While Wei Changying was reconciling Duanmu Xinmiao with Deng Zongqi, Shen Canghui happened to enter Shen Cangfeng's inner room where he was recovering from his injuries. They greeted each other. Then, saying that they needed to talk about military affairs, they told the servants to leave.

As Miracle Doctor Ji and his disciples were worthy of their names and Shen Cangfeng had always been healthy, he had almost recovered and looked quite well after only a little more than half a month.

However, in order not to tear the wounds open, Shen Cangfeng spent most of his time resting on the bed. At this moment, he leaned on the two cushions and put the book he was reading beside the pillow, gently asking his cousin, "Have the people from the western tribes done anything more?"

Shen Canghui slightly worriedly looked at the door, whispering, "No."

Shen Cangfeng could tell that he was worried, saying, "Don't worry. The people who are serving me now are Changying's close servants. They all know the rules. Besides, the door of this room is very thick. If you don't speak loudly, no one can hear you clearly, even if they eavesdrop at the door."

"Cangfeng, do you trust Changying that much?" Having heard this, Shen Canghui had a complicated look on his face, asking, "Cangfeng, do you know what Changying has done recently?"

Shen Cangfeng frowned slightly, asking in a neutral voice, "What?"

"On the day Changying arrived, she put the family uncle and family aunt who had looked after the ancestral hall on a charge of colluding with the people from the western tribes. She has also removed the manager who had asked a question about this." Shen Canghui spoke in a low voice, "The family uncle and family aunt had Father and Mother's permission to be in charge of the ancestral hall, and they are also our elders. However, not only did Changying not inform Father and Mother, but she also told her personal guards to carry this out! Shen Tingshu, the manager who was removed, was our servants' son. Generations ago, they were given the surname Shen and have been serving our family for most of their lives. What Changying did has made many servants upset."

Seeing Shen Cangfeng gesturing that he could continue, Shen Canghui carried on speaking, "It would have been fine if these had been the only things. Two days ago, a senior of the family, who disliked the way Changying was taking sole control, criticized her but not to her face. In the end, Changying invited this senior and other seniors together to have a discussion. She made the senior so embarrassed in public and he immediately fell ill after he went back that night! Changying didn't seem to plan to personally go to apologize. She only casually sent someone over to give them something. Cangfeng, I'm not trying to criticize her. I know that Changying wants to share your burden, but is what she did very appropriate?"

Shen Canghui was of a similar age to Shen Cangfeng and both of them had been brought up by Madam Su. Out of gratitude to Shen Zhou, Madam Su had always been slightly better to Shen Canghui than to Shen Cangfeng. Although the two were cousins, they were like brothers. As they were of similar age and they had grown up together, he was closer to Shen Cangfeng than the elder brothers, Shen Cangli and Shen Lianshi.

Like last time, when Shen Canghui had wanted to be a local official, he had chosen Shen Cangfeng to discuss it with. Although Shen Cangfeng had scolded him so much that he had given up the idea, he didn't hold a grudge against him. Thus, this time when he had got an idea, he had come to tell him directly.

Shen Cangfeng of course knew his temperament well. At this moment, he smiled faintly, asking, "Is that all that Changying has done? Anything else?"

"These are the only things I have heard that she has gone too far in doing." Shen Canghui knew that his cousin really loved his wife. He then quickly and carefully added, "I'm not saying I don't like Changying. I'm just worried about her. Because of the current situation, Uncle and Aunt had asked me to escort Changying to come to visit you. His Majesty is making trouble for our Shen Family, but she slandered Shen Chu and his wife for colluding with the people from the western tribes! If His Majesty heard of it, it would cause a tempest."

Shen Cangfeng said unhurriedly, "I will tell you what is going on with this later. You tell me first, who told you about these things? And who encouraged you to come to me to talk about them while Changying is not here?"

Shen Canghui was about to speak, but Shen Cangfeng had slightly raised his hand, saying with a smile, "Do not lie, or I punish you so that you will not dare to lie to me in this life. Understand?"

"..." Shen Cangfeng smiled gently as ever and looked calm, looking as kind and generous as he had always been in front of his own family, but Shen Canghui hesitated for a long time. He hung his head, speaking with honesty, "The sixth uncle asked me to go to a banquet. At the banquet, he told me that Changying might get our family into trouble. He only warned me about that. There was nothing else. I have thought about it and I think the sixth uncle has a point. Cangfeng, you are unwell, so I wanted to go to speak to Changying directly, but I'm worried that she might misunderstand me. After thinking about it, I think it would be better to come and speak to you so that you can pass on my words to her."

Shen Cangfeng said casually, "The sixth uncle is now the governor of Western Liang. This is also the reason why his father dared to criticize Changying, but have you thought about it? His father, our granduncle, had just criticized Changying and immediately the sixth uncle came to warn you. Everything happened right on time. If they aren't sowing discord between us, then what is it?"

"I have thought about it, too." Shen Canghui didn't want his cousin to think he was stupid. He argued, "Although the sixth uncle's intention is questionable, his words are reasonable. I don't want to make his wish come true by having doubts about Changying. I just want to warn Changying. However, I'm worried if I speak to her directly, I will upset her, so I thought it might be better for you to do so, Cangfeng."

"Why is he reasonable?" Shen Cangfeng squinted, looking deeply at him and saying casually, "Although His Majesty does not like our Shen Family, he only dared to make a move on his son first after the news that my father-in-law, Changying's father, is about to be cured. Has he ever dared to directly touch our Shen Family's people?"

Shen Canghui said, "But the family uncle and aunt colluded with the people from the western tribes. I'm afraid that the Liu Family might also..."

"Why is the Crown Princess's surname Liu?" Shen Cangfeng sighed and said, "Canghui, I know you have no bad intentions. Neither are you targeting Changying. Since Changying can see what is going on, how could you be used by the sixth uncle? His Majesty wants to get rid of us, the gentlefolks, but he is really afraid of us! Look at His Majesty's attitude towards the gentlefolks since his ascension to the throne. You will see he has never once directly targeted us! This time, Shen Jia has been made a commoner. Do you still not understand why?"

Seeing Shen Canghui still seem a bit confused, Shen Cangfeng had to make it clear for him, "His Majesty's wariness of our gentlefolks slightly exceeds his desire to destroy us! Therefore, as long as we do not push His Majesty too hard, with His Majesty's frivolity with the wine and women over the years, he won't easily make up his mind to directly go against the gentlefolks! His Majesty's biggest hope is that there is infighting within the families of the gentlefolks, or we fight with each other until we naturally disappear. Thus, Changying accused Shen Chu and his wife of colluding with the people from the western tribes. When His Majesty hears the news, he will not make things difficult for us. Instead, he will do nothing to our Shen Family so as to allow the infighting to begin within our family!"

He sneered and said, "His Majesty had great ambitions when he had just been enthroned, but at that time, it was not peaceful in the country and the news reported from all over was mostly bad. Always hearing such news, His Majesty became depressed, so he didn't want to know more. This is why he has delegated the right to manage the government to gentlefolks and aristocratic families. He stays in his imperial harem, enjoying food and wine all day long. In fact, he has been alleviating the sorrow by drinking. However, have you noticed that whenever there is news of victory, His Majesty is happy? His Majesty loves to hear good news and hates bad news. You can see that His Majesty..."

He lowered his voice, "He is not strong-willed! That's why he couldn't take it anymore when he heard the news from all over about vicious bandits and the frequent issues on the borders even though he had great ambitions when he had just been enthroned. Before he could build a reputation for being a bright ruler, he had become a foolish Emperor! Do you think he will have the courage to fight with gentlefolks to the death? If His Majesty really had had such courage, he wouldn't have taken the initiative to stand down, to stay in the imperial harem, and to balance the power of gentlefolks and aristocratic families to reinforce his position!"

Shen Cangfeng did not hide his disdain for the Emperor, "This is also the reason why Father and Mother and Uncle were in favor of you escorting Changying over here. For the first thing, she can act on behalf of the lineal branch of our clan to rectify the affairs of Mingpei Hall. Secondly, she can create a certain degree of conflict so that His Majesty might take the opportunity and temporarily stop plotting against our family!"

Shen Canghui was startled for a moment before saying, "But Changying didn't spare the senior or the servants who had worked for us for many years. Hasn't she gone too far?"

"How has she gone too far?" Shen Cangfeng sighed. Because Shen Zhou had given a lot of attention to the eldest branch, Shen Canghui's siblings of the same generation had intentionally and unintentionally given him more of everything and had protected him. Additionally, Shen Zhou hadn't remarried since his wife passed away. Shen Canghui had been brought up by Madam Su and Madam Su loved him so much. His life had been smooth. Therefore, although he was Shen Zhou's lineal eldest son, he had become a rarely naive person among the children of the gentlefolks and even had a bit of womanly kindness.

Shen Cangfeng knew Shen Canghui's temperament well. His cousin was actually soft-hearted. Previously, he had been so protective of Mrs. Pei, because they had just become newlyweds and Mrs. Pei was beautiful. There was also the reason that Mrs. Pei had been telling things to him, so he had believed them all.

This time, this was also why he had been persuaded by the sixth uncle. The sixth uncle had approached him first and said a few words, so he had believed what the sixth uncle had said, thinking Wei Changying had gone too far. If Wei Changying had asked this brother-in-law of hers to come and complained in tears to him, Shen Canghui would probably have rolled up his sleeves and gone to seek justice for his sister-in-law.

The Shen Family had sent Wei Changying to visit her husband and had chosen Shen Canghui from among their children to escort his sister-in-law over here. Shen Cangli and Shen Lianshi were older and had their own families, so it was inconvenient for them to leave. Shen Cangji and the other two had gone to Fengzhou and the youngest one, Shen Lianheng, was too young. Thus, the family hoped to use this opportunity to toughen Shen Canghui in Western Liang, at least, to get rid of his naivety and petty kindness.

After all, although Shen Canghui didn't need to take over the Family Head position, he was the lineal eldest son of Shen Zhou's family, so he must have the responsibility and ability that a lineal eldest son should have.

Shen Cangfeng certainly knew the intention of the elders. At this moment, he said in a deep voice, "A senior, a family uncle, a family aunt, and an old servant are nothing to our Shen Family. That's enough. Do you think managing Mingpei Hall is a child's game?"

Shen Canghui bashfully said, "After all, those three are our elders. Also, the old servant had also served our Shen Family for many years."

"Our elders?" Shen Cangfeng sneered. If Mrs. Liu had been here, she would have certainly asked Shen Canghui why he hadn't thought that Madam Su was their elder and regarded him as her son when Mrs. Pei had disobeyed Madam Su. However, Shen Cangfeng had no intention of scolding his cousin again for what had already happened in the past. Especially, if this remark came from him, it might make Shen Canghui think that Shen Cangfeng, as Madam Su's son, had been holding a grudge over this matter. That would definitely cause a rift between them, so he only said calmly, "They are the elders, but now Mingpei Hall is in our family's charge. According to the rules of our family, no matter how senior a person is, the Family Head always makes the final call!"

Shen Cangfeng thought, "You are such an idiot! The sixth uncle is sowing discord between our two branches, but you are still being so naive, thinking they are family and trying to help them! Don't you know that the most important thing is to keep our family in charge of the Shen Family? We regard them as our elders if they obey our Family Head's family, otherwise... There won't be only one or two elders who suddenly die in the Shen Family!"

Having paused in his thinking and not having seen Shen Canghui speak again, Shen Cangfeng said without much enthusiasm, "As for the servant, Changying has only removed him from his manager's position and put him out to keep fit. He is very old. If Changying hadn't removed him, he could have only worked for a very few years. Plus, it was his own fault! At that time, Changying was about to establish her authority. Anyone with eyes could tell that. He brought himself into that situation. If it had been you or me, we would have had to dismiss him as well!"

Shen Canghui could not help but say, "At that time, Changying had already had her personal guards take the family uncle and family aunt away. She had already established her authority!"

"But the manager just came forward to speak for the family uncle and family aunt!" Shen Cangfeng looked at him seriously, saying coldly, "He wasn't the only one present at that time! All the servants of Mingpei Hall were there. Changying was a newcomer and a woman. If she had shown a hint of weakness, those servants who had been serving the family for a long time would definitely have bullied her together! Think about what would have happened by that time! A servant had challenged the young madam, who is legally married into our Shen Family, and you are stupid enough to speak for that servant! How many banquets did the sixth uncle invite you to so that he has made you this obedient?"

As he knew Shen Canghui's temperament, he hadn't had an intention of scolding him. However, seeing how naive this cousin was, he couldn't help but scold him.

Shen Canghui was stunned, unthinkingly saying, "So... Changying was right."

"You don't need to worry about what Changying did." Shen Cangfeng raised his hand and rubbed between his eyebrows. After all, he had not yet recovered. Having tried to make his cousin follow the reasoning this morning, he was a bit tired, being too tired to discuss with him whether all of what Wei Changying had done these days was right or wrong. He straightforwardly said, "The matter of the senior... Changying has given both sides some respect by sending a gift over there, but since the sixth uncle still doesn't want it to end... You go to do one thing."

"Please tell me, Cangfeng." He had believed that what Wei Changying had done these days would harm the interests of the Shen Family. He had worriedly run over to Shen Cangfeng to warn him. Unexpectedly, he had been criticized by Shen Cangfeng and according to his words, Wei Changying was right. Shen Canghui felt ashamed.

So the moment he heard that Shen Cangfeng had a job for him, Shen Canghui quickly seized this opportunity to get out of this awkward situation.