Reborn, I Became a Male God - Chapter 38

This was the Jiang family’s territory. Whatever happened here—so long as Old Master Jiang wanted to know—nothing could be kept from him. So Jing Ling never intended to hide it.

Although the Tan family couldn’t compare to the Jiang family in terms of power and influence, anyone who could live in the Shangxian Mountain villa district was someone most people looked up to. And his current identity was that of an ordinary civilian from the mountains. The only reason he dared to openly beat up Tan Yunzhong was because the Jiang family currently needed his help.

If they wanted him to do something, fine—then it would be an equal exchange. They had to offer him compensation. And it had to be something he wanted, not just whatever they were prepared to give.

Someone like Old Master Jiang, who held high power and had lived in comfort for many years—those beneath him would only think of ways to curry favor with him. Whatever he personally arranged was considered an honor, something to be proud of. No one would—or dared—to negotiate terms with him. He’d had his way for so many years. Now, suddenly faced with such a thorny kid, who first mocked him for meddling too much, and then beat up a guest of his granddaughter right on his own turf, only to come back as if nothing had happened and say, “I’ve decided to help you, but you need to settle my trouble for me”—it was obvious this brat had seen things very clearly. The Jiang family needed him right now, which was why he acted with such impunity.

Truly infuriating.

Old Master Jiang showed no emotion. “You probably don’t know how much the Tan family treasures this son. You beat him up that badly—it’s not going to be so easy to smooth things over. You think you’re worth enough for me to suppress the Tan family’s fury on your behalf?”

When Jing Ling heard that, he found it a bit funny. “Just a few superficial wounds and a few teeth knocked out. He’s not dead or crippled—how is that serious?” Compared to losing both legs and his right hand, it wasn’t even a drizzle.

Old Master Jiang squinted slightly as he studied him. After a long pause, he said, “It’s not good for young people to carry too much hostility. I can cover this matter for you, but you must promise to give me a satisfactory result.”

Jing Ling nodded. “My demands aren’t high. Before I return, don’t let the Tan family bother my sister, Tan Yunshu, or Yang Xinyao—not even privately. In return, I promise you this: as long as those people are in Heduo District, I’ll definitely bring them back for you. But you also know they’re all desperadoes, so I can’t guarantee whether they’ll live or die.”

And just like that, the deal was struck. The specifics would be explained to him before departure. The departure date was set for two days later. Jing Ling had no objections to this.

“Do the three gentlemen have anything else? If not, I’ll take my leave first,” Jing Ling asked. Earlier, it had been an emergency, so he left in a rush and barged in. Now that a cooperation had been reached, he had to at least show some respect to the elders.

This time, Old Master Jiang didn’t speak. Instead, the man in grey asked, “Say, kid, that Tan brat had no past grudges or recent enmity with you—why’d you hit him so hard?”

Jing Ling replied casually, “Maybe we had a feud in our past lives.”

The grey-robed old man snapped, “Nonsense! You were clearly going after that Tan girl!”

Jing Ling replied even more casually, “Yeah, I fell in love with Yunshu at first sight. He dared insult my beloved—of course I had to beat him up.”

The grey-robed old man: “……”

Jing Ling left, hands in his pockets, looking completely at ease.

The study door closed again. Yuan Lang remained dutifully standing outside. Only the three old men were left inside.

“Mingzhi, what do you think?” asked Old Master Jiang.

The “Mingzhi” he referred to was the grey-robed old man—full name Song Mingzhi, a member of the Song family, one of the Five Families. The current family head was his older brother. The Song family had a murderous streak, and their tempers were generally bad.

“At first, I just thought he was a bit arrogant. But now it looks like his hostility is too intense. Everyone from Old Li’s family is mild-tempered—otherwise, they couldn’t have become beast tamers. To be honest, this kid doesn’t feel like he was taught by Old Li. He’s more like someone from my Song family.”

“There’s something off,” Old Master Jiang said. “That incident last October in Changchu Ridge Mountain—I later asked Siyang about it. He said he personally heard Jing Ling speaking to the big snake. Judging from his description of what happened that night, it really did seem to be the case. But as you all know, the Li family are skilled in beast taming—but only in commanding animals, not in understanding beast speech.”

“And you, Chenghe—what do you think?” Old Master Jiang looked at the third person.

Chenghe—full name Bai Chenghe—was the current head of the southern Bai family. A man of medicine, cultivation of both body and mind was part of his path. Compared to Old Master Song, he gave off a much more serene impression.

“You know as well as I do, our Five Families’ skills are never passed to outsiders. But after that massacre in the Li family, only Old Li survived. He disappeared for several years before reappearing in that small village and never left until he died. According to the neighbors, Old Li treated Jing Ling very well. With all these coincidences stacked together, saying he wasn’t Old Li’s disciple just doesn’t hold water. Maybe Old Li saw his extraordinary talent and made an exception to take him in.”

“Let’s just consider him as such. The Li family has no one left now. It’s a good thing if there’s at least someone to carry on the lineage.”

When Jing Ling left, the banquet still hadn’t ended. He had originally come by taxi with Yang Xinyao, and then later got a ride from Yunshu. But Yunshu and Yang Xinyao had already left. There were no taxis in the Shangxian Mountain villa district, so he had to trouble Old Master Jiang to send a car to take him back.

When he made the request, Yuan Lang—who was standing by the door—visibly flinched, his expression practically screaming he wanted to tear Jing Ling apart.

Having just beaten Tan Yunzhong and feeling refreshed all over, Jing Ling got a mischievous idea. As he passed by Yuan Lang, he deliberately tilted his chin up. The honest guard nearly lost his temper on the spot.

When Jing Ling returned to the hotel from the Shangxian Mountain villa district, it was just before 9:30 PM. Yunshu and Yang Xinyao had only left about half an hour before him. He called Yang Xinyao first to thank her again and casually asked if she had eaten. Since she’d barely had time to sit at the Jiang house because of the Yunshu situation, let alone eat, he was a little concerned.

Yang Xinyao responded cheerfully that she was eating—and she was with Yunshu.

“Wanna know where we are? Beg me, hahaha!” Her laughter over the phone was especially smug. “Serves you right for choosing beauty over friendship—now you regret it, huh!”

Jing Ling was a bit speechless. Just as he was about to say something, Tan Yunshu’s voice suddenly came through the phone.

“Jing Ling, it’s me—Tan Yunshu.”

“Mm, I know,” he replied naturally.

There was a moment of silence on the other end before she continued, “Xinyao and I are at the hotel’s Western restaurant. Do you want to come over?”

“Mm.” Jing Ling agreed. “I’ll be right there.”

On the other end, after Tan Yunshu hung up, she suddenly recalled what Yang Xinyao had said earlier in the Jiang family garden.

“Xinyao,” she called out.

“Mm?” Yang Xinyao looked over while biting into her Black Forest cheesecake.

“Back in the garden, you told me, ‘My Jing Ling is really handsome,’ right? Why… why did you say that?” After everything that had happened, she’d been overwhelmed. But thinking back now, none of it made sense. It was understandable that Yang Xinyao had followed her out of concern. But hadn’t Jing Ling gone off with Jiang Sijin? Why had he suddenly shown up over there?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt there was only one explanation: Yang Xinyao had called him over. Judging by the timing, Jing Ling must’ve just arrived and didn’t even know what had happened—but he immediately went up and beat Tan Yunzhong. Tan Yunjin had fainted beside them. And later, when he took off his jacket to put on her shoulders—she hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but thinking back, it didn’t add up. Xinyao didn’t have a coat either, and since he was friends with Xinyao, logically he should’ve looked after her first. But instead, he thought of her first.

Not to mention he told them to leave first and stayed behind to clean up the mess himself.

Tan Yunshu sorted through the entire situation and reluctantly grasped a possible clue.

Yang Xinyao blinked. “Yeah—your Jing Ling. I did a fortune reading for him once. You’re his destined one.”

Tan Yunshu: “……” She understood every individual word—but together, why did it sound so incomprehensible? Fortune reading?! Destined one?!

Perhaps her confusion showed too plainly, because Yang Xinyao explained further, “If you don’t believe in fortune-telling, just take it as love at first sight.”

“…Compared to fortune-telling, love at first sight is even less believable,” Tan Yunshu replied, speechless.

Just then, another voice came from behind.

“Then how about ‘a natural connection at first meeting’—what do you think of that explanation?”