Chapter 166: Exerting Twelve Points of Effort to Plot One or Two Points of Victory'—How Possible

Teenage girls already have vague longings for love.

Plus, marriage between cousins in this world is unimpeded.

If Zhang Gui had a bit of a 'human look' in front of his cousins of the Caiyang family, I'm afraid he would have long become the object of secret love.

Unfortunately, although he lived quite smartly in both lives, privately, apart from playing, he loved pretending the least.

And although the five little sisters of the Caiyang family had opened their minds to the matters of men and women, they hadn't reached the age of understanding the famous saying, 'Power is the best mellow medicine.'

Caiyang Caicai sighed for a while at the 'powerfulness' of her cousin now.

Watching him shake his feet and serve himself a full large bowl of stretched noodles.

Mixing it skillfully with several large spoonfuls of stinky shrimp paste, and peeling two heads of garlic and burying them in the paste, her flushed face suddenly became distressed.

Yet Zhang Gui acted as if he didn't see it,

"Caicai, come and taste Brother's noodle-making skills, be happy."

"What skills are needed to cook a bowl of white noodles, besides, I can't finish such a large bowl of noodles in two days."

Caiyang Caicai hugged the large bowl that Zhang Gui almost forced into her arms, and that little bit of inexplicable ignorance had long since dissipated without a trace.

"If you want to cultivate, you have to eat hard," Zhang Gui said indifferently:

"Since you didn't say 'no,' I'll take it as you are willing to cultivate.

I'll go to the main residence of the clan later to talk to someone."

"I am not a blood relative of the Pingyang Zhang family, can this work?"

"It's not some top-notch technique.

It's just something that new powerful families or fallen families in 'Wen County, Cheng Commandery' would treat as a treasure.

Now my face is enough."

As he spoke, Zhang Gui scooped up a spoonful of noodle soup to rinse the taste of the paste in his mouth and wiped his mouth.

He left the courtyard without looking back and walked toward the main residence of the Pingyang Zhang family with big strides.

After a short while.

He arrived at the large residence guarded by four inner wards, eight middle wards, sixteen outer wards, and twenty-seven miscellaneous wards.

Seeing that the main gate, which would only be opened for receiving imperial decrees or high officials of the third rank or above, or heads of families of commandery status, was not opened.

The other four side gates were all wide open.

A faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

He came to the door as if nothing had happened.

Immediately, an old man wearing the clothes of a Great Steward but acting as a gatekeeper with power and favor came up to greet him,

"Longhu, please come in."

These words were inexplicable, but Zhang Gui just nodded and walked into the main residence of the Pingyang Zhang family behind the old man.

After winding around, he came to a small courtyard that seemed to be surrounded by blue smoke.

The old man stopped and said again, "Longhu, please come in."

Zhang Gui took a deep breath, pushed open the courtyard door, and walked in.

He bowed deeply to the old figure under a parasol tree,

"Zhang Jiugui of the Pingyang Zhang family, pays respects to the Clan Head, Great Uncle."

"You voluntarily became a disciple of our Pingyang Zhang family again after guessing there were benefits.

Longhu's posture is really flexible, this is very good, very good.

In this day and age, if you hold your posture too stiffly, you won't survive."

The re-ascended Clan Head of the Pingyang Zhang family, Zhang Liuduo, turned around and said expressionlessly.

In just two or three months, he seemed to have aged more than ten years, his hair turning gray in patches.

The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes had also deepened a lot.

He pointed to a stone seat under the tree and said: "Let's sit down and talk, shall we?"

"Yes," Zhang Gui replied respectfully.

The old man was, after all, his great uncle in this life.

In the past, one was in the sky and one was in the ground, and there was no grace or righteousness between them.

But he had never deliberately treated Zhang Gui poorly, so being polite was appropriate.

"This is our first meeting, right?

Having too many disciples in the clan is sometimes not a good thing, having hidden tigers and dragons inside without knowing it."

Zhang Gui would have interrupted if someone else had given such a long-winded speech of meaningless polite words.

But this time he listened honestly, occasionally shaking his head to show humility.

After a long while.

Zhang Liuduo finally seemed to have finished his opening remarks, and the subject suddenly changed,

"Being able to listen to nonsense for so long, and always being harmonious and kind in expression.

Gui'er, your bearing, cultivation, and patience are completely different from the rumors.

This is even better.

Do you know?

More than two months ago, where you are sitting now, once stood the first general of Prince Zhen's traveling court, Yin Zhen."

Zhang Gui widened his eyes, "Yin Zhen is that Yin Xiansheng."

"Who else could it be but him?

Speaking of which, he and I are old friends reunited, having quite a friendship decades ago."

Zhang Liuduo told the story of his past friendship with Yin Xiansheng,

Including the fact that his own direct third son, Zhang Qitong, took the 'Heavenly Craft Opening All Things' to Giant Serpent Head Island to establish a new branch, which was Yin Xiansheng's thing, all without reservation.

Finally, he said:

"This Yin Zhen, from a young age, was elegant and broad-minded.

He boasted that he did things by 'exerting seven points of effort and plotting six points of victory.'

He also said that I was 'exerting nine points of effort and plotting ten points of victory,' greedy and insatiable.

Although I scolded him for talking nonsense at the time, I deeply agreed in my heart.

And often used this to reflect on myself, restraining my greed, but I never succeeded.

I just felt that my temperament was like this, and I was naturally not as free and easy as my friend.

But that day, I saw in Yin Zhen's eyes the meaning of 'exerting twelve points of effort and plotting one point of victory.'

It turned out that I wasn't less free and easy than him, but less crazy than him!

Do you understand the meaning here?"

"I understand," Zhang Gui swallowed and said softly:

"In the past, 'exerting seven points of effort and plotting six points of victory' was because Yin Xiansheng didn't care much about what he was plotting.

And people naturally appear elegant and broad-minded and not greedy for things they don't care about.

But when such a person encounters something they truly care about, their greed might become double or even ten or a hundred times more intense.

The so-called 'exerting twelve points of effort and plotting one or two points of victory.'

That means even if the possibility of getting what he wants is very small, he is willing to take extreme risks for it, and would rather die than not get it.

And if a person doesn't even care about their own life when doing something, how could they possibly care about the life and death of others?"

"Yes, so I had no choice but to do something unbearable to speak of.

I sat back in the position of the Clan Head of the Pingyang Zhang family, and I am afraid I will have no face to see the ancestors of the clan after I die."

Zhang Liuduo spoke of his usurpation and harming his son in a tactful and aggrieved manner, and his tone was incomparably sincere.

But Zhang Gui could imagine that this old man, using Yin Xiansheng's power to kick his direct eldest son away and re-ascend to the position of Clan Head of the Pingyang Zhang family, certainly had a side forced by the situation.

But to say he had no selfish intentions at all was absolutely impossible.

Human hearts are dark and light, intertwined, changing every moment, and who can see clearly?

However, 'speaking human words to humans, and ghost words to ghosts' is the principle for smart people to conduct themselves.

No matter what Zhang Gui thought in his heart, his face showed sorrow and misery, and he gritted his teeth and said:

"There is no greater tragedy in the world than this, but for the sake of family inheritance, what choice did you have, Great Uncle!

I have seen Yin Xiansheng's ability with my own eyes in Zhihai Town; he can turn the world around with one hand.

He controls life and death, it is terrifying!

If he really had evil intentions toward the Pingyang Zhang family in the current chaos.

Then our thousands of disciples and tens of thousands of servants would probably be wiped out overnight..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 167 =====