Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 531 Choice

Take a gamble.

This is a choice that almost everyone who has found themselves in the torrent of poverty and finally succeeded in standing out will face.

Wealth, food, land, slaves...

From ancient times to the present, the resources in this world have always been limited, let alone something like this...

As expected, Cui Quan made the inevitable decision - to gamble!

Others were gambling with their lives and property, but for him, it was just a marriage.

Cui Zhe is the second legitimate son. His eldest legitimate son has already married and had children. The future of the Cui family will never be weighed down by Cui Zhe.

It is true that he loves Cui Wei, but the real reason that forced Cui Quan to make the decision in such a short time was not just the health problem of his eldest grandson - as long as his son is well, he will always have a grandson.

Not only Cui Wei needs this secret technique of longevity, he needs it too.

If there is no such thing, it would be fine, but if there is, I must do everything I can to get it in my hands.

The root of the problem lies with the Zhao family of Dunhuang.

The guards around Cui Quan were all extraordinary. Most of them went out to investigate. In just half a day, Cui Quan got a bunch of scattered information.

About the Liu family, about the Zhao family, and even about the origins of the Liu and Zhao families.

Cui Quan easily found a possibility from these materials - the Zhao family of Dunhuang was plotting something against the Liu family.

Judging from the timeline of Liu Manqiang's marriage into the Zhao family, what the Zhao family was planning was not a small matter.

Cui Quan, who vaguely felt that he had grasped an invaluable clue, was so excited that he almost jumped up. He sat alone in the room, constantly pondering the tiny clues, and finally came up with a bold guess - the clue to Zhao Tuo's technique was in the Liu family.

Cui Quan is a smart man, and his scheming is much better than that of his juniors like Cui Bianxu.

Some trivial clues and the ancient books passed down from generation to generation in the Cui family that he had read were enough for him to guess Liu's identity across hundreds of years.

When Zhao Tuo governed Nanyue, in order to ease the conflicts between the Central Plains people and the local Yue people, he implemented a policy of reconciling the Baiyue people and advocated intermarriage between the Central Plains people and the Yue people. In order to promote this policy as quickly as possible, successive Nanyue kings all married Yue women.

It is possible that this Liu family is the descendant of a Yue woman.

The Liu family had few descendants, and by the generation of Liu Manqiang, there was no more offspring.

Liu Manqiang, the daughter who married out, only had one daughter, Zhao Yue.

Judging from Zhao's appearance at the time, it was not difficult to guess that they still had not found any clues from Liu, so Cui still had a chance to get what all the clans in the world wanted before Zhao.

It is easy to find out whether Liu Manqiang and Zhao Shu are in a good or bad relationship, but Cui Zhe and Zhao Yue have a mutual friendship.

He easily saw that Zhao Yue was not a deep-minded person. In other words, she was a love-brained person who was easy to please.

What the Zhao family failed to get from Liu Manqiang, the Cui family might be able to get.

According to Cui Quan's plan, as long as Cui Zhe coaxed Zhao Yue slowly, he would be able to coax the thing out of her, so he directly arranged the marriage in Guazhou.

But who knew that the problem did not lie with outsiders, but with Cui Zhe, his own son.

To be on the safe side, he kept the matter under wraps, assigned people to keep an eye on it in Guazhou, and hired someone to take care of Zhao Yue, ensuring she gave birth to a child as soon as possible.

As for women, having children will make them closer to their husband's family.

This matter weighed on Cui Quan's mind for six years. It was not until Cui Bianxu was three years old that he selectively told Cui Zhe some of the details of the matter.

Who would have thought that Cui Zhe, this bastard, agreed so readily in front of her, and then turned around and started taking concubines one by one. Zhao Yue, that shrew, even made trouble in the second room all day long because of these concubines.

What he had envisioned, that the second wife and her husband would get along harmoniously, and that Cui Zhe would coax Zhao Yue into willingly handing over the secret of longevity, never happened at all - he didn't want to.

His son's non-cooperation did not make Cui Quan give up.

Over the years, he has continuously sent people out to follow Liu and conduct countless tests and investigations and analyses, which are enough to confirm the relationship between Liu and Zhao Tuo.

Nanyue existed for a total of ninety-four years. Except for Zhao Tuo who reigned for sixty-seven years, the remaining four monarchs reigned for shorter periods of time. Except for the last two who died in coups, Zhao Bing died of natural age, while Zhao Yingqi died young.

Looking at the Zhao family in the Central Plains that has been wiped out in the tide of history, there is no sign of longevity among them, which is enough to show that it is very likely that Zhao Tuo possessed the secret of longevity, but his descendants in Nanyue did not obtain this secret.

This is easy to understand.

If Cui had this secret technique, he would also treasure it with great care and would never let the world know that all the members of the Cui family lived long lives. He would definitely move these people from the open to the secret.

So, where would this secret technique that combines the creation of heaven and earth be placed?

Since ancient times, all powerful people have emphasized living with the intention of dying.

This is not to say that they are not afraid of death. On the contrary, because they have so much, they are more afraid of death than the common people and slaves who are struggling to make ends meet in this rough world.

Therefore, they hope to still have and enjoy everything they had in life after death.

Whether it was common utensils, gold, silver, jade, etc., or even slaves and guards...

This is also the origin of burying living people with the dead.

Some who have a chance will even lay down various methods in the tomb, waiting for the day when they will be resurrected...

From all these, Cui Quan quickly came to a conclusion - the secret of longevity must be in Zhao Tuo's tomb.

......

After successfully dividing the family, Cui Bianxu returned to the second house with Cui Zhe, who was excited but nervous, and faced a series of questions from his mother and wife.

He did not answer any of these questions. After handing the family division deed to Zhao Yue, he left with Jiang Shangxian without looking back.

Although Cui Quan did not say it, that short sentence was enough to prove that Cui had an ulterior motive when she married A Niang.

How to explain this matter to his mother was not something he, as a son, should consider.

Jiang Shangxian had a feeling that there was some big gossip here that he couldn't tell anyone about, so he suppressed his instinct as a member of the village intelligence team and walked very fast.

Fortunately, the two courtyards were right next to each other, and we arrived there in a short while.

"Everyone, go down. Yingzi, you guard the door, Runzhen, you go guard the back."

Xiao Jiang quickly arranged his two maids, closed the door, took off his shoes and ran to the bed.

"It's still daytime." Xiao Cui was a little embarrassed and his expression was awkward, but his body was very honest and he followed her reluctantly.

I didn't expect my wife to be so anxious.

Jiang Shangxian swiftly lifted the quilt and quickly slipped inside, sitting cross-legged as quickly as possible. He stretched out a small hand and briskly patted the area beside him: "Quick! Let's talk inside!"

Security and confidentiality must be ensured!

The shy Xiao Cui felt calm instantly when he saw his wife like this. He silently took off his boots and sat down cross-legged.

Although he didn't understand, he chose to respect!