Chapter 635
The Building Is About to Collapse
Before the Dumeizhai, everyone watched in silence as Xu Shu stood at the door for a long time, his hand resting on the edge of the curtain, seemingly lost in thought.
Xu Chuanyin from the Xu family of Tiger Hill frowned and asked, "The old master hasn't seen him for three years, and he won't even say a word to him. Why did he suddenly call him in today?"
Zhang Zhuo glanced at him from under the eaves: "When the Grand Secretary calls you in, ask him yourself."
Xu Chuanyin glanced at everyone, his voice growing deeper: "Zhang Zhuo, could it be that you're taking advantage of the Grand Secretary's serious illness to join forces with Xu Shu to seize my Xu family's business?"
Zhang Zhuo tucked his hands into his sleeves, looked up at the icicles on the eaves, and didn't even glance at Xu Chuanyin: "Listen to the nonsense you're spouting. Xu Shu is the eldest son of the Grand Secretary. If we don't give him the Xu family's fortune, are we going to give it to you?"
Xu Chuanyin frowned and said, "You don't need to pretend you don't know. Everyone knows where he came from."
Zhang Zhuo said casually, "According to the laws of our Great Ning, Xu Shu is still the eldest son of the Grand Secretary. If he doesn't speak up, it won't be your turn no matter what. You'd better be polite to him."
Xu Shu ignored the arguing around him until a violent coughing sound came from Dumeizhai. Only then did he take a deep breath, lift the curtain, and duck into the room.
The room was dark, and the windows were tightly shut to prevent the cold wind from getting in.
The air was filled with the smell of medicine, mixed with the dryness of charcoal fire, and a trace of the decaying smell unique to the old man, something that seeps out from the bones when one's life is about to end.
Grand Secretary Xu was not lying on the bed, but sitting upright in a grand chair.
Xu Shu carefully examined Elder Xu from a few steps away. He noticed that the other man was wearing a dark blue Taoist robe, with not a single wrinkle on the collar or cuffs.
After waking up, Grand Secretary Xu did not rush to see anyone. Instead, he had the middle-aged scholar tidy himself up before receiving the guests.
But the moment he saw Xu Shu, his once clear eyes suddenly became cloudy: "My son..."
Xu Shu subconsciously exchanged a glance with the middle-aged scholar inside the room.
The next moment, Grand Secretary Xu tried to get up, trembling, but slumped back into the armchair.
He looked at Xu Shu with cloudy eyes: "My son, I had a dream. I dreamt that a demon from the forty-ninth heaven possessed you. I wish I could eat its flesh and chew its bones..."
Xu Shu was taken aback and turned to look at the middle-aged scholar beside him: "Xu Biao, what's the difference between this and pointing at a monk and cursing a bald man?"
Xu Biao sighed, cupped his hands and said, "Young master, the master has been senile for a long time. Sometimes when he wakes up, he only remembers the time when you went missing nineteen years ago, and he doesn't even remember the court situation afterward. I would be grateful if you could cooperate and fulfill his wish... after all, you used your body."
“Wait, this matter needs to be clarified,” Xu Shu raised his eyebrows, exhaling a breath of alcohol. “His son drowned accidentally back then, so this debt cannot be pinned on me. Later, he went to Yuanjue Temple and spent a lot of money to perform a high-level ritual. If it weren’t for the Medicine Buddha sending me to be reincarnated, I wouldn’t have bothered to make this trip.”
Xu Shu changed the subject: "Besides, I have already repaid the Xu family for the favor I showed them with my body. I will first grant him three years of life, and then I will grant him freedom from illness... It can't go on forever, can it?"
Xu Biao clasped his hands in a deep bow and said, "Master, for the past nineteen years, the pain of losing my son has been even greater than the pain of illness. I beg you for help."
Xu Shu looked at the back of Xu Biao's head and finally sighed.
At this moment, Grand Secretary Xu beckoned to him tremblingly, saying incoherently, "My son, come, come to your father. How have you grown so much in the blink of an eye? I remember just yesterday I sent you to the Xu family school, and you were crying loudly inside the door. Yesterday you only reached my waist, how have you grown so much in the blink of an eye..."
Xu Shu hesitated for a moment, then finally squatted down in front of Grand Secretary Xu and whispered, "Father..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xu Ge Lao suddenly said in a cold voice, "You are not my son."
Xu Shu looked up in astonishment, only to see Grand Secretary Xu staring coldly at him. The turbidity in his eyes had disappeared, leaving only the composure and experience of someone who had weathered decades of ups and downs in the court.
The other party's voice wasn't loud, but every word was as cold as a judge pronouncing a verdict in court.
Grand Secretary Xu regained his senses.
Xu Shu stood up irritably: "Why do I feel like you're deliberately taking advantage of me? I really want to send you to your deathbed."
Grand Secretary Xu said hoarsely, "I am the Grand Secretary of the current dynasty, protected by the fate of the nation. Your 'Longevity-Binding Platform' is useless to me."
Xu Shu turned and walked out: "Can't take a joke, boring."
Just as Xu Shu lifted the curtain, Grand Secretary Xu said solemnly, "Come back. Did I say you could leave?"
Xu Shu lowered the curtain and turned back to look at me: "Don't try to act like an old man. In terms of lifespan, when I took refuge under the Medicine Buddha, your Xu family's ancestor wasn't even born yet... What do you want from me?"
Grand Secretary Xu said solemnly, "Marry a wife, have children, and continue my lineage. I will first entrust the Xu family to you, and then hand it over to him when he comes of age." Xu Shu leaned against the doorframe and refused resolutely, "I can't do it. I don't even plan to return to the Forty-Nine Heavens. I'm determined to steal this life of leisure. How can I get involved in the karma of the Xu family again? If I do, I'm afraid I'll suffer endless toil and hardship. How can I be carefree then?"
Grand Secretary Xu said in a deep voice, "How can one not be tainted by karma while living in the mortal world? Which of the debts you owed in the taverns and brothels of the capital wasn't paid by Xu Biao?"
Xu Shu said nonchalantly, "Zhang Zhuo also paid it back for me."
Grand Secretary Xu chuckled and asked again, "Then let me ask you, whose name is on the deed to the house you live in? You eat the food of the Xu family, live in the Xu family, use the Xu family's things, and even your drinking debts are covered by the Xu family. Is this what you call being uninvolved in karma?"
Xu Shu remained nonchalant and said, "It's just that we Buddhist disciples are required to observe the precept against money and cannot touch it."
Grand Secretary Xu coughed, his breaths sounding like a broken bellows. When the coughing stopped, he pointed at Xu Shu with trembling hands and said, "You should wipe the rouge off your face before you talk about keeping the precepts!"
Xu Shu leaned against the wall and sighed, "Why does it have to be me?"
Grand Secretary Xu said hoarsely, "Which of those people outside can protect the Xu family? They are nothing but wolves and tigers surnamed Xu. With the current turmoil in the court, they are fighting over food like wild dogs, not even seeing that the Xu family's mansion is about to collapse."
Xu Shu raised an eyebrow: "Is it that serious?"
Grand Secretary Xu said coldly, "The Liu family has fallen, and the Qi family is only barely clinging to life. Who's next? The Xu family! The one in Renshou Palace has reigned for thirty-two years. Others may not see his ambition, but how could I, as the Grand Secretary, not see it?"
Xu Shu asked in confusion, "Isn't he diligently cultivating Taoism in Renshou Palace?"
Grand Secretary Xu sneered, "You are in the Imperial Observatory, have you ever seen him refine a single batch of pills? He does indeed want to seek immortality, but he takes a different path."
Xu Shu pondered for a long time: "What road?"
Grand Secretary Xu, barely breathing, sat hunched over in his armchair: "Do you remember, in the winter of the eighth year of the Jia Ning era, Hu Junyan, the eldest grandson of the Hu family, was stolen by the Beggars' Gang shortly after his birth? When the Hu family found him, a golden flame had appeared between his brows."
Xu Shu nodded: "I know about this. That old guy also came from the Forty-Nine Heavens. He's so arrogant all the time, and all he cares about is cultivation. He won't even answer when you ask him to drink. But Nan Mengli, who's with him, is much more lovable."
Grand Secretary Xu ignored his banter and continued, "Hu Junyan lived in a daze for eight years until he was eight years old when he finally understood his past and present lives. On the very night of his enlightenment, he went to the palace to bring His Majesty a message..."
Xu Shu pondered for a moment: "What did Hu Junyan say to the emperor in the sixteenth year of the Jianing era?"
Grand Secretary Xu shook his head: "Only Hu Junyan and His Majesty know exactly what was said. However, since then, the imperial treasury's money has been pouring into the three imperial camps, and half of it has gone nowhere."
Xu Shu was fully sober now, pacing back and forth in the room, deep in thought: "The sixteenth year of Jia Ning... What happened in the sixteenth year of Jia Ning? Wait a minute!"
Thinking of this, he was suddenly startled: "In the sixteenth year of Jia Ning, that person from Jade Capital Mountain in the thirty-third heaven passed away peacefully."
Grand Secretary Xu asked in confusion, "What?"
Xu Shu shook his head: "It's none of your business, don't ask around."
Grand Secretary Xu's face showed anger: "This matter has nothing to do with me, but the affairs of the Xu family are related to you. I didn't want to force you to get married and have children before, but now that you are a member of the Xu family, it is your duty to leave a lineage for my Xu family!"
Xu Shu remained unmoved: "You should entrust the Xu family to Zhang Zhuo instead of me... at least he still cares about the Xu family."
Grand Secretary Xu took a moment to catch his breath: "He's just like you. He's spent half his life in the Xu family, but he's never considered himself a member of the Xu family."
Xu Shu shrugged: "As long as Zhang Zheng is adopted into the Xu family, he can only take care of the Xu family for the rest of his life. Anyway, I will not take care of the Xu family."
Grand Secretary Xu stared at him for a long time, then waved his hand weakly: "Since you have made up your mind, you are no longer a member of the Xu family, and you should not have any connection with the Xu family anymore."
Xu Shu said "Oh," and turned to leave.
But after he went out, he turned back and looked at Grand Secretary Xu, who was sitting on the armchair like a candle in the wind. He suddenly said, "Before the ritual was performed, the abbot of Yuanjue Temple asked you, if it wasn't your son who came back to life, but the Xu family could be guaranteed to prosper for nineteen years, would you still be willing? Your answer should have been, yes... That's why the Buddhist community has been sending people and effort to support your Xu family's political achievements all these years."
Grand Secretary Xu remained silent.
A cold wind blew in through the crack in the door that Xu Shu had opened. Xu Shu said softly, "Since you've made your choice, don't regret it."
He lowered the curtain and left. The heavy curtain fell, separating the inside from the outside into two worlds. (End of Chapter)