The moment Xun Xian arrived, the previously harmonious atmosphere inside and outside the city descended into utter chaos.
Xie Wan left seething after his tongue-lashing, and Liu Cheng, too, conceded defeat under his barbs. Soon afterward, he said that since he had come to Pengcheng, he ought to visit the main branch of the Liu Clan of Pengcheng, cupped his hands, and left.
With those two gone, there was no keeping any sort of gathering together. Even Xi Tan had to take Wang Guannu into the Inner Residence to talk. Everyone dispersed, agreeing only to reconvene the following morning for a proper assembly.
This was, quite literally, parting on unhappy terms.
Liu Cheng had not merely been making an excuse. After leaving Xi Tan's Military Secretariat, he really did visit the main branch of the Liu Clan of Pengcheng in Congting Ward.
Calling it the main branch did not necessarily mean it was the line of eldest legitimate sons. Rather, in Great Jin, an age when clan standing had effectively become institutionalized, the Liu Clan of Pengcheng owed its political influence, and thus its status as an eminent commandery clan, chiefly to this household in Congting Ward.
Its roots went back to Liu Ne of the Twenty-Four Friends of Golden Valley Garden. Liu Ne's descendants had split into two branches: one migrated south, becoming the "zombie" household in Jiankang that maintained its standing among the Second-Rank Great Clans; the other stayed behind, becoming the main branch in Congting Ward. Even Liu Bo and Liu Lang's ancestor-Liu Kui, who had stirred up such tremendous storms and whom Liu Jili could never forget-had himself been Liu Ne's nephew. They were all one family at root.
By comparison, both the close relatives scattered through Pengcheng's Suiyu Ward and Anshang Wards and branches like