What a Mess This Family Hierarchy Is

Siegfried watched as the already tipsy Raiden Ryoma continued to pour wine.

Siegfried had already accepted it. Cecilia had done a good job of persuading him. After realizing that Liu Bai was the best match for his daughters, Siegfried was at most annoyed, but not worried.

—Your daughter is doing better with her own man than with you, her father, so what are you worrying about?

So Siegfried over to wreak havoc on the Raiden Ryoma.

It's nothing, I just can't stand the fact that this person has a daughter.

"My daughter... Mei... glug..."

Raiden Ryoma took a swig of wine with a miserable expression.

"My little darling has been kidnapped! Mei me the cold shoulder every time she sees me now!"

Three of my Lao Tzu were kidnapped. Did Lao Tzu say anything?

Siegfried looked at Raiden Ryoma, who was slumped over the table wiping away tears, and felt no sympathy whatsoever; he just wanted to laugh.

"Congratulations, Ryoma! You can hold your little darling now."

"What do you mean 'little'... wait, 'little cotton-padded jacket'..."

Ryoma, who had looked completely drunk, suddenly snapped to attention and appeared to have sobered up considerably.

"And then, after the little cotton-padded jacket grew up..." Siegfried said with feigned emotion, while pouring wine.

Upon hearing this, Ryoma, who had been deep in thought, looked at Siegfried and his eyes immediately reddened.

"I won't accept this!" Raiden Ryoma slammed his fist on the table. "Siegfried! You're not here to cause trouble, are you?!"

"I've lost three daughters, why would I cause you trouble?"

Siegfried's aura instantly overwhelmed Raiden Ryoma, and he seized the opportunity to grab Raiden Ryoma by the collar, glaring at Ryoma.

"Lao Tzu! Two biological and one illegitimate! And you! One! You think I'm picking a fight with you? You better think carefully about what Lao Tzu 're saying!"

"Um... Brother, have a drink, have a drink. Children and grandchildren have their own lives to live, you can't be so fussy..."

Seeing Siegfried's fists as big as sandbags and his ferocious expression, Raiden Ryoma immediately backed down and started pouring wine for Siegfried.

Thinking about it carefully, they do seem to be in a worse situation than me...

"... Never mind, what I mean is you have to take it easy." Siegfried exhaled a breath of alcohol, patted Ryoma on the shoulder, and continued pouring drinks. "Hey? Isn't that your Mei over there?"

"Who?" Ryoma, who had just finished downing a shot of strong liquor to vent his frustration, tried to open his eyes wide. His physique couldn't compare to Siegfried's, and he was seeing people with a bit of double vision. "Um... is that Dr. Mei? Mei is obviously much rounder than my Mei, she's practically a ball."

"..."

Should I arrange a one-stop service for Longma's crematorium?

Chapter 549 This awful generational hierarchy!

"Um... Doctor, what's wrong with him..." Siegfried looked at Mei awkwardly.

He just wanted to mess with Longma; he really didn't intend to ruin him.

And Ryoma! You're so drunk you're seeing double! How dare you say something like "round as a ball"?

Moreover, to be fair, Siegfried wasn't initially pointing at Mei, but rather at Hokushin Mei next to her...

Everyone knows Mei, and she's one of the people Siegfried least wants to meet. After all, she's his ancestor's senior sister, with an incredibly high seniority. As a middle-aged man nearing fifty, Siegfried absolutely doesn't want to run into these old ancestors.

I'm a senior colleague approaching fifty, and I'm not as carefree as I was when I was twenty. What kind of situation is this...?

If it were really Chinese New Year, Mei, Su, Fu Hua, and others would all be elders whom Siegfried would respectfully visit with his entire family to offer New Year's greetings...

For example, if we're talking about seniority, Mei and Fu Hua would probably be considered great-aunts, not grandfathers.

Similarly, Su was his great-uncle.

"Don't worry, I won't bother with a drunkard."

Mei's nonchalant attitude is something everyone would have to say if Raiden Mei had said.

However, Raiden Ryoma? Sorry, I'm not familiar with him, and besides, he's so drunk. I'm not going to waste my time on someone like that.

"That's good, that's good... By the way, Mei, why are you dressed like that? Are you going to training? And who are these three sisters next to you...?" Siegfried breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to look at Hokushin Mei and her group.

Siegfried genuinely couldn't tell the difference between Hokushin Mei and Raiden Mei —after all, they weren't his daughters.

At most, I felt that something was a little off, but with that cold expression, it didn't seem to make any difference.

"...Huh?" Hokushin Mei raised an eyebrow and looked at Mei.

Do you guys care what clothes I wear here?

Isn't this just a very ordinary samurai outfit?

And why does this person look like we know each other so well?

"Let me introduce you. This person Hokushin Mei. I dug her up from the Far East. She's an ancient person from 500 years ago." Mei pulled Hokushin Mei over. "Don't mistake her for someone else. She's thinner than Raiden Mei."

"Ah..." The words were quite clear, and Siegfried understood immediately, then fell silent.

My dear aunt, does Mei's face proliferate or something?

Once or twice is one thing, but this is the third time...

While three reasonable people aren't many in the current chaotic situation, I'm starting to wonder if a fourth might emerge...

"Mind your own business." Mei immediately saw what Siegfried was thinking and gave an indifferent snort.

What do a few Mei faces have to do with you? Anyway, you only give me one Mei face to wish me a Happy New Year.

Siegfried was a little depressed after being rebuffed, but upon reflection, he realized it was true.

Anyway, it's not Kiana's face that comes out, so why should I worry about it?

Mei went to the cafeteria to order, "Cook some noodles for us, and two side dishes. If there are any leftover desserts from lunch, bring some over too."

Mei didn't know that the cafeteria hadn't opened yet at this time, so she didn't order much. She mainly wanted to fill the stomachs of Beichen, Yae, and these other ancient people, and also broaden their horizons.

Then the group found a more secluded spot to sit down, since the smell of alcohol at Siegfried's table was too strong.

However, it was precisely because there was no one else in the cafeteria at this time except for the staff that these two were drinking there, and it wouldn't affect other people's dinner after they finished drinking.

"Be thankful, Ryoma, you've survived another day." Siegfried patted Raiden Ryoma on the shoulder with a sigh. He now understood why this guy had been thrown over there to dig potatoes before.

With a mouth like that, you can't help but dig potatoes.

Then Siegfried looked closely and found that Raiden Ryoma's eyes were wide open and he was covered in sweat.

"Thanks... thanks."

Although Raiden Ryoma was drunk, he was not lacking in intelligence. He wouldn't call himself a top-tier sage, but he was about the same level as Cocolia, somewhere in the first or second tier.

After being beaten several times by his boss and daughter for talking, Raiden Ryoma realized something was wrong as soon as he finished speaking.

But the words had already been spoken, Raiden Ryoma could only continue to pretend to be drunk. This is why Raiden Ryoma Hokushin Mei didn't react even though he saw Kitashita Mei, who looked more like his daughter.

The man was already fully awake from the fright, but he dared not show it.

"Hurry up and take this vodka away. Why drink this stuff when there are so many other things to drink?"

If it happened again, Raiden Ryoma wasn't sure he could react in time; drowning one's sorrows in alcohol wasn't done that way.

"That makes sense, that makes sense."

Siegfried thought for a moment and decided to pack it up.

"By the way, is that Sister Beichen your ancestor?"

Hokushin Mei and Raiden Mei look so alike, and so do Raiden Ryoma. It's obvious they're genetically related, which is why Siegfried asked this question.

"Well... in a way, we are somewhat related by blood." Raiden Ryoma thought for a moment, "Our ancestors were from the same family about six or seven hundred years ago, but we can't tell who was the main family and who was the branch family."

Although the threshold for becoming a ronin in the Far East is very low—anyone who finds a knife and has the guts can become one— Hokushin Mei is clearly not that kind of trashy ronin.

With a sword, armor, and martial arts skills, Hokushin Mei because the war caused the death of her parents, forcing her onto this path. "The poor study literature, the rich study martial arts." Do you really think that trashy ronin can be associated with the word "martial arts"?

Calling her a lady from a prominent family might be a bit of an exaggeration, but Hokushin Mei is at least a daughter of a lesser-known family.

"Besides, didn't you see that they didn't react to me at all?"

Raiden Ryoma strongly suspected that Hokushin Mei had no idea about such a family matter.

"Um... anyway, he's your ancestor?" Siegfried wasn't quite sure either.

"No... but it could be." Raiden Ryoma sighed.

If we're really talking about splitting up the family, the relationship can basically be considered separated. However, as the last generation of the Beichen family, the renowned swordswoman who shook the Far East, Hokushin Mei's martial arts legacy ultimately fell to the Raiden Family.

Coincidence? What a coincidence! Do we even need to think about what's going on? It's obvious that our ancestors collected these on purpose back then. To put it nicely, it's called inheriting a legacy; to put it bluntly, it's like eating someone else's blood.

But despite his love of food, Raiden Ryoma doesn't actually mind acknowledging his ancestors.

Because it's very realistic, the inheritance of skills, or rather culture, is more reliable than the inheritance of bloodlines. Those who follow the Hokushin Itto-ryu Saint back then. A person who can master such skills to such a high level is even less likely to be an indecisive and weak waste.

Strictly speaking, the Raiden Family's heritage has long been permeated by Kita-Shinobu, and the name Hokushin Mei is even higher than that of the ancestors in the Raiden Family's heritage.

Hmm, it's somewhat like the Confucianists who wear the plaque of saints.

So, calling them Raiden Ryoma is a bit awkward, but people are still willing to acknowledge them.

But the problem now is that nobody cares about their family, so why would they bother to join in? Raiden Ryoma only acts recklessly when he's drunk and it comes to his daughter. In other matters, Ryoma is a powerful businessman who sees things very clearly.

Moreover... it's quite a headache to have multiple ancestors to rely on when you're middle-aged.

"What you're saying sounds contradictory." Siegfried was completely baffled by the Raiden Ryoma's line of thought. "Hey, since your family has a lineage, then tell me, what about this Sister Beichen and Liu Bai..."

"I don't know." Raiden Ryoma interrupted Siegfried directly. "My family has a rare copy, but that thing is an antique, a family relic, okay?"

The secret manual left behind five hundred years ago was something that even his father, let alone Raiden Ryoma, had never seen.

It's not like the three great families of Schicksal, where the family's inheritance is the God Key. As long as it's not lost, it's hard to break no matter what.

"If it's a copybook, it's just a set of moves, but it's a manual, so it's normal for it to be full of moves." Raiden Ryoma shrugged. "But I can make a bet, I bet my ancestor and Liu Bai are definitely related."

"I also bet on connections."

Siegfried rolled his eyes at Raiden Ryoma, "Who do you think is stupid!"

Is there another woman like me in this Schicksal?

Hokushin Mei was actually a little conflicted at the dinner table.

She didn't pay attention to Raiden Ryoma, but she remembered the name Raiden Mei.

"There is one, about your age, a vixen," Mei answered without any hesitation.

She felt that Mei had truly passed the period of sentimentality and now disliked each other. Well, they looked too alike, so this kind of thing was unavoidable—besides, Hokushin Mei is still Mei!

"A vixen? Um... someone like Sakura-sama?"

"Huh? Sakura isn't... cough, I mean a vixen in love, someone who seduces people."

Mei paused for a moment, then immediately changed her mind.

Sakura, standing next to her, chuckled and said, "You really forgot that I have fox ears on my head!"

"A seductive vixen..."

Hokushin Mei looked at her face in the clean table and began to adjust her expression.

To be honest, she really didn't know what kind of "vixen expression" she could make.

I really can't imagine it...

Sakura continued to watch the show from the sidelines. She was now certain that Mei was using someone else to do her dirty work, or rather, she was preparing to sit back and watch the two tigers fight.

Since Mei's personality has started to be sarcastic, it's probably because Mei can't handle this person herself. Plus, considering that the other person looks exactly like Mei and Hokushin Mei, Sakura can be 100% certain that the girl named Raiden Mei is someone Mei can't handle.

In other words, your younger self outshines your 30-year-old self.

Well... thankfully, it wasn't Dr. Mobius experienced this.

Sakura's thoughts began to wander.

I just don't know if it's a boss or an elite monster...

Keep fooling around.

There are three of you on this track, two of whom are younger versions of yourself. Go ahead and have fun, just don't get crushed by the AOE attacks.