Chapter 184 - Ideals (2)

Xu Yuan sighed. “Can you stop being so childish? How many people can you save by wandering the world? A million? Even if you spend your whole life doing it, ten million would already be the limit. But across all of the Great Flame Empire, how many people die unnatural deaths every year? I believe you’ve seen the numbers. As long as you want to know, Father would not stop you from learning. Xu Xinyao, you aren’t stupid. On the contrary, you’re very smart. I believe you should be able to see what has caused the current situation.”

Xu Xinyao sniffed softly. “I’m working hard to change it.”

Xu Yuan glanced at her. “With those little playing-house methods of yours?”

“It isn’t playing house!”

After a brief silence, Xu Yuan rubbed his cheek and let out a long breath. “Fine. It isn’t playing house. You think Father’s way won’t work, so tell me what your way is.”

Xu Xinyao’s chest rose and fell slightly. She spoke quickly, her voice low. “I’ve been to many places. Over in Windfall Province, everything is peaceful...”

“Windfall Province?” Xu Yuan murmured the name, cutting her off, then asked, “You want to spread Windfall Province’s model across all of the Great Flame Empire?”

Xu Xinyao nodded. “More or less, but I wouldn’t copy everything exactly.”

At that, Xu Yuan laughed. “Just looking at what happened in Sageridge, your methods for helping the people aren’t bad. You knew to bind them together with profit, instead of naively relying on the kindness in the sects’ hearts. So why, when it comes to something like this, do you suddenly start indulging in fantasy?

“The reason Windfall Province can remain peaceful is largely because of the yearly tribute from the Heavenly Master Sect. That gives the local government enough silver to eliminate demonic beasts and do other things that benefit the people. That prosperity is built entirely on a single thought from the sect.”

Xu Xinyao shook her head and replied, “Third Brother, you saw them earlier too. The people following me are all children of the sects’ upper ranks. After traveling together all this way, I know they are people with kindness in their hearts. As long as our Chancellor's Manor supports them in taking power, the current situation can be resolved to a great extent. And it doesn’t have to be done only this way. We could also replicate the situation in Southriver and use shared interests to firmly bind the sects together with the local commoners.”

Xu Yuan listened carefully to the end. After a brief moment of thought, he raised two fingers.

“Two problems.”

“Tell me, Third Brother,” Xu Xinyao said with a small nod.

Xu Yuan folded one finger back. “First. I can choose not to doubt your eye for people, but have you ever considered that people change?”

Xu Xinyao answered without hesitation. “They were all chosen by me. After so long together, I know their temperaments like the back of my hand. Along this journey, even when it harmed their own interests, they still did things we believed were meaningful. The dozen or so people who left earlier to return to their sects are also secretly looking for people like us.”

Looking at the light in her beautiful eyes, Xu Yuan’s own gaze grew a little complicated. “Then let me ask it another way. Did you ever imagine I would change this much?”

A trace of hesitation flickered through Xu Xinyao’s eyes. She said quietly, “I did.”

Xu Yuan said in a low voice, “You didn’t imagine it. You hoped for it, didn’t you?”

Xu Xinyao fell silent.

Xu Yuan sighed, then said carefully, “You know, even without using myself as an example, it still won’t work. Right now, maybe all of you really are full of hot blood and want to change some things. But what about later? Not changing now doesn’t mean they won’t change in the future.

“Given the current state of the world, your plan would have to last at least ten years, twenty years, maybe even fifty years. That is too long. History has seen plenty of wise and capable rulers who worked hard and governed diligently in their early years. By the end, didn’t they all start drowning themselves in pleasure?

“Reality is far more complicated than anything I can say. Many things cannot be explained in just a sentence or two. Even if everything goes smoothly, and those people you mentioned truly take power, can you stay beside them forever and keep influencing them?

“After decades of being separated in different places, their families, friends, disciples, and the whole crowd around them will influence every decision they make, every hour of every day. How can you be sure that decades from now, they will still be the people you know today?”

Xu Xinyao was silent for a long time before she refuted him in a low voice. “Then what about Father? Hasn’t Father stayed the same?”

Xu Yuan shook his head. “Father has indeed worked for this world for decades as if every day were the same, but the reason that still supports him in continuing may be completely different from the original intention he had decades ago.

“Mother most likely died because of this. Second Brother may have as well. And that is only our family. Among the friends and subordinates Father has made in this life, the dead will only be more numerous. All of them are reasons for him to keep carrying this matter forward.”

Xu Yuan extended his second finger. “As for what you said about binding the commoners and sects together through profit, like in Southriver...”

He sighed, then continued, “That place is indeed very safe and very wealthy. But do you know what the price of that wealth is? The imperial court has been hollowed out and left exhausted. The local governments in Southriver have nearly been eaten empty by those sects. The place is practically becoming a sect stronghold. The people who attacked me earlier were connected to the Heavenwatch Pavilion over in Southriver. And what happened? Father knew it, but still only found a group of scapegoats with opposing political views and killed them. One of the reasons is that the court’s hand can barely reach that place anymore.”

When his words fell, silence lingered for a long time.

In the dark tunnel, Xu Yuan looked at the girl beside him. “Do you still insist on what you believe?”

Her cloud-soft hair fell apart, three thousand strands of black silk draping down over her chest. Xu Xinyao said quietly, “But if I don’t try, how will I know it won’t work?”

Xu Yuan drew in a deep breath, and his eyes cooled a little. “Little Sister, I was already being very tactful about many things just now.”

“Third Brother, I know, but...”

“You don’t know shit!” Xu Yuan cut her off, his voice stern. “If you want to chase an ideal, then keep your feet on the ground. Do you think the local sects are all like our Chancellor's Manor? Father gives one order and everyone below starts moving? Their sects are not one man’s word. They’re tangled nests of family powers that have been operating for hundreds, even thousands of years.

“Under the sects are noble clans, and within those clans are direct lines and branch lines. Break it down further, and even within the direct line there may be fights between the first household, second household, and third household. If you want to make it all answer to one voice, you have to climb all the way to the top and clean every one of them out. One careless move, and they will bite back. Who do you think has that kind of ability?

“In terms of methods alone, among the people I know now, only Father probably has it. Do you think any of those friends of yours are like Father? If you don’t believe me, then take our Chancellor's Manor as an example. Our family is simple. Mother’s collateral relatives were already beaten into shape by Father, so they don’t count. Second Brother is gone too. Now there is only you, me, and Xu Changge. Take me out of the picture, and only you and Xu Changge are left. Do you think you can fight Xu Changge for it?!”

A misty sheen gathered in Xu Xinyao’s beautiful eyes.

“Third Brother, I never wanted to fight...”

In the dark tunnel, Xu Yuan breathed out a turbid breath. Looking into her eyes, he said each word clearly. “Xu Xinyao. Though you haven’t said much, I can roughly understand what you’re thinking. You can keep chasing your ideals in your own way. You can keep doing the things you believe are right. But if, because of those things, you ever dare do anything that betrays our family, then even if Xu Changge can’t bear to lay a hand on you, I can.”