On the other side, Xiao YanXue snorted lovably, apparently unsatisfied with how her grandfather kept mentioning that infamous silkpants’ name with such a serious expression. The only thing praiseworthy about him would be the fact that he had a good grandmother as well as a good mother. In their family, which of the males was actually outstanding?

Xiao FengHan merely laughed as he pinched YanXue’s nose lightly, saying, "Little la.s.s, don’t be angry. Don’t forget, you’re the gambling stake between our two families, hahaha…"

Her face turned red at this comment. Xiao YanXue could not help but shout out embarra.s.sedly, "Grandpa, you’re already at such an age but you're still so childish. Grandma Ling is a woman of calibre to be respected. But, she has made a mistake of thinking too highly of her grandson and thinking too lowly of me! Hmph, I can guarantee that, for this gambling match, our Xiao Family will not lose. You can rest a.s.sured and wait to receive half of the Ling Family’s wealth, this is more worth looking at!"

Xiao FengHan burst out into raucous laughter.

The crowd cupped their fists and bid their farewells. Under the order of Xiao FengYang, the hundred of them got onto their horses at the same time. All the horses neighed in unison as the people got onto them, tossing their manes and galloping off!

Sky Bearing Empire! My Xiao Family, is coming! All the rains and winds will gather at Sky Bearing, so how can our Xiao Family be absent?

Just as every major power on the continent was preparing themselves anxiously by recruiting and deploying armies, the Sky Bearing's Ling Family, who was situated in the centre of the vortex, was actually holding a welcoming dinner for the great Mister Qin.

In the feast, Grandpa Ling — as per usual — lectured Ling Tian for failing to meet up to expectations. After which, Grandpa Ling then grumbled continuously towards Mister Qin, complaining about Ling Tian’s unruly behavior for the past few years and how Ling Tian was not improving. Grandpa Ling finally beseeched Mister Qin to further educate Ling Tian, since he was the only teacher willing to take Ling Tian in, and that he had to make Ling Tian see the error in his ways, so that Ling Tian might change. He was allowed to beat and scold Ling Tian as he saw fit, so long as Ling Tian had a breath of life remaining.

While Grandpa Ling was venting his frustration, Ling Tian merely kept his head down, not daring to make a sound. As for his mother, Chu Ting'er, her face was full of guilt as she lowered her head, not even daring to eat; it was as though her face had been completely thrown away by the silkpants son of hers. Sitting by the side, Ling Xiao originally expressed his agreement and even wanted to add his own thoughts. But with a ‘penetrating’ glare from his wife, this Sky Bearing's great general was suddenly tongue-tied. Seems like this was an inherited fear in the Ling Family’s men...

Mister Qin had an expression as though he wanted to laugh but could not. Teach him? Stop joking with me! Since ten years ago, I had nothing left to teach him. It is more like him teaching me instead! With a mouth full of wine, he choked till his face turned red but was unable to swallow it, afraid that he would spit it back out and make a greater fool of himself.

The only person who understood everything, Old Madam Ling, was rolling her eyes. She originally looked at Grandpa Ling with eyes that were between laughter and anger. But seeing that old man spewing endlessly, she finally blew her top, "You darned old man, have you finished talking? We’re having a meal, why are you talking so much? Seeing that no one is stopping you, you’re becoming more and more vigorous, huh? This is a welcoming feast for Mister Qin! Shut up and eat!"

Grandpa Ling seemed to have lost the ability to talk and could only resentfully raise his cup, downing the wine in a go. His larynx suddenly seemed to have a lock on it, unable to even speak a word.

After the meal, Mister Qin put on a severe expression, commanding Ling Tian to follow him to his courtyard as though he was about to give the latter a dressing down. He flicked his sleeves and bl.u.s.tered, glaring at Ling Tian. Grandpa Ling watched with satisfaction at the side, before clasping his hands behind his back and strolling back to his study, waiting for the good news from Mister Qin.

The duo barely stepped into the courtyard before Mister Qin lost control of himself. His snow white beard trembled and his old wrinkled face curved into something resembling a flower blossom as his solemn self moments ago vanished totally. "My dear Young n.o.ble Ling, your subterfuge is top-notch! This old me regrets not staying here for the past three years, missing out on so many entertaining shows!"

Ling Tian also laughed in response, "Mister, there’s no need to feel regret. So long as you remain here, I can a.s.sure you that what's coming next will be even more interesting!" His face now revealed a mischievous look as he continued, "Charging in from the front, how can that beat the euphoria of sneaking up on someone and a.s.sa.s.sinating them? To let your enemies die without knowing who the mastermind is, depressed to the point of puking blood, isn’t that more efficient! Rather than merely hiding in a secret place and controlling the scenes from behind, to be someone who is a good-for-nothing and yet be able to summon the winds and call the rains, that is what I’m after! All under the heavens might think they know me, but who under the heavens actually does! Letting my enemies die under confusion and depression, is my greatest joy!" Ling Tian shook his head and winked.

"Hahaha…." Mister Qin felt as though he had laughed more today, than he had for the past three years. However, he suddenly thought of something, and asked, "By the way, you haven’t gotten rid of the Ling Kong and son pair?"

Ling Tian smirked, "Both father and son have fallen into my trap a long time ago. I currently have their lives in the palm of my hand and can let them disappear without sound nor news at any moment. I was actually intending to find an opportune time. Now, an opportunity has arrived; after the NanGong and Yang family duke it out, it would be the best time to cleanse the Ling Family!"

Mister Qin trembled involuntarily; he naturally understood what ‘cleansing the Ling family’ meant. Most likely, thousands of people were about to pay the price for Ling Tian’s ‘cleanliness program’! That price, would be their lives.

In Mister Qin’s impression, Ling Tian was a good person and a good student. However, this good person had a limit — so long as you do not provoke him, all would be fine; since Ling Tian was a magnanimous person. But if you touch his baseline, he will change his att.i.tude, faster than the time taken for you to flip a page on a book. Once he reveals his cruel and vicious self, it would surpa.s.s anyone’s imagination!

For Ling Tian, his 'endure' came in two different forms. The first was the 'endure' in tolerance, the second was the 'endure' in ruthlessness! [1] For both, Mister Qin had first hand experience!

Needless to say, Ling Tian personally helped Mister Qin to settle down. However, when he returned, he did not see any traces of Ling Chen and Yu BingYan. Only after asking around did he realize that his mother had called the two of them over for some idle chat. This got Ling Tian puzzled, what sort of weird ideas is my mother up to again? Ever since Old Madam Ling got her to slowly take over the family business, Ling Tian had begun to feel that his mom was getting more and more difficult to deal with. He originally thought that his mother was merely a kind and loving person; but after digging deeper, he discovered that this was not the case. Just take a look at the females in the Ling Family, all of them were incomparably valiant. This was especially true after his mother took over the family business. She seemed to be enthusiastic about it, revealing her outstanding talents. In addition to the support from Old Madam Ling, she had turned into the model of a career superwoman in Ling Tian’s eyes. 

An interesting cycle was imperceptibly formed in the Ling Family. From the memories of his previous life, Ling Tian had numerous business plans and ideas. As the saying goes, even a person who hasn’t eaten pork before would have seen a pig walk. A few random pointers thrown to Old Madam Ling would make her treat them like treasures. After polis.h.i.+ng them and pa.s.sing them to Chu Ting'er, she would not carelessly treat them as mere recipes to blindly follow. Instead, she would input in her own variations, turning these ideas into s.h.i.+ny white taels of silver that flowed unceasingly into the Ling Family.

However, whatever that Old Madam Ling learned was only limited to whatever the ‘pedantic celestial’ master of Ling Tian chose to give. Chu Ting originally thought that these ideas were obtained from her erudite mother-in-law. Thus, Ling Tian had always managed to keep himself under wraps. However, Ling Tian had begun to think that both women were becoming harder and harder to placate. His mother was still better off, since she did not know the truth. But Old Madam Ling would keep trying to probe Ling Tian, staring at him for long periods of time, causing him to feel trepidation and fear. Even if you say that it was normal for a grandmother to stare at her grandson, but would the stare make one feel afraid??!

Finally, Ling Chen and Yu BingYan strolled back leisurely. At this point, Ling Tian had almost fallen asleep due to his boredom. But upon seeing their weird expressions, Ling Tian jolted back awake in fright, not knowing what his mother did this time to incite such weird expressions on their faces.

"Young n.o.ble, the Royal Consort sent an invitation over to our residence, inviting all the Madams of the Imperial Court to the Smoky Thea Pavilion for a feast. Madam had already agreed to attend and thus, was preparing some gifts for the Royal Consort as well as the other Madams," Ling Chen spoke in a weird tone and a face full of mischievousness. She had obviously come to a conclusion to what Chu Ting'er was scheming.

"Ah? After that year of gathering, didn’t mother swear that she wouldn't attend these sorts of banquets ever again?" Ling Tian asked in doubt.

Since Chu Ting'er was the wife of the Sky Bearing's war-G.o.d, to say that she was the top of the n.o.blewomen was not exaggerating at all. So why was she not willing to gather with the other wives? Was she putting on airs? The actual case was that Chu Ting'er was a virtuous and caring wife, unwilling to put on any airs. But who asked Ling Tian to be Sky Bearing’s number one silkpants, unwilling to settle down even now. Hence, Chu Ting'er had always been worried about her son’s future, gritting her teeth to promote her son to all her ‘sisters’ around the city. However, everyone had already heard of Ling Tian’s morals and conduct, hence the obvious results!

Wherever Chu Ting'er went, those n.o.blewomen with status would immediately scatter as though they had encountered the plague. Only those who schemed to get into their inner circle would suck up to her. However, Chu Ting'er was unwilling to entertain them! With the path to the top closed off, but unwilling to cast her eyes downwards, Chu Ting finally made up her mind not to attend such gatherings any longer, so as to avoid the supercilious looks of the other n.o.ble women. Furthermore, many of the Ling Family's matters required her attention. Thus, she did not have much time to devote towards such trivial matters.

"Aunt summoned me over to ask about a lot of matters regarding Sister Wei. It seems like Aunt Wei will be present tomorrow," Yu BingYan’s voice sounded weird, unlike her usual tone.

[1] The author is using a h.o.m.onym here. The Chinese character ‘忍’, which means endure, can be used in ‘隱忍’, meaning tolerance, or ‘殘忍’ meaning cruelty or ruthlessness.