Chapter 7151: All Things Renewed

Chapter 7151: All Things Renewed
Just as Chen Xi was about to leave the study, she suddenly stopped. At this moment, Chen Ji had already taken the poison, and when he saw Chen Xi stop, his expression was somewhat strange.

"Lord Yuanfang, if I were not a member of the Chen family, and still possessed the morality and abilities I have today, would you still be the same as you are today?" Chen Xi asked Chen Ji, turning to him.

"That's none of my business!" Chen Ji said with a hint of sarcasm. "You're a member of the Chen family, which is why I'm willing to risk my life to make you face this reality."

"The Confucian scholars of the world are actually like this," Chen Xi sighed softly.

"Even the most learned Confucian scholars in the world cannot discern the differences between close and distant relatives. Naturally, I will choose the Chen family. It's that simple." Chen Ji said calmly, without the slightest doubt. This was his thought process from the very first day he sat in this position.

"I see, Uncle." Chen Xi waved his hand, and a temporary divine position was bestowed upon Chen Ji. "Do whatever you want before the nineteenth of the first month."

After saying that, Chen Xi left, while Chen Ji half-closed his eyes and said, "There's no need for that."

"Previously, it was the Prime Minister of the Han Empire, Marquis Chen, who questioned you and gave you face. Now, it is Chen Zichuan who is showing you his final concern. Let it be, considering that even though you were considering the Chen family, you were indeed thinking of Chen Zichuan." Chen Xi shook his head and said, "But it will only last this long."

“After all, Prime Minister Chen has already spoken, and he cannot take it back.” Chen Ji replied calmly. Chen Xi turned his head, his face revealing neither joy nor anger, and simply pushed open the study door and left.

"Although the final result exceeded my expectations, I still think you should go and meet Jia Wenhe. Of your generation, only Jia Wenhe truly achieved everything. The others, even you, are just physically strong." Chen Ji couldn't help but transmit his voice as Chen Xi pushed open the door to leave.

Chen Xi's judgment of Chen Ji was correct in one respect: no matter how greedy or crazy Chen Ji was, as long as he was still the head of the Chen family, everything he did would inevitably revolve around ensuring the long-term continuation of the Chen family.

Therefore, Chen Ji would try to get some benefits from Chen Xi, trying various methods, even crossing certain red lines, exchanging himself for benefits, etc., but he would never push the Chen family down a dead end. In other words, no matter what Chen Ji does, he can't get around one point, which is for the Chen family. For this kind of old man, nothing else matters, the family is everything.

After all, he was about to die, so it was necessary to give an explanation to his predecessors in the afterlife or to leave a life-saving trump card for future generations.

Based on Chen Ji's observations of human nature and everything he had seen over the decades, the final conclusion he reached was actually what he had previously told Chen Xi.

The other party was not making empty promises, nor was they expecting Chen Xi to act according to their own ideas. Rather, they were being realistic and fundamental, hoping that Chen Xi would recognize reality and take precautions. Once he had these precautions, he could do whatever he wanted, whether he became a saint or usurped the throne.

Only if Chen Xi has basic defenses can the Chen family continue to exist. If Chen Xi loses his defenses, given the actions those political figures will inevitably take when faced with a threat, if something happens to Chen Xi, the Chen family will definitely be finished. After all, Chen Xi is the face of the Chen family; their fates are intertwined.

Therefore, when Chen Ji realized that his lifespan was approaching and hesitated repeatedly, he was enlightened by Yan Fotiao and decisively took that step.

He sought neither personal gain nor any future prospects, only to allow Chen Xi to awaken for a moment in the dream he had woven.

Even now, Chen Ji still feels like he's living in a dream. Why does his eighty years of experience, the ruthlessness he's seen in history books, the "hunter kills the dog" mentality he's read in classic texts, and the conclusion he's drawn from analyzing human nature that the superior man must be cannibalistic, all seem meaningless at this moment?

Liu Bei was not ruthless; he still treated Chen Xi like a brother, just as he had always. Liu Tong was not insane; she was completely different from the Han princesses in historical records who indulged their desires. Instead, she adhered to her moral bottom line. Even though there was a hint of tears in her eyes, she still did not take that step. Instead, she cut it off, turning it into a sword spirit that carried the will of the empire.

This outcome was completely beyond Chen Ji's expectations.

Even so, Chen Ji still had to tell Chen Xi to be on guard, because no matter how fantastical the dream world is, one should always be wary of others.

"Uncle, that's my business, you don't need to worry about it." Chen Xi said softly before stepping out of the study, and then led Xu Chu into the darkness.

"Uh, they didn't wipe out the whole family?" Standing in the darkness, Chen Qun peered into the study when Chen Xi came out and inexplicably replied. His father, Chen Ji, sat behind the desk, his expression complex and unreadable.

"You really want to wipe out the whole family?" Chen Xi was relatively polite to Chen Ji, but he treated Chen Qun like a beast of burden. Besides, Chen Xi was in a bad mood, and Chen Qun was still nagging, so of course he had to strike hard.

"No way! Someone just said he wasn't Cao Mengde. I still want to live in peace for a couple of days," Chen Qun said decisively.

"From now on, stop making unnecessary comments and get out of here." Chen Xi shooed Chen Qun away in a huff, her tone quite rude this time.

After saying that, Chen Xi left with Xu Chu, while Chen Qun looked at Chen Xi with a blank expression, even forgetting to personally see Chen Xi out of the house.

"What happened, Father?" After Chen Xi left, Chen Qun looked at his father with some strangeness. Logically speaking, Chen Xi had brought Xu Chu here and was carrying the Yuanfeng Sword that had only appeared today. Chen Qun thought that his family was bound to suffer a bloody disaster, but nothing happened. Even his father was fine. This was very strange. You know, Chen Qun was a political expert in games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

So when Chen Xi arrived with the Imperial Weapon, only to find that his own family was completely unharmed, Chen Qun felt he needed to find out what had happened.

"This is not something you can understand." Chen Ji glanced at his son, then sighed. In Chen Ji's opinion, his son Chen Qun was already an outstanding person. Even figures like Jia Xu, Fa Zheng, or even Lu Su in the past did not have any obvious advantages over his son. In some aspects, his son could even handle things better. But who can blame him for having Chen Xi?
If Xun Yu was the one who suppressed Chen Qun, then Chen Xi can be considered the one who directly overshadowed Chen Qun.

"Alright, then it would be best if you took responsibility yourself. I'll be in Chang'an next year, and I'll be handling some of Chancellor Chen's work." Chen Qun wasn't angry at all. It's normal for a father to scold his son. Even if the words are a bit harsh, it's nothing serious. You'll get used to it.

Chen Ji remained silent for a moment after hearing this, then looked at Chen Qun and said, "Father's life is coming to an end."

"Is that so? When a person reaches eighty, even if they pass away, it's considered a happy death. Dad, don't worry, I won't be too sad." Chen Qun acted like a complete idiot in front of his father, casually saying things that touched Chen Ji's heart.

"Your abilities are not bad, but it's a pity you met Xun Yu, and Xun Yu met Zichuan. But Zichuan has a fatal weakness. After your father dies, you should do what you need to do to benefit the Chen family, but when necessary, you must protect Chen Zichuan no matter what." Chen Ji wanted to scold Chen Qun, but the words ended up being a message of thought and family tradition.

"A fatal weakness?" Chen Qun raised an eyebrow slightly. "You mean, trusting Prince Jin too much?"

"Not really, trusting Prince Jin isn't a weakness," Chen Ji said, shaking his head. Even though he had to admit it now, at least in Liu Bei's era, Chen Xi's actions weren't problematic.

“What other weaknesses does he have? We can’t expect everyone to join forces to defeat him, can we? I doubt it. Even if we all joined forces, we would only be knocked to the ground.” Chen Qun thought for a moment and felt that if this wasn’t a weakness, then Chen Xi’s other weaknesses were meaningless.

"Let's not discuss his fatal weakness for now. What I want to tell you is that, while strengthening the family, when Chen Zichuan runs into trouble, we must protect him personally," Chen Ji said in a low voice. He couldn't really talk about weaknesses or anything like that in the current situation. He could only tell his son to be prepared to rush to Chen Xi's aid if something happened one day.

"That goes without saying. If that day ever comes, before I even make a move, a bunch of people will rush up to protect him." Chen Qun said casually. "So Dad, don't overthink it. There are far more people who want Chen Zichuan to live than those who want him to die."

Chen Ji was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then looked at Chen Qun.

"The imperial will is on his side, not because he has reshaped the imperial will, but because the people's attention is on him. Under such circumstances, if anyone wants to attack him, they will only be condemned by everyone. Even the person in that position will become a tyrant overnight." Chen Qun shook his head and said. In terms of morality, he is not as good as Chen Ji, but when it comes to politics, Chen Qun can say that everyone else is trash. From a certain perspective, Chen Qun saw this point very early on.

“No, I’m just afraid of what happened in Chang’an back then.” Chen Ji shook his head and said, “All of us are thinking about restricting the Liu royal family and laying the foundation for us to go abroad and establish fiefdoms in Central Asia. No aristocratic family is thinking about wiping out the royal family.”

This is what Chen Ji is most worried about. He believes that even if the emperor who succeeds Liu Tong to the throne realizes the threat posed by Chen Xi, considering his talent for protecting the country, he will not prepare to kill Chen Xi from the beginning. Instead, he will try to suppress Chen Xi and neutralize the threat.

The question is, how much benefit will be generated in this process?
Or to put it more directly, in this process, will others also want to gain some benefits from Chen Xi, such as Liu Ye, Li You, or others, and so on.

These people are certainly not thinking about killing Chen Xi. In fact, realistically speaking, after realizing the terrifying threat Chen Xi posed, they are trying their best to eliminate this threat in order to achieve so-called political stability.

But will these people engage in completely open and honest communication?
will not!

Absolutely not!

In that case, what happened in Chang'an back then could happen again. No one wanted to exterminate the Liu royal family, but everyone unanimously chose to restrict this group that could potentially hinder subsequent plans.

Given that even a royalist like Liu Ye felt that the Han imperial relatives in Chang'an might become an obstacle and consciously suppressed and neutralized them, it was almost inevitable that the Han imperial relatives in Chang'an would meet such a fate.

But none of the people who joined forces to do this, including the so-called most ruthless group, ever thought of wiping out the Liu royal family.

That incident served as a reminder to Chen Ji that once the wheels start moving and the inertia reaches a certain level, the driver cannot determine whether the vehicle will plunge off a cliff.

Therefore, no one would intend for Chen Xi to die, but when there are enough people pushing for it, it doesn't mean that Chen Xi will really not die.

If Chen Xi is really dead, then the Chen family will be the biggest scapegoat. It would be better to wipe out the Chen family to completely cover up the matter and then start the war, rather than letting the Chen family hold the banner and get the biggest benefits.

After all, the interests involved were so great, and Chen Xi was dead, so there was really nothing more to say; they might as well just cross the line.

While Chen Ji was giving instructions to Chen Qun, Chen Xi had already boarded the carriage. Although Xu Chu had many questions, he didn't ask any unnecessary questions. This was why Liu Bei liked to take Xu Chu around with him. Even if there was something he didn't understand, Xu Chu wouldn't say anything without orders.

"Zhongkang, let's go to the Grand Commandant's place," Chen Xi said to Xu Chu before getting into the carriage.

"Alright." Xu Chu thought for a moment and drove his carriage to Liu Bei's residence. However, before he arrived at Liu Bei's place, another carriage came to greet him.

"What's wrong, Zhongkang?" Chen Xi asked with some confusion as he noticed the carriage had stopped.

“It’s Mr. Wenhe’s car frame,” Xu Chu said in a muffled voice. Only because the person opposite him was an acquaintance and was blocking his way would Xu Chu have ignored him completely.

"Wenhe," Chen Xi sighed, then leaned halfway out of the carriage and cursed at the person opposite, "Jia Wenhe, you bastard, I even recommended you for the position of one of the Three Dukes, and this is how you treat me?"

"I earned the title of one of the Three Dukes myself." Jia Xu didn't take Chen Xi's anger to heart at all. He got out of the carriage and said to Chen Xi in a very calm manner.

"I'll give you three chances to explain the whole story clearly." Chen Xi said directly to Jia Xu. From the moment Chen Ji mentioned Jia Xu, Chen Xi realized that Jia Xu, who had been out of contact the whole time, must know everything. And Jia Xu had a very important task, a task that was responsible to Chen Xi, which was to guard against all the hidden arrows shot at Chen Xi's back.

In other words, the most important reason Chen Xi recruited Jia Xu was to have Jia Xu deal with certain conspiracies that Chen Xi would find difficult to handle.

"You're the one who caused this mess. I was originally going to deal with it, but Chen Ji's plan seems fine to me, and I'd like to take a look too." Jia Xu deliberately said four sentences. Actually, the last sentence wasn't important. After saying the first three, the fourth sentence was easy to guess.

"You bastard!" Chen Xi said with a hint of anger.

"Who told you to always make the best plan while harboring the worst expectations? Zichuan, I know very well what kind of person I am, but what about you? Why can you always harbor the worst expectations?" Jia Xu looked at Chen Xi calmly and said, "I don't believe in morality, and everyone can understand that, after all, I am Jia Xu. But you, who shaped this era, rebuilt official credibility, and established the moral system, why do you always harbor the worst expectations?"

Chen Xi remained silent for a while, without giving an answer.

“So, Yuan Fang Gong is doing this with a realistic attitude, and I need to make you put aside your last hesitation.” Jia Xu said calmly, “Lord Chen, to be honest, do you really trust us brothers who have worked with you for twenty years? Not trust in people, but trust in actions.”

"I don't know," Chen Xi said hoarsely.

"The only person you can truly trust is probably the Prince of Jin, and sometimes you don't even trust yourself," Jia Xu said helplessly. "There's one thing I've never been able to understand about you: you have the confidence to dominate the world, yet you still have moments of self-doubt. You worry about so-called mistakes—what a joke!"

"And then?" Chen Xi collected all his extraneous thoughts and looked calmly at Jia Xu.

"There's no 'then.' I just noticed something. In the matter of Lu Zijing, Zijing was 99% wrong, but his biggest mistake was bringing it up in the government office. So it was a rebellion, so he deserved it. But if you really want to know what's most terrifying?" Jia Xu said with a sigh, "What's most terrifying is that someone knew from the beginning."

“You believed from the very beginning that this day would come,” Jia Xu said with a hint of sadness.

“Yes, that’s right.” Chen Xi nodded, not denying what Jia Xu said. “I did know that all of this would happen, and I was indeed waiting for that day to come.”

"Then do you know what Yuan Fanggong said today is possible?" Jia Xu went straight to the heart of the matter.

"I know." Chen Xi nodded after a long silence. "The normal development is as Yuan Fanggong said; it is the inevitability of history."

"And then, under these circumstances, what did you do, Lord Chen?" Jia Xu watched as Chen Xi's eyes slowly closed, and at that moment he truly felt a deep sense of despair.

"Nothing was done, because Xuande Gong was special, and A Dou was also special." Chen Xi said with a smile. In terms of being a monarch, Liu Bei was very special, and A Dou was also special. Although A Dou was useless, he truly believed in Zhuge Liang.

"And then?" Jia Xu looked at Chen Xi with a hint of weariness.

"What, and then?" Chen Xi didn't react.

"You've pinned all your hopes on this special status?" Jia Xu said, somewhat annoyed by his lack of ambition. "Can't you, Chen Zichuan, turn this special status into something ordinary?"

"You overestimate me," Chen Xi said, shaking his head.

"No, I didn't overestimate you! You underestimated yourself." Jia Xu, who had always been calm and composed in the face of praise and criticism, was now incredibly furious. "Chen Zichuan, do you really not understand? Do you really not know? You're unwilling to try; you're just passively pushing things along!"

"I can't win against people's hearts," Chen Xi said, shaking his head.

"No, you have won many times already. You have pulled people's hearts out of the abyss. Whether it is those veterans in the Grand Martial Arts Competition whose hands are stained with the blood of others, or those of us who should have long since turned into monsters and led beasts to devour people, you have given them all human nature. I, Jia Xu, am very clear about where I have changed!" Jia Xu shouted angrily at Chen Xi.

"That's just because the social moral system has been rebuilt..." Chen Xi stopped mid-sentence. He had realized why Jia Xu was angry, why Jia Xu hadn't stopped Chen Ji, and even condoned Chen Ji's behavior this time. It was because Jia Xu felt he had to make Chen Xi see the world clearly and see the hearts of men!
The era that the older generation, such as Sima Jun, Xun Shuang, and Chen Ji, recognized had long been destroyed by Chen Xi. All that they knew was past experience, not the glory of today.

"The reason why the Prince of Jin is the Prince of Jin is not only because of his abilities, but also because of you! The Prince of Jin's perfect morality today, and his magnificent demeanor that is enough to reshape the moral heart of Confucian scholars throughout the world, you don't think he was born in the previous era, do you?" Jia Xu suppressed his anger. "Chen Zichuan, you can do more. You can reshape this era from the root, and you can change people's hearts from the root!"

“Chen Yuanfang has looked directly into people’s hearts and has not yet been killed because he is looking at a sage. Therefore, he not only did not see the abyss, but also saw the future perfection.” Jia Xu looked at Chen Xi with a hint of expectation in his eyes, just like the young Jia Xu who first stepped into Chang’an fifty years ago, ready to do something for the Han Dynasty and the world.

“It is because of you that we have the current morality. It is because of you that such rumors can be allowed to spread. It is also because of you that people believe that moral saints really exist, and that the most unruly people in this world have started to follow the rules.” Jia Xu looked at Chen Xi. “You can do more than just the Han cultural sphere; you can also create a set of rules that can continue this prosperous era.”

"To be honest, you've praised me too much," Chen Xi said with a wry smile. "It even feels a bit like facing Ju Shoushi."

“I can be Ju Shou, and then you can turn everything I’ve said into reality.” Jia Xu accepted the offer without hesitation, leaving Chen Xi speechless.

“The King of Jin is indeed benevolent, even surpassing all previous rulers in this respect. But if that were all, Lord Yuanfang would have to die at the King of Jin’s hands today,” Jia Xu stated his conjecture frankly. “But what about now?”

To allow Jia Xu to finish explaining his main ideas, he added an extra thousand words. (Scratching my head.) As for the purpose of these words, why they were written at this particular juncture, and how to explain it, well, I won't tell you.