Chapter 89: Covenantor (XII)

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Chapter 89: Covenantor (XII)

“Father, five years ago, you held a grand banquet for me and announced before every member of the family that I was the Yue Family heir.” Shang Ke raised his left hand. On his index finger was a ring engraved with the family crest. “The Yue Ring remains, and so does that promise.”

Lady Chang and Yue Xuan’s expressions both changed. Back then, they had been so focused on driving Yue Ze away that they had forgotten to take the ring from him.

“Yue Ze, even if you still have the Yue Ring, you’re no longer the Yue Family heir,” Yue Xuan interjected again.

Shang Ke ignored him and looked only at Yue Cheng. “Father, are you going to revoke my status as heir?”

Yue Cheng’s expression stiffened as he found himself trapped in a dilemma. Revoking Yue Ze’s status as heir would mean severing his connection to the Yue Family completely, after which he would have no reason to help them ever again. But acknowledging him as heir would mean handing the family over to a Covenantor who no longer felt any sense of belonging to it. Moreover, Yue Ze was now Lu Xiufan’s man. Once he died, Lu Xiufan could very well end up taking control of the Yue Family, and by then the family might no longer even remain the Yue Family in anything but name.

Lu Xiufan silently watched the Yue Family members. They were concerned only with their immediate interests, and not one of them understood Shang Ke’s true intentions. Shang Ke had a far easier way to resolve the Yue Family’s crisis—he could simply have asked Lu Xiufan to relent. But instead, he had chosen to take responsibility for this disaster as the family’s heir. Even after becoming a Covenantor, he had never lost his pride or principles. Yet the Yue Family judged him by their own standards and remained suspicious of his motives. They seemed to have completely forgotten that Shang Ke was a Covenantor. He had never coveted the family when it was prosperous, so why would he suddenly fight desperately to possess it now that it was falling apart?

“Cheng, the Yue Family heir is Yue Xuan. That cannot change.” Seeing Yue Cheng hesitate, Lady Chang immediately reminded him, “The moment Yue Ze became a Covenantor, he lost the qualifications to inherit. You should take back the Yue Ring. Even if the Yue Family falls into ruin someday, that should be the consequence of our own choices. Rather than survive disgracefully under someone else’s coercion, we should preserve our pride and wait for the opportunity to rise again.”

Her words moved Yue Cheng, and the other family members were stirred as well.

Shang Ke gave Lady Chang an unobtrusive glance. This woman truly was skilled at stirring people’s emotions. Unfortunately for her, she had a son who was forever dragging her down.

“Mother is right,” Yue Xuan cut in. “Yue Ze belongs to His Excellency now. Handing the Yue Family to him would be no different from handing it over to the state.”

Saying something like that directly in front of Lu Xiufan… not even God could save that pitiful intelligence.

Lu Xiufan acted as though he had heard nothing. He could not even summon enough interest to lower himself to arguing with Yue Xuan.

After thinking for a long time, Yue Cheng said with difficulty, “Little Ze, you used to be modest, courteous, and magnanimous. I hope you can still give more consideration to the family now.”

He carefully avoided the question of the heir position and instead tried to persuade Shang Ke to give way voluntarily.

Shang Ke quietly looked at him for a long time before slowly saying, “Back then, you secretly carried on with Lady Chang behind Mother’s back. For the sake of the family’s reputation, Mother silently accepted it. When Mother died and you married Lady Chang only half a year later, I accepted it. When you wanted me to inherit the family and forced me to give up the music I loved, I accepted it. When I became a Covenantor and you stopped asking about me, I accepted it. When Lady Chang sent me to the Placement Center, I accepted that too. Father, tell me—what more am I supposed to do to count as considering the family?”

A trace of shame crossed Yue Cheng’s face.

Seeing the situation turning against her, Lady Chang challenged him. “If you care so much about the family, then why did you come back to fight for the inheritance?”

“Weren’t you the one who asked me to come back?” Shang Ke turned toward her. “By asking me to return, weren’t you acknowledging my status as heir?”

“Of course not. I only wanted you to help the Yue Family through this crisis.”

“In what capacity?”

Lady Chang choked on her words for a moment before answering, “Yue Family blood runs through your veins. Even if you aren’t the heir, you still have a responsibility to contribute to the family.”

“Was that also why you plotted against me back then? To make me lose my qualifications as heir so I could contribute to the family as an ordinary member instead?”

Lady Chang’s expression changed abruptly. “What are you talking about? When did I ever plot against you?”

Everyone froze and looked between the two of them in confusion.

“If it wasn’t a plot against me, then why did you sneak into my room more than a year ago and inject me with a psychotropic drug?”

This time, it was not only Lady Chang whose expression changed. Yue Xuan’s did as well, though the others still had not grasped what Shang Ke meant.

“At the time, you and Yue Xuan thought I was unconscious, but I still retained a trace of awareness.” Shang Ke recounted the events without a hint of emotion. “I watched you inject the psychotropic drug into me with your own hands and cause me to go mad.”

Shang Ke’s eyes were completely calm, but his words exploded through the room like thunder.

What did that mean? Yue Ze’s madness back then had been caused by a psychotropic drug?

Yue Cheng’s body began to tremble faintly as he stared blankly at Shang Ke.

“I was sent to the hospital, where the doctor diagnosed me with the Mental Virus. Less than three hours later, they performed the Mental Virus removal surgery on me.” Shang Ke spoke slowly. “And that was how I became a Covenantor.”

Yue Cheng slowly turned his head toward his wife, his eyes hollow. He remembered that day with painful clarity. The sight of Yue Ze in a state of madness had completely destroyed his judgment. He had personally authorized the Mental Virus removal surgery. He had personally pushed Yue Ze into the operating room. He had sent a perfectly healthy child onto the operating table as though he were a Mental Virus patient!

Father! Father! Father! His child’s anguished cries echoed relentlessly through his mind. That frantic, suffering face seemed to be begging him for help all over again.

“What Little Ze said… is it true?” Yue Cheng asked hoarsely.

“This is slander!” Lady Chang forced herself to remain calm. “He’s only saying this because he wants the Yue Family inheritance!”

“The doctor who operated on Little Ze back then is still at the same hospital. Whether this is slander or not, all we have to do is bring him here and ask,” someone suggested.

For the first time, panic appeared on Lady Chang’s face. The others saw it clearly and could not help feeling a chill.

Everyone in the family remembered clearly just how outstanding Yue Ze had once been. Not one of them had ever suspected that such a horrifying truth lay behind his sudden madness.

His stepmother and younger brother had drugged him, and his father had sent him onto the operating table, forcibly stripping away the emotions a normal human being should possess and stealing decades from his life.

Looking at Shang Ke’s indifferent expression, everyone’s faces filled with grief and pity. He had recounted everything as calmly as though it had happened to someone else, without the slightest anger or pain. Perhaps he did not even understand what had been taken from him.

“Don’t listen to Yue Ze’s nonsense. He—”

Crack! A sharp sound cut off Yue Xuan’s shouting.

Everyone turned toward the sound and saw that Lu Xiufan had crushed the cup in his hand. Blood seeped between his tightly clenched fingers. His face was frozen with rage, a terrifying killing intent radiating from him as he stared at Lady Chang as though she were already dead.

Lady Chang felt a chill race down her spine, her fingers trembling uncontrollably beneath his stare.

Lu Xiufan abruptly stood. “Five days from now, Little Ze will return to take over the Yue Family.”

With that, he swept Shang Ke into his arms and strode out without looking back, ordering his subordinates as he went, “Go to the hospital where Little Ze underwent the surgery. Bring me the doctor who treated him.”

What a wonderful Yue Family. What a wonderful Lady Chang! They actually took a perfectly healthy Little Ze and turned him into a Covenantor with their own hands!

Lu Xiufan had never wanted to kill someone as badly as he did at that moment.

“Are you angry?” Shang Ke asked.

Lu Xiufan looked at Shang Ke’s peaceful face, his heart aching almost beyond endurance. If Shang Ke had not personally revealed the truth today, perhaps no one would ever have known what had been done to him. For nearly two years, he had been treated as someone who had genuinely suffered from the Mental Virus. For nearly two years, he had never spoken a single word about what happened to him, silently accepting everything his family arranged. And even now, he was still honoring the promise he had made long ago and trying to shoulder the responsibility of being the family heir.

He did not even seem to realize that from the moment he became a Covenantor, no one had continued treating him as the Yue Family heir. His father ignored him, his stepmother repeatedly placed him in danger, and his younger brother humiliated and persecuted him again and again.

Little Ze, how can you be so foolish? And just how tragic is the existence of a Covenantor?

Lu Xiufan held Shang Ke tightly. Little Ze, don’t worry. I’ll seek justice for every wrong you suffered. Whatever feelings you can no longer express, I’ll express them for you.

That same evening, the doctor was brought before Lu Xiufan. It did not take much effort to make him confess.

The substance Lady Chang injected into Shang Ke was a special psychotropic drug capable of causing sudden temporary madness. But the drug would naturally break down within two to three days, and with the corresponding antidote, the victim could recover within only a few hours. If Yue Cheng had simply sought second opinions from a few more doctors, the entire tragedy could have been avoided. Instead, he had taken only three hours to decide on irreversible surgery!

“Damn it!” Lu Xiufan slammed his fist onto the table, fury twisting his expression.

“Sir,” a guard reported, “Lady Chang and Yue Xuan attempted to flee, but our men stopped them.”

“Lock them in the isolation chamber.” Lu Xiufan’s gaze was glacial. “I’ll deal with them personally.”

It was already late at night when Lu Xiufan returned to the mansion. The room was still lit, and Shang Ke was waiting for him.

“Why are you still awake?” Lu Xiufan suppressed the killing intent clinging to him and slowly walked over.

“I’m sorry.” Shang Ke looked at him and apologized earnestly.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I borrowed your authority to throw my weight around today.”

The frost on Lu Xiufan’s face melted, warmth entering his eyes. “I like it when you borrow my authority. Whenever you want to intimidate someone in the future, bring me along. I’m always willing to lend you my tiger skin.”

“You’re a good employer,” Shang Ke evaluated objectively.

“What’s good about me?” Lu Xiufan gazed at him with a smile in his eyes.

“Everything.” Shang Ke began listing his virtues. “Considerate toward your subordinates, responsible, gentle and approachable…”

Where exactly did he get “gentle and approachable” from?

“And…”

Lu Xiufan stopped his mouth with a kiss.

“…your tiger skin is thick enough.”

Whatever came after that could no longer be heard…

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