The Zhao Family

"You... I... Fifth Young Master?"

The steward heard the hero's words and suddenly froze.

He wasn't stunned because the Fifth Young Master had changed his name. He was stunned because the Fifth Young Master had come back!

"No wonder he looked familiar... So it was the Fifth Young Master..."

The steward was a little excited.

He also understood that once news of this reached the residence, it would be like throwing a "Thunder Fire Bomb" into the house!

"Fifth Young Master..." The two guards had only arrived a few years ago, so they didn't know the details of what had happened to the Zhao Family ten years ago.

But they had occasionally heard people talk about it, and knew the Fifth Young Master's appearance was a little unusual.

But nobody had said that the Fifth Young Master looked this imposing!

"How is that unusual? He clearly has the bearing of a mighty general!"

Seeing Chen Guan's build and rugged features, the guards thought he looked like a real man!

But before they could get a better look,

the steward recovered from the news that the Fifth Young Master had returned and hurriedly said to Chen Guan, "Young Master, please wait a moment. I'll go inform Master right away!"

With that, the steward hurried into the courtyard.

He even forgot to first invite the "guest" into the side hall in the front courtyard to have tea while he waited.

The dining hall near the rear courtyard.

Patriarch Zhao, the young masters, and the women were still having breakfast, unaware that Chen Guan had already returned.

"Come on... Open wide..."

At the women's table, a voice dropped slightly lower than usual.

The Second Young Master's wife was feeding her two-year-old son.

Everything was just as it usually was: the family ate together in warmth and quiet.

Rustle, rustle—

But just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside the courtyard.

"Hmm?"

Hearing the disorderly footsteps, Patriarch Zhao set down his bowl and chopsticks and frowned.

But when the person outside finally appeared,

Patriarch Zhao saw that it was the old steward, who always observed the rules of the household. He didn't get particularly angry.

The man had initially helped manage the family's business and had now become the chief steward. He was a trusted aide, one of the few servants who was also like a brother to Patriarch Zhao.

The two had known each other for more than thirty years.

But the others were curious to see the steward in such a hurry.

"Uncle Lin usually follows the rules so carefully. Why is he rushing around today?"

"Has an important guest arrived? But who would come this early in the morning?"

"Could something have happened in the residence?"

Seeing the old steward like this, everyone began guessing to themselves.

"What is it?" Patriarch Zhao asked calmly, looking at the steward, who had just hurried to the doorway.

Then, to maintain proper decorum,

Patriarch Zhao added a mild rebuke:

"Steward Lin, it's improper to be so flustered in front of the younger generation."

"Master... Master..."

The steward was a little out of breath. He didn't look like someone who had done anything wrong. Instead, as everyone watched with growing confusion, he wore an excitement rarely seen on him.

"Young Master has returned! The Fifth Young Master! The Fifth Young Master has returned!"

"What? Old Fifth?" Hearing this, Patriarch Zhao's rebuke vanished at once.

His expression showed some curiosity and the relief of a man whose worries had eased, but above all, it showed anger.

"He dares to come back?!" Patriarch Zhao was furious. His left fist clenched with a crackle.

"Fifth Brother is back?"

The Eldest Young Master and Second Young Master exchanged a look, their thoughts difficult to read.

"He must be after the family fortune..."

"Why did that brat come back out of nowhere?"

They were more worried than anything, afraid he would compete with them for the family business.

The Zhao Family's third and fourth children were both girls.

They had both married and no longer lived in the residence.

"Fifth Brother?"

The fourteen-year-old Sixth Young Master—the beloved son of the "Fourth Madam who'd stolen a room and a man"—

had a rather scholarly air about him.

When he heard that Chen Guan had returned, his expression didn't change much, but he was curious.

Chen Guan had left when he was still very young, and he couldn't remember what his Fifth Brother looked like.

He had only occasionally heard his mother say that his Fifth Brother looked strange.

"Mother, who is the Fifth Young Master? Is he Fifth Uncle?"

"Fifth Uncle? Is he the Fifth Uncle Father said ran away from home?"

Beside the women's table, some of the grandchildren looked at their mothers in confusion.

Chen Guan's sudden return had broken the Zhao Family's long-standing breakfast rule of silence.

Seeing this, Patriarch Zhao didn't scold anyone. Instead, he kept his voice as even as he could and looked toward the steward at the doorway.

"Bring him to the dining hall!"

After giving the order, Patriarch Zhao closed his eyes and said nothing. He didn't eat either.

"Wait..." The First Madam, whose hair had gone somewhat white, called out to the steward before he could leave.

At the same time, she stepped out of the hall and quietly instructed him:

"Prepare a few extra servings of food. Xiao Wu always ate a lot when he was little. I don't know whether he's had breakfast before rushing back."

"Ah..." The steward paused, then glanced at Master, who sat silently in the hall. Only then did he clasp his hands and quietly reply, "Yes, First Madam. I'll have the kitchen prepare it."

As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and asked,

"The Fifth Young Master has also brought a few... friends. Should I invite them into the residence as well?"

"Good." The First Madam nodded, then lowered her voice again. "Steward Lin, when you go to the kitchen, bring Xiao Hua here too.

Xiao Wu was close to Xiao Hua when he was little. Have her come and talk with him.

That child is stubborn, and the master of our house is just as hardheaded.

After ten years apart, their reunion might end in a falling-out."

The First Madam was the daughter of a once-prominent but now fallen minor scholar's family in town.

She had always been learned and reasonable.

In the past, whenever Chen Guan received strange looks from some of the madams in the residence,

the First Madam had always spoken up and reprimanded them, giving Chen Guan a way out.

Of course, she didn't think of it as helping Chen Guan.

She simply wanted the family members in the residence to get along better.

Her own family had fallen because of years of infighting and internal strife.

A moment later,

the steward followed the First Madam's instructions. He sent someone to the kitchen to call Xiao Hua and prepare food, then returned to the entrance to fetch the guests.

"He's back..."

The Fourth Madam in the dining hall no longer had a graceful figure. She had grown a little plump instead.

And because of what had happened in the past, and the master's command for her to get out,

she had long since fallen out of his favor.

Now she relied entirely on her son, the Sixth Young Master.

Fortunately, the Sixth Young Master was quite capable and did well in his studies. According to the teacher in town,

if he studied for another four or five years, perhaps he could try the imperial examinations and see if he could at least become a licentiate.

The Fourth Madam had high hopes for him and wanted him to try for an even higher degree.

But before she could think much more about it,

several sets of footsteps approached from a distance.

The next moment, a tall figure entered the courtyard.

Chen Guan came home openly and calmly, looking straight into the hall.

"This is Fifth Brother?"

"Fifth Nephew..."

The Eldest Young Master and the others truly hadn't recognized Chen Guan. They couldn't bring themselves to believe this imposing "hero" was him.

"Ling'er?" The instant Patriarch Zhao saw this "rugged hero," he didn't recognize him either.

But when he noticed his son's distinctive ears, the name slipped out at once.

"Father, your son has returned." Chen Guan hesitated before managing to say the words.

When it came to family affection, Chen Guan felt divided.

But could he honestly say he didn't care about this old man?

At that moment,

when Chen Guan saw the white at his temples, and saw him looking at him with both anger and concern,

Chen Guan truly didn't know what to say.

At the end of the day, though the old man hadn't cared for him much, he had kept him well fed for seven years.

He had never lacked food, clothing, shelter, or anything else.

Aside from not having a personal maid to attend to him after he was six or seven,

compared with some families in the real world, the old man had been a pretty good father.

Then, the next moment,

several bandits entered the courtyard.

Chen Guan quickly set aside these family feelings and glanced toward the bandits.

Thud, thud...

When the bandits saw the mighty figure looking their way, they trembled in fear. They faced the hall and knelt in a row behind Chen Guan.

"What is this?!"

The women near the doorway and several young boys hurried away from the entrance.

Though the bandits had their heads bowed, they still looked fierce and vicious.

The Second Young Master and the Sixth Young Master didn't dare meet their eyes either. Instead, they looked at Chen Guan, whose build was broad and strong.

Chen Guan looked rugged, but he was also their blood relative.

There was a sense of closeness and familiarity between them, at least compared with these fierce men.

"Who are they?" Patriarch Zhao frowned as he looked at the bandits.

He had even seen two of them twice during this time.

"You... Shopkeeper Peng?"

Patriarch Zhao looked at the bandit chief, then turned to the man beside him.

"Are you Member Heng?"

The bandits had taken turns scouting the area to get a better sense of it.

Sometimes they had even gone into Zhao Family shops to look around, hoping to learn something under the pretext of discussing business.

"Master Zhao... I was wrong..."

"I wouldn't dare again... I wouldn't dare covet your money again... Please... please spare me..."

"I shouldn't have scouted your residence..."

When the bandits saw Patriarch Zhao looking at them, they immediately kowtowed and begged for mercy.

Now that they'd heard Chen Guan was a son of the Zhao Family, they were even more terrified, sure they were as good as dead!

After all, they had tried to rob him and planned to kill his family.

That made them sworn enemies.

But since there was at least a little connection between them, the bandits thought there might still be a sliver of hope.

Even now, they were wondering whether they could try begging for mercy.

They didn't want to fight to the death.

With such a powerful man before them, they couldn't even hope to strike back before dying.

"What's going on?" Patriarch Zhao was baffled to see the bandits kowtowing.

But from their words and talk of scouting the area,

Patriarch Zhao understood that these people had been targeting his family!

The others in the hall also understood what had happened from the bandits' pleas.

"I returned to town yesterday,"

Chen Guan said, pointing at the bandits.

"I ran into this group of more than ten men in the forest.

From what they said, there are still more than twenty of them in town.

I'm going to catch them all today."

"What? There are more than a dozen men in the woods? And twenty more in town?"

"That many bandits?"

"They... actually meant to rob us... Thank goodness Fifth Nephew ran into them..."

Hearing this, everyone looked at the vicious bandits and felt a lingering chill of fear.

The Eldest Young Master, who was supposed to deliver the goods and collect payment in the middle of next month, was especially pale, his palm trembling against the table.

"I was... just one step away from death..."

In the dead of winter, the Eldest Young Master's undershirt was soaked through.

Fear had struck him first. His eyelids twitched, and he furtively wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Fifth Brother... did you subdue them all by yourself?" The Second Young Master made wild guesses in his head, secretly sizing up the burly Chen Guan.

When Patriarch Zhao heard there were more than a dozen bandits in the woods, then saw that only four were kneeling there now, he grew curious and a little anxious.

Without even realizing it, he asked Chen Guan in a tentative tone, "Then... the others... in the woods? What happened to them?"

At Patriarch Zhao's question, everyone else turned their eyes to Chen Guan, wanting to know what had become of those men.

Chen Guan replied unconcernedly,

"The twelve bandits in the woods and I have settled our grievances. This feud can't be undone, so naturally, I killed them all."