His hateful words made Mrs. Cheng let out a big sigh. She didn’t say a word but agreed with him silently.
“Mom, what about the Luo’s from Yan?” Cheng Xiao Xiao changed the subject.
Before Mrs. Cheng could respond, Cheng Biyuan let out a cold laugh, “With the exception of your grandmother, none of them are decent people!”
“Ye…” protested Mrs. Cheng.
“Hrm, was I wrong?” said Cheng Biyuan as he casted her a glance, “Do you not agree? Your dad had explicitly told me to never step foot into the Luo’s again when I was injured. He didn’t want to be embarrassed!”
“He might have said some awful things, but he’s still my father!” said Mrs. Cheng with her usual soft voice and, holding the hand of her younger daughter, returned into the house.
Cheng Biyuan was so angry that he picked up the entire tea pot and poured the tea straight into his mouth, as if he was trying to let out some steam.
“Dad, no matter what the others do, we just have to make sure we are doing our best. There’s no need to get angry; it’s not like the others would know. They might even be happy that you are angry, so no reason to be upset!”
“Yeah, you are right. We will just mind our own business.”
Cheng Biyuan put down the tea pot and left the courtyard in hasty steps. Nobody knew where he headed.
Only Cheng Xiao Xiao and her two brothers were left in the courtyard. Cheng Xiao Xiao told her younger brother Zheng Bin to go and take a nap inside the house and left the house with Zheng Yuan.
The two of them went straight to the bamboo forest. In the deepest part of the bamboo forest, the two of them stopped in front of a mount of rocks. A mild breeze and the vivid green leaves on the bamboo made rustling sounds. The two of them each sat on top of a rock.
Cheng Zheng Yuan looked at this older sister. He looked at his sister who made him felt both familiar and strange at the same time with a lot of respect. He couldn’t help but to ask, “Big sister, were you trying to ask what happened to our family in the past?”
“Precisely, Zheng Yuan. Tell me what had happened in our family. I had the right to know!” asked Cheng Xiao Xiao directly at her smart brother.
Cheng Zheng Yuan nodded, a sense of hatefulness flashed past his still somewhat childish face. Cheng Xiao Xiao was a bit surprised and her heart sank.
Slowly, Cheng Zheng Yuan started recounting the past of the family back in Emperor City.
The story began when Cheng Biyuan, the oldest boy of the Cheng’s, was recognized as a genius. When he was merely a few years old, he was crowned the most famed boy genius. Cultivating was as easy to him as eating. Others need to work for years to advance one level, he advanced a level a year from preparatory to martial spiritualist. Outside of cultivation, he was also well talented in poetry, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Even the emperor praised him as a boy genius and he brought upon himself jealousy from all over.
A well-rounded boy genius allowed the Cheng’s to rise in their status rapidly, almost catching up to that of the Long’s. During that time, the Cheng’s were the elites. Every single one of them carried an air of arrogance everywhere they went.
When Cheng Biyuan reached the age of ten, the number of suitors almost broke their front door down. Who wouldn’t want such an elite to be their son-in-law? But of course the Cheng’s didn’t care about any of them. The elders of the Cheng’s didn’t think the local powers were good enough for them, including the Luo’s, one of the seven top family in Yan. Rather, they aim for the best of the best – One Clan, One Hall, One Palace, One Valley.
