Cyber Daming

Songjiang Prefecture, south of Zhili Province, is the residence of the Xu family.

As the New Year approaches, this mansion, which occupies the best feng shui position in Songjiang Prefecture, has been hung up with festive lanterns early.

The couplets were painted with gold powder, and red silk was wrapped around the green tiles. The festive atmosphere was particularly strong, and it seemed that it was not disturbed at all by the rumors that had been spreading in the empire recently.

But if there are old people who have lived in Songjiang all year round, they will find something strange and abnormal hidden in this peaceful place.

Logically speaking, at this time in previous years, the Xu family was already bustling with people, cars and horses like dragons.

In the entire Songjiang territory, no matter which sequence they belong to, as long as they are the most important figures, they will come to visit them with heavy gifts.

At the busiest time, even the pine and cypress avenue as wide as a river, where the Xu family is located, would be blocked by all kinds of expensive cars.

The officials and merchant bosses from various states who were waiting to come in to see them would not continue to act superior to others. Instead, they eagerly jumped out of the car and started exchanging badges and chatting and making friends on the street.

So much so that in the Confucian prefaces of Southern Zhili, there was a saying: three or two words in front of the Xu family gate can equal the promotion of eight in the preface of ten years.

But such a grand scene has disappeared this year.

The lonely cold wind blew through the lanterns under the eaves, and the swaying red light reflected the spotless steps in front of the door.

What passes through the street is not bustling and bustling, but a deserted and desolate place.

"This year's early spring is colder than in previous years."

At the highest point of the mansion, Xu Haichao stood with his hands behind his hands on the edge of a rooftop extending outside the building, looking up at the quiet Songjiang Mansion under the night.

The wind beats the clothes and makes a hunting sound.

"Chao'er, actually you shouldn't come back at this time."

A concerned voice sounded softly behind Xu Haichao.

"Why do you think so?"

Xu Haichao did not look back, but a disdainful smile slowly appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"You should be able to understand the situation now. The storm has just begun in the empire. These companies seem to be gearing up, but in fact they are just showing off. The real purpose is to force us to take sides as soon as possible. But right now there is no telling who will lose or win. If there is even the slightest clue, entering the market rashly before you know the odds of winning can only get you into trouble.”

The old voice sighed and said earnestly: "Chao'er, everyone is waiting and watching. At this time, it is the best choice for you to continue to stay in the Japanese area as your ambassador."

"As long as we can control the Japanese area, no matter how the situation changes, even if something unexpected happens, the Xu family will still have a safe way out. You shouldn't understand these principles."

"So, father, what you are saying is that I should only be the icing on the cake and not provide help in times of need?"

Xu Haichao turned around slowly and looked at the rickety figure standing behind him with indifferent eyes.

The fine dust appeared in the light and shadow, and the old man he was talking to was obviously not a real person.

And at the end of the projected light, there was a tablet placed on the altar. The neatly written memorial name contains the old man's given name: Xu Shengyue.

"The Xu family is already a first-class family, and there is no way forward. Even if you provide help in times of need, can you still let the Xu family go further?"

The old man raised his eyes slightly, and his gloomy gaze fell on the smiling face.

"How to survive this difficult situation safely is what the Xu family should really consider."

"Safe?"

Hearing this, Xu Haichao couldn't help but shake his head and laugh: "It's because you have put stability first in everything in your life, that the Xu family has been trapped in this three-acre area of ​​Songjiang Mansion. In the end, let alone entering the imperial city, What’s the point of such stability if we can’t even hold a small Nanzhili in our hands?”

The old man felt a strong sense of bitterness, and his eyes that had just been raised fell again, his figure full of loneliness.

"As for the first-class nobles you talk about? That's more than just a joke."

Xu Haichao sneered and said: "In Zhang Fengyue's eyes, the value of us clan members is just to pave the way for him to break into the order. Anyway, he will attack us sooner or later, why should I choose to sit back and wait for death?"

Xu Haichao paused for a moment: "So, father, I came back this time not for any reason at all, and there is no one worthy of me joining his team."

"Then what do you want to do?"

Xu Shengyue's voice became angry and quick: "Do you think the Chief Assistant doesn't know your existence or what you are doing behind the scenes? Chao'er, you have never experienced the chaotic era when the three religions were fighting, so you simply I can’t understand his horror.”

"Didn't he already know about our existence?"

Xu Haichao smiled disdainfully and continued to speak loudly: "In order to implement the New Deal, he deliberately sat back and watched us drive you dead people out of office one by one. Isn't this true?"

The old man looked suffocated, his lips moved, and he was speechless.

"Right now, he has indeed achieved his wish. With the New Deal, he has successfully leveled the criminal areas and foreign lands, cleared away the foreign troubles left by the late emperor for the empire, and successfully completed part of the order-breaking ritual. But unfortunately, he finally misjudged the general trend. Forget that the real hidden danger always lies within!”

"Father, our Spring and Autumn Society has never looked down upon Zhang Fengyue, but he has lived for three decades and cannot get any older. The current Zhang Fengyue is no longer the strategizing and insightful empire in your memory. The chief assistant, he is just an old man dying! "

Xu Haichao's voice gradually rose, and a frightening fanaticism burst out from his eyes: "Zhang Fengyue has been sitting in that position for too long. It has been so long that he thought that no one in Confucianism still dared to resist him, that he could still hold on to that position. The overwhelming power that can determine the lives and deaths of millions of people with one word can regenerate one's decayed genes in the midst of more turbulent and fierce power. But... is this possible? "

"It's impossible!"

Xu Haichao asked and answered himself: "We are different from you. You are afraid of him because he broke your bones under his feet and will never stand up again. But we are not. We will not let anyone ride on our heads again." , and I don’t want to rely on others and live an ignoble existence!”

"Chao'er, even if you can really pull him down from the position of chief assistant, so what?"

The old man asked back: "The end result is just that someone else sits in that position. But will the person sitting in the seat be you? No! Why do you still make wedding clothes for others if you know you won't? What good does it do to you and the Xu family?"

"Of course there are benefits! Because we simply won't have that spot anymore!"

"What did you say?"

"Since Confucianism must be attached to the country, why can't we simply give up this decadent empire and build a country of our own? To be a king, why do we have to be ministers of others?"

Xu Haichao said this sentence almost word for word, impassioned, but the old man's figure could not stop shaking violently.

"You...you are really crazy!"

"We are not crazy, we are completely awake!"

At this moment, Xu Haichao's eyes were flashing brightly, he was full of energy, he was scolding Fang Qiu, and every word was loud and clear.

"Since he, Zhang Fengyue, wants to control this empire and is unwilling to let go until his death, then he will simply destroy it completely and let the world return to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of a thousand years ago, and create a glorious era where a hundred schools of thought contend!"

Xu Haichao clenched his fists, stretched out his arms in front of him, and said loudly: "The Confucian Kingdom has conquered all lands, and mountains and rivers are spread all over the Confucian Kingdom! Compared with this, official positions and clans are not worth mentioning at all! Because when the time comes, our own That’s Guo Zuo, that’s Qing Shi!”

Xu Haichao lowered his eyes and looked at the old man: "This is what we really want, this is what we should do! Do you understand now, father?"

"Now that you have made up your mind, what else can I say? The Xu family is yours now. Do whatever you want."

Looking at the son who seemed to be possessed by a maniac and listening to those deviant words, Xu Shengyue felt that her heart was filled with despair.

No, I no longer have the so-called heart.

Now he is just a brain in a vat, a wandering soul.

The projected light gradually dimmed, and the sadness and despair in the old man's eyes became blurry.

"Just a hipster."

Just when the old man was about to disappear, he suddenly asked: "Do you know why my father did not resist on the day you seized power and was willing to let you remove your head and brains?"

Xu Haichao was startled when he heard this, and the enthusiasm in his eyes faded slightly.

"Because when I saw you leading people to rush in front of me, my father suddenly felt that you are more cruel and decisive than me. Maybe it would be better to leave the Xu family in your hands."

There was a smile in the old man's voice: "So Chao'er, don't let your father down."

"Don't worry, father."

Xu Haichao stood in silence for a long time before his clenched fingers finally loosened.

He walked to the memorial platform filled with ancestors of the Xu family, lit a stick of incense, knelt down and kowtowed respectfully.

"It won't be long before the Xu family is no longer just a family, but a true Confucian nation!"

"What the hell kind of world is this?"

Chongqing Mansion Jinlou, the headquarters of the Sichuan-Chongqing Gambling Club.

Wang Xie was holding a jar of old wine and was amused by He Zangjia's words as soon as he entered the door.

"Why are you so crazy? You are just a gang leader at best, and you care about national affairs?"

He pulled up a chair and sat across from He Zangjia, asking.

"I don't want to care, but now it's affecting my business."

He Zangjia cursed and said: "Look at what this golden building looks like now. There are only two or three big cats and kittens left upstairs and downstairs. In a few days, I'm afraid not even a ghost will be left. Want me It’s better to fight earlier and achieve victory earlier, so that we ordinary people can continue to live a stable life.”

"Your business is just bleak now. If a fight really breaks out, it's hard to say whether you will be able to see the sun tomorrow."

After what happened with Li Jun, the relationship between Wang Xie and He Zangjia, a soldier and a bandit, became much closer, and they spoke without any worries before.

"So just be content."

"That's right. Business is almost as good as anything else. Living is better than anything else."

He Zangjia was just grumbling, and of course he couldn't expect real chaos.

"But my dear Wang Dabaihu, why do you have time to visit me today?"

Wang Xie held the wine jar with both hands and put it on the table, "Big people have their big things, and we little characters also have to have our small lives. Have a few sips?"

He Zangjia opened a corner of the mud seal, took a deep breath of the fragrant wine, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Good stuff! This kind of old cellared wine brewed using traditional techniques is rare now. Where did you get it?"

Wang Xie dusted his sleeves: "Just because you don't have the ability to see, doesn't mean that others don't have the ability either."

"I understand, Wang Baihu is trying to hit me."

He Zangjia clicked his tongue, but the conversation suddenly changed: "But if you drink such a good thing here, it would be a waste."

"What's wrong here?"

Wang Xie looked around at the rich and luxurious furnishings and asked in confusion.

"Scholars pay attention to a red sleeve to add fragrance to a book. Although we brothers are all old men, we still need at least four beauties to accompany us."

He Zangjia squinted his eyes and raised his hand to grasp, with a lewd smile on his face.

"Forget it, I'm not in the mood." Wang Xie waved his hand.

"Is there something wrong with your body at such a young age? Do you Jin Yiwei have any occupational diseases?"

He Zangjia suddenly grinned with a strange smile, looked at the other person up and down, then patted his chest and said: "Don't worry, brother, I am a serious farmer. Even Lao Li, I can heal you well. Small problems are easily solved. ”

"What's wrong with Lao Li?"

As soon as Wang Xie finished speaking, he suddenly reacted and realized that the other party was making fun of him, so he cursed angrily: "Go away, go away."

He Zangjia laughed, picked up the wine jar with one hand, and pulled Wang Xie up from the chair with the other.

"Okay, even if you don't need the company of a beautiful woman, you still need to cook two dishes, right? We can't just drink it, right?"

A moment later, the two appeared at a roadside stall outside Jinlou.

The blazing fire illuminated two pairs of smiling eyes, and the choking smoke enveloped their figures.

"Oh, that's quite exciting!"

He Zangjia drank a full bowl, shouted happily, and smiled at Wang Xie: "Good wine must be accompanied by the smell of fireworks, otherwise it will be almost boring, don't you think?"

"You really don't look like a farmer sometimes."

Unlike He Zangjia's wild and uninhibited aura, Wang Xie looked much calmer, sipping his wine in small sips.

"I don't look like Nong Xu, so what do I look like? Do I look like Wu Xu?"

He Zangjia shook his head and laughed: "Wu Xu's group of reckless men killed each other purely as a personal hobby. I had no choice but to go to the streets to fight for food with others. There is a big difference. But when it comes to this, I also I don’t think you look like Zongheng.”

"Why, Zongheng who doesn't rebel is not authentic in your eyes?"

"You can't say that. Mainly because of the vertical and horizontal programs I have come into contact with. All of them are full of bad ideas. When I stand up and shake, there will be a rattling noise."

He Zangjia smiled: "You are different from them."

"According to your opinion, we are all aliens?"

"No, it can't be said to be alien."

Wang Xie raised his eyebrows, "What is that?"

"We should be called good people!"

He Zangjia looked serious and raised his wine bowl.

"What you said now is not a compliment."

Wang Xie also raised the wine bowl: "Good people don't live long, but disasters will last for thousands of years, haven't you heard?"

"Of course I have, but I also heard a saying that there is a god when you look up three feet. People are doing it, but God is watching."

"You, a farmer, still believe in God?"

"Of course I don't believe it. If it were true, I would have changed to Taoist order or Buddhist order a long time ago."

"Where did the sky come from?"

"The heaven I'm talking about is actually my own field. Whatever I sow, it will give me what I sow. If I sow kindness, then I will get love. If I sow resentment, then I will get enmity. If I sow If you lose the heart of a wolf, it will only grow into the lungs of a dog.”

Wang Xie was silent for a moment and looked at the other party with strange eyes: "Where did you overhear all this? Are you showing it off to me?"

"Whatever you say, these are the life insights of me, He Zangjia."

He Zangdeck made a serious face and said sternly: "Behind each of these words, someone must have slashed them at least ten times before they could understand. They are literally weeping for every word."

Wang Xie laughed dumbly: "Okay, then I'll weep for every word you write."

"I will never die with a hundred swords."

The two of them looked at each other, their wine bowls clinked, and they drank down the wine in one gulp.

Wang Xie poured wine for the two of them again and asked slowly: "Lao Jia, how did you and Li Jun meet?"

He Zangjia threw a side dish to go with the wine into his mouth, and rolled his eyes when he heard this, "You don't even need to ask me about this? You Jin Yiwei have already checked everything clearly."

"Then you overestimate us."

Wang Xie smiled bitterly and said: "Before the Jinlou changed owners, we in Chongqing Mansion were just supporting people and doing odd jobs."

"Actually, it's nothing special. That is, he happened to be in trouble at that time and was driven here from Chengdu. I happened to save him when he was about to die. He was begging for nothing and insisted on worshiping me as his eldest brother. I He has a soft heart, and seeing that he is not a bad person, I simply accepted him.”

He Zangjia said with emotion: "I just didn't expect that it wouldn't be long before that kid would become a big shot that we can't even hope for. How do you think this little goblin is going to trick people?"

"Really? Lao Li calls you his eldest brother?"

Wang Xie raised his eyebrows with a narrow smile on his face.

"Can this be false? If you don't believe it, ask him."

Wang Xie grinned: "Okay, I recorded everything you just said."

"You son of a bitch, you are so immoral and smoking hot."

"Don't be cowardly. It's all true anyway. What are you afraid of?"

"Wang Xie, I realize that you really don't want to see me well, and you insist on pushing me into the fire pit, right?"

"Ha ha ha ha."

The two of them had bowls of wine in their hands. The huge wine jar was emptied, and the night was getting darker without realizing it.

Perhaps it was because of the strong wine that people were easily attracted to, the lights of the Jinlou not far away suddenly became dim, and the voices of people around them also became hollow and vague.

"Am I drunk?"

He Zangjia suddenly widened his eyes, spread his palms, and caught a piece of falling crystal.

Snow? !

Wang Xie's face suddenly changed, and the embroidered spring sword leaning against the table was unsheathed with a "clang".

"Who is dreaming? Come out!"