"Old Five, your skills in chess have improved in these past few days! Have you been practicing secretly? Let’s play another game!" Zhou Tong resigned from the game cheerfully.

"Third Brother, why don’t we play again another day? Didn’t the little maid just say that Lan has come back?" Fifth Elder smiled and looked at Zhou Tong.

"Don’t mention that stubborn girl! If she had listened to me and married Xiao Sen, we would all be relatives by now!" Zhou Tong said, his face showing his displeasure.

"Children have their own fortunes; let’s allow them to make their own decisions," Fifth Elder Xiao Zhan said generously.

"What good fortune? Look at Xiao Sen, he broke through to the Heavenly Human Realm the year before last, but what about Yang Xiong? He still hasn’t achieved a breakthrough! It is so shameful for me!"

Zhou Tong was fuming.

"Cultivation is all about aptitude. Actually, Yang Xiong has been working very hard; it’s just that his talent isn’t enough, but he should be able to break through to the Heavenly Human Realm soon."

Zhou Tong sighed, "If their talent is lacking, the next generation’s talent is even worse. Perhaps, in a few decades after my death, our Zhou family will be kicked out of the Elders’ Council!"

"Third Brother, don’t you still have Zhou Cong? Why be so anxious?" Xiao Zhan chuckled.

Hearing the name Zhou Cong, a slight smile finally appeared on Zhou Tong’s face, but soon after, his expression turned solemn again.

"I hope Cong will successfully get through the ordeal of our Heavenly Secret Sect this time."

Xiao Zhan’s expression also grew serious, and for a moment, both lost interest in continuing their chess game.

"Yes, this ordeal will sacrifice at least half of our Heavenly Secret Sect’s disciples! I hope both my Xiao Sen and Zhou Cong can successfully avoid it."

"Alas, Old Five, let’s duel another day, I’m going to see what that good-for-nothing Yang Xiong is up to."

"Alright, I’ll leave first then." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I’ll see you out."

...

After seeing Xiao Zhan out, Zhou Tong then headed towards the drawing room, his sentiments complex. If something were to happen to his son, the burden of taking care of him in old age would fall to his daughter and son-in-law.

"Father, why did you just get here? We’ve been waiting for almost a Chinese hour!"

Seeing Zhou Tong, Zhou Lan hurried forward and clung to his arm coquettishly.

"I was detained with official duty just now. You know these days are unsteady for the Heavenly Secret Sect," Zhou Tong explained patiently.

"Father-in-law." Qin Yu stood up and greeted him with a bow.

Zhou Tong merely glanced faintly at Qin Yu and uttered a light grunt from his nostrils, then walked straight towards the master chair in the great hall.

Seeing Zhou Tong’s attitude toward Yang Xiong, Qin Yu was relieved; excellent, with Zhou Tong disliking Yang Xiong so much, inserting Yang Xiong’s identity into the battle at Prisoner’s Graveyard would be easy!

Zhou Lan’s face suddenly changed. Her father still disliked her husband so much; what should she do?

Noticing the changing expressions on Zhou Lan’s face, Zhou Tong more or less guessed her purpose and asked flatly, "Lan’er, what brings you to see me?"

After hesitating for a moment, Zhou Lan bit the bullet and said, "Father, could you please reassign Yang Xiong’s job? Every patrol rotation takes a week, and we are planning to have a second child."

A second child? Hearing this, Zhou Tong was momentarily moved; Xiang’s aptitude was average, but what if the second child’s aptitude was great?

Zhou Tong looked at Qin Yu with a hopeful gaze and nodded slightly; "No problem, your request is granted."

Zhou Tong’s prompt agreement to Zhou Lan’s request only made her more anxious, as her father had never thought highly of Yang Xiong. Why so agreeable today?

Also, what did that look father gave Qin Yu mean just now?