CHAPTER 282: CHAPTER 214: CONFRONTATION (PART 2)

My partner is Liu Xizhi, adopted daughter of the Gu Family’s main branch. We’ve waited for over forty years, but haven’t seen a trace of her, searched all over the north and south of the river and still couldn’t find her.

Now that we’re here, as the son-in-law of the Gu Family, I must demand an attitude from the Zhou Family. Zhou Xiaozheng is Zhou Jinyu’s son, the only progeny of the direct lineage of the Gu and Zhou Families, and must be acknowledged.

I don’t want to speak about how much suffering they’ve endured. I just want to know if Zhou Jianren acknowledges the truth. If he keeps pretending to be ignorant, I’ll call the police immediately. We have proof and photos left by Gu Mingzhu, as well as witnesses and evidence to prove Zhou Xiaozheng is not Zhou Jianren’s biological son."

The clan leader listened and looked at Old Sir Zhou, who was silent, sighed, and turned to consult quietly with the two clan elders beside him. After a while, the clan leader opened the genealogy, matched it with the old genealogy, and looked at Old Sir Zhou, "Jianren, what do you say? Express your stance."

Mr. Cheng took the box handed over by Cheng Sijin, opened it, and took out a stack of notes and photos, selecting two to pass to the clan leader.

"These are photos of the family heirloom jade pendant and the small seal inside the token, along with the features described by Gu Mingzhu. If he still remains silent, I’ll have people call the police to search the Zhou Family."

A clan elder of the Zhou Family shouted angrily, "If you don’t speak up, I’ll have your family expelled from the clan. Do you still hope to get away with it? Hasn’t your family lost enough face?"

Old Sir Zhou looked up at everyone, opened his mouth to speak but then closed it, lowered his head and remained silent.

The clan leader frowned and said, "If you have nothing to say, just hand over the items. They have the evidence, and if you stay silent, after we leave, whether you end up in jail or elsewhere, we truly won’t care."

Upon hearing this, Old Sir Zhou lowered his head, gently touched his chest, reluctantly took out a Chicken Blood Stone seal, looked at it before closing his eyes and handing it to the clan leader, and then got up and went to the inner room.

Mr. Cheng gave Xiao Chen a look, who followed him inside. Shortly after, Old Sir Zhou came out holding a small box.

Old Mrs. Cheng, crying, rushed forward to snatch the box, gently caressing it with her hand, "This is the box. This was the box my sister took with her at the time." Saying that, she hugged it tightly, wailing loudly.

Zhou Xiaozheng and Cheng Sijin rushed to embrace her, hurriedly giving her medicine and water.

When Old Mrs. Cheng came back to her senses, she anxiously stuffed the box into Zhou Xiaozheng’s arms, "Look at this, it’s what your mother left for you. Open it and see, you must keep it safe."

Mr. Cheng handed Zhou Jinyu’s seal to his partner, "See if it belongs to your brother-in-law? And your sister’s jade pendant, take a look."

Old Mrs. Cheng took the seal, looked at it, tears streaming down her face as she nodded, "It’s my brother-in-law’s. There’s a black dot here, my brother-in-law said he originally wanted to carve a dragon pattern here for a ’finishing touch’ effect."

Zhou Xiaozheng opened the box and saw inside a round piece of top-grade Mutton Fat Jade, ironically curled his lip, truly, wealth is tempting.

Mr. Cheng saw the token received, smiled at the old clan leader’s grandson, and asked, "Don’t be nervous, did your grandfather ever talk about Xiaozheng? We’d like to hear about it."

The other person smiled sincerely and said, "I’ve lived many years, it’s been too long, I only remember that he passed away unexpectedly and didn’t leave any words. He wouldn’t tell us about these matters. He often said ignorance is bliss."

The clan leader looked at Zhou Jianren and questioned him, "What about the gold? Did Gu Mingzhu leave any messages before she left?"

Seeing the matter settled, Old Sir Zhou decided to give up trying, and said sullenly, "Gu Mingzhu said those were for the child’s upbringing. She also left some donations for the clan."

At the time, my partner had just had a miscarriage, Gu Mingzhu and the old clan leader came to us, entrusting us to temporarily take care of the child for a year or two. Gu Mingzhu asked the old clan leader to add Zhou Xiaozheng’s name under Zhou Jinyu in the genealogy, saying that it was Zhou Jinyu’s instruction. After the old clan leader added the name to the old genealogy, they heard Gu Mingzhu say many people were eyeing the Gu Family’s inheritance, the child was now in danger, and she needed to arrange things before taking back the child. He copied out a new genealogy, planning to add the name to it when times were stable, and saved the old genealogy as evidence.

She did indeed say that if she didn’t appear by the time the child turned three, they were to find Liu Xizhi with the token. But how to find someone with a child then? When the child grew up, the clan leader was gone, I was attached to the child, he was our Zhou Family’s child, handing him over to outsiders was uneasy."

Old Mrs. Cheng hurriedly asked, "Did my sister say anything else at the time?"

"Nothing else, she just said the child’s father was gone, and she was also in danger now, in case she couldn’t come back or couldn’t find Liu Xizhi. When the child was old enough to understand, they should tell him about his origins, and said Zhou Jinyu instructed before his death to never forget to learn martial arts, and the gold was left just in case, for finding a master for the child in the future."

Mr. Cheng immediately asked him, "Where was the place to find Liu Xizhi?"

"She left us two addresses, one in the south, one in the north. One in GD and one in the outskirts of Beijing. But it was too far, that’s why we didn’t send the child there."

Mr. Cheng didn’t bother with his explanation, looked at his partner, seeing her nod, said, "Things are clear. Forget about the gold. Clan leader, when can the child be brought to the ancestral hall?"

After the clan leader and others discussed it, he said, "Let’s take the genealogy to the ancestral hall tomorrow morning, as for paying respects, you can do that yourself."

Mr. Cheng nodded, understanding that Zhou Jinyu’s grave was in the outskirts of Beijing, and those paying respects here were also ancestors. "Then it’s settled like this. See you directly at the ancestral hall tomorrow morning."

He then looked at Zhou Xiaozheng, "Child, is there anything else you want to say?"

Zhou Xiaozheng shook his head, stood up, walked to Mrs. Zhou, knelt, and kowtowed three times, "I won’t return here in the future. If you miss me, write to me, I’ll take you for your retirement."

After saying this, he got up, saw Mrs. Zhou covering her mouth and crying softly, steeled his heart, and turned to support Old Mrs. Cheng as they left.

Mr. Cheng watched as Zhou Xiaozheng and his partner were already walking out, "Let’s all leave. Tonight has been troubling for everyone."

As they left, Old Sir Zhou sat silently in the main room. After a while, disregarding the reproachful gazes from his sons and grandsons, he got up and went straight into the bedroom.

This night was a nightmare for the elder branch of the Zhou Family. Zhou Xiaocun looked at his elderly mother, but didn’t step forward to offer a few words of comfort, instead led his sons back to the room.

The eldest son, Zhou Lidong, stopped the family from asking questions and asked himself, "Dad, did you know all along that little uncle wasn’t your biological child? Didn’t even aunt know?"

Zhou Xiaocun glanced at the people in the room, seeing their dejected expressions, and said angrily, "So what if we knew early on? He was raised by our family. The mistake was that your grandfather kept so much gold and didn’t say anything. If we had known Zhou Xiaozheng’s origins were so complicated, how could things have gotten out of control like this? Your grandfather is just a fool. Alright, scatter now, everyone must behave from now on."

"I don’t dare to go out anymore. Once the ancestral hall opens tomorrow morning, everything will spread. It’s so disgraceful." The youngest son muttered under his breath, seeing his father’s expression, he gradually dared not make a sound.