Wang Shouzhe's little courtyard was forever a riot of blossoms and lush greenery. The air was permeated with a faint mist, carrying a vibrant, life-filled spiritual charm.
Many children of the Wang Clan's main and direct branches held deep memories of this courtyard.
That was because Clan Head Wang Shouzhe was especially fond of the younger generation. Nearly every child, when they were small, had sat in his arms on his lap and listened to his wondrous, enthralling stories.
Wang Shouzhe had always treated children like spring breezes and gentle rain, caring for them attentively and nurturing them in every way, helping them grow strong. He did his utmost to give them a sunny, positive, and healthy childhood.
Yet today, Wang Shouzhe sat in the pavilion with a face as dark as water. He could not even bring himself to drink his favorite immortal tea.
Wang Zongrui was Wang Shouzhe's second legitimate son, as well as the fourth child he had with Liu Ruolan.
He was already fifty-two this year. Since childhood, he had been handsome and tall, like an elegant young nobleman in a muddied world. Though he now wore two small mustaches, they did not make him look sleazy; instead, they lent him a few more touches of maturity and steadiness.
After marrying the legitimate daughter of the Liaoyuan Fang Clan, he had lived an honest, grounded life, fathering two sons and a daughter in succession.
All in all, aside from a period in his childhood when he had constantly suspected that his father and the Artifact Spirit Xiao Xue shared some unspeakable past—and had been beaten by his mother so many times that he once began wondering whether he might actually be Xiao Xue's son—he, like his elder brother Wang Zongan, had not given Wang Shouzhe much