Chapter 208: The Xiao Family's Ancestral Precept
Xiao Ye waved his hand.
The Death Warriors surged forward in an instant!
They pinned the few men who were still shouting directly to the ground!
"You brought this on yourselves!"
Feeling the murderous intent from the Death Warriors, the men trembled in fear.
"What... what are you trying to do?!"
Their terrified gazes were locked on Xiao Ye.
"You can't kill us!"
"We're members of the Xiao Family! You have no right to touch us!"
"The Xiao Family has an ancestral decree: we must never kill our own!"
Xiao Ye smiled faintly, a smile like a demon come to earth. "Who said I was going to kill you?"
"When you want to make someone suffer, death is the crudest method!"
"Men, throw them in the dungeons for me!"
"They participated in the murder of Xiao Ling. I have concrete evidence. Let them wait to be publicly beheaded along with Liu Loulan!"
Beheaded?
The men's eyes widened in terror!
'Doesn't that still mean we're going to die?'
And in such a horrifying way!
Most importantly, before death came for them, they would be in the dungeons, counting down the days as their demise drew ever closer!
That was the true torture!
In truth, only some of them had participated in Xiao Ling's death. The others had done dirty work for Liu Loulan, but their crimes weren't punishable by death.
"Xiao Ye, you can't do this!"
"I swear to the heavens, I had nothing to do with killing Xiao Ling! I'm innocent!"
Xiao Ye looked at the speaker with a grin. "Innocent? That word doesn't exist in my vocabulary."
"If I say you're guilty, you're guilty. As for evidence, I can produce ten pieces, a hundred pieces—enough to convince everyone!"
Their eyes widened in disbelief. They never imagined Xiao Ye would actually do something like this.
This was clearly fabricating evidence to frame them!
"You... you..."
"What about me? I told you to obey, but who asked you not to listen? Since that's the case, I have no reason to keep you around!"
With that, Xiao Ye waved his hand.
The Death Warriors followed their orders, first dragging away the culprits who had truly participated in murdering Xiao Ling.
Next were the ones who had been disobedient.
They struggled relentlessly. "I'll... I'll obey!"
"Let me go! I don't want to go to the dungeon! Isn't it enough that I'll obey you now?"
"From now on, you are the Patriarch of our Xiao Family!"
Hearing the satisfactory reply, Xiao Ye looked at them. "Very good. In that case, I'll be merciful and spare your worthless lives."
"Since you all agree to have me as Patriarch, let's settle some old scores."
「Three days passed.」
The entire Xiao Family was silent.
The Xiao Family was a Hidden Clan with a hundred-year legacy. The direct line of the family alone comprised nearly a hundred people, not to mention the side branches that worked for them.
In total, the Xiao Family had close to three hundred members.
Including bodyguards, subordinates, and so on, the old residence could house nearly a thousand people.
However, Xiao Ye only needed to deal with the direct line.
Of the original direct line, some were now sent abroad to work at the companies and create value for the Xiao Family.
Another portion was pinned down by Xiao Ye and forced to cough up a pile of things.
As for the disobedient ones, they were beaten until they became obedient.
The last group consisted of those who had stood with Xiao Ye from the beginning; they were now living the best out of everyone.
Xiao Ye used three days to carry out a major purge of the entire Xiao Family.
He then familiarized himself with all their businesses.
He promoted those who were truly loyal to him to important positions, while those with ulterior motives were simply marginalized.
Anyone who objected was still met with a beating!
Even the most stubborn person could be beaten into submission.
Not to mention, they were all pampered cowards!
「In what was once Xiao Ling's room.」
The dust had been swept away, revealing its original appearance.
The bedding had also been replaced with a new set.
Xiao Ye opened his eyes, got out of bed, and pulled open the curtains, revealing a view of a small bridge over flowing water.
In a daze, he felt as if he had returned to ancient times, becoming a figure like a Prince.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
A knock came from outside.
"Come in."
A Xiao Family member walked in. He was one of the first to follow Xiao Ye, and his loyalty to him was the highest.
"Patriarch, the affairs of the Xiao Family have been more or less taken care of."
"When do you think... we should hold the Patriarch's inauguration ceremony?"
"Only by announcing it to the world will your status as Patriarch be truly recognized."
Otherwise, even if the other families have heard the rumors, as long as the inauguration ceremony isn't held, Xiao Ye's claim will remain illegitimate.
Xiao Ye hadn't wanted to go through so much trouble, but since it was tradition, he had nothing more to say.
"Fine, do as you suggest."
"Since the Xiao Family situation is settled, let's aim to hold the Patriarch's inauguration ceremony within three days."
"Yes!" The Xiao Family member nodded respectfully. Although the timeline was a bit tight for the Xiao Family, they could still get it done if they worked together.
The Patriarch's inauguration ceremony, to put it bluntly, was a public announcement to the world.
Therefore, the internal members of the Xiao Family were not as important; it was mainly a show for outsiders.
Xiao Ye desperately wanted to tell Lin Chuyue that he was still alive.
But there were still quite a few people watching him from the shadows.
'To stabilize the Xiao Family, I should wait until after the inauguration ceremony to tell her,' he thought.
「Two days later.」
A villa on the side of the Xiao Family's old residence had been fully decorated.
This was where the inauguration ceremony would be held.
Next was the most crucial part—the invitations for the ceremony!
The invitations had to be handwritten, and with golden ink—in short, there were all sorts of requirements.
To finish them as quickly as possible, several Xiao Family members worked together, finally completing all the invitations on the last day and delivering them one by one to the major families.
Only seven families were qualified to attend the Xiao Family's Patriarch inauguration ceremony.
Three Hidden Clans—Ouyang, Diwu, and Zhu.
There were also four top-tier families, stronger than first-rate clans but weaker than the Hidden Clans.
If nothing unexpected happened, and the Xiao Family were to decline, one of these families was bound to take its place.
This was necessary to maintain the balance of power in the entire Imperial City, and even the Dragon Country, without it being disrupted.
「The Zhu Clan.」
Zhu Chen looked at the invitation before him. "Xiao Ye has invited our Zhu Clan to attend the ceremony tomorrow at four in the afternoon."
"After the ceremony, Xiao Ye will officially become the Patriarch of the Xiao Family!"
The members of the Zhu Clan looked at each other.
"Thankfully, we helped Xiao Ye before. Otherwise, we might have missed our chance to ride his coattails!"
"The greatest obstacle before the Ziwei Star has now vanished. The time for it to shine has come."
"Tomorrow, we must present a congratulatory gift to show our respect and how seriously we take this!"
"How about this..." Zhu Chen looked at the others. "Let's take out that long-sealed item of our Zhu Clan."
"Exchanging it for the latter half of our legacy inheritance is not a loss. What do you think?"
"Agreed!"
"Agreed!"