Husband-stealing story

Chapter 113

Tang Qingliu turned around, his smile suddenly turning sarcastic: "I used to blame you, but I don't anymore. Seeing Nineteen, I realized that neither of us are actually good fathers."

Tang Diru clenched his fist: "I will definitely protect Nineteen."

Tang Qingliu couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Seventeen years ago, you also told me the same thing, that you would protect the child in Xiyan's belly." He slowly sat down, looking at the flickering candlelight. "Seventeen years, I owe you nineteen years, I owe Xiyan... a lifetime."

Tang Diruo dared not look at his face: "This time..." His tone was weak, not like a father talking to his son.

“Uncle Ku will not allow it, even if Nineteen hands over the Tuanfu Heart Sutra.” Tang Qingliu pointed out the crux of the matter, “Even if Uncle Ku agrees, that person will absolutely not let Nineteen live.”

Tang Diruo suddenly trembled: "How did you know..."

"You know that person exists?" Tang Qingliu suddenly laughed, his eyes crinkling when he laughed, just like Nineteen. "When did the mighty Tang Clan of Sichuan become that person's drug depot and armory? Although I don't know who that person is, I can guess that he must be an extraordinary figure, at least someone who has something that can control you."

Tang Diruo lowered his head and remained silent.

Tang Qingliu sighed: "Although you never come in, you often stand outside watching me. In the past three years, you have lost a lot of weight. It doesn't seem like a serious illness, but rather like you have been poisoned by some strange toxin."

Tang Diru smiled bitterly, but still didn't say a word.

Tang Qingliu frowned: "What kind of poison is it that even my Tang family is helpless against, with no cure?"

After a long pause, Tang Diruo finally raised his head. Deep lines of time had etched themselves onto his forehead, and his cheeks were thin and sunken, unlike the healthy appearance of an ordinary old man. "Don't ask anymore, child, don't ask anymore." He grabbed Tang Qingliu's hand and hurriedly stuffed something into it. "If there's a chance… you must…"

Tang Qingliu was shocked: "This is... the antidote? What exactly happened to the Tang Clan? What poison have you been poisoned with?"

Tang Diruo smiled bitterly, "It's not poison, it's a demon in my heart, a poison in my heart that no one can cure. I've suffered for so many years, and finally, it's all over." A trickle of emerald blood slid from his lips. "I hear that Nineteen and Shenyin have already entered Shu and will be here soon. I have no face to see her, and I don't want to see her killed by that person. Please, please, you must..."

Tang Qingliu quickly reached out to support his slipping body: "You... there's no need for this. Who exactly is that person?"

Blood gushed from Tang Diruo's mouth, initially a ghastly green, then gradually turning a jet-black color: "Child... run! The Tang Clan, the Tang Clan, cannot be left here. That man has gone mad; he... he wants—to die together with him." His aged body trembled uncontrollably. Tang Qingliu clearly felt that the body in his hands was nothing but bones, so fragile it would crumble at the slightest touch. Tang Diruo clutched his clothes tightly, her face full of expectation, as if she wanted to say something more, but she could no longer utter a word.

Tang Qingliu gently embraced him: "Father, I understand." The body in his arms convulsed suddenly, then gradually softened, as if it had no bones, collapsing into a lump of mud.

This is Tang Clan's Bone-Shattering Powder. It starts by shattering the bones, bit by bit, until nothing is left in the end.

Tang Qingliu kowtowed three times to Tang Diruo, tightened his grip on the antidote, and suddenly flung it out the window, where it fell into the pond.

A figure flashed by, and a man in silver robes with black hair stood before the door. He stood with his hands at his sides, his head slightly lowered, obscuring his face, but his voice was melodious and alluring: "What would it feel like to watch your own father die before your eyes? Sadness? Grief? Or relief?"

Tang Qingliu stood up, dusting off his hands: "Someone like you, born without parents, will never understand. Hmm? I heard you were injured by my precious daughter?"

The man looked up, a smile on his face, his eyes shimmering with tears: "It was Tian Shu who was injured by Nineteen, not me."

Tang Qingliu waved his hand: "I can't tell when you, this psychopath, are Tian Shu and when you're Tian Xiu. But... I know you've made my daughter suffer terribly. How do you think we should settle this score?" Before he finished speaking, he had already pounced forward and slapped Tian Xiu more than ten times before stopping.

Tianxiu's face was covered in blood, his fair cheeks swollen high, but his smile was still not gone: "It was Tianshu who harmed Shijiu, not me. If it weren't for me, Shijiu would have been killed by Tianshu a million times over."

"I know, so I only gave you a few slaps." Tang Qingliu turned his head to the side, looking exceptionally dashing in the flickering candlelight. "So, not all the people from Xiaoyao Manor are really dead after all."

“If Ge Yang were really that easy to kill, you probably would have finished him off when you snatched Xi Yan back then.” Tian Xiu smiled charmingly. “Nineteen, oh Nineteen, you’re so pitiful. There’s not a single good person around you—including me, of course.”

"Tell me, how come she can live so innocently, knowing nothing?" Tianxiu gently tossed a strand of black hair, her tone extremely flippant. "The fates of people are truly incomparable. They are both orphans, yet Xie Dongsheng treated her so well."

A hint of murderous intent flashed in Tang Qingliu's eyes: "No father or mother?"

"Oh, no, I forgot, she has a biological father who was separated from her for seventeen years. The first time they met, he used her to bring me up the mountain and kill her adoptive father." Tianxiu covered her mouth in feigned surprise, her narrow eyes slightly narrowed, looking very charming. "Tell me, if she knew that you were the one who orchestrated the destruction of Xiaoyao Manor, would she... disown you? Would she still travel thousands of miles to 'save' you?"

In the blink of an eye, Tang Qingliu lunged forward and grabbed Tianxiu by the neck.

Tianxiu neither flinched nor dodged, but looked at him with a smile on her lips.

Tang Qingliu suddenly let go: "Are you so tormented by Tian Shu that you want to die? Why should I grant your wish?"

A strange emotion flashed in her shimmering eyes, but in just a moment, Tianxiu regained her composure.

"Young Master Tang is joking again."

"Tian Shu's temper has probably been really bad lately. Because of that silly fish, he's probably going to eat Nineteen alive," Tang Qingliu said slowly. "What do you think? Should I keep him?"

"Young Master Tang, you're really joking. Seventeen years ago, Xi Yan poisoned you, making you only able to circulate your internal energy for two hours at a time, after which you became weak and useless. Without Tian Shu, how could you become the person behind the Tang Clan... 'that person'?"

Tang Qingliu's face stiffened, but he still smiled and said, "I really don't know where you heard this nonsense."

Tianxiu's laughter grew increasingly gleeful, his eyes blazing with murderous intent. His pale fingers suddenly turned blood red, as if fresh blood was about to spill from them. "Besides... do you really think you can escape unscathed from Tianshu's clutches?"

Stepping into Shu again, Tang Shijiu felt a sense of loss, as if everything had changed. The last time she came, she was with Tang Yu—or rather, she was kidnapped by Tang Yu. But this time, that reserved girl was no longer alive.

Yun Tan said: It was Tian Shu who killed Tang Yu.

Nineteen questions: Why?

Tian Shu… Although Tian Shu was always cold and aloof, Nineteen could still sense that Tian Shu cared about Yu Yu. Yun Tan shook his head, saying nothing. The clever Shen Yun Tan knew best that at this moment, silence was more effective than repeated emphasis.

The winter wind was biting, and Tang Shijiu shivered. Shen Yuntan considerately draped his cloak over her. Both of them had made considerable progress in their cultivation, their inner strength greatly increased, and they shouldn't have been affected by the cold wind. He knew Tang Shijiu was thinking of Tang Yu and secretly grieving, so she refused to use her inner strength to resist the cold.

Had he known that grab would be so ruthless, he shouldn't have intervened. He should have let the bewitched Tang Shijiu kill Tang Yu first, then Tian Shu. His pull at that moment, ostensibly to save Tian Shu, was actually meant to save Tang Yu.

“In three more days, we will be able to reach Young Master Tang’s old residence.” Shen Yun said calmly, with a tender expression. “There may be a fierce battle, Nineteen, you should be prepared.”

Tang Shijiu looked up and saw a gentle and refined smile on the face of the man before her, who was willing to go through fire and water for her.

"I'm sorry to have troubled you."

He took her hand and held it in his palm: "Only you make me willingly endure hardship." His hand was big and warm, enveloping her small, nineteen-year-old hand and placing it in his heart, "As long as you don't doubt me."

Nineteen blushed: "I was wrong, I will never doubt you again. But you are not allowed to lie to me."

He kissed her cheek: "There's only one thing you need to believe: I will never hurt you."