Chapter 3388 — Please Lend a Hand

"Ha! A grown man who can't even beat me—he's hardly good enough for my sister," Song Lingwei said, clearly eager for trouble to stir. "Even if he can't beat me, he should at least be able to fight me to a draw, shouldn't he?"

"Your sister's very busy right now—I don't even know if she'll have time to come back. We'll talk about it when she's free..." Song Xiangwen said, feeling a headache coming on. He knew all too well what a little hellion Song Lingwei could be. Qiu Lingshan had told him that Wei Zhao was now a mid-Heaven Rank expert, but there was no way he could stand up to a late Heaven Rank, peak strength, great consummation expert!

What Song Xiangwen knew of Wei Zhao was limited to the level of the great families—at most, he had picked up a few scraps at the hidden level. As for the ancient level, he truly had no channel for news there, and so he had no idea that Wei Zhao had already set the entire Chinese ** world ablaze with his prestige.

And so he feared that if Wei Zhao came, Song Lingwei would give him a beating—and that would never do! Wei Zhao was, after all, a benefactor of the Song family, and the man Qiu Lingshan had set her sights on. What would it look like if Song Lingwei beat him up?

So, afraid that Song Lingwei might go looking for trouble with Wei Zhao on her own, Song Xiangwen didn't even dare speak Wei Zhao's name. He simply fobbed her off, hoping that in a few days she would forget the whole matter.

"Fine, give me a moment and I'll call her myself!" Song Lingwei said, showing no intention of giving up.

"Ah, Second Miss, Second Master, I've already instructed the kitchen to prepare a sumptuous banquet—shall we take our seats?" Song Xiangda could see that Song Xiangwen didn't want to pursue the topic of Wei Zhao, so he too chimed in to change the subject.

"Wonderful! It's been so long since I've had home cooking! My mouth is watering—is there Yanjing roast duck?" Song Lingwei's mouth watered at the mention of a sumptuous feast.

"There is, Second Miss—the cooks downstairs are roasting it right now!" Song Xiangda nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for? I want to eat, I want to eat!" Song Lingwei promptly forgot all about going to make trouble for Wei Zhao, much to Song Xiangwen's relief.

……………………

These days, the hidden Tang family was faring miserably indeed!

Among the hidden families, apart from the Zhao family, who were enemies with Wei Zhao, and the You family, who kept a measured distance from him, the worst off of the remaining families was the hidden Tang family.

The hidden Tang family's relationship with Wei Zhao was a delicate thing. Tang Lingtou's daughter, Tang Zhi, was Wei Zhao's girlfriend—yet Tang Lingtou had gone and severed their father-daughter ties, and had even driven out Tang Zhi's own mother, Xiao Ming!

As a result, the hidden Tang family had effectively cut itself off from Wei Zhao. Were it not for the friendship between Tang Yuyi and Wei Zhao, the Tang family's position would have been even more awkward.

It was true that Tang Lingtou had later gone to Snow Valley and obtained Tang Zhi's forgiveness, but forgiveness was all it was. At best, it meant that Tang Zhi—or Wei Zhao—would not make trouble for the hidden Tang family in the future. But actually expecting to gain any advantage from them was out of the question.

If nothing unexpected happened, maintaining this sort of relationship would have been good enough. The Tang family had its own businesses and assets, after all—so long as Wei Zhao and Tang Zhi didn't come causing trouble, they could live quite comfortably.

But now, someone had set their sights on the hidden Tang family!

Several of the Tang family's holdings near Tangjiabao had been plundered, and the robbers were a band of men akin to "death squads"—they communicated with no one, simply got straight to the looting, and their strength was exceptional, enough to contend with Heaven Rank experts!

Although Old Master Tang Taizhong was an early Heaven Rank expert, being set upon by a gang of fighters comparable in strength to Heaven Rank experts, he not only gained no advantage but was beaten badly. This plunged the hearts of everyone in the Tang family into gloom!

Tang Taizhong lay in a wheelchair, flanked by his eldest son Tang Lingtou, his second son Tang Lao'er, and his grandson Tang Yuyi.

"Let's hear everyone's thoughts—what are we to do? Where did these people come from? A whole pack of Heaven Rank death squads, robbing the Tang family's holdings—if this keeps up, won't they rob us clean? Who's to say they won't come to our family's headquarters one of these days to do murder? I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to stop them even if I wanted to!" Tang Taizhong's face was full of gloom. The Tang family had been a hidden family for over a hundred years—but who could have imagined that a day would come when they were bullied like this?

"I think the most important thing is to figure out where these people come from. If they're from the hidden level, we can contact the Hidden Family Arbitration Association, and also tip off a few powerful ancient sects, asking them to step in..." Tang Lingtou said after some thought.

"The hidden level couldn't possibly have so many Heaven Rank experts. If it did, it wouldn't be the hidden level anymore—they'd all have moved up to the ancient level!" Tang Taizhong shook his head. "Besides, that Hidden Family Arbitration Association exists in name only. It's utterly useless—reporting to them would be a waste of time."

"Then why don't we go to Snow Valley and ask Elder Tang Zhi for help?" Tang Lao'er suggested after a moment's thought. "When all's said and done, Tang Zhi is Big Brother's daughter and my niece. She couldn't just stand by and watch the Tang family fall, could she?"

"That won't do... You didn't see the way Xiao Ming looked at me. Last time we went with Yuyi—if not for Yuyi's sake, I reckon they'd have thrown us out. They've already done all that could be expected of them; how could they possibly step forward for our sake now?" Tang Lingtou was self-aware enough to know that appealing to Tang Zhi at this point would do little good. "Besides, Tang Zhi is only an elder of Snow Valley—when it comes down to it, she still answers to the Grand Elder and the Valley Master. Given her current strength, even if she did step in, she wouldn't be a match for those people!"

"That's true..." Tang Lao'er nodded. "But if this won't work and that won't work, isn't the Tang family in mortal danger?"

"What if..." Tang Yuyi hesitated a moment. "We ask the Mystery Investigation Bureau for help?"

"The Mystery Investigation Bureau?" Tang Taizhong shook his head immediately. "The Mystery Investigation Bureau only governs and coordinates the great families—with their strength, they're in no position to meddle in hidden-level affairs at all. What use would it be to go to them?"

"I think the Mystery Investigation Bureau is, after all, an official special agency—their connections should be broader than ours. Even if they can't help directly, they should at least be able to find out about these people's backgrounds and identities. Once we've uncovered that, we'll know what medicine to prescribe," Tang Yuyi suggested. (To be continued.)