Sole decision

"One is that I'm going to hold a knife-giving ceremony for Ashue."

There was a silence on the table. Obviously, everyone didn't know about this matter. Pei Zhaoxue usually didn't express much, and it was impossible to know from his expression whether he knew before this.

"It's a good relationship." Zhou Jian spoke first, "Axue has long been our family."

The Zhou family has a tradition of offering knives and learning knives since ancient times, and children will have two knives in their lifetime.At birth, she will be given a short knife slightly longer than a dagger, named "Jie Dao".When practicing knives, wooden sticks are often used instead.At an important moment after becoming an adult, the parents will grant a straight-bladed long knife named "Lv Dao" to confirm that they can already be the only ones in the family.

Zhou Jian was 22 years old when he was awarded the knife, because the negotiation became the first important business in his life.

Zhou Ling was 23 years old when he was awarded the knife, because he led people to suppress a group of instigators and defended the face of the Zhou family.

Zhou Ang is 28 years old this year and has not been awarded a sword yet, let alone Zhou Ce who is 25 years old. He is suave outside, so who cares about such an old-fashioned style?

Zhou Ling frowned. He seemed to have something to say but didn't know where to start. He looked around and said, "Dad, why didn't you discuss such a big matter with us first? It was so sudden..." Speaking of this, he didn't want to play Tai Chi to pretend to be polite, so he continued to say: "Although we are brothers and sisters, his surname is not Zhou after all. There is no precedent for this kind of thing before, and it is inevitable that people will criticize it. Dad, one thing is one thing thing."

Zhou Xiangyun pointed to Zhou Ce and said, "His surname is Zhou, but what do you think he is good for?"

Zhou Ce immediately said: "Yes, second brother, what age is it, don't worry about it so much. Brother is right, we are all one family, and one family does not speak two different languages." He winked at Pei Zhaoxue, He smiled, "Brother Pei, isn't it?"

Pei Zhaoxue drank his tea with his head down, indifferent.Zhou Xiangyun shook his head, showing a little helplessness towards his youngest son.

Zhou Ang whispered, "I also think it's nothing... Times are different."

Zhou Ling said: "Of course you don't have any objections!"

Zhou Jian patted the table: "Zhou Ling, don't go too far!"

Zhou Xiangyun didn't seem to take these episodes seriously, and continued: "Second thing, I will officially announce the successor after Ashue's sword-giving ceremony." His eyes swept around everyone's faces, this time Everyone had no objection, and there was no expression on everyone's face, as if the news was far less important than Pei Zhaoxue's saber-giving ceremony.

Only Zhou Ce frowned and glanced at Zhou Xiangyun, as if he didn't hear what he expected.

Zhou Xiangyun has purchased many real estates in the name of his wife all over the world, and one of them is a beautiful manor where Zhou Ce is studying abroad.The main building of the manor is all white, and it is located on the high cliff by the sea. From a distance, the sea and sky are the same color, and the white manor looks like a pearl in the blue sea. Zhou Ce called it "Pearl Manor".

There used to be a time when the family always went on vacation in the summer and it was always a joyous time.Zhou Ce misses it very much, but more important than these memories is that there are his childhood secrets buried there.

After the mother passed away, those properties were temporarily suspended under Zhou's company, but no one took care of them.Zhou Ce wanted Pearl Manor, and he rarely asked Zhou Xiangyun for anything, so Zhou Xiangyun was always responsive to his requests—except that Zhou Ce didn't want to go home.

Zhou Xiangyun promised Zhou Ce to come back through his birthday banquet, and officially transferred the manor to Zhou Ce by the way.Moreover, during the chat, they were no longer obsessed with letting Zhou Ce return to Lucheng to do things. It seemed that after finishing this matter, Zhou Ce would be able to live the free life he really wanted.

This is an agreement between the father and the younger son, and no one else knows about it.As soon as Zhou Ce came back, he guessed that his father might find some time alone to discuss this matter with him, so he withdrew his short-term gaze.

Zhou Xiangyun smiled, this was the first time since he took his seat.

"I'm old and I should retire."

On the day of Zhou Xiangyun's birthday banquet, there were two major events to be done, either of which would be enough to shock the upper circles in Lucheng, and Zhou Ce also felt like "big news".

According to the customary rules of the Zhou family, only those who have the law knife are eligible to inherit, so he has naturally been excluded from that circle.If there were no other accidents, he felt that Zhou Jian had the greatest chance of being the head of the family. After all, he was the eldest brother, who had worked with his father the longest and had the deepest contact with the core business, so everything should be taken for granted.

But suddenly there was another Pei Zhaoxue in the middle, which made Zhou Ce wonder what Zhou Xiangyun was planning.

How could the Zhou family's law knife be awarded to someone whose surname is not Zhou?Presumably this news will also shock the Lucheng United Chamber of Commerce.Thinking of this, he wanted to laugh.What a high-sounding name, it's nothing more than a few big families bundling their interests and sharing the spoils.

The underground world of Lucheng is much larger and more complex than the above ground.

For several days in a row, Zhou Ce didn't see Zhou Jian very much, and Zhou Ling and Zhou Ang didn't go home very often. Everyone seemed to be busy people, and he was the only one living a clean life in this house. The buddies who have been in touch since the student days chatted and ate, living the life of a standard rich and idle young master.

One night, he was lying in bed and couldn't sleep, so he put on his clothes and went out for a walk. Finally, he saw Pei Zhaoxue at the corner of the corridor.

Pei Zhaoxue was dressed in a neat suit, her hair was combed into a high ponytail, and she leaned against the pillar and lowered her head to light a cigarette.The lighter was very disrespectful to him, and could only produce some sparks, flickering like strange waves.

"Brother Pei, why are you still up so late?" Zhou Ce stepped forward, took Pei Zhaoxue's lighter and fiddled with it a little, then wiped it out with a "swish".He raised his arms towards Pei Zhaoxue, and the firelight added a little warmth to Pei Zhaoxue's face.Pei Zhaoxue lowered her head slightly, took a puff, and the shredded tobacco made a burning sound in the silent night.

"Thank you." Pei Zhaoxue said softly.

Zhou Ce noticed that Pei Zhaoxue was still wearing a pair of black gloves, and looked carefully at Pei Zhaoxue's clothes. It didn't look like she couldn't sleep at night and came out to smoke for fun, but more like she was about to go out.His long black hair combed very freely, like a hero in a TV series.Zhou Ce's heart moved, and he said, "I can't sleep, so I went out for a walk."

He was about to go to the back door, but Pei Zhaoxue reached out to stop him.Although he didn't say a word, Zhou Ce understood that Pei Zhaoxue was preventing him from going forward.

"Okay." Zhou Ce was obedient, but he wanted to pass Pei Zhaoxue in a flash.Pei Zhaoxue's reaction was extremely quick and her skills were excellent. The two of them matched a move, and Zhou Ce's arm touched Pei Zhaoxue's side, and he felt something so hard that it didn't belong to the human body.

He knew what it was, and asked jokingly: "It's boring to come out and smoke if you can't sleep, how about two rounds?"

Pei Zhaoxue didn't respond to Zhou Ce's joke, but just extinguished the cigarette in his hand, and the only light between them disappeared.Next, he unbuttoned the opening of his suit jacket bit by bit, revealing the snow-white shirt inside, the placket was lifted, and the black belt was entangled inside to firmly fix the holster on his body.

Then, Pei Zhaoxue stared straight at Zhou Ce, with a warning in his eyes, as if if Zhou Ce talked nonsense again, he would pull out a gun and punch a hole in Zhou Ce's forehead.

Zhou Ce felt that Pei Zhaoxue was too boring, so he put away his joking attitude for safety.He knew that Pei Zhaoxue was going out this time to prepare to do something, and he seemed to have seen similar scenes when he was a child, whether it was his father or his uncles, they would always deal with some things in a hurry.He remembered that at this moment, Pei Zhaoxue would go out with them, and her hair was always combed like this.

They received all kinds of training together, and Pei Zhaoxue always did well.

The memory was a little fuzzy, but what Pei Zhaoxue said to him when he came back came back.So many people went to pick him up, Pei Zhaoxue told him to be "obedient", and now he seemed to be going to "do something", combined with what happened recently...Zhou Ce had some guesses in his heart.

"God doesn't like believers who are not devout." Zhou Ce said with rare seriousness, "I remember that my brother's car likes to park at the back door. Are you going out with him today? It's so late, it must be..." He looked up at the moon , did not continue this topic, but asked Pei Zhaoxue, "Did you never cut your hair again?"

Pei Zhaoxue shook her head, opened her mouth to answer his last question: "Talk about some harmless business, it's not a big problem, just carry a gun for self-defense, wait for the time, and leave in a while."

Zhou Ce was surprised that Pei Zhaoxue answered him so many words, and asked, "Why is it so mysterious?"

Pei Zhaoxue said, "Don't you hate these things the most?"

Zhou Ce asked again: "Are you working for elder brother?"

"I do things for the Zhou family." Pei Zhaoxue said, "I can do things for you too, do you want it?"

"I..." Zhou Ce thought to himself that he couldn't bear it, but looking at the expression in Pei Zhaoxue's eyes when he said this, he couldn't read any sincerity, but more of his disdain for Zhou Ce.Zhou Ce smiled and said, "I've wanted to ask for a long time, is it convenient to fight with such long hair?" He stretched out his hand as he spoke.Pei Zhaoxue turned her side slightly, leaving Zhou Ce empty and restraining his arm.

"You can try."

"I don't like to fight and kill." Zhou Ce said so, feeling displeased with Pei Zhaoxue's teasing, so he went straight to it.Pei Zhaoxue didn't expect Zhou Ce to act like this, and the two of them made moves.Pei Zhaoxue looked thin, but extremely powerful. Zhou Ce only had some advantages in height and shape. The two fought hard.

They were so close to each other that Zhou Ce seemed to be able to smell the faint fragrance of Pei Zhaoxue's hair and the lingering smell of fireworks.But Pei Zhaoxue saw an imperceptible fierce light in Zhou Ce's eyes. He had an almost instinctive reaction to danger, and immediately took out his gun and held it against Zhou Ce's chin.

"You!" Everything happened so quickly, Zhou Ce saw Pei Zhaoxue's approaching face clearly, and his brain was awake in an instant.The current situation is not very good for them, Zhou Ce suddenly called out "Brother" from a distance, Pei Zhaoxue did not doubt that there was an explosion, and when he turned around, he fell for Zhou Ce's trick.

Zhou Ce hooked Pei Zhaoxue's hairband with his fingers and let it go down. Pei Zhaoxue's long hair fell over his shoulders.

"How is it?" Zhou Ce shook the black hairband in his hand with a smile, completely different from the chill just now.In the next second, a slap landed on his face crisply.

Zhou Ce left Pei Zhaoxue in a daze, and didn't realize it for a while. When he came back to find Pei Zhaoxue's argument, Pei Zhaoxue had already left.

It's okay not to take him seriously, but now she really dared to hit him. Pei Zhaoxue's hands were so strong that Zhou Ce felt like his skin was going to be torn, and his face darkened.

He looked at the hair tie in his hand and squeezed it hard.