Now Jiang Chen understood everything clearly.
When these people had slaughtered the entire Yan family, they had shown no mercy whatsoever. Yet they had spared Yan Wanjun. And the reason was now laid bare before them.
Everyone stared at one another, the atmosphere growing exceedingly delicate in an instant.
Under these circumstances, talk of vengeance was clearly inappropriate. Not only did Yan Wanjun lack the strength to seek revenge, but even if he had, defining the grudge itself was no simple matter.
Huang'er, meanwhile, had learned that the one who had annihilated her mother's entire family was none other than her own grandfather. Her emotions churned into an impossibly complicated knot. Of course, Huang'er's feelings toward the Yan family had always been rather ambivalent.
After all, throughout her entire life, the Yan family had shown her precious little in the way of care. If anything, they had oppressed her. Huang'er's temperament was gentle and magnanimous; she had never hated the Yan family to the bone over it. But to claim she harbored some deep well of affection for them—that would be equally unrealistic.
And so Huang'er, caught squarely in the middle, found her feelings the most tangled of anyone's.
She did not wish for any further conflict between her grandfather and her paternal grandfather. Whatever happened next, it would involve the people closest to her heart.
Jiang Chen also understood why those cloaked figures had looked at Huang'er with such a particular expression. Huang'er was their master's direct bloodline—in a sense, she was their young mistress as well.
Sure enough, once Feng Yi had finished speaking, he bowed deeply to Huang'er. "Young Mistress Huang'er, our lord has ordered the four of us to wait here for you. The moment you appeared, we were to bring you to meet our lord."
"Please, Young Mistress, come with us." The other three cloaked figures also bowed to Huang'er.
Though Huang'er had weathered many a storm in her life, she was caught off guard by these cloaked men and cast an imploring glance toward Jiang Chen.
Clearly, this was a decision she did not dare make on her own.
Jiang Chen spoke calmly, "If your lord truly is Huang'er's maternal grandfather, then paying him a visit as a granddaughter is only natural. However, all of this remains nothing more than words. Do you have any evidence? Anything to prove what you've claimed?"
All four cloaked figures froze. As for proof, they truly had none.
Feng Yi had crossed blows with Jiang Chen before and knew the young man was formidable. Seeing Jiang Chen speak up, he understood that this young man could not be ignored.
He replied, "What further proof could possibly be needed? If our master were not the Young Mistress's maternal grandfather, why on earth would he bother interfering in the Yan family's affairs?"
He then turned to Huang'er. "Young Mistress, as the saying goes, blood is thicker than water. Our master is your grandfather. By both reason and sentiment, as the younger generation, you ought to visit him, should you not?"
Huang'er considered for a moment before speaking. "Since ancient times, a woman obeys her father before marriage and her husband after. I have already pledged my life to Brother Chen. Whatever he says carries my meaning as well. Without proof, I cannot bring myself to believe it."
Huang'er was not entirely without belief—after all, fabricating such a story would be exceedingly difficult. Besides, a powerhouse of the God-realm would hardly stoop to spinning such elaborate lies for amusement.
"Young Mistress, if you say that, our master will surely be heartbroken," Feng Yi said, a note of frustration in his voice.
"There is no need for heartbreak. If he truly is my grandfather, and if he truly loves me, then he should come find me himself—not send the four of you to fetch me," Huang'er said with a soft sigh.
Huang'er was not a person devoid of familial feeling. Quite the opposite—she cherished every bond of kinship she had. Even when her grandfather had failed to stand up for her back then, she had not harbored resentment in her heart, and she still treated Yan Wanjun with great respect and devotion.