Duan Hengye watched his father walk into the mansion with a sad expression. In Duan Hengye’s impression, his father had always been serious and powerful, he had never seen a man show such a fragile expression. Now, Duan Hengye didn’t know how much time had passed since his accident but when his father passed by, he saw the man’s gray sideburns.
Following behind him were some members of the Duan Clan’s side branch, his cousins. Unlike Duan Hengye, who ended up entering his field of interest to conduct scientific research, his cousins had always worked in the Duan Clan’s family business. Although they hadn’t seen much of each other in recent years, they were on good terms. Seeing these familiar yet unfamiliar figures now, Duan Hengye felt like it happened a lifetime ago.
His cousins’ expressions were very grave, and after entering the door, they followed Duan Hengye’s father and sat down on the sofa. Duan Hengye saw that his father, who he remembered as not being a smoker, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket from the moment he sat on the sofa and smoked without saying a word.
He felt a slightly cold liquid on his cheeks and reached out to touch it only to realize that he had burst into tears at an unknown time.
“How is Madam now?” After smoking, Duan Hengye’s father finally raised his head to look toward his cousin who was sitting to the side. The man who was asked hurriedly nodded his head, and then came over and said, “From what the eldest young master said, Madam’s emotions have stabilized now.”
Hearing the reply, the man nodded, “Good …… Let them stay with madam.” Because he was too emotional, after hearing his father’s words, Duan Hengye finally realized that his mother and older siblings hadn’t returned now. Although he didn’t know where they were right now, after hearing his cousin say that his mother’s mood had stabilized, he finally relaxed a little.
Perhaps due to the fact that he had encountered too many things after he crossed over into the novel and that the situation had been too tense in the beginning; Duan Hengye hadn’t even had time to grieve and reminisce. Now that he had returned to his world and saw these familiar figures, the grief that had been delayed for a long time finally doubled and came to Duan Hengye.
Although he had been very obediently since he was a child, Duan Hengye had always felt that he wasn’t a good child, and could even be said to be more rebellious. The Duan family was considered to be one of the most peaceful ancient martial arts families in China, and all of this was due to the many years of maintenance by his parents and siblings. Duan Hengye knew clearly that he wouldn’t have been able to choose the industry he loved as his career, without their efforts behind the scenes.
But now, he might not have the chance to say a word of thanks to them anymore.
The hall was once again silent. Just when Duan Hengye was about to be completely surrounded by this silence, he suddenly heard a familiar doorbell. The living room of the Duan Clan’s mansion was extremely large, and at this moment when no one was talking, Duan Hengye even heard the echo of the doorbell.
He saw through the window that the sun had now completely set. Who would come to the house at this hour? Could it be that his mother and older brothers had returned?
After hearing the doorbell ring, Duan Hengye immediately looked towards the doorway, he now desperately wanted to take a look at his family. At the same time, Duan Hengye’s father turned to look at his cousin, and after receiving a look, the young man in black quickly walked to the door, and then clicked on the screen at the door.
His current position was a bit far from the doorway, and because his cousin’s position blocked the screen, he couldn’t see who was outside. However, what Duan Hengye felt was somewhat abnormal was that his cousin stood at the door for quite a while, but didn’t open the door.
“What’s wrong?” Because he stood at the doorway for a somewhat long time, even Duan Hengye’s father sensed that something was wrong. The man suspiciously cast his gaze towards the person standing at the doorway, and after hearing Duan Hengye’s father’s question, his cousin standing at the doorway hesitated for a moment, then turned around and gently called a name.
“It’s Shen Yiyu……”
Shen Yiyu? Duan Hengye hadn’t heard this name for a long time. This was his close friend, and he was the last person Duan Hengye saw before he died. Shen Yiyu was born into an ancient martial arts family just like Duan Hengye, but his family was much more complicated compared to the more peaceful Duan family. Because he didn’t come into contact with his family’s industry, Duan Hengye didn’t know much about the current situation of the ancient martial arts family. However, from the occasional chats with his siblings, he knew that the internal struggles within Shen Yiyu’s family could be written into a thick novel of mansion fights.
Two years ago, when Duan Hengye went to Shen Yiyu’s house to attend a banquet, he encountered a major change in his family and was stabbed. He was seriously injured.
Two years had passed, and the memory of the detailed parts was already a bit fuzzy. However, he had always remembered that after he was caught up in that incident, he was on his friend’s side and they fought against another force.
Duan Hengye’s martial arts skills were good, but because of his busy schedule, neglecting to practice was inevitable. Compared to the skills of Shen Yiyu’s family, his was somewhat inadequate.
After being involved in that matter, the other party didn’t show mercy to Duan Hengye for the sake of his family. However, it was very obvious that Duan Hengye, who wasn’t involved in the family conflict , didn’t notice this. He thought that even if the other party saw him and Shen Yiyu standing on the same side, they would still consider the feelings of the Duan family and not attack him hard. So just as the person over there launched their final attack on Shen Yiyu, Duan Hengye naturally stood in front of him.
The result was that he was viciously sta*bbed.
Recalling this incident two years later, Duan Hengye was first ashamed of his lack of skill in learning. Then he realized that Shen Yiyu’s current appearance might not be a good thing.
Duan Hengye wasn’t a person who liked to blame others, but at this moment, after learning that Shen Yiyu was right at the door, his feelings were quite complicated. And he was sure that his father and the rest of his family definitely didn’t want to see Shen Yiyu even more than he did right now.
As expected, after hearing this name, there was a long period of silence inside the hall.
Just as Duan Hengye’s cousin was about to directly end the communication, Duan Hengye’s father suddenly said, “Let him in.”
In Duan Hengye’s impression, his father had always been serious, but this was the first time that he had heard the majesty of the head of an ancient martial arts family in the man’s voice.
After hearing his father’s words, Duan Hengye, who had been standing in the open space of the hall, couldn’t help but clench his fists. After a while, the thick, dark wood-colored door was slowly pushed open from the outside.
He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but he felt that from the moment the door was pushed open, the entire hall’s already serious atmosphere once again became heavy. In just a few seconds, all the people sitting on the sofa cast their eyes towards the door.
Under such an atmosphere, Shen Yiyu finally appeared in front of Duan Hengye.
Shen Yiyu’s appearance was similar to the last time Duan Hengye remembered seeing him. His slightly longer black hair fell gently behind his ears, and his bangs fell to cover his delicate eyebrows. The man’s figure had always been upright and elegant, but at this time, it revealed a bit of unspeakable despondency.
Although Duan Hengye’s father was a very serious man, he had always been very loving towards his juniors, and had never intentionally put on a face. But when he saw Shen Yiyu come in, Duan Hengye’s father instead withdrew his gaze from the doorway, and then picked up a cup of tea from the table that had long since gone cold.
Seeing that Duan Hengye’s father didn’t say anything, no one inside the entire room dared to make any sudden sound.
Even Duan Hengye was about to be overwhelmed by the suffocating atmosphere, when he suddenly heard a “thud” in his ear. When he looked over, he saw that not far away, Shen Yiyu had already knelt on the ground.
The floor of Duan Hengye’s family mansion was paved with light-colored marble, and the black-clothed man kneeling here looked especially conspicuous. It wasn’t until he heard this sound that Duan Hengye’s father slowly moved his eyes to him. Then he coldly glanced at Shen Yiyu before speaking, “Who are you kneeling to?”
Probably because they were both born in ancient martial arts families and were of similar ages, Duan Hengye and Shen Yiyu had always been on good terms. Even with even Duan Hengye’s father; he didn’t want to get involved in the complicated matters of Shen Yiyu’s family but whenever he encountered a major event, he would still favor Shen Yiyu a little bit. In short he had never been so indifferent to Shen Yiyu.
At first glance this question seemed to be very simple, but it completely choked Shen Yiyu. He didn’t know how he should answer this question right now – not because he couldn’t organize a suitable and appropriate sentence, but because deep down he hadn’t figured it out.
Seeing that Shen Yiyu remained silent, Duan Hengye’s father finally gave him another cold look and said, “Is it to Duan Hengye, or to the Duan family?” Before Shen Yiyu could answer, the man laughed coldly and continued, “But this answer doesn’t mean much, after all, it’s all already useless.”
“Uncle ……”
“Don’t call me that.” Duan Hengye saw his father stand up from the sofa, then he walked towards the stairs while speaking, “From the moment you used Duan Hengye, you no longer had the right to call me that.”
Used? Standing in the center of the hall, Duan Hengye was hit hard by that word.