Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 462 The Beginning of Childhood
Since arriving here, Wu Xie's purpose has never changed. He really wants to find out what happened to Xiao Ge, and he also wants to know about the people and things related to the wooden fish.

Hearing Wu Xie ask this question, Zhang Haike hesitated for a moment and said, "Although we are both members of the Zhang family from overseas, to be honest, I know less about Zhang Haisi than I do about Zhang Qiling. Not all the members of the overseas Zhang family are gathered together."

“We also have several separate small training grounds in the area near the southern coast,” Zhang Haike said.

“Zhang Haisi received his training in Xiamen from childhood to adulthood, while my lineage belonged to the peripheral group of the main clan before it moved overseas. So when I was a child, I received my training in the main clan with Zhang Qiling.”

"It was only when Zhang Wuxun appeared in your life that I first learned of Zhang Haisi's name," Zhang Haike said, shaking his head in regret.

"Most of the information about his missions in Southeast Asia is classified, and I don't have the authority to access it for you. After he came of age and returned to his master's house, contact between him and the Southeast Asian side was cut off, and I don't know much more about him."

Wu Xie pursed his lips. "I understand. Then just tell me about Xiao Ge. The more details the better."

Zhang Haike nodded. "I lived with the so-called 'younger brother' you mentioned for a long time. We started training together when he was two years old. Do you know how many years ago it was when he was two?"

Wu Xie remembered that Mu Yu had mentioned before that Xiao Ge belonged to the same generation as his grandfathers in several clans. He had just learned that Mu Yu's grandfather was born in 1903, so according to this calculation, Xiao Ge should be...

Wu Xie's lips twitched a few times, and he hesitated before asking, "A hundred years?"

The fat man, who was thirsty, moved off the bed and was standing by the table, taking a sip of tea from the teapot. But Wu Xie's words startled him so much that he spat it out. Zhang Wuxun and Zhang Haike, who were sitting opposite him, simultaneously bent over to dodge, kicking the table leg and sending their chairs sliding off the floor.

The kicked table slammed forward and hit the fat man in the stomach, almost giving him a heart attack.

Fatty: "Cough cough cough... Ugh... You guys are trying to murder me!"

Wu Xie quickly handed him a handkerchief, not knowing what to say. "Why are you getting so excited? The Zhang family is known for its longevity. It's normal for them to live to be over a hundred. We even saw someone who lived to be over one hundred and forty in the Ancient Tower before."

"Fatty just feels... cough cough, it's a bit unexpected." Fatty wiped his face and wiped the table with a handkerchief. "Well, you guys continue, don't mind me, keep talking."

Zhang Haike then sighed, "The year he was born, a huge event happened in our Zhang family. This event was the beginning of everything, and also the root of all our decline."

The story is long, but not many. Zhang Haike himself doesn't have much talent for storytelling; he usually just jumps around in circles, talking about whichever place comes to mind first.

For a long time, the Zhang family has been very strict about intermarriage. The Zhang family is very large and can control almost everything. This family usually engages in endogamy in order to ensure the purity of the family bloodline.

Fortunately, the family was large and its branches covered a wide geographical area, so no awkward problems arose.

However, the young man was an anomaly in this family. No one knew who his mother was; all that was said was that one cold winter, his father had been transporting goods from Nepal for a long time and returned carrying an infant in his arms. Without a mother's care, and amidst rumors of impure bloodlines from interracial unions, the young man grew up in a rather chaotic environment.

When he was still young and naive, he didn't even know who his father was. In such a huge system where strength was the only measure of power, children without protection usually had a very difficult childhood, and countless children died young.

Growing up in such a terrible environment, where death and stench filled the air, and cruelty and reality overlapped, with no close friends to confide in, everyone was mechanical and numb in that cold environment. This is largely why the young man later became unwilling to talk much.

The Zhang family ancestral home at that time was located in the Jinling Mountain area. It consisted of seven Ming and Qing dynasty buildings connected together, with as many as thirteen courtyards. This was only the residence of the Zhang family's main family.

Beyond the village, there are dozens of Zhang family outlying houses. Extending outwards from these outlying houses, villages within a radius of dozens of miles all belong to the Zhang family's outlying households.

Although they all share the surname Zhang, are all highly capable, and control many people, the hierarchy is strictly defined, with the Zhang family holding a much higher status than outsiders.

Zhang Haike was a child from another branch of the Zhang family, so he rarely had the opportunity to visit the main family mansion. When he did occasionally enter the main family compound, it was always when he went in with his elders to pay New Year's visits.

Because of his parents' status, most of the children in his family are arrogant, and other children in the family are not very willing to play with him.

The belief that the strong are respected and power is supreme has been instilled in their minds since childhood as a guiding principle. Even if there is no conflict of interest or subordination among them at this time, this sense of rejection and arrogance is an instinct influenced and assimilated by the surrounding atmosphere.

However, Zhang Haike didn't really care too much about this, because to him, the authority represented by the Zhang family's main branch was only obtained through the support of the Zhang family's external clans; it was a tacit understanding formed by blood ties.

Moreover, he believed that as an outsider, he could live more freely. His own family had many rules and regulations, which put too much pressure on people. These rules and regulations were like chains tightly binding his neck. Even though he didn't understand them when he was young, he instinctively rejected such an atmosphere.

What particularly bothered Zhang Haike was that he often saw a very withdrawn child at his family's house. This child didn't speak and didn't play with the other children.

When not training, the child would just sit quietly in the courtyard or stand under the pillars by the courtyard, staring blankly at the small patch of blue sky peeking out above the courtyard.

Zhang Haike found it particularly strange; this child was very special. After several encounters, Zhang Haike became increasingly curious about the child and wanted to learn more about him.

Moreover, this child was not well-liked by the other children in his own family, which inevitably gave him a sense of kinship and affection.

Finally, one day, his father took him to the clan to handle some business. While his father and other clansmen were discussing matters, he wandered around for a while, but found it uninteresting. So he went to find that child, who was only three years old at the time, Zhang Qiling.

Good night

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(End of this chapter)