Although she wouldn't engage in nepotism, in this patriarchal society, as long as she could keep her clansmen in line, they would be one of the best cards in her hand.
The male family members were the sharpest knives, and the sisters were her great helpers.
[The ones who took action were Concubine Huang's brother and eldest nephew. In fact, the matter was quite simple. Yu Chongyan initially opposed Yu Huaijian and his mother entering the mansion.
Yu Boyuan's wife was the daughter of his good friend, whom he had gone to great lengths to ask for in marriage for his son.
He never expected that Yu Boyuan was actually raising a son on the outside, and this son was the same age as his second grandson, Yu Huaixian! Naturally, he would not agree.
Later, when the mother and son finally managed to enter the mansion, he refused to let Concubine Huang's niece marry Yu Huaijian. This naturally caused the Yu family to hold a grudge against him.
Speaking of the Huang family, they fled their home because of a snow disaster. The whole family escaped and only arrived in the capital city of Shangjing this spring, where they unexpectedly ran into Concubine Huang.
So the whole family just clung to them like leeches to suck their blood!]
"Are the Huang family members really that bold? My second grandfather is an official, after all. How could a commoner dare to do such a thing, and how did he manage to pull it off?"
Only after coming here did she see with her own eyes and hear with her own ears how much the common people feared officials. They would hide far away just seeing an official's sedan chair. Those who dared to kill an official must be desperadoes.
[The Huang family had taken more than one or two lives on their escape route. Their human ferocity had been stimulated, completing their transformation from commoners to a violent mob along the way.
Compared to those desperadoes, they merely had the status of law-abiding citizens and the appearance of honest and simple farmers.
Through Concubine Huang's connections, Eldest Son Huang entered the Yu mansion to serve as a follower for his cousin Yu Huaijian. Moving around the outer courtyard, he seized an opportunity when Yu Chongyan was sick to poison his medicine pot. He then repeated the same trick a few more times, and that was how he sent the old man to his grave!]
Hearing the news of his own death, Yu Chongyan was surprisingly calm. He knew very well in his heart that since he knew who had harmed him, he just needed to find them and kill them!
He definitely wouldn't repeat the same mistakes in this life!
In the end, the reunion dinner of the two branches of the Yu family concluded happily, with everyone else beaming with smiles, while only Yu Boyuan was carried out the door.
Oh, right, Yue Fuguang also gained her thirtieth subordinate—Yu Huaixian.
Yu Huaixian was Yu Boyuan's second son. It seemed Yu Chongyan was going to put great effort into cultivating his eldest and second grandsons.
In the future, he would directly let his eldest grandson, Yu Huaiming, bypass his father to take charge of the family business of the Yu family's second branch.
Otherwise, it would be hard to explain to his other two sons.
Yu Zhongqing and Yu Jinan naturally saw through their father's plan and felt that it wouldn't be unacceptable for their nephew to take charge of the family in the future.
As for splitting the family right now? They had never even entertained such a thought.
The reason their eldest uncle's family was willing to lend them a helping hand was out of respect for their father. If they separated from the family, their relationship with their eldest uncle's family would become even more distant.
Seeing that the Yu family was about to prosper, they couldn't possibly do something so foolish.
[Host, in the original historical timeline, this Huang family also colluded with the Zhou family. That daughter of the Huang family who didn't marry Yu Huaijian later married Second Son Zhou.]
"Don't worry, the Zhou family is finished, and the Huang family won't live past this month. The things they did later will never happen again."
The next day, Yue Fuguang took her top enforcer, Yu Huaixian, to attend the morning court session. Why call him her top enforcer?
Because among her many new subordinates, aside from Yu Mochun, the one with the highest favorability was Yu Huaixian, followed by Shen Chunying, Shen Dongxue, and a few others.
This guy Yu Huaixian's favorability score skyrocketed overnight from the original seventy to eighty, second only to the sisters Yu Ningxuan and Yu Ningxin.
[Master, you at least have a few kittens under your command now. Do you want Little Zhu to give you that book on training intelligence agents and special forces?]
"Wait a bit. We'll talk about it after these people are completely loyal!"
The hands of the sisters Shen Chunying and Shen Dongxue visibly trembled as they helped Yue Fuguang into the carriage.
Yue Fuguang nodded in satisfaction. The two of them were actually able to resist looking up at her and were trying their best to hide their panic, which was excellent!
As for the Shen sisters, the older sister Chunying was steady and meticulous, while the younger sister Dongxue was lively and cheerful. Although the younger sister was adopted by their parents, the bond between the sisters was truly very good.
Among the people she had selected from the guest courtyard, currently only half had reached the threshold to hear her inner thoughts. Among them, the Shen sisters, Liu Wei, Xu Xiaoman, and Zhang Fang had the highest favorability.
This was also the first time these few people heard her inner voice. Shen Wei and Xu Xiaoman, who were a few steps behind, only paused for a moment before quickly catching up.
As for Zhang Fang, who was seeing them off at the door, his hand rested on the Cloud-Cleaving Sword at his waist. He only forcefully held back from drawing it when he heard the familiar 'Wait a bit'.
So this was the miraculous aspect of their Junior Preceptor that Senior Mr. Yu had hinted at?
She clearly hadn't opened her mouth, yet she could speak. What kind of divine martial art was this? Could it be the long-lost art of ventriloquism?
And where was that little fellow who called her Master hiding?
Zhang Fang, who had the highest martial arts skills, searched for a long time but still couldn't find the owner of that voice.
[Alright then. Once they completely acknowledge you as their Master, I'll bestow some medicine upon them. The martial arts of these mortals are just too poor. Having such weak people protect you makes Little Zhu uneasy.]
"With Little Zhu around, this Immortal Lord's safety is guaranteed. The people in my hands are merely to put the Emperor and the others at ease.
As you said, the power of mortals is indeed a bit lacking, but if there are good seedlings in the future, perhaps I can cultivate one or two for my own use."
Mortals? Immortal Lord? What did that mean?
Shen Chunying, Liu Wei, and the others looked at each other in dismay. Why did the Junior Preceptor call herself an Immortal Lord? And that Little Zhu not only looked down on them but also called them mortals!
The few of them carefully checked their surroundings a few more times and found nothing unusual... Actually, they did notice something. Out of their team of twelve, only eight of them had strange expressions on their faces.
Wang Qingxiao and three others acted as if they hadn't heard anything, their expressions natural. Seeing the expressions of the other eight constantly changing, they even revealed looks of confusion.
With faces full of questions, they were just short of asking out loud: What's wrong with you guys? Your faces look so terrible, are you sick?
Along the way, the eight of them got an earful of that entity calling itself Little Zhu scolding everyone from the Emperor to the civil and military officials in front of the Junior Preceptor.
The reason was that transporting some kind of seeds for them had consumed a lot of its 'divine power'!
All of them had decent martial arts skills, and even through the carriage walls, they could hear that only the Junior Preceptor's heartbeat was inside. Where on earth was that Little Zhu hiding?
It dared to brazenly insult the Emperor and the officials. It might dare to curse, but they didn't dare to listen!
The few of them felt like they were waiting for death, but they just didn't associate it with inner voices or deities. They only thought they had encountered a supreme martial arts expert.
After all, they had seen people calling themselves Immortal Lords in the martial arts world before. Which of those charlatans tricking people into drinking talisman water didn't claim to be the reincarnation of a deity, coming to the mortal realm to impart teachings?
The few who felt like they were waiting for death didn't yet know that this was just the beginning. This wasn't even the thing that would shatter their worldview the most.
With anxious hearts, the few of them, who had already started thinking about their last words, watched as the Junior Preceptor's carriage drove straight into the imperial palace.
