Chapter Two Hundred and Four: Emergence of the Dead (1/2)

Nan Xu muttered to himself, “Though the Nan and Yan Families have opposed each other for so many years, you’re actually this close to them… And, not only you, but also Nan Wei, he and Nan Chan too. How unexpected.”

“The friendships of children are not built on long-term schemes and objective maximization. The only reason you let us bond as children was because you thought there was no way Yan Jin would win the Yan Family successorship. What do you want now that you’ve realized your mistake?” Chu Ge had wanted to ask how humiliated they felt but then reconsidered it given that Nan Xu was still his elder in the end.

“Our assessment was indeed wrong. I don’t think anyone expected the Yan Family to have been plotting for the past twenty years to topple the Nan Family.”

“You think that Yan Jin was plotting against us twenty years ago?” Chu Ge scoffed. “He was eight at the time.”

“You were just a child too, just a year older than him,” Nan Xu said doubtfully. “That just means you weren’t even able to win against him back then.”

“Wow, brilliant! How astute of you!” Chu Ge wasn’t provoked at all and instead began clapping. “I can’t beat him today either, so you might as well go back. I won’t be looking after the Nan Family.” Chu Ge made another gesture of dismissal.

They had wasted the entire morning arguing back and forth, leaving Chu Ge on the brink of exploding from annoyance. He really didn’t want to spend any more time playing word games. His original plan to visit Nan Chan was already ruined. If Nan Xu wasn’t his elder, he would have already forcefully thrown him out of the room.

It was hard to believe this situation had already persisted for almost a month. If it wasn’t for Nan Chan, Chu Ge definitely wouldn’t have obediently stayed under house arrest, regardless of whether his identity would be exposed.

The privilege to see Nan Chan. That was the condition for him staying at the Nan Family’s ancestral home.

The official reason was that this was his apology for his previous fights and subsequent disappearance, but in truth, it was because he was a doctor. He couldn’t possibly stand by and do nothing while a close family member suffered, especially since it was from an abnormal mental illness.

Chu Ge felt sickened that Nan Xu could even use his own daughter’s sickness to his advantage, but he didn’t have a choice; that was really who Nan Xu was. The whole reason he had forsaken his family name and run off was because he couldn’t deal with his family’s ruthless pursuit of ambition.

Also, Chu Ge had a few other reasons.

Chu Ge was still bothered by Xiao Yu’s abduction. He’d lost treasured things before and didn’t have much tolerance for it. Seeing that his identity was already revealed, he wanted to use this as an opportunity to keep a close eye on the Nan Family’s every move to at least ensure they wouldn’t make any further moves against Yan Jin.

It was really quite regrettable that the Nan Family had pushed their own young master to the point of becoming a spy for the enemy.

Unfortunately, Chu Ge’s intentions had already been seen through by Nan Xu. That was why he still didn’t reveal Chu Ge’s identity to the Nan Family.

……

Nan Xu suddenly fell silent.

He stared at the outstanding calm youth who refused to budge before him. His impression of the frivolous child began to fade.

Ten years ago, he was the Nan Family’s sharpest sword. Ten years later, this sword was firmly in its sheath.

Unfortunately, this sword wasn’t so easy to trick anymore.

He imagined the blood-red beads of his Bodhi bracelet warning him.

If Chu Ge had truly lost all hope in the Nan Family, he would have joined with Yan Jin to destroy the Nan Family long ago. Perhaps ten years ago they might have had the will to do this but not the strength. However, today, if Chu Ge wanted this even for just a moment, the Nan Family would cease to exist.

But, the Nan Family was still strong. Chu Ge had returned home.

In the end, Chu Ge was unwilling.

Family and relatives were such incredible social constructs. It wasn’t that easy to separate from your bloodline. It didn’t matter that Chu Ge already knew his family was rotten to the core and beyond help. In the depths of his heart, he still wanted to see them survive.

Last but not least, no matter how much Chu Ge hated them, he still had a younger brother and sister he grew up with.

Thus, he couldn’t run away.

That was a certainty.

Nan Xu released his Bodhi bracelet beads.

It was like he’d released his last qualm.

“Do you… still remember your Aunt Du?”

Question marks appeared over Chu Ge’s head.

“Uh… which Aunt Du?” Chu Ge wasn’t acting when he indicated he didn’t know where this was going. [TLN: Du is the surname.]

His mother’s surname was Du too. Although the Du Family wasn’t as powerful as before, all powerful families had very wide family trees. On his mother’s side, there were no less than eight to ten people he could call “Aunt Du”.

“Your mother’s youngest sister, Du Yirou.”

Chu Ge was even more confused.

He didn’t actually know the full names of all ten of his ‘Aunt Du’s. He hadn’t had much contact with them after his mother had passed away when he was very young. But, he was very familiar with the name “Du Yirou”. She was his youngest aunt and Yan Jin’s mother.

Twenty years ago, he had met Yan Jin for the first time at Du Yirou’s funeral.

Chu Ge didn’t actually know what losing a mother felt like. When his own mother had passed away, he was too young to remember. However, he had shared in Yan Jin’s sorrow.

It was the kind of bonding that could only happen through shared struggles.

“What’s this about? Tomb sweeping day isn’t for a while,” Chu Ge waffled randomly. He really couldn’t see where Nan Xu was going with this.

“Don’t curse your aunt. She hasn’t passed away.”

This was said in a lightly teasing tone, but its significance was like a thunderbolt through the clear sky. Chu Ge even thought he had misheard.