Qin Lianshan had not, in fact, gone too far away from home; he was quietly sitting in the ancestral hall of the Qin family. Once he sat down, he had not left the place for three days and two nights.
During these three days and two nights, he had only done one thing and hadn’t stopped for a second during the whole process...
He was grinding his spear!
This ancestral spear had a s.h.i.+ne that was as cold as the midnight moonlight, and it had witnessed the rise and fall of the Qin family for hundreds of years. It had been soaked in the blood of countless warriors, and this supreme inheritance was now enshrined in the ancestral hall.
Whenever the Qin family encountered a crisis, members of the family would use this ancestral spear to bring back hope for the family, restoring the family’s prestige while leaving behind a trail of blood made of their enemies.
Qin Lianshan sent out all the servants to prevent anyone from disturbing him and concentrated on grinding the large spear.
He had sent his son to the Martial Arts Academy hoping to see him return as a more lively and healthy person, but instead, his son had returned as a cold, dying body. He invited at least a dozen doctors and hoped one of them could tell him that his son has not died. But all of them, after checking his son’s pulses, apologetically told him the same sentence: Prepare for his funeral.
Funeral?
If his son died, then the family’s only lineage would be cut off. It would be the whole family’s funeral!
Qin Lianshan did not even bother to consider his son’s funeral. During these three days and two nights that his son has been unconscious, he only had one thought in his mind; revenge, revenge!
Using the big ancestral spear, he would kill the murderer, and would not stop until there was n.o.body left in the murderer’s family!
Qin Lianshan was the head of a Humble Cla.s.s family in Eastwood Town. At thirty-two years old, his only son Qin Wushuang came into his life.
For an aristocratic family in this world, it was simply unthinkable that there was no male heir; it could even be described as a disaster.
Even though Qin Lianshan had already been married for six years, he and his wife had only been able to bear one daughter, Qin Xiu. Without a doubt, there had been a lot of rumors in the outside world surrounding this unfortunate reality.
“This Qin Lianshan, naming himself ‘Continuing Mountains’, yet he cannot even continue his family lineage! (In Chinese, ‘Lianshan’ means to ‘connect mountains together’)”
“The Qin family has been getting weaker generation after generation. In the next round of the “Family Cla.s.s Evaluation”, they might not even get to keep their Humble Cla.s.s family t.i.tle!”
“Hehe, I heard that hundreds of years ago they were at least one of the richer ones. I didn’t expect that in the “Family Cla.s.s Evaluation” that took place every twenty years they would be downgraded every time! In the next evaluation, I bet they would become ordinary civilians just like the rest of us.
Some of these words were spoken behind his back but somehow reached his ears; other people just didn’t care how Qin Lianshan would feel and directly said everything they wanted in front of him.
Fortunately, his wife, Tian Miao, finally bore him a son, Qin Wushuang. As soon as this child was born, he had carried all the hope of the Qin family, until he was killed at the Martial Arts Academy!
Qin Lianshan’s wife also became ill and died shortly after giving birth to Qin Wushuang. Firstly, he had gone through the pain of losing his wife, and now, Qin Lianshan had also had to suffer the loss of his only son!
Qin Wushuang was the only descendant and the hope of the Qin family. Now that he was dead, the plan to help the family restore its past glory was completely destroyed too. How could Qin Lianshan not be mad? With his son, there would have been hope for the Qin family! Without his son, everything would be empty talk!
It was not that Qin Lianshan wanted to be so patriarchal, but that the societal norms in this world were set, and were clearly set to be dominated by men.
Take for example, the national “Family Cla.s.s Evaluation” event that took place once every twenty years, and which the next one would happen four years later. The result of this evaluation would determine whether the Qin family would still be able to keep their position as n.o.bility.
And the prerequisite to partic.i.p.ate in this “Family Cla.s.s Evaluation...” was that partic.i.p.ant families must have male heirs!
Then came all the other evaluation metrics.
If a family did not have any sons, then there was no need to look at anything else. Everybody in this world knew that a family without a son would not last long.
Qin Lianshan was a strong-willed man, and the last thing he wanted to see was the Qin family, which had survived in this nation for more than four hundred years, lose its n.o.bility during his generation and in his hands.
He would never give up, even though right now the Qin family was already among the lowest cla.s.s of the aristocracy, the Humble Cla.s.s.
Even as one of the Humble Cla.s.s families, the Qin family still retained their seat in the aristocracy, and that meant they would still be able to enjoy the corresponding benefits and rights of the aristocracy.
This included social status, land (farms), estate, business opportunities and so on. However, once their Humble Cla.s.s t.i.tle was also taken away from them, they might be downgraded to ordinary civilians, which meant that their entire family business would also be transferred under to someone else’s t.i.tle, and become other people’s properties. As ordinary civilians, the Qin family would no longer be allowed to own any private property.
This once again brought back the cruel reality; Once his son had died, all the hopes that the Qin family once had would be instantly burned into ashes!
Since the enemy had destroyed all his hope and the Qin family’s hope, as an aristocrat, Qin Lianshan only had one thought in mind, and that was to have the enemy pay the same price.
Qin Lianshan looked up at the family rules that were hanged on the walls of the ancestral hall.
Whoever seeks to steal from the Qin family, we shall repay them five times more.
Whoever seeks to harm the status of Qin family, we shall repay them ten times more.
Whoever seeks to destroy the Qin family, we will destroy them with everything we have, regardless of the cost!
The spear had been grinded and polished to the extent that its s.h.i.+ne brought a stinging coldness to the eye. However, the coldness in Qin Lianshan’s eyes was even sharper than that of the spear.
Bang, bang!
It was midnight, and suddenly someone was. .h.i.tting on the door with full strength. Qin Lianshan knew at once that it was his loyal servant Qin Sixi. Only Qin Sixi knew that Qin Lianshan, the family head, was in the ancestral hall.
Qin Lianshan ignored the bangs and continued to polish his spear as if chaneling all of his anger and pain through the powerful movements of his arms…
Bang, bang, bang!
Qin Sixi yelled while he continued to smash the door: “Patriarch, patriarch!”
Qin Lianshan replied with anger: “Sixi, I told you not to bother me!”
“Patriarch, good… good news. Young master, he is alive!” Qin Sixi could not hide the ecstasy behind his voice.
Bang! Another bang, but this time it was the dropping sound of Qin Lianshan’s spear.
Qin Lianshan stood there stunned. He suddenly felt that all his power had been released and as his hand loosened, the spear dropped to the ground. The head of the spear hit the grindstone and generated a few sparks.
“Patriarch, it’s true! Young Master is alive! Young Mistress had sent servants to search for you all over Eastwood Town.” Qin Sixi’s eyes were full of tears, and every one of his words. .h.i.t directly into Qin Lianshan’s chest.
“Alive?” Qin Lianshan wanted to stand up, but he felt dizzy and his feet staggered. His son was not dead but alive?
He somehow managed to reach the door and was just about to open it but then he suddenly thought of something and stopped. Tidying himself up a little, he turned around, picked up the ancestral spear with respect, and placed it back in its original position.
After finis.h.i.+ng all this, Qin Lianshan restrained his excitement, and then calmly opened the door.
He was the head of a large family and the father of two children. All the strong emotions that he had experienced just now and in the past three days should be left within the ancestral hall.
After he walked out the door, he must become a perfect role model for his children and the rest of the Qin family.
In front of him, he saw his daughter Qin Xiu running towards him with joy:” Dad, Daddy! Wushuang is not dead! He is alive!”
Qin Lianshan looked at his daughter and then at Qin Sixi. His heart was already filled with emotions, but his expression remained extremely calm. He answered with a mere “Yes, I know.”
However, his actions betrayed him and showed how happy he was as he walked towards their manor at a speed that seemed as if he was running.
“Daddy, wait for me!” Qin Xiu couldn’t even catch up.
“Young Mistress…” Qin Sixi gently shook his head, “Let’s not interrupt Patriarch and let him go. He had been sitting in the ancestral hall for three days and two nights, and had suppressed his emotions for too long!”
“Uncle Sixi, Daddy had been inside the ancestral hall for all this time?” Qin Xiu looked into the building unbelievably.
“Yes, he had been grinding the spear all this time.”
Qin Xiu was stunned for a moment and suddenly understood what happened. She could not help but lose the color on her face, and carefully asked: “Uncle Sixi, what did Daddy plan to do with the spear?”
Qin Sixi sighed: “Young Mistress, you should never mention this matter in front of the patriarch. Now that young master woke up; everything had already pa.s.sed. Let the ancestral spear continue to be enshrined here.”
This old, loyal servant had served Qin Lianshan for decades and knew everything about his personality. He knew that Qin Lianshan always appeared to be strong but had a really gentle heart. After Qin Wushuang’s incident, Qin Lianshan had prepared to fight the enemy until he died.
Thank G.o.d that the young master was still alive. The Qin family had also been saved from its demise.
Qin Xiu slightly frowned and looked up at the family rules in the ancestral hall. She was thinking about something.
…….
From the first sight that Wu Xinghe had caught of Qin Lianshan, he knew exactly who the person was. He sensed an invisible family connection between them as if they had been connected by fate since his previous life.
Qin Lianshan did not try to comfort his son with soft-spoken words, but Wu Xinghe could tell from his eyes how desperate he had been in the past few days and how relieved he was now seeing that his son was alright.
It was just like how an old Chinese saying: the love of a father is like a mountain.
Wu Xinghe felt a little bit sentimental, and a little warm and moved.
And it was also through the eyes of Qin Lianshan that Wu Xinghe saw how important Qin Wushuang was to this man, and to the Qin family. He could feel the weight of all the pressure and difficulties faced by the family.
At the same time, since the original Qin Wushuang had already died, he also felt that this weight was now on his shoulders.
Today, the real Qin Wushuang had died. These responsibilities, without a doubt, had now fallen on the shoulders of Wu Xinghe.
Should he carry on family responsibilities and face all upcoming difficulties? Or should he avoid all conflicts and only care for himself?
The sincere tears that he saw in his sister Qin Xiu’s eyes and the love that he had sensed from his father, Qin Lianshan, seemed to have already given him the right answers.