Chapter 727 — The Chen Family's Crisis

"That works too. It's not as if you and Dad have anything else to do — you might as well start a business." Tang Zhi nodded.

"Three million — even sitting in the bank that's a hundred thousand a year in interest. What could you possibly do to earn that much?" Tang Jucheng had run the figures carefully. To his mind, leaving it in the bank was the safer course; at least they would not lose their capital.

"That's true..." Mother Tang hesitated too, unsure what to do. "Yun'er, your father has a point. If we put the money in the bank, the interest alone would be no small sum each year!"

"Well... I don't really understand these things either. Best ask Wei Zhao tomorrow and see what he says." Tang Zhi had never in her life laid eyes on so much money, and she knew nothing of managing finances. Unwilling to offer reckless advice, she resolved to consult Wei Zhao the next day.

The night passed without incident. Early the next morning, Wei Zhao was jarred awake by Qiu Lingshan's phone call. He glanced at the time on his phone — only half past five — and was instantly furious. He had been cultivating quite nicely inside the jade pendant, and now it had been interrupted just like that.

"What's wrong with you? Calling at this hour?" Wei Zhao bellowed into the phone.

"I..." Qiu Lingshan felt a little aggrieved. Half past five was hardly early. For a martial artist, rising early to train was a matter of great importance — she had kept to it for over twenty years without fail. "Don't you get up early to train?"

"Train my ass." Wei Zhao was exasperated. "Don't go measuring other people by your own standards. I always sleep until I wake up naturally."

"Uh... you're interested in my little sister?" Qiu Lingshan was caught off guard.

"I've never even met her — how could I be interested?" Wei Zhao was speechless at her logic. "Is there actually something you want, or not?"

"There is! Didn't you promise to come to the hospital and see Liu Bojia?" Qiu Lingshan said cautiously. "She's all ready and waiting..."

"Then wait for me at the hospital." Wei Zhao yawned, recalling what Qiu Lingshan had told him the day before, and got out of bed. "I'll be over in a bit."

"All right. You haven't had breakfast, have you? Shall I have the little silly girl make you something?" Qiu Lingshan was afraid that Wei Zhao might not try his best later — that even if he could cure the patient, he might find it a nuisance and lie that he could not. So she meant to curry as much favor with him as she could.

"Fine, have her make something." Wei Zhao answered and hung up. He had grown used to Qiu Lingshan's attentiveness by now.

After getting up, Wei Zhao rummaged about the kitchen for a few things, simmered a small pot of lean pork congee for Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, set the timer, and headed out.

He had also promised to go house-hunting with Tang Zhi's family today, so he needed to get the business with that Liu Bojia at the hospital sorted out as quickly as possible. There was no time to wait for the congee and eat breakfast at home.

Driving the van to the First People's Hospital, Wei Zhao dialed Qiu Lingshan's number.

"You're here?" Qiu Lingshan was pleasantly surprised. She hadn't expected Wei Zhao to arrive so quickly. It seemed he was giving her quite some face — he hadn't made her lose face in front of Chen Yuxuan.

Chen Yuxuan had also arrived at the hospital early that morning. He had slept poorly all night. The fact that Qiu Lingshan had an admirer left him deeply dejected. He knew he had essentially no hope left, so he wanted to see just how formidable the man Qiu Lingshan liked really was. Of course, he also reserved the right to challenge him — if one day he could surpass him!

"I'm here, in the hospital parking lot. Where are you?" Wei Zhao asked.

"I'm in the Third Inpatient Building, the intensive care unit on the top floor, room 2119," Qiu Lingshan said.

"All right, I'm on my way." Wei Zhao got out of the van and headed for the Third Inpatient Building.

Meanwhile, Chen Yuxuan, standing beside Qiu Lingshan, grew tense at the news that the man she was pursuing would soon arrive. "Qiu Lingshan, he's coming?"

"He'll be here any moment." Qiu Lingshan nodded. Chen Yuxuan's unease irked her. Why couldn't he act a little more like a man? Even if the other man was stronger than him, there was no need to be this nervous.

Chen Yuxuan nodded. He felt like such a failure — he had pursued Qiu Lingshan for all these years, and in the end it had still come to nothing.

It was simply that he had chosen the wrong direction from the very start. His earlier path had been that of a wastrel young master, and Qiu Lingshan had never thought much of such idle rich boys. By the time he resolved to surpass her through real strength, he discovered that he had started far too late. Had he not met a renowned master to guide him, he would likely never have broken through to the Yellow Rank in his entire life.

Yet though Chen Yuxuan was disappointed, he did not regret it. At least, if not for that one remark from Qiu Lingshan, he would never have roused himself, never have chosen the road he walked now. Among all the sons of the great clans, his strength was not the greatest, but the early Yellow Rank was hardly weak. At the very least, his grandfather had not been disappointed in him.

He was the only male heir of the Chen family's third generation; Shen Yushu could never take up martial arts. If he himself lacked strength, then in a few decades the Chen family would likely be struck from the Four Great Clans and replaced by the Yu family.

So Chen Yuxuan's sense of crisis ran deep. When he was younger and playing the wastrel, he had never given such things a thought, but now he had no choice but to consider them. In three generations of the Chen family, apart from the old master, who had once been a figure of great renown, there was not a single person who could stand firm.

In his youth the old master had trained in external martial arts. Unlike internal methods, which grew purer with age, external arts faded as a man grew old; if the body failed, the power waned all the more swiftly.

These days Old Master Chen's health was poor. His peak had been the mid Mystic Rank, but how much of that remained now, who could say? In recent years Wu Gonggao of the Wu family had been leaping about quite brazenly, acting very much as though he meant to challenge Old Master Chen. In truth, he simply wanted to probe the Chen family's depths, to see how much strength they truly had left.

After this stretch of quiet, some of the great clans were due for a change. The Wu family naturally wished to bring down the Chen family and raise in their place a clan friendly to them. Hadn't the Kang family recently attached itself to the Wu family? The Wu likely had exactly this in mind.

So on the surface the Chen family still looked splendid, one of the Four Great Clans and Five Minor Clans, but in truth their position was perilous.

Chen Yuxuan understood this clearly, and so did Old Master Chen.

This was also why Old Master Chen supported Chen Yuxuan's pursuit of Qiu Lingshan. Once the Chen and Song families were joined by marriage, those petty schemers who coveted the Chen family would no longer run wild as they did now.

But Chen Yuxuan had failed to live up to it; Qiu Lingshan simply did not look his way. Last night Chen Yuxuan had telephoned the old master at home, and what could the old master do but sigh that his grandson had come to his senses too late?