Chapter 99: Cause and Effect

August 30th.

That afternoon, while Zhuang Jin was taking a break from his martial arts practice, Chen Yun prepared him a cup of fresh tea, as she always did.

After taking a sip, he asked in surprise, "Yunniang, why does this tea have the delicate fragrance of lotus blossoms?"

Chen Yun smiled and replied, "I noticed some lotus flowers growing in the shade by the riverbank in front of our house; they close at night and bloom in the morning. I used small gauze sachets to place a little tea inside the lotus hearts, and when I retrieved them the next morning, the tea naturally absorbed the scent."

Hearing this, Zhuang Jin was full of admiration for her cleverness and youthful spirit.

Just as the couple was talking, a servant arrived to plead with them: "Guardian Zhuang, my master, Old Master Chang, is on his deathbed. He begs you to come and see him one last time!"

Zhuang Jin recognized the servant as belonging to the household of Chang Hetong. Though shocked by the news, a moment's reflection brought the reality of the situation into focus.

The Shen family had indeed emerged victorious in the recent conflicts, but such victories rarely came without a cost. While Zhuang Jin had been accumulating battle merits as easily as withdrawing money from a pawnshop, that was only because of his hidden cultivation level and solid foundation. For other martial artists—those in the first to third realms—hundreds had fallen in the north of the city. Even those at the level of street guardians, in the fourth to sixth realms, had suffered over a dozen casualties, mostly concentrated among those in the fourth realm.

It was clear that Chang Hetong was one of the "costs" of the Shen family’s victory. Zhuang Jin set down his teacup, exchanged a few words with Chen Yun, and departed.

...

At the Chang residence, Zhuang Jin found Chang Hetong looking haggard and deathly pale. Even though he had changed his clothes, fresh blood continued to seep from the wounds on his chest.

"Uncle Chang, how did you come to this state?"

"I... alas, it is fate. It is all fate!"

After recounting his ordeal, Chang Hetong summoned his eldest son, Chang Kaiheng, and said to Zhuang Jin, "I fear my time has come... Master Zhuang, you know the situation in the city. My second and third sons are not martial artists, so that is that. But my greatest worry is my eldest son here, who is in the second realm... I wish for him to serve under you next month..."

This was clearly a plea for patronage.

"Father!" Chang Kaiheng cried out, his voice filled with grief.

Zhuang Jin remained silent. Instead of agreeing or refusing, he asked about another matter: why the installment payments for the meridian-clearing pill he had provided two months ago had never been delivered.

"This..."

Chang Hetong instinctively looked toward his youngest son. Seeing Chang Kaijie’s face shift, his heart sank.

He had known that the family finances were tight recently, and only his youngest son and his wife lived with any sense of luxury. He had questioned it before, but Chang Kaijie had claimed the money came from his wife’s dowry. As it was a matter between the young couple, he had not pressed it. Now, he realized the truth.

"Kaijie, you?"

"I..." Seeing he could no longer hide it, Chang Kaijie confessed, "Father, I had just married... with the household struggling, I thought I would just use that money for a while..."

"You wretch! You wretched beast... cough, cough!" Overcome with sudden rage and despair, Chang Hetong nearly choked, his breath failing him.

His eldest son, Kaiheng, and his second son, Kaizhan, hurriedly rushed forward to pat their father’s back.

"Father, calm yourself, I will pay the money back," Chang Kaijie added hastily. He was a man of little ability and misguided cunning, but he did possess some filial piety.

"You... alas!"

Seeing that his youngest son still failed to grasp the gravity of the situation, Chang Hetong felt a profound sense of futility. The anger drained out of him, leaving only emptiness. He had once thought his youngest son, though lacking in academic or martial talent, was at least obedient and sensible—or so he had pretended. He had never imagined that the moment a crisis arose, this son would cause such a catastrophe. He hated himself for being blind to his own son’s nature, his judgment clouded by his own partiality.

Nearby, the two elder brothers looked at Chang Kaijie with cold eyes. In the past, they had tolerated their younger brother’s sweet talk and his tendency to curry favor with their parents. They had listened when their parents asked them to look after him, seeing him as little more than a burden. But now? This fool had effectively slaughtered the goose that laid the golden eggs.

They knew that once their father passed, the relationship between the three brothers would be severed. Forget looking after him—even basic civility would be difficult.

Watching this, Zhuang Jin felt a wave of melancholy: 'Chang Hetong was such a shrewd man, yet he was undone by his own son. But parents naturally view their children through a biased lens; it is human nature and cannot be entirely blamed... From the past to the present, how many emperors have failed to escape such folly, let alone ordinary men?'

Chang Hetong coughed again, fresh blood staining his chest. After struggling to compose himself, he looked at Zhuang Jin: "I have made a fool of myself in front of you, Master Zhuang. The money will certainly be..."

"There is no need," Zhuang Jin interrupted. "When you first came to me, I sold you that meridian-clearing pill for six hundred taels on credit. There are over five hundred taels remaining... I recall that when I broke through to the third realm, you gave me a gift of five taels. Let this be repaid a hundredfold."

Zhuang Jin paused, then added, "You know the situation in the north of the city. There is no need for Kaiheng to serve under me. I will arrange for him to work at the medicine fields outside the city. You may rest easy, Guardian Chang!"

The subtext was clear: the first slight was the discounted pill; the second was the failure to pay the installments while he waited for an explanation; this was the third and final act—repaying the debt a hundredfold and securing a position for the son.

Three strikes and the connection was severed. Having handled it this way, no one could say Zhuang Jin had not been benevolent.

When Chang Hetong heard the change in address—from "Uncle Chang" to "Guardian Chang"—he understood perfectly. It was as if he had been struck by lightning. His spirit seemed to drain away, and it took several breaths before he could recover.

Knowing there was no turning back, he sighed, "Thank you, Guardian Zhuang. However, the five hundred taels must be paid. Kaiheng, go and fetch the deeds to our two storefronts in the east of the city..."

If the money were not repaid, the Chang family would be forever branded with dishonor.

"Father!" Chang Kaijie cried out, thinking that since they had already been offered a hundredfold repayment, surely his father was being foolish to give up their final assets.

"I am not dead yet, am I?" Chang Hetong threw his medicine bowl at him to silence him, then turned to his elder sons. "I said, go and get them!"

Chang Kaiheng and Kaizhan understood their father’s intent. Despite their reluctance, they fetched the deeds. Seeing their persistence, Zhuang Jin accepted the deeds and, after a few polite words, took his leave, escorted by Chang Kaiheng.

On the bed, Chang Hetong watched Zhuang Jin’s receding figure. His lips parted, but no sound emerged. As he reached his final moments, his mind grew strangely clear, and a sudden realization made his eyes widen.

The problem was his youngest son, but was he himself without fault? If he had been more attentive, or had taken the initiative to visit Zhuang Jin, he would have known the truth. He had blamed the intensity of the war and his own cultivation, but those were mere excuses.

The truth was that after breaking through to the fourth realm, Chang Hetong had undergone a subtle shift in his own heart. Before the third realm, he had treated Zhuang Jin as a junior. After Zhuang Jin reached the fourth realm, his attitude shifted to one of reverence, even discarding his pride to beg for that pill. But once he himself reached the fourth realm, he subconsciously viewed them as equals again, hoping to reclaim his standing and wishing for Zhuang Jin to take the initiative to visit him.

This was where Chang Hetong differed from Ping Yongfeng. Ping’s kindness had been pure; he was like a mentor who expected nothing in return. Chang’s "investment" was driven by a desire for a return, while simultaneously craving the respect he felt he was owed. He wanted it both ways.

Cause and effect; everything had been predetermined.

"I was wrong! I was wrong! Oh, I was wrong!"

In his final moments, Chang Hetong understood it all. He lamented three times, the emotional agitation causing his wounds to burst open, staining his clothes red. His eyes bulged as he stared at the door, wanting to say more, but his strength failed him. He fell back onto the bed, and his breath grew faint.

"Father!"

...

"Guardian Zhuang, my younger brother..." Chang Kaiheng was seeing Zhuang Jin to the door when a cry of grief erupted from within. His face turned pale, and he stopped mid-sentence, turning to rush back inside.

"Wait."

Zhuang Jin called out to him and handed back the deeds to the storefronts he had just received. "Let this be my gift to Guardian Chang."

'Perhaps Chang Hetong’s past help to me wasn't worth this much, but I am not short of money, and sometimes, a small loss is a gain. I refused his dying request; if I were to take these storefronts—which are worth five or six hundred taels—what would that look like?'

'Sometimes, the perceptions of others are important, especially for my future prospects and the scrutiny of the Shen family’s higher-ups.'

Zhuang Jin’s eyes flickered. 'Even beyond that, I do this for my own peace of mind. It proves that throughout my journey, I have never failed those who were good to me.'

With that thought, he glanced at the sunset sinking behind the Chang residence, turned, and strode into the golden-red light of the alleyway, departing with a steady, decisive pace.