Chapter 93

Chapter 93

Buying the house today wasn't the main thing.

The Jiang residence was already different from how it used to be.

It was empty, devoid of any human warmth, deathly quiet—every step and word echoed with a hollow emptiness.

Jiang Yicen took Nan Shuyi on a casual stroll, starting from the main house.

Nan Shuyi told Jiang Yicen, "The agent gave me a history of the house."

Jiang Yicen: "Our family's?"

Nan Shuyi shook his head: "It's about what happened after you left—during the War of Resistance, your family turned it over to the Party, and it became a secret office. After liberation, the house was returned to the Jiang family. Since the Jiangs were abroad during that certain turbulent period, they narrowly dodged disaster, and the residence was preserved. The authorities also took your family's contributions into account and didn't take it back as public property."

Jiang Yicen knew exactly which turbulent period he was referring to—a time when many intellectuals and once-wealthy families were "knocked down."

He said, "If a family that contributed during the War of Resistance had been treated like that, it would've been a real slap in the face."

Nan Shuyi wasn't born in that era, so he didn't feel he could say much more about it. Even his uncle's generation had been sent down to the countryside, though his uncle was almost twenty years older than his dad and had died a long time ago.

Jiang Yicen sighed: "I never would've guessed this house had such an incredible story."

Nan Shuyi: "Your Jiang family really got the most out of everything."

At least it had been saved, even if the house was no longer in his hands.

He figured Uncle Yuan had kept the deed and land title safe, and later handed them over to his eldest brother's wife and nephews after they moved to America.

But now, he had some questions.

Jiang Yicen chatted with Nan Shuyi: "The house has survived for so long, through so much—why sell it now?"

Nan Shuyi: "Your nephews must've been really young when they left, right? They don't have any memories of China. The younger generations grew up overseas, don't know the country's history, and don't care about the house the way we do. Besides, it's an old house."

Jiang Yicen, though, couldn't believe his eldest brother's descendants would turn their backs on their roots and sell off the ancestral property that had been so hard to keep.

"Did they hit some kind of trouble overseas?"

He couldn't come up with any other reason.

Nan Shuyi didn't want him to dwell on it: "Could be."

Jiang Yicen had also been quietly looking into the Jiang family's affairs, and he told Nan Shuyi what he'd found.

He didn't know where things with Nan Shuyi would go, but for now, he cherished the genuine feelings the man had for him.

Nan Shuyi: "Liu Tan is a descendant of the Jiang family cook, Jiang Yuan was your family's steward, and Chen Zhicheng turns out to be his descendant? No wonder you treat the people close to you so differently."

Jiang Yicen nodded: "Mm. Uncle Yuan did a lot for the Jiang family. I'm sure he's the one who kept this house safe for us."

Bringing up old memories brought his mood down. Six months ago, Uncle Yuan had been standing right in front of him, alive and breathing. Six months later, he was in the ground.

Nan Shuyi didn't want him to slip back into the past, so he asked, "Where did you live before?"

The Jiang family had been well-off back then, but the house was built modestly and without showing off. Still, it used a lot of advanced materials for the time—ceramic tile floors, stained glass windows, and even electricity, running water, and flush toilets.

Jiang Yicen had only shown him the first floor, but everyone had lived on the second or third.

He used to live on the third floor, where he could see the big pear tree in the backyard every morning when he got up.

Nan Shuyi said, "This house must've been the height of fashion back in the day."

Jiang Yicen: "Actually, a lot of the house isn't that different from modern times. My father said that in business, you need a nose for it—and you should let your descendants live with and use new things, live in houses of the new era, and stay ahead of the times."

Nan Shuyi: "But this house is over a hundred years old."

Then he thought of the old place in Ningzhou that Jiang Yicen had taken him to see.

"Why'd you go live in Ningzhou as a kid?"

These were two totally different households—one a feudal estate stuck in the old ways, the other a new house full of excitement for new things.

Jiang Yicen thought to himself that Nan Shuyi was really sharp. It wasn't surprising he'd been seen through within six months—he'd been way too open around him, completely letting his guard down. Maybe deep down, he'd never wanted to guard against him.

He said, "Because a Taoist priest read my fortune. I was always sick as a kid, so my family sent me to be raised by my grandpa on my mom's side."

Nan Shuyi: "I didn't think a man as forward-thinking as your father would listen to a Taoist priest."

Jiang Yicen smiled: "Businessmen are the most superstitious bunch of all. But after I moved to Ningzhou, my health really did get a lot better."

Nan Shuyi: "Why was that?"

Jiang Yicen: "I think it's because when I lived at home, my family wouldn't let me walk on my own. I was the youngest, and my mom, oldest brother, second brother, and oldest sister all spoiled me rotten. Before I turned three, I barely ever walked on my own—the second my mom put me down, my oldest brother would come home and scoop me up, and then the whole family would take turns holding me."

Nan Shuyi laughed at that: "That really is over-the-top spoiling."

Jiang Yicen: "My grandpa on my mom's side knew my family spoiled me too much, so he took over raising me himself. Of course, there were nursemaids and whatnot around, but he made me walk on my own, study, practice calligraphy, and so on. That's how I got stronger."

Nan Shuyi found it hard to believe that a family that spoiled him that much would let him learn martial arts—martial arts training takes the most grit and endurance.

"So how did you start learning martial arts? And how did your family let you endure that kind of suffering?"

"Because things were unstable outside back then. All the boys in the family had to learn some martial arts to defend themselves."

Jiang Yicen then told Nan Shuyi about his childhood, bit by bit, without having to explain anything on purpose. They wandered wherever their feet took them and talked about whatever came up.

"This is my father and mother's living quarters."

"This is where my eldest brother and his wife stayed."

"This is the children's play area."

"This is where my second brother lived. He was the only one in our family who studied abroad—he was an Air Force pilot. He was really handsome. If I had photos, I'd show you how impressive he looked."

The Jiang residence had been used by others over the years, and much of the furniture showed signs of wear.

Before he'd left back then, he'd hidden away the family's valuables. He just didn't know if they were still where he'd stashed them. Only by getting the house back could he search—he hoped no one had found them.

The two finally arrived at Jiang Yicen's old bedroom.

Nan Shuyi had some impression of his room in the Jiang residence from before—it was classical, but lacked a lived-in feel.

Now, even just standing before the door that led to the balcony, Jiang Yicen seemed perfectly suited to the space.

The room contained a worn-out sofa, a heavily scuffed table, and a bed frame with no mattress—just bare wood.

The room had been cleared out, leaving it very empty.

Jiang Yicen touched the bed frame he had once slept on: "Back then, they didn't take over the third floor for offices, right? The original furniture's still here."

Nan Shuyi's eyes landed on the black bed frame: "So this is the bed you used to sleep on?"

Jiang Yicen nodded. "Yeah, I slept on it. The mattress is long gone."

Nan Shuyi then glanced at the desk by the window: "What about that desk? Did you use this one back then too?"

Jiang Yicen ran his fingertips lightly over the surface: "This desk is heavy—it's made of fine Hainan huanghuali wood. Yeah, I used it back then."

Nan Shuyi: "No wonder they make you show proof of assets just to look at the place. There aren't many Hainan huanghuali trees left these days, and it wasn't easy to get your hands on back then either."

Jiang Yicen: "Yeah, this house took a lot of work. A lot of the unremarkable-looking furniture was actually bought piece by piece over time. People who don't know their stuff wouldn't be able to tell."

That only made Nan Shuyi more determined to buy the house back.

He said: "In a couple of days, I'll ask around about the Jiang family's descendants. Buy it as soon as we can, don't give him a chance to back out. Don't let him wreck a house this good."

Most importantly, he wanted to sleep in the room Jiang Yicen used to sleep in, to bring him back to a place he was familiar with.

Sometimes when Jiang Yicen slept, he'd have nightmares, his body trembling on its own. But he never talked in his sleep, so Nan Shuyi never knew what he was dreaming about—maybe his late family, maybe the brutal scenes of war.

Jiang Yicen just smiled and said nothing. His eldest brother's descendant was also his relative—possibly the last bloodline of the Jiang family.

If it really turned out that the Jiang descendant was a spendthrift, he'd be genuinely heartbroken.

Nan Shuyi realized the connection between the current Jiang family and Jiang Yicen and wanted to slap himself. His quick mouth was a habit he really needed to fix.

He suddenly thought of all those feudal families with multiple wives back in the Republic of China era, including the old residence of Jiang Yicen's maternal grandfather in Ningzhou. Their family was feudal too, and he felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of panic.

Nan Shuyi grabbed Jiang Yicen by the shoulders. "By the way, I've got a very serious question!"

"What?"

Jiang Yicen didn't expect Nan Shuyi's mood to swing so fast; his little bit of sadness got scared right out of him.

Nan Shuyi: "Did your family set you up with a concubine?"

Jiang Yicen's face went red instantly. "Nonsense, our family never did that. The Jiang family has always been all for monogamy." There had been a fiancée once, but he absolutely couldn't bring that up now—or ever.

Nan Shuyi finally let out a sigh of relief. "That's more like it. Otherwise, I'd be screwed—I only got you."

Jiang Yicen: "..."

They only had so much time to wander around the Jiang residence. Jiang Yicen only dared to come and reminisce because Nan Shuyi was there with him. After being away for half a year, seeing his home like this was bound to hurt. They left within half an hour. The middle-aged housekeeper was pretty surprised, figuring they didn't like the big house, and felt a little disappointed they turned back so fast.

The pricier the house, the fewer buyers. Plus, almost the entire Jiang family had died unnatural deaths. The ones who could afford it were all businessmen, and businessmen are superstitious about feng shui. When the house went on the market, a lot of people came to look, but unfortunately nobody was willing to buy. A few with good taste asked if the furniture could be sold separately—the housekeeper blacklisted those people. The owner had said: sell it as a full set, no separate sales.

The middle-aged housekeeper walked them to the front gate. "Are you two satisfied with what you saw today?"

Jiang Yicen kept a straight face and nodded. "Not bad."

The middle-aged housekeeper didn't say much more, politely saw them off, and then shut the gate of the Jiang residence.

Jiang Yicen stood at the entrance and took one more look inside. He wanted to go home, but there was no family left. He couldn't help but sigh.

Nan Shuyi deliberately poked his cheek. "So young, and you're already sighing? You'll age fast."

Jiang Yicen was used to his little antics and grabbed his mischievous finger: "Didn't you say earlier that I'm like a little old man?"

Nan Shuyi: "No, you're not. I am."

Jiang Yicen hadn't asked about the house's price yet. "How much is it going for now?"

Nan Shuyi said lightly: "Six hundred million."

Jiang Yicen's sigh got even louder. He thought to himself, he was so broke.

Nan Shuyi: "It's fine. Worst case, I'll just mooch off my parents."

Jiang Yicen laughed at that. "Won't Dad be pissed?"

"He'd be thrilled. I'm so driven." Nan Shuyi didn't tell him that he'd tried to borrow two billion from Nan Anru, only to be treated like he was getting scammed and have the call hung up on him.

But this thing about Jiang Yicen—only he could know about it. He couldn't tell Nan Anru either. As for Yongjiang Restaurant, Nan Anru just thought he was reaching too high and wouldn't budge for now.

Jiang Yicen: "Then I'll work hard for Nanyuan and try to borrow interest-free money from Dad."

Nan Shuyi: "You've already created a lot of value for Nanyuan."

Without Jiang Yicen's operations and new ideas over the past six months, Nanyuan wouldn't have caught the attention of higher-ups. During the time he was abroad, Nanyuan even secured several billion US dollars in orders. His dad giving him a few hundred million wouldn't be excessive.

After leaving the Jiang residence, Nan Shuyi asked Jiang Yicen where else he wanted to go.

Jiang Yicen shook his head. He'd already been to Yongjiang Restaurant.

Thinking about how much money it would take to buy back the Jiang residence and Yongjiang Restaurant, only one word remained in his mind: "earn money."

He looked at Nan Shuyi: "Brother Shuyi, how about we go back to the company? After the new product launches, we might make a good profit."

Nan Shuyi: "You've become quite the money-grubber."

Jiang Yicen: "By the way, I want to go somewhere."

Nan Shuyi: "Where?"

Jiang Yicen: "I want to go see my father and mother, and my eldest brother."

He hadn't dared to go before because his heart ached too much. Now that he had someone with him, he dared to go.

Nan Shuyi: "Where are they buried?"

Jiang Yicen told him an address, but Nan Shuyi didn't move. He pursed his lips and took a long while before telling him.

"Yicen, that place you mentioned—it was leveled during the war. It's now been developed into a residential and commercial center. There are no graves there."

Jiang Yicen's body swayed slightly: "They're... they're gone?"

Nan Shuyi put his arm around his shoulders and guided him into the car, changing his words: "Maybe they're still there. Perhaps I misremembered. Let's go confirm first—seeing is believing."

An hour later, they arrived at the place where Jiang Yicen's parents were once buried—a feng shui treasure spot chosen by a fortune teller.

Jiang Yicen wouldn't misremember. The map of Lincheng during the Republic of China era wasn't much different from the current one, just the buildings and streets had changed.

What was once uninhabited land was now bustling with traffic, high-rises as far as the eye could see. The area had been developed for urban use and was no longer the pristine land it once was.

Nan Shuyi navigated to the address he gave, driving around several times before they both got out. No matter how they turned, the navigation address led to a high school.

His parents' and eldest brother's graves were gone.

Jiang Yicen felt everything go dark before his eyes. His body swayed slightly, and Nan Shuyi caught him.

Nan Shuyi held him, patting him gently to soothe him: "Yicen? It's okay, it's okay."

Tears streamed down Jiang Yicen's face: "I couldn't protect my father and the others' final remains. I'm useless."

Nan Shuyi's heartache for him reached its peak. He held him tightly and said: "It's not your fault. It's not your fault. The war is to blame."