"Hmm..." Zhao Guangyin nodded. "Qibing, you are to take that thing and come with me—back to the Zhao family at once!"

There were too many people here, too many eyes and ears, so Zhao Guangyin did not utter the words "Qi Gathering Pill."

"Understood!" Zhao Qibing nodded hurriedly. "The thing is right here against my chest. Shall we set off now?"

"Let's go!" Zhao Guangyin had long known that his son's leg was broken, yet seeing the boy in a wheelchair with his own eyes still filled him with feeling. He walked over, took the chair himself, and pushed Zhao Qibing toward the bar's entrance, speaking as he went, "Cihua, everything here is in your hands!"

"Rest easy, boss. While Young Master Bing is away, I will do my utmost to handle affairs here!" Li Cihua answered with a hasty nod.

"Good. But remember this: for the time being you must keep a low profile and stir up no trouble," Zhao Guangyin instructed. "There is a saying—take one step back, and sea and sky open wide. The old master is certain to enter seclusion. During this period not the slightest mishap may be allowed; everything must clear the road for the old master's breakthrough!"

"Yes, boss!" Li Cihua's expression turned grave, and he agreed at once. So Old Master Zhao was about to break through to Heaven rank—and once he became a Heaven-rank expert, the lift to the Zhao family's strength would be beyond reckoning. Nothing, then, could be permitted to go wrong while the old master advanced.

Zhao Guangyin nodded, and with Old Bi and Zhao Qibing he left the bar.

When they reached the car, Old Bi stepped forward first and lifted Zhao Qibing into the back seat, while he himself took the passenger seat as before.

He did so partly out of respect for Zhao Guangyin, the future patriarch, and partly because Zhao Qibing was now a man of merit in the Zhao family. If this Qi Gathering Pill proved genuine, then Zhao Qibing's standing would surely rise with the tide—he might even become heir to the patriarch.

After Zhao Guangyin got into the car, he told the driver to head straight back to the Zhao family and not linger in Songshan City, lest a long night breed many dreams.

"Qibing, let me introduce you—this is Old Bi of our house, your grandfather's steward, and the old steward of the Zhao family besides," Zhao Guangyin said. "Just call him Grandpa Bi."

"Yes, Father!" Zhao Qibing answered respectfully, then turned to Old Bi. "Grandpa Bi, how do you do? Thank you for earlier!"

"Heh heh, Young Patriarch, this child is a good one—so courteous!" Old Bi nodded with a smile.

Zhao Guangyin felt a flicker of awkwardness. He knew Old Bi was insinuating that his own son by Yu Xiaojin was arrogant and overbearing. But it was hardly strange: a legitimate son of a legitimate line, the young patriarch's boy, could scarcely help looking down his nose at everyone at home.

Especially at that rebellious age, when a boy knows neither the height of heaven nor the depth of earth. Yet this Zhao Qibing had actually won Old Bi's praise!

Zhao Guangyin knew well enough what Zhao Qibing was like; outside, the boy was an arrogant, domineering sort as well. He merely behaved more properly in front of his elders.

But Zhao Guangyin would never call him out on it. Within the family, though he was the young patriarch, Old Bi was close to his second brother's son and rather cold and displeased toward his own. And Old Bi, as a clan elder, would surely enter the Council of Elders once Zhao Guangyin ascended to the patriarch's seat—which made his opinion on the choosing of the next patriarch all the more weighty.

Now that he looked favorably on Zhao Qibing, Zhao Guangyin could take a measure of comfort. When the day came to select the next patriarch, even if Zhao Qibing were chosen, that would be far preferable to his second brother's child taking the seat.

"Old Bi praises me too much. Courtesy is a fine and traditional virtue," Zhao Qibing said modestly. "But I have seen little of the world and know little of its rules. I beg you not to take offense—and when I meet my grandfather in a while, do give me plenty of guidance!"

"That goes without saying. When the time comes, just stay at your Grandpa Bi's side—I will keep watch for you!" Old Bi, delighted by Zhao Qibing's words, agreed again and again.

Nothing was said the whole way. Only when the car drove into the Zhao family estate did Zhao Qibing and Old Bi breathe out together in relief. It was no exaggeration to call this pill worth whole cities; they had feared some mishap along the road. Fortunately, the Yu family presumably still knew nothing.

Once inside the estate, the car could only be left in the estate's parking lot, for the interior was all narrow, winding paths meant for people on foot and not for vehicles. So Zhao Guangyin and Old Bi had to get out and walk, while Zhao Qibing remained in his wheelchair.

The sights of the estate stirred longing in Zhao Qibing. So this was the Zhao family? If only one day he might become master here. Zhao Qibing drew a deep breath. He had made up his mind: he must seize this one chance.

If one day he became master of the Zhao family, then never mind Wei Zhao, never mind Ergoudan—they would count for nothing. In his presence they were ants!

"Guangyin, this is...?" Zhao Guangyin had not expected that he had barely taken a few steps from the car before he saw his wife, Yu Xiaojin. Her eyes were fixed on Zhao Qibing; though she was asking him, she had clearly already recognized the boy.

Given how well informed Yu Xiaojin was, she surely had long since held Zhao Qibing's particulars in hand. It was only that in recent years Zhao Guangyin had had little contact with the boy, and Zhao Qibing had never returned to the Zhao family, so she had turned a blind eye.

But this time, Zhao Guangyin had brought Zhao Qibing back openly and without concealment, and that did not sit well with Yu Xiaojin.

"Xiaojin, this... is Zhao Qibing... You must know already... so I will spare the introductions..." Zhao Guangyin was suddenly embarrassed, at something of a loss to explain why Zhao Qibing had come here.

"Well, well, Guangyin? Aren't you something!" Yu Xiaojin gave a cold laugh. "I thought that after all these years you had set that notion aside. Who would have guessed you would actually bring him home?"

"Young Mistress, if you have words for the young patriarch, save them for when you have time!" Old Bi cut her off coldly. "The old master has named Qibing and asked to see him. I am to take him to the old master."

"What?" Yu Xiaojin was stunned. She had not expected that it was Old Master Zhao who wanted to see Zhao Qibing. She had assumed Zhao Guangyin had sought out Old Bi to put in a good word with the old master, so that the boy might be acknowledged and take his place in the clan—she had read the whole thing wrong.

"Xiaojin, it is Father who wants to see Qibing. Let us speak of this another time, shall we?" Zhao Guangyin thought of how his father was about to break through from Earth rank to Heaven rank, and felt a new confidence in his heart. By then the family would possess a Heaven-rank expert just as the Yu family did, and he would no longer have to watch Yu Xiaojin's face.

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