Chapter Sixteen: The Situ Family

In that moment, Xiao Minghui immediately understood what was happening. Zhao Liu had forced him to surrender the Xiao family’s assets, not to spare his life, but to barter it for Xiao Ye’s forgiveness.

“Xiao Minghui, I told you before, you should have surrendered to Lord Xiao Ye at once,” Zhao Liu said. “But you wouldn’t listen. Left with no other choice, I had to resort to transferring the family’s assets to the Situ family.”

Zhao Liu lifted his head, a mocking glint flickering in his eyes as he looked at Xiao Minghui. “By doing this, I am serving justice.”

Xiao Minghui’s face turned ashen in an instant. He could never have imagined that someone who had followed him for so long would betray him now, at such a time.

“I’ll kill you all!” Xiao Minghui’s eyes blazed red as he shouted furiously. Betrayed by those at his side, he was nearly driven mad with rage.

Zhao Liu stood up, sneering coldly at Xiao Minghui. “Xiao Minghui, I advise you to stop being so stubborn. If you surrender, Lord Xiao Ye will certainly remember the brotherhood between you and spare your life.”

“You... you!” Xiao Minghui was so enraged he was left speechless. Xiao Ye had already shattered the bones in his body with a single kick—he could not move at all.

“You all want to surrender, but I refuse! Xiao Ye, Zhao Liu, even if I die, I will curse you both!” Xiao Minghui cried out in madness. In the next moment, he suddenly jerked his jaw upward with all his strength.

Blood gushed out as a piece of his tongue fell from his mouth.

Xiao Minghui’s face went deathly pale. Before the eyes of all present, he had bitten off his tongue, ending his own life.

The sight struck everyone dumb with shock. No one had expected Xiao Minghui to go so far.

Cries of mourning once again echoed through the Xiao household. The former family head, Xiao Donglin, had already died; now with Xiao Minghui’s suicide, there was no one left to lead the Xiao family.

“Silence!” Suddenly, Xiao Ye’s shout thundered through the hall, instantly quelling the Xiao family’s lament.

Seizing the opportunity, Zhao Liu stepped forward with a diamond bracelet and a stack of contracts, his face plastered with a sycophantic smile.

“My lord, this is the diamond bracelet you wanted; I have kept it safe. Here as well are all the Xiao family’s asset contracts, which I return to you without condition. These are just small tokens of my esteem for you. I have long awaited your return!”

With that, Zhao Liu knelt before Xiao Ye, his manner reverent to the extreme. In a blink, he had pledged himself to Xiao Ye.

Gazing at the glittering bracelet in his hand, Xiao Ye allowed himself a slight smile.

After all this time, the bracelet was still as beautiful as ever.

His gaze shifted to Zhao Liu, kneeling on the floor, and a cold smirk played on his lips.

“Rise.”

“Yes, my lord!” At Xiao Ye’s command, Zhao Liu scrambled to his feet, his face still awash with obsequiousness.

A glint of mockery remained in Xiao Ye’s eyes. “You said just now that these were gifts from you and the Situ family?”

“Yes, my lord!” Zhao Liu nodded hurriedly. “The moment we learned of your return, we prepared everything regarding the Xiao family. I just didn’t expect you to arrive so quickly—before I could even drive Xiao Minghui out, you were already here!”

As he spoke, Zhao Liu cast a disdainful glance at the corpse of Xiao Minghui.

“I’ve served in the Xiao family for many years, but I’ve never seen a wastrel like Xiao Minghui. This family truly needs you, my lord, to take the helm. Xiao Minghui was nothing but a useless lump of mud—never to be molded.”

With a smile, Zhao Liu continued. Now that Xiao Minghui was dead, he naturally had to find a new master. If he could follow Xiao Ye, he would never have to worry again.

Xiao Ye laughed as well. “Since you’re my man now, send a gift to the Situ family for me.”

A sharp light flashed in Zhao Liu’s eyes—this was his chance to demonstrate loyalty. “My lord, what would you have me deliver?”

“Send yourself.”

Suddenly, a whistle sliced through the air by Zhao Liu’s ear, and his body felt instantly weightless. In the blink of an eye, both his arms fell away from his body.

Zhao Liu looked down and his face drained of color.

“Ah! My lord, what are you doing?” he wailed, the agony nearly driving him unconscious with pain. He stared at Xiao Ye in disbelief.

“And you call yourself my most loyal servant?” Xiao Ye’s lips curled into a frigid smile. “Wasn’t this the same thing you told my father back then?”

A strange buzzing filled Zhao Liu’s ears, and he was suddenly stricken with terror.

It was Zhao Liu who had instigated Xiao Donglin’s betrayal of the Xiao family, and later manipulated Xiao Minghui into handing over the family assets to the Situ family. If Xiao Ye kept someone like this at his side, it was only a matter of time before he was betrayed as well.

If not for Zhao Liu’s machinations, the Xiao family might still be united today. In other words, it was largely because of Zhao Liu that the Xiao family had been destroyed.

Hatred welled up in Xiao Ye’s eyes as he looked at Zhao Liu.

“My lord, please, listen to me—I truly wish to serve you! I beg you, spare my life! I worked so hard to recover these things for you!” Zhao Liu pleaded, panic-stricken. He had served as a lackey all his life and was not yet ready to die.

Suddenly, Xiao Ye looked at him with a smile. “Don’t worry. You won’t die.”

Hearing this, Zhao Liu was overcome with joy. He knelt and kowtowed to Xiao Ye. “Thank you, my lord! As long as you let me live, I’ll do anything you ask!”

“I already told you—prepare a gift for me,” Xiao Ye said coldly.

Zhao Liu, confused, had barely registered the words when Xiao Ye turned and walked toward Red Dragon.

“Prepare him for pig-butchering, and send him to the Situ family.”

At the command, even Red Dragon’s eyes flickered with surprise. He had not expected Xiao Ye to choose such a method.

“Come with me!” Red Dragon strode toward Zhao Liu, eyes full of menace, and dragged him up.

Watching Xiao Ye’s indifferent back, Zhao Liu was suddenly seized by fear. “Where are we going? You’re not going to kill me, are you? I don’t want to die!”

“Don’t worry—you won’t die...” Red Dragon’s gaze was icy. “What awaits you is far worse than death.”

...

That night, outside the residence of Situ family head Situ Mingsheng, a large earthenware jar half the height of a man appeared unexpectedly.

When Situ Mingsheng saw what was inside, he nearly fainted on the spot.

Within the jar was a body, its limbs severed, eyes and mouth sealed shut.

And that person was none other than Zhao Liu.