The Obligations of the Elderly - Chapter 26

Gong Si is a bit of a stubborn person.

To put it another way, he’s a troublemaker.

Those people outside were monitoring his family, so he simply started openly counter-monitoring them in return.

Specifically, whenever he was at home, he would glare around, his whole body tense, and wherever he suspected he was being “monitored,” he’d fix his Kitchen Knife Eyes on that spot.

The other brothers were fine, but Ah Ji was at the age where he imitated adults. Watching his Eldest Brother glare every day, he observed and observed…

And somehow, he managed to develop a pair of tiny Kitchen Knife Eyes himself?!

It was Dong Chun who discovered this.

“Eldest Brother, Second Brother, come here quick! Ah Ji’s eyes have turned into Kitchen Knife Eyes! Look, look! Doesn’t he look just like Eldest Brother?!” The first time he noticed, Dong Chun excitedly called everyone over.

Watching Ah Ji on the crawling mat, straining to glare ahead with his Kitchen Knife Eyes, Gong Si was speechless, while Qiu Xia burst out laughing.

By then, Dong Chun was rolling on the floor with laughter. Seeing both his younger brothers like this, Gong Si couldn’t help but laugh too.

This was the first time laughter had filled the room since they’d become aware of their situation.

Completely unaware of what he’d done, Ah Ji just kept glaring at everyone with his fierce baby face, trying hard to raise his eyebrows like Gong Si, but his facial muscles weren’t developed enough yet-no matter how he tried, he couldn’t lift them. Even his Kitchen Knife Eyes could only last a moment before reverting to his usual round, big eyes.

Watching Ah Ji lying on the floor, panting and looking utterly exhausted, Gong Si picked him up and lifted him high: “No need to imitate me, I was born this way. It’s fine that you’re not like this~”

“I think it’s pretty good. Dong Chun and I look quite alike, but Ah Ji didn’t resemble anyone at first. Now, he kind of looks like Eldest Brother,” Qiu Xia concluded after the laughter died down.

He’d been under a lot of pressure these days, though his stress came from a different source than Gong Si’s-it was more self-inflicted.

He felt guilty for being weak.

Though his potential was great, he’d come to this world too late, just beginning to understand…

“Second Brother’s Energy feels so fierce lately, I don’t dare get close to him.” Though he still appeared gentle every day, Dong Chun, who had also undergone Awakening, had long noticed his abnormal state and had reported it fully to Eldest Brother.

Seeing his brothers finally relax a little, Gong Si also felt relieved. But-

It was all those people’s fault!

Remembering he hadn’t done his daily “homework” yet, Gong Si, holding Ah Ji, walked to the upstairs window-the place where he counter-monitored the outsiders every day. Simply put, it was where he sent his Kitchen Knife Eyes out.

Standing on the second floor, looking down, Gong Si habitually glared fiercely beyond the wall, expecting to see those annoying Black-Clad Men. But-

There were none!

The Black-Clad Men who had been stationed outside every day were all gone. The area outside his house looked just as empty as before!

Gong Si was stunned.

Too surprised, he ran downstairs, tossed Ah Ji into Qiu Xia’s arms, and dashed out of the house, pushing open the front door.

He ran all the way to the street, even touched the cold Xi Liu outside.

Nothing! Nothing! Still nothing!

Even now, not a single Black-Clad Man came out to stop him?!

A surge of joy rose in his heart, but even more, he felt a panic born of confusion. Not daring to stray far from his brothers, he quickly ran back home and locked the door tightly.

Something must have happened-Gong Si told himself.

Leaning against the iron door of his house, Gong Si furrowed his brow, then narrowed his long eyes, a cold glint in his dark pupils. He turned around and opened the door again.

He swung the door wide open as usual, using the doorstop to hold it, and coldly watched the road outside before turning back toward the house.

“Eldest Brother, not locking the door anymore?” Under the eaves, he ran into Qiu Xia holding Ah Ji.

Shaking his head, Gong Si replied, “No need.”

“Locking the door doesn’t help. I suddenly realized that.”

Glancing at his suddenly solemn Eldest Brother, Qiu Xia nodded, his long eyes as cold as Gong Si’s as he looked at the narrow road outside. Then, turning away, he carried Ah Ji back inside.

After several days of hiding, Big Head suddenly brought up a fish. The brothers took out some hot dishes and shared the fish with it. While watching the evening news, the doorbell outside suddenly rang.

It wasn’t an old customer-those old customers never rang the bell.

They’re here-Gong Si thought, signaling Qiu Xia to turn off the TV and watch over Ah Ji and Dong Chun, then went out alone to greet the “guest.”
Yes, guest.

The “guest” he had waited for all day arrived together with the night snow.

Stepping outside, Gong Si realized that the heavy snow, which had stopped for several days, was falling once again in thick flurries.

The sky outside was completely dark, but the ground and rooftops, covered in snow, glowed faintly. Because Lengshui Town was vast and sparsely populated, this created a curious nighttime scene: the upper half of the view was shrouded in darkness, while the lower half was somewhat bright.

The “guest” came crunching through the snow.

There were three of them in total. The one in the center, clearly the leader, was short in stature. Like those who had come before, they were dressed in black, but their presence felt entirely different.

Hmm… Perhaps because their clothing was too thin?

And… a bit retro?

Standing at the doorway, Gong Si frowned, pondering quietly.

Yes, compared to the previous “visitors” in various modern black suits, these newcomers were obviously old-fashioned and refined. The suits they wore were of a style unfamiliar to Gong Si-he didn’t really know much about such things, but it seemed like something out of an old TV drama, perhaps even one about aristocrats.

They also wore top hats.

Not the kind of winter hats or snow caps suitable for this place and weather, but thin hats that served no purpose other than decoration.

Seeing him, the short man at the front removed his hat and bowed to him.

When he raised his head again, illuminated by the faint yellow light of Gong Si’s porch lamp, Gong Si finally saw the visitor’s face-

He was an Elder.

His hair was entirely white, meticulously combed back. He had no beard, and his age must have been considerable; his face was deeply lined, his eyelids drooping over his lower lids so that Gong Si couldn’t see his eyes at all.

“Hello, sorry to have kept you waiting. We were delayed a bit while selecting the appropriate gifts,” the Elder said, his voice ancient yet his enunciation clear.

Everyone was saying the same things, yet Gong Si couldn’t help but feel that the way this person spoke… hmm… how to put it?

Elegant? Noble?

He couldn’t quite grasp it, but it certainly didn’t sound like an ordinary person’s tone.

After speaking, the Elder pointed with a gloved hand to his left, and the Black-Clad Man standing there promptly picked something up.

A toy box.

“This is a gift for Mr. Gong Siji,” the Elder said.

Then he gestured with his other hand to his right rear, where another person lifted a pile of items: three cardboard boxes, some large, some small. Gong Si could vaguely make out stationery, books… hmm… and the last one was a soccer ball?

“These are for the other three Gong Brothers.”

Gong Si thought: As expected, he knows a lot about us.

But unlike the others, he knew more about the affairs of the Gong Brothers besides Gong Siji.

“It’s truly cold here. Although we checked in advance, upon arrival, it’s even colder than we imagined,” the Elder said, raising his head to “look” at Gong Si with his unseen eyes. “Mr. Gong Si, won’t you invite us in for a cup of hot tea? I’ve heard that tea brewed with Lengshui Town’s cold spring water is especially delicious.”

“We’ve brought some fine tea from our own region,” he added, producing a small tea tin from somewhere and presenting it in his palm.

Locking eyes with the Elder’s eyelids for three seconds, Gong Si stepped aside: “Come in.”

Without another word, Gong Si turned and walked straight into the house.

Inside, Qiu Xia had already rearranged the living room. The sofa, previously cluttered with Ah Ji’s assorted little clothes and toys, had been cleared; two dining chairs from the kitchen were dragged out and placed opposite the sofa; between them was a carpet… well, a crawling mat. The Gong Family was not a fussy household, and Gong Si was frugal. For Qiu Xia to transform the living room into a suitable place for discussion in such a short time showed real ingenuity.

He had even prepared hot water-since the Gong Family had no tea leaves.

Noticing that there weren’t enough chairs for the guests, Dong Chun quickly fetched another chair from the kitchen.

“Thank you,” the Elder said to him, taking a seat first. The other two placed the gifts between the sofa and chairs before sitting down themselves.

The Gong Brothers sat together on the sofa opposite, with Gong Si in the middle, Qiu Xia and Dong Chun on either side, and Ah Ji cradled in his arms.

At this moment, Ah Ji was glaring fiercely at the guests with his Kitchen Knife Eyes.

“So this is Mr. Gong Siji? He’s very healthy,” the Elder said after a moment, looking at Ah Ji and offering a peculiar compliment.

Well, healthy was a good word.

“Please try the tea we brought,” the Elder said. One of his attendants stood up, took the tea tin, and added tea leaves to everyone’s cups. The water cups in everyone’s hands became teacups, infused with the fragrance of tea. Gong Si knew-the main event was about to begin.
As expected, the man spoke again-

“I am here on behalf of my Master to discuss the matter of Form Contract with Mr. Gong Siji.”

He stated his purpose directly.

“What about the others? They all submitted their bids… no, their resumes, and pressure me every day to choose someone. I can’t just spend all this time picking and suddenly tell them we’ve chosen you, who just showed up out of nowhere, right?” Gong Si probed.

The Elder’s withered hands cradled the teacup, the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth deepening: “You’re a clever child. Forgive me for calling you that, but by age, you are still young.”

“You must have already guessed what happened, which is why you finally opened the door that’s been shut for days, isn’t it?”

“Yes, we have asked the others to leave.”

Just as I thought-Gong Si mused, but even though he had guessed it, his heart sank further.

To say “asked” them to leave was surely just being polite; those people must have been “cleared out” by these men, using force, intimidation, or wealth.

The power behind these three must be stronger than any of those who had been waiting here before, to be able to drive them all away.

Which meant-

They no longer had the right to refuse.

No matter who the other party wanted to Form Contract with Ah Ji-even if that person was weak or a villain-they had lost the power to say no.

Realizing this, Gong Si’s heart sank to rock bottom.

In a way, the best and worst things had happened at the same time.

The good: the other party was undoubtedly the most powerful to have come in recent days. The bad: they knew nothing about the other party’s background, and Ah Ji’s future depended entirely on what kind of person they were…

Gong Si’s thin lips pressed into a straight line. He stared hard at the Elder, suppressing all his emotions, and asked in as calm a voice as he could manage, “Can you tell me what kind of person wants to Form Contract with Ah Ji?”

The Elder’s wrinkles deepened again as he held his tea: “The one who wishes to Form Contract with Mr. Gong Siji is none other than my Master himself. He Awakened at birth. My Master is a man whose initial potential value is the highest among Rulers. Believe me, it doesn’t matter how many others came before, or how many more might come; in terms of ability, my Master is absolutely the most compatible with Mr. Gong Siji.”

“So powerful?” A legendary Ruler! And he just showed up like this? A man born as a Ruler?

Gong Si raised his eyebrows.

Qiu Xia, however, frowned slightly and asked beside Gong Si, “Forgive my boldness, but as far as I know, there hasn’t been any news of a Ruler appearing in nearly seventy years. Is your Master… an unrecorded Ruler? Or…”

He felt things couldn’t possibly be so perfect.

At these words, Gong Si was also taken aback. The two brothers looked at the Elder together, and so did Ah Ji, whose big eyes had accidentally shifted from a cleaver to a full moon.

Seeing the brothers’ faces, which bore a mysterious resemblance, the Elder paused, then said, “Mr. Qiu Xia’s information is not incorrect.”

Gong Si and Qiu Xia’s hearts sank.

The Elder continued, “My Master is a Ruler who Awakened seventy years ago.”

It’s over! He’s an old man!

Just as the brothers’ hearts sank together, the Elder’s wrinkles, which had been deepening upward, suddenly relaxed and drooped downward. The previously amiable face instantly became stern, even a bit grim…

Perhaps even sorrowful.

They heard the Elder continue slowly:

“He is the Ruler with the highest Energy value at Awakening in history. Because his innate ability is too strong, his body cannot bear so much Energy. We have been striving to find a suitable Vessel for him. The Master… my Master has tried the Vessels we found, but all failed. Those failures… those Vessels could not contain the Master’s Energy. Not only did they fail to ease his burden, but their collapse worsened the Master’s physical breakdown!”

His voice was slow and flat, yet a sinister chill seeped through, making everyone tense involuntarily.

“My Master has no time left. The appearance of Mr. Gong Siji at this moment is truly a timely rain. We sincerely hope he is the Vessel destined for the Master.”

Finally, after hearing all this, Gong Si and Qiu Xia’s hearts fell to the very bottom!