219: Chapter 219 Change and Arrival

Since planning the construction of the Yuanhong Trading Market, Pei Qingyun had entrusted the entire project to Pei Tianqi.

However, in his spare time, he would still occasionally bring it up. He spent most of his time researching Alchemy and Cultivating, no longer handling every single matter himself as he once did, though he still made the final decisions on key matters.

Stepping out of the ancestral house, Pei Qingyun wandered around the clan grounds for a while. But when he arrived at the Patriarch's courtyard, he discovered that Pei Tianrong was nowhere to be found, which left him somewhat surprised.

Within the Pei Clan, if one were to ask who was the most responsible, perhaps no one could give an answer.

But if one were to ask who left the clan grounds the least, it would undoubtedly be Pei Tianrong.

As the head of the Family, Pei Tianrong spent half his time on Family administrative affairs and the other half on Cultivating.

This meant that throughout the year, the number of times he left could be counted on one hand.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, he basically never left.

With a hint of curiosity, Pei Qingyun summoned Jiu, who was guarding in the shadows, and asked, "What happened in the clan? Tianrong and Tianlin are both gone."

"Early this morning, the Patriarch and Elder Tianlin took two squads of guards to the Yuanhong Trading Market," Jiu explained.

"It seems the Yuanhong Trading Market has opened." After a moment of realization, Pei Qingyun remembered.

Half a month ago, when the construction of the Yuanhong Trading Market was completed, it was he who had set this opening day.

He had intended to go there himself, but once he focused on Alchemy, he had forgotten all about it.

During Alchemy, he could not tolerate any interruptions. He assumed that was precisely why Pei Tianrong had not come to notify him.

"Forget it, it's already late. If I go now, I won't make it in time for the opening. I'll just ask about the situation when Tianrong returns," Pei Qingyun thought to himself.

He had confidence in the Yuanhong Trading Market, which he had planned single-handedly. But confidence aside, he still couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation.

If the Yuanhong Trading Market could succeed, the Pei Clan would be able to consolidate its resources, which would take their development speed to the next level. By engaging in mutually beneficial resource exchange with the Yuanhang Trade Caravan, it would drive the economy of the entire Wuyang city and form a virtuous market cycle.

Of course, it would take a long time for the Pei Clan to reach that point. But time was the one thing he had in abundance.

...

With the opening of the Yuanhong Trading Market.

The various Great Families invited by the Pei Clan arrived one after another, with carriages driving in in an orderly fashion. From a distance, it looked like a giant Dragon hundreds of feet long.

In addition, some minor powers, wealthy households, merchants, and commoners in Wuyang city followed closely behind. Although these people did not have the qualifications to be personally invited by the Pei Clan, they were allowed to enter and were an important part of the process.

The next day.

Pei Qingyun woke up early.

Thinking about the opening of the Yuanhong Trading Market yesterday, he headed early to the Patriarch's courtyard after finishing his breakfast.

Inside the courtyard, upon learning of the Old Ancestor's arrival, Pei Tianrong didn't even bother with the administrative affairs on his desk and hurried out of the side room to welcome him.

After some greetings, Pei Qingyun went straight to the point.

"How was the situation at the Yuanhong Trading Market yesterday?" Pei Qingyun asked, holding a teacup in one hand, unhurriedly.

"Overall, it went quite smoothly. Among the Great Families we invited, all the allied families related by marriage were present. However, only six of the Great Families that have business dealings with our Pei Clan showed up." As he spoke, Pei Tianrong handed a stack of rice paper from the top right corner of the desk to Pei Qingyun.

"These are the gift lists they presented, as well as the list of personnel from the Great Families."

Pei Qingyun lifted his eyelids, set down his teacup, but did not look at the papers. He said casually, "I won't look at these. Which of the Great Families did not come?"

"The Chen Clan of Jinling, the Yuan Clan of Jinhuai, the Liu Clan..." After only a brief moment of thought, Pei Tianrong recited them fluently without a single pause.

It was clear he had put in quite a bit of effort in this regard.

For these Great Families that had been personally invited by the Pei Clan to not send anyone, and to not even maintain appearances, it was clear they were not prepared to be on good terms with the Pei Clan.

Great Families are all about interests. Not to mention, these invited Great Families all had beneficial exchanges with the Pei Clan.

Making such a choice, and not even maintaining appearances, clearly did not align with the principles of how a Great Family conducts itself.

To say there was no external interference behind this would be impossible.

Hearing this, Pei Qingyun frowned. This result was slightly unexpected, but upon careful thought, it was within reason.

Most of the allied families related by marriage had deep interest ties with the Pei Clan. The other Great Families mainly interacted with the Pei Clan through the Yuanhang Trade Caravan for business interests.

The incident involving contraband occurred a few days ago, and those invited Great Families had basically received their invitations during the few days when the Yuanhong Trading Market had just been completed.

And the final handling of this contraband incident was only announced by the government office today.

Some wavering Great Families naturally chose not to take the risk.

However, this proportion was much higher than Pei Qingyun had expected; nearly seventy percent of the Great Families did not come.

Of course, if the Pei Clan had found Yin He earlier and the government office had announced the news sooner, more Great Families would have come, but the overall change wouldn't have been significant.

Once this matter came out, these Great Families more or less guessed that the shadow of the Qian Clan was behind it.

Even if the Pei Clan had escaped unscathed this time, it didn't mean they would next time.

At the end of the day, it was because the Pei Clan's strength was not strong enough. Even with the Chen Clan and He Clan involved behind the scenes.

But the prestige of the Qian Clan had long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the Great Families in Jinhuai. Moreover, to what extent could the Chen Clan and He Clan really fight on behalf of the Pei Clan?

Once the situation worsened, it was not impossible for the Pei Clan to be abandoned.

The struggles between the Four Great Families were certainly not something that these ordinary third-rate families could participate in.

Even if the meat of the Yuanhang Trade Caravan was tempting, they had no choice but to give it up.

The survival philosophy of a Great Family is, most importantly, to assess the situation and avoid risks in a timely manner. This is also one of the reasons why a Great Family's Legacy can exist for a hundred years, or even continue for several hundred years.

If they are too eager to advance, it is very likely they will just be a flash in the pan.

Like the Wang Clan and Li Clan of Wuyang, after their failed plots against the Pei Clan, they both became vassals of the Pei Clan; this was still considered a good outcome.

Most Great Families would quickly wither away in these struggles.

The reason why the Wang Clan and Li Clan could exist, while it seemed like the Pei Clan needed internal stability in Wuyang city, was actually because the Pei Clan needed rapid development and external expansion.

And most Great Families lacked the ability to expand externally, so they could only grow stronger by annexing local families.

After understanding the situation regarding the Great Families, Pei Qingyun asked about the merchants and wealthy households.

The feedback in this regard was much better than he had expected.

These wealthy households and merchants participated very actively. A considerable portion of them directly bought shops in the Yuanhong Trading Market.