Treating Lang Jiuchuan as the head of the Second Branch was both a sign of the weight Lang Zhengping placed on her, and a gesture of respect.
Lang Jiuchuan was momentarily startled, but quickly said, “For the matter of adopting an heir, you and your wife can discuss it among yourselves. She is the elder, and the one who will live the rest of her years as the Old Madam of the Lang Family. The descendants who serve her and see her through to the end of her life — that will be her concern as well.”
Lang Zhengping felt a pang in his chest, and his brow furrowed. Was she not counting herself among the Lang Family? Or was she simply not including herself in the picture at all?
He thought for a moment and said, “The matter of adopting an heir has been discussed over the years, but your mother never agreed to it. After all, although the Second Branch has no sons, it is not entirely without heirs — if you were to take in a husband in the future…”
“That is out of the question.” Lang Jiuchuan immediately cut him off. “With this body of mine, the likelihood of being able to marry is very low, and even if I did marry, having children would not be possible. As for the Second Branch’s succession, you and your wife can decide as you see fit. Adopt an heir if it must be done, or take in a child if that’s the better path — placing your hopes on me is simply not an option.”
She was not someone who could marry and have children. Setting aside the sea of enmity she carried, her incomplete soul alone was a grave matter. Where would she find the vitality and spirit to think about things like marriage and bearing children?
Lang Zhengping sighed. “Then among the boys of the household — is there any you find agreeable, any you feel an affinity with? Take a look at them.”
Adoption was simply out of the question. With this many boys in the family, surely one could serve as an heir for the Second Branch.
But it wasn’t as if just anyone could be adopted over there. They’d also need to see what Lang Jiuchuan thought — she was a thorny one. If she took a disliking to whoever was chosen and one wrong word set her off, what would they do then?
Lang Jiuchuan didn’t know what Lang Zhengping was thinking. She gave a sound of acknowledgment. These things were also a matter of fate and affinity; she didn’t mind looking for an heir with the right affinity for Lang Zhengping.
Having settled this matter, Lang Jiuchuan then said to Lang Zhengping, “Earlier, you mentioned that you’d sent people to keep watch on the Lu Family and that Madam Lu — you don’t need to watch her anymore. Have the people pulled back.”
“Why? Does the Lu Family not pose a problem?”
“Pulling back the watch doesn’t mean there’s no problem — it means I’ve confirmed it. The Lu Family is a lapdog of the Mystic Clan Rong Family. Their fourth son is studying under the Rong Family, and the Rong Family is willing to use the Lu Family as a weapon. It was almost certainly them who struck on the night of our grandfather’s wake.” Lang Jiuchuan said, “Although the Lu Family has a son training under a Mystic Clan, they are ultimately operating in the mortal world and navigating officialdom. To seek revenge, we should collect evidence of their wrongdoings — large and small, the entire Lu Family, nothing excluded. Stack it all together and pull them down from their position. In particular, regarding evidence of the Lu Family bribing someone to tamper with the grandfather’s remains during his funeral — to obtain that proof, we need to work through the people close to Madam Lu and her daughter-in-law.”
Lang Zhengping’s face darkened. “So it truly was them? That Lu Changxue always puts on the face of a good-natured man, and his wife and daughters-in-law are the picture of social grace, with sterling reputations — yet behind closed doors, they had the audacity to tamper with a dead man’s body with the intent of cutting off a family’s lineage. It truly is — one can know a person’s face but not their heart.”
A family like that could never be as clean as they appeared on the surface. Indeed, one needed to dig carefully into the Lu Family’s underbelly.
Lang Jiuchuan turned the teacup slowly in her hands. “It all came about because of me. I will deal with it.”
“And how do you intend to deal with it?” Lang Zhengping looked at her with some helplessness. “You’re barely more than a girl, and your health is so frail to begin with… that’s not what I meant — how did you end up drawing such trouble upon yourself in the first place?”
He genuinely didn’t understand. This child had been raised at the manor all those years without any trouble, and then suddenly — how had she managed to offend a Mystic Clan?
Wait — a Mystic Clan?
“Could it be because of your abilities?” Lang Zhengping sat up straight and asked with furrowed brows, “I’ve heard that Mystic Clans recruit skilled practitioners as their disciples. Could it be that they had their eye on you, and because you refused them, they are now suppressing you?”
Lang Jiuchuan wasn’t sure how to explain it, and only said vaguely, “More or less. As you know, I’m someone who doesn’t like being confined, and it wouldn’t be surprising if I’ve made some people displeased with me.”
“And it had to be the Rong Family of all Mystic Clans.” Lang Zhengping rubbed his aching head. Their Lang Family didn’t have the foundations to stand against the Rong Family. What were they to do?
Right — the Gong Family.
Lang Zhengping’s eyes lit up. “You should seek entry into the Gong Family! Your mother and the First Lady of the Gong Family are close friends from their youth. If you became a disciple under the Gong Family’s banner, even the Rong Family wouldn’t dare do anything to you. That — well, it may not sound the most honorable, but a wise person adapts to circumstances, am I right? The Lang Family simply doesn’t have the strength to back you up right now. You need to find someone who can hold their ground above the Rong Family, and the Gong Family can do that.”
Lang Jiuchuan looked at him, then said, “Before that — shouldn’t you be curious about how I came to learn the mystic arts in the first place, and well enough at that? There is no such precedent in the Lang Family, is there?”
Lang Zhengping was taken aback. She was right — their family had never produced anyone like this.
“Could it be that I am not of the Lang Family’s bloodline?” Lang Jiuchuan asked, testing him.
“Outrageous!” Lang Zhengping slapped the table in fury, his face darkening. “What kind of person do you take your mother for? You and your father may not look exactly alike, but those eyes are absolutely identical, and so is that insufferable temperament of yours. And that face of yours — half of it looks like him and the other half like your mother. If you’re not their child, then who is?”
He fixed his gaze on her and continued, “I know that you resent your mother for not being a proper mother to you — cough, cough — that you hold it against her. From a young age, she had you sent to the manor to be raised, and in her episodes she would say the child wasn’t hers. But you’re not going to catch the same delusion, are you? You’ve only just returned to the household, and you’re not close with the brothers and sisters here — that’s simply because the time has been short. Or as the Daoist texts would put it, your karmic bond with them is thin. That I can understand. Not everyone can get along with everyone, and even blood relations are the same. But to say you’re not a member of the Lang Family — let others take a look at your face and see if they dare say so. You are my Second Brother’s one and only daughter. How could you possibly…”
If she were not, then where was the true Lang Jiuchuan?
Lang Jiuchuan saw him red-faced and flushed with agitation, his eyes even reddening toward the end of his words. She quickly said, “I was just speaking carelessly.”
“Is this something one speaks carelessly about?!” Lang Zhengping said coldly. “Who says there’s no precedent for it? That son of the Lu Family — is he of Mystic Clan blood? And yet he went there to study. Entering the Dao is all about aptitude and affinity with fate. Who says it must be tied to bloodline? Do monks and Daoist priests all have to have the right blood before they can take the robe?”
Fine. I have no rebuttal, and I don’t dare argue.
Lang Jiuchuan rubbed her nose and hurriedly changed the subject. “You needn’t worry too much. As for the Rong Family, I have my own plans. On the Gong Family’s end, I’ve already made contact with Gong Qi. With him as a go-between to use the Gong Family as a shield, the Rong Family won’t dare act recklessly.”
The one who would act recklessly would only be her.
Lang Zhengping drew in a breath and let it out, then said, “In any case, don’t say things like that again. You are your father’s one and only daughter.”
If she were not, then something truly momentous must have happened. For a proper child to have been swapped — what great affair could have demanded such a thing?
Lang Jiuchuan nodded, her heart faintly uneasy. “About the Lu Family…”
“You don’t need to concern yourself with that. I won’t let them off.” Lang Zhengping’s eyes flashed with killing intent. “What wouldn’t they do? Your grandfather had already closed his eyes forever, yet they still dared to tamper with his remains — that is something I cannot forgive.”
Such a gross act of disrespect was absolutely unforgivable.