Commanding Wind and Cloud

Chapter 251: Kneel down!

The names of those without bloodline power would be erased from the family pedigrees after their deaths and replaced by a general title, the branch family member. While the names of the members alive were inscribed under the deceased in the pedigree.

The Qian descendants without bloodline warrior power would be erased from the family pedigrees and were forbidden from being lamented in the mourning hall or being buried in the ancestral graves.

And on no occasion would they be admitted into Qian Family’s ancestral hall, as only those who made great contributions would be remembered there. Even Qian Huang, who established an extensive commercial system and thus put the Qian Family in possession of vast fortunes, was not qualified to be honored in the ancestral hall nor to be recorded in the family pedigrees, merely because he hadn’t awakened bloodline power.

The name of this hero who boosted Qian Family’s status as a respected commercial powerhouse was nowhere to be found except in the memoir of Qian Hongfeng, the strongest Elf-king Bloodline Warrior in the same era. Otherwise, no one would know that there was once such a brilliant person as Qian Huang in Qian Family.

People kept moving to and fro on the main road, making it hard for Qian Jin to ride fast. As he gradually got closer to the heart of the city, the once familiar shops and lanes started emerging in front of him

“I’ve returned!” Qian Jin couldn’t help holding the reins firmly and looking at the magnificent castle-like house of Qian looming in the distance as he said to himself

The ruler of Qian City, the Qian Family.

The directives of Qian Family were even more telling than the Emperor’s orders in Qian City. Nearly all military commanders in Qian Region were from Qian Family. Although they might not necessarily bore the family name of Qian, they were at least retinues of the Elf-king Bloodline Warrior Qian Family.

The Qian Family was just within his reach.

Qian Jin could even hear his heartbeats that were as quick and loud as a drum and mingled with excitement and nervousness.

Looking at the grand hall, Duren Burg slightly raised his eyebrows and had to admit that it was really cladded with loftiness. Being just a dwelling house, it gave out an overwhelming ambiance that made people want to bow.

In the face of the legendary Elf-king Bloodline Warrior Family, one of the three ultimate bloodline warrior families in Zence Empire, Duren Burg felt that hundred pounds of rice had been laid on his bare back which made it hard to breathe.

Looking at the huge building, Qian Jin felt tempted to let out a long growl. “I, Qian Jin, have come back!”

However, after an hour’s ride on the horses, they hadn’t yet arrived at the gate of Qian Family, though the building had appeared even bigger in their eyes.

Grunt grunt grunt…

Hearing the grunting of his fellow friends, Qian Jin looked to the surroundings, saw a noodle shop and jumped down from the horse. “Let’s grab us something to eat first; tt seems we have to ride for another half an hour.”

Looking at the magnificent building towering afar, Duren Burg couldn’t stop his admiration. “It really deserves to be called one of the pillar families of the Zence Empire. I wonder if only the royal family could be compared to it in grandeur and bearings?”

“The royal family?”

One waiter wearing a white towel on his shoulder served them four cups of water on the tray and sneered in a lofty manner. “Dear guest, I’m afraid you haven’t ever been to the Holy Capital, have you?”

Duren Burg took the tray and nodded, “How did you know this?” he asked..

“Sure I know.” The waiter served the rich-looking Fanta Kunge another tray and cast an admiring look at Cech Flet. Although he served a lot of guests every day, it was his first time seeing such a handsome man.

“The palace of the royal family cannot be compared to our Qian Family’s…” The waiter raised his head proudly. After looking around, he noticed Qian Jin. After a short moment’s trance, he asked surprisedly, “You…you…”

“Qian Li?” Qian Jin looked up to the waiter who talked to him and recognized that this waiter was also a descendant of Qian Family; this waiter was one year younger than him. In Qian Jin’s memory, he was still the little boy who wore snot all over his face and toddle after him.

“How did Qian Li dress like that and show up here?” He thought. There was only one explanation, that was, Qian Li also failed in the awakening ceremony the second year and was thus expelled to serve as a waiter here by the family.

Qian Jin sighed slightly, feeling that the Qian Family was really an scary place. In the eyes of the bloodline warriors of Qian Family, Qian Li, who failed the awakening, was nothing more useful than an ant which could be exploited by them at their wish. However, Qian Li still felt proud for such a ruthless family.

Qian Li…Qian Jin uttered another sigh and recalled Qian Li’s father and grandfather who also failed in the bloodline power awakening and had to be squeezed in two shabby and short adobe houses.

Qian Li’s grandfather, Qian Ming, was a very brilliant businessman. If he was not born to the Qian Family, he might earn as much family property as Roll Family owned with twenty years from scratch and live a comfortable happy life.

He earned innumerable fortunes for the Qian Family, but got paid off with only two adobe houses.

Qian Jin couldn’t understand why this Qian descendant one year younger than him held such a strong sense of pride toward the Qian Family when being treated so badly by it. “How could you feel proud for being a member of the Qian Family when being treated as an outsider by it?” Qian Jin thought.

“Qian…Qian Jin…” Qian Li’s eyes were filled with sheer surprise on top of pride, “is that you? Brother Qian Jin?”

Duren Burg’s look switched from Qian Li and Qian Jin, “You two …know each other?”

Qian Jin nodded with a sullen face, feeling a little upset for running into this old childhood friend who used to toddle behind him with a snotty face at this time here. It meant that he had also failed in the bloodline power ceremony.

“You…why have you come back?” Qian Li looked at Qian Jin blankly. His facial expression told that he was feeling both excited and worried, “Didn’t you…didn’t you left the Qian Family?”

“Yes, I have left the Qian Family.” Qian Jin raised his hand at Duren Burg to have him move a little away from the bench so that Qian Li could sit down and have a chat, “I come back to pick up my father from the Qian Family. One more thing. How is everything going on with Grandpa Qian Ming? I want to express my thanks to him on my return this time. If it was not for his help in finding me the job of the family library administrator, I would not have become what I am today.”

“Grandpa…” The surprise and worry in Qian Li’s eyes were all of a sudden replaced by sheer sorrow. He slightly waved his hands at Duren Burg since the waiters were not allowed to sit down and talk with the guests; otherwise, they would be punished afterward.

“Grandpa has died…”

Dead? Qian Jin was shocked. Although Grandpa Qian Ming had devoted all his wisdom and energy to the entire family, he shouldn’t have passed away at such an early time.

“Then, where is grandpa buried?” Qian Jin sighed at the sight of Qian Li, who was forbidden from sitting down, “I want to go to see Grandpa’s tomb and show my respect and thanks.”

Qian Li kept shaking his head with an anxious look, “That’s not necessary. You don’t need to do so…”

“No need for the worship?” Qian Jin gradually narrowed his eyebrows, “Why don’t I need to pay my respect? Where was Grandpa buried?”

Qian Li shook his head nervously and slowly lowered his head, daring not to fix his eyes on anyplace, he stared at his tiptoe and said, “Grandpa…Grandpa doesn’t have a tomb…he hasn’t been buried anywhere…”

Hadn’t been buried? Had no tomb? The muscle on the corner of Qian Jin’s eyes started convulsing suddenly. As per Grandpa Qian Ming’s contributions to the Qian Family, he should have been buried somewhere not far away from the main ancestral graveyard. How on earth didn’t he have a tomb? How on earth wasn’t he buried?

Only in one case would a member of the Qian Family be deprived the honor of being buried, that was, this member had made a huge mistake, in which circumstance he would be thrown into the Ancient Desert Sea located in the south of the city.

“Ancient…Ancient Desert Sea?”

Qian Jin asked out of doubt.

Qian Li first lowered his head and then timidly nodded for several times and replied in a voice too low to be heard, “Yes…”

“Yes?” Qian Jin looked at Qian Li blankly, “Why? Grandpa Qian Ming had earned uncountable money for the Qian Family, how could it treat him like this?”

“Grandpa…” Qian Li grabbed onto the hem of his clothes and started rubbing it hard, “grandpa wanted me to leave the Qian Family and go to study in a warrior academy just like what you did. So he used the money he earned to start a small business…”

“His own money?” Duren Burg screamed, “on what ground could it be deemed as a violation of the law? He didn’t take even a coin of the Qian Family’s property.”

“You don’t know this…” Qian Jin gently waved his hands. The Qian Family designed a lot of provisions, one of which was that the descendants who intended to start a business couldn’t use the family property to make profits for himself or use his own earnings to run the business.

Because…in the Qian Family’s eyes, a successful running of the business with Qian Family’s property by its descendants was attributed to the honor the Qian Family enjoyed. Even though a member used the money he or she earned, he or she would still be considered to be sheltered by the Qian Family’s influence. And besides, such running of the business was a borrowing of the family’s commercial channels and a plundering of its fortunes.

It was a felony in the Qian Family.

Before receiving the awakening ceremony, Qian Jin, as educated by the Qian Family’s provisions since his childhood, and he also thought that such family provisions were right and abiding by the universal law.

He also used to think that the Qian descendants should whole-heartedly devote themselves to the family, that those who failed in the bloodline power awakening had already done wrong to the family, and that in this situation they had to spare no efforts to make money for and serve the family as retribution.

It was not until he found a totally different view in the immense books he read as he was enlightened with the sense of equality…Qian Jin got totally wet from the sweat over his body, realizing that if it was not for his experience working in the family library, he might be another Qian Li at this moment; resigned to any arrangement by the family, serving the rest of the family members as a compensation for his failure in the bloodline power awakening until the end of his life.

“So you…”

Qian Jin slowly rose up and gazed at Qian Li who became thin as a result of lacking warrior training for the past years, “So you haven’t buried Grandpa Qian Ming in a secret place?”

“Bury Grandpa secretly?” Qian Li raised his head, opened his eyes wide, and looked at Qian Jin frightenedly, “How can I?”

Pia!

A loud slapping sound rang in the private room of the noodle restaurant. Qian Li felt biting aching on his face. Blood flew from the corner of his lips and fell onto the wooden floor, and the terror in his eyes changed into puzzlement. He couldn’t understand why his older-brother like Qian Jin who used to protect him at the risk of his own security suddenly gave him such a harsh slap.

“Why not?” Qian Jin walked to Qian Li and looked directly into his eyes and said, “He is your grandpa. For whom do you think he took the risk to violate the damned family provisions for?”

Qian Li looked to Qian Jin in a trance; with his eyes filled with grievance and anger, he shouted back. “Do you think I don’t’ want to do that? Do you think I daren’t do that?”

Qian Li suddenly started growling in the silent private room in such a high voice as if his vocal cords have been broken by his mixed feeling of anger and grievance. “Do you think that I could be free from considering the aftermath as you did? I have to consider my father’s situation. If I secretly buried Grandpa, I would violate the family provision and thus would be expelled from the family. In that case, what would happen to my father? He has been in bad health and I have to take care of him.”

Qian Li showed no concern to his condition and didn’t even wipe away the blood around the corner of his lips or the tears in his eyes. For the time being, all those emotions long held down within him exploded out like a volcano. “I couldn’t discard my poor father for the sake of my own prospects and life like you. I couldn’t do that! I had to stay with him and try my best to take care of him so that he could end up in a consoling way. I’m not afraid of death, neither am I afraid of being expelled. I’m just afraid that my leaving away will cause my father…”

“Qian Li, what are you roaring about?”

The door of the private room was harshly pushed opened, after which a short and gaunt middle-aged man walked into the room.

Qian Jin felt familiar with this guy, yet he couldn’t think about who he really was. But he was sure that this man was also a member of the Qian Family.

“Dear guest, I’m sorry, terribly sorry…” The middle-aged man kept bowing at Qian Jin, wearing a face begging for pardon. “He is new here, and is not quite familiar with the rules.” this man said.

The middle-aged man came to Qian Li, buckled the back of his neck and pressed it down hard. “Apologize to the guest quickly…” the man demanded.

Qian Jin watched Qian Li bowing at him with tears welling up in his eyes blankly, wondering whether he was the once snotty little boy toddling after him. “Was he wrong? Or…I have been too selfish…Am I the wrong one?” Qian Jin thought to himself.

Duren Burg patted the middle-aged man’s shoulder, threw him a gold coin, and said in a low voice, “You can leave here. This new waiter hasn’t done anything wrong, so you shouldn’t punish him.”

Holding the heavy gold coin in his hand, the middle-aged man put on an extremely puzzled look. “Why are these young men doing here? And why does one of them look so familiar?” He thought.

“I…I…” Qian Li straightened his back and looked at Qian Jin, “I’m afraid that my father will be treated like Uncle Cheng if I leave him…”

“Uncle Cheng? Father?” Qian Jin’s scalp was suddenly tightened. A chill spread through his body and a layer of goosebumps grew out of his skin. He goggled and asked anxiously, “What happened to my father?”

“Uncle Cheng…Uncle Cheng…” Qian Li cramped and lifted his hand to wipe away the shedding snot. “He was punished because you left. Obviously, it was not him who broke the family provision, yet he was degraded as a groom of the Cheng Family…”

Groom…Qian Jin pushed Qian Li to the side and jumped down from the window of the second floor.

Duren Burg was shocked at this scene. Having no time to ask what was going on, he bent down and jumped from the window as well.

The four shadows jumped down from the window amazed the pedestrians on the street. Next, they witnessed Qian Jin jumping onto the horse, whipping the horse reins, and rushing in the hustle and bustle of the city.

“Groom. Groom!” All that flashed in Qian Jin’s mind was this simple word. Rarely would the descendants of Qian Family who failed the bloodline power awakening be placed into the job of a groom. More often than not, the family would hire someone out of the family to assume this post.

A groom had to pull and guide horses for the bloodline warriors, as well as “helping” them to get on and off the horses. It involved not only the decrease in the already thin earnings.

When the bloodline warriors got on and off the horses, the groom had to kneel down on the ground, propped his hands on the floor and hunch his back so that the bloodline warriors found it easy to get on and off the horse.

Three years. It had been three years. Qian Jin couldn’t stop the trembling of his body. For the entire past three years, his father had been working as a groom as a result of his leave. His father could have guessed this outcome before he left the Qian Family.

But he didn’t say anything, he supported Qian Jin in leaving the Qian Family.

“I’m such an unfilial son. I don’t live up to being a human being. I said I would have my father feel proud of me, but I just made him lose the dignity of being a man, the last bit of self-respect.”

“And everything was caused by my unwillingness to live a mediocre life and my selfishness. I blatantly said I would have my father feel proud of me, but I had never thought about what would happen to my father after I left…” Qian Jin wouldn’t stop thinking about it.

Qian Jin rode like a lightning, driving all other people present on the street away. Eventually, the magnificent monster-like main hall of Qian Family appeared in front of Qian Jin’s eyes. There was a familiar figure squatting by several war horses in front of the tall gate.

Three years. Three years’ time…Qian Cheng’s hoary hair turned totally white, and the crooked back became even hunching. He was sitting by the war horses, looking at the dust on the land with an obscurely happy expression.

“Father…”

Qian Jin jumped down from the horse, kneeled on the ground, and started sliding toward Qian Cheng, leaving two long traces on the ground. He then made a loud kowtow on the clean stone ground as he shouted in a mourning voice, “Father…”