The dragon had nine sons, and every one of them was different. The chances of having one generation of heroes and one generation of incompetents were greater than having generations of heroes. Though Ren Jie was being hugged by Ren Tianzong, he was thinking like this at heart. However, he had gradually adapted to all of this now. Since he could have such an opportunity to be reborn as a human, he had to live a colorful and purposeful life.
Sixth Uncle's love for Sixth Aunt and his silent acts of concern for himself, Ren Jie kept all of that in mind. If it wasn't because he had long known about these, he wouldn't have done this.
Actually, from Ren Jie's recent series of abnormal acts, Ren Tianzong had already sensed something. However, even if he gave it more thought than the rest, he was still slightly doubtful, because the way Ren Jie handled matters was still as dandy, absurd and even a little insane recently.
That was why he decided to have Wan Hong call Ren Jie over. He'd wanted to test him personally but didn't expect things to be this way…
"If your father could've stayed for three more years, it would have been enough for you to completely control the Ren Family. But the current Ren Family is already unlike before, so until the time is right, you cannot let anyone discover the change in you." When the sense of delight passed, Ren Tianzong suddenly thought of the most worrying matter and spoke about it in a low voice.
Knowing that Ren Jie wasn't that useless, aside from feeling happy, he immediately thought of his biggest worry. Although he was glad because of that, it was very likely that Ren Jie's life would be in great danger.
Within the Ren Family, the entire Clear Jade Dynasty and even the surrounding countries didn't want and wouldn't let another Ren Tianxing emerge in the Ren Family. If the Ren Family stood at the height of power and splendor for other dozens of years because of another Ren Tianxing appearing, other countries might no longer exist on this continent, the other family clans would also be suppressed and suffocated once again.
Hence, the situation that Ren Jie would face was ten times, a hundred times harder than Ren Tianxing had it when he took over the position of the family head of a family clan at the bottom of the five largest family clans that no one cared for.
And this, was precisely Ren Tianzong's greatest worry these days.
"Don't worry, Sixth Uncle. Right now, the outsiders are all looking forward to me fighting the association of the family clan elders. Everyone else is busy with their own things. I am the rightful family head of the Ren family, after all. There's no need for me to vie for anything openly. I only need to continue being a dandy, arrogant puppet family head."
Ren Jie went on with a sly grin. "Look, in a while, I will go cure Fang Qi's poison. This is equivalent to directly admitting that I was the one who poisoned her, but what can they do. I can make a scene in the palace; I can rightfully use the death exemption jade tablet to scare Gao Peng that he dropped to his knees and cried; I can punish the assistant butler at the gates of the house. However, to them, I'm not essentially vying with them for power. Now every side hopes for me to do so, continue being dandy, continue to go insane, continue to be a puppet family head. Then I can just continue playing this role."
Ren Tianzong's greatest worry was that Ren Jie wasn't a good-for-nothing. And precisely so, he wouldn't be resigned to being a puppet family head. He would want to wield power and control the Ren family as soon as possible.
Once such a thought formed, it would be difficult to stop him even if he wanted to. This was because stubbornness was a characteristic unique to geniuses, after all. However, once that was the case, he would become everyone's enemy. Even if he had bundled himself with him, it wouldn't work too.
"With your words, Sixth Uncle is at ease. Since you understand this logic, I won't have to say more. Go ahead, even if the sky breaks, Sixth Uncle will hold it up for you." Worrying was one thing. His worry was Ren Jie acting recklessly without understanding the situation. After realizing that Ren Jie knew this very well, then what was left was sparing no effort in supporting him.
"Sixth Uncle, do you know about my father's matter?"
"I knew you would ask this question sooner or later. I'm not clear about big brother's matter too. Back then, he suddenly disappeared, then suddenly returned. He wouldn't tell me anything and even didn't allow me to ask questions." Ren Tianzong shook his head helplessly.
Ren Jie did not question further on this topic. They continued to talk more. Because it was about to be Sixth Aunt's time of onset soon and Ren Tianzong had to help Sixth Aunt control her illness, Ren Jie did not stay longer. Sixth Aunt's illness was special, simply wanting to cure her poison, alleviate her symptoms or do anything else would only cause a counter-effect. Hence, before completely clearing the poison, they could only let Sixth Uncle expend his primordial energy to continuously help Sixth Aunt suppress them.
Wan Hong sent Ren Jie all the way to the outside of the native forest. Watching Ren Jie leave, he arched his body and bowed from his heart until Ren Jie's back disappeared, then he slowly stood up.
In the Ren's side hall, Fang Yan had been waiting here for 10 whole hours. An entire day had passed.
At present, the sky had darkened. Fang Yan looked at Gao Ren who sat across him, then at the exquisite cuisine placed before him, but he wasn't in the mood at all.
This whole day, he had been so grossed out by this Fatty and also so infuriated that he almost had thoughts of killing him several times.
Fang Yan repeatedly thought to himself that if he wasn't at the Ren's, if he wasn't here because he had a special mission, with too many things involved, he would definitely rip this Fatty apart with his own hands, tear all the fat on his body.
Given his cultivation, although he hadn't reached the level of Inedia, not eating for a few days wouldn't be a problem.
In reality, he'd long been full of anger, how would he be in the mood to eat, especially when fatty Gao Ren didn't forget to piss him off while eating.
"Regardless of how angry you are, you cannot sulk at your own stomach. One look at you and I know you've never endured hardships, never been hungry. You don't know how precious food is." Fatty ate a few mouthfuls and paused to wipe his mouth, just like he was lecturing a picky child who wasn't eating well.
"Actually, not being the family isn't too bad too. No matter what, you have the chance to become a prince consort. But to be honest, being a prince consort really doesn't seem too impressive. I heard that if the prince consort wants to have s*x, he has to wait till the princess hangs a lantern and summons him. Do you parents, if you too, it would be too awkward, the father-in-law and mother-in-law having to kneel and bow to the daughter-in-law."
"Right, are you lustful? If you are, you'll be miserable. A prince consort cannot casually take concubines. If the princess flies into a rage… tsk, tsk…" Fatty went on and even lifted the small wine glass to take a sip. He looked at Fang Yan pitifully, as if he could understand why he had no appetite.
That gaze was filled with pity and compassion, but in Fang Yan's eyes, it was almost like adding explosives into the flame.
Fang Yan was almost fuming with anger. He lifted a hand to slam on the table and stand up, but realized that the table at the side had already been smashed by him. A new one wasn't brought in after Fatty got people to clean it up. He no longer had a table to slam. Fang Yan did try to clash with Fatty on this day. Although what he participated in was the martial arts examinations, his eloquence and literary talent weren't too bad, and he actually thought pretty highly of himself usually.
In the end, it would have been better if he'd kept his mouth shut. He would still manage to control and stay calm for himself not to listen, not to think, and endure… endure… endure…
However, once he did, he started to lose some control. Hence, Fang Yan sneered and his divine sense sealed off his hearing, giving himself some time to calm down and also ignoring what that Fatty wanted to continue saying.
"Prince Consort… Prince Consort. F*ck, he's pretending to be deaf again. That's good too, I've got to take a break and enjoy my meal." Fatty wickedly murmured to himself and started sweeping through the dishes before him.
"Darn Fatso, you don't think of me even when eating." Just then, Ren Jie, who'd returned to his abode to check on the cultivation condition of Tong Qiang and the rest after leaving Ren Tianzong's native forest before rushing over, walked in. Once he saw that Fatty was eating, he unreservedly grabbed a chair and sat down directly.
It was as if Fatty, who was initially very elegantly and slowly eating, had seen enemy troops charging forward. His speed increased by ten times, and so did his chewing speed. The amount he took was several times more than before. If it was said that his eating earlier was like soft winds and drizzles, a gentle breeze, then he was a whirlwind tornado now, wildly sweeping through everything.
"F*ck, you're reborn from a hungry ghost." Ren Jie instinctively cursed as he started scrambling for the food with a speed no slower than Fatty's.
Fatty had a bad habit. As long as there was someone else eating with him, he would instantly speed up, as if fearing that he wouldn't be able to snatch any. If not, he would separate the food beforehand to eat individually, Ren Jie kept pondering, Gao Ren must have experienced some kind of trauma in the past, otherwise, he wouldn't have such a bad habit.
Of course, it was still extremely satisfying to eat with Fatty occasionally, snatching up the food was also very fulfilling.
"Um… Ren Family Head, I have waited here for you for a day. You should have seen the sincerity from us Fangs. Now, please follow me to the Fang's, we will try our best to satisfy any demands you have." Finally, he was finally seeing Ren Jie appear. Fang Yan exhaled a long breath, immediately undid his sealed on his hearing, and stood up.
One…
Two…
Three…
…
Fang Yan, who had stood up and finished speaking, looked at Ren Jie with a formal attitude. However, after waiting for quite a while, he saw that Ren Jie and Fatty continued to sweep through the food on the plate, snatching pastries, and did acknowledge him.
No one acknowledged him… no one acknowledged him…
Complete, utter disregard, treating like the air. This made Fang Yan feel even more embarrassed than being irked by Fatty for the whole day.
"Ren Family Head, I've come representing the Fang family to invite you." Fang Yan emphasized on the word "invite", already using his nasal voice to speak.
"Mine…" At this moment, Ren Jie had grabbed the last piece of pastry, but Fatty's hand was also on it.
"One half each." Fatty held onto it with a death grip, refusing to let go.
"Alright." Ren Jie reluctantly agreed.
Deliberately… they were doing this deliberately… they must be doing this deliberately.
Seeing this scene, these were all that filled Fang Yan's mind. Endure, I will endure again. All these will be made known to Seventh Princess, His Majesty and also Fang Tianen.
You wanted to take this opportunity to humiliate me, didn't you? On the contrary, you've just happened to help me.
Fang Yan calmed down once again after raging inwardly as he repeatedly thought so to himself.
"Ren Family Head, you are done eating, aren't you. Now…" Fang Yan kept watching till Ren Jie had finished eating before he spoke up again.
"Stop… stop, stop, stop!" Ren Jie raised a hand to stop Fang Yan from going on. He finally lifted his head to look to him and said, "You are a son of the Fangs, aren't you. Although your Fang family cannot compare to my Ren family, and that you couldn't become a family head as I did without the right of succession, the demands for you won't be as strict. No matter what, you are still a son of the direct line of descent from a big family clan, why don't you know any manners at all."
"Dum dum…" Ren Jie knocked on the table and said, "Didn't you see that I'm eating here. Do not converse during mealtimes and bedtimes. You rattled on and on ceaselessly when others were eating. What are you trying to do? Have the adults of your family never taught you that this is very rude?"
Um!
It was Fang Yan's turn to be speechless. Ren Jie was right. All Fang Yan had been thinking about earlier was to speak to Ren Jie fast, he didn't treat this as them having a proper meal. On top of that, he'd been aggravated by Fatty for an entire day and had been enraged for a long time, so he didn't even give it much thought.
"Excuse me, Ren Family Head. Earlier…"
"Excuse you, what excuse. Right means right, wrong means wrong. What should I excuse you about, who are you for me to excuse you." This Fang Yan could tolerate Fatty for this long and had secretly met Second Prince in front of the palace, Ren Jie had long perceived this person's intentions. Ren Jie certainly wouldn't be courteous to him.
If he really went to cure that vicious woman who'd wanted to kill him so easily, that would be problematic. Even if Ren Jie and Fatty had been waiting to go over to extort them, they wouldn't bring themselves there this readily.
"Ren Family Head, Fang Yan was wrong, please forgive me. I'm especially here this time representing the Fang family…" Fang Yan inhaled as he thought to himself, Ren Jie, Ren Jie, I will put up with everything today. And the darn Fatty, just you two wait. If I do not pull out your tendons and skin you two one day, I, Fang Yan, swear I won't be a human. Today, I'll just use you two as a foil. Alright, you're arrogant and humiliating me huh. Sooner or later, I will teach you a lesson bit by bit.
As he thought to himself, Fang Yan opened up instead and generously admitted his mistake.
"Alright, it's enough that you admitted your mistake. You don't have to go on about the rest. You are unable to represent the Fang family. Previously, I have mentioned it at the Five Clans Hall. In the end, Fang Tianen was ungrateful. Now he has sent a junior like you here. And you've rattled ceaselessly during my mealtime, wanting to go over directly. Do you think I am your family doctor? We'll speak when Fang Tianen is here, you're not qualified enough." With that, Ren Jie did not spare any more words to Fang Yan, stood up and left.
"Family Head… this isn't too appropriate, he's the future Prince Consort no matter what…" Fatty Gao Ren caught up to him, seeming very kind.
"F*ck, we're not the princess either, why bother with him." Ren Jie worked with Fatty and replied very nonchalantly as he left without turning back.
"Pu…" A surge of Qi rushed up Fang Yan's chest. The fury in his body burned his heart, and even the strongest energy couldn't stop it. He was actually so incensed that he spat out a mouthful of blood.