In a seven-courtyard mansion in the capital.
In a spacious room, a group of people stood with their heads bowed, attending by the bedside.
The gaunt old man reclined on the bed, coughing violently. The people gathered around the bed immediately reached out to pat his back, but the old man waved them off.
"Today, I have summoned you all here to discuss two matters," the old man's rheumy yet still sharp gaze swept over everyone, finally resting on a handsome, tall, and slender young man to his right.
The old man coughed twice and took several deep breaths, as if speaking such a long sentence had already exhausted all his strength.
"The first matter concerns the appointment of the new family head. Xiaobai will be the next patriarch, with Lao Er assisting him."
Everyone was astonished by his words.
"Dad! All of us siblings are still here. How can you skip a generation and pass the family leadership directly to a grandson?"
"Dad, even if you passed the position to my second brother, I wouldn't say anything. But Sui Bai is young and has no experience managing the family. How can he possibly manage the vast fortune of the Qi family!"
"Dad, I know you like Sui Bai, but this is just too biased!"
The principal figures in the room shouted in disbelief.
They had initially thought the struggle for family leadership was confined to their generation, but who would have expected the old master to break convention and pass the leadership directly to his grandson, bypassing them all? How could they accept this?
The old man roared, "I'm not dead yet. Are you all waiting for me to die quickly so you can carve up the inheritance?"
Everyone immediately fell silent, daring not to utter another word.
The old man gasped for breath and beckoned the handsome young man on his right to approach.
The young man stepped forward and adjusted a pillow behind the old man, gently patting his back. "Grandpa, please don't get agitated. I also feel my own abilities are insufficient to bear such a heavy responsibility."
Seeing him say this, the expressions of the others softened slightly.
The old man sighed, "Xiaobai, you don't need to be so humble. I see your abilities clearly. Perhaps your uncles can do better than you, but our family is different from others. The decision of who becomes patriarch is not based on ability or talent, but on one person's recognition."
This statement caused an even greater uproar below, but only the eldest and second eldest, who stood at the forefront as the most powerful contenders for the patriarchate, vaguely understood something.
The young man also looked puzzled and asked, "Grandpa, what do you mean by that?"
The old man looked at him with relief. "Xiaobai, where is your jade token? Take it out and show it to your uncles."
The young man took a piece of white jade with peculiar patterns from his neck. The old man, with trembling hands, took out a box from under the pillow and retrieved a jade token from it, which was strikingly similar to the white jade.
The jade token in the old man's hand bore a seal script character "Qi," but otherwise, it was almost identical to the white jade in the young man's hand.
The moment they saw the two jade tokens, everyone's eyes widened.
Qi family's eldest pointed at the white jade, his voice trembling with excitement, "This, this is our Qi family's patriarch token, but why does Sui Bai have it? Did you, Old Master, make a replica of the token and give it to Sui Bai?"
The old man's eyes blazed, rendering him speechless with anger.
Qi family's eldest immediately realized he had spoken out of turn and quickly tried to rectify his mistake, "Dad, please don't be angry. I just wanted to ask why Sui Bai has this jade, I didn't mean to question you."
The old man's authority remained undiminished, his expression solemn with a hint of reverence. "The second matter I want to discuss is this: you have all been to the ancestral hall. You know that besides the ancestral tablets, there is a separate Hall of Longevity where the longevity tablet of a benefactor of our Qi family is enshrined."
The eldest asked in confusion, "We have all paid respects at the benefactor's tablet, but Dad, didn't you say back then that this was the tablet of one of our junior ancestors? We were puzzled back then why an ancestor's tablet would be a longevity tablet and not placed in the ancestral hall. You just smiled and said we were too young to know."
The old man said sternly, "This is what I am telling you now. The junior ancestor does not enter the ancestral hall because she is not a member of our Qi family. The reason it is a longevity tablet is because our junior ancestor, a living person, is treated as if she is a living person whose tablet is enshrined!"
"What?!"
"How is that possible?"
"The Hall of Longevity has been built for over two hundred years, and our Qi family has enshrined the longevity tablet for over two hundred years. How could that person live so long!"
Uproar! Shock! Disbelief!
At this moment, no one could remain calm!
With a look of reverence, the old man slowly recounted the story of the Qi family's ancestor. The crowd was filled with shock and disbelief.
The story was too impactful to their worldview, like listening to a mythical legend.
A look of reminiscence appeared in the old man's eyes. "The first time I met the junior ancestor, I treated her as an ordinary child. When my father told me, a little girl, to be extremely respectful, I only found it absurd and laughable. However, fortunately, that girl was very cute, and I treated her quite well."
"Thirty years later, I met that little girl again."
"At that time, I had already been chosen as the next patriarch of the Qi family, and my father was lying on his deathbed. The little girl inexplicably appeared by my father's bedside. My father, with his decaying body, tried to get up, but the little girl seemed to take pity on him and gave him a pill."
"That night, I witnessed firsthand my father's gray hair turn black and his withered, wrinkled skin regain its vitality."
The old man recalled the events of that year, his eyes filled with endless yearning and reverence, as if he were looking at a deity.
The crowd's hearts were shaken. Everyone present, except for Qi Sui Bai, was a direct descendant of the middle generation. The old man said it was forty years ago, when they were young but already old enough to remember. How could they not know what the old man was talking about!
Their grandfather, before his death, had summoned all family members. They had personally seen how his body had deteriorated. Yet, in such a state, their grandfather had seemingly aged twenty years overnight. It was impossible for them not to remember.
They vaguely recalled that at that time, a little girl was with the old man. They had even speculated back then if that little girl was the old man's illegitimate daughter.
However, they never imagined that the unremarkable little girl was the junior ancestor who had brought their grandfather back to life overnight!
Thinking of this, they suddenly remembered that twenty years ago, a little girl had appeared in the Qi family. She spent her days running around with the equally young Qi Sui Bai. And after the little girl appeared, all the ailments of Qi Sui Bai, who had always been weak, gloomy, and reclusive, disappeared.
Looking at the white jade in Qi Sui Bai's hand, which was so similar to the patriarch token, they could no longer deny it. Twenty years ago, the junior ancestor had visited the Qi family again, but they had all missed that opportunity, allowing this boy, Qi Sui Bai, to reap such a tremendous benefit.
For a moment, everyone looked at Qi Sui Bai with eyes gleaming green.
This was the favor of a true living immortal!
Although some were still half-believing, with so much evidence before them, they had no choice but to believe!
The old man coughed twice again. "According to the family records, the junior ancestor visits the mortal realm every twenty to thirty years. Now that twenty years have passed, the junior ancestor may arrive at any time. Xiaobai has the best relationship with the junior ancestor in the family. The junior ancestor is generous and magnanimous; anything she casually lets slip through her fingers is worth more than all the wealth of our Qi family."
"If you can wait for the junior ancestor to arrive before I die, then whoever among you wins the junior ancestor's favor will be the next patriarch of the Qi family. If we do not have that fortune, then I can only pass the position to Xiaobai."
As he spoke, a yearning appeared in the old man's eyes. He didn't have much time left to live. How could he not wish to receive the junior ancestor's gift before his death, just like his father, and live a few more years?
The members of the Qi family heard this, and their eyes gleamed again.
The old man could still live for a few more years, and they still had a chance!
Even if they couldn't become patriarch, seeing the junior ancestor's grace would be enough!
Amidst the surging undercurrents, a sudden ringing sound echoed from Qi Sui Bai's pocket.
Qi family's second elder immediately reprimanded, "Xiaobai, don't you even look at the occasion? Didn't you turn off your phone before coming in?"