Chapter 625: Xie Qingzheng

"Lao Er, where is Lao San?"

The head of the Xie Family looked at his eldest son. He had always pinned his hopes on his eldest son, yet the eldest son was nothing but a bookworm. After studying abroad for many years, he actually came back wanting to enter some godforsaken research institute. He, the Xie Jia Dashao, going to a research institute?

Researching how to blow people up? Researching how to kill people?

Or researching how to traffic drugs and sell sex?

The head of the Xie Family had locked him in his room. If the matter this time hadn't been so grave, the eldest son wouldn't have been let out.

"I have been in my room the whole time." The eldest son's voice was very flat, devoid of any emotion. In his hand, he was still clutching a book; the entire book was thicker than his palm.

"You..." The head of the Xie Family slammed the table. "You are all useless!"

The eldest is a bookworm, Lao Er is incapable of accomplishing anything, and while Lao San usually seemed decent, quiet and unassuming, he had gone and caused such a huge disaster for himself, and now he was nowhere to be found.

"Sir, it's bad." The butler ran in, his entire body hunched over, trembling.

"Speak, don't stutter," the head of the Xie Family shouted.

"The police officers from the police station were invited to the Clubhouse by Xie Sanshao. People from the Councilor's office are also at the Clubhouse today. Now, people from all sides have called, demanding that we hand over the person."

The butler's legs were shaking. When he had just answered the phone, he could feel the fury from the other end of the line, even through the phone cord.

It's over; the Xie Family is finished.

The face of the head of the Xie Family turned pale for a moment. "Investigate. See who all entered the Clubhouse yesterday."

"Lao Er, you go find Lao San. I want to see him alive, or see his corpse."

The head of the Xie Family narrowed his eyes. Inside, he was constantly weighing things: if...

He dared not think any further.

"It seems the old man really did pick a good successor!"

"Our second branch has already split off, so we won't get involved with you, Big Brother."

The people of the second branch stood up.

"Lao Er, are you sure you want to break away from the Xie Family?" The head of the Xie Family narrowed his eyes, his whole demeanor turning ruthless, imposing without even needing to be angry.

It had to be said, the ruthlessness and coldness of Xie Sanshao were truly cut from the same cloth as the head of the Xie Family.

"Big Brother, when Father was distributing the will, why didn't you ask a single word about whether I was sure?"

The second branch laughed heartily and, taking everyone from the second branch with them, left the Old Residence directly.

"Lao San, what do you say?" The head of the Xie Family looked at his third brother; he had always been good to Lao San.

The third master of the Xie Family looked at his eldest brother and said with an apologetic face.

"Big Brother, I will protect the people of my branch well and take them to try and make a comeback."

"You...!"

The head of the Xie Family looked at Lao San, his face full of disbelief.

"Big Brother, can't you see it yet? The Xie Family is finished."

The third master of the Xie Family pointed out the key point directly. Although it was just a Clubhouse, it involved too many people; the Xie Family could not afford to pay, and had no way to pay.

The mansion was about to collapse.

It was never a palace built brick by brick; with one foundation stone missing, the entire mansion would collapse.

Those past events were nothing more than flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water.

"Get out!"

The head of the Xie Family was so angry he spat out a mouthful of blood. The room that had been full of people just a moment ago now only had two left.

Besides the head of the Xie Family, there was only the Xie Jia Dashao.

"Eldest," the head of the Xie Family looked at his son, but his eldest son's hands held only that book.

"Father." The eldest son slowly set the book down.

"The Xie Family will have to rely on you." The head of the Xie Family looked at his son with a face full of relief; at the very least, he still had him.

The Xie Jia Dashao looked at his father, his face showing an unfamiliar emotion.

"Do you know why I read?" the eldest son asked softly.

"Why?"

The head of the Xie Family asked unconsciously, as if he sensed the atmosphere was wrong.

"My mother told me to study hard and be a person of integrity. I listened."

The Xie Jia Dashao stood up and placed the book lovingly on the stool.

"Do you still remember my mother?" he asked softly.

His mother and the mothers of Lao Er and Lao San were not the same person. His mother was very kind and gentle, always smiling warmly.

No matter how many wounds or how much hatred she carried, the look in her eyes when she saw him was always love.

That kind of look was something he would never forget in his entire life.

When he was little, his greatest wish was to grow up quickly and then take his mother away from this cage.

But his mother would always shake her head faintly. "Qingzheng, do you know why Mother had you named this?"

"Mother hopes you will study hard, be a person who understands reason and distinguishes right from wrong, a person of integrity. Would you like that?"

As a young child, he always asked his mother why.

His mother would not answer, but she would say these words tirelessly, over and over again.

"Father, do you still remember how my mother died?" Xie Qingzheng looked indifferent; the way he looked at the head of the Xie Family was as if he were a stranger.

No, not even as much as a stranger.

Deep in his eyes was hatred!

It was just that he hid it too well. Reading had allowed him to dispel the hatred, and that poor woman—she did not want him to hate.

"Your mother died of illness, Eldest. Your mother died of an illness."

The eldest master of the Xie family narrowed his eyes, looking at this son who had always been honest and dull.

"Died of illness? Hahaha!"

"Died of illness!"

"Mother, you see, the person you wouldn't let me hate actually tells me that you died of illness!"

"How ridiculous!"

Xie Qingzheng wore a smile on his face, laughing at his mother, laughing at the man before him, and laughing even more at his own birth.

"Twenty years ago, the brother you brought back defiled Mother in exchange for your three crates of bullets."

"Also twenty years ago, the man you brought back entered Mother's room in exchange for a check."

"..."

Sentence by sentence, passage by passage, as a child, he remembered it all clearly.

He was not dull, he was not stupid; in fact, he was more sensible than the average child from an early age.

On his mother's body, there were layers upon layers of wounds.

On his mother's face, there was day after day of indifference.

He could remember it, but he was small at the time, and he understood nothing.

But by the time he understood, that woman had already left...

"Do you remember? The Xie Family's rise began with my mother, and it was you who defiled her."

Originally, the Xie Family's rise was all because of his mother, but in the end, the Xie Family seized his mother's family assets, which is how the current Xie Family came to be, yet the Xie Family walked a dark path.

"Xie Qingzheng, I am your father!"

The eldest master of the Xie family shouted, slamming the table; the commotion in the room startled many people, but no one dared to approach.

"It is precisely because you are my father, and your blood flows in my veins, that I feel so disgusted." Xie Qingzheng pushed up his glasses.

"Do you know? When she died, she told me not to touch you."

Xie Qingzheng laughed, wiping away the tears at the corners of his eyes without any attempt to hide them.

"Eldest master of the Xie family, I will just watch you court death, watching you walk step by step toward a dead end."

"With an improper origin and an improper heart, you will not be able to hold onto this for a lifetime."