The Great Worm Lich

There was no hidden snarky cold attack that Zhang Lisheng had expected, nor the overwhelming emotions a usual grandfather would have after meeting his blood-related grandson who had never seen for over 20 years.

That short and slightly thin Asian old man, who was wearing a pair of golden glasses, whose facial features contained a faint distinction of Zhang Lisheng’s mother’s shadow, sitting more than ten meters away from Zhang Lisheng could only be described by the word ‘nonchalant’ in his eyes. He could tell that this person was very good at controlling his reason and emotion.

Instead, it was a slightly obese, white, old man on his right hand who laughed while discarding the card in his hand, “Carmen, you old fox! To think that you actually still want to continue playing even when you see your daughter back. You must have a hand of good cards in your hand! Do you think we’re all stupid and will still call the cards? I give up! Alright, that’s all for today! You and Jennifer should greet Lili’s family as well!”

He stood up from his seat and proceeded to leave but was stopped by Carmen’s extended hand.

“Pan, we’ve agreed before the game started that we’re going to play at least until the sun sets today, so how can you go early like that?” The first Chinese-American judge in the history of the aforementioned court in New York State said expressionlessly.

“But, we didn’t expect Lili’s family to come today…” The obese old man, who was also a judge, spread his hand and replied, but when he saw the solemn expression of his old friend, he immediately sat down again, “Oh, okay, okay. I know that you’re going to say ‘rules are rules’ again. Alright then, let us continue. Lili, you saw yourself, it’s not Uncle Pan who refused to leave from this card game and occupy your dear father’s time, but it’s because he’s just too old-fashioned and stubborn, and we have no other choice.”

“But it’s also because of this old-fashionedness and stubbornness that he’s able to become the youngest chief justice in the state court, isn’t it, Uncle Pan?” Lili smiled at Pan and quickly walked up behind her father. Like a little girl, she bent down and hugged his neck before speaking with her face close to his.

Upon seeing this, Pan sighed and joked. “Oh, my heart is broken. Carmen, I really envy you for having such a gentle and lovely daughter.”

“Envy me? What is there to envy about, Pan? You have four daughters.” Carmen finally showed a sincere smile on his face. He patted her daughter’s cheek gently but said nonchalantly.

“Ha, four daughters? I do indeed have four daughters, but it’s not like you don’t know that under the influence of Vivian, they’ve entirely become a thorough feminist! They’ve been using my name to call me since they reached adulthood and no longer call me ‘dad.’ I raised them and spent money to send them to college, but in the end, they call me ‘Pan.’ What the hell is this?” The obese old man seemed to have his anger elicited as he snapped, fully displaying the incredibly lifelike side of a severe federal judge, who always enjoyed high prestige and commanded universal respect in public, in a private gathering.

Upon hearing his old friend’s complaints, Carmen comforted without pain, “But they all love you, don’t they? Isn’t that enough…”

“That’s right, Uncle Pan! Did you forget how anxious Annie and Alice were when you’re hospitalized last time?” Lili who had a weight on her mind intercepted her father’s words and smiled at Pan. After that, she pointed at Zhang Lisheng, who was not far away and said, “Dad, that is Li…”

“Lili, all of you must be hungry and tired after a long journey of hundreds of kilometers, so why don’t you all go to the dining room for your lunch first? Your mom has just left the chess room for lunch, so you can see her and Joey’s family too. Let us talk at night, alright?” Carmen interrupted his daughter suddenly.

Lili was stunned. Disappointment could be seen in her eyes, but she still forced a smile and nodded, “Alright, dad. You’re in the middle of a card game, so it’s indeed not a good time to speak now. We’ll go for lunch first.”

“Go then,” Carmen patted her daughter’s cheek again lovingly and instructed the maid who had been standing at the door, “Angela, take Lili, Lavin, and the children to the dining room. Don’t forget to bring some sandwiches and milk when you come back.”

“Yes, Sir Judge,” The maid nodded and turned around to push open the wooden door. Zhang Lisheng bowed his head with a curl of his lips and smiled politely like how the Lavin family was doing before leaving the room behind the maid.

Unknown to the young man, when his back disappeared from the crowd, an expressionless, serious, black old man sitting on Carmen’s left hand who had not said a word at all suddenly opened his mouth, “Carmen, is that Asian child among the Lavin family just now the child Lili had with ‘that person’?”

“Yes,” The old Asian man frowned and responded concisely in just two words, before pushing out the chips in front of him, “All-in.”

“Oh, looks like you’re quite mad, buddy! Judging on this crazy and chaotic era, ‘that person’ is just a little character who can use some witchcraft, but your grandson is genuinely a big shot. It’s inevitable for such a successful young man to be proud, so I don’t think it’s wise for you to communicate with him tonight in such a manner right now,” The black old man smiled, something that he rarely did as he advised his old friend. Then, after calculating his total face value, he pushed out his chips on the table as well and said,” Call.”

Although Zhang Lisheng was often very low-key in his business, due to his growing reputation, the other judicial ‘gambler’s here had already somehow heard of the rumors about him before. They roughly knew that Carmen seemed to have an outstanding descendant, but only Pan and Rubeck knew about the private details.

It was natural for one’s curiosity to be raised upon hearing the conversation between the three judges at this moment, but out of respect for the privacy of others, nobody raised any question at all. They merely looked at their own cards absent-mindedly and continued the game calmly.

At this time, Zhang Lisheng, Lili, and Lavin’s family had come to a room with floor-to-ceiling windows on three walls, a simple style crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, a solid wood oval dining table, and comfortable dining chairs placed under the lamp.

There were already seven to eight people, both men and women, adults and kids, sitting around the dining table, eating fragrant steaks. When they saw familiar figures walking into the dining room, they immediately greeted them cheerfully.

One of them, a yellow-skinned black-haired woman, who appeared to be in her seventies, went up to greet them in surprise and hugged Lili right away. “Oh, it’s so great being able to see you today, Lili! It’s so great! You have no idea how much I missed you…”

“I miss, too, mother. I miss you too…” Lili let herself go and whispered in her mother’s warm embrace. After a few moments, she snapped back into reality and hurriedly pulled the eldest son close to her, “Mom, this is Lisheng, your grandson, Lisheng, whom you’ve never met before. I’ve wanted to bring him to see you and dad earlier, but I didn’t get any chance to do so until now.”

The old woman’s body stiffened as she just noticed the black-haired young man standing beside her daughter. After looking at him in silence for more than ten seconds, she frowned, seemingly remembering the unhappy past that was buried deep in memory as an expression of hatred appeared on his face.

However, in the end, she still stretched out her hand tremblingly and caressed Zhang Lisheng’s hedgehog-like short hair. Slightly incoherently, she muttered, “Good boy, I’m so glad to see you today. I know you are a great person, and I am proud of you. I can’t blame you for the past. I don’t blame you. You’re innocent, you’re a g-good boy. This family welcomes you. We welcome you…”

“Thank you, grandma.” The young man who came from a farm mountain village and had long become a god dominating a complete ‘world’ did not care about his maternal blood relatives other than his mother. Even so, he still smiled faintly when he heard this and hugged the old woman tightly for a long time before answering so in a sincere tone.

Lili, who was standing next to him, did not see his son’s perfunctory attitude. She breathed a long sigh of relief and pointed at a middle-aged Asian man who had put down his fork a long time ago standing at his seat more than ten meters away before introducing him to her eldest son, “Lisheng, that’s your Uncle Joey. Next to him is your Auntie Anjulie … ”

Lili had three other siblings with little difference in age. She was the youngest daughter while Joey was the slightly older third son; he and her wife had two sons and three daughters.

Upon hearing his mother’s introductions, Zhang Lisheng smiled and greeted each of his relatives one by one. When they had gotten to know each other, he sat beside the table and began to enjoy the steak meal without a word.

It was also apparent that the young people from Joey’s family between the ages of 20 and 30 who seemed to care more about rugby, ice hockey competitions, celebrities, and gossips, than political issues, seemingly having no idea who the hell this cousin who suddenly appeared out of nowhere was.

After asking a few questions curiously and learning that Zhang Lisheng had been separated from their aunt since birth and had grown up in the ancient and mysterious China, they did not dare to ask more questions under the stern expression of their father and the sad look on their aunt’s face. Very soon, they changed to another topic.

After lunch, Mrs. Carmen took the tired Lili and Anjulie back to the guest room to rest while Lavin and Joey, who served as district attorney, began to talk about various severe cases they encountered in the past year with interest. The young people, on the other hand, began to discuss the idea of going for some recreational activities in the bustling downtown.

“Randy, Harry, there’s an ice hockey professional league final game before Christmas at Winter Fantasy Ski Resort this afternoon. The New York Lightning Panthers are playing against the Chicago Evil Red Dragon. I didn’t manage to get myself a ticket yesterday, so I plan to go try my luck with the scalpers. Do you wanna go together?” Joey’s family’s eldest son, Beau, asked while beaming with joy.

“Ice hockey?” Randy curled his lips, “Oh, ice hockey is nothing compared to rugby. It’s just ten strong men who can skate pushing a dessert-like small ball around…”

“Alright, Randy! We all know that you have played the federal Super Bowl rugby game in college before. Stop showing off! Just tell me, do you wanna go to the Winter Fantasy Ski Resort to watch the game or not?”