Jie walked out feeling a strange comfort. In the end, he really couldn't hate Zhou Ning. After all, she raised him to be who he was today. And she even loved him like a mother just in her own twisted way. He was actually glad to find out that there was at least a reasonable cause behind everything that she did. And she didn't try to play the blame game.
Zhou Ning accepted it that she was indeed the one in wrong but from her perspective, He Susu wasn't right either. But that was just her own thinking. She could have done worse. She could have killed Jie after stealing him but she didn't do such a thing. She gave him an honorable status of being the eldest son of Ye family. It meant a lot to him.
He drove to the military Compound to find his father but learned that he was at the Military Sanitarium. Therefore, he had to make a detour there.
"Hey, son! What brought you here?" Zhu Chen asked as he entered his office and saw Jie waiting for him.
"Nothing. I just thought of having a chat with you." Jie answered casually.
Zhu Chen scrutinized Jie for a moment longer before nodding and asking someone to bring coffee for both of them. Soon, the coffee was carried inside with a couple of snacks to go with. Jie picked up his coffee cup but didn't take a sip, his eyes were looking at the steam that was dissipating from the hot coffee.
A moment ago, that steam was there but in the next moment, it was lost. It reminded him of how life was working around him. It felt like a moment ago, he was Ye Jie and in the next, he was Zhu Jie. He sighed heavily at the thought. The number of people in the Zhu family he met in Imperial was overwhelming for him. He had to greet all the uncles and aunts that came with a lot of cousins- twice added, once removed kind of ones. After all, his first cousin was only He Jian or so he thought.
Taking a sip of his piping hot coffee, Zhu Chen's eyes didn't leave Jie. He had been seeing each and every frown carefully.
"What's bothering you?" Zhu Chen finally voiced out his question.
Jie took another moment before saying gingerly, "I was wondering about Zhu Family's relation with other clans of High Summit."
"That's all? I thought it was something serious." Zhu Chen heaved a sigh of relief.
After this, Zhu Chen started all the details which Jie was already familiar with. For instance, Zhu Clan was a second-ranked clan in High Summit. Sharing their position with Ji Family of Xia Imperial City. Above these clans was also the first-ranked clan; Xiao Clan. Wu, Fan, Hou, Gou were other members of the High Summit.
Even after listening to all this Jie was still perplexed. The one he wanted to know about wasn't even mentioned anywhere.
"Dad, what about the Shadowwick State?" Zhu Chen's eyes widened considerably as he stared at Jie.
"Where did you hear that name?" He asked hastily. Jie stayed quiet not knowing how to reply to that. Would being honest be a bit much?
"It doesn't matter where you heard it but don't mention it so casually again. Even the name of that place is a terror for people. That place is like an independent country, not just a state. Even the members of High Summit doesn't have the authority to reach out to them." Zhu Chen explained in a calm manner but with a weird look in his eyes.
"Actually, my real question is does our family have anything to do with Shadowwick State or not?" Jie was trying to pry out the information that could solve the mystery Ru left behind for him. The things his father said were already in his knowledge. He had spent a considerable amount of time in that state. Obviously, he knew about the people there better than his own father.
Instead of answering Jie, Zhu Chen went up to his desk and pulled out his wallet from the drawer. Coming back to Jie's side, he passed the wallet to him. Jie eyed it for a while before giving an inquiring gaze to his father.
"Open it." He heard Zhu Chen's voice and opened the wallet. Before he could ask anything his gaze fell on a photo inside. There were three teenagers in the photo. Jie could recognize Zhu Chen who looked just a replica of himself and his aunt Zhu Qinyang but the odd part was, he could even recognize the third girl in the picture!
"That's our youngest sister." Zhu Chen said softly with a nostalgic look.
"Feifei..." Jie voiced out softly which startled Zhu Chen.
"How do you know Feifei?"
"Let's start with you, dad."
Zhu Chen nodded and started, "Zhu Feifei, our youngest sister. She was always the aloof and odd one out. She never really interacted much with people. But to be honest, she was the brightest and genius star of the family. And eventually became the real pride of the family when she married into Shadowwick State." He sighed with a heavy heart again and went on, "But when people become a part of that family, they don't come back. Even though she's my sister, I don't know anything about her life anymore. She was twenty-two when she married and we didn't see her after that."
Although Jie could see that his father was a bit sad reminiscing about his sister, he wasn't the least bit bothered. Why? His mystery was solved!
How would he not know Zhu Feifei? She was Ru's mother; the lady of the formidable clan. He always looked up to her! Wait! 'If Zhu Feifei is my aunt and Ru is her daughter that makes Ru my... sister? A cousin sister but still a sister!'
He really wanted to kill Ru now for messing with him. She could have simply told him so but no, how will she get a thrill if she won't bother him?