Chapter 214

Chapter 214

◎Generational Feud◎

Zhao Yu is about the same age as his older brother, thirty-two this year, but he looks like he could be from a different generation compared to his brother. He’s not short, but a bit overweight from neglecting his fitness.

His brother looks like the kind of domineering CEO you’d only find in novels, while Zhao Yu looks like your average boss. Standing together, it's hard to believe they were once classmates.

This was also Zhao Yu’s first time meeting Ji Yunting’s younger brother. You have to admit, the Ji family has great genes. Every Ji family member he’s met is either handsome or beautiful, and the youngest brother is especially striking at first glance.

He warmly invited the two to sit down, then handed the menu to Ji Nanxing: "What do you want to drink?"

The dishes here are chef’s choice, so you don’t get to choose. You get whatever the chef decides to make, but you can pick your drinks.

Ji Nanxing shook his head: "Just plain water is fine."

Even though it’s dinner, Zhao Yu knows Ji Yunting isn’t much of a drinker, so he just ordered water for the younger brother and tea for Ji Yunting.

It had been a while since Zhao Yu and Ji Yunting had last seen each other. Looking at Ji Yunting, who was as handsome as ever, Zhao Yu patted his slightly rounded belly: "You haven’t changed a bit over the years, while I’m looking more and more like a boss."

Ji Yunting smiled and poured himself a cup of tea: "Just hit the gym more, and you won’t have to worry about that."

Zhao Yu sighed and shook his head: "Too busy. I can’t even remember the last time I had a quiet meal."

When he was studying abroad, his parents were always busy—so busy that even after he graduated, they thought he was still in college. Back then, he felt neglected and thought they didn’t care about him. But after taking over the family business, Zhao Yu realized that work never ends. You wake up to work and go to bed to work.

Time flows like water, slipping away in the blink of an eye, impossible to grasp. When you’re busy, you really forget everything, where would you find time for the gym? By the time you realize the passage of time, you’re already middle-aged.

The food was served quickly. Zhao Yu placed some dishes that seemed more appealing to children in front of Ji Nanxing: "Although the menu is fixed, if there's anything you particularly like, we can order an extra portion."

Ji Nanxing smiled and thanked him, then glanced at his brother. It seemed his brother hadn’t told Zhao Yu that he was a Taoist, probably just wanting him to take a look. If he didn’t want to handle this matter, he could always pass it on to someone else.

But this Zhao Yu, his aura is very mixed, heavy with Grudge, and there’s also evil energy, similar to what he felt in the elevator at the mall that day.

Ji Nanxing lowered his head to eat, while Ji Yunting asked: "What exactly is going on with your family?"

Zhao Yu put down his chopsticks and sighed: "This matter goes back to the feud of the previous generation in my family. Although I’m not sure if this is the cause, I can’t think of anything else."

Ji Yunting: "Let’s hear it."

Zhao Yu: "My grandfather had three sons and one daughter. My youngest aunt passed away when I was in college, as you know."

Ji Yunting nodded, he remembered this. Zhao Yu had taken leave to return home and seemed to have stayed for quite a while.

Zhao Yu: "My grandfather only had that one daughter, with three older brothers. My youngest aunt was very well protected, but because she was too well protected, she ended up being a hopeless romantic."

As a junior, it’s not appropriate to say this, but in Zhao Yu’s view, his youngest aunt was a hopeless romantic, the kind that no one could save.

"My youngest aunt didn’t fall in love with a poor college student, but our family thought it would have been better if she had, even a gold-digger would have been preferable. Our family has the means, my uncles and father are all capable, they could have protected her. But instead, my youngest aunt fell for Zhou Yucheng from the Zhou family."

Ji Yunting’s eyes showed a slight change upon hearing Zhou Yucheng’s name: "Him?"

Zhao Yu sighed deeply: "Yes, that one from the Zhou family."

Zhou Yucheng was very handsome, the kind of handsome that belongs to a playboy. He played around a lot and was ruthless. Once, a young girl tampered with a condom to try to get pregnant and secure her position, but when Zhou Yucheng found out, he beat her until she miscarried and could never have children again.

Of course, this happened after his youngest aunt’s death, so they didn’t know how ruthless Zhou Yucheng was at the time. They only knew he played around a lot, with no regard for gender.

They couldn’t understand how their pure and innocent youngest aunt could fall for Zhou Yucheng, and love him so much that she insisted on marrying him.

The family backgrounds of the two families were quite evenly matched, but the Zhao family was not the type to arrange marriages for their children. They believed in free love and marriage, not putting much emphasis on social status. Of course, it would be nice if the other party's family background was also good, but while the Zhou family was decent, Zhou Yucheng was not.

Back then, they tried their best to persuade her, saying that Zhou Yucheng was not a good match, that such a playboy could not be tamed by any woman.

But his aunt thought she was the special one, that she was Zhou Yucheng's salvation, the beacon that would guide him home.

Thinking about the past, Zhao Yu couldn't help but take a sip of tea to calm his emotions: "Grandpa beat him, grandma wept, my two uncles, my dad, my aunts, and my mom all tried to persuade her in different ways. But my aunt was dead set on marrying him, refusing to budge, even thinking that we, her family, were obstacles to her happiness. It was like the more we tried to stop her, the more their love burned. But only my aunt was immersed in her own world; Zhou Yucheng didn't care at all, continuing his wild lifestyle."

Ji Yunting: "She ended up marrying him anyway."

Zhao Yu sighed again: "Yes, she still married him. Parents can't out-stubborn their kids. Zhou Yucheng also married her indifferently, and to make him treat my aunt better, grandpa even gave 3% of the company's shares as part of the dowry."

They initially thought Zhou Yucheng was just a playboy, but with the elders of both families around, no matter how wild he was, he still had to consider the family's reputation. Even if he didn't change, as long as he didn't flaunt it openly, the Zhao family wouldn't say much.

After all, it was my aunt who insisted on marrying him, and everyone knew about Zhou Yucheng's wild ways. They couldn't seriously expect him to reform just because of marriage, or to become a good husband overnight. That was just plain unrealistic.

Zhao Yu: "At that time, we only thought Zhou Yucheng was wild, not knowing the cruelty in his bones. He didn't want to marry my aunt in the first place; it was his family's patriarch who beat him and forced him to marry her."

Ji Nanxing, slowly eating his fried fish, felt his mind go numb. Emotional messes like this were too hard to figure out.

Zhao Yu continued: "Probably because of this, Zhou Yucheng grew to hate my aunt. Right after the marriage, he played the part of a reformed playboy, completely enchanting my love-struck aunt. She probably saw herself as the heroine of a romantic drama, already not too bright, and now even more clueless. Zhou Yucheng was cruel, sweet-talking my aunt for over a year, getting her pregnant, and then when she was seven months along, she fell down the stairs and lost the baby."

That was when the Zhao family's nightmare began.

Before my aunt could even recover from her miscarriage, Zhou Yucheng went back to his wild ways, even bringing other women home.

My aunt, somehow manipulated by Zhou Yucheng, believed it was all her fault for not taking care of herself, causing the loss of their seven-month-old baby. She thought Zhou Yucheng's wild behavior was due to his grief.

When Zhao Yu heard his mother say this back then, he was filled with confusion. How could someone's thought process be so bizarre?

Zhao Yu: "We don't know exactly what Zhou Yucheng did to my aunt during those months, but she was severely tormented, becoming emaciated and suffering from severe depression. The family, fearing for her safety, brought her back home, but she refused and caused all sorts of scenes. She kept insisting it was all her fault, that if she could just get pregnant again, Zhou Yucheng would return, that he loved her, and that if they could just have another child, they could return to how things were before."

"But Zhou Yucheng didn't care about children. Today he was at this nightclub, tomorrow his scandal with some small celebrity would be all over the headlines, kissing and hugging in public, even photographed shopping with multiple women. Grandpa went to the Zhou family multiple times, asking the patriarch to at least try to rein in his son, not expecting him to be perfect, just to avoid making things too embarrassing. But Zhou Yucheng not only didn't restrain himself, he even publicly..."

Zhao Yu glanced at Ji Nanxing, who was quietly eating, and held back the next part of his story, not wanting to corrupt the child: "He publicly said things to belittle my aunt, which deeply hurt her. One morning, my aunt sneaked back to the Zhou family and jumped off a building."

Ji Nanxing looked at Zhao Yu but said nothing, continuing to slowly sip his soup.

Ji Yunting: "Did anything else happen after that?"

Zhao Yu nodded: "The 3% of shares given to my aunt were transferred to Zhou Yucheng when she was pregnant, after he coaxed her into it. After my aunt's death, grandpa fell ill from grief, and the stock prices plummeted. Zhou Yucheng took advantage of the situation to buy up more shares, even becoming one of the directors of the Zhao family. Without the patriarch of the Zhou family's intervention, this wouldn't have been possible; Zhou Yucheng didn't have that kind of money."

During that time, the family was in chaos. My aunt's death, grandpa's illness, and the company being continuously encroached upon by the Zhou family.

But the family didn't tell him much. After handling my aunt's funeral, he stayed in the country to take care of grandpa for a while, only returning to school after grandpa was discharged from the hospital.

When he graduated and returned to the country, the family's assets had shrunk by nearly a third. Fortunately, they managed to preserve the core of the Zhao family and completely severed ties with the Zhou family.

But the Zhou family had sucked a lot of blood from them. If it weren't for grandpa's decisive actions back then, the Zhao family might have been renamed Zhou by now.

Zhao Yu: "That's the old grudge between our two families from the previous generation. Two months ago, Zhou Yucheng died, from illness, apparently liver cancer. He had kept it very secret. The Zhou family was also embroiled in internal and external conflicts. Over the years, as Zhou Yucheng's methods became increasingly ruthless, his actions less reckless, and he successfully completed several major projects, the Zhou family's resources gradually shifted towards him. Everyone said Zhou Yucheng would be the next head of the Zhou family, so he kept his illness tightly under wraps. But no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't fight fate."

Ji Nanxing put down his chopsticks, took out a tissue to wipe his mouth, and looked at Zhao Yu: "What did you do at the Zhou family?"

The once quiet and obedient younger brother now seemed, perhaps not by illusion, to exude a sharp and imposing aura when he asked this question.

Zhao Yu instinctively answered: "We disrupted the funeral."

Ji Yunting couldn't hide his surprise: "You mean, your family went and disrupted Zhou Yucheng's funeral?"

Zhao Yu nodded. His grandfather had always harbored deep resentment over the death of his daughter and the takeover of the Zhao family's business. Therefore, after Zhou Yucheng's death, he arranged for a series of banners to be sent with messages like "what goes around comes around" and "end of the family line" to be hung at the entrance of Zhou Yucheng's memorial hall, which even caused Zhou's father to have a heart attack.

Looking at the dark mist on his face, Ji Nanxing didn't know what to say. This calamity of being ensnared by Grudge was truly of his own making.

From their description, Zhou Yucheng was inherently ruthless, and his playboy persona might just be a superficial disguise. Ji Nanxing wasn't clear about the internal situation of the Zhou family, but it was obvious that the internal strife within such a family wouldn't be small.

Zhou Yucheng had fought hard to break through and was on the verge of taking sole control, but he couldn't resist fate and died early from illness. This man must have been filled with deep resentment and unwillingness. Such a person belongs to the type who would find it hard to rest in peace even in death.

From a Taoist's viewpoint, performing a ritual to cleanse the Grudge from such a person after death is advisable; otherwise, it's easy for lingering ghosts to remain due to unresolved obsessions.

But the Zhao family went and disrupted the memorial hall. With the Grudge of the unwilling dead soul, who else would it target but them?