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The west garden was built around a small pond and surrounded by many buildings that looked into it. Where there were no buildings, large stones came straight up from the ground and were just as tall. A small bridge ran from the garden to a small pavilion that stood, stilted, in the pond and let the sun in. The Grand Patriarch never came to the west garden but now he came often and liked to feed the koi fish that would gather around the pavilion.

He remembered when he was a boy and he would come to the west garden with his mother and watch her feed the koi. They would sit by the water's edge and the koi would swim towards them. They never were scared. They seemed to go wherever their mouths took them and he watched as they kissed his mothers palm and her bright face and he thought he would never forget her smile. But it had been so long since he had seen her and he did forget.

He stopped coming to the pavilion after her death. But his wife loved the pavilion and the pond and the west gardens and he never came. He lost her too and he thought it was all so silly. He refused to go to the places loved by the people he loved. Now he forgot many things and he loved the west garden.

“Father please, at least listen.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

At least he still had his son, he thought. He was proud of him. He grew into a fine man and he was confident that the family would be fine in his hands.

“Father, I really think you should rest longer.”

But now was not the time to show weakness, that much he was sure of. Now was not the time to lose his wits.

“Don't make me repeat myself.”

“Father, I just think you're rushing things.”

“You saw it too, this is something the other families need to know.”

“But, father, we can't be sure.”

He raised his voice in anger.”Do you really think I would be so incompetent.”

His son said nothing

“Huh, boy. Just because I let you sit in that chair doesn't mean my mind has gone.”

“Father.”

“Father, Chun is just worried that we may rush things. After All, we haven't confirmed anything. We should be careful with this information.”

That's right. He also had a competent daughter in law, he thought. She was much more involved in running the family than his wife. He would have thought it was bad when he was young. But now he was much too old to care about trivial things. He had so much to be proud of.

“I will send a message to the other families in Yunnan. If you understand, leave.”

The patriarch and madam both bowed and walked away. He let out a deep sigh. He looked back at the water. It was calm and he could see his own reflection. He must have scared them away when he got angry, he thought.

“You need to be strong, boy. I'm afraid I won't be able to help you for much longer.”

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