39 Elder Yan

"The third princess, Dongfang Xinyan, is 18 years old this year and shares the same mother as the crown prince. She's a more difficult character and is extremely pampered by the empress. The fourth prince is Prince Yu. His name is Dongfang Moyu. He's 18 years old this year, and he's a humble and quiet one. His mother is Consort Liu. Her name is Liu Yue, and she is the eldest daughter of the General of Weiyang Nation's guards," the old man told Qingcheng."

"The fifth princess is Dongfang Liuli, 16 years old this year, daughter of Consort Su, and she has a lively personality. Consort Su is a princess from a neighboring country, Chijin Nation, and her name is Su Wanjing. The sixth and last prince is Dongfang Moyi, 16 years old this year, and the son of Consort Mei. He is also the one that the emperor, Dongfang Ao, dotes on the most."

"The few powers within the royal palace are the Advisor Shi's family, Advisor Ouyang's family, the general of the Guards, General Liu's family, and Defender General Chen's family. These are the four most powerful factions in the court, and other factions ally themselves to one of these four.

"The aristocratic families of Weiyang Nation are first the Feng family, followed by the Yin family. Then the third is the Li family. Other than those three, there are also the worker unions. And there's a very special faction called Treasure Trove Court. That's a chain of auction houses throughout the country, but nobody knows who the boss behind it is. Rumor has it that he belongs to some secret organization." He picked up the wine inside the bowl and finished the last of it in one gulp.

"That's a brief answer to your questions. I'm not sure if it has been helpful to you." The old man continued to wear a smile on his face.

Qingcheng looked down and thought through everything she just heard. She now had a rough understanding of the current situation, but she would need to do a more thorough investigation to find out more details.

She looked up at the old man again. "Boss, I hope you don't mind me asking you something. The food here doesn't taste bad, and you're located on such a busy street, as well. But why weren't there any other customers when we came in?" she asked him in a rather casual manner, but she kept an eye on his expression.

As expected, the old man avoided eye contact with her, and there was sadness mixed with some pain in his eyes.

After a brief moment, the old man sighed heavily. "I…sigh… I don't know where to start… It's become like this, and I'm just barely getting by. It's mostly for the sake of that poor son of mine. If not for him, I'm afraid I would have just let myself die long ago." He sighed again as tears welled up in his eyes, and his voice was filled with heartache.

Qingcheng didn't know how to console him, so she said gently, "Boss, if you trust me, you can tell me whatever is on your mind. Perhaps I could be of some help." She figured that something must have happened, but from the looks of it, this was no simple matter. But for some reason, she just wanted to help him.

Tealwood was also sitting quietly to one side as he looked at the old man. He was a Magical Beast, but he understood human emotions too.

The old man looked at the young lady seated across from him. Even though she was wearing a mask over her face, the aura she exuded made him feel sure that she was no ordinary person. He could also feel her sincerity, so he slowly started to tell his story. "My name is Yan Hai, but both of you can call me Elder Yan. I look very old now, but actually, I've only just hit 50, and I've grown old rapidly as a result of my dantian being completely incapacitated," he explained.

"Because I was obsessed with cultivation when I was younger, I was 30 when I got married. My son is Yan Xuan, and he's 20 years old now. When I first started this restaurant, my family was living together harmoniously, and I thought that I'd spend the rest of my life like this," Yan Hai said.

He drank another mouthful of wine before continuing. "Two years ago, a group of men suddenly barged into the restaurant, claiming that they lost something here and wanted us to hand it over. But how would we know what they had lost? The number of people who come in and out of this place to eat is large, so who knows if it was picked up by someone else? We tried to explain things, but they refused to accept it. They started to smash everything in the restaurant without saying a word, and all my customers ran away."

"After that, they barged into the courtyard at the back to search the place, and I couldn't hold back more than ten men all by myself. They ended up catching hold of Xuan'er."

"I heard Xuan'er shout at them, 'It's you guys! What do you want? I already told you that thing isn't with me!'"

"The leader of the intruders replied to him, saying, 'It's not with you just because you say so? There's nothing our Young Master wants and cannot have! I'm going to ask you one more time, are you handing it over or not?'"

"I didn't know what it was that they wanted, so I quickly ran over to ask Xuan'er what was going on. He said the men were from the Fan family! He had chanced upon a really good sword, and after Fan Siming found out, he demanded it from Xuan'er. However, Xuan'er didn't give it to him, so they came to snatch it from him!"

"But by that time, the sword was no longer with Xuan'er. After I understood what happened, I tried to explain things to them and begged them to let us off. But the other party didn't care for our explanation, and two men at Spirit Mentor Peak Phase started to beat us up. There was no other choice but to fight back physically. At that time, I was also at Spirit Mentor Peak Phase, and I could barely hold off two men all by myself. Xuan'er was only at Spiritualist Seventh Tier, so he was knocked to the floor in no time."

"None of the shop assistants dared to help, and when my wife came over, she saw that they had raised a knife and were about to stab my son with it. I wanted to dash over, and while I was distracted by my son's predicament, someone knocked me to the ground from behind. My wife dashed forward to cover our son with her own body, so the knife stabbed her instead. And she…she didn't make it." A few tears rolled down the man's cheek uncontrollably as he spoke.

"When the leader of the group saw this, he laughed coldly and said, 'Since your mother has died on your behalf, then you can continue living! Don't you like swords very much? Let's see how you can still use one after you become useless! I'm going to incapacitate your arms and legs and your dantian! That's your father over there, right? Men, incapacitate one leg and his dantian! I'm going to make sure all of you just live like dogs from now on!'"

"After that, they took away all the valuable things I had, and Xuan'er really became a useless person. After that, he couldn't do anything other than lie in bed all day. I know…he lives in pain every single day, blaming himself, and that he can't let go of his mother's death."

"I feel the same way too. My wife died like this, and I want to take revenge, but the other party is a powerful person with the backing of the advisors and the emperor. I'm pretty much useless myself too, and I thought of just joining my wife. However, I still have my Xuan'er… He's still so young! He still has such a bright future ahead of him, and I really hope that I can get him treated one day."

"So I've just kept my last breath and hung on until today. After that day, everyone working for the restaurant left, and the business here became worse and worse. And now it's exactly like what both of you can see," Yan Hai finished saying.

As he recounted all this, all his emotions were fully displayed. He bore great hatred for his enemies. He wanted to take revenge but was too helpless to do so, his heart ached for his son, and he missed his wife.

Qingcheng felt really stuffy inside too. The things that happened to Yan Hai made her think of the original Feng Qingcheng. She decided on the spot that she would help this father and son. She wanted to form her own faction of power, and she would need people to do so. She had to make sure she only got trustworthy people on her side, and this man looked like a good fit.

So she opened her mouth and asked, "Elder Yan, is it all right if I take your pulse?" Her tone of voice was still a little cold, but her attitude was serious.