The Way of Restraint

Chapter 203: Old Grievances

“Do you think Hongqing knows?” Another of the elders spoke up — this one was Zhang Shixue. “Knows that his own daughter has joined forces with Su Shilin’s son to go after that position? If Hongyuan finds out, he will not let this boy go. What happened back then cut too deep.”

“Hongqing carries guilt over it — that’s why he handed all the family’s day-to-day management over to Hongyuan in the first place.” Zhang Shiyi laid out the history carefully. “The Xu family’s Xu Ying had been betrothed to Hongqing. But then Hongqing entered the training camp for a dangerous assignment and vanished for a long time — long enough that even we assumed he was dead. Xu Qiaomu discussed the situation with us and agreed to transfer the betrothal to Hongyuan. That’s what drove Xu Ying to flee the marriage. Hongyuan went after her — and ran straight into Su Shilin, who crippled him on the spot and took Xu Ying away. A hatred that deep doesn’t fade.” He paused. “The younger generation in our Zhang family knows none of this. Shiju — if you bring this to Zhang Manman’s attention, it will find its way to every young ear in the family. The whole household will be in an uproar. And when that happens, what face does Hongyuan have left?”

“I wasn’t thinking clearly.” Zhang Shiju pressed a hand to his forehead. “Hongyuan isn’t someone we can afford to antagonize — he controls the family’s finances, and those of us in the old guard depend on his allocations to live on.” He paused, then let something sharper come through. “But I’ll say this plainly: it isn’t right. We gave years to this family. Blood, in some cases. When the Zhang family was still being carved out of nothing, every one of us was holding a weapon. We built this. And now we’re old, and the financial power sits in the hands of the younger generation. Is that reasonable?”

“It’s the rule the family established,” Zhang Shiyi said. “Whoever cultivates the family’s martial arts to the state of Divine Enlightenment becomes Dragon Head. The patriarch stepped down, and beneath him there was only one successor — Zhang Hongqing. Your son Hongjun is exceptional, but he still fell short of Hongqing. What can be done about that?”

He shook his head. “My own son Hongding was just as proud in his day, and he came up short too. Now he defers to Hongqing without reservation.”

“Among the Zhang family’s seven outstanding figures, Hongqing stands first.” Zhang Shixue leaned back. “Let’s not dwell on what can’t be changed. Our role is to support Hongqing in expanding the family and keeping it strong. Internal conflict is the one thing we cannot afford. Look at what the Xu family did to themselves — tore each other apart from the inside. Xu Qiaomu is hanging on now, but the patriarch has read his fate: he has perhaps a year left, barring a miracle no one expects.”

“The successor Xu Qiaomu chose — Xu Jiazhi is competent enough,” Zhang Shiyi said. “Steady. But steadiness is maintenance, not revival. Real restoration of the Xu family would be a different matter entirely.” He considered for a moment. “If that’s their trajectory, then we should be thinking about how to absorb the Xu family while the opportunity is open. Hongyuan’s calculation was actually sound in that regard — have Zhang Manman enter a new marriage alliance with the Xu heir, help manage their companies from within, and the Zhang family swallows the whole enterprise cleanly. A substantial piece of meat. Enough for all of us to eat well.”

“The Xu family’s cash flow and property holdings are enormous,” Zhang Shiju said. His eyes took on a particular gleam. “They control dozens of listed companies. Total assets running into the hundreds of billions. If we absorb it all, a few hundred million each for those of us in this room is entirely realistic.” He lowered his voice. “I’ve heard that the Olin Laboratory has developed an anti-aging compound — cellular activation, still in clinical trials. A full course of treatment runs close to a hundred million. Who in this room wouldn’t want that?”

“Technology moves so fast now,” Zhang Shiyi said. “If you want to enjoy things ordinary people will never have access to — you need money. A great deal of it. The Zhang family is large, but it has many mouths. What actually reaches us is not as much as it should be. We need to be thinking about securing our retirement properly.”

“That Honey Badger Security senior post cannot go to Zhang Manman, and it cannot go to Zhang Kaitai.” Zhang Shiju was firm. “Either of those two gets it, and they won’t spare a thought for us. Our bloc supports Kaiyu — he’s already made commitments to us.”

“Supporting Kaiyu is settled,” Zhang Shixue confirmed. “But Kaiyuan and Kaitai’s faction has its own backing among the younger generation. Kaiyu’s position isn’t dominant.”

“Kaiyu is sharper than any of them,” Zhang Shiyi said. “By rights, his odds are the best — and once Kaitai is removed from the picture, Hongqing can’t say much against the family’s rules. The problem is that Su Jie appeared out of nowhere.” He frowned. “The situation has become complicated. The boy himself, even having reached Divine Enlightenment — he’s still flesh and blood. He can be dealt with. But behind him is Su Shilin. And his closeness to Zhang Manman — who’s to say that isn’t calculated? Father and son, one visible, one hidden. That makes things very difficult.”

“Kaiyu has been reaching out to the Mao family,” Zhang Shiju said. “If the Mao family backs him, his position improves considerably. Honey Badger Security was founded as a joint venture — the Honey Badger Training Camp, our Zhang family, and several major forces together. The Mao family wants a share of that market too.”

“The Mao family? Aren’t they tied to the Feng family? And the Feng family is backed by the Typhon Training Camp — which competes directly with Honey Badger.”

“That doesn’t have to matter. In business, there are only interests. And the Mao family is the Mao family — not the Feng family. Typhon is Typhon. Kaiyu is courting the Mao family, and so is Kaitai. Both have been making promises.”

“Kaiyu will win them over,” Zhang Shixue said with quiet confidence. He shifted. “We should also discuss the family assembly. Word is that Hongqing sustained injuries fighting that Panda Mask — the strongest active fighter in the shadow world right now — and has gone back to the Honey Badger laboratory for surgery. No one knows yet how fully he’ll recover. My reading is that he’s preparing to name the next generation’s successor and begin cultivating them in earnest.”

“Even Hongqing has private preferences,” Zhang Shiyi said. “He’ll want to favor his own son. But he can’t push it too far. If Kaiyu can decisively outperform Kaitai at the family assembly, Hongqing will have no choice under the family’s own rules — he’ll have to cultivate Kaiyu and set Kaitai aside.”

*****

While the Zhang family elders convened and calculated among themselves, Su Jie completed his circuit of the city, found a hotel, and checked in. He had no intention of returning to Zhang Manman’s residence.

A short while later, Zhang Manman walked in — clearly irritated.

“The Mao family actually went after you?” she demanded by way of greeting.

“That’s right.” Su Jie nodded. “Someone named Mao Liqiang. I sent him on his way. You found out quickly — well-informed.”

“The Mao family has the nerve to reach into Zhang family business.” Her expression was sharp with anger. “And it’s my brothers again — willing to bring in outsiders for the sake of profit.”

“From your family’s perspective,” Su Jie said, “you’ve done the same thing by bringing me in.”

He then told her about the encounter with Zhang Shiyi in the plaza.

“Zhang Shiyi?” Zhang Manman blinked, then let out a short, dry laugh. “He actually made you all those offers? I’ll tell you plainly — he can’t deliver a single one of them. In our Zhang family, there are exactly three people who can make decisions: my great-grandfather Zhang Nianquan, my father Zhang Hongqing, and my uncle Zhang Hongyuan. Everyone else has very limited resources to draw on. We run a centralized household. And this family assembly — what it’s really about is selecting the next heir.”

“I’d already worked that out,” Su Jie said. “Whoever secures the senior position at Honey Badger Security gets immediate access to serious resources — money, influence, and the full support of the Honey Badger Training Camp’s methods to develop themselves. It would put them a generation ahead of everyone else. That’s not just a position. It’s designating an heir.”

He thought it through as he spoke. The structure of the Zhang family was actually straightforward once you mapped it. Zhang Nianquan was the patriarch — the capstone, the highest seniority — but at a hundred and fifteen, he had completely relinquished operational control. He was there to be respected, not to govern.

Zhang Hongqing was Dragon Head. The real center of gravity. The whole family orbited around him.

Zhang Hongyuan was the family steward — the man who made the machinery run.

And now the question was who became Crown Prince.

“I’ll say it plainly,” Su Jie continued. “Even if I do become Larry’s bodyguard — it won’t change the larger picture for you. The Zhang family, including your father, will not choose you as heir.”

“I know.” Zhang Manman didn’t flinch. “Our family is deeply traditional. But we’re living in a different era now, and I intend to break the old rules. Otherwise, how does the Zhang family ever change?” She looked at him steadily. “Are you with me or not?”

“Of course. I’ll do what I can.” He said it without fuss, then something shifted in his attention. “Actually — you know there’s some kind of grievance between our families. My family and yours. Do you know what it actually was?”

“You already know about that?” Zhang Manman’s surprise showed clearly. Her whole posture tightened. She was quiet for a while before she settled. “How much do you know?”

“I know there’s bad blood. I don’t know the specifics. That’s why I’m asking — to find out what you know.” He read her discomfort and moved to head it off. “Don’t worry. Our parents’ business is their business. We’re a different matter. And besides — there’s no feud in this world that can’t be set aside. My dad told me to keep away from you. I didn’t listen. Doesn’t that already say something?”

“It’s not really such a significant thing,” Zhang Manman said, exhaling. “Just a messy love triangle, honestly. Xu Ying — your mother — was originally betrothed to my father. But before the wedding, my father disappeared on an assignment. Everyone assumed he was dead. The betrothal still needed to go somewhere, so the family transferred it to my uncle Zhang Hongyuan. Your mother obviously wanted no part of that, so she ran. My uncle Hongyuan felt humiliated and went after her — and somehow ran into your father, who beat him badly and took your mother away. Everything followed from that.”

“I see.” Su Jie absorbed this. “Not really a great injustice, when you lay it out. It was your uncle Hongyuan who behaved badly.” He paused, and something lighter came into his voice. “One more thing — please tell me we’re not secretly siblings. I’ve read enough wuxia novels where the protagonist befriends a girl only to find out she’s his father’s illegitimate daughter from some past adventure.”

“You think too much.” Zhang Manman looked like she dearly wanted to hit him. “My father and your mother were betrothed, yes — but it was an arranged family alliance. They met a handful of times. I doubt they ever even held hands.”