Unparalleled medical and martial arts skills, saving the CEO's fiancée at the start.

Su Youdao.

Su Youdao was his uncle-master, Ye Wufa's junior brother, and the fifteenth generation successor of Medicine King Valley. He went down the mountain twenty years ago and never came back. He was nowhere to be found, neither alive nor dead.

His master searched for his junior brother for twenty years. Every time he got drunk, he would mutter about it, then fall silent for a long time, his eyes filled with unspeakable longing.

"Grandpa, my uncle..." Ye Chen's voice was a little dry.

Old Master Qiao sighed, a rare sadness flashing in his eyes that had seen the world: "Back then, your senior brother offended the powerful Qingyun Chamber of Commerce. The head of the Qingyun Chamber of Commerce hired three experts of the Transformation Realm to kill him. Because his injuries were too severe, I tried everything I could but couldn't save him."

The study suddenly fell silent, so quiet that you could hear the tea gently bubbling in the teapot.

"Before Brother You left, he gave this jade pendant to me, saying that he had never owed anyone a favor in his life, but he owed me one this time, and he would repay it in the next life." Old Master Qiao's voice was deep and calm, as if he were telling a story from a long time ago.

"Grandpa Qiao, thank you for your great deeds back then, thank you!" Ye Chen's eyes glistened with tears.

"He also said that the disciples of Medicine King Valley will eventually descend the mountain, and if fate allows, they will return the jade tablet to their master's descendants. I have been waiting for this destined person for twenty years."

Ye Chen lowered his head, looking at the yellowed jade pendant in his hand, and remained silent for a long time.

The warm, smooth jade in my palm seemed to still retain the warmth of my uncle's fingertips from twenty years ago.

He had never met Su Youdao, but he had seen the look in his master's eyes every time he mentioned this junior brother since he was a child.

After a while, Ye Chen carefully put the jade pendant into his pocket, stood up, and bowed deeply to Old Master Qiao.

"Grandpa, on behalf of my sect, I thank you for your great kindness. Medicine King Valley will remember this favor."

Old Master Qiao gestured for him to sit down, then sighed deeply: "I am returning the jade pendant to you today to fulfill a long-cherished wish and to honor the spirit of my deceased loved one in heaven."

He waved his hand, his tone suddenly becoming more relaxed.

"As for your fighting, that's a matter for you young people. I don't care. The Qiao family's business has been passed down for three generations, not by bullying the younger generation."

These words were frank and insightful, and Ye Chen felt even more respect for this eighty-year-old man.

He had seen many cunning old foxes in the underworld, but it was rare to see someone like Qiao Yueshan who could distinguish between gratitude and human relationships so clearly.

Debts owed must be repaid, and interests that must be fought for will never be compromised. This kind of old-fashioned chivalrous spirit is not something everyone can possess.

Mr. Wu Qingyuan, who had been sitting quietly drinking tea, suddenly put down his teacup, stroked his white beard, and laughed: "Brother Yueshan, you've kept this from me for twenty years. I always thought the Qingyun Chamber of Commerce had just run into bad luck, but I never expected there to be this part of the story behind it."

"These are all old stories, and it's not something to be ashamed of to talk about them, since the person couldn't be saved."

Old Master Qiao picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then turned to Ye Chen with a complicated expression: "Young friend Ye, I've returned the jade pendant to you, and your wish has been fulfilled. However, besides returning the jade pendant, I have another question for you today."

"Please ask, sir."

"I don't want to interfere in your affairs with the third brother, nor can I. However, if I were to put you in charge, how do you plan to resolve this?"

That's an extremely tricky question.

Answering too forcefully makes one seem tactless, while answering too softly makes one seem guilty; striking the right balance is extremely difficult.

Ye Chen pondered for a moment, then raised his head and looked calmly at Old Master Qiao.

Ye Chen replied in a calm and composed voice, "Grandpa, my bottom line has never changed. As long as we don't touch the Jiang Group or Jiang Ruoxi, everything is negotiable. But if these two bottom lines are crossed, no matter who the opponent is, I will not back down an inch. This is my promise to Jiang Ruoxi, and it is also the rule I set for myself."

Ye Chen paused for a moment and then added sincerely, "However, after seeing you today, sir, I am willing to be a little more patient beyond the bottom line. As long as Third Master Qiao stops, all previous grudges will be wiped clean. I will heal Uncle Gui's injuries and take full responsibility for Master Han's injuries. I will pay for his medical expenses. But if he continues to fight... sir, you know my wild and untamed nature. People from Medicine King Valley don't cause trouble, but they are definitely not afraid of trouble either."

These words combined soft and hard tactics, giving the old man a huge amount of face without making any concessions on core principles.

Zhou Wantong, who was listening nearby, secretly gave him a thumbs up, thinking to himself that this kid was even more eloquent than his master was back then.

If Junior Brother Youdao had even half his eloquence, he wouldn't have had to fight three Transformation Realm experts all by himself back then, and the outcome might have been completely different.

Grandpa Qiao stared at Ye Chen for a long time, his eyes, which seemed to have seen the world, as if he were assessing or considering something.

Then he suddenly burst into laughter, a hearty and cheerful laugh.

"Good lad, as expected of someone trained by Medicine King Valley. Twenty years ago, a fellow Daoist stood in this study and said almost the exact same thing to me. The toughness in your bones is inherited from the same lineage."

Old Master Qiao stood up, patted Ye Chen on the shoulder, and his hand, covered with age spots but still strong, landed on Ye Chen's shoulder with considerable weight: "Alright, since you've put it this way, I'll give you a piece of advice. From today onwards, the grudges between the Qiao family and the Jiang Group end here. I'll talk to the third son, but you have to promise me one thing."

"Please speak, sir."

"Every Mid-Autumn Festival from now on, come and have a cup of tea with this old man. Whether it's the provincial capital or Jiangcheng, we're all family in the end. Fighting back and forth only hurts the harmony and benefits outsiders. I don't have many years left to live. I hope to see the younger generation living in harmony before I go. If you're willing to come, I'll live a few more years. If you're not willing to come, I won't force you."

Ye Chen smiled and raised his teacup to toast Old Master Qiao: "May you live to be a hundred years old, sir. I will come to drink this tea every year."

When Ye Chen came out of the study, his mood was much more relaxed than when he came in, but also much more complicated.

On the way back, Zhou Wantong was filled with emotion in the car: "I never imagined that Grandpa Qiao and your uncle had this connection. If your master knew about this twenty years ago, I don't know how emotional he would be."

Ye Chen took the jade pendant out of his pocket and examined it carefully.

Under the sunlight, the patterns on the jade pendant are clearly visible. A faint dark red pattern is visible in the strokes of the character "福" (fortune), as if it had been stained with blood and then washed away by the winds and frosts of time.

Ye Chen said in a low voice, "My uncle's jade token has been found, but my uncle's revenge has not yet been taken. Although the Qingyun Chamber of Commerce has long since disbanded, if the descendants of the three experts who surrounded and killed him back then are still alive, this debt will be settled sooner or later."

Song Tiezhu, unusually, uttered a single word: "It must be counted."

Zhou Wantong patted his round belly, his smile unusually fading. After a long silence, he finally said, "Go back and call your master first. He's been waiting for news about this for twenty years, so he should be the first to know, even more than I am his junior brother."

Ye Chen nodded and carefully put the jade pendant away from his body.

The jade pendant felt heavy in his pocket, carrying not only the entrustment of an old friend, but also a story sealed for twenty years, and an answer that a member of his sect had waited half a lifetime for.

As the car drove out of Longyin Mountain, the outline of the provincial capital gradually disappeared behind us.

Ye Chen closed his eyes and silently said in his heart, "Uncle-Master, I have retrieved the jade tablet. I will walk the path you did not finish back then."