“What do you think you are? And what right do you have to ask me? And why should I answer you?”
Jiang Tian lazily took a cup of tea from a servant, took a sip, and said without even lifting his eyelids.
He had long overheard his second aunt’s many nonsensical remarks, so he was naturally not courteous to her at all.
“How dare you speak to your second aunt like that? Outrageous!”
Jiang Yangming was burning with rage. He slammed his hand on the table and cursed.
“No matter how capable you are, you can’t be so disrespectful to your elders!”
“That’s right, a junior acting so arrogantly and recklessly, how is our Jiang family supposed to establish itself?”
Many of the Jiang family members pointed at Jiang Tian, shouting sternly.
It seemed they wanted to seize this opportunity to vent all the oppression, humiliation, and frustration he had just brought upon them.
“What elder is she? In my heart, I only have one second aunt, and her ashes are in the Jiang family ancestral hall!”
Jiang Tian blew on the steam rising from his tea, his face calm and composed as he spoke blandly.
Within the crowd, Jiang Lin’s delicate body trembled, a mist forming in her beautiful eyes. But she bit her lip tightly, her snow-white teeth pressing into her rosy lower lip, forcing back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.
“You cannot cry! You stand with Jiang Tian now, and you will create boundless brilliance together!”
She silently gritted her teeth, admonishing herself.
Jiang Yangming’s original wife, Jiang Lin’s biological mother, was an honest person with a gentle, mild temperament who had doted on Jiang Tian.
She was also quite capable, having once worked hard with Jiang Tian’s mother to build the Medicine King Group from scratch.
The current second aunt was actually Jiang Yangming’s former secretary, the classic ‘other woman’ who usurped the wife’s place.
Moreover, back then, to secure her position, she had come to the Jiang family home and caused three major scenes, physically assaulting and verbally abusing Jiang Lin’s mother. Jiang Yangming had protected his mistress instead, which drove his original wife to hang herself in a fit of anger.
“Listen to that, is that something a junior should say? Have all my years of serving Yangming been for nothing, thrown to the dogs?”
Hearing this, the second aunt was so enraged she nearly fainted. She immediately began wailing loudly, beating her chest and stamping her feet dramatically.
“Jiang Tian, you’ve gone too far!”
“Don’t think that just because you’ve used the Zhang family’s name to fool a few rich people and officials, you’re something special!”
“Keep this up, and watch out I don’t teach you a lesson!”
The crowd vented their pent-up anger at Jiang Tian, a flurry of sharp words and biting remarks.
“Everyone, be quiet!”
Jiang Changgeng thumped his cane on the ground, his authoritative gaze sweeping over the crowd as he said angrily, “On my birthday, are you all crying and quarreling? What kind of spectacle is this? Have I died?”
At these words, the second aunt’s forcefully squeezed-out tears instantly retracted, scared back in.
Everyone else also fell silent, merely glaring resentfully at Jiang Tian.
“Jiang Tian, with so many people coming today, what exactly is going on?”
Jiang Changgeng asked with a kindly smile.
“Grandfather, for now, I can only tell you that the respect they’re showing me has nothing to do with the Zhang family. I earned it through my own abilities!”
Jiang Tian crossed his legs, his expression calm and unhurried as he said blandly, “They’ve brought some medicinal materials. With these materials, I can help you extend your lifespan by at least another twenty years, ensuring you live to a ripe old age!”
“Hiss! How arrogant!”
Everyone collectively gasped, looking at Jiang Tian in disbelief.
“Too arrogant!”
“Respect for you! What exactly have you done to earn it?”
Exclamations of astonishment filled the entire venue.
Jiang Chao, resentful of Jiang Tian for insulting his mother, slammed the table and cursed, “Jiang Tian, just tell us, what exactly did you do to earn this respect? If it’s through real skill, then today, I’ll kneel down and kowtow to you!”
Facing the crowd’s barrage of questioning, Jiang Tian remained silent, appearing to have no answer, much like a monkey wearing a hat pretending to be someone he wasn’t.
…
“Honored guests have arrived!”
Just then, the greeter at the entrance announced loudly, not recognizing the newcomers.
Clatter!
Everyone under the awning turned their heads in unison.
At this moment, the Three Young Masters of Yangcheng, along with Guo Yinlin, Yu Qiang, and the others, had already presented their gifts to Jiang Tian and were seated under the awning.
“Officer Guo, it’s me, Xiao Jiang…”
Jiang Ran pulled a chair over and sat behind Guo Yinlin, trying to seize the opportunity to curry favor.
Thump!
The moment Jiang Ran turned his head and saw the elderly man clearly, his body went limp, and he slid off the chair onto the ground.
Guo Gangchuan—the number two figure in the Jinling Military Region!
Cao Shixiong—the number two figure in the Central Military Commission!
The villagers might not recognize them, but how could Jiang Ran not know the illustrious Cao Shixiong?
…
Inside the hall, the Jiang family members were all confused, whispering and discussing amongst themselves—
“What kind of guests are they?”
“Yeah, the birthday banquet has already started, they’re serving the dishes. Why are guests arriving now?”
Just then, Jiang Ran stumbled and squeezed his way in, his voice trembling: “Elder Changgeng, it’s, it’s, it’s… Military Commission Cao, Cao Shixiong has arrived!”
Clatter, clatter…
The sound of chairs scraping echoed as many Jiang family members present stood up one after another, cries of surprise filling the air.
“Who, who’s here? Cao Shixiong?”
“What? Cao Shixiong is here!”
Even Ninth Great-Uncle couldn’t help but stand up. His usually cloudy eyes suddenly became incredibly clear, radiating light: “Jiang Ran, my great-grandnephew, are you telling the truth?”
“Ninth Great-Uncle, it’s absolutely true! Let’s go and welcome him quickly!”
Jiang Ran nodded urgently, his face anxious as he urged them on.
“Quickly, quickly! Changgeng, help me go see the old chief!”
Ninth Great-Uncle hurriedly grabbed his cane and headed outside.
“What, what, did I hear that right? It really is Cao Shixiong?”
Jiang Shouren, Jiang Yangming, and others, some with minds gone blank, some dizzy and disoriented, some trembling uncontrollably, all surged outside.
“Why would he come?”
“Did Grandfather treat him medically before?”
“Did Ninth Great-Uncle, having studied at the Whampoa Military Academy, perhaps know Elder Cao’s ancestors?”
As for Jiang Qingfeng and the other third-generation members, they were even more excited, their expressions shocked, their faces flushed with excitement.
“Chief, my chief! Your arrival truly brings great honor to our humble Jiang family, great honor!”
Ninth Great-Uncle rushed out quickly, exclaiming repeatedly, extremely excited.
“Elder Cao, not knowing you were coming in person, we failed to welcome you properly. We commoners are guilty!”
Even Jiang Changgeng couldn’t remain calm, bowing deeply and humbly offering greetings.
Jiang Changgeng had once served as the deputy director of the Provincial Government’s Health Care Committee, but the biggest official he had met was a provincial leader. He had only ever seen top central leaders like this on television and had never had the chance to meet them in person.
Now, he was actually seeing a grandee standing at the pinnacle of power in the Republic, and he was here to celebrate Jiang Changgeng’s birthday.
“You’ve really come!”
Ninth Great-Uncle was even more moved, tears streaming down his aged face. Holding Cao Shixiong’s hand, his body trembled violently.
Jiang Changgeng managed to maintain some composure and reason, his face wreathed in smiles as he said, “Chief Cao, I really don’t understand. How did my humble, insignificant birthday banquet manage to disturb you?”
“I came, firstly, to give Elder Jiang a birthday gift and to beg for a taste of your birthday noodles!”
Cao Shixiong’s face was full of smiles. Then he slowly turned and gazed deeply at Jiang Tian, adding:
“Secondly, I came on behalf of my unaccomplished granddaughter to apologize to Master Jiang!”
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire venue was shocked.
Everyone’s gaze fell uniformly upon the young man sitting serenely under the awning, quietly drinking his tea.
The whole place fell into dead silence, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Under everyone’s incredulous stares, Cao Jianjia suppressed the slight unwillingness in her heart, quickly walked up to Jiang Tian, bowed respectfully, and said:
“Master Jiang, that day… I was wrong. Please forgive me just this once!”
Jiang Shouren, the eldest uncle, trembled violently, clutching his chest in pain—his heart condition seemed to be acting up again.
Jiang Yangming, the second uncle, suddenly froze, his smile fixed on his face as if he were a statue.
With a crash, the second aunt knocked over a chair and fell heavily to the floor, her legs too weak to stand up.
Even Jiang Changgeng and Ninth Great-Uncle stood there stunned, unable to believe it.
Jiang Qingfeng closed his eyes in despair, his body trembling slightly, murmuring to himself, “I was wrong, wrong from the start. This kid’s strength is definitely far beyond what I imagined.”
“To have a top central leader come to apologize and offer congratulations… Compared to him, I’m simply…” Jiang Banxia’s face was blank, an expression that was neither a smile nor a cry, the corners of her mouth twitching as she nearly went mad on the spot.
“He’s going to become the family head, isn’t he? He’ll destroy me, won’t he? What should I do…”
Jiang Chao’s face turned pale with fear, his whole body shaking uncontrollably, truly uncertain what punishment Jiang Tian would mete out to him.
Unlike the low-key Jiang Qingfeng, he liked to jump around and had directly confronted Jiang Tian several times. Now, he was the most terrified.
In truth, which of the Jiang family members present wasn’t also utterly terrified, their very souls trembling?
If the whole family had bullied a junior, if they had crushed him while he was weak, that would have been the end of it, eliminating future trouble.
But this kid happened to be overwhelmingly powerful, with deep connections and an extensive network. If he sought revenge, who could withstand it?
He could probably decide everyone’s fate with a single word right now.
His second grandfather, who had always been relatively fond of Jiang Tian, seeing everyone’s mournful expressions, kept shaking his head, sighing with deep emotion:
“Truly, it’s better to bully a white-haired elder than to bully a youth in poverty. They say the river flows east for thirty years and west for thirty years. Well now, it only took him thirty minutes to turn the tables right back on them!”
In reality, only a few seconds had passed, but to everyone present, it felt like an entire, agonizing century.
“Elder Cao, it’s just a small matter, no need for you to dwell on it so…”
Jiang Tian slowly put down his teacup, not glancing at Cao Jianjia, but turning his head to look at Cao Shixiong as he spoke blandly.
“Thank you, Master Jiang!”
Cao Jianjia, who had remained bowed and dared not rise, finally let out a long sigh of relief and slowly straightened up.
She knew that with Jiang Tian’s overbearing and unbridled personality, if he had truly been determined to deal with her, he wouldn’t have put on this show of magnanimity.
His words signified that the incident at the Martial Arts Federation Conference could be considered over, and everything could start anew.
Cao Shixiong understood this as well. Some things were, of course, inconvenient to discuss in front of everyone.
He drank a cup of tea, chatted amiably with everyone for a while, declined the invitation to the birthday banquet, and then bid farewell, taking his leave with the others.
After seeing Cao Shixiong off at the village entrance and watching him depart,
Ninth Great-Uncle, leaning on his cane and with tears streaming down his aged face, looked up to the heavens and sighed deeply: “Our Jiang family… has produced a dragon. We’re about to soar to great heights!”
