was short, thin, and ugly, a wink. This guy, notorious in Xiangcheng for his scandalous behavior - peeping at women bathing at five years old, kicking widows' doors at nine years old, sleeping with all the maids by twelve years old, and having slept with every woman in Xiangcheng's brothels, including the madams, by seventeen years old - immediately turned around and left, holding a packet of low-quality poison from the Jianghu underworld.

  They had originally planned to cripple Cui's business, but now that Fang Jie has suddenly appeared as a scapegoat, they have become even more reckless. Even if they poison Cui to death, they can just frame Fang Jie and tell a story about how he murdered someone for money in a remote area. The officials and guards in Xiangcheng, including the county magistrate and prefect, wouldn't actually investigate thoroughly and offend the Li and Liu families, would they?

  The Cui family's influence in Xiangcheng was far inferior to that of the Li and Liu families, so this matter didn't seem like a big deal to Li Yuan and Liu Yining. However, both of them were cunning and ruthless, thinking they were clever but forgetting to consider that the first two times the Martial Arts Academy recruited students, Yang Xiucheng, the Governor-General of Hexi Road, recommended people from the Li family. Why did he recommend someone from the Cui family, a second-rate family in Longxi, this time?

  Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

  Just two months ago, His Majesty the Emperor promoted Cui Fei to be a Guifei.

  The poison in Liu Yining's hand was nothing good, not the fine product of Sanxiu Hall, nor the Seven Steps Poison of Guicuzi, nor the Hundred Flowers Poison of that madwoman from Lingyugou. It was just a bottle of inferior poison bought from some low-ranking Jianghu figure, ten bottles for one tael of silver.

  Poor quality is poor quality, but when it comes to human life, there's no room for ambiguity.

  The big dog sitting on one side, boiling water, raised the corner of its mouth and couldn't help but scold a sentence of despicable things. Then he lamented that his nose was too good to be true, and the stench of this broken poison was really damn hard to smell.

  Liu Yinan pretended to read the prescription for the wolf cub, then blocked the big dog's line of sight and quietly poured the packet of poison into the iron pot. The water in the pot suddenly burst with a few loud noises, and the big dog couldn't help but lament in his heart that even this kind of trash was hard to deal with, then deliberately turned his head to look elsewhere, pretending not to have noticed.

  Such a despicable move, Fang Jie couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth after seeing it, and in his heart, he scolded Liu Yinan's ancestors for eighteen generations. But absolutely no greetings were given to any of Liu Yinan's female relatives, the reason is simple, Liu Yinan was really too ugly, Fang Jie had no desire for someone like that's maternal lineage.

  Poisoning still requires two people who are being poisoned to pretend not to see, in order to solve the problem for this young master who is making a scene in Xiangcheng. Such means can only be mixed up in Xiangcheng, and will always be the tail behind Li Yuan's butt. If they were to go to the imperial capital and meet people from truly noble families, they would have been played to death and not even left with any dregs.

  Liu Yinan, who had just poisoned someone, turned around and left with a satisfied smile.

  The big dog looked at the pot of foam and asked Fang Jie: "What to do? This stupid cunt hasn't even seen what boiling water looks like? This water is all sticky and porridge-like."

  Helpless, he got up and took a wooden ladle to scoop out the foam on the boiling water bit by bit: "Don't blame others, amateur is always amateur."

  ……

  ……

  Wild game needs boiling water to remove hair, and after the rabbit is skinned, it also needs to be washed clean in water. So both of these things have come into contact with water, and they are both poisonous. This is something that a big dog cannot tolerate, and in his heart, he has cursed Liu Yining's ancestors countless times. He can tolerate wasting anything, but wasting meat is something he finds very hard to accept.

  If it weren't for Fang Jie's repeated persuasion to enter the Imperial City, and taking him to eat at the best wine house with the best dishes, Da Quan might have immediately quit his job.

  So while rejoicing at meeting an opponent like a pig, Fang Jie is also lamenting that he still needs to be careful of teammates like pigs. Oh no, it's teammates like dogs.

  After what felt like an eternity, Fang Jie finally had the wine and meat ready. As the roasted meat was sliced and served, both Li Yuan and Fang Jie let out a silent sigh of relief.

  "How about some wine?"

  Before the big dog that went to get wine on the horse carriage came back, he pretended to be displeased and shouted: "Let you go get some wine, but it's so slow! Are you dissatisfied with the wages I gave you? When we arrive in Chang'an City, I'll hire a smarter one. You're old and stupid, you're useless!"

  Li Yuan and Cui Lüe Shang subconsciously looked towards the carriage, only to see it violently shaking. The horses pulling the carriage seemed to have been startled, almost running forward. Cui Lüe Shang's heart was racing with fear, and he couldn't help but ask Fang: "Why is your wine stored in an iron box? Getting wine out causes such a big commotion!"

  Just then he came to a realization and couldn't help but say a few prayers for Daquan in his heart.

  Just then a large dog tumbled out of the carriage and fell on its face.

  He struggled to get up, carrying two wine bags and walking crookedly towards this side, with a black eye and a swollen mouth, muttering as he walked: "Getting wine... you think it's that easy?"

  Fang Jie hastily went over to welcome him, took the wine pouch and chuckled: "This old fellow loves to steal my wine to drink, so I hid it in a more secluded spot."

  The big dog let out a hum, turned his head and walked to the side of the carriage, leaned against a tree and sat down, rubbing his sore mouth and muttering in a low voice: "Shu Xiaoyao... isn't it just two bags of wine? Do you have to use such a ruthless hand?"

  Fortunately, he spoke in a low voice, and Li Yuan and others couldn't hear it either.

  Fang Jie personally filled the wine cups for Li Yuan and Cui Lue, among others, and accompanied them with a smile, saying: "This servant is hired from the countryside and has not seen much of the world. The few gentlemen should not be surprised. However, this wine is good wine, which can only be bought from Biancheng Fanggu."

  Chui Lue Shangdu raised his wine cup, took a sniff and couldn't help but praise: "The aroma is overwhelming, this is indeed good wine. Without even tasting it, I can tell that this wine has been aged for at least three to five years."

  Li Yuan was also a good drinker and couldn't help but pick up his cup and take a sip.

  "It's really not bad, although it can't compare to the Longtan wine from our Xiangcheng, but it's also a rare good wine. I didn't expect that such a remote and desolate place like Fanggu would produce such good wine, what a rare find."

  "Wine is not common, and the craftsmanship of Shang brothers is even more uncommon!"

  "The color is golden yellow, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside."

  "Taste it?"

  "Take a look and see if it's to your taste?"

  Li Yuan was taken aback, and Liu Yi Neng hastily said from the side: "Brother Shang is the host today, we are guests. How can the host not eat before the guests? You go first, we'll eat later."

  "Wait, wait, it's not right. As the host today, I should be the one to start eating first. It's only polite that the guest follows the host. Li Gongzi is a man of great virtue and prestige, so let him take the first bite. Otherwise, if we keep letting each other go first, the dishes will all get cold."

  Li Yuan hastily waved his hand and said: "We also relied on Mr. Cui's reputation to eat such a delicious meal, why not let Mr. Cui start first?"

  Chui Lue Shang was a straightforward person and thought for a moment before saying: "Then I'll eat first."

  "Wait!"

  "Let's settle this in a civilized manner. We are a nation that values etiquette, after all. Why don't we each state our age, and whoever is the oldest gets to eat first?"

  Chui Lue Shang laughed and said: "This is great!"

  Li Yuan's face turned pale, and he looked at the people around him, who were all younger than him: "This is not good... The older ones should naturally give way to the younger ones to eat first, this is the virtue advocated by Da Sui."

  "Me too!"

  Chui Lue Shang Dao: "Shang brothers, you must be the youngest, so you should eat first."

  "No, let Mr. Li eat first"

  "Business comes before brotherhood"

  Mr. Li eats first

  "Business comes before brotherhood"

  They were so deadlocked that they gave in to each other a dozen times, neither willing to eat first. In the end, they couldn't think of any more excuses and just wouldn't pick up their chopsticks.

  Just then, a fragrant breeze suddenly floated over, followed by a red shadow blocking the line of sight. When everyone was stunned, they saw a stunningly beautiful woman in a red skirt pinning Li Yuan to the ground, one hand prying open Li Yuan's mouth, and the other hand holding up the plate and pouring it into Li Yuan's mouth!

  "Damn it! I'm so anxious to death!"

  Mu Xiao Yao scolded and glared fiercely at Fang Jie.