Nan Luo’s eyes were cold. The Tu Family originally have low ranks, but because one of their daughters become the previous emperor’s concubine, they had started to raise in ranks. At that time, the emperor favored his concubine and also followed her words.
But it was before Emperor Yang Zhou’s mother appeared.
When she appeared, it was basically a massacre in the harem. No women could come close to her beauty and she immediately got the emperor’s favor.
At that time, the entire harem was a battlefield.
And the one who become the final winner was this Empress Dowager Mei, who used to be an Imperial Concubine. She might not be the Empress, but she has more power than the Empress herself.
And other concubines could only stay at the back and did nothing, trying their best to attract the attention of the Emperor from time to time. Some succeeded and some others failed.
But even so, the Tu Family had benefited a lot from this arrangement.
Besides, their family member who become the Imperial Concubine back then finally had a daughter: Princess Hu.
The Emperor could forget his concubines.
But he couldn’t ignore his children forever. Even if a daughter will become a political marriage tool in the future, they were still part of the Imperial Family.
And just being part of the Imperial Family meant that they had more power.
Imperial Family’s honor must never be slighted.
Thus, the families of their mother would undoubtedly become more and more powerful as time passed. It was some kind of protection that was given to maintain the emperor’s face.
This is the backing of Tu Family.
By now, the existence of Princess Hu was what allowed them to continue reigning.
But Emperor Yang Zhou naturally didn’t care that much about her. But back then, he was simply too young to fully control the court and too many officials were not on his side. The work department was naturally not his first priority.
Thus, the Tu Family had been having it easy for the past few years.
As long as they kept low profile, they wouldn’t be easily noticed and then eliminated by the Emperor.
”Transferring their works are not easy. There are more people that Grandfather had sent to Ministry of Work, but their ranks are not that high. And there are also others who had been oppressed by the Tu Family start to fight back slowly but surely.
We’ve been doing this for some time, but for the seeds we sow to bear fruit will take more time. For now, they’re still being suppressed by the others. It might take a few more months for them to finally reach the necessary standard to make sure that the delicate political balance is not disrupted.”
Feng Ao Si blinked his eyes.
”Are you sure you want to discuss this here?”
”There’s no one around us.” Nan Luo chuckled. “And besides, we didn’t really do our communication directly and only from a distance.”
If he had to be honest, Feng Ao Si felt that he was born in the wrong family. How come he didn’t understand even a single thing of what his little brother and cousins were planning? Whenever something happened, he would be the last one to realize that there was something that happened.
It was so vexing.
”You have investigated quite a lot.” Feng Ao Kuai nodded.
”It’s mostly grandfather.” Nan Luo smiled bitterly. He had to admit that without Old Master Nan, he would never be able to obtain these information and even planted people.
Feng Ao Kuai shook his head. “At least, it shows that you begin to take care of what he did. Do you really think that everyone will be able to do it when they’re at our age? Have you even considered how big is this power?”
Nan Luo was silent.
”Is that a praise?”
”…No.”
”Then…”
”But I want you to realize that you already have a big power behind your back. How you use them is important.” Feng Ao Kuai’s expression was serious. When his father handed him the power behind Feng Family that his father had inherited from his uncle-grandfather, he felt the pressure.
It was not as simple as having the power and then use them indiscriminately to do whatever he wished.
When General Feng told him about this and begun to allow him to get involved, it was a kind of trust and also responsibility.
He trusted that Feng Ao Kuai was ready and could handle them.
Having control over this power, even if it was only a faction, taught him the huge responsibility behind it. There were many things that needed to be considered when commanding the power and Feng Ao Kuai didn’t want Nan Luo to be so humble nor so complacent.
He had to understand the weight of the power behind him clearly for him to be able to use it well.
”I know, Grandfather had said it to me too.” Nan Luo smiled.
Feng Ao Kuai narrowed his eyes. “It’s good if you know then.”
Nan Luo hadn’t been the one fully in charge as it was still mostly his grandfather. However, he had started to get involved in some things.
”Let’s get back to the discussion. Some members of the Tu Family works in mining.” Nan Luo’s gaze turned extremely cold when he mentioned this. “They took over what our mother’s family had when they destroyed it before.”
Nan Hua was silent.
She knew that their mother’s family used to work in mines and had quite some wealth. But it was nothing in front of the Tu Family. And with their igneous methods, they swallowed everything that belonged to their mother’s family.
This put Madam Nan into an even deeper pit, making her unable to escape from Nan Family even if she wanted to. Without a family, how could she possibly leave? Her two children were still too young and she couldn’t possibly bear to leave the two of them.
Thus, she endured everything.
But she never made it in the end because her body couldn’t withstand it anymore.
”I’ll make them vomit everything.” Nan Luo snorted. His eyes were burning with unconcealed hatred and anger. “When the times come, I’ll make them regret for ever taking over what should have never belonged to them.”