Chapter 331: Chapter 233: The Birth of the Fifth Child_2

[Dongfang Family: Great Shang adherents, with a population of forty thousand, the family is located in Sufeng City of the Great Xia Dynasty. The current family head is Dongfang Yi. They secretly reached a cooperative agreement with the Great Xia Emperor, planning to eliminate the aristocratic families of the South, and thereafter, pledge loyalty to the Sum Emperor. However, in reality, they only serve the Son of Destiny.]

[The heads of the two major families as well as their clan members have all received information that you are the Son of Destiny. You have one opportunity to issue a direct command to them. What command would you like to issue?]

Seeing the system prompt before him, Lu Chen was barely able to suppress a smirk. After all, the Dongfang and Qian families were his own people; it was likely that neither Wu Junwan nor his own father had anticipated this.

What surprised him the most was actually the Dongfang Family. The Dongfang Family had truly reached an agreement with his father, the Emperor. Although he had guessed that there were traitors among the aristocratic families of the South following reminders from Zhuge Zhongguang, and he had also sensed it might be the Dongfang Clan, he could not be certain it was them.

Now, with the system prompt out, he could be almost one hundred percent certain. Unfortunately for the Dongfang Family, they were not his father’s people, but his.

He wondered what expression his father would have if he knew the Dongfang Family was on his side.

With this in mind, Lu Chen said to the system, “Have them hold their positions, and tell the people from both major families to contact me as soon as possible.”

As Lu Chen’s voice fell, the system prompt sounded again.

[The Dongfang Family and the Qian Family have received your command.]

Meanwhile.

Rain-Listening Pavilion.

On the loft above, Wang Qingci, dressed in a red gown, was gazing at the distant scenery, with a portly middle-aged man seated in front of her.

Wang Qingci said, “President Qian, I’m somewhat curious. Since you are interested in the North Prince Mansion, why not make direct contact with them? Why seek out Mr. Wang to inquire about the affairs of the North Prince Mansion instead?”

Hearing Wang Qingci’s words, just as Qian Dahai was about to reply, a surge of information flooded into his brain.

Qian Dahai was taken aback, then a smile appeared on his face. He had long suspected it might be the North Prince, which is why he had been actively inquiring about him. To his surprise, it was indeed the North Prince.

Now that he was certain of who his master was, there was no need to continue dragging out discussions with the Rain-Listening Pavilion. Qian Dahai got up and said, “Mr. Wang, I suddenly remembered I have urgent matters today, so I’ll take my leave. As for what I just mentioned, please pretend you never heard it.”

With that, Qian Dahai walked directly down from the loft.

Seeing Qian Dahai hastily leaving, Wang Qingci paused, puzzled. What was going on?

She didn’t recall saying anything that could have made him sensitive. Why did he suddenly leave? She had been planning to learn more about the Great Wu Dynasty from Qian Dahai by reversing the flow of the conversation. But their talk had only just started, and he was already on his way out.

Wang Qingci frowned slightly; Qian Dahai’s rush to leave the Rain-Listening Pavilion must be due to some extremely important matter. She needed to relay this information to Lu Chen without delay.

Thinking this, Wang Qingci also promptly got up, preparing to return to the Prince’s Mansion.

At this very moment.

With a courtyard.

Dongfang Longyue was in a pavilion painting. Suddenly, her mind went blank and her hand trembled, ruining the painting with a stroke of her brush.

If anyone were here, they would surely recognize the person in the painting as the North Prince.

Dongfang Longyue remained frozen in place for a long time, not snapping back to reality. She never imagined that simply to avoid the Crown Prince and casually expand the Dongfang Family business, she would actually encounter the Son of Destiny.

The Son of Destiny turned out to be the North Prince?

This…

Didn’t seem all that surprising, actually.

Since arriving in the North Country, the North Prince not only defeated the barbarians of the North Land but also brought so many novel and strange things to the North Country. Most importantly, the reforms in the North Country were out of sync with this world.

As Dongfang Longyue came back to her senses, she glanced at the portrait before her.

She had simply felt like painting today, and it was just a casual attempt, yet the man she ended up painting was none other than the North Prince.

It seemed that the heavens indeed had their own intentions.

Dongfang Longyue told her maid, “Get ready, I’m going to the North Prince’s Mansion.”

“Yes, Miss.”

Lu Chen had been in the study for only a short while when the maid’s voice rang out at the door of the study, “Prince, the President of the Qianhai Commercial Association wishes to visit you.”

Hearing this, Lu Chen indifferently said, “Bring him to the study.”

Not long after, Qian Dahai appeared in Lu Chen’s study. Upon seeing Lu Chen, Qian Dahai quickly knelt down and greeted him, “Lowly merchant Qian Dahai pays homage to the Prince, may the Prince live for ten thousand years, ten thousand ten thousand years!”

Lu Chen said, “Stand up.”

Qian Dahai then stood up and said, “Thank you, Prince.”

Lu Chen did not intend to waste time and directly said, “President Qian, I’ve heard that you are particularly skilled in commerce. I have a government position here, and I wonder if you might be interested?”

Upon hearing this, Qian Dahai said with a smile, “Prince, you are our Qian Family’s master. Whatever you ask me to do, that I shall do.”

Lu Chen said, “Alright, then the position of Minister of Commerce will be yours in the future. However, how do you plan to resolve the situation with Great Wu?”

Qian Dahai replied, “Your Highness, you might not be aware that Princess Wu has actually been very keen for the Qianhai Commercial Association to infiltrate the North Country and gather intelligence.”

“If You want me to be the Minister of Commerce, I just have to mention it to Princess Wu, and she is probably more than eager for me to join the small court of the North Country.”

“Moreover, the Qian Family is still in Great Wu, so she should not suspect me.”

After thinking for a moment, Lu Chen then said, “That’s still not safe. Your Qian Family should still find a way to relocate to the North Country first, and after that, I will hand over the position of Minister of Commerce to you.”

Lu Chen worried that in time, Wu Junwan would sense something and directly take action against the Qian Family.

At this time, Lu Chen asked, “Is there any difficulty for the Qian Family to move to the North Country?”

Qian Dahai continued, “Prince, there is not the slightest difficulty for the Qian Family to leave Great Wu. Princess Wu, in order to earn the North Country’s trust in the Qianhai Commercial Association, has actually been wanting the Qian Family to move to the North Country for a long time.”

Lu Chen, with a smile, said, “She has such confidence in you, isn’t she afraid that you will betray her?”

Qian Dahai replied, “Although she will agree to the Qian Family’s relocation to the North Country, it’s likely that my two sons will still remain as hostages at the Qianhai Commercial Association in Great Wu. Moreover, Princess Wu has an extremely formidable assassination organization at her disposal, so she is not worried at all that we will betray her.”

Although the Qianhai Commercial Association appears to belong to the Qian Family, in reality, the person in control is Wu Junwan, and the headquarters of the Qianhai Commercial Association is also in Great Wu. Most importantly, the Qianhai Commercial Association controls the Qian Family’s wealth, so even if the entire Qian Family relocates to another dynasty, Wu Junwan is not afraid that the Qian Family will betray.

She does not believe that the wealth-loving Qian Dahai will abandon his riches in the Qianhai Commercial Association. Furthermore, with his two sons kept as hostages by the Qianhai Commercial Association in Great Wu, she is very confident in Qian Dahai and the Qian Family.

Lu Chen said, “Then go back and hasten the Qian Family’s relocation here.”

No sooner had Lu Chen’s words fallen when once again the voice of the maid came from the doorway of the study, “Prince, Lady Wang is looking for you.”

Lu Chen directly said, “Let her in.”

The next moment, Wang Qingci pushed the door open and entered. As soon as she walked in, she immediately prepared to inform Lu Chen about Qian Dahai looking for her, “Prince, Qian Dahai just now…”

Wang Qingci’s words were not finished when she froze in place.

For she saw Qian Dahai himself in front of her.

With a smile, Qian Dahai said, “So Mr. Wang is also the Prince’s person. I was wondering how Rain-listening Pavilion could have developed so quickly.”

Wang Qingci was somewhat bewildered.

From what Qian Dahai implied, was he also Lu Chen’s person?

For months, Rain-listening Pavilion and Qianhai Commercial Association had been at each other’s throats, only to discover they were all on the same side?

Wang Qingci then turned to Lu Chen and said, “Prince, are you making fun of your servant like this?”