Wei and Jin did not submit to Zhou

Chapter 213 Guests and Menu (Part 2)
What Shi Shouxin was holding was an "unusual" letter.

Both the content of the letter and the writer of the letter are quite unusual.

This is a handwritten letter sent by Jia Chong!

In the letter, this is what the cunning politician wrote.

From the outset, Jia Chong stated explicitly in his letter: "When you accompanied Cao Mao and were arrested, the reason you weren't killed by those reckless imperial guards was because I insisted on having you publicly executed. Otherwise, you would have been killed and thrown into a mass grave like Cao Mao's servants, and Yang Hu wouldn't have had time to save you!"
Whether this story is true or not is unknown, but as someone directly involved, Shi Shouxin believed that Jia Chong had no reason to lie. When he was "caught" by Jia Chong, if the other party really wanted to kill him, he could have done so on the spot, without needing to be taken back to prison.

Jia Chong's revisiting of the old matter was merely a statement of his position; what followed was the main event.

Then, Jia Chong wrote in the letter:
Now you are Sima You's right-hand man, and have even played a remarkable role in the recent Luoyang turmoil. You are now deeply involved in the future political struggles, and it is impossible for you to stay out of it.

After the King of Jin became emperor, the King of Qi (Sima You) took charge of all military affairs in Luoyang, while you were in Qingzhou cultivating his power base. This格局 (structure/strategy) is now set in stone. You should be fully aware of this.

The Crown Prince and the Prince of Qi can certainly maintain a facade of harmony, and probably won't specifically target you.

But I have heard that the Crown Prince's eldest son, Sima Zhong, is an idiot, incredibly stupid. If the Crown Prince were to ascend the throne in the future, Sima Zhong would be made the new Crown Prince.

By then, Sima Yan will surely realize that his foolish son is no match for you and the Prince of Qi. Sima You alone is difficult to deal with, let alone with your capable assistance.

If that day ever comes, Sima Yan will definitely sow discord between you and Sima You, trying to win you over. If that fails, he will transfer you to the frontier, along with your confidants and forces, away from Qingzhou, and use the border nomads to eliminate you.

What methods do you have to break this deadlock?
In his letter, Jia Chong questioned Shi Shouxin in return, and then he continued:

Sima Zhong has already arranged a marriage between Jia Wu, the second daughter of my second wife Guo Huai. Although the marriage has not yet taken place, it is already a done deal and irreversible.

Unfortunately, my family has no male heirs. After I am gone, Guo Huai will be in charge of this family.

My eldest daughter, Jia Bao, is the wife of the King of Qi, and my youngest daughter, Jia Wu, is the wife of Sima Zhong. They are half-sisters. After the King of Jin passed away, the daughters went to their husbands' families, and the infighting in my family never stopped.

If I were still here, things would be fine, but if I were gone, Guo Huai would definitely run rampant and act lawlessly.

My poor ex-wife, Ms. Li, was deeply in love with me, but she was implicated in Li Feng's affair and had to divorce me.

After I pass away, Guo Huai will surely poison her. By then, the Prince of Jin will be gone and unable to stop it.

Sima Yan was constantly fighting with the King of Qi. If my ex-wife were still alive, she would certainly not have escaped Guo Huai's clutches. If she had died early, she would not have been able to be buried with me.

I have a daughter named Jia Yu who is still unmarried. Because she was born to a woman surnamed Li, she is ostracized at home and her life is not easy. If you take her as your concubine, you will become brothers-in-law with the Prince of Qi, which will be of great help to you.

I don't ask you to do anything for me, just take care of my ex-wife, Ms. Li, in the future. Make sure she has enough to eat and wear while she's alive, and let her be buried with me after she dies. That would be enough for you.

Guo Huai is both stupid and wicked; she's incapable of accomplishing anything great, but she'll stop at nothing to do evil, and she'll surely cause a huge mess in the future. I think that in the future, no one but you will be able to control her, including the two legitimate sons of the Prince of Jin.

For example, the incident of trying to snatch the bride from the Jia family mansion last time was orchestrated by you, and Guo Huai was helpless against it. I have high hopes for your abilities, so there's no need to be overly modest.

The founding ceremony is just around the corner, and you will definitely have to return to Luoyang to report on your work.

If you're interested in this matter, go to Li's residence in Luoyang. You went there once before when you helped the Prince of Qi seize the bride. Li will definitely agree to it then.

If you are not interested in this matter, then burn the letter and pretend nothing happened.

Sima Yan's ascension to the throne was inevitable; his success was solely due to his status as the "eldest son of the legitimate wife." Therefore, Sima Yan would inevitably choose his eldest son, Sima Zhong, as his crown prince.

If a fool were to become emperor, what would become of the world? I can't even imagine. But by then, I'm afraid I'll no longer be alive.

You are a smart person, you must understand what this letter means. Jia Yu is gentle and kind, so it's not an awkward thing for you to do to look after her.

The letter ends here.

Shi Shouxin placed Jia Chong's letter on the table and crossed his arms thoughtfully.

This letter is truly full of absurdities and bitter tears!
Shi Shouxin couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Reading this letter from the front, I feel that the logic is flawed, and some of the statements are inexplicable.

Then Shi Shouxin thought about it from another angle and immediately understood.

It wasn't that Shi Shouxin needed Jia Yu, this burden, but rather that Jia Yu desperately needed Shi Shouxin's protective charm! This was a magical charm that couldn't be found anywhere else in the world!

Because Jia Bao was Sima You's wife, Shi Shouxin, as Sima You's staunch confidant and right-hand man, and the bigwig responsible for handling Sima You's affairs in his fiefdom, was Jia Yu's only choice in terms of age, strength, and interpersonal relationships; there was no one else who could be found.

Of course, people like the Su brothers were also within Jia Chong's selection range, but would the discerning Jia Chong even look at them? Even if they were Sima You's confidants, so what?

Even more frightening is that Jia Chong predicted the political situation of the Western Jin Dynasty for the next one or two decades! And his predictions were remarkably accurate.

From this letter, Shi Shouxin could sense that if he really had to choose sides, Jia Chong was actually on Sima You's side, at least that was the meaning expressed in the letter.

Logically speaking, Jia Chong didn't need to take sides. He was a big shot in himself, and whichever side he stood on naturally gained more power!
However, this only applies to normal monarchs! What if the future emperor is an idiot? Or what if the future crown prince is an idiot?

All traditional rules will be overturned.

Jia Chong, who originally didn't need to take sides, would he have been able to avoid taking sides when Sima Yan became emperor?

At that time, should we side with "Crown Prince" Sima You or the foolish Crown Prince Sima Zhong?

A person without foresight will have immediate troubles. Jia Chong's letter fully illustrates this point. When the time comes, Jia Chong will definitely side with Sima You! Winning over Shi Shouxin is also for this reason.

A foolish emperor is too unpredictable. It's like a strong but naive child taking a sharp sword down the street. Who wouldn't be afraid?

Jia Chong wasn't thinking about his own current situation, but rather worried that Guo Huai would cause trouble when he was in charge.

Jia Chong's letter clearly conveyed the following meaning: Come on, join the biggest game and get the biggest reward! My daughter, Jia Yu, is the ticket to enter! You're coming or not, give me an answer!
Jia Chong was quite frank; he didn't talk about how beautiful his daughter was, but directly focused on the benefits!

Everyone was talking about the future, not the present.

If Shi Shouxin agrees to Jia Chong's proposal, he will have an irreplaceable ticket to intervene in the core politics of the Jin state!
Should we go or not?

Shi Shouxin fell into deep thought.

Jia Yu didn't care about his wife; the family didn't need her to have children or to eat.

But whether or not to participate in this game that bets on the future remains to be seen.

In truth, Shi Shouxin didn't want to get involved, because it meant unpredictable risks. Others might not know, but he was well aware that as the marriage contract neared its fulfillment, Jia Wu, being too weak and too young, had his bride replaced by Jia Nanfeng.

Then came a series of disturbances.

Being associated with Jia Chong will inevitably lead to a series of related matters in the future.

But is it really a good idea to pretend nothing happened? If we don't take it seriously now, will those catastrophes and earthquakes not happen in the future? Will accidents not occur?
That is also a kind of uncontrollable situation.

This is not a matter of whether or not to take in a woman; it concerns the life and death of the family in the future.

As Shi Shouxin hesitated, he caught a glimpse of the slender Wei Xiu carrying a soup bowl as she entered.

"My lord, Lady Yu asked me to bring you some nourishing chicken soup."

Wei Xiu suppressed a laugh and said in a low voice.

"Okay, put it aside."

Shi Shouxin stared intently at the pen holder, his gaze focused, and casually remarked. He probably hadn't even noticed what color the soup bowl was. Wei Xiu, who had originally intended to tease him about whether he and Yang Huiyu would have a hundred rounds of battle in bed tonight, held her breath and dared not speak upon seeing this.

"Is something troubling you, Ah Lang?" After a long while, Wei Xiu asked demurely, afraid of interrupting his train of thought.

"Can you take a look at this for me?"

Shi Shouxin handed the letter on the table to Wei Xiu.

"Isn't this... a little inappropriate?"

Wei Xiu, after all, came from a prestigious family and knew the proper etiquette. Sometimes, reading a letter you shouldn't read can cost you your life.

This isn't just an adjective; it means they really will be silenced!

Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was almost silenced by his uncle Wang Dun, simply because he overheard military secrets.

"It's alright, we can learn from others' experiences. I believe in you."

Shi Shouxin pulled Wei Xiu to sit beside him, remaining silent and letting her read the letter in peace.

As time passed, Wei Xiu's expression became quite interesting.

At times he was incredulous, at other times his face turned deathly pale, and finally he looked as if he had just recovered from a serious illness, with cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"how?"

Shi Shouxin asked in a low voice.

Wei Xiu thought for a moment, then swallowed hard and said:

"If we refuse, it would be disrespectful to Jia Chong."

Furthermore, there was a risk that the letter might be lost or leaked after the rejection, a risk that Jia Chong could not have ignored.

Therefore, refusing would make one a mortal enemy of Jia Chong, and might even affect Jia Chong's opinion of Sima You, causing Jia Chong to side with Sima Zhong.

Huh?
Shi Shouxin glanced at Wei Xiu with some surprise, not expecting that this young lady would actually consider this step!
"It doesn't matter if it's Jia Yu or this young lady; the key is choosing sides. Taking this step will mean facing Sima Yan directly in the future."

They even became deeply involved in the succession struggle during Sima Zhong's reign.

Shi Shouxin sighed, clearly feeling that it was too big a step to really get involved.

It easily brings sadness.

“My lord, when you said you could let Sima You marry a girl from the Jia family, no one, including myself, believed you.”

Wei Xiu hugged Shi Shouxin's arm and said.

Feeling Wei Xiu's flat chest, Shi Shouxin sighed inwardly that her meager assets were truly unworthy of her exceptionally beautiful face.

However, Shi Shouxin wouldn't say such a thing and spoil the mood.

"and then?"

"Then we saw Ah Lang accomplish things like a god descending to earth. Perhaps Jia Chong wrote this letter because he knew about this, after all, he must have had a deep impression of it."

Wei Xiu explained.

It must be said that this matter may indeed have been the key to Jia Chong's decision. Later, Shi Shouxin's mutiny in Luoyang to deal with Sima Fu only reinforced this impression.

"You can't predict what will happen in ten or twenty years. It's good enough to live well in the present."

Actually, when I first heard that my uncle wanted me to be Ah Lang's concubine, I was unwilling.

Because of my poor health, I didn't refuse after thinking it over. The thought that I might not even live to see that far in the future made me feel that finding a man now wasn't so important.

If I don't follow Ah Lang, even if I become his legal wife in the future, what's the point if my name is just engraved on a tombstone?

The same goes for Jia Chong's letter. Who knows what kind of situation Ah Lang will find himself in ten or twenty years from now? We can only wait and see what happens then.

It's hard to say what will happen in twenty years. I only know that if I refuse now, I will immediately provoke Jia Chong, and he will be furious.

I have also heard that Jia Chong is not a magnanimous person, and is even more fond of holding grudges.

In that case, how could Ah Lang possibly say no to him?

Wei Xiu countered with a question.

She was trying to understand Jia Chong's thoughts based on her own. She didn't understand the intricacies of the scheme, but Wei Xiu understood the hatred.

Her father had taken her to his home and sent her away. If Shi Shouxin had refused, Wei Xiu would have committed suicide upon returning home, because she simply couldn't bear the shame.

Jia Chong wrote this letter in a very humble manner; although it wasn't exactly begging, he still lowered himself to the point of losing face. If Shi Shouxin truly took it as "nothing happened," then who knows what might happen next.

Retaliation is inevitable!

"Yes, I will return to Luoyang again before the autumn harvest, and I will still need to discuss this matter with Jia Chong then."

Shi Shouxin sighed and said that he had already made up his mind.

He felt obligated to get involved in this situation, both morally and logically!
Wei Xiu rested her head on his arm and complained softly, "My lord, we haven't even settled in Linzi yet, and the Qi King's palace hasn't even started construction, and you're already going back to Luoyang. It's really too much of a hardship for you."

"I have to go even if it's hard. After all, those who aren't at the table will be on the menu. How can I not go to the banquet? They can't make me the one on the menu, can they?"

Shi Shouxin smiled and put his arm around Wei Xiu's slender shoulder.

Seeing Wei Xiu's big, blinking eyes, Shi Shouxin immediately realized that she hadn't understood what he had just said.

So he explained, “If you don’t sit at the table, then your profits will be distributed arbitrarily by the people at the table. And at most, they’ll inform you afterwards. It’s as if you yourself are the dish on the menu.”

Upon hearing these cruel yet philosophical words, Wei Xiu sighed and nodded.

She immediately realized that she was just an appetizer, and then her uncle Wei Guan said to Shi Shouxin: Come on, let's go to the Sima family for a feast. This appetizer is something I brought from home, so it's on me.

"Sigh, I'm a dish too."

Wei Xiu muttered something under her breath.

"what?"

Shi Shouxin didn't hear what the other person had just said, so he asked another question.

"I mean, when you go to Luoyang this time, could you take me with you? I haven't seen my uncle in a long time."

Wei Xiu pleaded.

"Then you need to take better care of yourself, the journey will be very tiring."

After a moment's thought, Shi Shouxin agreed to Wei Xiu's request. He also had many things he wanted to discuss with Wei Guan.

Since it concerned Jia Chong's scheme, Shi Shouxin also had his own plans.

(End of this chapter)