Chapter 240: Fight Among Clans
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was the first time that Xu Dongkui had organized a family feast since recovering from his serious illness. Mo Wen had become a distinguished guest. In the villa’s dining room, there was a whole table filled with a sumptuous banquet while servants bustled around at all times.
n.o.body noticed that Xu Ling had discreetly come in to stand by her older sister, Xu Qianqian’s, side. She was pretty, had a cute look, and appeared to be a little afraid of Xu Dongkui. However, Mo Wen was meticulous enough to notice that this young girl was not afraid of Xu Dongkui, but rather Mrs. Xu, who was by his side.
“Miracle Physician Mo, it is the honor of the Xu Clan to be able to invite you to our family feast today. Although it is not some five star hotel, the chefs that are cooking are not any worse than the top chefs of five star hotels. Help yourself!” Xu Dongkui smiled and gestured, inviting Mo Wen to eat.
Xu Dongkui had seemingly realized that there were a couple of people missing in the villa, and he then furrowed his brows as he said, “Xiaoqian, go and get your third and fourth siblings to come down. Miracle Physician Mo has already arrived, and yet they are still upstairs. It’s too absurd.”
He had six children altogether, three sons and three daughters. Other than his eldest son, who had already pa.s.sed on, he had called everyone to be present for the family feast today.
Under Xu Dongkui’s attentiveness, Mo Wen also sat at the head of the table without formalities. When he had just taken a seat, two young people walked down the stairs. One was a boy and the other was a girl. They were about 24 or 25 years old and looked rather attractive. They had inherited Xu Dongkui’s good genes.
The two of them acknowledged Xu Dngkui before quietly walking into the dining room with their heads lowered. They chose corner seats at the table.
“That is my third sister, Xu Xiaopei. She was married off two years ago, and she has specially returned today for the family feast.”
Xu Qianqian sat down beside Mo Wen and discreetly introduced her to him.
Upon hearing that, Mo Wen nodded. Since it is a family feast, why is Xu Xiaopei’s husband not around? Just what is the situation?
“Her husband died in an accident three months ago. At that time, my father was still lying on the bed in a comatose state, so he does not know about it.”
Xu Qianqian sighed as she said this, seemingly having sensed Mo Wen’s curiosity. The Xu Clan was enveloped in an unbreakable curse. Misfortune constantly befell their clan. She did not even know if she would just die suddenly one day by accident.
Mo Wen nodded silently and did not say a word.
“That is my fourth brother, Xu Deye. He has not yet gotten married. He idles around doing nothing and only spends the entire day in his room playing games.”
When introducing her fourth brother, Xu Qianqian furrowed her brows, as if a little disappointed in his lack of effort and drive.
“Why isn’t Guangliang back yet? I think I told him before that I have invited Miracle Physician Mo over, and he has to come back tonight for dinner?”
When most of the people had taken their seats, Xu Dongkui noticed that they were missing one person. He inevitably started to furrow his brows.
The Guangliang that he was talking about was naturally Xu Qianqian’s second brother, the son of the current Mrs. Xu.
“Haven’t you been implementing reforms recently? He is still busy with things in the company, so he will likely be back soon.”
Mrs. Xu smiled as she poured a gla.s.s of alcohol for Xu Dongkui. There was tenderness and charm in her voice.
“Oh.” Xu Dongkui nodded. n.o.body knew why, but his expression suddenly turned colder.
“Miracle Physician Mo, let’s start. Don’t care about him. Here’s to you…”
Xu Dongkui had yet to finish saying what he wanted and had only just lifted his gla.s.s of alcohol. He was just beginning to stand up when a tall and thin figure walked into the villa, heading straight for the dining room.
The youth looked rather charming. His face appeared quite graceful and restrained, and there was a hint of coldness in his body language.
This person was none other than Xu Qianqian’s second brother, Xu Guangliang.
“Father, I’ve already said that you shouldn’t be drinking, since your body has yet to recover. Why are you not listening again?”
The youth took a few steps to Xu Dongkui and took away the gla.s.s of alcohol in one grab, before pouring the alcohol onto the ground.
“You…”
Xu Dongkui glared at Xu Guangliang. On the surface, his son appeared to be doing so for the good of his health. However, since when had he become so daring and impudent? Moreover, that gla.s.s of alcohol was dedicated to Mo Wen. In the presence of a guest, he was so embarra.s.sed that he did not even know where to hide his face.
“Dongkui, Guangliang just has your best interests at heart.”
Mrs. Xu hurriedly stepped up to mediate the dispute. She grabbed Xu Dongkui’s arm to get him to sit down, and her gaze subconsciously drifted to her son. There was a look of suspicion in her eyes. As his birth mother, she could naturally sense that there was something not right about her child.
“Father, I want to discuss something with you.” Xu Guangliang smiled gracefully with restraint. He did not seem to care about Xu Dongkui’s expression at all. He casually pulled up a chair to sit by Xu Dongkui’s side and poured himself a gla.s.s of alcohol, finis.h.i.+ng it in a single gulp.
“What is it?” Xu Dongkui said darkly.
Xu Guangliang’s mouth curled upwards as he said cynically, “I think you have aged. Both your mindset and physical condition can no longer keep up with the current tempo of society. Why not just hand over the group to me. You can just stay at home and enjoy your days.”
“Hand it over to you?”
Xu Dongkui inhaled deeply and put his chopsticks down. He looked over at his son before saying calmly, “To someone like you? Can you manage such a huge group? At 80 years old, I would not even hand over the group to you, much less now when I am only 50 years old.”
He had always known that his son was ambitious. Previously, he was rather satisfied with his ambition, as he felt that only a man with ambition could have a good career. However, it was a different case altogether if his ambition was continuously getting too big.
Moreover, this second son of his had huge ambitions but little talent, and he harbored evil intentions. Hence, it would be difficult for him to undertake major tasks. Handing over the group to him would cause the group to collapse sooner or later.
During this round of illness, he had been lying on his bed for several months, unable to settle any of the group’s issues. Many of the things were thus left to the second son to handle. In the end, the group was faced with big problems.
He had only returned to the group for a couple of days when he found that there were many issues. Whether it was the finances, allocation of human resources, or investments, there were a series of problems in each of and every one of those areas. Many of the problems could have been easily identified by even an idiot. Yet, those high-ranking officials of the group turned a blind eye to them or just did not bother.
Within a short period of a few months, his group had almost been ruined.
Ever since he had recovered, he had been very disappointed with his second son. It was just that he had yet to show it. A mature wolf would always have its eyes trained on external prey. It was only an immature wolf that would eye prey from its own nest.
“Father, abilities can be trained. If you don’t let me take over, how will I ever understand? You can’t say things like that. You are already getting on in age, you will inevitably need a successor, right? If you have a serious injury once again and something unfortunate happens, the group’s situation will also become messy and ambiguous. You wouldn’t want your life’s efforts to go to waste like that, right?”
Xu Guangliang took a drink of the alcohol and laughingly patted Xu Dongkui’s shoulder. His palm was steady and powerful, and he looked like a leader commending his subordinates.
“Xu Guangliang, you’re being rude! Who let you talk to father that way?”
Xu Qianqian slammed her palm on the table and fiercely stood up in an instant. Today, her second brother was crossing the line. There were actually still people who talked to her father like that.
“Xu Qianqian, who do you think you are? There’s nothing concerning you here.”
Xu Guangliang glared coldly at Xu Qianqian. He squinted slightly, and a dangerous look flashed through his eyes. As for Mo Wen, he had yet to make eye contact with him. It was as if he had become air to be treated as non-existent.
“Who do I think I am? Indeed, you have never valued us brothers and sisters.”
Xu Qianqian inhaled deeply, and her gaze gradually turned cold. All along, their relations.h.i.+p with the second brother, Xu Guangliang, had been very cold and rigid. It was not different from a relations.h.i.+p with a stranger.
In reality, she knew that he looked down on them. He looked down on the third sister, Xu Xiaopei, the fourth brother, Xu Deye, and the youngest sister, Xu Ling.
That was because they were all illegitimate children and felt as though they were of a lower status than he was.
He even looked down on her and always found her an eyesore because she had lost her mother and older brother. In his eyes, he was the rightful master of the household. Other than that, the rest of the siblings were just enemies that were competing with him for the family properties.
However, he had forgotten that he was also but a mere illegitimate child. If her mother had not pa.s.sed on, and if that woman had not seduced her father, he would not be anything.
The argument in the dining room had caused the atmosphere to become tense. Only a few had dared to speak at all.
At this time, the young girl was decently sitting on her chair clinging to her bowl of rice. Her gaze was on her bowl, as she did not even dare to lift her head.
As for Xu Xiaopei and Xu Deye, their heads were hanging low and they remained silent.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Xu behaved as though nothing had happened as she minded her own business, getting the dishes and eating her rice. Her actions were graceful and meticulous, thoroughly displaying the gracefulness of a rich lady.
Her eyes did not look at Xu Dongkui from beginning to end. With regards to her son’s impudence, she had directly turned a blind eye.
“Xiaoqian, sit down.”
Xu Dongkui pulled out a hankerchief and wiped his hand. He extended his hand to gesture for Xu Qianqian to sit back down. Then, he slowly looked over at Xu Guangliang and the wife beside him.
“What you’re saying is correct. I am getting on in age, and it is hard to predict death and many other things about the world. It is hard to say, but I may just pa.s.s on anytime. As for the inheritance of the group, I should indeed prepare early. However, the will has already been drafted. It has been split into two pieces. One of the doc.u.ments has been handed over to a renowned security firm overseas, and the other has been handed to a renowned local law firm.
“However, it is a pity that the successor in the will is not you.”
Xu Dongkui looked at his group of children, and a complex feeling that only he understood rose within him. He suddenly realized that this family did not feel like a family. It was so cold.
“Old fool, I know what you are thinking without even you having to say. Who doesn’t know that ever since the eldest, Xu Jianye, pa.s.sed on, you have chosen the wretched Xu Qianqian as the successor? You’re really a fool to hand over the clan’s enterprise to a woman. When she gets married off in the future, will your group still be under the surname Xu? Would all this that you have worked so hard on for half of your life be even related to you anymore?
“It’s a pity that back when I poisoned Xu Jianye, I did not kill this b*tch off as well. She has caused so much trouble and even got someone to cure your illness. It was a very unwise move on my part.”
Xu Guangliang’s mouth curled up into a cold smile. The darkness in his face became even darker, and the coldness in his eyes was enough to send a s.h.i.+ver down one’s spine.
Naturally, he had clearly known Xu Dongkui’s intention right from the start. He had long known that he was nurturing that b*tch, Xu Qianqian, to be the successor. If he allowed him to be the successor, the things today naturally would not have happened.
“What did you say?” Xu Qianqian stood up abruptly. Her little face was beyond pale as she looked soullessly at Xu Guangliang.