Ryan slowly got up from his bed and left the room after hearing a commotion at the front door of his house.
Upon arrival, he saw the village chief sitting on a chair in the house's front garden with other people dressed grandly.
Ryan saw the people and was puzzled as he had never seen these people.
If merchants are clamoring to buy his wine recipe, claiming they are from well-established companies in famous cities around the capital, they will never reach the house. The village chief would show them martial strength and escort them out of the village politely if they listened, or they would be thrown out after a hard warning.
There are now many martial masters and grandmasters in the village after Ryan sold them the wine at a low price. This boosted the martial arts levels in the village within three years and attracted many martial artists from afar to buy some bottles, as they were never sold outside the village due to low productivity.
Ryan never considered boosting productivity because the wine was simply his way of helping the village gain fame in the surrounding areas, and the villagers earned extra money by entertaining guests who visited for fur and wine.
Although the recipe is valuable, it is not unique in the outside world. So, if the village chief brought them here, they might not be interested in purchasing a wine recipe from him but rather from someone important from other places.
Seeing Ryan coming out of the house, the village chief came near him and showed a young man sitting proudly there while watching the surroundings disdainfully, and the other guard captain standing behind him stood respectfully while watching the village chief with respect and fear.
"He is your cousin who has visited from the capital to take you back to your uncle," the village chief said.
"My cousin? Village chief, what are you talking about? I don't have any relatives. My parents were both orphans.
"My mother was raised from childhood by the villagers after her family died mysteriously, and my father is a hunter who lost his family in a bandit raid and settled in the village. I don't have any rich cousins in the empire's capital," Ryan said slowly, looking perplexed.
The village chief realized Ryan didn't fully grasp his words, so he explained again, "The young man sitting there claims to be your grandfather's grandson. His father instructed him to bring your grandfather to the capital, as he has now married his superior's daughter and settled down in the empire's capital."
"He agreed to do the blood mixing test to prove the identity, so I have come here in search of your grandfather," the chief asked.
Ryan immediately remembered that the blood-mixing technique is typically used by martial artists and cultivators to identify their descendants. When they become famous, many people may claim to be their descendants, and to prevent the issue of mistakenly recognizing the wrong people as family, this technique was developed.
After learning that the technique doesn't harm anyone and the blood drawn cannot be used for other purposes, such as curses, because it is mixed with various medicines, making it redundant, it can only be used to recognize descendants. Ryan sighed and believed the young man halfway, but since he hasn't seen his uncle and doesn't know what he looks like, he remained vigilant for any foul play by outsiders who might come and act as his grandfather's descendants for his wealth.
Ryan then held his head and said to the village chief, "Grandfather has gone to see the farms again. As early as 2 years ago, he hired a few outsiders who came to settle here to take care of the farms, so he could make his grandfather rest easy and take care of his health. But his grandfather never listens to words of rest. He always goes to the farms in the morning to check them and then goes to his friend's home for lengthy chats. He should be returning by now."
As they were talking, an elderly John, now using a walking stick for support and with his long hair tied into a bun on his head, wearing silk robes, could be seen slowly walking into the house.
As he entered the house, he noticed a few unfamiliar people standing in the garden. He didn't think much of it and walked past them, as he was used to various visitors coming to the house. He reached Ryan, handed him his walking stick, and began to wash his hands and legs to remove the dust from his walk using the nearby tap.
Ryan leaned the walking stick against the wall and went inside to fetch a towel for his grandfather to dry off after washing his face and hands.
By the time he came back, he saw the young man sitting on the chair now sitting at his grandfather's legs, massaging his legs and detailing the details of his father and his father's journey to the empire capital and settling down there.
"According to the young man, his father, David, has slowly started his journey as a small merchant and slowly earned money to support himself and became a big merchant after his mother loved and married him. she was the daughter of the president of a medium size merchant union, she gained support from her family and his family used it to grow exponentially as a well-known businessman. During the turmoil in the capital a few years ago, he seized the chance and became a lower noble in the capital."
Now that he felt he had settled down with a proper foundation, he always remembered Old John and sent the young man to bring him back to the capital to live with them.
Ryan, who listened to all of this while handling the towel, felt happy for Old John and asked him to do the blood test while explaining about the technique to Old John."
Old John excitedly agreed, looking lovingly in the direction of the young man who was now serving his grandfather.
The young then took a vial containing medicine and poured it into a cup, and handed it over to the village chief for proper check to prove he was not cheating and then punctured his finger with a small needle and dropped few drops on one side then Ryan took his grandfather hand and extracted few drops of blood without causing much pain and dropped them into the cup.
Normally, when blood from different sources comes into contact, it clumps together and turns black. However, in this test, if the blood is from the same bloodline, it will mix. If it's from different origins, the two blood samples in the cup will repel each other and remain separate.
The blood in the cup, as if reuniting with its long-lost descendants, quickly mixed together, confirming the truth of the young man's claim. Old John happily hugged the young man and invited him into the house.
There, they talked about the family, and Ryan learned that the young man's name is Drake. He is 15 years old same age as Ryan, and the second son. The eldest son of David is Rick is 18 years old and now helping his father maintain the property in the capital while Drake took on the task of coming here to bring Old John with him.
By the time the talks were done, it was already evening, and so Ryan arranged a room for the young man and arranged rooms for the guards in the nearby by inn.