Chapter 806 — Young Master Bing's Lament
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Oh? So some madman actually dared to lay hands on Young Master Bing? Who is he? Tired of living, is he? Even a man of the great families wouldn't dare such a thing, surely?" Yu Haitian asked, somewhat astonished.
"Let's talk inside — this is no place for it." Zhao Qibing gestured for Yu Haitian to go ahead. Though there were frictions between the upper echelons of the Hidden Yu and Hidden Zhao families, it did nothing to sour the personal friendship between Yu Haitian and Zhao Qibing. Both were sons drifting at the margins of their families' cores, and each stood to enrich his own influence through the other's connections.
Li Cihua knew Yu Haitian's standing and did not presume to walk abreast of him; he pushed Young Master Bing from behind, letting Bing and Yu Haitian enter the Geli Fuyun Bar side by side. In the back room of the bar, Zhao Qibing invited Yu Haitian to take a seat on the sofa while he himself remained in his wheelchair. "Brother Tian, forgive me — I can't rise to greet you properly."
"What nonsense is that, Young Master Bing? Between brothers, what need is there for such ceremony?" Yu Haitian laughed. "But how did your legs come to be broken, exactly? Care to tell your elder brother? I've only just arrived in Songshan City, and I'm none too clear on how things stand here."
"Don't even mention it — the tears come just thinking about it!" Zhao Qibing sighed. "You know my situation well enough, brother: I'm the Zhao family's bastard son. An awkward position, that. So I wanted to accomplish something worth showing the Zhao family, to earn myself a place there one day."
"I understand!" Yu Haitian nodded. He knew well how awkward Zhao Qibing's position was: though he was the true-born son of Zhao Guangyin, the Zhao family's present head, he was a bastard son all the same, and his status was indeed delicate enough.
"So I came to Songshan City, to Li Cihua's territory, planning to develop real estate," Zhao Qibing said. "But who'd have thought a man named Wei Zhao would come crawling out of nowhere and stick his nose into everything? All I did was tear down his girlfriend's house and rough up her face a bit, and he broke both my legs..."
"Wei Zhao?" Yu Haitian was slightly taken aback. The name was very familiar — wasn't that one of the suspects the family head, his second uncle Yu Shuixing, had instructed him to investigate as a priority?
(The name of the Yu family head, Yu Shuixing, was written incorrectly before, mistakenly rendered as Yu Bifu; this is hereby corrected.)
Yet Yu Haitian found it strange all the same: Wei Zhao actually dared to strike Zhao Qibing? And were there no skilled hands at Zhao Qibing's side? Even a bastard son — surely the Zhao family wouldn't simply leave him to fend for himself? So he asked, puzzled, "When he struck you, there was no one guarding you?"
"Uncle Zhu was there too," Zhao Qibing sighed. "A fine hand at the early stage of Profound rank! After trading one palm blow with Wei Zhao, he's still laid up in bed. You can go see him later — you know Uncle Zhu as well."
"Hiss—" Yu Haitian could not help drawing a sharp breath at Zhao Qibing's words. Uncle Zhu — of course he knew the man. He had once been famous throughout the jianghu, and had later thrown in his lot with the Zhao family; though his strength had not improved much over the years, he still possessed the power of the early Profound rank. And now, after a single exchange of palms with Wei Zhao, he had been gravely wounded and was still abed. Then what strength did Wei Zhao possess?
Still, if Uncle Zhu was laid up in bed, how much better off could Wei Zhao be? Surprised as Yu Haitian was that Wei Zhao had the strength to trade palms with Uncle Zhu, he did not think Wei Zhao all that formidable — if he were truly formidable, he would have killed Uncle Zhu outright rather than leave him lying in bed!
"And how is Wei Zhao now?" Yu Haitian asked once his surprise had passed.