90 It’s just a little wind fros (1/2)
Chapter 90: It’s just a little wind frost
Translator: SkyfarrowEditor: Skyfarrow
In the hall, the lights shone brightly.
On the round dining table, the wine was already cold, and the dishes were cool.
The brilliant red candle flickered and danced, projecting the shadows of Aunt and Uncle onto the wall.
The two figures’ shadow combined into one, and swayed gloomily with the candlelight.
In front of them, Mother Shen was kneeling.
Uncle broke the silence, ”To think this Fang Yuan is dead bent on going against me. Sigh, I wanted to calm him down with nice words and keep him in the house first before finding a reason to chase him out of the house. To think that he did not fall for it! He has made up his mind, rejecting my invitation without a single way to negotiate! Not even taking a step into my house!”
Aunt gritted her teeth, her expression slightly flustered, ”This scoundrel is already sixteen years old, so if he wants the family fortune now we cannot deny it to him. Years ago we obtained that family fortune and it was clearly recorded in the inner affairs hall. Now that we cannot deny it, what shall we do now?!”
”Leave first.” Uncle waved at Mother Shen to withdraw, laughing coldly, ”Don’t be anxious. Throughout the year, I have already been planning for this. First, to get back the assets, he needs to have Rank one middle stage cultivation. He already achieved this and is even at peak stage, and gotten number one in the exam, that is very impressive. Hehe...”
”But, to successfully obtain his family fortune, it is not so easy! Rank one middle stage cultivation is only a pre-condition. To split the assets, Fang Yuan has to apply for it, and the internal affairs hall has to approve it and send him a mission to test if he has the qualifications. This is to prevent the clan from splitting family assets nonsensically, causing internal strifes and weakening the clan.”
Aunt was enlightened, ”This means that, he has to complete the mission before he can get his parents’ inheritance.”
”That’s right.” Uncle laughed sinisterly, ”But the internal affairs hall’s missions are sent to groups. The family asset mission will be the same. If Fang Yuan wants to complete it, he would have to rely on the group, he cannot do it alone. The family does this to make sure that the small groups stay united and increase their cohesiveness.”
Aunt laughed loudly, ”Husband, you’re too smart. Getting Jiao San to recruit Fang Yuan — this way, if Fang Yuan wants to accomplish the mission, he would need their strength. But Jiao San is on our side, so Fang Yuan can never accomplish this mission.”
Uncle’s eyes shone smugly, ”Hmph, even if he cannot get him into the group, I have other ways to deal with him. Not to mention completing the mission, even if he wants to apply for the splitting of the fortune and receive the mission, it might not be possible!”
…
Nightfall arrived and the snow stopped.
Fang Yuan walked on the streets. The bamboo houses along the way were all covered by a layer of white snow.
The snow that he stepped on emitted a light sound. The cold air entered his respiratory system, causing Fang Yuan’s brain to be extremely awake.
After rejecting Mother Shen, Fang Yuan disregarded Jiao San and the group’s advice and said goodbye to everyone, leaving by himself.
”So that's it.” He walked and thought, ”Uncle and Aunt are trying to trap and delay me, causing me to lose the chance to take back my inheritance.”
”After the new year, I would be sixteen years old and be qualified to split the assets. My parents are dead, and my brother has new parents. If I am successful, the entire inheritance is mine. But to take back the inheritance, there are two crucial steps, each being extremely important.”
”The first is to apply for the mission at the internal affairs hall without any other missions at hand. The second is to complete the mission to earn the rights to inherit the asset.”
”Jiao San is in cahoots with Uncle and Aunt. Leaving aside the second step, he’s already trying to trap me at the first step.”
The clan rules state that Gu Masters can only be on one mission at a time. This is to prevent Gu Masters from hogging and causing negative competition in the clan.
Jiao San received missions consecutively. After finishing the permafrost decayed soil mission, he immediately accepted a new mission for catching wild deer.
The clan’s missions were all given to groups, that is to say, according to clan rules, Fang Yuan has to finish the deer capturing mission before applying for his asset splitting mission.
”But at that point, I believe Jiao San would just accept another new mission. As the leader, when accepting missions, he will always be a step ahead of me, causing me to be unable to accept my mission, thus always stopping me.” Thinking of this, Fang Yuan’s eyes shone ominously.
These plots and schemes were irritating, like an invisible rope blocking Fang Yuan’s progress.
But Fang Yuan did not regret entering this group.
At the arena, he was backed into a corner. Jiao San’s invitation became a way for him to be free from the predicament.
If he did not enter the team, his uncle and aunt would have other ways to deal with him, this cannot be prevented and will be hard to defend against. But now that he is in the group, he can clearly see their schemes and easily counterattack.
”Solving this problem, I have my ways. The easiest way is to just eliminate Jiao San, or assassinate uncle and aunt, then no one would compete with me over the family assets. But this way is too risky, they are all Rank two Gu Masters and my cultivation is still too low. Even if I kill them I cannot get out of the troublesome aftermath. Unless there is a good chance for me to take advantage of... but these chances are usually by luck.”
Fang Yuan could kill the servant Gao Wan and could kill old man Wang, but that was because they were mortals and servants, with life cheap as grass. Killing them was akin to killing a dog or pulling off weed, it was insignificant.
But assassinating Gu Masters is very troublesome.
Gu Masters were all Gu Yue clansmen, no matter which one dies, the punishment hall would investigate. Fang Yuan evaluated his own strength and knew there was too much risk in killing them now; he might even get killed. Even if he kills them, the punishment hall’s investigation is even more troublesome. His future actions would be spied on and they might even find out the Flower Wine Monk’s inheritance.
”Attracting a much larger problem when eliminating a small problem, that is not what a wise person does. Oh? I’m here,” Fang Yuan spoke lightly, stopping at a worn out bamboo building.
This bamboo building was torn and worn out, like an old man about to die, panting for his last breath in the cold harsh winter.
Seeing this bamboo building, Fang Yuan’s face showed a trace of reminiscence.
This was the room he rented in his previous life.