Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 764 Testing
The Xie family servants prepared the medicine for the fourth master. The second and third masters watched their fourth brother drink it before sending Doctor Huang away.

Huang Langzhong repeatedly instructed, "Fortunately, you arrived at the pharmacy in time. I gave the Fourth Master an emergency pill in the carriage, and then I used acupuncture to keep his mind clear. This kind of sudden fainting is the most dangerous. It can easily lead to a stroke. You must rest well during this period and do not get angry."

The second old master agreed on behalf of the fourth old master, and had someone send Doctor Huang out. Then he looked at the third old master and said, "Let the fourth brother rest well. We can talk about it tomorrow."

The third old master nodded: "I'll do as my second brother says."

Back then, the eldest brother was the best student, but he left home early. Then came the fourth brother. Among the younger brothers in their generation, with these two ahead of them, the rest of them could only follow behind.

Moreover, the fourth brother's father was the previous clan chief, so even though he was younger than them, the fourth brother naturally took control of the clan's power. Although the eldest branch of the family had few members, the eldest brother passed the imperial examination and entered officialdom smoothly, which became a source of pride for the Xie clan.

Over the years, they relied on their eldest brother outside the clan and their fourth brother within the clan, and lived a comfortable life for a time. At that time, brothers were friendly and respectful, fathers were kind and sons were filial, everything was good, money was available, and children could be sent to school. However, as the eldest brother's official position rose higher and higher, and the clan became better and better, everyone began to have their own thoughts.

They began to discover that the fourth brother was only outwardly humble and pretended to be selfless, while secretly seeking his own interests. He was best at changing his stance according to the wind, but he always managed to win the support of others by relying on his hypocritical face.

This approach is effective whether it's used on the eldest son or other members of the clan, but it clearly backfired when used against Xie Yuyan.

Despite their apparent anxiety, both of them harbored their own thoughts, but now was not the time to reveal them.

The two old men went home. As soon as the second old man sat down, he called his eldest son, Xie Yize, over and asked, "The fourth old man just said that he wanted to hand over the power of the clan leader to me. Why did you speak up to stop him?"

Hearing his father ask this question, Xie Yi whispered, "Taking over as clan leader now would be disadvantageous for Father."

The second old man raised his eyes, a look of confusion on his face.

Xie Yi said, "If Fourth Uncle tells you, will Third Uncle agree? Won't he fight for it? At this critical juncture, instead of being distracted by dealing with Third Uncle, we should suppress the issue for now and focus our efforts on dealing with Fourth Uncle and Xie Yuyan."

"Moreover, Fourth Uncle may not be genuinely relinquishing power. He might just be trying to put forward a leader to shield him from trouble. What will you do then if he claims to be sick at home and lets you deal with Xie Yuyan?"

The second old man's eyes widened, and after thinking about it carefully, he realized that it was indeed true.

“Even if Fourth Uncle is willing, it won’t work,” Xie Yi continued. “Because Father needs to let Fourth Uncle know that it is Xie Yuyan who wants to kill Fourth Uncle. We will always support him and respect him as the clan leader. That way, Fourth Uncle will hate Xie Yuyan, not you who took his position as clan leader.”

Ultimately, it was about getting Old Master Xie involved to deal with Xie Yuyan.

Xie Yi lowered his voice: "The current Xie clan leader isn't any better; he's got a lot of trouble ahead of him. Father, you should wait until things are more peaceful before replacing Fourth Uncle. That way, whatever dirty deeds the clan has done before will be none of your concern."

The second old man's eyes lit up, and he looked at his eldest son with great appreciation: "You're right, then we'll listen to you."

Xie Yi smiled and said, "Father, don't worry. After this matter is over, you won't have to put up with Fourth Uncle's attitude anymore."

The second old man felt that his son had not told him some inside information. He had asked him about it before, but his son had been evasive and said that he would tell him everything after this period of time.

What is the son waiting for? It's as if everything will be peaceful after that incident, and their family will undergo earth-shattering changes.

“You,” the second old man thought for a moment and didn’t press further, “you need to be careful when you’re out there.”

Xie Yize nodded: "Don't worry! As long as Fourth Uncle listens to me, we will definitely be able to solve the problem." The problem he was referring to was naturally Xie Yuyan... and perhaps the Wang family as well.

After leaving his father's room, Xie Yi immediately asked his attendant, "How is it? What's the Fourth Master's doing?"

The attendant whispered, "After seeing us off, the Fourth Master got up and went to his study."

As Xie Yi had expected, his fourth uncle's condition was not as serious as it seemed.

"Keep a close eye on him. Whatever he does, you have to let me know."

Xie Yize didn't have to wait long before his attendant brought back the news: "Fourth Master wrote a letter home and had it sent out of Bianjing."

Xie Yi knew that the letter from the Fourth Master must have been addressed to his son. "We must find out what was written in that letter."

The master had some things for them to do, and it would be best if the Xie family patriarch could come forward. Before this, Xie Yi had tested the Fourth Master, but he had not been able to make up his mind to take the Fourth Master to meet the master's people.

Because the fourth master was fickle and unpredictable, he was difficult to control.

As expected, the Fourth Master showed weakness to Xie Yuyan, wanting to compromise, but fortunately Xie Yuyan refused, losing face completely. Taking advantage of this opportunity, perhaps the Fourth Master could be completely won over, and the clan leader could be completely used by the master.

However, before that, he needed to find out whether the Fourth Master and Xie Yuyan were truly at odds, since there was no one else around when the two of them met.

……

The courtyard of Nancheng Wharf.

Zhang handed over a small note with Ayan's dowry list on it.

Once the bride and groom exchanged their betrothal gifts, the betrothal ceremony was complete.

Zhang breathed a sigh of relief. Although she was preparing for Ayan's wedding, she was extremely nervous. Fortunately, she was familiar with Madam Lin; otherwise, she might not have been able to speak fluently in front of a room full of strangers.

While everyone was offering their congratulations, Madam Lin walked over to Madam Zhang and whispered, "Alright, it's all done. Everything went smoothly."

After saying this, Madam Lin opened her hands to Madam Zhang: "My palms are sweaty."

Hearing Madam Lin say this, Zhang felt a little more at ease.

The two chatted and laughed, while Wang Bingchen on the side seemed a bit lonely. Both the Xie and Yang families were full of women, and Yang Jiang and Yang Qin were of the same generation as Xie Yuyan.

Just as Wang Bingchen was feeling useless, he discovered that Master Zhiyuan, who had just left, had returned.

Master Zhiyuan was full of compassion. Especially since he took charge of Baode Temple, the temple has been well-disciplined and compassionate, earning widespread praise and the temple's incense offerings have become increasingly prosperous.

Master Zhiyuan held an extraordinary position among his followers.

But this eminent monk seemed unusually different today. It was as if... he wasn't good at handling this situation, but had no choice but to stay.

Wang Bingchen looked down at Zhiyuan's feet and saw that no one was chaining him up! So why was that?
Faced with Wang Bingchen's doubts, Master Zhiyuan performed a Buddhist ritual: "Baode Temple is where it is today because of Mr. Xie's promotion of Buddhist charcoal. It would be too hasty to leave just to arrange the marriage between Mr. Wang and Mr. Xie. My disciple and I would like to stay a little longer to pray for the two virtuous men."

Yan Sui, who was standing next to his master, also chanted Buddhist mantras. In fact, his master had planned to take him away with him, but Xie Shanren invited him back.

Xie Shanren's original words were that at such an important time, she wanted to ask the master and his disciples to share in her joy.

Before his master could respond, Xie Shanren looked at him and said, "Young Master wants to stay and see more. If you can't see it from beginning to end, you will regret it."

Yan Sui was certain he hadn't said it, but Xie Shanren's words were so certain that he was momentarily confused, as if he had actually said something similar.

So they returned to the main room.

Zhang led Yu's mother forward and said, "A banquet has been prepared at home. The male guests are in the front yard, and the female guests are in the back yard."

Yang Jiang led the way for everyone. He didn't dare to look at Prime Minister Wang, who was the current prime minister. He was afraid that even a glance would be a mistake. So he simply stared at his shoes and bowed to Wang Bingchen: "My elders are all in Daming Prefecture and couldn't come in time. Please forgive me for any neglect."

Wang Bingchen immediately replied, "That's already very thoughtful." Actually, it wasn't that no one came, but rather that they were driven away. Although they didn't leave the main room, they could hear some noises outside.

(End of this chapter)