Chapter 4: Crisis of the Wang Clan (1/2)
Without a doubt, this was one of the happiest meal he has had in awhile.
The laughter over the meal never stopped. Madam Wang’s face was filled with delight and she kept placing food on Wang Chong’s plate. The food on Wang Chong’s plate piled high as though a mountain, making it impossible to put anything else on it.
On the other hand, Father Wang wasn’t as stern as he was before. Under Madam Wang’s piercing glare, he placed some food on Wang Chong’s plate as well.
“Third Brother, incredible!”
Upon seeing this sight, the little sister of the Wang Family was surprised. She shot her elder brother a glance. At this moment, she couldn’t be any more impressed with him.
She thought that her brother would fall under this calamity and she had already mentally prepared herself to witness a tragedy of the mortal world. She didn’t expect that with just a few words, not only did her parents not blame him, they were even chuckling and complimenting him. Even her father, which was an austere man, took the initiative to place food on his plate.
The Wang Family’s little sister couldn’t help but feel envious. She had been in this household for such a long time but never did she receive such treatment.
“Father, I don’t care, I want it too!”
Her face puffed up and she pushed her bowl to Father Wang.
“You are a lady, look at how you are behaving!”
Father Wang’s face was stiff and his words caused the Wang Family’s little sister to feel indignant. Tears welled up in her eyes. Taking the scene in sight, Madam Wang didn’t know whether she should reprimand her or laugh:
“Here! Mother will give you some food!”
“Brother will give you some food too!”
Chuckling within, Wang Chong also grabbed some food for his little sister.
“Thank you, brother.”
A smile finally appeared on the little sister’s teary face. She began to dig in happily once more, seemingly having forgotten all of the indignance she had felt previously.
The family dug into the food happily.
“Father, I heard that you are going to meet Lord Yao?”
In the midst of the meal, Wang Chong casually spoke.
In an instant, the atmosphere over the dining table changed and became slightly stiff. Madam Wang hurriedly shot Wang Chong a glance and little sister’s chopsticks stopped in midair in fright.
Everyone in the family knew that Father Wang didn’t like talking about work at home, and neither did he like anyone interfering in his job.
“Where did you hear that from?”
Father Wang lifted his head and said without a change in his expression. However, Wang Chong clearly saw a slight frown flashing across his father’s forehead. It was clear that he was displeased by Wang Chong’s action of bringing up this topic.
Gedeng, Wang Chong’s heart skipped a beat. Even so, he could only continue speaking of the matter. After all, this matter was extremely important to him. If he could not change this course of events, all of his previous hard work would have gone to vain.
“I just happened to overhear it when father was speaking about of this matter to mother.”
Wang Chong said. His heart was beating furiously out of nervousness. Whether it would be a success or failure depended on what he was going to say next.
“Oh.”
Father Wang’s forehead twitched slightly. At this point, he suddenly recalled that he seemed to have informed his wife, Zhao Shu Hua, of this matter. However, he had only spoken of the matter at home once. To think that Wang Chong would happen to overhear their conversation.
“Indeed, there is such a matter. Why are you bringing this up?”
Wang Chong’s good performance previously had worked its wonders. Father Wang did not get mad instantly and instead, he asked him to continue speaking of the matter. Clearly, he was treating him as an adult now.
Indeed, it wasn’t appropriate to treat a person who was about to join a military training camp to prepare for war as a child.
“Lord Yao had never been in good relationship with father. Furthermore, the both of you don’t have much contact. Yet, he took the initiative to arrange a meeting with father this time. I fear that he might have bad intentions.”
Wang Chong slowly explained.
Wang Chong knew that father didn’t like his family interfering in his work affairs. These words shouldn’t have come from the mouth of a fifteen-year-old child, but Wang Chong didn’t have a choice.
In his previous life, that Lord Yao, Yao Guang Yi, under the name of work, invited his father, who he never interacted with, for a meeting.
It wasn’t that his father was not guarded against him. If Yao Guang Yi had tried to pull him over to his side during the meeting, his father would have flatly rejected him. Yet, this Yao Guang Yi was extremely cunning. He didn’t say anything during the meeting and instead, he pulled father for a drink and chatted about miscellaneous matters.
After which, Yao Guang Yi intentionally pointed out the matter to King Song.
King Song is one of the relatives of the royal family and he is involved in military affairs of the country. He is one of the few people who wield great authority among the clan of the royal family. Due to Wang Chong’s grandfather, King Song trusted Father Wang deeply.
On the other hand, the reason why Wang Yan was able to become a general who wielded actual authority at such a young age was highly due to King Song’s contribution as well.
Father had a ‘secret meeting’ with the King Qi’s loyal servant, Yao Guang Yi, and given the hostile relationship between King Song and King Qi, how could King Song not get angry at the situation?
If it was under usual circumstances, it would be nothing much.
However, King Song and King Qi was current vying with one another in the royal court, both on the surface and in the shadows. The current situation was volatile and a lot of King Song’s students and old friends had been poached by King Qi. This caused King Song to be isolated and his authority in the royal court had fallen tremendously.
This incident had agitated King Song, causing him to become suspicious of his subordinates. At such a moment, his father had a private meeting with Yao Guang Yi. It was clear what King Song would think of him.
Furthermore, his father had an extremely straightforward and inflexible personality. He knew that King Song was suspicious of him, yet he claimed that he did not speak of anything with Yao Guang Yi, that the two of them only drank together.
How could two opposing authoritative officials in the royal court meet privately for just a drink? How could King Song possibly believe such a story?
Not only did his father’s words not dispel the suspicions King Song had towards him, it made King Song believe that his father had betrayed him and King Qi was intentionally sending him over to humiliate him in his face.
After which, Yao Guang Yi intentionally misled King Song and created a series of incidents by the border, causing the misunderstanding between King Song and his father to deepen.
He thought that the entire Wang Clan had decided to side with King Qi upon seeing that he wasn’t in a good position.
As the saying goes, the deeper the love, the greater the hate. Given their close relationship, King Song found the ‘betrayal’ of the Wang Clan unacceptable.
This incident had struck a heavy blow to him. He found it even harder to accept than when dozens of his students and old acquaintances had abandoned him for the enemy. King Song was completely disappointed with the Wang Clan.
When Wang Chong’s grandfather was still alive, King Song, on accounts of their past fellowship, only stripped Wang Yan of his authority over the army. However, when his grandfather passed away, King Qi started to oppress the Wang Clan, which had already lost King Song’s protection.
In a few short years, the prestigious Wang Clan was forced out of the royal court of the Great Tang Empire.
King Song was the head of the faction which supported an aggressive stand against those who were standing up against the Great Tang. After his fall, no one was able to oppose King Qi in the court. As such, the Great Tang Empire’s stand towards those against them became weaker and weaker. Eventually, it resulted in the catastrophe that caused its downfall.
One could say that this matter wasn’t only detrimental to the Wang Clan and King Song, it was a catastrophe for the entire royal court!
All three factions were the losers in this battle. Even King Qi himself wasn’t the final winner.