CHAPTER 101: CHAPTER 100: THE ECCENTRIC YOUNGER BROTHER

Unlike those relatives who can be squeezed for money, Zheng Wei and Zheng Wu are both distinguished young gentlemen. After all, the appearance of the rich in their youth cannot possibly be bad—the Jing Family has a century-long history, and solely through natural genetic selection (only marrying beauties) they can cultivate high-quality descendants.

Those chubby people were not much different in their youth either, and they would practice Combat Techniques to prolong their lives. It’s just that as they age, their metabolism slows down, while the money and power they wield only increase, making it impossible for them to maintain their physique. They indulge in pleasures and become fat boys.

However, Zheng Wei and Zheng Wu have completely different temperaments. Zheng Wei is like a charming, eccentric, sickly young master, whereas Zheng Wu is an astute and valiant jade gentleman. If you were to use Zheng Wei’s aesthetic judgment to describe it, he could dress as a delicate female assistant, while his brother could only dress as a sunny athletic beauty—perhaps that’s the difference.

But Leyu doesn’t feel much animosity towards Zheng Wu.

Or rather, Zheng Wei doesn’t feel much animosity towards his brother.

Although they were destined to fight to the death for the Patriarch position from birth, Zheng Wei actually appreciates Zheng Wu—smart, hardworking, neither arrogant nor impetuous, utilizing all connections, ruthless.

There are naturally no good people in the Jing Family. Once Zheng Wu got involved in the family business, he also often embezzled funds. The few treasures that Leyu provided to White Night are actually Zheng Wu’s ’little treasury.’ But this is normal behavior; everyone does it. If Zheng Wei had the opportunity, he would surely seize family assets too.

What truly makes Zheng Wei appreciate him is his brother’s constant adherence to one principle: acting within the rules of the Silver Blood Association. This rule doesn’t mean ’don’t break the rules,’ but rather ’as long as no one finds out, then it’s not breaking the rules.’

Not breaking the rules of the Silver Blood Association, not harming its interests, that is the first ironclad law of Xuanzhu County. Other heirs more or less triggered this ironclad law, except for Zheng Wei and Zheng Wu who stick to this bottom line. Therefore, in Zheng Wei’s view, the Patriarch position is either his or his brother’s.

If the Patriarch is seized by any of the other heirs, then the Silver Blood Association will sooner or later take action against the Jing Family. A Patriarch who cannot distinguish between major rights and wrongs is seen by others as a piece of meat waiting to be butchered.

If it were Zheng Wei, he would certainly choose to stay on friendly terms with Zheng Wu, but Leyu has no such interest—he’s crazy enough to even cut down his own subordinates, so why fear a brother?

"My dear brother, it’s been a long time, I’ve missed you so much!"

Zheng Wu was completely stunned by a fierce bear hug from Leyu, and his fiancée, Qin Yueshi, was bewildered as well.

If anyone understands the great master Zheng Wei best, it must be these brothers who are coveting the Patriarch’s position.

What are the keywords associated with Zheng Wei? Deep schemes, cruel and bizarre, cunning and sly... None of these will explain his action of ’actively hugging his brother.’ When Zheng Wei hugged Zheng Wu, the bodyguards stationed in the distance thought there was going to be a ’Jing Garden Coup’ between brothers, and they rushed over in fright.

"Zheng Wu... Zheng Wu also especially esteems his elder brother." Zheng Wu forced a smile, his hands stiffly patting Leyu’s back. The bodyguards, realizing it wasn’t a fight, quickly stopped and retreated.

"Today, big brother is so enthusiastic, seems like he’s in a good mood, did something good happen?" Qin Yueshi glanced at Qing Lan and asked softly.

"Yes, coming home to see my brother, of course I’m in a good mood, right brother?" Leyu released Zheng Wu, reached out and messed up his handsome hairstyle.

Zheng Wu quickly stepped back a few paces to avoid Leyu’s clutches, respectfully saying, "Brother, it’s your first time bringing Miss Qing Lan to Jing Garden, isn’t it? I won’t hinder you from showing Miss Qing Lan around Jing Garden, bless you both with many children, see you tonight."

With that said, Zheng Wu hurriedly left with Qin Yueshi, as if Leyu might rush over to hug him again.

Qing Lan also looked at Leyu, dumbfounded: "Young master, just now you..."

"What did I just do?"

"You were so enthusiastic just now." Qing Lan muttered in her heart, more so than towards me.

"Otherwise we’d end up chatting endlessly." Leyu scratched his head, calmly saying: "Were you hoping to chat with them?"

"But... aren’t he your brother and sister-in-law?" Qing Lan was a bit puzzled: "Isn’t chatting a good thing?"

"Heh." Leyu laughed: "Did you notice, I didn’t actually introduce your name."

Qing Lan slightly raised an eyebrow but showed a smiling, gentle nod: "Didn’t notice~"

Leyu felt something was off but didn’t pay much attention: "But before leaving, my brother accurately said your name."

Qing Lan thought for a moment: "Young master has been taking me out these days, so the second young master knowing me isn’t too surprising...right?"

"That’s actually okay, but do you remember a blessing he gave us before leaving?"

Qing Lan’s face turned slightly red: "The second young master seemed to bless us with many children."

"Heh." Leyu sneered: "Don’t you know what kind of person Jing...I am?"

Qing Lan was slightly taken aback.

"My dear brother naturally knows better what kind of person I am, yet he’s blessing us with many children...I really don’t want to chat with someone so sarcastic."

"As the saying goes, innocence counters deviousness, deviousness counters arrogance. I naturally pretend to be the enthusiastic big brother to drive him away, otherwise, chatting with him might reveal even the type of underwear I’m wearing today."

Although Leyu is replacing Zheng Wei, he has always limitedly absorbed Zheng Wei’s memories, completely rejecting Zheng Wei’s influence, thus unable to inherit Zheng Wei’s devious side of personality. When interacting with others of lesser status than Zheng Wei, Leyu can still pretend to be a cold overbearing CEO, but if chatting with his brother, he might be recognized as a brother ’who became dumb’.

Turning his thoughts around, Leyu found that pretending to be clever in conversation would surely show flaws. So why not go the opposite way, act as a silly, cute big brother to fool Zheng Wu completely.

If the flaws I show are extensive enough, it’s equivalent to having no flaws!

Sure enough, Zhengwu Jing was so scared that he ran off immediately. He’s probably waiting until the family dinner in the evening when there are more people to show up in front of Leyi. After all, who could handle having their hairstyle messed up at first sight?

Leyi felt quite proud of his cleverness and noticed after taking a few steps that Qing Lan hadn’t caught up, standing there lost in thought. He asked, "Qing Lan?"

"Ah?" Qing Lan snapped out of it and hurried to catch up. "Sorry, young master, I just—"

"Alright, let’s go." Leyi waved his hand. "By the way, is it your first time at Jing Garden? Want me to show you around?"

Qing Lan’s spirit was lifted, nodding repeatedly, "Sure!"

"Alright."

Leyi arrived at a study room filled with bookshelves, elegant and tranquil: "This is Xiaoxiang Study."

Leyi arrived at a hall with ventilation on both sides, surrounded by bamboo groves: "This is Qiushuang Hall."

Leyi arrived at a secluded and bright courtyard hidden in the woodland: "This is Longcui Hall."

"Okay, let’s go to the next place..."

Qing Lan couldn’t hold back anymore, tugging on Leyi, asking, "Young master, are we just going to browse through like this? Shouldn’t we sit for a while, talk about the historical stories here, and cultivate some sentiment?"

"What historical stories? These are just small courtyards that the nouveau riche Jing Family built to flaunt their cultured tastes. If you ask me, it’d be better to build a Battle Card hall to play cards." Leyi waved his hand, "As for sentiment... ha, are you expecting Jing Garden to cultivate any kind of sentiment?"

Mi Die and Li Sang pretended not to hear the young master’s complaints, while Qing Lan seemed a bit gloomy: "... You’re right, young master."

"After walking around for a bit, it’s almost lunchtime..." Leyi looked at his pocket watch, "Lunch is eaten in each person’s courtyard, so you won’t have to see those eyesores of relatives or talk to two-faced brothers... You better eat your fill at noon, or I feel you definitely won’t have the appetite for dinner."

Leyi quipped, and Qing Lan responded with a ’hmm,’ following Leyi closely.

"By the way, what’s for lunch again? The housekeeper seemed to mention something earlier..."

Mi Die reminded, "A full crab feast."

"Right, a full crab feast." Leyi glanced at Qing Lan, "Can you eat crabs?"

"I can." Qing Lan nodded slightly, "Qing Lan isn’t that particular."

Leyi nodded and suddenly remembered something, "And did you tell them to send someone to buy honeyed Five-Flower Tea and coconut milk?"

Qing Lan’s eyes lit up, and she said with a pressed smile, "Young master, you don’t have to specially buy drinks for me, Qing Lan can just drink tea..."

Leyi nodded, "Alright, you can drink tea. Mi Die, you can have that bottle of coconut milk, or take it back for your son."

Qing Lan’s face went stiff, and Mi Die twitched her mouth but ultimately held back a laugh, saying, "The honeyed Five-Flower Tea from Yuelai Restaurant and the coconut milk from Dashi Street, have been instructed already. My family and I don’t like overly sweet drinks, better let Miss Qing Lan have it."

"Hmph, you’re lucky this time. I hate it when someone benefits and then pretends to be modest." Leyi tapped Qing Lan on the head and said, "And it wasn’t specially for you. I wanted to drink it and thought of you when giving instructions, got it?"

Qing Lan rubbed the spot where she was tapped, looked at Leyi with bright eyes, smiled slightly, and nodded obediently without answering.

Leyi looked at her face brimming with happiness and felt a bit strange: "Yuck, are you really that happy? Is that shop putting poison in the coconut milk, and you feel uncomfortable if you don’t drink it for a day?"

Qing Lan shook her head, blinked, and said softly, "Young master, you wouldn’t understand."

...

...

"Shen Hong is dead, and Bai Yulan died last night too."

In the lakeside pavilion, Qin Yueshi casually said while brewing tea.

"My eldest brother is getting more impressive," Zhengwu Jing massaged his forehead, "Didn’t expect the two most deeply planted nails to be removed by him one after another... Since he returned from Red Moon Fortress, it’s like he’s changed his ways, becoming smarter and more ruthless..."

"Rumor has it that Zhengwei Jing also has a secret intelligence unit, and the reason he killed Shen Hong and Bai Yulan could very well be because the intelligence unit found out their secrets."

"Intelligence unit... impossible," Zhengwu Jing shook his head, "They haven’t appeared in over a decade. How could his men suddenly have a secret intelligence unit that operates without a trace?"

Qin Yueshi poured tea into the cup in front of Zhengwu Jing, "Then how do you explain him suddenly getting rid of his two most trusted aides?"

"He must have a special source of intelligence, but the intelligence unit might not be his own," Zhengwu Jing picked up the teacup, "He might have made a deal with other forces, willing to sell out the future of Jing Family for support and assistance to gain the patriarch position. And in Xuanzhu County, there are only two forces that can build an intelligence network while wanting to meddle in Jing Family affairs."

"One is the elusive Backlight White Night, but that is absolutely impossible."

"And the other, is the Assassin Organization hidden in the shadows of the Silver Blood Association!"