Chapter 1297 - 1157: Escalation

Chapter 1297: Chapter 1157: Escalation

Now, Versailles is advanced in age, with not much time left, yet he has left behind a vast amount of wealth.

Even the Black Horse Tower is just one of his collectibles; it’s not very important, nor is selling it being considered.

That means, besides a large number of collectibles, he also has a lot of money and properties.

The Versailles indeed is very wealthy, but when hundreds of descendants divide it, how much on average can each person get?

No one wants less; everyone wants a little more. How should this matter be handled?

Moreover, there are already some disagreements among these descendants, and their conflicts are really difficult to control.

On hearing this news, the Nutrient Injection’s instinctive reaction was, "No way, would these descendants actually plot against the Supreme Versailles?"

In her view, the death of Versailles’ wife might have been done by someone in the family.

After all, Versailles married a total of five wives, all of whom were official; those without a title are another matter.

This has little to do with whether he was unfaithful or not; after all, he can live to three hundred years, while those below supreme only up to a hundred and fifty.

Plus, considering incompatibility of character, and the inability to fulfill wifely duties when old... five official wives really aren’t that many.

Forget about the first four official wives; the fifth wife is still alive, just ninety years old, and is likely to die long after Versailles.

In such a scenario, for the descendants of the first four official wives... doing something outrageous isn’t impossible.

But hiring someone to murder Versailles is a bit too much, isn’t it?

Ignoring blood relations and ethical morality, as long as Versailles is alive, he is the most important pillar of the family, bar none.

In such circumstances, only a fool would do something like this, right?

The Nutrient Injection really couldn’t figure it out.

On hearing this, Qu Jianlei frowned slightly; he was most annoyed by things like these.

And such matters always made him think of "the limitless depths of human evil"—if they can kill their mothers, is it really that hard to kill their father?

He impatiently suggested, "Couldn’t care less about such matters; why don’t you handle it?"

"Then I’ll arrange for someone to investigate," the Nutrient Injection wasn’t averse to this. Some people are naturally drawn to melodramas, so it’s not surprising.

It turned out that running around blindly like a headless chicken was a waste of time; once there’s a lead, things became much easier.

In just three days, the Nutrient Injection had roughly figured out the Versailles family matters.

However, to gather this information, four local hires had incidents—two dead, two injured.

This shows that the Versailles family is quite sensitive about such actions, no wonder not much information leaked before.

The Nutrient Injection hadn’t deliberately probed earlier, realizing that those who inquired into such family matters were easily targeted.

She hadn’t taken it much to heart at the time; was the old dean’s family affairs of Yao Yang Academy something anyone could casually inquire about?

Let alone a series of incidents occurring within the Versailles family, their nerves were on edge, and similar information was clearly a taboo.

But now, probing with a purpose was different; as long as she was willing to spend money, there were plenty who valued cash over their lives.

This type of action was akin to startling the snake by hitting the grass, but as long as it had meaning, it was all right.

The exposure of these four individuals didn’t bring much trouble to the Nutrient Injection—knowing about the other party’s vigilance, their people would naturally hide well.

Still, because one injured person confessed to some information, one of Darlene’s subordinates was almost exposed.

Fortunately, that person was quite alert, sensing something wrong and promptly fleeing, narrowly avoiding a disaster.

This also shows that the Versailles family is extremely sensitive about such information.

The information gathered revealed that Versailles had designated the next head of the family.

He is the great-grandson of the son born to his third wife.

The great-grandson is now nearly seventy years old, having reached the threshold of A-level pinnacle.

Due to his age advantage, he has at least thirty years to strive for the Supreme.

Currently, there’s only one Supreme in the Versailles family, the old dean.

The family’s resources and related knowledge are already quite ample, but the Supreme threshold is truly exceptionally high.

This great-grandson is the most likely candidate in the family to break through to Supreme, and he has been designated by Versailles as the next Patriarch.

At present, the old dean has already begun to delegate power, not particularly concerned with family matters.

From Versailles’ perspective, there isn’t much wrong with this idea; the one in charge must naturally be the strongest.

But the great-grandson of the third wife’s line... this in-between status can indeed easily stir up some trouble.

While Versailles is still alive, his descendants dare not openly say much, but dissatisfaction objectively exists.

Among them, the descendants of the first and fifth wives especially harbor the greatest resentment toward this.

The reaction of the fifth wife’s descendants is understandable, but the strongest reason for the first wife’s descendants isn’t due to her being the original spouse or something similar.

Imperial law doesn’t give much importance to the status of the original spouse, especially with the existence of a Supreme, making the term almost meaningless.

The descendants of the first wife argue that: the family conditions were too poor at that time; if they had had the current conditions, they might have already had a Supreme.

This statement has a certain truth to it, as Versailles was already quite old when he advanced to the Supreme level.

After he became Supreme, his influence didn’t immediately reach its peak—Supremes are different from one another.

There are plenty of Supremes from Yao Yang, but Versailles reached his current status through his own efforts, one step at a time!

Thus, during the time of his first and even second wife, the family conditions were much worse than they are now.

But this is just a self-serving argument; anyone else would definitely retort: a family of such Supreme standing, is it really proper to claim poor conditions?

This diverges from the main topic, now the prospective patriarch has a clear plan for the future handling of family assets.

That great-grandson insists that once Supreme Versailles passes away, most of the family assets should not be divided, but rather managed and operated collectively.

He believes that once dispersed, most of the family’s wealth would not be able to withstand outsiders’ covetous desires.

Only by the whole family’s unity can the family’s property be better protected, rather than being defeated piece by piece.

His reasoning is quite grandiose, but the key issue is that he is the future patriarch!

At that time, he’ll have the greatest voice, while other family members may not even have the right to dispose of their own portion of the assets.

This leads to significant dissatisfaction among other family members.

Moreover, his role as the prospective patriarch cannot make everyone willingly accept it, leading to the escalation of conflicts.

However, the acting patriarch does not plan to back down, and he has received strong support from the current patriarch.

Of course, Versailles would never agree to the family division; this enormous estate was painstakingly built step by step by him!

He also hopes that after his death, his descendants can unite to face external covetous desires and threats together.

Versailles believes that even if he dies of natural causes, the family won’t face significant crises in the coming thirty to fifty years.

It must be noted that although he is the only Supreme in the family, they also have two Supremes as honored guest elders who will intervene if necessary.

Moreover, those Supreme students of his wouldn’t forget their mentor in the short term.

Thus, taking advantage of these favorable years and striving to quickly cultivate a Supreme is the right approach!

Once the family is divided, the difficulty in cultivating a Supreme will inevitably increase, so he strongly supports the prospective patriarch.

These opposing viewpoints both have merit; the most crucial point is that the acting patriarch ultimately is just an A-level.

This conflict wasn’t particularly intense initially, but after the unexpected death of Versailles’ wife, and his injury from an attack, the family conflict instantly escalated.

Versailles has deeply cultivated in Yao Yang Academy for over two hundred years; many family members also have close ties with people from Yao Yang, with varying levels of friendship.

Due to the upheaval within the Versailles family, there are signs of division among Yao Yang’s graduates.

Of course, during this process, there are those who secretly add fuel to the fire, with more than one agenda.

In essence, the main theme is "chaos", with various entanglements and grudges mixed in.

Undoubtedly, regardless of whether the origin is Versailles’ family matters, it is the main storyline at present.

Upon hearing this, Qu Jianlei had a headache again; he really dislikes worrying about such matters.

"In that case, why not directly seize the Black Horse Tower, and take advantage of the chaos to slip away."

Nutrient Injection rolled his eyes helplessly at this, "That’s what I initially suggested, but you said to be cautious of getting burned."

"That was not understanding the core of the conflict," Qu Jianlei justified, "Now that we know, we have ways to deal with it."

"Such as?"

"We can impersonate people from River Technology," Qu Jianlei replied without hesitation, "Anyway, it’s just taking the Black Horse Tower."

He feels there’s no need to consider the Versailles family matters; since it’s the main storyline, adding a side branch won’t hurt, it’s unobstructive.

Nutrient Injection thought for a moment and then shook his head, "Personally, I suggest not doing this..."

"The Versailles family is working hard to conceal the main conflict; introducing a clear side branch might conveniently shift attention."

"It’s merely a suggestion, I don’t want to influence your decision, boss... I just mean don’t underestimate their determination to shift the conflict."

Shifting conflict... Qu Jianlei thought about it, feeling these guys could really do that.

Although shifting the conflict to River Technology doesn’t affect them much, but... what if the investigation intensifies?

Reflecting further, a few days ago, Darlene’s subordinates were probing for information, almost getting caught despite hiding identities.

He had to admit, the Versailles clan can be quite troublesome if they go berserk.

So he nodded, "Alright, then let’s observe for a while... Mainly because I feel there’s no point in waiting."

He felt some frustration, as his only goal was the Black Horse Tower, but now he has to patiently watch an ethical drama unfold.

A few days later, new developments occurred, and the acting patriarch of the Versailles family was attacked.

That great-grandson named Baroque, with a Fire Attribute A-level, due to recent unrest, rarely ventured out.

Yet, since he now holds power, there are many affairs to handle, often having to manage personally.

Ultimately, it’s because the foundation is unstable, unlike the old headmaster who could easily balance major and minor matters and calmly manage.

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