After a pause, the young members of the Xiao family, sensing the old patriarch's anger, lowered their heads in fear, not daring to speak. Several elders, however, were somewhat displeased: "Patriarch, your words are a bit inappropriate. After all, this is the face of our Xiao family! Who was that fellow in the shop just now? How could you be so respectful and courteous to a mere youth? It's disgraceful to the Xiao family..."
Bang!
Before the speaker could finish speaking, the old man suddenly turned around and kicked him in the stomach! The poor old man, who was also a white-haired clan elder, was kicked to his knees on the spot by the old man, bent over, clutching his stomach, his face pale, staring at the old man in horror.
"Watch your mouth!" Old Master Xiao coughed, his eyes icy. "I'll say it now: send a few sharp-eyed, clever young men to keep a close watch on this inn. They should be waiting in the lobby... Hmm, just tell the owner to take over this inn immediately and replace everyone inside with our staff! Then close the inn and stop accepting outside guests! Make sure you carefully observe the gentleman who was inside earlier. Treat all his companions as the most honored guests. Fulfill any requests they may have! They must be extremely respectful and courteous. To put it bluntly, these guests shouldn't be treated like emperors! Do you understand?"
Everyone was stunned and hadn't even reacted when Old Master Xiao snorted heavily, his gaze sweeping over them like lightning. Those whose eyes met his trembled and quickly lowered their heads in response.
But the clan elder he had kicked over, Old Master Xiao walked up to him, his face ashen: "I kicked you just now, are you still upset about it?"
The elder clutched his stomach and roared, "You are the clan leader, and by seniority you are my uncle. You are the most senior member of the entire Xiao family. How dare I be dissatisfied!"
Old Master Xiao snorted, "If you're not convinced, so be it. Don't think I'm really senile! Today, you all shouted and threatened to kill Chen Xiao and that girl, but not one of you was acting out of a sense of justice for the Xiao family! Hmph, take you for example, you just want to drive that brat Chen Xiao away so that your grand-nephew will have a chance to marry Xiao Qing? Let me tell you, and all of you! Xiao Qing will not marry anyone else! Unless I die, you can forget about it! And you all..." The old master's eyes swept over the other elders.
He was, after all, the head of the Xiao family, and his seniority was a generation higher than these elders, some even two generations higher. Now that he was truly putting on airs, no one could do anything about it. However, these elders were all white-haired and usually quite imposing. Now, being reprimanded like this by Old Master Xiao in front of the younger generation, they were somewhat embarrassed.
"You lot! Keep your own boys in check! Hmph, my orders today were to send men out to find Chen Xiao and the others, but what did you do? A bunch of brats went out 'looking for people' with sticks, knives, and guns? Hmph! Are you trying to kill someone or find someone? If I were Chen Xiao, seeing this group of men coming to 'look for' me with such murderous intent, of course I wouldn't come back either!"
The group of old men blushed with embarrassment after their secrets were exposed. Some of them had ulterior motives, while others, though not personally instructing them, had simply turned a blind eye and tacitly approved of the actions of their second and third-generation descendants.
Now that Old Master Xiao had exposed their lie in public without any regard for the consequences, everyone felt guilty and none of them dared to speak.
"I just want to tell you that I, this old man, am not dead yet! Nor am I senile! In the past, I was concerned about maintaining harmony within the family and didn't want to say much about these things. But today, you... hehe! Look at you all, each of you is a clan elder, yet you put profit first and your behavior is far too ugly! What are you afraid of! Let me tell you, those two kids, Chen Xiao and Xiao Qing, may not even care about the Xiao family's little bit of property!"
After venting his anger, the old man was a little out of breath. After catching his breath for a while, he looked back at the inn's lobby. The innkeeper and his staff had already run out and were standing not far away with careful smiles.
"Alright, that's all. Do what I told you to do! Don't try any more tricks! Hmph, the Xiao family thinks they're something special now! Hundreds of people wielding sticks and knives dare to march in the streets! Who gave you such audacity! It's all because you've been indulging your own children's misbehavior, fostering their arrogant and unruly behavior! Do you think the Xiao family is the tyrant here? That we can do whatever we want? Today, hundreds of people were beaten down in the streets, and it was these good-for-nothings who brought this upon themselves!"
"Well, sir, what do you think of now..."
The old man snorted: "Send men to summon all the lads outside back to the old house! Pass on my message: all the Xiao family lads must stay obediently in the old house and return to their rooms! Starting now, if even one member of the Xiao family dares to wander the streets again in one hour, arrest them and break their legs!"
"ah?"
Even the Xiao family stewards who followed the old master were stunned.
Should all the people sent out be recalled?
The old patriarch sneered inwardly. These people naturally didn't know, but he did. Chen Xiao's abilities were truly remarkable. He had genuinely sent men out to "find" Chen Xiao, but his men had taken matters into their own hands, sending hundreds of them out with knives, spears, and clubs to "search for someone." Their intentions were clearly malicious. Even if these men found Chen Xiao, what could they do? The old patriarch knew that his own men were absolutely incapable of capturing Chen Xiao. If a conflict broke out, only the Xiao family's own members would suffer.
This will further alienate Chen Xiao from the Xiao family.
Moreover, now that we know this Mr. Tian is here, this matter is most likely related to him!
No matter how many people from the Xiao family are combined, how could they possibly be a match for this Senior Tian? It would be better to withdraw them as soon as possible.
“But, sir, if this happens…” A steward of the Xiao family, who was usually quite powerful, was still somewhat unwilling and was about to say something more when Old Master Xiao suddenly picked up his dragon-headed cane and hit him on the head with it.
"Hmph! Shut up!" the old man roared. "Since when have you dared to question me like this? I think you've been too comfortable being the steward, lording it over everyone! Very well, from today onwards, you're out of a job and go back to your room to reflect on your mistakes!"
Everyone was shocked! The person who spoke was a heavyweight manager of the Xiao family, overseeing many of their businesses. He was in charge of managing numerous fitness centers and martial arts schools, and the Xiao family's assets under his control amounted to tens of millions. The old master dismissed him with a single word! It seemed the old master was truly enraged today!
The man was stunned by the old master's beating and stared at him dumbfounded. The old master had already turned and left, and the others quickly followed. The man was full of shock, but in the end, he was secretly pulled by one of his relatives, who signaled him to shut up with his eyes. Only then did he follow along, feeling utterly humiliated.
...
...
"Ha! It seems your words still work. Overnight, all those Xiao family brats outside have vanished. Now there's not a soul to be seen on the streets." Zhu Rong and Gong Gong occupied the sofa and bed in Lao Tian's room, laughing happily.
Old Tian shook his head: "My face-saving efforts have come to an end. I can make the Xiao family stop causing trouble, but getting Chen Xiao and those two young ladies back into the Xiao family and eventually take over the family business is beyond my ability. Even if the Xiao family patriarch is willing, his prestige alone cannot suppress the opposition of the Manchu people." He smiled: "We can't just kill all the people in the Xiao family who oppose us, can we?"
Zhu Rong shook his head nonchalantly: "Killing them wouldn't be a big deal. We've killed people before, after all. It's just that if we kill the Xiao family, we'll feel a bit guilty towards Chen Xiao and that girl Xiao Qing. Besides, what's so great about the Xiao family? Their money is nothing to us."
"Like I said before, you don't understand. For these children, the meaning of 'home' is more important than anything else."
Old Tian stopped talking at that point.
"By the way, you were out all night. Who did you go to see?"
Zhu Rong couldn't help but press for more information.
Old Tian snorted, his facial muscles twitching slightly as he looked at Zhu Rong and Gong Gong: "You really can't guess? Besides that guy, who else could make me this nervous?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Rong and Gong Gong suddenly realized what was happening, and their expressions changed drastically! Zhu Rong, in particular, turned as pale as a sheet.
"It's...it's him?"
"It was him." Old Tian couldn't bear to hide it any longer and said in a low voice, "I didn't let you come with me for your own good... Hmph, meeting him always brings a lot of trouble!"
As he spoke, Old Tian couldn't bear to look at their faces and turned his head away: "Let's... leave here quickly too. I really don't want to see that guy again... Hmm, let's leave tomorrow. As for Chen Xiao... I think giving him one more night should be enough."
...
...
In the small house on the back mountain, several girls looked at Chen Xiao with expectant eyes. Chen Xiao sat in the middle, surrounded by the girls' gazes, and his expression became stiff. He couldn't help but smile.
"Can you remember anything else?" Zhang Xiaotao asked anxiously.
"I... I've thought about it enough." Chen Xiao smiled bitterly. He was exhausted; thinking all night had almost drained him of his energy. New fragments of memory kept emerging in his mind, and then, through clues, they were connected one by one, piecing together complete memories... This process sounds simple, but it was actually very painful.
After all, suddenly having so many memories crammed into your head, as if your brain is overflowing, can indeed be quite maddening. Moreover, these memories are often chaotic and require many rounds of processing to make their structure clear.
Using Ya Ya as a clue, the author recalls related scenes and other people in those scenes. For example, the author recalls being with Ya Ya when Hei Qi broke in and tried to steal the 'purification' potion. The author then recalls Hei Qi and other people related to him.
For example, when you think of the scene with Ya Ya in the coffee shop, you will naturally think of the other people in that coffee shop scene, such as the three old monsters in the abandoned street, Fatty, Cabbage, and Xu Ershao.