Following the rules, Tao Ping sent men to deliver the Life and Death Contract and Chen Kai’s corpse back to the Chen family.
Chen Yuan continued practicing his martial arts, acting as if the person he had beaten to death was completely insignificant. If someone came knocking on his door looking for death, he naturally wouldn’t show any mercy. As for familial affection, he felt absolutely nothing since his soul had transmigrated into this body from another world. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Beating Chen Kai to death had felt pretty damn good—it could be considered avenging his original host’s grievances against his family.
The next day.
Chen Yuan woke up to the sound of arguing. He stretched, threw off the thick cotton quilt, and dressed neatly before stepping outside.
The autumn winds were growing fierce and frosty, leaving the rivers and passes desolate. The cold breeze slipped in through his collar, but it only made him feel refreshed. His vigorous vitality kept the chill at bay. He soon spotted the source of the commotion. Mrs. Li, looking like a disheveled shrew with her hair flying everywhere, was shrieking at Huang Juan about something at the top of her lungs, her voice piercingly sharp. Just as Chen Yuan saw her, she spotted him too. She instantly shifted her target, pointing at him and screaming,
"Chen Yuan, you have no heart! That was your younger brother! How could you be so vicious? Do you know you beat your brother to death?"
Mrs. Li’s eyes instantly reddened; it was the exact picture of enemies meeting face-to-face. The only reason she had waited until now to cause a scene was because the moment she learned of her son’s death and saw Kai’Er’s corpse, she had been so overcome with grief that she fainted on the spot.
Chen Yuan stepped forward and said calmly, "I know. I beat Chen Kai to death. Oh, by the way, he actually wanted to beg for mercy, but it’s a pity my leg was faster. I kicked him to death with a loud CRACK. So, what’s your point?"
His breezy, nonchalant manner was like a sharp knife plunging into Mrs. Li’s wounds. Overwhelmed with agony, she wailed, "Are you even human? Are you even human?! How could you say such things? Doesn’t your conscience hurt?!
"He wasn’t even twenty yet! He hadn’t even married or had children... and now he’s just gone! How am I supposed to live? How am I supposed to live?!"
Chen Yuan chuckled softly. "If you can’t live, then go die. No one is stopping you."
He found Mrs. Li quite amusing. It was such a simple problem with a simple solution.
"You!" Mrs. Li was so furious she choked on her breath and nearly passed out again. Fortunately, Chen Dashan was beside her to hold her up.
His face was also incredibly grim, as if he had aged more than ten years. His dull voice was laced with anger as he said, "Chen Yuan, couldn’t you have held back? Did you have to take things to the absolute extreme? Are you only satisfied when your father’s family is broken and ruined? I truly regret giving birth to you!"
Maintaining his faint smile, Chen Yuan answered each of the questions one by one. "No, I couldn’t hold back. Yes, I had to take it to the extreme. I am already satisfied. And regretting it is useless."
"You!" Chen Dashan trembled with rage, stumbling so hard he nearly fell to his knees. He hadn’t expected Chen Yuan to be so heartless and utterly shameless! It seemed Kai’Er’s death had merely become a topic of casual conversation for him!
Catching her breath, Mrs. Li stopped questioning Chen Yuan and instead laid down a vicious threat, her voice shrill, "Chen Yuan! Just you wait! I’m going to report you to the authorities! So what if you’re a Martial Artist? A life for a life! I will never let you get away with this!"
Chen Yuan scratched his cheek, feeling utterly speechless. "I know you can’t read, but didn’t the disciples who returned the corpse yesterday tell you that it was Chen Kai who proposed signing a Life and Death Contract with me? Honestly, it was more like Chen Kai was begging for death, and I was just kind enough to grant his wish."
Mrs. Li was beyond listening to reason. She frantically retorted, "Bullshit! Kai’Er told me before he left that he was only going to spar with you. Why would he sign a Life and Death Contract? You must have deceived him! You ganged up on him when he was alone and defenseless and murdered him!"
Her Kai’Er had always been well-behaved and sensible; he would never pick fights out of sheer aggression!
Chen Yuan could only sigh helplessly. If she insisted on conspiracy theories, there was nothing he could do. Losing his patience for idle chatter, he said coolly, "If you want to sue me, be my guest. But let me make one thing clear: I won’t hold you accountable for causing a scene today since you just lost your son. However, if there is a second time, I will send you down to reunite with Chen Kai."
If these two dared to disturb his peaceful life again, he wouldn’t mind making them disappear forever.
Mrs. Li was frightened by the icy indifference in Chen Yuan’s eyes, yet she still refused to let the matter rest. Since Chen Yuan was completely impervious to her attacks, she turned her venom on Huang Juan, shouting harshly, "You wretched woman, do you see what kind of vile spawn you’re housing? He kills without blinking an eye and threatens to exterminate our whole family! Can you even sleep soundly at night?"
Huang Juan knew exactly what kind of person Chen Yuan was, so naturally, she wasn’t swayed by Mrs. Li. She fired right back: "You brought this upon yourselves! Don’t you have any idea how you treated Yuan in the past?
"You forced him to do all the dirty and exhausting work. You wouldn’t let him have even a scrap of meat at dinner, and you demanded half the money he earned. When he finally saved up a little money to learn martial arts, you stole it from him! And you still have the gall to call Yuan an ungrateful wretch? Are the two of you even fit to be parents?
"Especially you, Chen Dashan! Couldn’t you see that this miserable hag was constantly bullying Yuan? He might not be her flesh and blood, but he is your own biological son! You watched all of this happen and did absolutely nothing! If you had just been a little kinder to him, do you really think he would have forgotten you after succeeding in martial arts? Would Chen Kai be dead?
"At the end of the day, you’ve reaped what you sowed! You two created this toxic family environment. You single-handedly spoiled Chen Kai rotten. You are the ones who killed him!"
She had felt indignant on Yuan’s behalf for a long time, and now that she had finally vented all her bottled-up feelings, she felt much better.
Upon hearing this, Chen Dashan’s old face flushed red, then turned pale. Finally, he stiffened his neck and argued stubbornly, "So what if we took his money? It was all to pay for Kai’Er’s martial arts training! Once he became a Martial Artist, the whole family would have enjoyed the benefits. It was all for the sake of this family!"
How could he not know he was biased? He was simply unwilling to admit it.
Huang Juan laughed, her words sharp and penetrating. "Then why didn’t you let Yuan learn martial arts? You only had eyes for Chen Kai! You didn’t even let Yuan go to a Martial Arts Hall to test his aptitude, did you?
"Now Yuan has made a name for himself through his own efforts! Even the men from the Black Dragon Gang don’t dare to come collect protection money anymore; instead, they bring baskets of eggs to visit him every month. And what about your precious Chen Kai?
"He sought Yuan out to sign a Life and Death Contract and got beaten to death, and now you come here to interrogate Yuan? Was Yuan supposed to just stand there and let himself be killed? Chen Kai deserved to die! And you two deserve this even more!"
The couple was left utterly speechless by her barrage. The truth was laid bare right in front of them, proving that their past decisions had been astronomically wrong. Chen Yuan was indeed far more suited for martial arts than Kai’Er. If they had treated Chen Yuan well, the two brothers could have supported each other. How could things have ended up like this?
"Mom, what happened?" Cheng Xiaoyu had apparently been woken up as well, walking out rubbing her sleepy eyes.
Chen Dashan and Mrs. Li’s gazes swept over them, noticing that they were all wearing clothes made of high-quality material. They had absolutely no need to worry about the winter cold. Obviously, Chen Yuan had completely transformed this household’s standard of living.
This all should have belonged to them, but now, it was too late. Chen Dashan’s heart turned to ashes. He felt overwhelmingly defeated.
Mrs. Li opened her mouth, still wanting to say something, but then she saw Qian Bao of the Black Dragon Gang jogging over. Smiling flatteringly at Chen Yuan, he asked, "Brother Chen, what happened?"
The current Chen Yuan was no longer that poor boy sponsored by the Gu Family. He was a Martial Artist who had achieved Great Success in Skin Refining, boasting a future of boundless potential.
Chen Yuan said coolly, "Brother Qian, tell them to get lost. Don’t let them show their faces around here ever again."
Qian Bao nodded hastily. "Right away, Brother Chen! Oh, by the way, please don’t call me ’Brother’ anymore. I can’t bear such an honor. Just call me Qian."
His attitude toward Chen Yuan was incredibly humble, but the moment he turned around to face Chen Dashan and Mrs. Li, his expression instantly shifted into that of a vicious fiend. He shouted coldly, "If you ever dare to come here and cause trouble again, my name isn’t Qian Bao if I don’t kill you! May my future sons be born without assholes if I fail! Now get the hell out of here! Are you waiting for a whipping?"
The two of them dared to challenge Chen Yuan, but seeing Qian Bao struck deep fear into their hearts. Not daring to utter a single peep, they scurried away with their tails tucked between their legs. The image of Qian Bao’s fawning demeanor toward Chen Yuan still lingered in their minds.
They finally understood that the current Chen Yuan was someone they could no longer afford to provoke.