For years, Ye Bei's name had been taboo in Jinghai. The Gu family had searched for him relentlessly for seven years, even announcing a reward of five million yuan for anyone who found him, dead or alive.
Five million might mean little to the sons and daughters of wealthy families, but to an ordinary person, it was a fortune. Naturally, the bounty had led to plenty of cases of mistaken identity.
Ye Bei's silence confirmed who he was, and the disgust on their faces deepened. If not for him, how could the Su family have fallen so far?
"Uncle, why did you bring him back? Haven't we suffered enough?"
The speaker was Su Wanshan's nephew, Su Wenxu. Apart from Su Wanshan himself, he was the only member of the second generation with real authority in the family.
Everyone agreed. Bringing Ye Bei home was asking for trouble if the Gu family found out.
"Is that so?" Su Wanshan's face darkened.
"Isn't it?" Su Wenxu replied coolly. "You know perfectly well that the Gus have been looking for Ye Bei all these years."
"Besides, he raped a daughter of the Gu family at his own coming-of-age banquet. His family was destroyed and he was hunted down because he brought it on himself. You shouldn't have saved him in the first place, much less brought him—"
Thud!
"Shut up!"
Su Wanshan drove his cane into the ground, his temper erupting.
He could not control what outsiders said about Ye Bei. But he had never imagined that members of his own family could be so stupid, so incapable of telling right from wrong.
He had never questioned Ye Bei about what had happened, not once. He firmly believed that Ye Bei could never be that sort of man. There had to be more to the story.
"From now on, Ye Bei is a member of this family. I have promised Jianxi to him. Anyone who shows him the slightest disrespect will be expelled from the Su family!"
The gathering erupted into whispers as soon as he finished.
The old fossil must have gone senile. What spell had Ye Bei cast over him to make him marry Jianxi to a homeless stray?
Su Wenxu's face grew grim. He had long coveted control of the family. Ye Bei's arrival would bring disaster down on them, destroying everything he had worked so hard to build. No. He would never allow it.
His mind raced, and a plan soon formed. Quietly, he took out his phone, walked off to an empty spot, and dialed a number.
"Seize him!" Su Wanshan's sudden order startled everyone.
The Su bodyguards looked bewildered. They had no idea whom the patriarch wanted them to seize.
He raised his cane and pointed straight at Su Wenxu.
The bodyguards exchanged looks, afraid to act.
"What? Didn't you hear me? Seize him!" Su Wanshan repeated.
This time, they did not hesitate. They hurried over and dragged Su Wenxu back.
"Damn it, why are you grabbing me? Do you want to lose your jobs? Who gave you the nerve?" Su Wenxu struggled. No one in the Su family dared treat him with such disrespect.
The bodyguards did not go easy on him. An order from the old patriarch was the highest command in the household.
"Uncle, what's the meaning of this?" Held before Su Wanshan, Su Wenxu put on an innocent expression.
Slap!
To everyone's surprise, Su Wanshan raised his hand and struck him hard across the face.
"U-Uncle?" Su Wenxu's cheek burned.
Su Wanshan snatched the phone from his hand and looked at the screen. It was exactly as he had expected.
"You were about to tip off the Gu family?" he demanded furiously.
Rather than answer, Su Wenxu stared in disbelief. "You hit me for the sake of that stray?"
"Yes, I was calling the Gus. If we hand him over, they might forgive us and ease the pressure on our family."
Slap!
Another heavy blow landed.
"I'm not dead yet! It's not your turn to run this family!" Su Wanshan shook with rage and growing disappointment. How could a man of the Su family be so spineless?
Bloody finger marks covered both Su Wenxu's cheeks. He clenched his molars, his expression black with anger, but at last he dared not talk back.
Silence fell over everyone else too. In all these years, they had never seen the old patriarch so furious.
"Little Bei, come inside with me. You'll stay here from now on. This is your home!" Su Wanshan deliberately stressed the last words for the rest of the family to hear.
Ye Bei smiled and followed him into the estate. He had not planned to stay there, but he did not want to hurt the old man's feelings. He could stay for a couple of days.
Lü Zhongyuan followed close behind. As he passed Su Wenxu, he deliberately shoved him aside.
The motion looked almost casual, yet Su Wenxu staggered several steps and fell onto his backside.
"You have a death wish—"
A blade flashed.
Before Su Wenxu finished, Lü Zhongyuan's saber was out of its sheath and at the tip of his nose.
"Zhongyuan," Ye Bei said without turning around. "Just teach him a lesson."
"Yes, sir."
Lü Zhongyuan sheathed his saber and kicked out violently.
Su Wenxu spat blood.
His chest caved in, at least seven or eight ribs snapping. He flew backward like a kite with its string cut, spraying a mist of blood, then slammed into the wall and lay there gasping. He would be lucky to get out of bed in six months to a year.
The Su family stared in horror. That was just a lesson? He had struck far too brutally!
They had no idea that if Sheng Hu, State-Guarding Envoy of the Western Region, had been there, he would already have torn Su Wenxu to pieces. He would never have tolerated even half a word of insult toward the Hall Master.
Su Wanshan sighed helplessly. He knew this was extraordinary mercy. If not for consideration for him, how could Su Wenxu still be alive?
"Since you're so eager to inform the Gu family..." Ye Bei stopped and looked at Su Wenxu. "Go ahead and call them."
"Little Bei!" Su Wanshan exclaimed, beginning to understand his intent.
"It's been seven years. The Gu family is long overdue to repay its blood debt." Ye Bei gazed toward the horizon, his eyes unfathomable.
If the frontier had not been embroiled in constant war, leaving him unable to return, he would never have let the Gus survive for seven years.
Su Wanshan started to speak, then stopped. He knew this day had always been inevitable.
"You... You're asking for death yourself!" Su Wenxu struggled to sit up, but the stabbing pain in his chest left him unable to move. Blood still trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"Uncle, you heard him. He asked me to call the Gu family. You can't blame me now." Without waiting for a reply, he pulled out his phone and dialed.
He was already calculating. Perhaps the Gus would use this opportunity to swallow up the Su family. Then he could legitimately take charge. Working for them would still be better than constantly being kept down in second place.