Chapter 66

Old Master had been humiliated, and naturally, his son would not be spared. A scolding was the least of it. House arrest, not allowed to step out of the room for two months...

Zheng Biao was truly filled with hatred for Chang Jingwang, who had made him lose face and also disgraced his father, causing his mother to fall ill. He cursed everyone in the Chang family who had taken advantage of the situation, even cursing his own maternal grandfather, Old Master Chang, in his heart, hundreds of times.

Blood is thicker than water, they are all family. He never thought that his maternal grandfather's family, with its vast wealth and influence, could do such hateful things. Now, in Zheng Biao's heart, the hatred for Ma Yunyong, who directly caused his downfall, was not as intense.

Thinking of the despicable face of his cousin, Zheng Biao felt a wave of disgust. Since you are so despicable, you called me a good-for-nothing, didn't you? You said you were so capable, didn't you? Fine, let you show off how much better you are than me, don't blame me for dragging you down.

With this thought, Zheng Biao made up his mind. He wrote several letters to his cousin Chang Jingwang, who had already entered the "Changkongzhao Jianmen." In each letter, he deeply regretted his past actions, expressed his admiration for his cousin like "the endless flow of the Yangtze River" and "the unstoppable flood of the Yellow River," and after flattering Chang Jingwang extensively, he painfully described how he was bullied by the young Taoists at Qingyun Temple. Although he was incompetent, his cousin wouldn't just stand by and let his younger cousin be bullied by the wild Taoists, right? If I lose face, it will also tarnish your reputation...

Nearly two months passed, and his house arrest was almost over. He had written dozens of letters, each filled with flattery, but Chang Jingwang's reply was nowhere in sight, making Zheng Biao's mood increasingly worse.

One day, the weather was still cool. Bored and restless, Zheng Biao was reading a lurid book under the covers when he heard hurried footsteps approaching the door. Before he could stop them, the door was pushed open with a bang, and a gray figure ran in...

Angry at the interruption, Zheng Biao, without a word, picked up a sandalwood box filled with pastries and threw it.

Bang—

Ouch—

A cry of pain, and the person who entered, holding his head, crouched on the ground. It was Zheng Biao's personal attendant, Zheng Ergou.

Zheng Biao stood up and kicked Zheng Ergou in the head, cursing, "You insolent dog, blind as a bat, daring to barge in without permission. How many heads do you have for me to kick?"

"Ouch—Third Young Master, you said—ouch—someone came, someone—ouch—"

"Damn, you dare to talk back? Who—what—person? I told you to call—call—"

Clanging, Zheng Biao, who had been confined for two months, had become even more irritable, and he took out his anger on this blind subordinate.

Just as Zheng Biao was venting his anger, a cold laugh came from outside the door, and a mocking voice slowly said, "Oh—little cousin, what a good mood? Playing with the servants on a sunny day, no wonder you can't even beat a fortune teller—"

What—what—

Zheng Biao was stunned, turned his head, and saw that the one mocking him was none other than his cousin Chang Jingwang, to whom he had written several letters without a reply.

Zheng Biao was first stunned, then put on a surprised expression and rushed over, extending his hands to grab Chang Jingwang's, saying excitedly, "Oh, it's Cousin Jingwang, you came to see me! That's great, that's great—"

Chang Jingwang gently pushed away Zheng Biao with the hilt of his sword, ignoring Zheng Biao's awkwardness, and said expressionlessly, "I did come, but not just me, Cousin Jingfan also came—hey, don't misunderstand, we didn't come for your disgraceful and ridiculous affairs... Cousin Jingfan received a task from his master and brought us out for some training. We just happened to pass by—"

"Yes, yes—just passing by, passing by—"

Chang Jingwang made no effort to hide his dissatisfaction. He, a direct descendant of the Chang family and an inner disciple of Changkongzhao Jianmen, was asked to find a good-for-nothing who couldn't even beat a commoner... Although Zheng Biao was his cousin, he was a fool, and how could he, a young master, lower himself to ask for help? Humph, what a big favor.

He casually dusted off his already clean chest and deliberately puffed out his chest. Following Chang Jingwang's movement, Zheng Biao naturally saw the emblem on his cousin's chest: a floating cloud with a hanging sword.

"Changkongzhao Jianmen? Cousin, you became their disciple? Congratulations, congratulations—"

"Hmph, nonsense... With my abilities, entering Changkongzhao Jianmen is as easy as pie! Remember, I am an inner disciple, not one of those mediocre outer disciples..." Chang Jingwang's tone was dismissive, but his face showed immense pride.

"Yes, yes, right, right... Cousin, you are wise and talented, far superior to those mediocre people..." Zheng Biao praised him, but in his heart, he despised him greatly: If the Chang family hadn't spent 200,000 taels of silver for you, could you, this rotten head of garlic, even enter Changkongzhao Jianmen? Looking at Chang Jingwang's smug head, Zheng Biao really wanted to punch it to pieces!

After boasting to his cousin, who never flattered him, and seeing the effect, which was quite good, finally making the stubborn Zheng family show some respect, Chang Jingwang felt even more elated.

Speaking of why Chang Jingwang was dissatisfied with Zheng Biao, it wasn't really Zheng Biao's fault, but rather his two older brothers, Zheng Long and Zheng Hu. The Zheng family's children were always very arrogant, and every year they would fight with the Chang family's children.

Chang Jingwang had suffered greatly at the hands of Zheng Hu, who had knocked out several of his front teeth. Chang Jingwang, who had been pampered since childhood, had a rebellious personality and had offended many of his clan's children. After being beaten by Zheng Hu, the children who had always been at odds with him mocked him mercilessly, making Chang Jingwang too ashamed to show his face for a long time, and he would run away in a daze whenever he saw a clan member.

This incident was a great humiliation for Chang Jingwang. Unfortunately, Zheng Long and Zheng Hu, the two brothers of the Zheng family, had left home to learn martial arts, leaving the third brother, Zheng Biao, as the only target for Chang Jingwang's revenge.

"Let's go, Cousin Jingfan is visiting Aunt, and he specifically asked me to come and invite you—" Chang Jingwang deliberately emphasized the words "invite you," showing his extreme dissatisfaction.

"Okay, okay, let's go—Cousin Jingfan..." Zheng Biao's face was awkward as he hurriedly responded.

"Hmph, if it weren't for Cousin Jingfan pleading for you, you wouldn't even be allowed out now."

The aunt Chang Jingwang mentioned was Zheng Biao's mother, Lady Chang.

Lady Chang came from the Chang family of Yunxia County. The Chang family had few female members, and Chang Jingwang and Chang Jingfan's fathers were Lady Chang's brothers. Chang Jingfan's father was her full brother, while Chang Jingwang's father was her cousin. Therefore, the relationship between Chang Jingfan and Zheng Biao was closer. However, in a large family, this closeness was not particularly intimate.

Zheng Biao followed Chang Jingwang hurriedly to the back hall, just in time to see Chang Jingfan finishing his visit to Lady Chang and coming out, giving Zheng Biao a faint smile but stepping aside to let him go in first.

Chang Jingwang watched Zheng Biao's figure, squinting his eyes and sneering, but was stopped by Chang Jingfan's angry glare, and he dared not act further. They were then led to the front hall by a Zheng family servant.

Zheng Biao was completely focused on getting these talented students to help him take revenge, and had no intention of paying respects to his mother. After entering the room, he hurriedly bowed a few times and then rushed after the Chang brothers to the front hall.

At this moment, Master Zheng was personally serving tea to his guests. Although the guests were all young, their backing was very strong. Whether it was the Chang family of Yunxia County or the "Changkongzhao Jianmen," Master Zheng could not afford to offend them. Even though the Chang family was related to him, they were a true noble family and always treated their daughters who had married out as outsiders, so they would not show much consideration.

In the main hall, there were eight sandalwood chairs on both sides, and six men in white martial arts attire were sitting in a disheveled manner, looking impatient.

Among them were Chang Jingfan and Chang Jingwang, and the other four men were clearly disciples of Changkongzhao Jianmen who had come with Chang Jingfan. The uniform swords and the "floating sword cloud" emblem on their chests revealed their true identities. Some of them even had golden cloud patterns embroidered on their sleeves and collars, which looked different from the black-trimmed uniforms. Zheng Biao clearly saw that Chang Jingfan also had a similar emblem on his collar, indicating that these people were elite disciples of Changkongzhao Jianmen. Moreover, besides Chang Jingfan, there were two more with the golden cloud pattern. It seemed that half of Chang Jingfan's group of six were elite disciples of Changkongzhao Jianmen. This made Zheng Biao, who had ulterior motives, even more delighted. With these strong supporters, he could make the Taoists of Qingyun Temple back down this time.