I'm farming treasure chests in the female-oriented world.

Chapter 41 clamor

Xia Clan Ancestral Hall.

An old man with gray hair slammed his sandalwood cane heavily into the ground.

"Xia Jue, this adopted daughter, actually dared to expel all of our people! This is utterly outrageous! What does she want to do? Does she still acknowledge the Xia family? I propose that this rebellious daughter be removed from the family register."

In the main hall of the ancestral hall, there is a row of tables and two rows of chairs.

Sitting around the table were elderly people with gray hair, all of them with their eyes closed, resting and not offering any opinions.

About ten feet away from the table, on both sides of the ancestral hall, were two rows of chairs, each occupied by a middle-aged man.

Behind the middle-aged man, some stood a young man, while others stood alone.

The entire ancestral hall was very quiet, except for the roar of the old man with a cane at the table, which echoed.

The elderly man sitting at the head of the right gently turned the prayer beads on his wrist, squinted his eyes, and said softly, "Don't be impatient. Yao Yao has already taken care of it. This family is not up to Xia Jue, this adopted daughter, to make decisions. The group is still under the control of our Xia family."

The others remained silent, simply waiting quietly.

Soon, the phone rang.

The elderly man on the right quickly picked up his phone, looked at the screen, and the composure on his face vanished instantly as the screen lit up.

"What? What is Xia Yao good for? She personally took action and still couldn't handle Xia Jue's adopted daughter. She's really getting worse as she gets older."

In the past, whenever Xia Jue took action against them, they would usually back down if Xia Yao intervened.

Even if there are some losses, they are within their acceptable range.

But this time, even though Xia Yao stepped forward, she refused to budge an inch.

This unusual behavior made him feel panicked for the first time.

The others in the lobby also received the news, and a buzzing discussion immediately broke out.

"What's going on? Xia Jue isn't even giving Xia Yao any face?"

"Xia Jue has gone too far! Does she think the Xia family belongs to her? How dare she?"

"What exactly happened?"

"What's different this time compared to the past?"

"By the way, what did you do to anger Xia Jue this time?"

"I heard it was the third son's child who attacked Xia Xue's adopted son, wanting to teach her a lesson."

"Is it really necessary for Xia Jue to get so angry over such a small matter?"

"Yes, it's normal for kids to play around and fight. Xia Jue is making a mountain out of a molehill."

The old man on the left opened his eyes and snorted coldly.

"Silence! This is an ancestral hall, not a marketplace, not a place for gossip."

Then he added, "Also, never again say that Xia Xue is an adopted child. She is, after all, a member of our Xia family. Even if she grew up outside, she should not be insulted."

Everyone bowed their heads and admitted their mistakes.

"Yes, Second Elder."

The old man at the head of the right gave a soft hum.

The elderly man at the head of the left swept his gaze over coldly.

"Third Elder, what's wrong? Do you have a problem with that?"

The elderly man at the head of the right turned his head away.

"How could I dare?"

The old man at the head of the left glanced disdainfully at the old man at the head of the right.

"Since this matter was caused by Xia Xue, let's contact her and tell her that as long as she doesn't pursue the matter and allows our people to rejoin the company, we can agree to add her to the family tree and help her gain a foothold in the group."

Upon hearing this, the old man on the right immediately objected.

"Second Elder, what do you mean by that? Didn't we agree that regardless of whether she is of the Xia family bloodline, we would fully support Xia Yao? How come you've gone back on your word after only two days?"

The old man on the left snorted coldly.

"There's a premise to doing this: Xia Yao had to guarantee our interests. But has she done that? Xia Jue has cleared us all out of the racecourse. Even with her personal intervention, she couldn't resolve this. So why should we support her?"

A middle-aged man sitting on the periphery sneered, "If you ask me, none of these girls are reliable, and we don't need to support our own people to take the lead."

A middle-aged man sitting next to him glanced at the young man behind him and sneered, "Are you going to say you support your son taking over?"

The middle-aged man who had just spoken immediately turned red in the face.

"That's not what I meant, I, I..."

The elderly man at the head of the group spoke.

"Alright, this is a meeting. Look at you all, making such a racket, what kind of behavior is this?"

The lobby fell silent once more.

Just then, the old man at the head of the group's phone rang. When he looked at the screen, the stern look on his face vanished instantly.

"What? Our people in key positions within the group have either been arrested or fired?"

Before he finished speaking, cell phones rang incessantly in the lobby. After checking their phones, the lobby became noisy again.

"Oh no, I've received a transfer notice."

"Damn it, I'm fired!"

"What the hell is going on? The person I recommended is under investigation."

The person on the left panicked and couldn't even bother to contact Xia Xue anymore.

"I, and all my men, have been wiped out."

Although there are still some people in the regular positions, what's the point of having people in these positions?

The elderly man at the head of the group had a cold glint in his eyes.

"check!"

We must find out exactly what happened.

Where is the problem?

The old man on the right had a face full of anger.

"It must have been Xia Jue who did it. She's wanted to do this for a long time, but she didn't confront them directly before and was hesitant to act. Now that you've messed with Xia Xue, she finally has no more scruples."

The old man on the left shook his head.

"Wake up. Xia Jue has some prestige in Jingyuan's properties like the East Suburbs Horse Farm, but she has no foundation in the group. Even if she wanted to take action against the people we've placed in the group because of Xia Xue, she would be powerless to do so."

Only then did everyone realize what was happening.

Yes, to avoid suspicion, Xia Jue never touched the group's affairs before joining the army, and after retiring, he focused his main energy on Black Shield.

She has no influence within the group.

"There are only a few people who can do this..." the old man on the left calmly analyzed, "and the most likely one is Xia Yao."

Upon hearing this, the entire hall fell silent.

"This can't be, can it?"

"Our interests are aligned with Xia Yao's, and we've always fully supported her. Why would she do this? Isn't this like cutting off her own arm?"

"Full support? Ha, who just said they would fully support Xia Xue? You can fool others with that, but it's pointless to fool yourself."

"Xia Yao is indeed domineering; she either doesn't do anything at all, or she's ruthless when she does. But she's still very good to our own family. So, it shouldn't be her, right?"

"Hmph, this is clearly Xia Yao's style. Moreover, with her influence in the Xia Group, she could easily do it. I really can't think of anyone else besides her who knows us so well and could eliminate all our people in such a short time."

"Impossible, I don't believe it. I'd rather believe it was Xia Jun who did it than Xia Yao."

"If Xia Jun wanted to make a move, he would have done so already. If it's not him, the most likely candidate now is Xia Yao."

Why did she make the move?

"Because we broke a taboo."

Upon hearing this, the hall fell completely silent.

What the taboos are, everyone knows perfectly well.

It's just that no one had pointed it out before.

"Shouldn't Xia Yao's stance be against Xia Xue's? Aren't we helping her by doing this?"

"Hehe, obviously, Xia Yao is no ordinary person, she doesn't think that way."

"I told you before that Xia Xue is untouchable, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what's happened. Not only is Xia Jue making things difficult for us, but even Xia Yao is no longer on our side."

"You still have the nerve to say that? It's all because you guys have been brainwashing her, saying you support her because of her bloodline. Now that the fake heiress thing has been exposed, and she doesn't have the Xia family bloodline, we're targeting the Xia family bloodline now. Heh, if I were Xia Yao, I would be utterly disappointed and turn against her."

The elderly man at the head of the group slammed his hand heavily on the table.

The lobby returned to silence.

"Contact Xia Jun and Shen Weiyi. They are the only ones who can stop Xia Yao now."

The elderly men on the left and right quickly responded and contacted the corresponding people.

However, the result...

The old man on the right put down his phone, his face ashen, and said, "Shen Weiyi said that according to the original agreement, she shouldn't interfere in the clan's affairs."

The elderly man on the left gripped his phone tightly, his face pale, and said, "Xia Jun said this is just children playing around, and we adults shouldn't interfere."

The elderly man at the head of the group trembled with anger.

"They've rebelled! They've rebelled against heaven!"

Then, his body stiffened, he leaned straight back, and fell to the ground.

The ancestral hall instantly descended into chaos.

After dinner, on the way back to Jingyuan by car, Xia Xue glanced at the lit screen, scanned the text message, raised an eyebrow, and handed the phone to Xia Jue.

Xia Jue glanced at it and scoffed softly.

"A bunch of shameless old men, ignore them."

Xia Xue said "Oh," then casually silenced her phone, put it in her bag, and began reading the book in her hand.

"Your strength..."

Seeing that Xia Xue didn't respond, Xia Jue pondered for a moment and then changed the subject, saying, "I will continue to follow up on the matter of the Netherfire. If you have any clues about the Netherfire, tell me immediately. Don't act rashly. I recently did some research, and the strength of the Netherfire is far more than what we see."

A hint of worry flashed in her eyes.

The art of Gu poison, and the extraordinary individuals who master such mysterious techniques, are not just one person among the Netherfire.

Xia Xue nodded, but did not reveal the only clue she had just traced.

Xia Xue looked out the window.

Some things are better left for her to do herself.