Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I was momentarily confused by what she said. She continued, "My family is called the Zhu family. Your Zhou family and our Zhu family have quite a history..."

"The Zhu family?" I finally reacted. I felt like I had heard the name somewhere before.

Zhu Yun took another sip of tea, brushed the silky hair by her ear behind it. She began to explain, "The four great families of Jingzhou are Zhou, Gu, Yao, and Zhu. Your father and mother must have mentioned them, and I assume you've heard of them as well. My brother, Zhu Yu, is the current head of the Zhu family."

She went on, "Our several great families are old-established clans in Jingzhou. Although we have some business competition, we've been friends for many years and often intermarry. You could say we've become inseparable."

She paused, her gaze meaningful. "In fact, the ancestors of our four great families were disciples of a Daoist temple who bestowed great kindness upon the common people. We are all descendants of the same lineage, from the same generation of masters and fellow disciples. That crude stone statue you saw in the basement just now... it bears a striking resemblance to our founding master."

"Ah?" I couldn't process it. "F-founding master?"

A slight smile touched her lips. "I know this might be a lot to take in, and your parents probably never told you any of this. The last time I was at Tongyue Tower, when I first met you and heard your name was Zhou Bin, I felt you looked familiar. I held you when you were a child, and I was quite good friends with your mother. I remembered you then."

Seeing my dumbfounded expression, she said, "Originally, our four great families coexisted peacefully. Presumably, you would have grown up within the large Zhou family. But something happened just over a decade ago."

I asked blankly, "What happened?"

She explained, "The head of the Yao family at the time, Yao Shuanglei, was wildly ambitious. Unsatisfied with the balance of power among the four families, he wanted to annex the others. He set his sights on your Zhou family first."

She continued, "It was right when your father had taken over as head of the family from your grandfather. His position was unstable, so Yao Shuanglei constantly used all sorts of tactics, both internal and external, to bring down your Zhou family. He also tried to recruit us, but my brother and I weren't willing to do such a thing, so we refused. However, the Yao family was the most powerful and at its peak back then. There was really nothing we could do to help you with your family's situation."

"Later, it seems a traitor emerged within your Zhou family. Yao Shuanglei obtained a great deal of key business secrets and secretly sabotaged you in both political and business circles. Your family's fortunes quickly declined. I suppose you know what happened after that, your father went bankrupt, your mother went abroad. We knew about all of this. I even saw your mother before she left the country."

Thinking about my family's downfall, my heart was in turmoil. I said dully, "You mean... the collapse of our Zhou family was mainly because of what the Yao family did!!?"

"Mmm, that's essentially it." Zhu Yun looked at me and nodded.

My mind was suddenly flooded with a thousand thoughts, a tangled mess. It was too much information to process all at once.
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