A Dish Best Served Cold (The Man In Rage)
Chapter 1689

Chu Yuan remembered well that embarrassing family fiasco from all those years ago. In his lifetime, he had raised two sons, namely Chu Zhenghong and Chu Zhengliang.

Between them, Chu Zhengliang was the first to make a name for himself. Not only was he the most favored one in the hearts of the family elders, but he was also considered a role model for his contemporaries within his extended family for his generation.

Chu Zhenghong, though, was quite the polar opposite. Prodigious as he may be in the martial arts, he had been a rebel since young and a profligate ne'erdoerwho chose to squander his gifts in deference to indulgences in women and earthly pleasures.

In spite of that, it was the eldest son, Chu Zhenghong, who Chu Yuan nonetheless thought more highly of and pinned his own hopes upon.

Back in the day, Chu Yuan opined that he ought to leave his older boy to it for a few years under the assumption that the latter would eventually grow bored of that lifestyle. Once his son was ready to rein himself in, he would then have him summoned home to rededicate himself to his martial arts practice in preparation for his role in the continuance of their family's legacy.

What Chu Yuan had not counted on was for Chu Zhenghong to bring home a woman from the countryside when it was all said and done.

Not only that, he had even conceived a child with that socially inferior person!

To make matters worse, he had also requested for Chu Yuan to accept that country girl into the family, as well as to formally recognize Chu Tianfan as the eldest grandchild of the Chu family.

There was never going to be any question that Chu Yuan was livid when he learned about all this.

The notion of the future mistress of the house of Chu, the most wealthy and illustrious of all the prominent families, being a woman of common birth, was unpalatable to him.

What he found to be even more unacceptable, was the prospect of eventually ceding leadership of the family to an illegitimate child from a less than stellar lineage.

Of course, Chu Yuan was not ready to be too overt with his own opposition and tolerated putting up the mother and son pair of Ye Fan at the Chu residence in exchange for Chu Zhenghong's commitment to his training.

At the same time, Chu Yuan went on to facilitate meetings to acquaint Chu Zhenghong with various royal princesses, wealthy heiresses, and progenies of martial families.

In consideration of his own son's philandering ways, he refused to believe that any of these beauties from affluent backgrounds could be outshone by some random country girl and that none of them would be able to capture his son's heart.

Chu Yuan was adamant that the candidate for his daughter-in-law must be from a privileged background, or at least, that was what his best-laid plans back then were.

As for Ye Fan's mother, he would allow her to stick around as his son's lover. Chu Tianfan, by extension, would remain an illegitimate child, not to be accorded any formal status.

On his part, Chu Yuan, too, spared no effort at all in a bid to sway Chu Zhenghong's mind.

He had even invited the eldest daughter of the Tang family, one of the three families under the wing of the Chu Sect, over to the Chu residence so that she may train and spend time alongside Chu Zhenghong. The former so happened to be Tang Yun's older sister as well.

But even that proved futile.

Chu Zhenghong showed no interest whatsoever, no matter what manner of beauty was paraded before him. It was as though he was completely besotted with Ye Fan and his mother.

Conversely, it was Tang Yun's sister, Tang Rui, who fell hopelessly in love with Chu Zhenghong.

Her sincere affections, nevertheless, were to go unrequited.

Chu Zhenghong rejected her by asserting. "I can only treat you like a sister."

He also told Tang Rui that he was a married man with a wife and son whom he loved dearly.

The prodigal son of days past had already found a home for his heart, and this once flighty Casanova had since handed the reins of his tethers to a woman named Ye Ximei.

That same day, the hair of the young lady of the Tang family turned white overnight, and she subsequently vanished without a trace.

Not only had all of Chu Yuan's schemes fallen flat, but he had also inadvertently caused tremendous harm to the eldest girl of the Tang family.

This incident almost resulted in a falling out between the Tang and Chu family. With all the strongest fighting hands from the Tang family in tow, the patriarch of the Tang family laid siege to the Chu residence and demanded accountability from the Chus.

It was also as a consequence of this same incident that the Chu Sect fell into disarray, and saddled them with unresolved issues that bode ill for their future.

As powerful as Chu Yuan was, he held a guilty conscience as he knew he had erred. While he placated the Tang family, he also directed his resources toward locating Tang Rui. In addition, he also took on Tang Rui's younger sister, Tang Yun, as his disciple as an extended olive branch and instructed her in all the secrets he knew about the martial ways.

Afterward, Chu Yuan also made Tang Yun the head of the Chu Sect, perhaps as a means to make up for the grief he had brought upon her older sister.

After all, he was the one who withheld the fact of Chu Zhenghong's marital status and created the opportunity for the two of them to get close. That made him wholly responsible for the tragedy that was wrought upon her.

It was only after everything that transpired that Chu Yuan realized the depth of his own wretched son's obsession with that mother and son pair.

Henceforth, Chu Yuan decided to pull the plug before everything was to become cast in stone and went on to have Chu Tianfan and his mother driven away from the Chu family.

At the same time, he also instructed the Demonic Duo in the presence of Chu Zhenghong. "Should Chu Zhenghong were to ever come into contact with this mother and son pair, you are both free to claim both their lives at your own discretion and without fear of repercussions!"

Chu Yuan's explicit orders irrevocably banished any lingering hopes Chu Zhenghong might have harbored. For one who was born and raised within the Chu family, he naturally understood how terrifying the Demonic Duo was.

Unless he was able to defeat both of these elderly gentlemen himself, whatever attempts of his to reach out to Ye Fan and his mother would be tantamount to their death sentence. That ultimately brought an end to that fiasco.

Thereafter, Chu Yuan was able to retreat to the residence's forbidden grounds free of worry, as he was confident that the Chu family would never again hear from this illegitimate child.

After all, the barriers between the two sides had only grown ever since Chu Tianfan and his mother had been driven out.

One was noble and dignified like the clouds in the sky, while the other, wretched and lowly like the dirt upon the earth!

Never in his wildest dreams could Chu Yuan had expected to run into Chu Tianfan, this same illegitimate country child, once more on the very day he left his retreat!

Thirty years had passed, yet that fiasco from all that time ago continued.

"I should have gotten rid of you the day I first laid eyes upon you two. Had I not been so softhearted, that silly girl Rui would not have met with such a tragic end. The Tang family and Chu family would not have fostered such enmity, and neither would the Chu Sect have fallen into disarray. My son Zhenghong might have already have secured an alliance with the Tang family by marriage and stood at the pinnacle of power, and the Chu family would not have arrived at this extent of ruin by your hands!"

The sight of Chu Tianfan brought back all these memories of regret that only fueled his simmering resentment.

Of course, he had no remorse about casting Chu Tianfan and his mother out.

What he lamented was not having them killed off sooner because had he done so the day Chu Zhenghong brought them in, complications would not have ensued. Neither would this woe had blighted the Chu family ten odd years later.

"Haha! You're right, Chu Yuan. Not killing my mother and myself back then is the worst mistake in your life! But not to worry. As a gesture of my

gratitude, I promise to leave the bodies of your family members intact."

Years later, there remained no semblance of familial love in the reunion between this grandfather and grandson pair. All they had for each other, was the blood of enmity.

How this scene played out left observers like Sword Saint and the other outsiders gasping in astoundment.

What manner of hatred and division must exist between this two that they have to see the other dead?

The expressionless Chu Yuan could only shake his head in disapproval of Chu Tianfan's words. "Before my reemergence from my retreat, perhaps Zhengliang and the others might have been fearful of your threats. But now, don't you find those utterances of yours a little too haughty to be mentioned in my presence? As opposed to considering whether to allow for the Chu family's bodies to remain intact, perhaps you ought to worry about whether you yourself would be able to walk away from this alive."

Amidst his evenness of tone, none were able to discern his emotional state. But it is precisely this staidness that harbored that encompassing

dominance and authority in the others' ears.

Gaius and the rest were doubtlessly a bundle of nerves inside.

Owen and a few others were no longer able to contain themselves. They finally went up and whispered words of caution into Ye Fan's ears. "I sense something amiss, Dragon Master."

"Chu Yuan's still alive."

"I think we really ought to pull back."

"We should reconsider taking on this old fogey," "We cannot afford to be rash!"