Now, the awkward situation of three people squeezing into one carriage was not what Yuan Xi had intended.
Originally, he had prepared two carriages, but the axle of the carriage carrying Kong Rong's wife and daughter had broken the day before and couldn't be repaired.
He couldn't reveal his purpose for this trip, nor could he ostentatiously repair the carriage in a major city along the way, so he had to let Kong Rong's wife and daughter ride in his carriage, traveling day and night.
Despite all this, Yuan Xi couldn't shake the feeling that Tai Shi Ci, who was traveling with them, was giving him strange looks.
Now, Tai Shi Ci, riding his horse outside the carriage, listened to the voices inside and muttered to himself.
"This lord I've pledged allegiance to is truly unrefined."
During the battle of Qingzhou, Tai Shi Ci was captured in a muddle. He thought he was surely doomed, but he didn't expect the other party to appreciate him so much and want to recruit him.
However, Tai Shi Ci had high standards and looked down even on Zhang Fei. Although Yuan Xi had the status of a noble family, he hadn't yet won Tai Shi Ci's sincere admiration. Going back to pick up his mother might have just been a temporary excuse.
But what truly shook Tai Shi Ci was the inexplicable trust.
He was released as the enemy's vanguard. Did they really think he would keep his promise, or did they think he was insignificant?
Torn by conflicting feelings, Tai Shi Ci finally kept his promise and returned to pledge allegiance to Yuan Xi.
What shocked Tai Shi Ci even more was that when he returned to Ye City with Yuan Xi and was given a position, he immediately became a Commandant of Detached Troops, second only to Zhao Yun's Commandant.
This was the highest military position that Yuan Xi, as a Prefect, could offer, with a salary equivalent to 1,000 bushels of grain.
Although Tai Shi Ci came from a good family and had aspirations to reach the imperial court, he was only a centurion in Kong Rong's army. Now, with this sudden rise in status, he felt like he was in a dream.
Although he didn't doubt his own abilities, he suspected that this Yuan family scion simply didn't understand his skills and was just randomly handing out official positions. Could it be that he didn't understand the art of leading troops at all?
Then, when Tai Shi Ci inquired around Ye City, he discovered that Yuan Xi had a lot of problems!
Rumor had it that Yuan Xi killed Zhang Kai in Xu Province and forced Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei to retreat. Tai Shi Ci couldn't believe it, as he had personally witnessed the strength of the three!
Guan Yu's defeat in the battle of Qingzhou undoubtedly proved that Yuan Xi's strategy of mobilizing his generals was correct.
Later, Tai Shi Ci learned that Yuan Xi had led the three battles of Qingzhou, planning to defeat each enemy separately. He wondered if he had misjudged him.
But Tai Shi Ci also heard another rumor about Yuan Xi.
That he was lustful, especially for other men's wives.
It was said that he had many concubines in Beixin City, and after arriving in Ye City, he didn't restrain himself at all. There were rumors that he was having secret meetings with his betrothed wife!
This was a great violation of etiquette, and it was widely spread in private in Ye City, but no one dared to discuss it openly for the sake of the Yuan family's reputation.
What puzzled Tai Shi Ci even more was the case of Bian Rang's widow and daughter.
Cao Cao killed Bian Rang and took his widow, Lady Huan, as his own. Yuan Xi, using the excuse of exchanging hostages, rescued Lady Huan from Cao Cao's hands. This could have been a beautiful story among the gentry of Yan Province.
But Yuan Xi didn't shy away from taking Lady Huan and her daughter to live in his own residence. Was he not afraid of criticism from the gentry?
And now, Yuan Xi was taking him to return Kong Rong's wife and daughter, making Kong Rong owe him a favor.
But why would he sit in the same carriage with Kong Rong's wife and daughter? What would Kong Rong think if he knew?
Tai Shi Ci increasingly felt that Yuan Xi was out of his mind, deliberately turning a good deed into a bad one. What was he trying to achieve?
Yuan Xi was also pondering similar philosophical questions.
In this era, what did wives and children really mean to a qualified lord?
Just like how the Sima family first swore by the Luo River and then killed the emperor in the street, smashing the sanctity of imperial power and oaths into the dust, thus beginning the era of crazy slaughter and bottomless depravity in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sixteen Kingdoms.
Although the Han Dynasty gave birth to countless legends of heroes and chivalrous individuals, and used this name as a symbol of a unified nation, passing it down forever, the founding emperor also set a precedent for abandoning his wife and children and selling his father to the enemy.
Throughout the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties, the gentry all paid lip service to filial piety, even making up stories close to myths and legends in order to be recommended as filial and incorrupt, but in reality, no one knew what the true situation was in private.
Fatherly love and filial piety will always be a difficult problem that only those involved can truly understand.
Liu Bei said that wives are like clothes.
Lü Bu killed two adoptive fathers.
Ma Chao betrayed and caused the death of Ma Teng, and relied on Han Sui, the enemy who killed his mother.
Cao Cao attacked Xu Province despite Cao Song still being in Langya.
Cao Pi violated Cao Cao's last wishes, shifting from suppressing the gentry to befriending them, excluding his own relatives, forcing the sons of the Cao family to death, and taking in Cao Cao's concubines.
Most of Lu Xun's clan was killed by Sun Ce, yet he still served the Sun family, eventually dying from suspicion.
Jiang Wei, who had a good reputation for filial piety to his mother, directly wrote back, saying that he had great ambitions and would not return, when the Wei state threatened him with his mother and wife.
Lü Bu, who was reviled by later generations, was not even the worst among them.
For those with great ambitions, so-called parents, wives, and children are only small parts of life.
This era seems to be full of legends of loyalty and righteousness, but there are also countless undercurrents, and it is precisely because of so much dirty and unbearable reality that the more it sets off the preciousness of loyalty and righteousness.
Yuan Xi didn't care what others thought of him; he just did what pleased him.
For those who truly practiced filial piety, such as Tai Shi Ci to his elderly mother and wife, he was exceptionally respectful, but for people like Kong Rong, who could have brought his wife with him when he fled but abandoned her for some reason, Yuan Xi felt very uncomfortable.
If it weren't for the fact that he could use Kong Rong, this staunch supporter of the Han Dynasty, in the future, he wouldn't have held his nose and sent his wife and daughter back over a long distance.
Speaking of which, Kong Rong was also a very complicated person. As a descendant of Confucius, he proposed the theory that parents have no kindness.
"What affection should there be between father and son? Judging by its original intention, it is actually the release of lust. What should the son do for the mother? It is like placing an object in a bottle; once it comes out, it is separated."
However, this same Kong Rong, when serving as the Chancellor of Beihai, once executed someone directly because they didn't cry loud enough at their parents' funeral.
It was also this Kong Rong who had been opposing Cao Cao, from mocking Cao Pi for marrying Zhen Ji to opposing Cao Cao's conquests and annexations. In the end, Cao Cao rarely lost his composure and killed Kong Rong.
Yuan Xi's thinking was very simple: staunch Han loyalists will all be Cao Cao's enemies in the future and can all be used.
But this didn't prevent him from venting a little, just like now, being in the same carriage with Kong Rong's wife and daughter without any hesitation.
The young Miss Kong saw Yuan Xi turning his head to look out the window and secretly moved out from behind her mother's sleeve.
Most daughters of gentry families stayed in their deep residences and rarely had contact with men outside the family. At her age, her curiosity about the Yuan family scion in front of her outweighed her wariness about the separation of men and women. She wanted to speak, but she didn't dare, so she could only sit there silently.
As time passed, Kong's stomach began to rumble.
Her face flushed red, and she lowered her head.
The bumpy carriage ride had spoiled her appetite, and she hadn't eaten much, so she felt hungry even before mealtime.
Madam Kong Rong quickly whispered, "It's not time to stop yet. Just bear with it."
Because they were in a hurry to travel, the time between the two meals of the day was very long. The group often had to wait until it was completely dark before finding a place to settle down and cook.
Kong nodded pitifully, but her stomach kept rumbling.
Yuan Xi heard it and smiled slightly at Madam Kong Rong, "We are indeed traveling too fast, making things difficult for the child."
He opened his lapel, and Madam Kong Rong trembled slightly when she saw it, but then she saw Yuan Xi take out a linen package from his arms.
After unfolding the layers of linen, there were several golden and glistening sugar cakes.
Yuan Xi handed the package to the girl and said, "This thing can fill you up. Would you like to try one?"
Seeing the girl's wary expression, he smiled and said, "It's natural that you don't trust me, after all, I led the troops that drove away your father. Maybe I'll put poison in it."
The girl's competitive spirit was aroused, and she grabbed a sugar cake, defiantly saying, "Father is afraid of you, but I'm not!"
She stuffed the sugar cake into her mouth and took a hard bite, and her eyes widened.
There was actually something so delicious in the world!
It wasn't honey inside, but it was as sweet as honey!
The girl couldn't help but smile happily and chewed vigorously.
Yuan Xi thought to himself that the temptation of sweets was indeed irresistible to children.
Although the weather outside was very cold, the sugar cake seemed to still have a trace of warmth because it was in Yuan Xi's arms, which made the girl's face slightly red.
Driven by hunger, she devoured it, swallowing the whole sugar cake in a few bites, almost choking.
She quickly picked up her water skin and took a few sips, and the clear water dripped from the corner of her mouth onto the front of her clothes. Madam Kong Rong quickly took out a handkerchief to cover it, complaining a few words, and the girl's face became even redder.
Yuan Xi held up the sugar cake and smiled, "Want more?"
The girl's eyes lit up, then she lowered her head and whispered, "Thank you, Young Master, I'm full."
Yuan Xi smiled slightly, wrapped the sugar cake, and put it back in his arms.
The girl regained some energy, looked at Yuan Xi, and suddenly whispered, "Young Master... are you a good person?"
Madam Kong Rong quickly covered the girl's mouth and said, "The child is ignorant, please don't mind, Young Master."
Yuan Xi smiled slightly, "Madam is too polite, your daughter is very interesting."
He thought to himself that Miss Kong died young, which was also a sign of ill-fated beauty, and a look of pity appeared on his face.
Madam Kong Rong misunderstood and couldn't help but hug the girl closer.
If Yuan Xi could really marry her daughter as his principal wife, she would be overjoyed.
Unfortunately, the relationship between the two sides made it impossible, and he had already arranged a marriage with the Zhen family. She couldn't let her daughter be someone's concubine, could she?
She didn't realize that when she had this thought, she was already somewhat dissatisfied with Kong Rong abandoning her and her daughter.
Yuan Xi said seriously to the girl, "To many people, I should be a bad person, after all, I helped the Yuan family seize your father's Beihai Commandery."
"So you don't have to be grateful to me. Sending you back is only because you are the family of Duke Wenju."
"The people of Beihai who have been displaced because of me must all hate me now."
The girl was a little shocked. She had never heard anyone evaluate themselves like this before, and she asked in confusion, "Then why did Young Master still attack Father?"
Yuan Xi smiled, "Naturally, it's because your father was doing even worse."