The Revenge of the Reborn Supreme Sovereign-Chapter 205 - 202: A Meaningless Apology!
"Hmph!"
At his parents’ desperate pleas, Qin Fan grunted in assent. Then, just as Qin Moran was about to take her last breath, he tossed her aside with a flick of his hand.
COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!
Gasping for air and coughing nonstop, Qin Moran felt as if she had just escaped death’s door. Supporting herself with trembling hands, she looked up with difficulty at Qin Chu and Wei Shuying, calling out weakly, "Fourth Uncle, Fourth Aunt!"
Before his parents could respond, Qin Fan shot her a cold glance and barked, "Still here? Are you waiting for someone to collect your corpse?"
"Xiao Fan, Chu, Shuying, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!"
Following Qin Fan’s words, Old Master Qin covered his face, wiping away the tears that traced paths across his old cheeks. He bowed the head that had always been held so high. These words seemed to age him instantly by many years. He had forgotten how long it had been since he had last said "I’m sorry." He had forgotten even longer since he had last wept. But now, this old man, who had always presented an indomitable front, was finally bending his proud spine as he stooped.
"Sorry? Hahaha! So the great Old Master Qin also has a day when he says he’s sorry? Do you have any clue how my grandmother died? Do you have any clue how much my parents and I suffered in the Qin family? Do you have any clue how the three of us have lived all these years? Isn’t it a little too late for your conscience to kick in? If ’sorry’ was worth anything, I wouldn’t have been bullied so badly during those years with the Qin family that I was nearly unable to care for myself! Perhaps you’ve grown senile and forgotten, but I remember every single debt! That’s enough. Stop peddling your worthless tears and emotional ploys. Go back and enjoy the Qin family’s glorious countdown to its demise!" Qin Fan spat out each word through clenched teeth, his voice dripping with contempt.
Sorry? If my recent actions hadn’t terrified him, would he ever have uttered such a meaningless apology? Although I’m only sixteen or seventeen now, in my previous life, I damn well lived to be thirty before the Elder of the Heavenly Dao took me away. In all those years, even when my parents were framed and thrown into prison, this so-called grandfather, Old Master Qin, didn’t say a single word in their defense! Against this backdrop, his "I’m sorry" sounds incredibly mocking!
"Xiao Fan, I know I’m not worthy of being your grandfather. It was my fault. I’ve wronged your family. It was me! But for the sake of our blood bond, what will it take for you to spare the Qin family? What will it take to settle this karmic debt? Tell me. As long as it’s something I can do, I’ll satisfy you even if I have to risk these old bones!"
The weariness of his final years was etched on his face, and the old man’s apology was a sorrowful plea. At this moment, Old Master Qin no longer possessed the spirited, strategic air of the Family Head; his gaze was filled with nothing but bitterness and desperation.
"I want you all to die. I want your family ruined and all of you dead. Can you grant me that? Hahaha!"
As he laughed at the heavens, a mist formed in Qin Fan’s eyes. At this moment, he felt no thrill of vengeance, only an endless sorrow reflected in his gaze.
"Old Master Qin, please go back," Wei Shuying said with a bitter twist of her lips, shaking her head. "From that rainy night five years ago, all ties between us were severed. The threshold of your Qin family is too noble for us; we are not worthy of crossing it. As for Xiao Fan’s words, he’s just a fearless youth speaking recklessly. Don’t take it to heart." Her expression was neither happy nor sad. The moment she emerged from her initial shock, she had begun to see this entire affair as a farce.
"I’m sorry." Those were the most futile, anemic words in the world. She had seen through it all long ago, during her years in the Qin family. Many hatreds, many grievances, were embedded in one’s very bones and blood. They could never be resolved by three pale, empty words.
"Five years ago, the moment you struck my back with your cane and cast me out into the rainy night, my heart died to that kinship," Qin Chu said, looking directly into Old Master Qin’s eyes. For the first time in years, he felt no restraint in the Family Head’s presence. "Frankly, Old Master, I don’t care how you or the rest of the Qin family treated me. But you never showed a shred of consideration for our blood bond when it came to Shuying and Xiao Fan. That crossed my inviolable line. I can’t count the times I thought about raising a butcher’s knife and killing you all, but I always held back. It wasn’t because I feared death, nor was I afraid to risk it all. I just didn’t want Xiao Fan, who has already suffered so much misfortune and humiliation, to also bear the title of ’a murderer’s son.’
"Of course, I’m glad I wasn’t impulsive. Thankfully, the heavens are not always blind, and it has granted this unworthy father a chance to be proud of his son. I don’t want to think about or bring up past grievances. But whatever Xiao Fan wants to do, however he wants his revenge, I have no intention of dissuading him, short of murder. After all, some debts cannot be settled with a simple ’I’m sorry,’ nor can they be washed away by time. Old Master, it’s getting late. Please go back."
After his quiet, detached words, he took Wei Shuying’s hand in one and Qin Fan’s in the other.
Under the gazes of Old Master Qin and Qin Moran, they walked step-by-step back toward the villa.
None of them—not he, not Wei Shuying, not Qin Fan—ever looked back.
Their resolute footsteps carried a belated dignity, taking them farther and farther away from Old Master Qin and Qin Moran’s sight. The distance was not just physical, but a chasm of grievances that could never be bridged.
SLAM!
The heavy sound of the door closing blocked the family from Old Master Qin’s view.
Under the brilliant starry night, in the fragrant garden, as the door slammed shut, Old Master Qin suddenly staggered and pitched forward.
"Grandfather!" Qin Moran shrieked, snapping back to her senses, but she was too late to catch him.
She could only watch as he fell.
Just as she, on the verge of tears, rushed to help him up, there was a sudden SPUTTER from his lips. A mouthful of blood, garishly crimson in the dim light, gushed from Old Master Qin’s mouth and splattered onto the ground.
"Grandfather, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me! Please, don’t scare me! Wait, I’ll call a doctor, I’ll call a doctor right now!" Terrified by this sudden turn of events, Qin Moran began to stammer nonsensically, fumbling for her phone with a trembling hand. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
But before she could dial, Old Master Qin raised a hand to stop her. "It’s nothing. No need to call anyone. I know my own body. Help me up. Be good now, help me up."
"Okay, okay! Grandfather, take it slow, slowly!" Heeding the old man’s firm tone, Qin Moran bit her lip, put down her phone, and carefully helped him to his feet.
"My cane," he pointed weakly to the cane on the ground.
"Let’s go back," Old Master Qin said, his voice a powerless rasp. He took the cane that a flustered Qin Moran handed him and swallowed the coppery taste in his throat.
