Chapter 436 Unity [Seeking monthly votes! ]

At noon the next day, the prince and the head of the Wei family sat together again at the Hongyufang, one of the ten buildings on the Qingdu River.

But there was one more person at the table.

This man was dressed in gorgeous clothes, his expression was solemn but he could not hide his fatigue. He sat there speechless and lost in thought. It was Qi Delong, the head of the Qi family.

The Qi family has suffered misfortunes one after another recently. First, their backers in the capital city of Shendu were wiped out overnight. Then the eldest son was sent to prison. Before they knew it, the eldest son died, and it was the youngest son who killed him.

Qi Delong worked hard for half his life, but he suddenly ended up in a family with only one child, and the remaining one was the most useless second child.

No wonder he was tired.

Soon, an old man with long hair and a broad-shouldered white shirt arrived. He had a broad face and long eyebrows, a kind face, and was about fifty or sixty years old. He sat down with a smile and said, "I am the last one to arrive. Please forgive me, Your Highness."

"Mr. Zhou, there is no need to blame yourself. We just came too early." The prince said with a smile.

The visitor was Zhou Baihe, the head of the Zhou family, one of the three major families in the city.

Among the three family heads, he was the only one with the strongest talent for cultivation. In his early years, he had been in the sword academy and had achieved good results. If he had not returned to his hometown to inherit the family business, he might have become a minister in the court.

Now he is about the seventh level of Confucianism, which is considered outstanding among the noble families. He has been in seclusion for most of these years, trying to break through to the Grandmaster level, so he lives in seclusion and rarely shows up. If it weren't for the invitation of the prince, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to see him today.

After Zhou Baihe sat down, he asked Wei Lingfeng, "I heard that your daughter ran away on the wedding day? Have you found her?"

"Don't mention it." Speaking of his daughter, Wei Lingfeng sighed, "I searched the whole city but couldn't find her. I'm afraid she has already taken advantage of the chaos and left the city. I don't know where in the world she has gone to."

"My daughter is like this. My Shuyi is also a worry. She has been hanging out with those singing boys lately." Zhou Baihe also shook his head. "My son is more casual. He can do whatever he wants. I don't need to worry about him."

"Heh." Qi Delong, who was sitting next to him, sneered when he heard this.

Zhou Baihe and Wei Lingfeng looked at him together, then looked at each other, and neither dared to say anything.

They also knew about the bad luck that had befallen the Qi family recently, so they could just gloat over it in their hearts, but there was no need to provoke him in person.

"The main reason I invited you all here today is because I have something to say." The prince said with a smile. Although he himself did not have much imposing manner, all the dignified superiors at the table still had to listen to him obediently.

"Yunlu City has been in a turbulent time recently. I believe that all the family heads do not want any major unrest to happen. This is not good for the people of Qingdu, and it is not good for everyone. The most important thing for us in Qingdu now is two words. Do you know what they are?"

The three family heads all listened to the prince quietly, not knowing what he was going to say.

The prince waited for a moment, then continued, "Yes, unity!"

"..."Hu Delu and Liang Yue behind him lowered their heads silently.

The prince was actually a little nervous about today's meeting. In such a public occasion, Liang Yue could no longer speak for him like he did before, otherwise it would undermine the prince's dignity, so he told him everything that needed to be said in advance.

Speaking just by reciting a script is bound to be a bit stiff.

Fortunately, one of the three family heads was Wei Lingfeng, who immediately agreed, "Your Highness is right! Unity is the most important thing!"

The other two also nodded, which made the situation less awkward.

…After finishing his opening remarks, the prince leaned back and continued, “There are no outsiders here, so let’s speak frankly. The biggest event in Qingdu recently is naturally the matter of the Yun Palace Villa. Many people came to me yesterday, including your family members, and I believe you all know it.”

When he paused again, Qi Delong smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, the matter of the Yun Palace Villa has nothing to do with my Qi family."

It was obvious that he was really tired and didn't want to get involved in all this, so he distanced himself from it immediately.

According to Qi Delong's previous personality, he thought that the Qi family was the leader of Qingdu, so he would take the lead in getting involved in everything.

"Hey, Old Qi." Wei Lingfeng said, "Who can stay out of this kind of thing? You haven't been to the Yun Palace Villa, but hasn't your son been there? Even if your son hasn't been there, hasn't your family been there?"

"I don't want to talk about my son." Qi Delong replied coldly.

Zhou Baihe said at the right time: "Since His Royal Highness wants unity, then let's not talk about who is related and who is not related. It is the most united thing for everyone to solve this matter together."

"Your family has the most connections, so of course you said that." Qi Delong didn't have a good face towards him either. It can be seen that he is very frustrated now, and he wants to knock everyone away equally.

Zhou Baihe paused, rolled his eyes at him, turned his head and said, "Everything will be subject to the arrangements of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Mr. Zhou is absolutely right. Since I have called everyone here, I naturally want everyone to solve the problem together." The prince said, "Your families are all in the city, so it is easy to solve. But the one outside the city... the Righteous Fire Sect, seems to be difficult to deal with. If we want to deal with it, it will inevitably involve your families. I hope to make a big deal out of a small one and come up with a proper excuse together. How do you think?"

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is right." Zhou Baihe nodded.

The Zhou family was the most involved in this matter, so of course he was anxious to calm things down. If the Yihuo Cult was really investigated, the Zhou family would definitely suffer a heavy blow.

Seeing that he agreed, the prince smiled and said, "In this case, I hope to meet the leader of the Righteous Fire Cult to see what their attitude is. Do they want to unite with us, or..."

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to Zhou Baihe.

Zhou Baihe immediately frowned and said, "I am not familiar with the Yihuo Sect, but if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has the order, I can try to contact their leader Yuan Fukang. I believe he also wants to get close to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. With His Royal Highness's wisdom, it won't be too difficult to subdue him."

"Okay." The prince was satisfied and said, "Then arrange for the Yuan Banner Master to meet me here at this time tomorrow."

……

A rally with the theme of unity ended successfully. However, after Wei Lingfeng returned home, he immediately ordered his subordinates, "Arrange the troops to ambush Yuan Fukang at Hongyufang tomorrow and wait for the right opportunity. If anyone of Qi Delong and Zhou Baihe makes any unusual moves, kill them both!"

……

After Zhou Baihe returned home, he also gave the same instructions: "Arrange someone to contact Yuan Fukang and get several priests here to ambush tomorrow. If there is any trouble, it would be best if we can take advantage of the chaos to kill Wei Lingfeng and Qi Delong for me!"

……

After Qi Delong returned home, he also ordered: "Call the third wife to me... Forget it, let's call the fourth wife. Oh, no need, just call her the eldest wife... That's all."

He sighed and shook his head.

The servant asked cautiously, "Master, do you not need to call me?"

"Let's go together." Qi Delong waved his hand, "We in the Qi family must also be united."

(End of this chapter)