Chapter 37: Time flies, the family business is just getting started

After triumphing in the southwest, Wang Jin's prestige reached its peak.

But he did not, as others expected, take advantage of this momentum to show his talents in court and widely build his faction.

On the contrary, he became unusually low-key.

Under Wang Xiu's deliberate manipulation, Wang Jin perfectly played the role of a "pure minister" and a "technocratic official".

Besides reporting for duty at the Zhongshu Province each day, handling some paperwork concerning the follow-up of the southwest's "replacing native rule with direct administration," he almost never participated in any court politics debates.

Regarding the attempts by Wu Sansi's faction to win him over, he kept his distance.

Likewise, in response to the friendly overtures of Zhang Jianzhi and other Shenlong merit officials, he also maintained a polite distance.

He devoted most of his energy to building up the family.

From spending large amounts of time controlling the ancestor, it became occasional, with Wang Jin free to develop.

Meanwhile, relying on the vast wealth now accumulated by the ancestor, he had completely freed himself from financial worries.

What surprised him most was that, after not hearing from the ancestor for over twenty years, he suddenly received news during a contact with his father.

"Think of our old Wang family—we were once prosperous, our history can even be traced back to the Tang dynasty; the ancestor was named Wang Jin, in his twenties, with a single plan he pacified Annan, and he rose to the rank of a third‑grade official!"

"Alas, later generations were unworthy, and moreover too much time has passed; countless wars have raged, so no one like that ancestor has appeared again, and only these few fragments have been passed down."

"What happened then, Dad?" Recalling the moment he first heard his father say that, his expression was one of astonishment.

"Later... later, the ancestor Wang Jin also ended up unknown, just like a fleeting blossom."

Wang Xiu's father was a history teacher; his personality could be described as old‑fashioned, and upon speaking of this he began to lament the passing of spring and grieve over past and present.

That day, after Wang Xiu hung up the phone, he pondered for a long time; he could confirm that in the previous twenty‑plus years his father had never mentioned it, yet now the Wang family suddenly had an extra ancestor, which inevitably made him marvel at the powerful concept of this cheat he had obtained.

He could actually change history, even alter people's perceptions! But this also made him reconsider how to treat this game—if he manipulated his own ancestor too recklessly, and if the clan were exterminated, could he and his own parents still survive?

He simply would not gamble on this issue—who would believe that playing a game could make oneself disappear?

Taking these into account, he began to diversify the family's focus—not just official careers, but all industries should develop fully, with the family's continuation as the standard, no longer merely its glory and prosperity.

He used the emperor's grant of a thousand mu of good farmland and vast wealth to begin a bold layout of industries.

Yishui Manor, he fashioned into an integrated base combining agriculture and handicraft.

He used knowledge from the internet that surpassed the age, improved farming techniques, promoted new implements, and thus the manor's grain output exceeded that of surrounding fields by more than thirty percent.

Moreover, in the manor he built large‑scale glazed‑tile kilns and porcelain kilns.

He personally drew the designs, guided the artisans, and improved the firing techniques.

Soon, batch after batch of crystal‑clear, unprecedented glazed products, and batch after batch of fine porcelain with delicate bodies and warm, lustrous glazes, were continuously produced from the Wang family's kiln works.

Once these items were launched, they immediately caused a huge sensation among the upper society of Luoyang City.

Nobles and vied with each other to purchase them.

The Wang family's several shops on Bronze Camel Lane were bustling every day, with crowds pouring in and profits flowing in.

Wang Jin did not stop there.

He also used the convenience of his status as "Envoy for Pacifying Annan" to open up the trade route to the southwest, transporting large quantities of sought‑after goods such as Shu brocade, tea, and well salt back to Luoyang.

In just a few short years, the Wang family's wealth, like a snowball, rapidly expanded.

The "Wang Family Merchant" brand became the synonym for the highest‑end, most luxurious in the Divine Capital Luoyang.

And during this period, the political winds in court, just as Wang Xiu had anticipated, changed in an instant.

The five merit officials of the Shenlong Coup, under the joint suppression of Wu Sansi and Empress Wei, suffered successive defeats.

Zhang Jianzhi, Jing Hui and the like were successively demoted and exiled, but thanks to the secret protection and aid of the Wang Family Merchant, they at least avoided the miserable fate of dying far from home; thereafter they withdrew from court affairs and spent their twilight years like idle clouds and wild cranes.

Li Duozuo, because he held military power, fared somewhat better, yet he too was stripped of real authority, becoming a wealthy idler with only an empty title.

The entire court thus became entirely the domain of the Wu and Wei families.

Many officials who had once relied on the Shenlong merit officials were subjected to brutal purges.

Yet Wang Jin, who had once been regarded as a follower of Li Duozuo, miraculously remained unharmed.

Because he was too "pure".

He never took sides, never formed cliques, and each day devoted himself solely to his "one‑third acre of land," studying his fields and glazed ware.

In the eyes of Wu Sansi and his ilk, Wang Jin, though talented, was merely a "technical‑type talent" without political ambition, posing no threat to them.

Moreover, he was a favorite before the emperor; there was really no need to provoke the emperor over such a "harmless" person.

Thus, Wang Jin stood firm amidst the tumultuous political storms.

He used low profile and wealth to build for himself and his family the strongest moat.

Time flew by; in the blink of an eye, ten years passed.

The Tang dynasty's political situation again underwent several upheavals.

Crown Prince Li Chongjun ultimately could not restrain himself, launched the "Jinglong Coup," but being outnumbered, he was defeated in battle and killed.

Hearing this news, Wang Jin at home let out a long sigh; after returning from suppressing the rebellion, the Emperor Zhongzong had promoted his office, and he and the crown prince no longer had the close ties they once did—now hearing the news again, it was already bad tidings.

Immediately afterward, Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian was poisoned to death in a plot by Empress Wei and Princess Anle.

Empress Wei, ruling from behind the throne, intended to emulate Wu Zetian.

He ultimately could not change history; although his various gentle reminders—regarding the crown prince's instruction and the Emperor Zhongzong's court presentations—might have had some effect, the final outcome remained unchanged.

At the critical moment, Prince Li Dan's son, Prince Linzi Li Longji, joined forces with Princess Taiping to launch the "Tanglong Coup," in one fell swoop exterminating Empress Wei and her faction, and restoring his father Li Dan to the throne.

Throughout this series of bloody storms, Wang Jin remained merely a cold‑eyed onlooker.

He strictly observed Wang Xiu's "conceal clumsiness" strategy for him; no matter how external circumstances shifted, he remained steadfast at the fishing terrace, wholeheartedly developing his family business.

And in these ten years, the Wang family also welcomed new life.

His wife Lady Li bore him a son and a daughter.

The son was named Wang Hui.

The daughter was named Wang Zhi.

Wang Hui was extraordinarily intelligent from a young age, and under Wang Jin's verbal instruction and personal example, whether it was the classics, histories, philosophical works, and collections, or horseback riding and archery, he far surpassed his peers.

Wang Xiu knew that the second generation of the Wang family had already grown up.

And the Wang Jin he controlled had also changed from a young man in his twenties into a steady, introverted middle-aged man approaching forty.

His official position also rose steadily over these ten years.

From the rank of Senior Third Rank, Silver-Green Guanglu Doctor, he was promoted to Normal Third Rank, Minister of the Household Department.

Although he was not a prime minister, he controlled the empire's purse strings, a true wielder of real power.

The Wang family's prestige and wealth had reached an unprecedented height.

Wang Xiu looked at the already extremely splendid data on the family panel, his heart filled with pride.

He spent ten years laying an extraordinarily solid foundation for a brand-new millennium-old clan.

Now, it is time to inject a true "soul" into this family.