Traveling Through the Grave Robbers' Chronicles: Starting from Meeting You

The Great Elder looked at Zhang Hanyan and Zhang Qiling standing together, and tried hard to force a smile on his stiff face, which looked inexplicably funny.

"Saint, the second brother has been unwell for the past two years. He is in a coma most of the time, so he cannot come to greet you. I hope you two can forgive me."

His respectful attitude, with a slightly bent forward and a deliberately low posture, almost shocked the other elders behind him.

In the past two years, the second elder has been in a coma and unable to handle any of the Zhang family's affairs, big or small. The first elder, who holds great power, is in high spirits and very arrogant.

Even the third elder, the only one who could compete with him in the past, was completely subdued by him.

Not to mention the past two years, even in the past few hundred years, they had never seen the Great Elder be so humble.

The faces of the others showed undisguised shock, except for Zhang Hanyan and Zhang Qiling, who still looked indifferent.

They all knew that if the Great Elder had not been unable to control the Zhang family and had something to ask of them, he would never have acted like this.

Zhang Hanyan smiled contemptuously, took off the backpack on his back and threw it into the arms of the great elder.

"It turns out that the great elder who used to be so high and mighty also has to ask for help sometimes. Haha... As expected, as long as you live long enough, you can encounter all kinds of strange things."

She looked towards a corner at the end of the road. Behind that corner was the courtyard where she and Zhang Qiling had lived before.

"It's too late today. I'm not in the mood to clean up your mess. Wait until my brother and I have had enough rest before we do it!"

Her words made the Great Elder's expression turn extremely ugly at a speed visible to the naked eye. The kind look he had just pretended to have was gone, and he turned back into the stern-faced man he used to be.

Zhang Hanyan looked at the elder with a smile, "By the way, since you know we are coming back, then the courtyard where we lived before... you should have cleaned it up, right?"

The curve of her lips clearly showed that she was smiling, but the cold light in her eyes was clearly threatening the Great Elder.

The Great Elder looked at her, then looked at Zhang Qiling, who had not said a word the whole time. He saw the same coldness in their eyes.

The two people in front of him were no longer orphans with no status or rights who could be picked out and scolded at will.

One of them is the clan leader, and the other is the saint. Both of them are people whom the great elders cannot tear apart and cannot easily offend.

He quickly recognized the facts and forced himself to suppress the anger and resentment that had already risen in his heart. An ugly smile once again appeared on his gloomy face.

“We have already cleaned up the courtyard where the Patriarch and the Saintess lived before, and ensured that every spot is spotless without a speck of dust.

How about we take the Patriarch and the Saint back to have a look?"

Zhang Hanyan ignored him and turned to look at Zhang Qiling. The smile in her eyes made him feel her joy.

"No need, we can go back by ourselves. You guys, don't step into my and my yard for no reason. Brother, let's go back."

Zhang Qiling nodded slightly, "Okay."

Both of them ignored the smiling chief elder and the silent elders and walked past them calmly.

When Zhang Qiling passed by the Great Elder, he reached out and picked up the backpack in the Great Elder's arms without stopping at all.

It was not until the footsteps of the two gradually faded away that the Great Elder took off his disguise and a hint of resentment appeared in his eyes.

The third elder and the other elders had been severely bullied by the first elder in the past two years. Now that they finally had someone to suppress them, they were naturally happy.

"Boss, we're going to go back first. You... you should think about how to convince the clan leader and the saint to clean up your mess!"

The reason why the Zhang family has become such a turbulent situation now is, on the one hand, because the ideals that the Zhang family has always adhered to have been questioned, and on the other hand, because of the various mischiefs that the Great Elder has been doing in the past two years.

The Council of Elders became his one-man show, and the entire Zhang family was controlled by him from top to bottom. His strong style of doing things that did not allow anyone to refute him caused chaos inside and outside the Zhang family, and it became a mess.

If it were any other time, the first elder would have dealt with the third elder’s ridicule long ago.

But now, Zhang Hanyan and Zhang Qiling have returned to the Zhang family. They used to have a good relationship with the third elder, but now the first elder doesn't dare to do anything to him easily and can only swallow his anger.

"I know my own business, so you don't need to worry about it. Just go back and don't get in my way! It's annoying just to see you!"

The third elder looked at the other elders and saw a faint smile in each other's eyes.

They turned and left together, leaving the Great Elder standing alone in the empty night.

At midnight, the open windows were creaking due to the howling wind. Accompanied by a few earth-shaking thunders, a light rain suddenly came, dripping on the window sill.

Zhang Qiling was awakened by the thunder. He stood up, opened the quilt, walked to the window and slowly closed it to keep out all the wind and rain.

The strong wind slapped the green bamboo growing in the corner of the wall, and the branches and leaves slapped on the thin window paper again and again, making a rustling sound.

He stopped in front of the closet halfway through his walk, as if he suddenly remembered something, and quickly took two steps forward to open the closet door.

Behind the layers of clothes, there was a palm-sized rosewood carved box.

Zhang Qiling gently stroked the thin layer of dust on the box, pressed the lock to open the box, revealing a crescent-shaped white jade pendant inside.

He bought this pendant at the market when he came back from the ancient city of Sizhou. He had wanted to find an opportunity to give it to Zhang Hanyan, but he never gave it to her, and gradually, it was forgotten in this corner.

When he was six years old, he went to the market on New Year's Eve just to buy this pendant.

It was also because he wanted to buy this pendant that he was framed by a swindler, and it was also because of this pendant that Zhang Hanyan was seriously injured while trying to block the stick for him.

Now, many years have passed, and the pendant that I always wanted to give away is still lying quietly in the box.

Zhang Qiling picked up the pendant. The warm jade that felt warm to the touch shone with a lustrous glow under the candlelight.

Before the pendant was given away, he already wanted to know what expression Zhang Hanyan would have when she received it.

He wanted to know if she would like it, if she would be happy...

A faint smile appeared on Zhang Qiling's lips. He closed the lid, placed the box next to his pillow, and fell asleep peacefully smelling the woody fragrance of the rosewood.

In the early morning after the rain, there were still a few wet raindrops on the bamboo leaves blown by the breeze. Zhang Qiling strolled by the pond, watching the fish swimming happily under the ice.