Having children earns benefit, start competing for dominance in the world by marrying a wife

Upon hearing Qin Yushan’s words, Lu Chen stopped the action of flipping through the reports and fell into deep thought.

Since the Dongfang Clan was the biggest profiteer, did that mean there was some sort of deal between the Dongfang Clan and the Sum Emperor?

Seeing that Lu Chen had sunk into thought, Qin Yushan did not continue further. After a while, Lu Chen spoke, “What else have they found about the Dongfang Clan, Commander Liang and the others?”

Qin Yushan went on to say, “The Dongfang Clan has always wanted to enter the court, but they are not like other aristocratic families. They migrated to the Great Xia from another dynasty and do not possess much land here. Moreover, having been merchants for generations, they have always been looked down upon by other families. Although they have some say in the court, it is extremely difficult for members of their family to get positions there.”

“In the past year, the Dongfang Clan’s trade with the Capital City has been very frequent; their merchant ships have hardly ever stopped.”

Hearing Qin Yushan’s report, a smile appeared on Lu Chen’s face. Could it be that the chess piece his father, the Emperor, had planted among the southern aristocratic families was most likely the Dongfang Clan?

Although the Dongfang Clan was considered an ancient family, they only had wealth but not the matching political status, so strictly speaking, they were different from the typical ancient families.

If the Dongfang Clan desired political status and wanted to secure positions in the court, the Sum Emperor could fully take advantage of this opportunity and reach a covert agreement with them. They could eliminate the other families first, then raise the status of the Dongfang Clan afterward.

However…

Would the Sum Emperor really keep his promise?

If the Dongfang Clan was indeed a chess piece of the Sum Emperor, would he discard them after making full use of them?

After all, in the eyes of the Sum Emperor, the aristocratic families were the root cause of the chaos in Great Xia, and he personally detested them greatly. He might not necessarily honor his promises.

If they only eliminated a batch of ancient families and then supported another batch, it was very likely that the Great Xia Dynasty would fall into a historical cycle. Perhaps in not too many years, it would again reach the current situation of Great Xia.

Lu Chen was very curious about what his father the Emperor would do eventually.

With these thoughts in mind, Lu Chen said, “Have Commander Liang keep a close watch on the Dongfang Clan. Every move they make should be written in a memorial and sent to the North Country.”

Qin Yushan replied, “Yes, Prince.”

Lu Chen continued, “Alright, it’s already so late. If there’s nothing else, you should go back.”

“Your subordinate takes his leave.” With those words, Qin Yushan turned and left Lu Chen’s study.

After Qin Yushan had left, Lu Chen continued to sift through the reports on his desk. He felt very pleased with the current state of the world.

All major dynasties and nations had their own problems, and solving these issues would take at least two or three years based on the intelligence he had gathered before the world would stabilize.

By the time the other dynasties had sorted out their internal strife, the North Country would already have grown. Now that the commercial trade of the North Country was developing more and more, if they could accomplish the primitive accumulation of capital in the next few years, perhaps it wouldn’t be long before they could embark on the road to industrialization.

Just as Lu Chen was contemplating the future, a maid’s voice sounded from outside, “Prince, Commander Lin is here.”

On hearing this, while still looking through the reports, Lu Chen said, “Let her come in.”

The next moment, Lin Wanyun pushed the door open, carrying a multi-tiered food box.

Upon entering the study, Lin Wanyun said, “Chen’er, this is the supper Zixuan just made for you.”

Hearing this, Lu Chen looked up at Lin Wanyun and then glanced at the food box, “Thankyou, Madam Lin.”

With a smile, Lin Wanyun said, “It’s no trouble at all, this is what I should do. Have something to eat first.”

At this point, Lin Wanyun placed the lunch box on the desk, then opened it and served out all the food inside.

Lu Chen moved all the intelligence reports to one side of the desk and then looked at tonight’s supper. He found that, as usual, it was a soup brewed from various kinds of nourishing ingredients.

In fact, these things were of no use to Lu Chen, who was already a Grandmaster, with abundant physical strength and energy, and did not need these supplements. It was completely unnecessary for Mu Zixuan to prepare these tonics for him.

However, this was a gesture of kindness from his consort, and Lu Chen wouldn’t say anything about it. Moreover, having some tonics wouldn’t do any harm, and although his physical strength was bountiful, he needed something like this for cultivating affection with his wife and concubines.

With that thought, Lu Chen picked up a spoon, ready to take a sip of the soup.

Just then, his mind reeled and he suddenly felt that something was amiss.

Even though Lin Wanyun had now become the head of the inner court of the Prince’s Mansion, she was, to a certain degree, still an outsider. Outsiders usually didn’t have the right to bring food to Lu Chen. The food was typically brought to him by the closest maids of Mu Zixuan, and Mu Zixuan would not have given the food to Lin Wanyun to deliver.

Mu Zixuan was a clever woman. How could she fail to see that Lin Wanyun had ulterior motives concerning Lu Chen? Moreover, Mu Zixuan had already told Lu Chen that Chen Wanrong and Lin Wanyun might have some purpose in choosing to stay at North Prince Mansion.

Lu Chen smiled faintly, suspecting that tonight’s supper might have an extra ingredient.

Thinking this, Lu Chen glanced at Lin Wanyun.

Lin Wanyun was wearing a purple dress today, looking enticing and voluptuous, her ample figure filling out the clothes, which made her appear quite mature and charming.

Lu Chen used the system to identify Lin Wanyun’s personal information.

[Name: Lin Wanyun]

[Identity: Adopted daughter of the Great Xia Left Minister Lin Gaoyuan. Later left the Lin Family to join the Mysterious Moon Palace, a Half-step Grandmaster, 32 years old. She followed Mysterious Moon Palace Master Chen Wanrong to North City, intending to use the blood of the North Prince to concoct the Subtle Dragon Spell against the Sum Emperor. Sensing the impending chaos in Great Xia and feeling pressured by Zhuge Zhongguang’s arrival, Chen Wanrong decided to use the Love Worm on the North Prince in advance. In order to succeed with the enchantment, Chen Wanrong had Lin Wanyun add Male Paired-wing Butterfly Powder into the North Prince’s food, so that once the North Prince consumed the Male Pair-Wing Butterfly Powder, he would fall under the influence of Chen Wanrong, who had ingested the Female Pair-Wing Butterfly Powder, which they believed would greatly increase the success rate of the enchantment.]

[Rating: 95]

[Favorability: too]

Seeing the update on Lin Wanyun’s personal information, the smile on Lu Chen’s face grew even brighter. He wondered why Lin Wanyun had taken the initiative to bring him supper today—so this was Chen Wanrong and Lin Wanyun’s plan to drug him.

However, speaking of which, the effect of the Pair-Wing Butterfly Powder seemed to be similar to that of the Dragon Phoenix Tree.

Lu Chen was somewhat uncertain whether this thing could affect him, so he asked in his mind, “System, can the Poison Immunity Body neutralize the Pair- Wing Butterfly Powder?”

[Yes, the Pair-Wing Butterfly Powder is a type of spring poison.]

Hearing the system’s reply, Lu Chen felt reassured. Since he was immune to poison, there was nothing to worry about.

Chen Wanrong and Lin Wanyun no longer wanted to wait, and coincidentally, he didn’t want to wait either. It was time to add two more women to his life, as he had always been coveting the body of this beautiful woman in front of him.

Seeing Lu Chen suddenly stop his spoon, Lin Wanyun felt a pang of unease and began to have a bad premonition. She worried whether Lu Chen had discovered the Pair-Wing Butterfly Powder in the soup.

Lin Wanyun immediately tried to reassure herself. She had only added a little powder today; Lu Chen should not be able to detect it, plus the Pair-Wing Butterfly Powder wasn’t exactly poison, and it was tasteless.

Then Lin Wanyun tentatively asked, “Chen’er, what’s wrong?”

Lu Chen pretended to sigh and said, “Alas, why did Zixuan prepare so many nourishing foods for me again? If I eat these at night, how can I possibly sleep?”

Hearing Lu Chen’s words, Lin Wanyun breathed a sigh of relief—thankfully, he hadn’t noticed.