Chapter 1417 — The Goings-On of Each Family, Part 2
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
So it was that Chen Yuxuan, who had been the wronged party, found not a soul taking his side; everyone instead pronounced him to have gotten exactly what he deserved. This was the Yu family's handiwork — brushing every share of responsibility clean off their own shoulders until the whole of it settled on Chen Yuxuan as a retribution he had brought upon himself.
The Wu family, for its part, was one of the weakest of the great families, every member of it a practitioner of the outer arts, the most formidable among them merely at the middle Profound rank and only recently broken through. Their foundations were far too thin. Especially of late — word had it that Wu Chengtian had also offended the Xiao brothers — and at this clan assembly, the Xiao family, as the rising power among the great families, would certainly move against the Wu family.
"Jingjing, what do you make of it?" Liu Zhenhu offered no judgment on what Liu Tianyi and Liu Tianli had said. Instead he turned to Liu Jinghan and asked.
"Grandfather, I believe that this time our Liu family is in the greatest danger." Liu Jinghan pondered for a moment, and then raised an opposing view.
"The greatest danger?" Liu Tianli — and Liu Tianyi as well — was taken aback. They had not imagined Liu Jinghan would say such a thing.
"Why do you say that? Give us your reasons." Liu Zhenhu merely nodded, still passing no judgment, his expression as unmoved as ever, not a ripple of feeling in it. When it came to the Liu family, Liu Zhenhu was truly a man of stature, a remarkably shrewd old man who every single time seized upon the heart of the matter and found the way out.
No wonder the people of the Liu family had been so overjoyed when Liu Zhenhu learned he still had ten years left to live. Otherwise, the two brothers Liu Tianyi and Liu Tianli would never have been up to it — they could not have held up the whole Liu family. Liu Tianyi, though steady and rather broad in vision, was somewhat short on cunning; and Liu Tianli was narrow of outlook — fine for keeping a business going, but hard pressed to advance it.
The one solace Liu Zhenhu took was this granddaughter; and the one regret he nursed was that Liu Jinghan was only a granddaughter and not a grandson. Liu Tianyi's son was still far too young to have come into his own — if he could one day grow to be like Liu Jinghan, that would be comfort enough for Liu Zhenhu in his old age.
"I keep feeling that this clan assembly will not pass in peace," Liu Jinghan said evenly. "The Chen family may look as though it has sunk to the point of no return, yet it still holds two lifesaving cards in reserve."
"Oh?" Liu Tianyi and Liu Tianli both started. They had not supposed the Chen family still possessed two such lifesaving cards — wasn't that going a shade too far?
"The first is the betrothal with the ancient sect, which we all know about. It may seem as insubstantial as mist, as though it had already ceased to exist, but in truth, so long as the ancient sect has not asked to dissolve it, it still stands," Liu Jinghan said.
Only then did Liu Tianyi and Liu Tianli suddenly recall that the Chen family still had such a lifesaving card. Yes — until the ancient sect explicitly declared the betrothal annulled, the Chen family remained kin to that ancient sect! And what a fearsome existence the ancient sect was! Even the hidden families did not dare lay a finger on them, let alone the ordinary ones.
If the Yu family really did downgrade the Chen family and drive them out of the ranks of the great families, and the ancient sect later came around to make trouble, then matters would truly be dire.
"The second card is Wei Zhao." Liu Jinghan went on. "And it is the one I consider most likely to be played."