Chapter 25 Exchange of Interests
The second branch of the Cui family.

Cui Zongji looked around and saw that no one spoke. He frowned and continued, "In exchange, the Cui family will have 10 places to study at the Fu'an Marquis's mansion every year until the Fu'an Marquis trains three first-class masters for the Cui family!"

In fact, one of the tacit conditions of the exchange was that Cui Shuyun married into the Fu'an Marquis's Mansion and became the main lady.

But in front of Cui Shuyun, as today was a happy day, Cui Zongji didn't want to point it out directly.

To be honest, for Cui, this exchange condition is neither worth eating nor worth giving up.

Cui Zongji didn't want to accept it.

However, the Fu'an Marquisate could not provide any physical objects of equal value in exchange.

Cui didn't dare to die and held the fire lotus tightly without letting go.

Otherwise, who knows what Marquis Fu'an will do when he gets angry!
Cui was unwilling to give away this rare treasure of heaven and earth, the Fire Lotus, to Marquis Fu'an for nothing.

After several discussions and negotiations, they finally reached an agreement on the position of the wife of the Hou Mansion and the training of three first-class masters for the Cui family.

Cui was afraid that Marquis Fu'an would go crazy.

Zhu Chengwu was also afraid that if he pushed Cui too far, she would destroy the Earth Core Fire Lotus, or the news would be leaked, causing more accidents.

Reaching an exchange condition that both parties can barely accept is the best outcome for both parties.

Although the position of the wife of the Marquis's mansion is honorable, it is also a vortex, and Cui Zongji would never take it.

Cui Zongji was unwilling to accept it, but other elders of the Cui clan were eagerly looking forward to it.

Cui Zongji is the eldest son and patriarch of the Cui family. He is already rich enough, so naturally he seeks stability and wants to stay away from the vortex.

But there are many people with a strong gambling habit among other families and clan elders.

And in their opinion, the possibility of losing the bet is extremely small.

Even if Marquis Fu'an cannot ascend to the throne, with the talent in martial arts he has shown, plus the support of the Zhu family, and now with the help of the rare treasure of heaven and earth - the Fire Lotus, the probability of him becoming a master is very high.

Once you become a master, you will have confidence.

Even the royal Zhu family does not have many master skills.

Even if Marquis Fu'an fails in his bid for the throne and the current crown prince takes the throne, they believe that the Zhu clan elders will not easily agree to move against a Zhu clan master and damage the Zhu clan's foundation.

Finally, the elders of the Zhu family will most likely come forward to protect Marquis Fu'an.

Moreover, Marquis Fu'an may not necessarily seize the throne, and the conflict between Marquis Fu'an and the current crown prince is not irreconcilable and cannot be resolved.

A master-level in-law would be enough to greatly increase their voice within the Cui family and ensure their prosperity and wealth for decades.

With enough benefits and advantages and not too great risks, they naturally have the courage to take a gamble.

After several discussions and exchanges of interests, the opportunity to gain the greatest benefit finally went to Cui Zongyan from the second house.

Because he holds an official position and is also a staunch supporter of Cui Zongji's ascension to the position of clan leader, he has Cui Zongji's support behind him.

Return a favor and exchange benefits.

After the second wife obtained the position of the chief lady of the Hou Mansion, naturally there was no place for the ten places to go to the Hou Mansion for further studies every year.

In addition to not having the opportunity to study in the Hou Mansion, the second branch also had to subsidize a lot of assets to the other branches and branches.

After internal consultation, the Cui family decided that the ten quotas for further study at the Hou Mansion each year would be 1 for the first house, 2 for the first elder's lineage, 2 for the third house, 2 for the fourth house, and 3 for the second elder's lineage.

The Second Elder’s lineage has the largest number of people because the Fire Lotus was brought back by the Second Elder from overseas.

The first wife had the least number of concubines because Cui Zongji didn't want to be too deeply involved with the Fu'an Marquis's Mansion.

Moreover, given Cui's wealth, it's not that they can't afford to hire martial arts masters as instructors, nor that they can't provide the resources to train first-class masters.

No one from the first wife's family would go to the Marquis Fu'an's Mansion.

Cui Zongji had already given away the quota for the first wife through some exchange of interests.

Cui Zong was extremely pessimistic about Marquis Fu'an and felt that the Marquis Fu'an's mansion was a very dangerous vortex.

But when people from the Marquis of Fu'an's mansion came to the door and pointed out that Cui had the Fire Lotus and that Marquis of Fu'an wanted the Fire Lotus, it was decided that Cui would no longer be able to remain immune.

It is inevitable to form a relationship with Fu'an Hou Mansion!

Thinking of this, Cui Zongji was not only heartbroken because of the loss of Fire Lotus, but also had a puzzle that had not been solved...

Before the people from Fu'an Marquis Mansion came to the door, only Cui Zongji, the Great Elder, and the Second Elder who discovered the Fire Lotus overseas and brought it back knew about the Fire Lotus. Cui Zongji still can't figure out how Fu'an Marquis Mansion knew that the Cui family had the Fire Lotus!

There is no way the First Elder and the Second Elder would leak the information!
...

With the gift of the Fire Lotus, a rare treasure from heaven and earth, except for Cui Zongji's eldest wife, the other branches of the Cui family were actually quite satisfied.

After all, there is only one Fire Lotus, and it is likely that the eldest son will use it in the end.

They get nothing.

This is no joke.

Didn’t you see that before the Marquis of Fu’an came to their doorstep, the heads of the second, third, and fourth branches of the Cui family didn’t even know that they had such a rare treasure as the Fire Lotus.

Afterwards, seeing that he could no longer conceal the secret, Cui Zongji told the second, third, and fourth houses that the Cui family had the Fire Lotus, and Marquis Fu'an wanted the Fire Lotus!

If the Fire Lotus is handed over to Marquis Fu'an, the other families will all gain some benefits.

"Sister Yun, the reason why I called you here and told you all this is to let you know that this marriage is not just about you, but about the entire Cui family!

You are not going to Fu'an Marquis Mansion alone. Your brothers Rong Wei and others who are waiting outside the house will go to Fu'an Marquis Mansion with you!

When you get to Fu'an Marquis's Mansion, you must unite. We, the Cui family, don't cause trouble, but we are not afraid of it either!"

Cui Zongji instructed Cui Shuyun.

"Yes, Patriarch! Shujun understands!"

Cui Shuyun understood the clan leader's subtext and meaning.

It was simply to tell her not to be depressed or confused anymore, because her position as the head lady of the marquis's mansion was obtained by Cui Shi with rare treasures from heaven and earth.

Tell her that after arriving at the Hou Mansion, she should unite the clan members, fight for the rights that the Cui family should have, and help Rong Wei and his brothers gain a firm foothold as soon as possible.

Tell her to look after Marquis Fu'an and train three top-notch people for the Cui family as soon as possible.

"Patriarch Zongji, you are joking! The Marquis will naturally do what he promised. Besides, when Madam arrives at the Marquis's mansion, she will be the principal wife. How could anyone bully Madam? Bully the children of the Cui family?"

Dai Fayan understood the hidden meaning of Cui Zongji's words.

Cui Zongji was afraid that after Fu'an Houfu obtained the Fire Lotus, they would break their promise and marginalize the Cui family.

"As long as the Cui family disciples follow the instructions and don't cause trouble, no one will bully them. But if they don't obey orders, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble the Cui family to select a new group of members!"

Zhao Xinghan interrupted forcefully.

Zhao Xinghan had reservations about this marriage. In addition to the fact that Cui Shi did not have a deep foundation in the officialdom and the military and could not bring any help to Zhu Chengwu, there was another reason, which was Cui Shi's conditions.

In Zhao Xinghan's opinion, Zhu Chengwu gave up the position of the wife of the Hou Mansion for a fire lotus, which was enough to give face to Cui.

You must know that once the plan of Zhao and the queen succeeds, the wife of the marquis today will be the queen tomorrow.

Even if she invested in advance, Cui had already made a profit by getting the position of the wife of the Marquis's Mansion with just one fire lotus.

However, Cui was greedy and wanted the Hou Mansion to train the young men for the Cui family until they had three top-notch ones.

Is it so easy to cultivate first-class talents?
The Fu'an Marquisate had been established for nearly ten years, and so far only Zhu Chengwu, him, and Gao Yao were first-rate people.

Among the three of them, except Gao Yao, Zhu Chengwu had the support of the Zhu royal family and the Zhao family.

How long will it take to train three top-notch people for the Cui family?
During such a long period of time, the Cui family sent ten young men to Hou Mansion every year. How many resources did Hou Mansion have to spend on them?

Where do these resources come from?

Most of them are from his guards...

Where is there hatred without reason?
How can there be no dislike for no reason?
It's all just about interests!

If Zhao Xinghan was not unable to be the master of the Zhao family, if there was no fire lotus in the Zhao family's treasure house...

Zhao Xinghan will definitely persuade the Zhao clan to marry Zhao's legitimate daughter to Zhu Chengwu, thus strengthening the relationship between him and Zhu Chengwu!

How could there be anything wrong with Cui family?

"Mr. Zhao would like to add one more thing. After Madam married into the Marquis' Mansion, she became the official wife of the mansion! I hope Madam can put herself in the right position and not be instigated by villains to create unwarranted rifts with the Marquis!" Then, Zhao Xinghan turned to Cui Shuyun and said.

After saying that, he glanced at Cui Zongji.

It is self-evident who the villain he is talking about is.

It was a foregone conclusion that Cui Shuyun would marry into the Hou Mansion.

Cui Zongyan was a fourth-rank official in the imperial court. Although her daughter's marriage to the prince was still considered high-class, they could be barely considered to be in the same class.

Zhao Xinghan had to maintain a certain respect for them.

But Zhao Xinghan doesn't need to do that for Cui Zongji.

In the Cui family, Cui Zongji's status is much higher than Cui Zongyan.

But in Zhao Xinghan's eyes, Cui Zongji was just a local Tu tribe leader with some money.

Not even a sneer!
Especially Cui Zongyan was so ignorant and made random demands!

This deepened Zhao Xinghan’s disgust!
Although the terms of exchange between the Cui family and the Fu'an Marquisate were the result of collective discussion among the Cui family, since Cui Zongji was the patriarch of the Cui family, he naturally had to bear the biggest blame.

This is what is called equality of rights and obligations!
"Is that right?"

When Cui Shuyun heard what Zhao Xinghan said, her heart sank.

This is why Cui Shuyun never wanted to marry into a wealthy family.

The higher the position, the greater the benefits.

The greater the interests, the greater the conflict.

Although she smiled bitterly in her heart, Cui Shuyun remained expressionless.

"Cousin! Shuyun naturally knows that after marrying into the Hou Mansion, she will become the head wife of the mansion, and she will also know how to put herself in the right position!

But the position of the wife of the Hou Mansion does not conflict with the identity of the daughter of the Cui family, right?

For example, Queen Zhao handled the relationship between her identity as queen and the daughter of the Zhao family very well!

Shuyun will definitely learn a lot from Queen Zhao, no, from her mother!"

Cui Shuyun’s words stunned Zhao Xinghan, and then he stopped talking silently.

Since Cui Shuyun mentioned Queen Zhao, Zhao Xinghan naturally had nothing more to say!

Could it be that Queen Zhao did not grasp the proper balance between her identities as queen and daughter of the Zhao family?
Or should Cui Shuyun not learn from Queen Zhao?
How funny!
“Chief Zongji, madam, we meet.

You, clan leader Zongji, have explained what you should have explained.

Isn't it time to hand over the Fire Lotus to us now? "

Looking at the future wife in front of him who was so extraordinary that she could make the arrogant General Zhao Xinghan feel humiliated, Dai Fayan changed the subject and said to Cui Zongji with a fist salute.

Dai Fayan's speech eased Zhao Xinghan's embarrassment and also made everyone turn their attention to Cui Zongji.

Fire Lotus.

This rare treasure from heaven and earth is the key to this wedding.

Everyone present understood that on the surface the bride was Cui Shuyun, but in reality the bride of Fu'an Marquis Mansion was receiving a rare treasure from heaven and earth - the Fire Lotus.

According to the agreement, the Fire Lotus should now be handed over to the Marquis of Fu'an Mansion.

"Huo Lian is not here because it is inconvenient to carry! You guys follow me!"

Cui Zongji first looked around, then turned to look at Zhao Xinghan and Dai Fayan and said so.

Although he was reluctant, Cui Zongji knew that it was time to hand over the Fire Lotus.

After saying that, Cui Zongji took the lead and walked out the door.

Zhao Xinghan and Dai Fayan frowned, looked at each other, and followed silently.

The others followed silently, and they would all be witnesses to the handover of the Fire Lotus.

Avoid future disputes.

Everyone followed Cui Zongji out of the second branch of the Cui family.

After walking for a while, Zhao Xinghan and Dai Fayan felt more and more that something was wrong.

This is the way out of town.

"Chief Zongji, where is the Fire Lotus? Stop playing tricks!"

Zhao Xinghan stopped and walked up to Cui Zongji to question him.

"The Fire Lotus is inconvenient to store, it's not in Cuijia Town!"

Cui Zongji explained.

"Where is that? Is it far, Patriarch Zongji?" Dai Fayan asked.

Dai Fayan’s expression is not looking good either.

At this critical moment, Cui Zongji must not play any more tricks!
"Not far, just a few miles!" Cui Zongji replied.

"Since it's only a few miles away, let Madam say goodbye to her parents! We'll set off with the wedding procession! After we get the Fire Lotus, we'll go straight back to the Hou Mansion!

By the way, the wedding procession should also be with the ten members of the Cui clan who are coming to the Marquis's Mansion for further studies." Dai Fayan suggested.

"Go back to the Hou Mansion directly?"

Cui Zongyan looked at Dai Fayan in surprise.

"What? No?"

Zhao Xinghan looked back and forth at Cui Zongji and Cui Zongyan.

"But I still have a lot to say to Jun~~~"

Cui's mother would object.

"Okay! Of course!"

Cui Zongyan immediately subdued Cui's mother.

He understood that Zhao Xinghan and Dai Fayan were nervous.

After all, the clan leader was reluctant to hand over the fire lotus and kept leading them out!

If Cui Zongyan had not personally attended the clan meeting, Cui Zongyan himself might have suspected that the clan leader was up to something.

However, even after attending the clan meeting, Cui Zongyan now has some doubts!

Whether the clan leader Cui Zongji was playing tricks or the fire lotus was really stored a few miles away, only the clan leader Cui Zongji himself knew.

Because ever since the second elder brought the fire lotus back, only the clan leader knew where the fire lotus was stored.

Even the second elder who brought back the fire lotus didn't know where the clan leader finally stored the fire lotus!

Under the orders of Zhao Xinghan and Dai Fayan, someone soon came to report.

"Uncle...Butler, the madam's dowry has been ordered. There are twenty carts in total, including silk..." Su Xiangqi came in front of Dai Fayan and was about to call him uncle, but when he saw Dai Fayan's expression, he immediately changed his words.

"General, we are ready and can set off at any time!" At this time, one of Zhao Xinghan's personal guards came to Zhao Xinghan and reported.

"Zongji, go call Rongwei and the other ten people!" Cui Zongji glanced at Cui Zongji, the head of the third house, and gave the order.

"Chief! All elders and relatives!"

After a while, Cui Zongji brought back 10 energetic young tribesmen.

They were the ten people selected to study in Hou Mansion.

They were all elites selected from each branch of the Cui family. They had long known from their elders that they would leave the Cui family and go to Fu'an Hou Mansion with the Hou Mansion's wedding procession to study martial arts.

They had also said goodbye to their parents in advance and were ready to leave at any time.

After everyone arrived, Cui Zongji set out again with a large army to the place where the fire lotus was stored.

(End of this chapter)