Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 39

The news of the Shendu Cheng family moving to Jingkou caused quite a stir among the aristocratic families.

Since the migration of the nobility to the south, most of the families chose to settle in Jiankang.

The reason, of course, was that being near the emperor and the power center allowed the family to exchange its rank for corresponding political status and resources.

Local aristocratic families found it much more challenging, such as the Shen family, which nearly faced extinction after the death of Wang Chuzhong.

The clan leader Shen Shiju was a fourth-grade supernatural, yet his family couldn’t even secure a fifth-grade position, leaving them outside the aristocratic circle.

Now that the Shendu Cheng family was moving away from Jiankang, there were many opinions.

Some said the Cheng family had the Northern Army over there, hence their strategic shift northward.

However, in terms of family development, Jingkou’s advantages were far inferior to Jiankang’s.

Others speculated that the Cheng family, lacking a fifth-grade supernatural, was forced to retreat from the aristocracy and planned to live as local gentry.

Yet, even if they were fleeing, why choose the dangerous Jingkou over the safer Lin’an in the rear?

Others suggested that the Cheng family felt the war was unwinnable and decided to flee early, which seemed even more absurd.

Though everyone was preparing backup plans in Lin’an, discussing the war’s outcome was clearly premature.

None of the Five Great Families were planning to leave yet, so why was a small fifth-grade family so eager to go?

Did they have better intelligence than the Five Great Families?

In short, there were various speculations, but none were convincing. Without further developments, these rumors would soon fade away.

Of course, not all families would forget about this.

For instance, the influential families behind the Taicheng cabinet members and those close to the Shendu Cheng family would certainly take note.

In the Hejian Xing family, Xing Yuanzhi returned home, dismissed the attendants, and quietly spoke to Xing Shuhe:

“Grandpa, the Shendu Cheng family is moving to Jingkou with the whole clan. Our Hejian Xing family should stay aligned with our allies.”

Xing Shuhe was initially surprised but soon looked pleased. Although Xing Yuanzhi didn’t explicitly say it, her words “stay aligned with our allies” provided enough of a hint: the Shendu Cheng family must have received sensitive information, prompting them to relocate even before the war situation was clear.

Since Xing Yuanzhi was engaged to Cheng Jinyang, the information was not kept from her, and she, without betraying him, also considered her family’s interests. Thus, the younger generation of the Cheng and Xing families were linked together.

In the end, Xing Shuhe decided to send the clan members with potential and the elderly, women, and children to Lin’an as much as possible; the core fighting force would leave only a part to guard the family, and the rest would follow Xing Yuanzhi to Jingkou “to assist the allies.”

Upon hearing this, Xing Yuanzhi was speechless.

Grandpa, I told you this to prepare in advance, not to send people my way!

Bringing these able-bodied clan members with me to Jingkou to help the allies—everyone would immediately know what’s going on!

They’d certainly realize I leaked the information to you!

But with the clan members already here, she had no choice but to bring them back to the Cheng family’s estate, silently enduring any ridicule, disdain, or sarcasm for the sake of the family.

At the Cheng family’s estate entrance, she saw Chu Qingqing and a dozen Chu family members.

Xing Yuanzhi: ……..

Chu Qingqing: ……..

“Well.” Chu Qingqing looked at the sky, awkwardly making up an excuse, “The weather is great today, so I brought my family out for a walk and to visit the Cheng family.”

“What a coincidence.” Xing Yuanzhi tried to maintain a straight face. “I also brought my family to… see Jinyang.”

“Yuanzhi, you sure brought a lot of family members,” Chu Qingqing said faintly.

“They’re all very concerned about me,” Xing Yuanzhi averted her gaze.

Chu Qingqing’s story was quite similar: although she couldn’t say it outright, she hinted to her father that the war outcome might be “disastrous.”

Miss Qingqing, only of sixth grade, did not receive full trust from her father.

Despite her repeated emphasis and reminders, he only dispatched about a dozen elite clan members to accompany her to Jingkou. It was more about protecting Chu Qingqing than preserving the family’s lineage.

Both girls arrived with their clansmen at the Cheng family estate, quickly alarming Cheng Jinyang upon hearing the news.

He was left speechless.

All he could do was instruct Cheng Huaiyan to temporarily settle these people in the estate and arrange for them to depart with the Cheng clan later.

Regardless of the circumstances, the addition of Xing and Chu clan members did objectively strengthen the Northern Army’s military power.

However, the fact that Ah Zhi and Qingqing had secretly warned their families and leaked information displeased Cheng Jinyang.

“We agreed not to disclose this to anyone else, didn’t we? Everyone just ignored my instructions?”

“Oh, I guess I didn’t explicitly tell them not to say anything, so it’s fine.”

The third person to return was Wang Wanrou, alone, without bringing anyone back. Later, Cui Jinqi, Li Qingwan, and Zheng Qiupei followed suit, as the resources and power of the Five Great Families were sufficient enough that there was no need to consider the survival of their families for now. They could react later when the war situation became clearer.

Unexpectedly, Yang Wangshu returned after a while, bringing her two older brothers, Yang Siping and Yang Quanqi, with her.

These two elder brothers were not sent by the Hongnong Yang family but voluntarily accompanied their sister to Jingkou.

Yang Siping was worried about his sister being bullied by Miss Wang (due to his unpleasant incident with Wang Xinzhi last time), while Yang Quanqi came to the shogunate to seek an official position and make achievements.

Seeing her two brothers accompanying her, Xiao Wangshu seemed gloomy, shoulders slumped, not touching the keyboard for a long time.

Cheng Jinyang could only converse with the two young Yang family gentlemen, promising each a position in the shogunate.

Unexpectedly, among the guest young ladies residing here, Lu Qingyun from the Fanyang Lu family also chose to stay.

Cheng Yuexian talked to her, but no concrete result was reached. Cheng Jinyang guessed someone was eager for his favor.

Well, Little Yunyun is quite cute, so let her stay.

With everyone assembled, Cheng Jinyang finally visited his princess sister to bid farewell. Afterward, he led his people to board a boat down the Yangtze River, heading straight for Jingkou.

When the news reached the Taicheng cabinet, Zhongshu Yu, who learned of this, suddenly regretted his decision.

Of course, with the war confined to just north of Gushi, and Jiankang not yet in wartime status, there was no reason to stop the noble families from “relocating.”

Moreover, it was just the fifth-grade Shendu Cheng family and the Hejian Xing family; the overall loss to Jiankang’s military strength was minimal, and other aristocratic families would not dwell on this matter for long.

Rather than offending Cheng Jinyang over this matter, it was better to maintain a good relationship with him.

The so-called regret is actually just a little lack of confidence in the decision he made.

“Gone?” he asked at the study door.

“They’re gone,” Princess Nankang said as she entered. “They’ve gone to Jingkou.”

“I’m afraid it’s like a dragon returning to the sea or a tiger returning to the mountains…” Zhongshu Yu put down the pen in his hand and said with emotion.

“What are you talking about, Uncle?” Princess Nankang became angry. “The Liyang Army and the demons are in collusion. Jinyang guards Jingkou, and demons are his archenemies. How can the two sides make peace? If you don’t let him go back, Jingkou will either rebel again, fall into the hands of demons, or someone will be needed to be sent out to start developing again. Which of these three results is better?”

“I don’t mean it that way,” Zhongshu Yu quickly stopped speaking and laughed, “Nankang, don’t be overly sensitive. I don’t have much ill will toward Cheng Jinyang. I just hold a significant position of authority and have to think carefully and act prudently.”

“If you are willing to guarantee for him, I naturally believe you.” Seeing that Nankang’s expression was slightly improved, Yu Yuangui made a joke and said humorously, “In the future, if there is a real war, maybe your uncle’s family will also need to go seek refuge with him, learning from those noble families to keep the flame. Ha ha ha…”