Chapter 75 The Hong Household
The Mayor Hong of cloud mountain city had a very comfortable life. His grand uncle was one of the inner sect elders of the Sky soaring sect. Because of this, he had a lot of power in this city. There were other families of elders in the city, too, but they did not have any power conflicts, and their positions were divided by sect.
It was afternoon, and the Mayor had just had his afternoon meal. He was getting ready to have a nap when he heard some commotion outside. Soon a servant came running and bowed.
Mayor Hong spoke, "What's the matter?"
The servant, out of breath, spoke slowly, "Master, your Granduncle patriarch, with some outer sect elders, is here. He ordered a family meeting."
Mayor thought that if grand uncle Jia had to come to the city, there must be a very important reason for it. He hurried to the hall and told the servant to inform everyone in the family to come to the hall immediately.
It was now evening in cloud mountain city. At the hong family hall, all the family members and elders had gathered. 𝗳𝒓𝚎e𝚠𝒆𝐛𝐧𝐨v𝚎Ɩ.co𝓶
Elder Hong Jia sat at the head of the hall, with the outer sect elders of the Sky Soaring Sect quietly seated behind him. Elder Ji, Elder Zhou, and Elder Hong Guo were among those outer sect elders. Meanwhile, family elders from the Hong family occupied seats on either side of the hall, with the younger generation of the Hong family standing around the room. In total, the hall was filled with more than a hundred people.
Elder Hong Jia looked around the family in disappointment, his eyes stopped at Mayor Hong, and he spoke, "Minger do you know Han Cai?"
Mayor Hong looked confused for a minute. Before, Elder Jia continued, "He is the son of Han Dai, who you took bribes from, to get his son into the sect."
Mayor remembered the fat merchant who paid heavily to get his son into the sect. Mayor Hong started sweating. He spoke, "Yes, grand uncle, I remember his father."
Elder Hong Jia spoke, "Han Cai is very talented, and He is a disciple of the sect master. Even my grand Master Dongmei dotes on Han Cai too. Do you know your mistakes?"
Mayor Hong's back was drenched in sweat as he looked at elder Hong Guo. Seeing the Mayor look at him, elder Hong Guo shivered. Cursing, don't drag me into this mess. I have already been yelled at a lot.
All the family members had confused looks in their eyes about what was going on. Seeing Mayor looking at elder Hong Guo, Elder Jia turned around, looked at three outer sect elders, and Spoke, "Guo, you did not tell Minger about it?"
Elder Hong Guo's face became white as a sheet. So did the faces of elder Ji and elder Zhou.
Elder Hong Guo spoke in a feeble voice, "Uncle, I did not have the opportunity yet."
Elder Ji spoke, "You have the opportunity now. Go ahead and tell Minger what his mistakes are."
Elder Guo nodded, sweating, and spoke to Mayor Hong, "Minger, you took a bribe from the father of a talented disciple of the sect master of sky soaring sect for your personal gain. You brought shame to yourself and Hong Family".
Mayor Hong felt all his blood going dry. Did he offend the sect master?
Mayor Hong bowed and started crying. He spoke in a fearful tone," I did not mean to offend the sect master. I will return all the gold coins his father paid and give them businesses in our cloud mountain city. I will make it right grand uncle. Please forgive me".
Elder Hong Jia shook his head. " You still don't get it. It is not the sect master who is offended by you. As I said, Han Cai is doted on by my grandmaster, and I never get to have an audience with my grandmaster. For the first time, I was called by him and scolded in front of the whole sect. Not only did you bring shame to yourself, but you brought shame to the whole hong family and me.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR MISTAKES, MINGER?" at this point, the elder was yelling.
He continued, " You dare to say that you will give his family some businesses in cloud mountain city? Are those businesses yours to give him? If he wants, he can have the whole cloud mountain city and throw you out. He only needs to mention it once, and our Hong family will be done for."
Hong family members started trembling in fear. They finally realized the gravity of the situation. Everyone knew how upright Patriarch was. Because of him, the sect trusted his family with Cloud Mountain city. Getting yelled at by his grandmaster because of his family's shameful acts. Patriarch had the right to be furious.
They felt very regretful as Patriarch, who was an upright person, had to suffer because of their misdeeds and greediness. This could really hurt them. If He lost the trust he had built, why would the sect let his family manage the city?
Mayor Hong dropped to his knees, bowed, and spoke with tears all over his face, "I know my mistakes. Please punish me, grand uncle."
Elder Hong Jia's voice softened. "Good thing Han Cai doesn't bear any grudges with our family. If he had any grudge because of you stifling his father out of his life savings, The whole Hong Family would have suffered, including me. But when he was asked by inner sect discipline hall elders how the sect should treat our family, he said it was because of the Hong family he was able to join the sect, so the Hong family has his gratitude."
The hall was silent, and everyone was trying to digest the implications of elder hong's words. They just escaped a calamity.
After a while, Patrirach spoke again," Seeing that Han Cai has no grudges against our family, the grandmaster has asked me to make this right. Since Han Cai is a core disciple now, his family is the responsibility of the sect. So the sect has decided that His family should move to the cloud mountain city. The sect has assigned me and the hong family this responsibility."
Patriarch sighed and continued, "You will take all the responsible elders and martial artists from the Hong family and depart towards their town immediately. Bring them safely back to Cloud mountain city and settle them here. Take care of their accommodation and finances too. Also, make sure they are treated respectfully, especially his father. Han Cai is most attached to his father. Even if you can't bring every one of Han household, make sure to bring his father with respect. Guo, Ji, and Zhou, you will go with him, do not dare mess this up. Because of my position in the sect, I can not visit their town openly, but I will be watching your every move. I hope you will not disappoint me anymore."
Elder Guo, Elder Ji, Elder Zhou, Mayor Hong, and Family members bowed together and said, "We receive your orders."
Patriarch Hong nodded and left the hall. Finally, all family members sighed in relief.