September.
The month before October.
Although it’s a golden autumn season, a ti of abundant harvest.
But the few fallen, yellowed leaves drifting down from the branches add a touch of desolation to this otherwise wonderful season.
The atmosphere along the riverside mirrors the mood of the season: so families have finally awaited their harvest, while others are slowly sinking into loneliness.
Take, for example, the Yang Family, which just a few years ago had proudly risen to prominence. Now, it resembles an elderly man in his twilight years. This riverside period is a precarious one for them.
"Oh! What about the Yang family? It wasn’t good before, but how are they now? The Yang Family’s organization has fallen apart, they’ve even moved out of their forr family ho and now live as a whole family in the dilapidated buildings of our southern town?"
A man in a suit, near the entrance of an old-fashioned restaurant in Binjiang, asked so people at the table drunkenly and with confusion after downing several glasses.
"What could this be? As they say, thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river! The Yang Family’s glory has declined, naturally a fall was due."
"I think so! Perhaps the Yang Family offended soone."
"Oh! If you put it that way, this reasoning seems more plausible!"
Hearing the man in the suit’s words, his companions chid in with their own thoughts.
After all, the rise and fall of the Yang Family has been so swift that even ordinary people were caught off guard.
But at that mont, the man in the suit turned his head again and said, "Hey! Aren’t you the one who always keeps an ear to the ground? Why are you so silent today?"
"? Nothing much to say. Yang’s luck has run its course. Fate is unfathomable."
In a world filled with gossip, curiosity was often piqued unintentionally. Seeing soone at the table who seed well-inford, others couldn’t help but look at him with interest and directly ask, "Ah! Let’s hear it. What’s that supposed to an?"
The man with glasses, noticing everyone’s attention, arrogantly adjusted his glasses before speaking, "Actually, it’s very simple. The Yang Family’s teoric rise in recent years was thanks to a person. This figure was simultaneously ancient and modern, carrying the family na Yang, a character like one from the heavens!"
"Yang Tian? Haven’t heard much about this guy! Ancient yet modern? Are you exaggerating with what you’re saying?" The man in the suit was the first to express doubt.
The man with glasses simply maintained his profound, knowing smile and said, "You may not know Yang Tian yet, but surely you’ve heard of Mr. Yang from Su Province?"
"Su Province? Mr. Yang?"
The man furrowed his brows, but soon his expression shifted to one of astonishnt. "You an, that... the giant of Jiangsu Province, Mr. Yang? Yang Tian is Mr. Yang?"
"Exactly!"
The man with glasses chuckled and said, "To my knowledge, Yang Tian is only eighteen this year, yet he has already beco a giant of the province. Guo Wenyu, Chen Hao, Jia Yu—what kind of n are these? But under the leadership of Yang Tian, Mr. Yang willingly followed the orders of this eighteen-year-old. Tell , isn’t this modern youth deserving of ancient reverence?"
"Guo Wenyu? Chen Hao? Jia Yu?"
Upon hearing these nas—n they would normally only see ntioned in day-to-day affairs—they realized that soone like Yang Tian commands respect worldwide. For the n at the table, and others, there was a mix of awe and envy, a simring desire to step into his shoes.
But the man with glasses hadn’t finished yet; his mysterious smile lingered. "Mr. Yang is not rely a provincial giant!"
"Oh? Does he hold so other identity?" soone asked curiously.
"Naturally!"
The man with glasses continued to chuckle. "The Southern Province giant Wang Jia, upon Yang Tian’s rise to fa, failed to notice Yang’s dormant strength. As a result, the Southern Province is essentially under Yang Tian’s control! Think about it, a super giant like this, wielding unchecked influence over both Su Province and the Southern Province—if the Yang Family couldn’t rise, then who else could?"
"No wonder I’ve always wondered how the Li Family, once the hegemon along the riverside, let the Yang Family suddenly expand to such an extent in recent years. Turns out, there was such a formidable figure backing them!"
Everyone nodded their heads in agreent, but the man in the suit couldn’t help his curiosity and asked, "Given Yang Tian’s stature, why has the Yang Family fallen into such disarray now? What happened to him?"
At the sa ti, everyone else turned their eyes to the man with glasses.
Seeing their curiosity, the man with glasses took out a cigarette and lit it. Another person cursed at him but quickly struck a match.
The man with glasses took a puff, exhaling before placing his voice lightly on the table. "That’s because... Yang Tian has disappeared!"
"Disappeared?"
The man in the suit practically scread, but the man with glasses gave him a sharp glare and said, "What’s the use of screaming like that? I heard from a friend working at the Li Family that Yang Tian left the country more than a year ago. Since then, there’s been no word of him, and moreover..."
"Moreover, what?"
Everyone held their breath, waiting for the next revelation. All they heard was the man with glasses letting out a long, heavy sigh. "It’s highly likely that he t his end in unfamiliar lands!"
Dead in a foreign land.
When they heard this, they finally understood.
From the words of the man with glasses, they pieced together that the Yang Family’s rapid rise was entirely due to Yang Tian. Now, with Yang Tian deceased, the Yang Family’s decline was inevitable.
Seeing the realization dawn on everyone, the man with glasses quietly added, "We’re all friends here, which is why I’m sharing this. But rember, now in Binjiang—all the families, the Jin, Sun, Baowang, and Wang—they share enmity toward the Yang Family. For Yang’s business, best you only listen and don’t repeat too much; otherwise, watch out for trouble!"
Having heard this warning, the n nodded solemnly, and others joined in agreent.
For a while, a certain sadness lingered in the air.
Was it a lant for a tragically short-lived prodigy like Yang Tian? Or was it sorrow over how dire the situation had beco in Binjiang?
But none of them noticed that, as they were engaged in conversation, a young man in black quietly sat alone in a corner not far away, sipping tea.
Only when the man with glasses ntioned the usurpation of the riverside by Baowang’s four families and the Fan Family’s occupation of the magpie’s nest did the man in black raise a corner of his lips ever so slightly, letting out a cold chuckle.
Then, the black-haired young man rose and ascended to the upper floors of the hotel.
As the youth ascended the stairs, the man with glasses inadvertently caught sight of him. He furrowed his brow slightly as a pang of recognition struck him. "Why does that man look so familiar?"
"How unexpected. In just over a year’s absence, the Fan Family, Jin Family, Baowang Family, Sun Family, and Wang Family have all rushed to occupy lost ground! Haha, it seems my departure truly inflicted pain upon them."
Back in the room, the young man who had been sitting in the hotel corner tasting his tea let out a faint smile as he reclined on the sofa.
This man was none other than Yang Tian, returned from the East Sea.
After spending more than a year around Long Shu and Honghu Port, monitoring the Yang Family’s affairs, Yang Tian had finally made his return to Binjiang.
But this wasn’t his first return to the Yang Family.
Because on his journey back, Yang Tian had sensed sothing amiss.
Indeed! There was sothing wrong!
Never before had such matters arisen.
When Yang Tian stirred up chaos in Japan, the Yang Family had once been on the brink of despair, pushed there by an alliance between the Fan Family, Su Family’s third master, and several other families in Binjiang.
But when Yang Tian moved with decisive power to block the heavens, he not only drove the Fan Family and Jin Family out of the riverside but also advanced into Taiwan to take over from the Su Family.
Yang Tian had resolved not to falter, and yet now, much remained unsettled.
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