Returning from the Immortal World

Yao Chengdong was nearly 50 years old this year and his children had graduated from college. In his capacity as a state official, he usually lived in the capital and owned his own residence in an upscale villa complex.

If it was before, he should have fallen asleep early and met Duke of Zhou—the God of Dream—to have tea and weave dreams of golden millet, dreaming of wealth and glory. But today, he was struck with insomnia. He once eyed the position of Family Head and contested with his big brother—Yao Chengqing in secret, hence they regarded each other as a thorn in each others’ eyes; even the idea of disposing of the other did cross their minds, albeit only briefly.

However, he could hardly accept the fact that his big brother was killed today. That made the competition to take over the Family Head position no more, and the road for him to becoming the family’s patriarch would definitely be very easy. However… he could see another serious problem arising from it. Even if he did become the patriarch of the family, but if the Yao Family itself went into decline, then what good would come of it?

Ring, ring, ring…

The ringtone of his mobile phone interrupted and startled him from his reverie. When he took his mobile phone and saw the caller ID on the screen, his complexion changed and hurriedly connected it, saying, “Are you looking for me, Father?”

“Chengdong, you must promise me one thing.” Yao Qingzun’s voice came out of the phone.

“What are you talking about, Father?” Asked Yao Chengdong, confused.

“Resign from your current job and return to the capital to take charge of the family affairs,” said Yao Qingzun.

Yao Chengdong was stupefied and his complexion drastically changed. After jumping up from his chair, he quickly called out, “What did you say, Father? My current position is very important, how could I possibly resign from it? Then our Yao Family…”

“Our family is now in a precarious state, and the family will have a hard time coming out of this crisis if you don’t come back.” Yao Qingzun interrupted him and said in a heavy tone. “Don’t ask any questions. I have no other options and am forced by something that I can’t tell you.”

“What is the problem, Father? Please tell me, I…” Said Yao Chengdong hurriedly.

“Don’t ask anything anymore, and do remember my words.” Yao Qingzun interrupted him yet again and continued speaking in a heavy tone. “You must resign from your position as fast as possible and return to our ancestral residence in Beijing to take charge of the family. Furthermore, don’t battle the Tang Family ever again. Try to ease the relationship between our two families as far as possible.”

After saying that, Yao Qingzun directly hung up.

While looking at Yao Qingzun with a firm expression, Tang Xiu nodded and sighed in praise, “You really are worthy of being the patriarch of the Yao Family. You did things in a straightforward and resolute manner. All right, I’ll give you half an hour, and it would be best if you dispose of yourself.”

Yao Qingzun was silent for a moment, and his entire being seemed to turn older as he slowly walked to the bedroom cabinet and opened the drawer, taking out a medicine bottle from inside. He then filled a glass of water and poured all the sleeping pills from the inside as he turned to look at Tang Xiu deeply before taking all the sleeping pills in his hands.

“Losers are always in the wrong. My Yao Family has lost; I have nothing to complain about. I hope you can give a bit of face to my family so that our future generations can go on living. If… if your Tang Family still hasn’t vented your anger enough, you can banish the offspring of my Yao Family out of Beijing; you can even drive them out of China.”

Tang Xiu felt somewhat complicated inside, yet he steeled his heart and nodded. The Yao and Tang Families were old enemies, and the Tang Family had suffered quite a few losses under the persecution of the Yao Family for these many years. Although none of the direct line descendants of the Tang Family died in their hands, a lot of people from dependent families under the Tang Family as well as a large number of talents fostered by the Tang Family had died in the hands of the Yao Family.

Back to the events in the past, what had happened to his father perhaps also had the shadow of the Yao Family behind it.

Tang Xiu watched Yao Qingzun go to his bed, lie down and pull the quilt over his body. He then took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. After lighting one, he took a deep puff and then waved his hand.

Whoosh!

Dark’s figure instantly disappeared.

After taking another deep puff, Tang Xiu slowly stood up as he watched Yao Qingzun, who was about to lose his consciousness, and murmured to himself, “You just said yourself an eternal truth: losers will always be in the wrong. Since you started it, you should be aware of the fate of the one in the losing side. Anyhow, your son and grandson are already waiting for you in the underworld, so you won’t be lonely over there.”

This night, apart from the small episode of Tang Xiu’s arrival, everything in the ancestral residence of the Yao Family appeared to be very tranquil. Even Yao Chengdong, who had arrived at his ancestral home late, only stood outside the door of his father’s house and didn’t dare to step inside.

In the early morning hours...

After having waited outside the door for the most part of the night, Yao Chengdong looked at the door with his brows furrowed. According to his father’s habit, he should be up already at this time. But how come there were no sounds at all this time?

Aaaah...

A loud scream came from the small courtyard next door.

Yao Chengdong’s expression slightly changed, as he then rushed to the next door’s small courtyard. He looked at the frightened housemaid sitting on the ground. He then followed the direction she was looking.

“WHAT?”

Two dead bodies were lying in the corner with nearly dried up blood stains on their bodies, covered by several pieces of newspaper but not entirely covering their bodies. Yao Chengdong ran toward the two corpses and squatted to check them. He suddenly raised his head and seemed to recall something as he dashed to the courtyard next door and kicked open the door of his father’s house. Arriving at the bedroom, his tight heart eased down after seeing his father lying flat on the bed.

“Father, it’s time to get up,” called Yao Chengdong.

There were no movement or sound from him. Yao Qingzun still lied on the bed, and his entire body was motionless.

Yao Chengdong stilled. He knew that his father had a very light sleep, and would awaken when there was the slight movement. However, how come he didn’t move at all after he kicked the door and called out to him? After a moment’s hesitation and as he was about to call him again, his eyes swept over to the cabinet.

Medicine bottle?

He walked over and grabbed the medicine bottle. After watching the dosage instructions on it, his pupils instantly contracted as he dashed to the bedside in panic and shouted, “FATHER, WAKE UP!!!”

Even shouting brought no response!

Yao Chengdong’s heart was stuck in his throat. He hurriedly placed his hand under his father’s nostrils. What frightened him was that his father was not breathing, as he quickly took his father’s wrist and pressed his ear to his father’s chest.

“How could this happen?”

Yao Chengdong’s face was devoid of color and he staggered back with his whole body feeling cold. Two tears fell down his face, but these tears were unable to cover the pain he was feeling.

****

Beijing, the Tang Family’s ancestral residence.

Tang Xiu sat across three people: Tang Guosheng, Tang Guoxing, and Tang Guoshou. On both sides were separately six people: Tang Yunpeng, Tang Yunde, Tang Yunqing, Tang Dong, Tang Min, and Tang Yan.

“Did he really die?” Tang Guosheng asked. There was a complicated look in his eyes, and his voice was particularly low and deep.

“Yes, he suicided,” said Tang Xiu with a nod.

Tang Guosheng closed his eyes, and then only opened them again after a long period of time. Then, he stood up and walked to the winecase, took out a bottle of wine and then sat in a far spot. He then poured the bottle of wine to the spot in front of him and murmured, “Old geezer, we’ve fought for a lifetime. And now that you have walked before me, I still want to send you off properly as your opponent. I hope that we won’t be adversaries again in our next life.”

After saying that, Tang Guosheng smashed the bottle and suddenly looked up Tang Xiu and spoke in a deep voice, “Xiu’er, let this matter end here. The patriarch of the Yao Family has died and their family has been struck with heavy losses. Even if they want to stake everything to battle our family, perhaps they have already lost the courage.”

“There’s something I must say in advance, too,” said Tang Xiu.

“What is it?” Asked Tang Guosheng.

“Yao Chengdong will soon resign from his current position and return to the capital to take over the position of Family Head,” explained Tang Xiu.

Tang Guosheng’s eyes lit up and quickly asked, “Is that also your doing?”

“That’s right.” Tang Xiu nodded. “Yao Qingzun called him before he died.”

Rubbing his hands, an excited look could be seen on Tang Guosheng’s face as he said, “As of now, Yao Chengdong is the only one who holds weight in the entire Yao Family. As long as he retires from his current position, the Yao Family can be considered a force that no longer needs to be feared anymore.”

Tang Xiu let out a faint smile before clapping his hands. The door was then opened from the outside as Light came in with a slightly smiling expression. She handed Tang Xiu a stack of documents before leaving the room.

“What are these?” Tang Guosheng’s brows raised and asked curiously.

The rest of the Tang Family’s members in the room also looked curious. They didn’t know what kind of information was contained in the documents in Tang Xiu’s hand, neither were they able to figure out what was inside Tang Xiu’s mind. Nevertheless, they had a vague feeling that this information was probably very important to the Tang Family by looking at Tang Xiu’s faint smiling expression.

Tang Xiu handed over the documents to Tang Guosheng and said, “We and the Yaos may have no deep hatred before, but now the two families can be said to have deep-seated hatred caused by bloodshed. Even if our family wants to spare and let the Yao Family go, I’m afraid that the Yao Family will aim at our family in the future once they have recovered. Hence, I think we must do something in order to avoid future troubles!”

Tang Guosheng didn’t ask anything more but directly read the documents together with Tang Guoxing and Tang Guoshou. The more they read, the more their expression turned bizarre as the three men wore alarmed and frightened expressions at the end.

“If a natural disaster happens to someone, then that person can be forgiven, but if it is of their own making, then that person deserves the punishment. I’m afraid that the Yao Family will be finished if we disclose everything on these documents; everyone will leap at the chance to finish them off. With the death of Yao Qingzun, their great losses, and Yao Chengdong resigning from his position, coupled with the information about the families on these documents, if those many forces are… not moving to partake in swallowing the entire Yao Family, then they will forcibly wipe them out!” After a long time staying in silence, Tang Guosheng finally couldn’t bear heaving a deep sigh.

“That’s right.” Tang Guosheng nodded. “After all, there are only a handful of people who are so kind to help a lame dog over a stile, whereas the number of people who add fuel to the flames is too many to count. The seeds of evil planted by the Yao Family will eventually return to them.”

“Anyhow, I promised Yao Qingzun that we would not take revenge on the Yao Family’s descendants later.” Tang Xiu smiled. “Even if we don’t wipe them out, however, others who have no relationship to the Tang Family will do the deed. For us, there’s a good story that the sandpiper and clam have a fight and the fisherman as the third party benefits from the tussle and catches both. Hence, let our family sit and wait, and divide up the riches of the Yao Family!”