"Father!"
"Grandfather!"
Huang Ming, Huang Jun, and Huang Wei saw Huang Qide rushing over with Chen Ying, all three of them quickly greeted him.
The moment Huang Qide saw the injured Huang Peng lying on the floor, he roared at Huang Ming: "What is going on? Huang Peng is your younger brother, yet you actually struck him with such a heavy hand!"
On the way to the Eastern Courtyard, Chen Ying skipped over the matter of Huang Peng being wounded, so Huang Qide thought it must be Huang Ming who injured Huang Peng so badly.
Before Huang Ming could say anything, Huang Jun interrupted them by saying, "Grandfather, this is my Master, Big Sword Sect's Sect Leader!" He indicated with his hand towards Liu Wei next to him.
The angry Huang Qide went into a daze as he looked at the strangely dressed middle-aged man…. Big Sword Sect's Sect Leader?
"Grandfather, just now, Second Uncle was disrespectful towards our Big Sword Sect and offended Master. It was due to this reason that Master would…" Huang Jun let his words fade here, but his implied meaning was evident.
Liu Wei's cold eyes swept passed Huang Qide, "You are Huang Qide? These people were injured by me. What about it, you want to vent your anger on me?"
Huang Qide became awkward and embarrassed; then, his face cracked a cordial smile: "So it is the Sect Leader of Big Sword Sect, Senior Liu Wei. What is Senior Liu Wei saying? It was Huang Peng who offended Big Sword Sect and Senior Liu Wei in the first place. It is his honor to be taught a lesson by Senior Liu Wei; indeed, a lesson ought to be taught!"
Compared to the momentum when the two arrived, Huang Qide and Chen Ying seemed like another person.
Liu Wei snorted coldly, and 'advised' Huang Qide in a condescending tone, "Huang Qide, in my opinion, a son like this is not worth keeping. You won't know which day he would bring an annihilating catastrophe onto the Huang Clan Manor!"
Huang Qide's expression grew ugly, not knowing what to say.
When Su Yan, who was holding Huang Peng, heard that, she was scared and outraged at the same time.
However, Liu Wei flicked his sleeve and left after saying that, along with Huang Jun, Huang Ming and Huang Wei following closely behind.
Huang Qide opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened again a couple times yet no words came out as he watched the four silhouettes grow smaller. Standing there, his expression was dark and gloomy, and no one knew what he was thinking about.
"Manor Lord, you see, the Second Manor Lord…?" Minutes later, Chen Ying walked up to Huang Qide and asked cautiously, "Should we let the Second Manor Lord heal first?"
Huang Qide looked up to the sky and sighed; then he turned around and left after nodding to Chen Ying, indicating that he agreed with his suggestion.
After leaving the Eastern Courtyard, Liu Wei, Huang Jun, Huang Ming and Huang Wei (Sect Master and the father and two sons) returned to the Northern Courtyard. Huang Ming insisted that Liu Wei rest first and made the proper arrangements. When everything was arranged, the trio of father and sons left the yard and went to the main hall.
Seated in the main hall, Huang Wei boldly said to Huang Ming, "Dad, we should take this opportunity and persuade Grandfather to banish Huang Peng from Huang Clan Manor. As long as Huang Peng is out of the way, the future Manor Lord position is guaranteed to be taken over by Dad!"
"Banish Huang Peng from Huang Clan Manor?" Huang Ming frowned, "That's not very good, right?"
"Who cares if it's good or not." Huang Wei subsequently added, "Dad, you've said before, to be successful, one should not bother with trifling matters. If that Huang Peng remains here in Huang Clan Manor, he will always be a risk factor for Dad. Ever since the last Clan Assembly, Grandfather's attitude towards Huang Peng has changed a hundred and eighty degrees, and you are aware of it yourself. Not only that, many of the Manor Elders had leaned towards Huang Peng's side and tongues are already wagging around the manor that there is a high chance that Grandfather would pass the Manor Lord position to Huang Peng!"
At this time, Huang Jun supported Huang Wei, saying "What little brother said is reasonable. Dad, we can use Huang Peng offending my Master as an excuse to persuade Grandfather to banish Huang Peng from Huang Clan Manor!"
Huang Ming remained silent.
"Dad, there's nothing to worry about!" Huang Wei persuaded.
Huang Min's raised his head, looking at his two sons as he nodded.
Two days passed.
Today is now the First Day of New Year. Like many years of tradition, the Huang Clan Manor had a festive atmosphere and red New Year decorations were everywhere in the manor. The mood was especially high and festive in the Northern Courtyard, and the quiet Eastern Courtyard was a stark comparison.
While the Huang Clan Manor's guards and servants were busy with preparation, a few miles outside of Huang Clan Manor, several figures were braving the snow ladened road, heading closer to the Huang Clan Manor.
Seeing the outline of the Huang Clan Manor getting closer and closer, a sudden excitement rose in Xiaolong's heart.
Finally, he had returned to the Huang Clan Manor!
Dad, Mom, your son is back!
Soon, Huang Xiaolong reached the open space in front of Huang Clan Manor's main entrance and stood there, looking at the door.
He remembered the scene from one year ago when he left Huang Clan Manor with Fei Hou, and his parents stood on this exact spot, watching his departure.
At this time, snow floated down from above and some landed on Huang Xiaolong's body, exuding small bursts of coldness.
"It's snowing again," Huang Xiaolong muttered to himself– there was a big snowstorm at the end of last year too.
Marshal Haotian and Fei Hou stood a few steps behind Huang Xiaolong and neither said anything as they waited for Huang Xiaolong.
"Haa Haa Haa!" At this moment, the little violet monkey on Xiaolong's shoulder squeaked excitedly; on this trip back to the Huang Clan Manor, Huang Xiaolong of course brought the little violet monkey back with him.
The little violet monkey's squeaking seemed to pull Xiaolong back from his reminiscing. He glanced at the little guy bouncing on his shoulder and smiled; apparently, this little guy was urging him to go in quickly.
"Let's go home!" Huang Xiaolong chuckled, lifted his feet and stepped through the door.
Marshal Haotian and Fei Hou followed after Huang Xiaolong into Huang Clan Manor.
However, when Xiaolong walked into the Huang Clan Manor, he noticed the guards and servants avoided him from miles away with strange expressions on their faces. This raised doubt and suspicion in Huang Xiaolong.
When he was near the Eastern Courtyard, he spotted his little brother Huang Xiaohai squatting in one corner, hitting the snow on the ground with a little stick while crying.
"Xiaohai!" Huang Xiaolong called out.
Hearing the familiar voice, Huang Xiaohai jumped up abruptly and spun around, and his little legs ran towards Huang Xiaolong. Hugging Huang Xiaolong, Huang Xiaohai cried out loud: "Big Brother, you're finally back!"
"Woo woo woo! Woo woo woo!"
In an instant, Huang Xiaohai's tears had dampened Huang Xiaolong's robe.
"Xiaohai, tell Big Brother what happened? Did Huang Min bully you?" Huang Xiaolong asked gently, wiping away the tear stains from Huang Xiaohai's face.
Huang Xiaohai did not answer and kept crying pitifully.
"What is it? Xiaohai, what happened?" Huang Xiaolong had a bad premonition in his heart.
"Dad, Dad he, he!" Huang Xiaohai sobbed and choked out some almost unintelligible words from his mouth, "Dad, Dad was wounded, and Second Sister too!" Huang Xiaohai cried out while wiping his own tears.
"What?" Huang Xiaolong's expression did not look good as he bolted into the Easter Courtyard. Marshal Haotian and Fei Hou exchanged a look and hastened to catch up to Huang Xiaolong.
Hurrying to his father's room, the door was already open and Xiaolong dashed into the room: "Dad!" Stepping into the room, the first person he saw was his mother, Su Yan, sitting beside the bed; her head turned over to look at him, and Xiaolong saw her eyes were red from crying. And a person was laying on the bed – his father, Huang Peng!
"Dad!" Huang Xiaolong came to the bedside, leaned in close to Huang Peng and called out. His eyes were red-rimmed.
On the bed, a ghastly pale Huang Peng slowly opened his eyes; seeing Huang Xiaolong, he tried to smile and emitted a weak and croaky voice that was barely audible: "Xiaolong, you're back!"
"Dad, who was it? Tell me who was it that wounded you like this?" Huang Xiaolong's fists clenched tightly seeing his father's terrible complexion and his heart ached and filled with wrath.