User blog:KuraiMAO1993/Inherited Lover: Chapter 2

After a few hours of walking within these misty forest guided by Mao-san, I finally reached my destination. Yes, it was my nostalgic old hometown.

“Here we are, sir”

“Finally, we made it!”

As I observed the town from the entrance, the town was still the same as ever but with some minor changes.

“Some of the houses have changed, but the pathway to my old house still haven’t changed”

Yep, I can see my old house from afar. Though I don’t know who lives in there right now.

“Wang-san, I shall take my leave from here.”

“Ah. Yes. Thank you very much for guiding me here”

As I tried to think of something on how I can repay her for her kindness, she suddenly holds my hand with both of her paws, which surprised me a bit, and made a suggestion with a seductive grin on her lips.

“Wang-san~ If you’re that eager to repay me, then come visit me at the Demon Realm whenever you have the chance~♡ ”

As if Mao-san knew of how much I wanted to repay her, she made this bold statement with a seductive gaze from her eyes. Letting go of my hand, I noticed there was a piece of paper given to me. It somehow contains a rough sketch of a map of the Demon Realm with her address written on it.

“Fufu~ Please drop by anytime and lets have a ‘pleasurable’ moment together, until then farewell, sir ♡ ”

After giving me a wink, Mao-san left with a cheerful tone, humming on her way back to the misty forest.

“……………………”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">It looks like no matter what her personality is, Mao-san is still a monster after all. I know it’s a bit dangerous to take her invitation but…

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“………\\\\\\\\\    \\\\\\\\\........”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">….Maybe I’ll drop by and visit her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Strange thoughts aside, I continued my walk in my old neighborhood.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">By following the path towards my old house I can see that most of the shops, stall vendors, and diners were left unchanged and it really feels nostalgic. As I went on further, I finally saw my old house up close. I can see that the new owners took well care for this house. I smiled to the current residents but they were quite suspicious of me so I quickly left the scene.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">While I was able to get out of their sight, I remembered another important place I need to visit.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Right! I should visit grandpa.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Paying him a visit was one of my reasons why I came here. Ever since in my childhood, grandpa and I were really close. He would often treat me with snacks and tell me many stories, from classic literature to famous historical events whenever I visited him. Among the stories that I have heard from him, the tragic love story of Chen and Mei was the most prominent one in my memories. By the way, these characters were also my great-grandfather and my great-grandaunt, respectively.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“……If I’m correct it should be this way.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">I continued to walk on towards to where grandpa’s residence was by recalling the way in my memory. It was relatively close to my old house so it didn’t take long to reach his residence.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Upon arriving at his temple-like residence, I was a bit surprised for the appearance of the entire residence didn’t change on the outside. It was as if untouched by time itself.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Amazing. The whole place didn’t change in all these years.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">With some excitement fueling my spirit, I quickly ventured in and searched for grandpa hoping to have a good old chat like we used to do back then.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Grandpa!!! It’s me!!! Chun Lei!!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“……………………………….”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Nobody replied so I took the opportunity to go deeper and wonder aimlessly in the residence searching every corner of the entire place. As I wondered inside this place, I noticed that there was a lot of notable changes within grandpa’s house.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">The plants in the garden he used to handle with utmost care were gone, most of grandpa’s belongings were missing, including grandpa himself.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Suspecting that something must have happened here, I began searching for some clues in the residence hoping to learn something about this situation. Regrettably, I didn’t find anything useful to help me solve this problem. As I was leaving the residence from the front gate, suddenly I met someone outside coming this way.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Hm? A visitor?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">A young lad with a short red hair, probably around my age, came to greet me at the front gate.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Who is this person? Is he an acquaintance of grandpa or maybe a relative of that I haven’t met? No matter which is it, I need to know about this guy is and what’s his business here.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Um. Who are you?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“My name is Hong Yue. I’m the current caretaker of this residence.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">He politely introduced himself to me. Grandpa hired a caretaker? Since when and why? For all I know, grandpa was not fond of having a caretaker to look after his residence. So I proceed to ask more question to Hong-san.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Hong-san, do you perhaps know where the owner of this residence is right now?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">As I asked him, he had a puzzling expression on his face. Was there something wrong with my question or he simply didn’t know grandpa’s location. When I was in the process of deciding which one is which, he answered me with another question.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“……….May I ask who are you and your relation to him?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Oh right. I still haven’t introduced myself to him. How rude of me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“My name is Wang Chun Lei and I am his grandson”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">After stating my Identity to him, he made a shocked face for a moment and shortly he calmed down while nodding as if he finally understood something.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“…….I get it now. So that’s why you didn’t know anything.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">……….Huh? What did he mean? Is there something that I should know? Now I’m really curious.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Umm…..Is there something I that I should know?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">He nodded from my question and begins to tell me what I should know.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Yes. About your grandfather……..He died two years ago due to his declining condition.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">---!!!!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">This can’t be! Grandpa passed away!? Why now!? How come my parents and I didn’t receive this news that should have been two years ago? Did our relatives kept this a secret from us? More importantly, where are my other relatives that used to live near grandpa’s residence? I should have at least see or meet them on my way here, but I met none of any of my relatives.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“H-how did---No! I meanWait, wait! Before that---“

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Ahhrgg!!! Damn!!!! My mind is full of questions and its driving me crazy. I couldn’t even muster up asking a decent question at all.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Okay, just calm down. I’ll answer every questions you’ll ask of me, but for now let’s go inside and have a chat there.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Urging me to do so, I finally calm down and decided hear what he has to say. Hong-san invited me back to the residence and there after serving me hot cup of tea, he proceeds to the main topic.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“So Wang-dono, what would you like to ask of me?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“I would like to know the cause of grandpa’s declining condition.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">That was my first question. Grandpa might be old but he’s a healthy man. Maintaining his health was one of his top priorities every single day. So how come the cause of his death was exactly ironic to his daily health principles? What was the cause?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“….Before I was hired as this residence caretaker three years ago, his health was already declining. Your grandfather refused to tell me what the cause was whenever I tried to ask him about it.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">I see, so grandpa didn’t tell to Hong-san the reason behind it too. Was there a reason why was he being so stubborn not telling anyone about the cause? But Hong-san wasn’t finished with his answer.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“But if I were to suggest what the cause was, it might had something to do with his children.....your uncles in other words.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">………Huh? My uncles were involved in this?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“What do you mean? Did my grandpa and my uncles had a quarrel?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“They didn’t had a quarrel but they did had a disagreement on who was going to lead the Wang family and inherit the treasury.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Hmm… Did both of my uncles competed for the leadership of the family? And about the treasury…

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">If I remember correctly, the Wang family’s treasury was a vast vault contained with full of items, documents, jewels and many more that were kept and treasured by the previous successors. Grandpa, back then, was the one in charge of the treasury. But now that he’s gone, who amongst my uncles inherited the treasury then?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">By the way, my father was exempted from inheriting the position because my parents and I had already move out from this town and transferred to another city located at the other side of the Mist Continent, thus forfeiting his right to inherit it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“When you said that they had a disagreement, did you mean that my uncles are competing for the leadership?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“….No. In fact, it was the opposite that had happened. Both of your uncles didn’t want to become the next leader of the Wang family and were pushing this responsibility to one another.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">--Huh!? That’s totally not what I had in mind!!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“You can’t be serious, right!?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“It’s the truth, Wang-dono.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Saying it with a serious face and in a monotone voice, I was convinced that he’s telling the truth.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“But why!? What were their reasons!?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Hong-san raised his two fingers as he answered.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“There were two reasons to consider. One was the proximity of the family treasury’s location to the Demon Realm was extremely close, with only a few kilometers away. The other was the Demon Realm’s spreading influence to other neighboring towns and is getting stronger with each passing months, including this town.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Well… he was probably right. Mao-san, the first monster I've meet who guided me here, was my proof to believe Hong-san's answer. Somehow, I think I get it now.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">"So are you saying that both my uncles, together with their respected families, wanted to leave this town for good?"

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">"That is correct. To be more precise, they already left this town ever since before I came here."

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">I see. So that explains why nobody sent us any letters about grandpa's death. I could probably guess that my relatives, wherever they are now, still haven't known about grandpa's death.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Wait a minute. Even though we left this town, my parents must had at least sent our address to grandpa, right? So how come?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">"I have a question, did grandpa at least had received our letter with the information of our family's new address?"

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Upon hearing this, Hong-san made a bitter smile while agreeing to my question.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">".....Yes, he had received it, though it seems that he had misplaced it somewhere. Up until now I'm still searching for it."

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">I can’t blame grandpa since he’s already old and being forgetful of little things is normal. It must be tough for Hong-san here considering he’s searching a letter in a large temple-like house like this for two years. I’ll give him my family’s address later.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Now that none of my relatives are not here and grandpa is gone, so why was he eager to maintain this place? For what reason? And how come he knows a lot about the events that happened before he even came here?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">As I continue to think for answers, he lowered his eyes as he began to speak.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Wang-dono, I assume that you are thinking why haven’t I quit being the caretaker of this residence and how come I knew these important things that a caretaker shouldn’t know, right?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">---!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">How did he knew!? Was it written on my face? Or does he had the ability to read minds!?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“H-How did you know!?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Your face is too easy to read.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“I-I see”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Damn! I better be careful around this guy.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">As made that resolve, he resumed to answer my curiosity.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Believe me or not, but I became your grandfather’s trusted aide for the past two years. As his aide, he told and taught me a lot of things, including the history of the Wang family.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">……..I still don’t get it. Grandpa dislikes the idea of having a stranger to live and to maintain his house, so why did he took a caretaker, like Hong-san who is a stranger, and entrusted most of the things to him?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“He also told me that whenever he looked at me, he would always recall the nostalgic resemblance of his grandson in me.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">--!!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">I see. Grandpa really missed me that much. I’m sure it’s not just me but also my parents and my other relatives. He was really lonely. My uncles weren’t the only ones who caused his loneliness, but the rest of us in the family as well. I wanted to cry and apologized to grandpa, but I can’t do it now. I still need to know his reason why he hadn’t quit being the caretaker of this place. I’ll suppressed this feelings for now.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“I get that you became grandpa’s trusted person, but now that he’s gone, why hadn’t you quit the job and let the local government of this town handle it?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">As I asked this, He closed his eyes for a bit and then opens his eyes again slowly as he answer the question.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“It was for the sake of fulfilling his last will.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Grandpa’s last will? I wonder what that is. Hong-san continued his answer as I eagerly listen to him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“His last will before his death was for his grandson, Wang Chun Lei, to be the next leader of the Wang family.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">--WHAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!??????

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">ME!? The next leader of the Wang family!?!? What was grandpa thinking!??

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“W-W-Wait a moment!! Am I hearing this right!?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Yes, that is correct.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“B-But why me!? I mean you already know our family, right? I might be the first born son in my family, but my father was the youngest son. So shouldn’t it be more appropriate to hand it over to my first born cousins first, than handing it to me?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">In the Wang family, it was tradition for the eldest son to inherit the leadership from his father, who previously inherited the same thing. So why would grandpa go against this tradition, by handing over the leadership to me?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“I also asked the same thing. But the only thing he said was he knew that you are the only one who can have it, for your father and your uncles had forfeited their rights.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">I was happy for how much grandpa had wanted to entrust me the family’s leadership. But what if I didn’t show up here? What would happen to the Wang family together with the treasury?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“But what if I didn’t visit here in the first place or if I were to refuse inheriting the leadership and the treasury? What would you do?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“If that were to happen, I would try my best in finding you even if it means searching this whole continent. My last resort would be at least sealing the treasury for good if I can’t find you.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">………Hong-san’s determination and stubbornness was really impressive, to the extent that he is starting to scare me. As I think about these, he asked me a simple but serious question.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Now then Wang-dono. What would you do now? Will you accept your grandfather’s last gift to you or would you refuse it like your father and your uncles?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">………From the way he conveyed this question, he’s really pressuring me to say “Okay, I’ll accept it”. But I can’t decide for now for this is too sudden for me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“You don’t have to give your answer right away. But you must think this carefully and decide soon. So for now let’s call it a day.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">Now that I realized it, the Sun is about to set as I gazed beyond the window. As I drank up the tea that has gone cold Hong-san stood up from his seat.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“I’ll guide you to your room for the night. Please follow me.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">After saying this, he went straight to the hallway. I stood up from my seat and followed him from behind.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph">“Ah. Yes. Thank you very much”

<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"TimesNewRoman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: ZH-TW;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">As I thanked him for guiding me, I went inside the room upon reaching it. For a while, I was thinking of Hong-san’s question earlier but I still don’t know what to choose. Deciding not to stress myself on this matter, I lay my body down on the bed and waited for my consciousness slowly fade away...