For the Zhou family matriarch’s birthday banquet, Zhou Luchen unhurriedly took a private jet back to Shanghai.
「Landing.」
The sports car headed straight for Xiangshan Baiqing Forest.
There was no grand feast, to avoid attracting influential figures; the matriarch simply wished for so peace and quiet.
Zhou Luchen ascended the stairs, gifts from various families following him inside. He didn’t spare them a glance.
Trifles, rely to humor the matriarch.
In the backyard’s stone lake, one could only step on a single slab of granite at a ti. It was surrounded by an expansive, ter-deep Carp Pond, so clear that the jade-green soft stones at its bottom were visible. The matriarch loved to raise flowers, birds, insects, and fish.
Passing through a curved stone archway led to the Zhou Family’s ancestral hall.
Mahogany structure, gilded carved screens, the sacred fire burning incessantly.
Several uncles from the Zhou family’s collateral branches had also returned. They were all seated in the ancestral hall, chatting amiably until Zhou Luchen entered.
The conversation ceased as if by unspoken agreent. They nodded towards him, and he gave a slight nod in return.
He watched as the Zhou family matriarch stood before the Ancestral Tablet, flipping through the family register.
After a mont, Old Mrs. Zhou asked, "Did the Old Master give you a hard ti?"
Zhou Luchen stood in the very center, his posture ramrod straight. "What are you trying to say?"
Old Mrs. Zhou closed the register, turned, and raised her hand with a cool gesture.
Understanding the signal, all the uncles rose and left the ancestral hall.
Only Zhou Luchen and Old Mrs. Zhou remained.
The door was suddenly closed, shutting out the sunlight from outside.
Old Mrs. Zhou lit incense, making offerings before the Purple Furnace.
"Achen, kneel down."
Zhou Luchen’s thin lips twitched, but he remained standing, his white shirt neatly tucked into his dress pants. His impeccably ironed black suit jacket was draped over his crooked arm.
The mont Old Mrs. Zhou issued her cold command, Zhou Luchen casually placed his suit jacket on a nearby chair.
Old Mrs. Zhou wiped the incense ash from the altar. Despite having managed the Zhou family for many years, she found herself unable to control the defiant young master before her. She tossed her handkerchief aside. "I won’t stop you from getting involved with the Wei family, nor will I prevent you from associating with anyone. But don’t use your other identity to sche. From such a high position, you must be cautious in your words and actions. Don’t you understand this principle?"
How could he not understand?
"If there’s a benefit, they will naturally follow. I haven’t forced anyone."
Old Mrs. Zhou naturally believed him. Yet, the mont he appeared, who in those circles wouldn’t recognize him? What difference did it make then?
"You’re incorrigible! One mont, you’re in Hong Kong cavorting with starlets for the dia to photograph for cash. You know how the Hong Kong dia operate; if your older brother didn’t buy their silence, they’d twist facts so much they’d call rice black! The next, you’re carrying so woman out of an investnt eting. Then you’re manipulating the market, then you’re off gallivanting in Beijing!"
"As for other matters, as long as they’re not illegal, you should not interfere," Zhou Luchen retorted, his voice slow and asured, yet laced with an icy detachnt. "As for staying in Beijing, Second Grandma was ill. I stayed a few extra days to accompany her to the opera."
This was the first ti Old Mrs. Zhou had ever rebuked him so sternly. She had raised him herself, spoiling him excessively. Throughout his life, he had gotten everything he ever wanted, and his older brother had always shouldered the bla for his mistakes.
How could one son be so honest and proper, while the other was a complete rebel?
"Your Second Grandma is in excellent health! Do you even rember what you were doing all that ti you were gone, or for how long you were in Beijing?!"
Zhou Luchen chuckled. "Who bothers counting the days?"
Old Mrs. Zhou glared at him. This young master truly was beyond reproach.
If anyone was to bla, it was she for not raising him right.
"If you still like Wenxin, then break things off with that other woman. I’ll handle the situation in Beijing for you."
"What nonsense are you thinking?" Zhou Luchen turned to leave, his voice utterly flat. "I bought you a new mynah bird as a gift. It’s an albino, quite a find. Zhuang Ming has it outside."
A bird in a jade cage.
Pure natural albino mynahs are exceedingly rare; just seeing one is considered lucky.
Old Mrs. Zhou was hardly pleased. A greater anger welled up inside her, one she couldn’t vent.
"You’ve just returned. Where are you off to again?"
Zhou Luchen said nonchalantly, "You’re still angry. Do you think I could enjoy the banquet with you watching like that?"
The door opened. Zhuang Ming, holding the birdcage, sized up Zhou Luchen. He seed accustod to his master erging unscathed. There wasn’t a single crease on Zhou Luchen’s trousers. He probably hadn’t knelt.
He heard Zhou Luchen’s cool command, "Get my coat."
Zhuang Ming nodded, handed the birdcage to a Zhou family servant, retrieved the suit jacket from the chair, and followed him out.
Zhou Luchen, a cigarette dangling from his lips, asked, "What has she been up to lately?"
"She hasn’t been up to much. Miss Shen is fine," Zhuang Ming replied.
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