Chapter 68

"Libo, I heard that you've been getting quite close lately to that... what was his name again? The one Lizhen was so obsessed with?"

It was eight-thirty in the morning.

Daylight had long since broken.

Yet the Li family mansion, having been renovated in the oldest traditional style, still retained towering beams and deep eaves. Furnished entirely in dark ebony wood, the vast hall remained shrouded in gloom even at this hour.

Perhaps due to Lizhen's death, Libo's status within this household had undergone a subtle shift.

In the past, even if he spent the night at the ancestral residence, he would leave early the next morning to handle affairs at the company. It was a rare "privilege" indeed to be asked by the two elders to stay for breakfast.

However, for Libo at this moment, this morning meal was something he would rather have skipped entirely.

"That kid's name was... let me think. Was it... Yang Siguang?"

The sudden voice ringing out at the dining table caused Libo's fingertips to tremble slightly. The spoon holding the bird's nest soup tapped softly against the rim of the bowl, producing a faint chime.

After pausing for a second, he raised his eyes to look at Old Master Li at the head of the table.

Just as he remembered, the old man still possessed that long face with its drooping eyelids.

His cheeks were flushed, which at first glance made him look in exceptionally good health. Yet, Old Master Li's skin always seemed to emit a hazy, soft glow. Compared to a truly living elder, the skin on his face looked more like it was made of wax.

Sitting beside him was Madam Li. Perhaps living up to the saying that couples grow to look alike, she bore a certain ineffable resemblance to the old master.

Even in the dead of summer, she wore a heavy cashmere coat, her shoulders slumped. Her entire body was so thin she looked like a skeleton draped in a layer of skin, her eyelids lowered, remaining silent as ever.

Libo still remembered the first time he saw Old Master Li as a child; the latter had worn this exact same appearance. After all these years, the man seemed to have changed not a whit. Naturally, the same went for Madam Li.

Libo had heard that when he was a little child, the sight of them would terrify him into crying his eyes out, which was why the elderly couple had never been particularly fond of him.

Of course, by now he no longer wailed in terror from such fright, but... even today, the mere sight of this couple still made a corner deep within his heart involuntarily shudder.

Especially when the name "Yang Siguang" rolled off those deep red lips, so covered in fine wrinkles, the chill instantly seeped into his spine. Yet when Libo finally spoke, his voice was as calm as ever, betraying not a hint of panic.

"Yes, there are still some lingering follow-up matters that need to be—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the old man bluntly interrupted him.

He let out a cold, raspy laugh.

"Follow-up matters? The person is already dead. What needs to be destroyed should be sent for destruction; what needs its traces erased should be wiped clean... The people who need to be dealt with should be disposed of. Such a simple task, and you've taken this long to handle it? Libo, I recall you weren't this incompetent before."

The fingertips pressing against Libo's spoon turned slightly pale, though his face remained entirely expressionless.

"Indeed, the progress was a bit slow this time. I am very sorry to have disappointed you."

As his voice trailed off, the old man stared at Libo for another few seconds. Then, abruptly, the person who had been reprimanding him a second earlier flashed a smile that was nearly benevolent.

Yet this very smile only made Libo's hair stand further on end.

Sure enough, the next moment, he heard the old master say briskly,

"Instead of wasting time fooling around with a young man, you should hurry up and find someone to father a few more children. I've already selected a list and sent it to your office. Just take a look at it."

"..."

"Those are all young women from the main branch. Every single one of them is very obedient. If all goes well, the family can welcome many more children with purer bloodlines."

After a brief pause, the old man continued leisurely,

"I know young people nowadays don't like having children, but our family is different. Libo, you should know as well that the seat of the Ancient Mirror Immortal cannot simply be left vacant. If the Holy Immortal takes offense, none of us will be able to bear the consequences."

Libo fell into an even more prolonged silence. The old man's eyeballs rolled beneath his thin, wax-yellow eyelids, and those dead-fish-like pupils locked directly onto the younger man.

"What's the matter? Unwilling?"

"Pfft—"

Before Libo could answer, a derisive sneer rang out from the other end of the dining table.

It was Li Ailing.

The woman's body hung limply, as if boneless, over the hard ebony Ming-style chair, surrounded by the heavy, lingering stench of alcohol. She had evidently been caught red-handed by the butler the moment she returned from a bar and dragged forcibly to the dining room. She hadn't even had time to wash off her makeup; her lipstick was smeared across her cheek, looking at first glance like her lips had split wide open and were continuously bleeding.

Amidst everyone's gaze, Li Ailing giggled incessantly.

"How could he possibly be happy? He's a total fag, he can't even get it up looking at a woman. You're asking him to go find women and breed like a stud pig, do you really think he'd be happy—oh wait, doesn't our family actually have ghosts roaming around?"

At Li Ailing's rambling, the atmosphere instantly grew exceptionally heavy.

Old Master Li's expression, however, remained largely unchanged, though the gaze he cast upon Li Ailing grew noticeably colder.

After a few seconds of deathly silence, the old master finally sighed—not because Li Ailing had intentionally outed Libo's sexuality, but rather:

"After all, he was a child the Ancient Mirror Immortal didn't fancy in the first place. There's nothing to be done about it now."

The old man's turbid gaze swept over Libo, who remained impassive.

"He's simply... not as satisfactory as Lizhen."

The old master concluded.

With that, he looked toward Li Ailing. The difference was that this time, his voice carried a heavier trace of disgust.

"Look at the state you're in, doing nothing all day but talking nonsense. Ailing, you need to rein yourself in quite a bit during this period. Lizhen just died, after all, and yet you're acting more unhinged than ever. Just a few days ago, I had to cover up that mess with you and the little celebrity. And you? You act like it's only natural. Contributing nothing to the family whatsoever, yet acting so willfully reckless. If your mother hadn't stopped me back then, that single incident alone would have been enough for me to beat you to death—"

"Bang!"

Before the old master could even finish his sentence, it was cut short by the sharp sound of bone china shattering.

Li Ailing stood up abruptly, swept the dining plate in front of her onto the floor, and then leaned over the table, thrusting her upper body toward the old man.

"Contribution? What kind of contribution do you want me to make? If I were smart enough back then to get my uterus removed in time, I'd still be like a brood sow right now, constantly dropping litters to serve as a vessel for your goddamn Ancient Mirror Immortal... What the hell am I getting out of this?!"

"Li Ailing, have you lost your mind?!"

Clearly, the old master had not expected his own daughter to defy him to his face.

The waxen, unchanging mask of a face finally showed some movement.

The old master's complexion turned ashen. He raised a trembling finger to point at Li Ailing, only to have her spit directly in his direction.

"You old monster, don't think I don't know what you've been up to. I've given birth to a child to serve as your tool; I've already done my utmost. From now on, stay out of my business! Everything I do now is what you owe me, what the Li family owes me, you hear me?!"

"You—how dare you talk to me like that?!"

"You old bastard—so what if I did?! I've wanted to say this for ages: why don't the two of you just drop dead already?!"

...

...

...

The originally solemn and desolate dining hall descended into utter chaos as Li Ailing threw her tantrum.

The only saving grace was that the butler hurriedly rushed into the dining hall with a retinue of servants in tow, managing to subdue Li Ailing just in time.

Libo was forced to sit right there and endure every second of this melodramatic farce.

Yet, as the nominal heir of the Li family, Libo ultimately had to shoulder the task of escorting the old master back to his bedroom.

*

Unlike the old madam, who always remained as motionless as a clay sculpture, the old master still experienced fluctuations of emotion.

And Libo could clearly tell that the old man was thoroughly infuriated by his own biological daughter. All the way back, the hand resting on the wheelchair's armrest trembled incessantly. The skin, covered in age spots, was wrinkled like very old parchment, loosely wrapping around the old man's withered bones and lean flesh.

"You don't need to be too angry, Sir. Aunt Ai... has always had that temper. She didn't genuinely mean to make you this upset."

Libo offered these insincere words of comfort, then helped settle Old Master Li onto his bed with the assistance of several nurses.

Old Master Li put on his oxygen mask, folded his hands over his chest, and gradually grew calm.

The old man's eyelids drooped, leaving only a faint slit as if he were about to fall asleep.

Just as Libo prepared to quietly withdraw, his hand was abruptly and unceremoniously grabbed by the old man.

"Libo—"

The old man murmured.

Libo involuntarily shuddered at the bizarre, icy, and smooth sensation of the old man's palm. Lowering his gaze, he saw that the old master had opened his eyes once again. However, the old man's turbid pupils appeared somewhat unfocused at that moment, with a faint milky film clouding his eyeballs.

His voice grew sharp and piercing, sounding exceedingly strange.

"You'd better not learn from that child... Ailing was spoiled rotten by her mother, and since I couldn't control her, I simply let her be."

The old man's expression was exceedingly bizarre.

"But matters aren't that simple. Libo, the Ancient Mirror Immortal is the foundation of our Li family. All these decades of glory and wealth depend entirely on the protection of the Mirror Immortal. If we fail to satisfy Him, the moment He starts acting up, every single one of us will die. In truth, He'd love nothing more than to wipe us out, but restrained by the fact that we have remained utterly devout over the years, strictly upholding the covenant made back then without ever breaking our bloodline... otherwise—otherwise the consequences would be unthinkable! Including you, Libo. Do not think you can stand aloof and untouched. You carry the Li family's blood as well; you cannot escape, no matter how hard you try."

"Look at Lizhen. The Mirror Immortal truly favored him. And what happened? In the end, he still died. So don't do anything reckless, Libo. Nothing good ever comes from acting recklessly..."

Hearing this, Libo's hand gave a violent jolt.