Chapter 237 Reincarnation

Master Hou was lost in thought after he went into his room. He the memories of his youth came flooding back.

Master Hou had always considered himself cold-blooded, apathetic and unbeatable.

To him, even the invincible Lord Long had many weaknesses in terms of humanity. He thought Lord Long was arbitrary and indecisive.

If Zhuge Jiangnan was his adviser, he would never be turned against this man. He would treat Zhuge Jiangnan as his family, even if it was just for show.

If he was Lord Long and he had a problem with Zhuge Jiangnan, he would never allow Zhuge Jiangnan to live anymore, the same way Lord Long spared Xiao Bing’s life when he could have killed Xiao Bing. From this perspective, Master Hou considered Lord Long a very stupid man.

Lord Long’s biggest weaknesses were his arbitrariness and indecisiveness.

“However, don’t I have any weakness?” Master Hou eased himself into his chair with his eyes closed. A bitter smile touched the corner of his mouth.

Master Hou was still single. It was not that he did not have any human emotion. Any human would have emotions. Some hid them well and some do not try to hide them. Usually, the more constrained a man was, the better he could hide his true feelings. Yet when he let go of these emotions, it’ll be hard to hold them back.

A knock on the door brought Master Hou back to reality. He looked towards the door and said, “Come in.”

His voice was still warm and powerful, yet there were some impalpable fluctuations.

The door opened with a squeak. A girl in a scarlet shirt came in, her skin as white as snow, hair as smooth as a cascade, she had a high nose bridge and long eyelashes, her big eyes were glittering with timidness.

Seeing she could walk in, Master Hou knew that Miyamoto Shinji had tested her. Indeed Tang Xueyan was not a martial artist.

Seeing the girl’s countenance, Master Hou shivered for a moment, his eyes filled with incredulity. He closed his eyes, seeming to painfully suppress something.

The girl stared cautiously at Master Hou and asked fearfully, “Are.. Are you okay?”

Master Hou opened his eyes and sighed. “Close the door, ” said he softly.

“Okay.” The girl closed the door and respectfully waited for Master Hou to speak.

“Are you afraid of me?” Master Hou asked.

The girl shook her head hastily and grunted.

Master Hou smiled amiably, “Don’t worry. I’m old enough to be your father. I won’t do anything to you. I don’t care about who you are or why you’ve become homeless. As long as you are here, I assure you that no one will ever hurt you. No one will force you to leave as long as you still wish to stay.”

Confused, Tang Xueyan asked, “Why.. Why are you so kind to me?”

Master Hou pondered for a moment and said meaningfully, “Destiny brought us together.”

“I see.” The girl nodded, but the timidness in her eyes hadn’t disappeared completely.

Master Hou said, “I don’t care who you are and you don’t need to tell me. But do you wish to live here?”

Tang Xueyan said faintly, “I don’t know who I am. I think I’ve lost my memory. I have nowhere else to go. I will do anything if you’re willing to keep me under your roof. I can be a servant here.”

“Remember, you are not a servant, ” Master Hou said, “My name is Jiang Zihou. You can call me Zihou from now on.”

“Zihou..Is that okay?”

Master Hou said, “You are the only one in this world who can call me that.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Don’t worry, ” said Master Hou, smiling, “Just stay here. You won’t be a servant. Instead, you’ll be the princess of this mansion.”

Tang Xueyan’s mouth opened wide.

Smiling, Master Hou said, “Go back and have some rest. Come out in the evening. I want everyone in the mansion to meet you and know your status here.”

There was bewilderment in Tang Xueyan’s eyes. But she could tell that this elder would not do her any harm. So she nodded with respect and took her exit.

After Tang Xueyan left, Master Hou slowly rose to his feet. He opened a drawer with his key and took out a scroll. He placed it on the desk delicately and spread it open. It was a portrait of a young-looking girl who very much resembled Tang Xueyan!

Master Hou gently placed his hands on the beauty’s face, his trembling fingers delicately running down the scroll. He felt tears stinging in his eyes. “I never imagined that after so many years, I would meet a girl who looks so much like you. Is this the so-called reincarnation?”

Master Hou got gradually lost in memory as he stared at the scroll.

Several days later, Xiao Bing left the hospital thanks to his superior ability of self-recovery, which shocked even Gao Fei. He once told Xiao Bing that Xiao Bing was inferior to him in terms of killing. But when it came to physical quality, he had to admit that Xiao Bing was far better. He had never seen someone who was as physically strong as Xiao Bing.

Xiao Bing could not quite understand it as well. In his memory, his ability to recover was never this exceptional, even when he was at his prime. It seemed to have attained this quality after he lost consciousness when he was fighting Zhu Mingyu.

From then on, Xiao Bing noticed that inside his body, there seemed to be a deeply hidden power that he could not control.

During the few days that Xiao Bing was recuperating, there didn’t seem to be much activity on Lord Long’s side. The whole country was on a campaign against underground gangs. The moguls all behaved themselves. Some gang leaders were even arrested simply because their men caused trouble in the city.

The first thing Xiao Bing decided to do was to obtain information from Master Hou. Escorted by a servant, Xiao Bing walked into Master Hou’s mansion. While he was about to enter the hall, he saw a beautiful young lady standing in front of him in a flower-embroidered dress. Her grace made Xiao Bing eyes brighten.

The girl bent her upper body a little and said softly, “Mr. Xiao, right? Zihou is waiting for you.”

“Um. Okay.” Xiao Bing’s mind went blank for a moment. Then he followed the servant into the hall. When he saw the radiant Jiang Zihou in the hall, it suddenly occurred to him that the girl called this man Zihou. “What’s going on here? Could it be that..”

Master Hou guffawed, “Not bad. Your ability to recover is really amazing. Miyamoto, if you are wounded like him, will you recover that quickly?”

Miyamoto Shinji answered directly, “No.”

Master Hou was moved, “Xiao Bing, you are indeed no ordinary man!”

Xiao Bing smiled wryly, “Master Hou, I don’t deserve that compliment. I don’t understand it either. Oh, right. The beautiful girl who walked out of here just now..”

Master Hou smiled happily, “Her name is Tang Xueyan.”historical

Xiao Bing asked, “Master Hou, she and you are..”

“She will live under my roof until she wishes to leave.”

Noticing that Master Hou did not want to answer, Xiao Bing stopped asking. But he suddenly realized that Master Hou didn’t seem to be a hard-hearted man. This man had feelings. Though Master Hou always smiled amiably towards others, Xiao Bing deemed this man no less scary than Lord Long. His smile was always elusive and sometimes there seemed to be a murderous intent hidden beneath.

But now it all seemed different to Xiao Bing. The smile was still on his face, yet it reminded him that Master Hou was also a man of varied emotions.

Xiao Bing did not care much about people’s family matters. He thought it was normal for men of Master Hou’s age to find a woman, the way he found Yezi.

Xiao Bing got right to the point after he sat down, “Master Hou, have you noticed anything abnormal from the Long family? Have they been doing anything? I have my intelligence sources as well, but it’s not as good as Master Hou’s.”

Master Hou smiled, “I haven’t detected any movements from them for now. The government is determined to eliminate its targets. I suppose that I still have at least one month to prepare. I’ve sent my man to unite the underground world in Hei Province. Anyone who dares to defy me will be executed. When Lord Long decides to march south, the Hei Province will be a hard piece of meat for him to bite.”

Xiao Bing grinned, “Master Hou is a master of strategy, and Lord Long is martially powerful. I wonder who will win in the end.”

“Xiao Bing, that’s modest of you to say that. The reason I could survive the government’s campaign is all because of you. The Long Family is a powerful house. Even you and I together have very little chance of defeating them. But it doesn’t matter now. The old and cunning Zhuge’s advice is no longer taken and they have been losing territories. Our chances of winning have increased to 40 percent. Though the number is still small, we can win if you and I join forces.”

Xiao Bing grinned, “You are right. I’d better go back, then.”

“Okay.” Smiling, Master Hou walked Xiao Bing out of the mansion. As he was about to return, he saw Tang Xueyan coming his way holding a bunch of flowers. Master Hou grinned, “They are pretty. Did you pick them?”

Tang Xueyan was now less timid than a few days ago. She waltzed up to him and held out the flowers, “Aren’t they beautiful? They’re fragrant, right?”

Master Hou put his nose close to the flowers and inhaled. He smiled merrily, “Very fragrant.”

Master Hou felt so happy at this moment. If every day could be like this, he wouldn’t mind if he had to give up a few decades of his life.