Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

The last stronghold of the Cui family of Boling in Chang'an was a three-courtyard old house hidden in a deep alley.

The Cui family, which used to be bustling with visitors, is now so deserted that even a stray dog ​​wouldn't bother to visit.

The bedroom was filled with a suffocatingly strong smell of medicine.

The current "head" of the Cui clan, Cui De, the branch clan leader who had previously clamored in the secret room to assassinate the crown prince, was now lying on the couch, emaciated and frail.

His eyes were sunken, his cheekbones were high, and every breath he took sounded like a broken bellows.

"Cough cough... How are you?"

Cui De struggled to sit up halfway, his withered hand gripping the brocade quilt tightly, his knuckles white. "Books... still no one's buying them?"

Several younger members of the family knelt by the bed, each one looking dejected, like wilted eggplants.

"Chieftain..."

A middle-aged man who looked like a manager suddenly knelt down with a thud, his voice trembling with tears.

"Forget about selling books, the last few private schools under our name... have also closed down today."

"Close the door? Why are you closing the door?!"

Cui De stared wide-eyed, his chest heaving. "Didn't we waive tuition? Didn't we provide meals? How could those poor bastards not come?"

"The person has come, but... but the master has run away!"

The steward kowtowed to the ground, not daring to lift his head.

"Those old scholars we hired all packed up and left this morning!"

"They said that His Highness the Crown Prince's Royal Academy is recruiting. Not only is the monthly salary three times ours, but they also provide housing. If you teach well, you can even become an official in the court and be awarded the title of 'Special Grade Teacher'!"

"They said... instead of wasting time in a family like ours with no proper status, why not go and try your luck with the young master!"

"What?!"

Cui De felt a buzzing in his head, and saw stars before his eyes.

Even the schoolteacher has run away?

This is the foundation of a prestigious family!

The reason why powerful families could monopolize culture was because of books and people. Li Chengqian printed books at rock-bottom prices, and now he's even poaching people with high salaries?

"Shameless! A disgrace to civilized society!"

Cui De was so angry that he trembled all over, grabbed the medicine bowl next to his pillow and smashed it.

"Snap!"

The bitter medicine was splashed all over the floor.

"Have they wasted all that time studying the classics? Have they lost all sense of integrity?"

"Chieftain... there's even worse news..."

Another younger person, shrinking back, quietly added insult to injury.

"Um... several of our family's collateral relatives who are preparing to participate in next year's imperial examinations... secretly went to the academy to register last night."

"They left a letter saying that the Crown Prince had changed the rules of the imperial examinations. From now on, the papers would be graded anonymously, and the scores would be the only factor in the grade, not the overall score."

"Following the Cui family... there's no future in it."

boom--!

That stab was so vicious; it pierced right through Cui De's heart.

There's no future in it.

Is this how scions of prominent families evaluate their own families today?

Once upon a time, the prestigious name of the Cui family of Boling was a ladder to heaven and a cradle of prime ministers!

What now?

It became a burden, a joke, and a plague that everyone avoided!

"Haha...hahahaha..."

Cui De suddenly laughed.

The laughter was harsh and hoarse, like the cry of a night owl.

He laughed until tears streamed down his face, and his whole body was convulsing with laughter.

"What a brilliant tactic... truly a brilliant tactic!"

"You're trying to kill me by destroying my spirit! Li Chengqian, you're trying to extinguish the lineage of my family and sever our roots!"

"The book is gone, the person has run away, you've extinguished even the last hope..."

"Are you trying to turn us into deaf people, blind people, and wandering ghosts in this glorious Tang Dynasty?"

He finally understood.

Li Chengqian never considered compromising with them, nor did he ever think about coexisting with them.

That eight-year-old child, from the very beginning, was determined to uproot them completely!

Moreover, what they used was not swords, but something ten thousand times sharper than swords—the trend of the times!

Faced with the relentless march of history, these old fogies who cling to the remnants of the old era can only be crushed into dust.

"I'm not reconciled... I'm not reconciled at all!"

Cui De suddenly straightened up, his eyes bloodshot, his two withered hands flailing wildly in the air, as if trying to grasp the long-lost glory of his family.

"Ancestors! Your unworthy descendant Cui De... is utterly incompetent!"

"puff--!"

A mouthful of black blood gushed out of his mouth like a fountain.

The blood splattered on the bed curtains and on the faces of the kneeling, weeping descendants—a horrifying sight.

Cui De's body stiffened for a moment, then he fell heavily backward.

Those eyes, filled with resentment and despair, stared fixedly at the roof until their last breath, unable to close.

Do not look down.

"Chieftain! Chieftain!"

"Uncle!"

The room immediately descended into chaos, filled with cries and screams.

But how much of that crying is genuine emotion, and how much is fear of the future? Who can say for sure?

With Cui De spitting out a mouthful of blood, it also marked the complete withdrawal of that once invincible aristocratic family group, which had influenced the Tang Dynasty for hundreds of years, from the core stage of history.

What remains are nothing more than a bunch of stray dogs clinging to life.

……

At the same time, in Chang'an City, at the Eastern Palace.

On the highest building, the Star-Picking Tower.

A gentle night breeze carried a hint of late autumn chill, yet it couldn't dispel the vibrant atmosphere of the city.

Li Chengqian, draped in a black fox fur cloak, leaned on the railing, looking down at the magnificent city below.

The lights of thousands of homes shone like a galaxy fallen to earth.

And in that dimly lit place, one could faintly hear the sound of reading aloud.

Confucius said: "To learn something and then practice it regularly, is that not a pleasure?"

Those were the voices of impoverished students who worked during the day and studied at night in the newly opened night school.

It was immature, yet full of hope.

"Listen to that, what a beautiful sound."

Li Chengqian's lips curled up slightly, and he closed his eyes, as if listening to the most beautiful music in the world.

"It's much more pleasant to listen to than those old scholars' whining and pointless moaning."

Xu Xiao stood half a step behind him, holding a pot of warmed yellow wine in his hand, his eyes full of kindness.

"Your Highness, news has come from the Cui family that that old bastard Cui De just died of anger."

"Oh, he's dead."

Li Chengqian didn't even lift his eyelids, his tone as flat as if he were talking about a dead ant.

"It's better that they're dead, saving them from suffering while alive. This new era of the Tang Dynasty didn't even leave them a seat."

He took the wine glass from Xu Xiao and drank it all in one gulp.

The spicy liquor went down my throat and turned into a warm feeling.

"Wen, we won."

"We won too, in martial arts."

Li Chengqian toyed with the wine cup in his hand, his gaze passing over the tall city walls of Chang'an and landing on the deep and vast night sky to the north.

That place is a grassland.

It was Turkic territory.

This was also the new battlefield designated for him by the system.

"The dust in the house has been swept away, and the mice have been killed. Life is too comfortable; I'm practically rusting."

Li Chengqian stretched, and his joints cracked.

At that moment, the lazy, salty aura emanating from him seemed to be blown away by the night breeze, replaced by a chilling sharpness.

Like a peerless sword that has been hidden in its sheath for too long, it is finally about to reveal its bloodthirsty fangs on this night.

"Old Xu."

"This old servant is here."

"Tell Bai Qi to sharpen his sword, and tell Yue Fei to feed his horse well."

Li Chengqian turned around and casually threw the empty wine glass off the high-rise building.

The wine glass traced an arc through the air, making a crisp "crack" before shattering into pieces.

"What kind of skill is it to be a bully at home?"

"Next..."

He grinned, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth.

"It's time to go see the world."

"I heard that guy named Jieli washed his neck pretty clean?"