Zhu Yanyi smiled slightly from the side. "To be honest, I don’t care about the Zhu family in Zhu City. I have no interest in their future. I only care about one thing: keeping my loved ones safe.
But old man, you failed at that. You made my grandfather a prisoner for forty years. You made my father grow up without parents for forty years. You stole the joy of a child playing with her grandfather. That makes me very angry."
Zhu Yongfu got straight to the point. "So what? Can you really deal with me?" she didn’t believe she could harm her in broad daylight. Besides, she had backup plans.
Zhu Yanyi laughed. "It’s not hard to deal with you. Do you think you’re so powerful? It’s actually very easy." She smiled faintly. "Your face shows you think I’m lying. Or maybe you’re confident you can beat me. Or perhaps you just believe that a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake."
When Zhu Yanyi said "a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake," Zhu Yongfu’s face truly changed. Fear flashed in her eyes. She now believed her claim that she knew everything. She looked at her with caution, but said nothing for a long time. Finally, she asked, "Did you know all this already?"
"I started investigating the Zhu family in Zhu City the first time you came to Four Towns. I didn’t trust them. I certainly didn’t trust the idea of 'returning to the main family.' You acted well back then, so I only got surface information. But even that was enough to know you had a group of people under your control."
Zhu Yanyi’s lips curled up slightly. "Those people only obey you. They usually pose as ordinary Zhu family members. Their identities vary—some are street vendors, some are farmers, some are ordinary workers, and some are small business owners. They are in every industry.
Usually, they treat others with sincerity, so few suspect them. But in truth, they are your enforcers and assassins."
When Zhu Yanyi learned this, she was actually impressed by Zhu Yongfu. Building such a team without alerting anyone was unexpected. Even she couldn’t do it. Most of her people were trained by Yan Aohan. She trusted Yan Aohan completely, so she trusted her people. But building a team herself? She couldn’t do it.
Zhu Yongfu had done it. He kept this team hidden through turbulent times.
Zhu Yongfu was truly talented. Zhu Yanyi admitted that. An ordinary person would never be her match. But who knew Zhu Yanyi had a golden finger? She had Yan Aohan to protect her. More importantly, she had the Azure Sovereign Qingdi’s power. She could learn everything through plants, unless all plants in the world died.
If there were no plants, no one could survive there. Even deserts have oases, cacti, and licorice.
Zhu Yongfu looked truly shocked. "I clearly saw in the space rift that the one who ruined the Zhu family in Zhu City was Zhu Shenfu."
"Not me," Zhu Shenfu answered immediately.
"I know it wasn’t you. It was him." Zhu Yongfu pointed at Zhu Xinfu. "Oh, right. You are no longer called Zhu Shenfu. You are Zhu Xinfu. 'Xinfu'—what a good name. Reborn. But do you know how much energy I spent on you?"
Zhu Xinfu looked at Zhu Yongfu. "When I first came to the Zhu family in Zhu City, I actually suspected Liangfu. No, I should call him Zhu Shenfu now." Zhu Xinfu spoke slowly, looking elegant. He didn’t seem angry about the past.
"You suspected me?" Zhu Shenfu pointed at his own nose. "If you suspected me, why did you come to the Zhu family? Why did we become sworn brothers?"
"Because I didn’t know the Zhu family in Zhu City was no longer the original family. I only suspected Zhu Shenfu personally. I thought he had some purpose for me. I never imagined that everything Zhu Shenfu did was actually the entire Zhu family trying to defeat me.
I was arrogant. I thought I could protect myself even if I joined the Zhu family, so I came boldly. It was only after seeing the space image that I realized this was my fate. From the moment I stepped into the Zhu family, I had to follow my destiny."
Zhu Xinfu wasn’t angry. He didn’t blame Zhu Yongfu for the past. "I just never understood why you were so sure I was the one who would make the Four Towns Zhu family rise." Zhu Xinfu looked at Zhu Yongfu with curiosity.
"The space rift showed me your face clearly. Even just a side profile. Besides, with that face, it could only be you or Zhu Guifu. I tested Zhu Guifu. He is useless, like a weak heir. So it couldn’t be him," Zhu Yongfu said directly.
Zhu Yanyi looked at Zhu Yongfu, then at Zhu Xinfu, and finally at Zhu Shun Yao beside them. She spoke slowly. "I think, old man, you really calculated the wrong person. Of course, my grandfather’s disaster was arranged by heaven. But I think there is a reason he accepted it so calmly. It was to protect someone. And that person was definitely not my grandfather."
"Not your grandfather? Then who?" Zhu Yongfu couldn’t believe her long plan wasn’t about Zhu Xinfu. She stared at Zhu Yanyi with wide eyes.
Zhu Yanyi coughed lightly and pointed at Zhu Shun Yao. "Didn’t you notice my father looks seventy percent like my grandfather? You saw the Four Towns rising. And indeed, it was my father who led that rise. My father led it because he founded the Azure Sovereign Qingdi Group. And my father became famous because he has a daughter like me."