ASCENSION OF THE MARTIAL KING

10

He knocked on the door, and the housekeeper who opened it began to speak respectfully, "Young Masters, Madam has been waiting—"

But once he saw who was at the door, he drawled and immediately stopped speaking. Then his gaze turned sharp, and he looked at Zhang Wei coldly.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Zhang Wei calmly replied, "Is he in?"

His question couldn't have been more vague, but the housekeeper understood, and his face turned even more sour.

"Why are you asking? You should return to your courtyard before the young masters get here," he responded.

"The young masters?" Zhang Wei drawled with a hint of coldness in his tone. "What am I then?"

"You..." The housekeeper looked him over derisively and seemed to want to say something snarky at first but changed his mind. "Anyway, you should return before I report you to Master."

"I have something important to talk to him about." Zhang Wei paused and looked him straight in the eye. "Are you sure you want to be punished for stopping me from seeing him? It's a rather important matter."

The housekeeper still had a snarky look on his face, but once he heard that, he seemed to rethink and looked at Zhang Wei coldly. But he soon stepped away from the door and pulled it open for him to enter.

Zhang Wei entered and snickered, "Eh... I didn't think you were so obedient."

Then, he walked away before the housekeeper could inform Zhang Lei. He heard voices from one of the doors, so he walked over and pushed it open without knocking.

Behind him, the housekeeper quickly realized what he was going to do and wanted to stop him, but he was too late. "Stop!"

Zhang Lei and his Madam, Chen Lan, were inside talking, and when the door was opened so suddenly, both of them immediately looked over. When they saw who it was, their expressions soured instantly.

At that moment, the housekeeper rushed in with a fearful look and knelt in front of Zhang Lei, clasping his palms. "Master, he forcefully got in. I tried to stop him—"

But Zhang Lei had no interest in what he had to say, and he raised a hand curtly. "Keep quiet."

"What are you doing here?" Zhang Lei barked as he faced Zhang Wei. "How dare you barge in?"

Zhang Wei snickered under his breath when he heard that. He calmly walked to the futon placed across and settled on it.

Zhang Lei gave him a bad look and wanted to chide him for sitting without permission. But before he could do so, Zhang Wei spoke up, "I'm here to get my mother's suppressants."

Zhang Lei's reprimand was caught in his throat, and he gave a puzzled look. "Suppressants? Haven't they been sent to your courtyard?"

"No, they haven't," Zhang Wei responded and looked over to the woman beside Zhang Lei with double meaning in his gaze. "It looks like Madam was busy with some things and forgot that someone needed those pills to stay alive."

The sarcasm in his tone was dripping, and it would be strange if Zhang Lei didn't put two and two together. He looked over to Chen Lan, and she was initially silent as she stared at Zhang Wei probingly.

But she soon regained her composure, and the look on her face was soon replaced with a demure smile as she looked at Zhang Lei. Zhang Wei was impressed by how quickly she changed faces.

"Master, I already gave them to Auntie Lin to send to the east courtyard," she began while twisting her fingers. "But she must have forgotten while running errands."

She paused for a moment before adding, as she pursed her lips tightly, "I'll get someone to send it over immediately and punish Auntie Lin for making such a dreadful mistake."

"Housekeeper Zhang, get someone to bring the suppressants," Zhang Lei ordered first, and the housekeeper quickly rushed off. Zhang Wei looked at Chen Lan, who was beside him, and saw that the smile on her face was frozen and forced.

But she still tried to maintain calmness and looked at Zhang Lei, speaking gently, "Master, are you angry with me? I didn't do it on purpose."

It took a couple of seconds before Zhang Lei finally spoke, and he shook his head. "No need to punish Auntie Lin. She must have forgotten."

Then, he looked over to Zhang Wei and said, "The pills will be sent to the east courtyard. You can go now."

He also seemed to recall something and added, "And I don't condone you barging into my courtyard without permission. It shouldn't happen again."

He expected Zhang Wei to get up and bow in apology, but the latter just sat there, smiling, without moving.

"What else?" Zhang Lei frowned.

Zhang Wei responded succinctly, "I'll wait for the pills to be brought here. It would be too bad if they just conveniently forget again."

Chen Lan's smile instantly froze on her lips.

The look on Zhang Lei's face instantly changed, and he barked, "Zhang Wei! How could you speak to your mother like that?"

Zhang Wei smiled. "She's not my mother."

"She might not have birthed you," Zhang Lei glowered at him, "but she is your principal mother, and I will not have you disrespecting her."

"I won't be disrespecting her when you do right by my mother," Zhang Wei's face turned serious. "Since you won't do anything about my mother's illness, give me the money for her treatment."

"What treatment?" Zhang Lei responded indifferently. "The physician said it can't be treated."

"There is a way to treat her."

Zhang Lei obviously had no care about that, and he flicked his sleeves arrogantly. "It is a lost cause. I do not have money to waste."

And he added with a low grunt, "Especially not on someone who will die soon."

He had said it under his breath, but Zhang Wei heard it. His gaze instantly narrowed, and a few thoughts quickly ran through his head.

But he didn't say anything about that and instead said, "Are you sure you don't want to give me the money?"

"I have no money to give!" he bellowed.

Beside him, Chen Lan suddenly reached out to grab his arm and said in a comforting voice, "Master, you should take it easy. You know how your health is."

"I know," Zhang Lei grunted, and he seemed to have gotten calmer.

But what Zhang Wei said next caused him to almost vomit blood out of anger.

"Okay then," Zhang Wei responded as he got up from his position. "Aren't you trying to get into the council? I heard your rival from the Xie family is also vying for that post. Who do you think the people will vote for when they learn that the venerable cultivator maltreats his son's mother?"

Zhang Lei instantly blew up and slammed his hand on the table in front of him out of anger.

"Zhang Wei!!!"

"How dare you?" he bellowed angrily, pointing his finger at Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei merely smiled and shook his head. "You had best calm down so you don't have a heart attack and die."

"You unfilial...!" Zhang Lei choked and patted his chest to ease his breathing while Chen Lan tried to calm him.

Then, she turned to Zhang Wei, "Zhang Wei, don't be so unfilial to your father. No matter what, he is an elder, and you should respect him. Although you are not my biological son, I care about you and—"

At this point, Zhang Wei had enough. He raised a hand and looked at her sharply. "Save it. This is a matter between father and son."

He turned to Zhang Lei and asked, "Are you going to give it or not?"

Zhang Lei huffed, but he wasn't so arrogant anymore, and he reached out to take a pouch from under his pillow. Once Chen Lan saw what he took, she gasped, "Master, that's for Zhang Mei's new dress. You..."

She couldn't control herself, and even Zhang Lei looked at her strangely.

But before he could say anything, Zhang Wei cut in with a smile in his tone. "Madam Chen, are you saying that your daughter's dress is more important than my mother's health?"

Chen Lan was stunned for a moment. She stuttered, "What... are... you saying?" She quickly looked at Zhang Lei. "Master, it's not like that."

But Zhang Lei didn't respond and tossed the pouch to Zhang Wei. Just then, Housekeeper Zhang returned with the pills and handed them to Zhang Wei.

After wreaking havoc, Zhang Wei stood up with the pouch and pills in hand. He announced with a satisfied smile on his face, "I'll get going now."

Zhang Lei could not stand seeing him anymore, and he quickly waved him off. "Just go."

Zhang Wei smirked and left the room, leaving the three of them. Once the door closed behind him, Housekeeper Zhang started to complain, "Master, Zhang Wei is so arrogant and barged in here. You must punish him so that—"

"Shut up!" Zhang Lei bellowed at him before he could go on. He grunted, "If you weren't so useless, would he have been able to enter?"

Housekeeper Zhang was at a loss for words and exchanged looks with Chen Lan. He muttered helplessly, "He said—"

"I'm not interested in what he said," Zhang Lei cut in. "Leave."

Then, he turned to Chen Lan. "And you too, Madam. I want to rest."

"Master..." Chen Lan wanted to quibble, but when she saw the look in his eyes, she got up obediently and bowed, "You should rest well."

Zhang Lei only responded with a grunt, and a glint passed through Chen Lan's eyes as she left with Housekeeper Zhang.

After they were gone, Zhang Lei stood up and rummaged through a wardrobe behind him. He brought out a box and took a token from it with a hooded look in his gaze.

He narrowed his eyes and looked back the way Zhang Wei had left. He noticed that something seemed different about Zhang Wei. He was usually meek and never appeared in front of him unless necessary.

But his character now reminded him of someone, although he couldn't pinpoint who it was. Maybe there was something he had missed.

"I had better check again for the origin of this token," he muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, as Zhang Wei walked back to the east courtyard, he bumped into his two stepbrothers, Zhang Ming and Zhang Nie. They were the two who had orchestrated the previous host’s death. Once they saw him, the fatty, Zhang Nie, looked uneasy, but Zhang Ming clearly was not bothered.

"Eh? What is a useless bastard like you doing here?" He sneered, blocking Zhang Wei's way.