Chapter: 2834
He Hongsheng was in the ancestral hall, placing three sticks of incense in front of his father’s memorial. The He Family Ancestral Hall honored nearly a hundred ancestors, many of whom had made important contributions to the family. Among them, He Hongsheng’s father had the least recognition.
He carefully lit the incense sticks, starting from the highest-ranking ancestor and working his way down, saving his father for last. Just as he finished placing the three sticks in the incense burner, he heard the cry of his youngest son outside. Startled, he accidentally broke all three sticks.
He Yingxiu, his daughter, rushed to him, worried. “Dad, are you okay?!”
He Hongsheng closed his eyes for a moment, then gave a wry smile. “I’m fine. It’s not surprising that your eldest brother would do something like this.”
He sighed and added, “To quote a wise person, ‘When it rains, my mother must marry someone.’ So, let him go.”
He Yingxiu opened her mouth to speak but held back her words. The eldest brother had taken away forty or fifty family members, which was a huge loss for the He family. If their grandfather had intervened, he could have used his authority to keep them.
But then she thought about it differently. “If these people can be swayed by money, what’s the point of keeping them?”
“I don’t know when the gunpowder bag will explode,” He Yingxiu said, worried.
“It won’t help the He family in the future; it will only create more hidden dangers,” replied He Hongsheng.
“On the contrary,” He Yingxiu countered, “by using money as a lure, we can get rid of those who aren’t good for the family. It will actually benefit the He family in the long run.”
He Yingxiu understood that the He family had changed drastically after the events of that morning. The old man had opened a new pathway in his cultivation, reaching the same level as the most powerful ancestor of the He family in the last century. Among the four major martial arts families, there was no one else like him.
With the support of Ye Shaoye, a notable nobleman, the He family was set to grow quickly in the future. Before they could truly rise, they needed to clear out any hidden dangers and create a solid foundation.
He Hongsheng agreed with her perspective. He turned to He Yingxiu and said, “Yingxiu, tell Yingdong not to stop anyone who wants to leave. Let them go. Those who stay should wait for me in the main hall. After I honor our ancestors, I have something important to announce.”
“Understood!” He Yingxiu replied eagerly.
She rushed out of the ancestral hall and found He Yingdong, who looked anxious at the door. “Yingdong, Dad asked me to tell you that anyone who wants to leave is free to go. If they choose to stay, they need to wait in the main hall.”
He Yingdong quickly responded, “Sister! Big brother has gathered 40 or 50 family members this time. That’s nearly half of our He family. If we let them go, it could spread rumors that would surely harm us…”
He Yingxiu smiled and said seriously, “Yingdong, what you’re saying might not be true. The people who left today could actually be good for us and our family. It’s like dealing with cancer. If someone has a small malignant tumor in their lung, the doctor might suggest removing part of the lung. It sounds bad, but it can actually be a good thing.”
“But…” He Ying interrupted. “Sister, I get your point about the principles, but you also said that if there’s a tumor in the lung, it might be okay to take out just a piece. But if they have to take out two or three pieces, wouldn’t that mean living on oxygen for the rest of your life?”
Realizing that her brother was stuck in his negativity, He Yingxiu decided to stop trying to reason with him. Instead, she shouted, “Where do you get all this nonsense? If I tell you to go back and pass on the message, just do it! Or do you want me to kick you back?”
She even made a motion as if to kick him.
He Yingdong wanted to argue back but quickly changed his mind when he heard her. “Okay, okay! I’ll go now!” he replied, hurrying off in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, about forty or fifty members of the He family who were willing to follow He Yingquan to Suzhou and Hangzhou were busy packing their bags. Among them were He Hongsheng’s second brother, He Yingquan’s second uncle, He Yingquan’s brother He Yingfei and his family, along with families of He Yingquan’s cousin and He Hongsheng’s cousin.