The quiet room was silent as a grave.
The candle flame stood straight and tall, its dim yellow light falling over Chen Yi and Ge Laosan.
Their shadows flickered indistinctly.
Half of Chen Yi's face lay in shadow as he lowered his head in thought.
Had he not formed a preconceived impression, he might not have given it much thought.
After all, even the Chen Family of Jiangnan had Upper Three Grades martial artists like Lin Zhong. The thousand-year-old Qinghe Cui Family ought to possess such strength as well.
Song Jin Jian, Cui Qingwu, Huan'er, and the stewards and servants at the grain shop—none of them were exceptions.
But judging by the current situation, the Cui Family's problems were far from small.
More precisely, the problem was the Cui Family's patriarch, Cui Mao.
If he was the mastermind behind it all, then the Imperial Court was likely churning with undercurrents as well.
With the current Heavenly Minister secretly standing against His Majesty, it was hard to say what he truly intended.
To replace him?
Or did he simply wish to preserve the Qinghe Cui Family's interests in the north?
"Given Cui Mao's current status, he should be the power behind the Jizhou Trading Company, shouldn't he?"
"And then there are Liu Hong, Ma Shuhan, and the others..."
Using the chessboard in his mind, Chen Yi sorted through the Qinghe Cui Family's web of connections. Yet there was one thing he could not understand.
—Why had Cui Mao stepped out from behind the scenes now?
Chen Yi believed that with the methods of a man like that, he would have no shortage of followers like Song Jin Jian, Liu Hong, and Ma Shuhan.
He should have been able to complete his schemes and arrangements without a sound, letting everything seep in