I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 28 I Want to Be a Rich Man
Chen Xiu glanced at Liu Miao and, seeing that Liu Miao's expression was firm and not feigned, became somewhat puzzled.

"I have never heard that Prefect Liu is also a disciple of the Yuan family!"

Liu Miao naturally had his own theory on this—

"When I was young, the tutor of the Prince of Langya was a student of the Yuan family and studied under Yuan Chang of Ruyang."

In any case, most of the scholars in the world could be associated with the Yuan family of Runan, and Liu Miao did not believe that Chen Xiu knew whether the Grand Tutor of Langya, who had been dead for many years, was a disciple of the Yuan family.

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiu was indeed delighted!
"Such a thing actually happened? No wonder seeing Prefect Liu today felt like a breath of fresh air! I never imagined we were from the same sect?"

"..."

Liu Miao never imagined that there were people in this world who could lie without blushing!
How shameless!
Yuan's disciples are indeed a bunch of scoundrels!
Liu Miao immediately stepped forward and chatted and laughed with Chen Xiu. Although it was their first time meeting, the two were as warm as old classmates who had studied together before, so that no one else could tell that there was anything unusual about them!

Even Lu Kang, watching from the side, was puzzled, wondering if Liu Miao really knew Chen Xiu.
Zhou, curled up on the ground, immediately realized—

Something is wrong!
Something is very wrong!
How come Liu Miao and Chen Xiu are chatting?
Terrified, Zhou wanted to wail again, but Liu Miao's two big mouths had clearly left her with endless trauma. She could only mumble through her swollen lips, "Feed me peanuts! Feed me peanuts!"

"Get out! Where did this shrew come from, ruining the guests' enjoyment!"

Liu Miao watched as several strong servants came up and covered Zhou's mouth, then dragged her away, waving goodbye to her as he did so.

I've already told you everything.

I, Liu Miao, am the one who respects you the most, and I am willing to have a fair duel with you!

As for the others... I'm sorry, in their eyes, you seem, probably, likely, or roughly, not really a person...

Although Zhou was dragged away, the guests eventually lost interest after the banquet was disrupted, and they left in twos and threes after the event ended hastily.

Even Lu Kang, the host, didn't linger.

It wasn't that he didn't know the matter hadn't been settled yet.

Now that Liu Miao is here, why should he have to step forward and suffer the humiliation of Chen Xiu, a junior?

Lu Kang believed that whatever Liu Miao wanted to do, he could definitely do it well!
"Come, come, Lord Liu."

Chen Xiu kept toasting Liu Miao, who, unfazed, easily downed a whole jug of wine.

"Lord Liu has an enormous capacity for generosity!"

Chen Xiu offered a few words of praise, and seeing Liu Miao's flushed cheeks, knew he was already quite tipsy, so he began to subtly inquire—

"Since Lord Liu admires Lord Yuan, why does he come to seek refuge with Lu Kang?"

Liu Miao looked aggrieved and leaned his head on Chen Xiu's shoulder, wishing he could just lie in Chen Xiu's arms and cry.

"Brother, I didn't expect things to turn out this way either!"

"I was terrified the whole way from Chang'an!"

"In these chaotic times, how can someone with my talents be a good prefect with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain)?"

"I was so worried at Lu Zhongyi's banquet. After seeing Lu's widow, I thought I might as well marry Lu and use the name of the Lu family of Wu County to live in seclusion in Jiangdong and become a wealthy old man!"

Liu Miao suddenly sighed.

"Unexpectedly! Lu Zhongyi sounds impressive, but he's incredibly stingy. He won't give me any money or grain, not even a few hundred acres of barren land! What can I do?"

"I happened to hear that Sun Jian's widow had a lot of wealth, so I thought I would marry her and then go to Jiangdong to live a happy life. But she pretended not to want to. Don't you think I'm pitiful?"

But...but...poor you!

Chen Xiu was dumbfounded. He never imagined that there could be such a shameless person in the world!
To have taken such a blatant act of living off a woman to such an extent is truly a disgrace to our ancestor, Emperor Guangwu!
Liu Miao glanced at Chen Xiu sideways, and seeing that Chen Xiu did not question him, he sighed deeply. "It's all Lu Zhongyi's fault."

"Actually, Lu Zhongyi had promised to give me some money and provisions, and the funeral gifts I made for Sun Jian were made from Lu's family funds!"

Chen Xiu nodded, indicating that he understood.

After all, taking money from one's father-in-law's family to marry another's widow—only Liu Miao would do such a thing, and it's already become a laughing stock.

“But as soon as I said I was going to Jiangdong to go back to his hometown in Wu County, he immediately became unhappy and cut off my money and supplies.”

Liu Miao slapped his thigh.

"You know, at his age, why doesn't he go home and enjoy his retirement? Why does he insist on staying in Lujiang? Isn't that right?"

Chen Xiu never expected that Liu Miao, who was "utterly wicked," could actually utter such a human word!
Chen Xiu immediately nodded in agreement: "Absolutely! Lu Zhongyi is far too old, how can he still work so hard? If word gets out, people will think that the court is not considerate of the elderly! Isn't Lu Zhongyi putting the court in an unjust and immoral position?"

"Indeed! Indeed!"

Liu Miao took the wine jug and drank a few more mouthfuls, then let out a few burps without any restraint, seemingly truly drunk, and began to ramble incoherently—

"If you ask me, we should just ignore Lu Kang and take Boyan and his mother back to Wu County!"

"Boyan is the son of Lu Kang's cousin, and since Boyan's father died early, Lu Kang has always cherished Boyan very much!"

"If he sees that I've brought Boyan and Lu Zhongyi's youngest son, Lu Ji, to Jiangdong, he might feel a deep affection for his parents and not want to stay in this wretched place of Lujiang anymore. He might obediently come with me to Wu County to retire!"

What is said with good intentions may be taken to heart by the listener.

Although Chen Xiu was already disgusted that Liu Miao had actually set his sights on Lu Kang's family, he still asked, "In that case, why doesn't Your Excellency hurry over to Jiangdong?"

"Oh~~~"

Liu Miao rubbed his hands together in distress, his eyes glazed over.

"My dear brother, you are completely unaware of the suffering of the people!"

"I am penniless now. If I get to Wu County, I'm afraid I won't even be able to buy some fields and estates. How can I just run there on foot?"

"Since that's the case, we might as well stay in Shuxian for now and see if we have a chance to propose marriage to the Wu family again in the future. We can then make further plans after we acquire the Sun family's assets!"

Seeing that Liu Miao still couldn't forget Lady Wu, Chen Xiu immediately felt contempt for Liu Miao, thinking that Liu Miao was ultimately a man without any ambition!

But after hearing Liu Miao's plan, Chen Xiu felt that it wasn't entirely unreasonable!

He had already experienced firsthand how stubborn and hard Lu Kang was.

If Lu Kang could be persuaded to leave Lujiang, it would undoubtedly be of great benefit to everyone's grand plan to resist Yuan Shu!

Chen Xiu's eyes darted around.

"If Governor Liu were to bring Lu Boyan back to Jiangdong, I wonder how much money and grain would be needed?"

How much is enough?

Liu Miao pondered carefully for a moment, then gave a number—

"Thirty thousand bushels of grain will suffice!"

"Why don't you just rob it???"

(End of this chapter)