Chapter 61: The Zuo Clan Gathering

  A familiar voice, obviously another 'old friend'!

  Turning her head, she saw that Zhao Jingru had already walked quickly to her side, crying miserably. At this moment, with tears streaming down her face, she wanted to hold her hand. The original elegant beauty no longer existed, the delicate and shiny skin looked dull and yellowish, with countless wrinkles, making her look nearly thirty years older than a month ago, like a woman in her sixties or seventies.

  She withdrew her hand and smiled faintly, "Aunt Zhao, where did you get this from? What have I done to you? Why won't you let me go?"

  After a brief pause, Zhao Jingru choked and said, "Xiao Yao, I'm sorry for what happened in the past. Considering our relationship over the years, please forgive me this time! Auntie is already at such an old age, I don't want anything else, just hoping to see Zhen Jia get married and have children, so that I can spend my remaining years in peace..."

  "Auntie, didn't you misunderstand something? Who dares to make you unable to spend your later years in peace? The other day when I saw Xiaojia, she didn't mention it! ...Oh! I remembered, Xiaojia did mention that you were involved in some kind of pyramid scheme case, but aren't you already retired?"

  Zuo Xiao Yao was initially somewhat 'perplexed', but then seemed to suddenly remember something and had a great epiphany.

  Biting her lip, Zhao Jingru finally couldn't hold back and spoke bluntly: "Xiao Yao, Auntie did wrong in the past, but from now on, I will definitely change. Please spare me this time, remove the poison from my body, and return those confiscated properties to me!"

  Xiao Yao's smile slowly faded, and she replied calmly, "Poison? What poison did you ingest? You speak as if it has something to do with me, but we haven't seen each other in over a month. Auntie, your words are too mild, don't you think? Why didn't you ever consider letting go of grandma and me? Over a month ago, I gave you the opportunity, but instead, you excitedly sold me out again. Considering Ziya's face, you still have your freedom now, which is already quite good compared to some people. Why are you still so dissatisfied, persistently wanting to retrieve things that don't belong to you, especially from me, the victim you betrayed?"

  "I... I just want those things, only to leave them as dowry for Xiaojia. She's my only daughter, and I just want her to have a better life, Xiaoyao. Please, if Xiaojia knew, she would definitely be very grateful to you."

  A fleeting hesitation flashed across her face, and upon hearing Zuo Xiao Yao mention Wang Zi Jia again, her eyes lit up once more. She grasped Zuo Xiao Yao's hand tightly, like a lifeline, and Zhao Jing Ru's emotions surged as she exclaimed, not daring to bring up the unfounded 'poison' that even she herself had no basis for.

  Unfortunately, Zuo XiaoYao, who had no patience for her at this time, simply pulled out his hand and said "If you want to let ZiJia know what you've been doing in the past thirty years, I don't mind. Also, Uncle Zuo only helped you because of the little care you showed to Grandma, not because he wanted to rekindle old flames with you. Don't go to the Zuo's house again to beg. Constantly reminding Uncle Zuo to 'thank' you made him realize your true purpose for getting close to him, and he had to jump into the sea to escape!"

  Her body trembled slightly, Zhao Jingru's eyes widened in disbelief "You... how did you know?"

  "What do you know? Is it about your godfather Liu Cheng? Or is it about how you seduced Uncle Zuo, and after he escaped upon discovering the truth, you hooked up with Uncle Zhao to complete the task given by Liu Cheng? Why can't I know? Of course, I know! Not just that, I know a lot more, such as how the shares of Hongxin Group ended up in my hands... Why is it that since your godfather called you that night and told you he was waiting for me at the residential area where my previous home was located, you haven't been able to contact him all this time?"

  The last few words were whispered by Zuo Xiao Yao into Zhao Jing Ru's ear, and suddenly her face turned pale as she quickly retreated two steps back, trembling with her finger pointing at her "You... you..."

  Because the station was a few steps away from them, although they didn't hear clearly what Zuo Xiaoyao said in the end, it actually made Zhao Jingru so panicked. But from their previous conversation, Cheng Luo had already roughly understood something. He didn't have a good impression of Zhao Jingru, who had appeared on TV due to Qinghong Pharmaceutical's pyramid scheme case some time ago, even though he wasn't clear about the cause and effect. "Xiaoyao, thank you, there's nothing to say to such a person, you can go back early too, I'll invite you with Kong Qian another day, let's consider it an advance celebration of our wedding!"

  "Alright, I'll be waiting. I'll be in S city recently, just call me at the phone number I reported to you earlier!"

  After saying goodbye to Cheng Luo, Zuo Xiao Yao turned around and left directly, not even looking at Zhao Jing Ru who wanted to call her a 'murderer' but didn't dare. In her opinion, Zhao Jing Ru should have guessed the truth earlier and been mentally prepared, but she didn't expect that as an ordinary person, Zhao would still have a strong sense of legality when faced with such a big thing like 'murder'.

  Moreover, Zhao Jingru has been watching Zuo Xiaoyao grow up with her own eyes. She can't imagine that Zuo Xiaoyao, who is usually gentle and kind to everyone, would have a day when she would kill someone with her own hands. This fact brought a huge shock to her, but it's unknown what hidden potential people have. When the perception of life and surroundings changes drastically, nothing is impossible!

  She returned to the house she rented, and a hint of a cold smile appeared on Zuo Xiao's mouth. More than a month ago, she had to decide to sell her own labor because she couldn't afford the rent of 100,000 yuan per hour. Now, however, she had so much money that she didn't know where to spend it. The difference between these two situations was indeed huge. No matter where, only strength and resources were capital. Unfortunately, ordinary currency was useless for cultivators like her, and she had no intention of opening a pawnshop that exchanged spiritual jade.

  After entering the Zi Yuan boundary, Zuo Xiao Yao carefully combed through all the people and things she had encountered over this period of time, meticulously analyzing the gains and losses within. Only after making plans for what was to come next did she begin to immerse herself in cultivation once again.

  The metropolis, where the spiritual energy is extremely scarce, is not suitable for a cultivator to stay for long. Only when entering the Purple Boundary Realm can Zuo Xiaoyao breathe easily. The thirty-fold time difference is astonishing, but Zuo Xiaoyao only has time to come in at night. Her cultivation is still stuck in the early stage of Foundation Building, but her dantian already has a fairly solid foundation. It's just that it has shrunk to the size of a soybean, an irregular shape, making her feel like she has endless energy inside her body, much stronger than when she first advanced to Foundation Building.

  Since entering the foundation stage, Zuo Xiao Yao had obtained several three-grade and four-grade pill formulas, but because she had previously bought a low-quality furnace in the antique city, it was barely enough to refine second-grade pills. It was impossible to refine third-grade pills, and the main medicine required for the third-grade pill formula were all rare and precious spiritual medicines with high requirements for years. With Zuo Xiao Yao's current wealth, she couldn't afford any of the medicinal materials needed for a third-grade pill formula after using up the spiritual medicine from the bamboo building.

  It's probably also the reason why in today's cultivation world, any elixir that is useful for building a foundation or higher will be sold at an astronomical price. Whenever a third-grade elixir appears, it can even shock the entire cultivation world and become 'big news' for a time.

  Start practicing. Time flies, the Zuo family gathering is about to take place, no matter how difficult Zuo Wenting finds it to understand, anyway Zuo Zhenglong is very enthusiastic and doesn't forget to invite Zuo Xiaoyao.

  This time, the Zu family gathering will have some major news to announce, and not only does Zu Wenti, the current head of the family's granddaughter, know about it. Zu Zhenglong also knows, secretly guessing what exactly is going on in his heart. However, Zu Xiaoyao has no interest whatsoever in the original plans and arrangements of the Zu family, she just insists on carrying a bag that she doesn't want to put down, with a gentle smile on her face, occasionally nodding and greeting the many Zu family members present, whether or not they have been introduced, recognizing each other or not, being polite yet not losing her closeness, anyway, everyone here is like this.

  Not only is the ancient and elegant Zuo family's main mansion situated on this not-so-small island, but also the Zuo family ancestral temple has been built here, housing the memorial tablets of the Zuo family ancestors for hundreds of years. Decades ago, it was strictly controlled, and only the memorial tablets of direct descendants who had made contributions to the clan or branch could be placed inside, including those with a certain status within the clan. Nowadays, however, as long as someone in the clan has passed away, their memorial tablet can be sent back to the ancestral temple, allowing all Zuo family members to pay their respects and increase the clan's cohesion.

  The ceremony begins with the clan leader leading the Left family members to hold a worship ceremony in front of their ancestors' plaques, followed by a gathering in the spacious ancestral hall, where some important decisions are announced. After this process is completed, it's time for the attendees to have a banquet and dinner together to strengthen their bond.

  The biggest announcement at the last Zuo Clan Grand Assembly was the return of Zuo Zhenglong. Although the clan is not small, with many direct and collateral branches, due to the decline of the Zuo Clan over the past hundred years, if it weren't for the protection of their ancestors' remaining prestige, the current head of this branch would barely be able to maintain the Zuo Clan's system. The true Zuo Clan has long since declined and lost its cohesion.

  Therefore, with the then mighty Sijia Group, Zuo Zhenglong returned to his clan and received an extremely warm welcome. As a result, some branches of the clan that had become estranged due to their own wealth began to view the clan in a new light. After all, Zuo Zhenglong was also a direct descendant of the responsible branch of the clan. Moreover, the recent major moves made by the newly renamed Left Sijia have had a significant impact internationally, resulting in an unprecedented number of clan members attending this Left Clan meeting on time.

  Looking at the grand occasion of this family gathering, the two elderly men standing in front of Left Wenti and several young people had very bright smiles. Among them, the one with a full head of white hair, who looked like he was over 70 years old, smiled triumphantly, while the other, who looked to be around 60 years old, smiled complacently!

  Time arrived, the vast ancestral hall quickly fell silent. Under the reflection of numerous memorial tablets in front, the atmosphere in the entire hall seemed exceptionally solemn and dignified. Nearly five hundred members of the Zuo family were lined up, ready to begin worship under the leadership of the clan head.

  Although the majority of them are men with the surname Zuo, accounting for about 70-80%, there are also nearly a hundred women. In dozens of years ago, it was absolutely impossible for women to appear in such gatherings. All those who were lucky enough to attend the clan meeting could only be male, and women did not have this "honor". However, with the development of the times, the rules of the Zuo family have also been relaxed. Although women from other families who married into the Zuo family are still not allowed to participate in the gathering, women with the surname Zuo are now permitted to attend. After all, in today's social environment, women can also do great things that can enhance the family's reputation, and there have been precedents in the Zuo family.

  According to the procedure, when the current head of the clan, Zuo Yangting, finished his eulogy on the stage with audio equipment and was about to lead everyone in a bow, something unexpected happened. In the empty ancestral hall, a gentle yet firm woman's voice suddenly rang out: "Wait!"

  PS: Double updates will continue, and the second update will be posted around 8 o'clock!