Chapter 1168: Superb Acting Skills
Xia Ruya and Uncle Yu were shocked out of their wits.
They had paid the Wen Family a visit with the intention of humiliating them and a.s.serting their dominance. Who would have known that Old Mr. Wen would fall ill after being provoked by them? If others were to find out about it, the Li Family would be utterly embarra.s.sed.
Old Mr. Wen recovered from the discomfort after a long time.
Wen Xinya was finally in the mood to acknowledge Xia Ruya and Uncle Yu’s presence. Glowering at them in exasperation, Wen Xinya snapped. “Xia Ruya, I didn’t expect you to be so ungrateful. You were Grandpa’s granddaughter for twelve years. Yet, you humiliated him so blatantly. Your family is being such a bully. I know the Li Family is affluent and prestigious in Harbor City, but the Wen Family is also wealthy and powerful in Capital city. What you’ve done today is really petty. My grandpa raised you, the only heir of the Li Family, and you guys owe him a huge favor. We’re not asking for anything in return, but you can’t be so heartless.”
Wen Xinya was taking the moral high ground and criticizing Wen Xinya and the Li Family for what they had done to the Wen Family, in a bid to make them feel ashamed.
This is what the world is like. Regardless of what you say or do, you ought to stay true to your morals and ethics which are valued greatly by the Chinese. Otherwise, you would be criticized for all of your actions.
Reputation was very important to businessmen.
Even Old Mr. Wen still faced criticism for his ruthlessness during his younger years. Later on, Old Mr. Wen retired for the sake of preventing the Wen Corporation’s progress from being hindered by his reputation.
If word about the incident were to be spread to the public, the Li Family’s reputation would be ruined and they would be criticized for being ingrates. Not to mention… the Li Family’s business was still surviving because of Old Mr. Li’s individual effort. Xia Ruya was the only heiress, could she really manage such a huge business?
The Li Family was still going strong in Harbor City, solely because of Old Mr. Li’s tyranny.
Hence, the Li Family could not afford to suffer any damage to their reputation at this point, because reputation was a double-edged sword which could also ruin their everything. The incident about Xia Ruya’s virginity test was a good example. Of course, it could also destroy someone slowly like a slow-acting poison. Her fate in the previous lifetime was evidence of that fact.
Reputation mattered greatly in the upper-cla.s.s society.
No one dared to belittle the power of reputation.
“You guys, get lost immediately. You’re not welcome in the Wen Family mansion. Weren’t you guys planning to insult us? Fine… We’ll take this sum of money and the humiliation.”
At this moment, Wen Xinya looked extremely gaunt and pale, especially because of how fl.u.s.tered she was about Old Mr. Wen’s sudden relapse. However, her dark and gloomy eyes were rather terrifying and she looked cold, fierce and intimidating. It seemed she did not see anyone as a threat at all.
She was just giving in to them just now so as to change their perspective. However, Wen Xinya had never been one to give in too much, for she was no pushover.
For example, Xia Ruya indeed managed to win everyone’s sympathy by playing weak. However, if she were to overdo it, others would simply think that she was bringing it upon herself.
“Grandpa Wen…” Xia Ruya murmured in a bid to explain. However, she dared not continue after seeing how pale Old Mr. Wen was.
At last, Uncle Yu and Xia Ruya left the Wen Family home in dejection.
As soon as Xia Ruya and Uncle Yu left, Wen Xinya burst into laughter and stuck her thumbs up at Old Mr. Wen. “Grandpa, you’ve got really superb acting chops. I almost got frightened by you.”
That’s right, it was all just an act staged by Old Mr. Wen and Wen Xinya. The pills that she had fed to him just now were just some health supplements concocted by Du Ruo.
Their intentions were to teach the Li Family a lesson. Since they were so haughty and disrespectful, Old Mr. Wen decided to teach them a lesson openly and let Xia Ruya’s plans backfire. Doesn’t the Li Family want to use money to cut off all ties with the Wen Family?
In that case, the Wen Family shall deal with the Li Family using reputation.
Old Mr. Wen, who had just been acting like he was incredibly agitated, sat up straight and burst into laughter. “You’re not too bad yourself. If you didn’t cooperate with me, my plan wouldn’t have been executed so seamlessly.”
If the Wen Family were to take the insult, they would seem like weak pushovers. The Wen Family’s authority was not to be challenged and this was already his bottom line. However, if they were to deal with the Li Family using some harsh methods, they would fall into the Li family’s trap.”
The Li Family’s behavior angered the Wen Family by pretending like they could not be heartless towards the Wen Family even though they were cruel to Xia Ruya.
They wanted the Wen Family’s reputation to be ruined.
If their plan were to work out, they would have killed two birds with one stone.
However, all of their plans were ruined because of Wen Xinya.
Wen Xinya laughed out loud and said, “Grandpa, the health supplements seem to be rather effective. I’ll get Ruoruo to make some more for Xia Ruya. Didn’t she say that Old Mr. Li’s health has deteriorated? We shall pay them back for their kindness.”
I wonder how Xia Ruya would feel if she were to find out that we were just acting. The Wen Family has never been pushovers.
Old Mr. Wen applauded and guffawed. “My thoughts exactly.”
Since Old Mr. Li had given them such a great “gift”, they ought to return the kind gesture. After all, the Chinese were known for their good etiquette.
Wen Xinya glanced at the items on the coffee table and asked, “Grandpa, what do you plan to do with this money?”
Given Old Mr. Wen’s character, he definitely wouldn’t want to keep the money. Neither did Wen Xinya.
Old Mr. Wen said calmly, “Didn’t we just establish the charity fund? Since we’ve already been given the money, we might as well donate it to the fund. We’ll be able to help more people with it. It’d be good for the reputation of the Wen Family and the Wen Corporation. Since the Li Family has given us money, we ought to put it to good use.”
Wen Xinya had mistaken Old Mr. Wen. Although he had his boundaries, he wasn’t that high as to decline the money. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have accepted those 500,000 yuan from that woman and used it to establish the Wen Corporation back then.
After hearing his words, Wen Xinya was dumbfounded. Grandpa is really cunning. That old fogy Li is going to be fuming if he finds out.
Old Mr. Wen had no idea how valuable of a lesson he had given his granddaughter today.