Chapter 49: Eternal Kinship

  Shuǐ Zhōng Míng left with his daughter, leaving with an air of triumph. No one stopped him, and Dōng Fāng Hè was also afraid to. He looked at Shuǐ Zhōng Míng's back with a complex expression, thinking that this person who could have been the backbone of the family had been driven out by himself. Reflecting on what he had done to Shuǐ Zhōng Míng over the years, he suddenly realized that he had gone too far.

  "Dongfang Jian was anxious and said: 'Grandfather, if you let him leave like this, where will the dignity of our Dongfang family be in the future?'"

  The Eastern Crane suddenly became dispirited and sighed, "What else can we do? Do you really think the power of aristocratic families is the strongest in this world? Wrong! There are still many mysterious powers in this world. The mysterious disappearance of Song Dynasty's Qi Refiners and the extinction of Qing Dynasty's great scholars laid the foundation for the rise of aristocratic families. It seems like we can summon the wind and rain, but in fact, the power of those who disappeared is the strongest. They possess mysterious powers, and if they hadn't disappeared, the entire world would have trembled under their feet. I suspect that Ming in the water is actually an unextinct great scholar from the Qing Dynasty. Who would have thought? No wonder people say that thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty years on the west bank of the river - no one is always unlucky, and no one is always lucky.

  The Oriental Crane suddenly woke up to the possibility that one day it might lose everything, and how would its descendants treat itself then? In the red dust of a hundred years, no matter how extraordinary your talent is, ultimately everyone will become a handful of yellow earth. Unless you reach the realm of the Nine-Star Earth Immortal, you can't escape the millstone of fate. Time is the most terrifying thing, it will wear everything down.

  High-ranking officials seem to be in a good position, but who can know the stench and blood rain inside? Politics is always a sensitive topic. If you're not careful, you may never recover from the consequences.

  Guo Ming walked alone on the quiet street, allowing the cool breeze to hit his face. After a long time, he still let out a deep sigh. As long as the heart demon was not eliminated, it would be difficult for him to improve his cultivation. Especially today's disturbance made his heart like a galloping horse, and it was hard to calm down.

  A burst of blood vessels in the water, a leap to become a master comparable to oneself, and one's own heart says that being tolerant is just deceiving others. People are all selfish, originally thinking that they are the few cultivators who have received special treatment from heaven, but this glory has appeared on Shui Ming's body today.

  Guo Ming did not think that Shui Zhongming was formidable, but the Confucian saints of the past had their strengths. However, the downfall of the great Confucians revealed their own inadequacies - they were too rigid and self-enclosed, spouting empty words about benevolence, righteousness, and morality. They relied on knowledge and accumulated cultivation, achieving small successes easily, just like Shui Zhongming now. But to achieve greatness and reach the realm of the ancient saints was a different matter altogether. The word "Tao" encompasses all things in the world, and the ancient saints used their extraordinary wisdom to exhaustively explain its various meanings. But could their later generations reach the same level as they once did?

  The sky has its imperfections, the moon has its brightness and darkness. There is no absolute perfection between heaven and earth. Water can reach a state of clarity with a terrifying speed, after which it's hard to make further progress, as if trying to ascend to heaven. These are things that Guo Ming does not understand.

  The living room was lit up, and after glancing at his watch, it was already 12 o'clock. Were his parents still not asleep? Guo Ming shook his head, what were his parents worried about, didn't he know himself?

  He gently pushed the door open and found that it was unlocked. After entering, he indeed saw his parents talking in hushed tones with worried expressions on their faces.

  Seeing him coming over, the two of them hastily stood up and went to welcome Guo Ming.

  "Tomorrow, how was the exam?" Guo Zheng hurriedly asked.

  With a snap, Xia slapped Guang Zhengzhen's hand and gave him a look, glaring at him fiercely. Guang Zhengzhen saw the worried expression on his son's face and seemed to understand something in an instant, with a hint of disappointment appearing on his face. He forced a laugh and said, "Haha, Ming'er, why are you back so late?" But thinking about it, wasn't this question still indirectly asking about his son's grades? Without waiting for Guang Ming to respond, he continued, "You must be hungry, right? Xia'er, quickly heat up some food for Ming'er."

  Guo Ming bitterly smiled and shook his head. Nowadays, he no longer had such high demands for food like before. He wouldn't feel hungry even if he didn't eat for three or two days, and even if he was starving for ten days or half a month, it wouldn't be a big deal. Of course, he still hadn't reached the level of Bigu, but if he did, that would mean his Golden Elixir had been successfully cultivated.

  Yu Xia hastily looked at her son, and Guo Ming nodded slightly. For his mother, Guo Ming had deep guilt, he didn't spend much time with her, most of the time he was in class, and when on holiday, he would go out to fight and play with some friends, until after he started cultivating, did Guo Ming truly realize that he had neglected too many things before.

  Every time at 2 am, the mother would gently push open her own door, carefully check if he was covered with a quilt, then quietly watch herself for a while, and then leave.

  His mother was a housewife, her greatest wish was to carefully prepare some meals and let her son and husband eat well and dress warmly. For her, this was her responsibility and a kind of happiness and faint comfort, so Guo Ming had no reason to refuse.

  Every time we go home, our parents are busy with this and that. At this time, we can appropriately lend a hand, but don't stop them from doing things. For them, the arrival of their children is the greatest joy. They are happy to be busy, but when you interrupt them, they will feel old, even if it seems like you're thinking for them, in fact, not really.

  Guo Ming stood in the kitchen, watching his mother busy herself with cooking, and his eyes became moist. His parents could tell from his expression that something was wrong, and from the small dishes his mother had prepared, Guo Ming could see that she had left four dishes and one soup for him, but when he took a closer look, it seemed that none of the dishes had been touched, apparently his parents were also worried about him and didn't have an appetite.

  A big family with only two parents would still be tedious even if there were more people, and if I came back to eat with them, this situation would never happen.

  His gaze shifted to his mother's temples, and with Guo Ming's keen eyesight, he could see the few strands of silver hair hidden at the ends of her hair. His mother was still so young, yet she had already aged. The word "old" sent a shiver down Guo Ming's spine; it was such a distant concept for himself! He was growing older day by day, but his parents were growing old day by day as well. His mother no longer had the vitality of two years ago. He still remembered how his mother would take him shopping and buying clothes in previous years, but nowadays such scenes only occurred on holidays. Was it that his mother had noticed the impatience in his eyes back then, or was her heart already old and unwilling to move?

  "Mom, Guo Ming yelled out in a daze."

  "Hmm? Yu Xia put down the fried egg in her hand and said softly, what's wrong?"

  "Will I accompany mom to go shopping tomorrow?" Guo Ming took a step forward, looking at his mother and said sincerely. "Such times are really not many anymore, I must cherish them well, I have already embarked on the path of cultivation, my future life's path will absolutely be extraordinary, perhaps when I come out from closed-door training after a hundred years, what can I use to repay my parents? Everything is fake, only the relationships between closest kin are real."

  Yu Xia was taken aback for a moment, then seemed to think of something, and a hint of tears appeared in her eyes as she looked at Guo Ming, nodding slightly.

  The son has grown up, and Yu Xia sighed with emotion as he looked at the faint blue beard on his son's chin.

  After Guo Ming finished eating, the whole family sat on the sofa.

  Guo Zhengze looked at Guo Ming and sighed softly: "Business is tough nowadays?"

  "What's wrong? What happened again?" Yu Xia asked immediately.

  "The state of our company, you're not unaware of it. Back then, I led a few classmates to start it up, but now what era is this? The era of knowledge explosion! Their outdated ideas can't keep up with the times anymore. I've asked them several times to recruit some university graduates, but they just won't do it."

  He is the largest director of the company, in theory he can decide everything, but those few are his partners since childhood, they don't want to kick them all away at once. In their opinion, it's okay now! The loss of years is not only their age, but also their ambition. Yu Xia understands this situation and thinks for a while before saying: "Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety have been difficult to achieve together, it's time for you to make a decision, I believe in your judgment."