Chapter 1097 — A Visitor to the Pi Family

"And where exactly am I supposed to keep an eye out?" Wei Zhao frowned. "Have you developed a dependency on me?"

"It's not that..." Qiu Lingshan felt a little embarrassed at Wei Zhao's words. True enough—she had indeed come to lean on Wei Zhao somewhat, regarding him as an all-capable man who would answer whenever she asked.

"All right. Anything else?" Wei Zhao asked flatly.

"No... nothing else..." Qiu Lingshan always felt short of confidence before Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao said nothing more and simply hung up.

Holding the receiver, Qiu Lingshan felt rather helpless. Originally she had meant to ask Wei Zhao whether there had been any ill effects after he boosted her strength, but judging by his tone just now, he seemed not to have been affected at all.

Although she had told Wei Zhao about the matter, Qiu Lingshan still felt somewhat uncertain. After all, the old cases had all come with concrete details, but this case remained murky and elusive, and Wei Zhao seemed to have no intention of helping. That left Qiu Lingshan rather disappointed.

The Xiao family had spent these days steeped in a low, subdued mood.

Without Uncle Pi to back them, the already declining Xiao family had slid further toward a dead end. Their old connections had one and all drifted away, and even their in-laws, the Kang family, had decisively broken with them!

Xiao Ji sat in the villa's main hall heaving sighs, while Xiao Ben was equally at his wit's end. The Xiao family's situation was going from bad to worse by the day, and they still owed Wei Zhao a vast sum. Though Wei Zhao had not come to their door to demand payment, the Xiao family's circumstances were none the better for it!

"Second Brother, it looks as though the Xiao family's grand estate is going to be destroyed in my hands. I can't accept it!" Xiao Ji's eyes were bloodshot; he had not slept well for days. "It's all because of that whore Gou Huli—she dragged the Xiao family into making such an enemy for nothing, and then had the nerve to drive blind and cripple Uncle Pi. I'll go kill her right now!"

With that, Xiao Ji stood up, ready to go settle accounts with Gou Huli.

"Brother! Calm down!" Seeing his brother in this frenzied state, Xiao Ben hurriedly rose and held him back. "Brother, what are you doing? You know as well as I do that the Xiao family has reached a moment of life and death—and you're still fighting among ourselves? Going to settle scores with Sister-in-law? What meaning is there in that?"

Xiao Ben was a clever man. Though at first, while the old master was alive, he had done his utmost to contend for the position of head of the family, after the old master's passing he too had come to recognize the Xiao family's crisis. To turn on one another now could only hasten the family's destruction!

Besides, his brother was not especially bright and came to him about everything, needing his counsel—which made Xiao Ben all but the de facto head of the family, and there was no need for him to contend for anything! Moreover, with the Xiao family in its present straits, who had the leisure to fight over the position of head?

"Second Brother, I'd like to calm down, but how can I? The Great Clan Assembly is almost upon us. My guess is that this time the Yu family will certainly have us expelled from the ranks of the great clans! After this, the Xiao family will no longer be a great clan..." Xiao Ji sat back down, his face bitter.

"Brother, matters have already come to this. Even if you killed Sister-in-law, what would it change?" Xiao Ben waved a hand. "The only ones we can likely count on are the Wu family. But whether those two boys Xiao Wangdao and Xiao Wangba really have a solid connection with Wu Chengtian, I can't say. I've heard that Kang Jinglong of the Kang family is on very good terms with Wu Chengtian—I'm afraid he'll stir up trouble from within!"

"Then what are we to do now?" Xiao Ji was completely out of ideas.

"Whatever happens, life must go on! Tomorrow I'll go out and have a look around. If the worst comes to the worst, I'll open a tavern or some other small business to keep the Xiao family's expenses covered, and we'll look for opportunities as they come," Xiao Ben said. He felt he was now the real head of the Xiao family, yet at this moment he took no joy in it—he was worried to death.

Just then, however, the doorbell of the villa rang.

"Who would come calling at this hour?" Xiao Ji was taken aback.

The Xiao household was now so deserted one could set a net for sparrows at the gate—no one would come to visit at all. And Xiao Wangdao and Xiao Wangba both had keys; they would not ring the bell on entering.

"Could Wei Zhao have come looking for us again?" Startled, Xiao Ben rose and went out.

Wei Zhao or not, he would have to face them head-on. But the people at the villa gate took Xiao Ben quite by surprise—two strange men he had never seen before!

"You are..." Not knowing who the visitors were, Xiao Ben asked in some puzzlement.

"This is the Xiao family's place, isn't it?" one of the young men spoke up, though his bearing was downright arrogant.

"Yes. And you are?" Seeing the young man's insolent manner, a flicker of displeasure passed through Xiao Ben's eyes. But there was truth in the old saying — a tiger fallen to the flatlands is bullied by dogs. The Xiao family today was not what it once was, and it was no time to be making new enemies. So Xiao Ben held his temper and asked with patient courtesy.

"Where's Uncle Pi?" Having confirmed this was indeed the Xiao residence, the young man asked point-blank.

"Uncle Pi?" Xiao Ben was briefly taken aback, but he caught on quickly, and his heart tightened. "You mean Uncle Pi — Pi Bo?"

"That's the one. So where is he? I hear he was beaten into a vegetative state?" A flash of fury crossed the young man's eyes. Uncle Pi might have been driven out of the Pi family by Grandfather back then, but he was still of the Pi blood. Now that he had been beaten into a vegetative state, the Pi family could not possibly leave the matter alone!

Of course, this was not the young man's own decision, but the result of a family council among the Pis — and one that Grandfather had approved.

The young man was called Pi Zhifeng, eldest son of the eldest son of the Pi family. The silent man beside him was his cousin Pi Zhitao, son of his second uncle. Zhihai had come chiefly to see the world; the one who called the shots was still Pi Zhifeng.

In truth, he had never once met Uncle Pi. And when all was said and done, Uncle Pi was no more than a steward of the Pi family who had once erred. Even so, the Pi younger generation had been proud and high-spirited since childhood — how could they suffer others to bully one of their own?

And this time he had come not only to help Uncle Pi settle the score — he had come bearing another task as well!

"You... you're Uncle Pi's family?" Astonishment at once spread across Xiao Ben's face, and in his heart hope kindled. Perhaps this time the Xiao family really could be saved!