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***LEI***

When we arrived in the airport, we were greeted by my brother, Chen and my cousin, Bai. It looked like they took a long leave from both work and school. Bai was introduced to my friends as well as Artemis. Hugs and introductions were made and then we all headed to the Zhang Family manor.

My brother and cousin had prepared a small bus to take us to the manor. It took a few minutes to reach the manor because of:

1. There was heavy traffic on the streets; and

2. We sidelined on sight seeing since Xi'an was a very historic place.

Chang'an (modern day Xi'an City) was the capital for various dynasties all throughout Chinese history. Anyway, the ride was fun because Bai and Chen were as crazy as my friends.

Imagine the chaos inside the bus with their craziness. Especially when Bai had the same mindset as our resident troublemakers, namely Blake, Coby and Calvin.

We reached the manor by sunset.

The Zhang Family Estate was one of the oldest privately-owned structures in Shaanxi Province. It was erected way back in the Han Dynasty. Although it underwent various renovations because of how old it was, most of the structures of the estate still resembled its original version. The estate was located in the outskirts of Xi'an City and the entire property covered a lot of hectares of land. The main manor had a total of four gardens, eight courtyards, ten halls and twenty five rooms excluding the bathrooms. The estate had a total of four entrances, except for the back doors, and three villas were scattered in the forest west of the estate as well.

Yes, the Zhangs were crazy rich but I had decided to not have anything to do with it considering our family's history.

According to our family archives, the Zhang Family used to be part of a school of grave robbers, but then our family became rebels in the middle of the Qin Dynasty and rose to become warriors. They then became royal advisers during the Han Dynasty, the first one.

As the Western Han Dynasty prospered, so did the Zhangs. Our ancestors founded sects and started schools so the family members became scattered all over China, and then the world.

The Zhangs became rebels again during the Xie Dynasty reign, and then became purely a family of scholars during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Of course, dynasties rise and fall and so did my ancestors. We stabilized our status sometime around five hundred years ago. For a long time, our family continued being grave robbers, then government and military officials, and finally, established a legit business which had the Zhang Family make a name and become more prosperous, until the present time.

The Zhang Family in Shaanxi Province was believed to be the main family of the Zhang Clan, even if the surname 'Zhang' was one of the most common last names in China. My family's wealth was the accumulation of the clan all these long years.

Or so they said… But as I said before, I'd rather not have anything to do with it.

My friends were placed in the south-eastern courtyard, Artemis was in the north-eastern courtyard, while I reclaimed my room in the eastern courtyard (that place originally belonged to me).

Yeah. The Zhangs were very old and very traditional.

As my friends and Artemis settled into their rooms, Bai, Chen and I headed to the Ancestral Hall in the northern courtyard to pay my respects to our ancestors. I haven't been in the manor for more than a decade and I had missed many chances of burning incense in front of their name plaques. In South Korea, I would head to a temple and pray there, but being in my family's ancestral hall personally carried a different feeling.

Once finished, the three of us headed to Yihua Hall in the southern courtyard to pay respects to my father.

Yihua Hall was just as I remembered; its entrance was facing the garden filled with orchids and plum blossom trees, but it would take a few minutes from the main gate to reach it. I remembered the garden looking very beautiful during spring, when the flowering plants and trees were in bloom. It was a very beautiful view. But since it was summer the entire place looked very green instead.

We reached Yihua Hall and I saw a familiar sight; I saw my father on his usual oak desk, doing some paperwork. Although we were a traditional family, my father's office looked more western than ancient Chinese. His office had even more books and scrolls than the last time I saw it.

"I, Lei, pay my respect to father." I announced and bowed the traditional way; my knees on the floor and kowtowed until my forehead reached my joined hands that was placed on the floor.

"And so, the prodigal son returns." he replied, not even bothering to put down the document he was reading.

"I'm just here to visit dad. And celebrate my birthday, apparently." I pointed out.

"Yes. Xiao Bai was very insistent about it, especially since Chen'er agreed. Plus he will be adopted into the main family soon, so nobody really argued. And besides, you're also the eldest son, even if you have renounced your status as my successor." he said again, his eyes still glued to the document on his hands. "Oh yeah, have you already paid your respects in the Ancestral Hall?"

"Yes."

"Even to your grandmother?"

"That… uhm-" I hesitated.

"I understand if you're hesitant to bow to her, but she's already dead." my father sounded unsure when he said this.

"I know that." I replied, but I felt uncomfortable.

"Bai, Chen, leave us for a moment." my father ordered.

"Yes father."

"Yes uncle."

After the two left, only awkward silence hung around the room. I was still kneeling on the floor and father was still reading a few documents. The silence were making my ears ring.

"So, how have you been?" he asked out of nowhere after the long silence.

"Fine. I mean, I am doing well. My friends and I are also doing well in our career." I answered, trying to sound not too enthusiastic. My father was a very serious person. 'Humor' was not in his vocabulary. "We'll be starting our world tour and the kick-off will be next month. We'll probably have a concert in China so I'll send VIP tickets to Chen and Bai."

"I see. And your waist? I heard from Chen that you got hurt there."

"That was a long time ago." I answered.

'Why is he caring about that now?' I wondered mentally. Then added; "It's fine now and everything's going smoothly. I'm healthy and you don't have to worry about me."

"Hmm…"

Silence hung around us once again and I was getting hungry.

"So… uhm…"

"Those VIP tickets." he said in a low voice I almost did not catch it.

"Pardon?"

"You're sending VIP tickets to Chen and Bai, right?" I nodded. "Send me one as well. And try to tell me the date of your concert a week in advance so I can adjust my schedule."

Shocked was an understatement to what I was feeling when I heard my father's words. I mean, was he serious?

I was unable to answer. I only kneeled agape with my eyes really wide!

"You should go and have dinner. Your friends are probably waiting for you."

"Yes."

I stood up but my legs suddenly wobbled and I almost fell.

"Are you okay?" my father asked urgently. He was about to stand up himself but I stopped him from doing so. "But-"

"I'm fine dad. My legs just fell asleep. Kneeling for too long just cut off the circulation of the blood on my legs but I'm fine. Really."

Despite my weak legs, I made my way out of Yihua Hall and headed to my courtyard where my friends were already gathered. As I walked there, what just happened kept playing in my mind like a broken record. And even though I heard his words, I still could not get over the shock it entailed.

Well, I couldn't help feeling that way. After renouncing my rights as the successor years ago and rebelled against the tradition of my family by becoming an idol trainee, my father and I had grown distant. Even before I was scouted, we had never really seen each other eye-to-eye. We (more like me actually), tried to avoid each other as much as possible and when we do have to be in the same room, we tried to ignore each other's presences. We acted as civilized as much as possible, but the people who knew us and witnessed such a scenario probably felt the awkwardness and tension between us.

And then, I made my way to South Korea and we basically stopped talking in general. He did not look for me and I did not bother him. But after tonight, I couldn't help but feel relieved and smile at what just happened. Was he still the same dad I remember? But then again, during the incident two years ago, he was one of the people that saved us.

That night, they kept bugging me about what just happened but I kept my mouth shut and just enjoyed the hotpot that was prepared for us.