Wei Zhengya had been buried, Shen Zhou and Shen Cangfeng took a leave, but Fengzhou City failed to return to peace.

Because the vice-premier Wei Qi came back from his leave.

Although the clan of Zhiben Hall had always centered in the capital, it still belonged to the Wei Family in Fengzhou and had not been able to achieve the prestigious reputation of the Wei Family in the capital. The hometown of the Wei Family was Fengzhou. No matter where their children and grandchildren were and how successful they were, their ancestral houses could only be in Fengzhou. Even if there were new memorial temples in the capital, how could Zhiben Hall neglect when the ancestral house was destroyed?

In particular, the destruction of the ancestral temple was caused by the commit arson of the northern tribes.

If it was a normal fire hazard, everything would be fine and Wei Qi just quietly sent a nephew back to preside over the repair, and then toasted a joss stick. But this time it involved the northern tribes sneaking into Fengzhou and wantonly retaliating against the Wei Family in Fengzhou. Now the whole country knew that Wei Huan, the Family Head of the Wei Family, listed the vicious behaviors of the northern tribes, including the destruction of the ancestral temple of Zhiben Hall. Well, he listed it as the first one.

The Family Head took it so seriously that Wei Qi would be too inappropriate if he didn't come back to preside over the repairs in person.

So no matter whether Wei Qi was willing or not, he could only go to the palace with tears to ask for a leave from His Majesty and returned home with his wife and son to repair the ancestral temple and apologized to the disturbed ancestors.

With the examples of Song Han, Song Duan, and Wei Zhengya who were assassinated by the "northern tribes," Wei Qi came back very cautiously. Taking advantage of his authority as the minister in Yanzhou and using the reason that Jingguan was built in Liao City, he specially asked for an order from His Majesty to allow him to deploy an army from Yanzhou. First, to escort him back to Fengzhou, and second, after Wei Qi arrived in Fengzhou, the army would go to the north of Fengzhou to search and resist the northern tribes.

Therefore, Wei Qi arrived much later than Shen Zhou and Shen Cangfeng.

On the second day after Shen Zhou and Shen Cangfeng left Fengzhou, Wei Qi traveled a long way and entered Fengzhou.

And his first thing after entering the city was to go back to the ancestral house to apologize to the heroic spirits of the ancestors.

Wei Huan, who had received the news, had already waited outside the ancestral house of Zhiben Hall with his people.

Wei Qi must first get out of the carriage to present himself before the Family Head, and let his heirs come up one by one to kowtow. After all, Wei Huan was not only the Family Head but also had the same seniority in the family as Wei Qi. In addition to this, he personally waited outside the Zhiben Hall, indicating that he attached great importance to the damage to the ancestral temple of Zhiben Hall. From both an emotional and reasonable standpoint, the clan of Zhiben Hall must be extremely grateful.

After some chitchat during the greetings, noon also passed.

It was impossible to send Wei Huan away after the greeting. Wei Qi could ask Wei Huan to enter the mansion to talk a bit more.

This made Wei Qi almost vomit blood. Because as soon as Wei Huan sat down, he pointed out that after his personal investigation, he found out that reason of the destruction of the ancestral house of Zhiben Hall was first, slacking in defense, and the second was that the buildings around the ancestral temple were all made of wood that could easily to be destroyed in the fire.

So he suggested that Wei Qi simply should not repair it but took advantage of this time to rebuild the entire ancestral temple and replace the wood with stone! And he also suggested only using the long strip of blue stones that could be mined from the deep in the mountains.

Wei Huan even asked people to lift two pieces and put them outside the ancestral temple so that Wei Qi could have a look at them at will.

"Rest assured! I have personally checked that stone. The steel sword is difficult to leave a trace on it, and after burning it, its color remains the same." Wei Huan talked delightfully. After going through great hardships to solve the massive problem, Wei Huan was relieved and said sincerely, "A blue stone, even if a man is in his prime, it cannot be lifted up unless by four or five of them! It must be an excellent stone! If we use this kind of stone to build the ancestral temple, it will be perfectly safe!"

There was no decent mountain in Fengzhou. According to Wei Huan, this long blue stones must be mined in other counties. Oh, the closest one, Qingzhou, would still take days of riding horses to reach. Qingzhou was the hometown of the Su Family that one must greet them if wanting to mine there.

Not to mention the cost of time of the round trip and negotiating with the Su Family, stainless steel sword could not leave a trace on the stone! And its color would not change with fire burning. The difficulty of mining it could be imagined!

Talking about transportation, one strip of blue stone would be so heavy that only four to five men could be able to lift it.

Then...how many horses would be needed?

Even if it was successfully transported to Fengzhou, how much manpower and material resources would it take to construct it?

Money was a minor thing. Whether it was Ruiyu Hall or Zhiben Hall, it had enough money to build an ancestral temple. The problem was that Wei Qi was still in the position of vice-premier. This time, because of the need to renovate the ancestral temple, Wei Qi had come back. How could the rest of people in Zhiben Hall not to take a leave to accompany him?

These people more or less had errands in the Royal Court, and it was impossible to delay the matters in the Royal Court because of a departure of a hall of people. This meant that if Zhiben Hall stayed in Fengzhou for one more day, their errands in the capital might be taken away or be made into a mere figurehead, including Wei Qi.

Originally, the ancestral temple was not badly damaged that only a corner was destructed. There was ready-made wood in the ancestral house of Zhiben Hall. With the repair of a craftsman, with at most three to five days, it could be fully repaired.

However, with the reconstruction that was mentioned by Wei Huan, just moving the many tablets to other places one by one and then dismantling the original ancestral temple would already have to take more than three to five days!

After demolishing it, they also had to rebuild it with such tough blue stones.

Wei Qi silently swallowed a few mouthfuls of blood, then reluctantly smiled and said, "What Family Head said is very true, but..."

He was interrupted before he finished speaking, and Wei Huan said in a way that he had already known everything, "Qingyue, you can rest assured. This time, the northern tribes sneaking into Fengzhou is the fault of the governor, Shengnian! I had ordered him to make an apology before, and I think you have seen the chapter. All in all, Shengnian can't pass the buck on this incident of the destruction of the ancestral temple of Zhiben Hall. Ruiyu Hall will be responsible for the cost of this reconstruction, including the mining and transportation of blue stones!"

To repair an ancestral temple, the side branch still needed the clan to help pay for it. Where would be the prestige of the side branch? In this way, not to mention seizing the position of the senior commander, would they still have the face to plan to turn Zhiben Hall into the capital's Guard in the future?

And Wei Qi did not ignore what Wei Huan said was that Ruiyu Hall was "responsible" rather than paying the cost! In other words, Ruiyu Hall would mine and transport on its own, so it was up to Ruiyu Hall to decide how long this ancestral temple would be reconstructed. Because Wei Huan has previously stated that this blues stones would be mined at a faraway place, and it was very, very difficult to mine.

Wei Qi immediately refused, "Zhiben Hall also has its own property, how can we let the matter of repairing the ancestral temple bother the Family Head?"

"Oh! I am ashamed of being the Family Head!" When Wei Huan heard this, his tears immediately fell and began to grieve over the destruction of the ancestral temple of Zhiben Hall. In short, it seemed that if Wei Qi refused to rebuild it with the blue stones, he would not leave...

In the end, Wei Qi could only use his final means: he fell on the ground on his back. As soon as he fell, his heirs immediately came forward and started to talk that he was too sad about his ancestral temple on the way here. Along with the tiredness due to the journey, now he had fainted, etc… And only after this, Wei Huan left their mansion.

Wei Qi used his faint to send away Wei Huan this time, but Wei Huan came again the next day.

After four or five days, seeing that the news of Zhiben Hall unwilling to accept the Family Head's suggestion to build an ancestral temple that was not afraid of fire and could not be destroyed was about to spread, Wei Qi had no choice but to ask for a private conversation with Wei Huan.

After this talk, although Wei Huan no longer enthusiastically recommended the long bluestones from distant mountains to Zhiben Hall, Wei Qi fell ill overnight. And this illness was also natural. After all, he was sad after the incident of the ancestral temple and was tired due to the journey. He passed out the first time he came back, didn't he?

At Wei Qi’s age, if the illness had been more serious, he would have had to retire directly.

"After Wei Qi retired, he will live in Fengzhou. What about his children and grandchildren?" Old Madam Song sipped her tea slowly and asked.

Wei Huan said, "If he is willing to retire from his position, his children and grandchildren will naturally go back to the capital."

"Well." Although Old Madam Song was a little dissatisfied, it was still good enough to be able to force Wei Qi to retire from his official position. Zhiben Hall was able to open up another clan title other than this original clan and did not fail for a hundred years because they had their own means. Therefore, it was impossible to completely knock down Zhiben Hall through a reconstruction of the ancestral temple. Old Madam Song then asked, "What about the position of the vice-premier?"

"I want Chief Minister Wei Yu to take over the position." Wei Huan mused, "Although this man is a little bit too straightforward, he is from Ruiyu Hall in the end. And Chief Minister is only one level lower than vice-premier. After Wei Qi retires, it is appropriate for him to be promoted."

Old Madam Song thought for a while and said, "His heirs..."

"He has many heirs, and they are all loyal." The meaning of 'loyal' could also be understood as honesty. Honest people, on the one hand, were not easy to think of the things that should not be thought of, and the other hand was that they did not have the ability to think of the things that should not be thought of.

Old Madam Song nodded, "Changfeng is too young, and Zhiben Hall is watching covetously. The clan of Ruiyu Hall is weak, and the only thing we can do is to support side branches."

"The day before yesterday, Changfeng requested to let Wei Qing go to the north of the province. I was going to say yes, but now Wei Qi has brought the Yanzhou army and plans to go to the north of the province as well. I'm now a little worried." Wei Huan frowned and said, "After all, Mo Binwei has been egged on by Wei Xinyong. There are too few people in our family who are good at military affairs, and Wei Qing is the best among the young children. It is not good if he is harmed by the Yanzhou army. Although our family focuses mainly on the literature, the world is unsettled. In the end, we still need people who know the military strategy."

Old Madam Song asked, "Can't we ask Wei Qi send all the Yanzhou army back to Yanzhou?"

Wei Huan said, "He also said clearly that he feels worried about us."

"Since he had to put this Yanzhou army in Fengzhou, then just tell Zhiben Hall the matter about Wei Xinyong." Old Madam Song said without hesitation, "Wei Xinyong left the capital with the reason that he had taken the vice-governor of Zhaoyun County. That Zhaoyun County is a remote place in the southwest. I'm afraid that Wei Qi didn't notice it at all. The death of Wei Xinyong's father and sister is inextricably related to Wei Xinming, the eldest son of Wei Qi. Wei Qi gave unprincipled protection to his elder son. If Wei Xinyong hadn't been so young at that time, he would have also been killed long ago!"

"If Wei Qi knew that Wei Xinyong left the capital in order to accumulate power so as to avenge him and his son, and he also drew over people like the actual heroes of the great victory in the north of the province. Let's see if he still wants to send this Yanzhou army to the north of the province to make troubles!"

Wei Huan mused, "And Wei Qi may also discuss with me about the way to deal with Wei Xinyong…."

"If the price he offers is enough, it's not impossible." Old Madam Song sneered. "Last time Wei Xinyong was aware of the arrangement of the assassins in advance, but he did not inform us in advance. It's only because he wanted revenge, but he was weak on his own. He deliberately sat aside to watch the conflicts and only when Changfeng and Changying had no way out, he stepped in to save them. He did this because, first, he wanted to let Changfeng and Changying directly owe him the favor, and on the other hand, let the feud between our family and Zhiben Hall be more profound!"

"If Changfeng were not the only lineal grandson, and we all had high hopes for him, Wei Xinyong would certainly have made a later move and let us form a grudge against Zhiben Hall in killing the grandson! Without Changfeng, Ruiyu Hall's reputation would have been greatly reduced. As for Changying, he was also afraid that our family would be in decline these years and would not be able to beat Zhiben Hall. Therefore, it would be better to have the marriage with the Shen Family in-laws so that he also saved her. Otherwise, among our lineal grandchildren, he would certainly sit by and watch one of them die. In this way, we will also be like him and hate Zhiben Hall so much that we wish to destroy it!"

Old Madam Song said resentfully, "The most hateful thing is that he knows that our family is already recruiting Mo Binwei, but he still wants to intervene in it! After saving Changfeng and Changying, he hid his identity, deliberately misled Changfeng and Changying to have the conclusion that the people behind the ambush might not have any good intention and forced Changfeng to go to the hidden valley for the meeting. What he said about taking a look at the next Family Head of Ruiyu Hall was nonsense! We take what we need from each other, and we can betray each other at any time if necessary. How many years can this relationship last?"

"Two lineal grandchildren, he withheld one and let one back, and the one who put it back told us the news. How could we not put all our hands in that forest to search thoroughly?! In this way, the number of people guarding Mo Binwei was naturally greatly reduced. And using this opportunity, he used the identity of the bandit in Fengqi mountain to fabricate the absurd news that our family had planned to murder Mo Binwei if he refused to accept to be Changfeng's slave. Therefore, Mo Binwei was tricked by him that he killed the guard as an oath of the outlaw and left with him!"

"If it hadn't been for this little creature's scheming and wanting to have Mo Binwei on his side, how could Changying mistakenly think that something bad would happen after Changfeng went away so that she pretended to be Changfeng and went to the meeting and tarnished her reputation?" When Old Madam Song said this, she pulled the veil resentfully, "The price offered by Zhiben Hall is high enough, it is also right to sell him out."

Wei Huan said faintly, "He is not in Ruiyu Hall, naturally we cannot expect him to always think of Ruiyu Hall. What's more, there is nothing too bad with Mo Binwei being deceived by him. Without Mo Binwei, can Wei Xinyong make Wei Qi scruple now? If Wei Qi is not scruple of him, this Yanzhou army will all come to set us up!"