1224 It“s Not For You To Elect The Master
at the gu residence.
the clan relatives were still waiting in the central room.
at the moment, the room was full of noise. gu xiande was not around, nor was gu jingze. even mu wanqing was not around. everyone was currently talking amongst themselves. it was so noisy that it was like they were at a market.
right now, these wealthy people who were accustomed to this, nevertheless, seemed like uncles and aunts talking in a disorderly manner about the gossip that they knew.
“i heard that he’s already dead.”
“how can he possibly be dead? they haven’t even found his corpse. they say that he went to a secret factory outside and is being controlled by someone using a chemical weapon. otherwise, how could those personal guards have died so quickly? but gu jingze is intelligent after all. he soon noticed that something was wrong and escaped.”
“does that mean he’s fine?”
“something may have happened to him too. but he’s missing right now. who knows what could be wrong with him?”
“in that case, who’s in charge of the gu family right now? no one’s here to take charge either.”
by then, inside the room, xue mengqi could no longer hold herself back.
she looked in front and saw that no one was going up to speak. the entire room was a complete mess.
at the side, the maids had already gone out of control and started to talk amongst themselves.
xue mengqi murmured, “the master isn’t here and neither is the mistress. what should we do now?”
“precisely. mr. president didn’t come either?”
“even if he’s here, he’s not the master. he can’t take charge of many things. furthermore, if he gets involved, it will affect him quite greatly. if others found out, it may affect his position as the president, so he has to think about this carefully.”
on the surface, xue mengqi appeared to hesitate for a moment. then, as if she had no other choice, she drew in a breath and stood up all of a sudden.
everyone was sitting there and chatting when they suddenly saw someone stand up and walk towards the carved wooden chair in front, which the master usually sat on.
everyone’s gazes s.h.i.+fted there.
xue mengqi stood there and faced the people below. seeing that it was her, everyone gradually seemed to consciously turn silent.
xue mengqi cleared her throat before saying, “the gu family has not been faced with such chaos for many years. this may be a heaven’s test for the gu family. it’s a test to see if we can stay united right now and survive during these difficulties. perhaps all of you have never experienced such a thing. but many years ago, there was immense unrest in the xue family. i know that if everyone can unite at such a time, our relations.h.i.+p will be even better in the future. because we’ve experienced something like this, we’ll be able to get closer to one another. thus, i hope that everyone can face this together instead of having mutual misgivings.”
everyone looked at each other. slight expressions of approval appeared on their faces.
xue mengqi said, “now that the master and mistress are both not around at the moment, we must remain calm nonetheless. we should find a way to help ourselves. i think…”
she spoke slowly. as she stood there and looked at all the clan relatives of the family gazing at herself, she thought of how she felt standing at the place where only the master and mistress used to stand. the pa.s.sion and vigor she felt truly made her heart swell.
the feeling of everyone treating her as their only guide was way too enjoyable.
she felt like a king towering above everyone else. this feeling was so great.
however, at this moment…
all of a sudden, a commotion could be heard outside.
soon after, the crowd saw a row of security guards immediately fill the area outside the courtyard.
someone saw the security guards standing uniformly and cried out in surprise, “aren’t those gu jingze’s guards?”
“what? has he returned?”
“really?”
everyone immediately looked outside, leaving xue mengqi up there when she had not finished speaking.
xue mengqi deflated. she glared outside furiously.
only to see that many people had indeed gathered outside. they were currently filling up defensive positions in the gu family’s old residence in an orderly fas.h.i.+on.
while everyone was confused, lin che slowly walked out from behind.
she immediately stared at everyone. she did not bother about whether their gazes were disappointed or indignant or simply furious. she walked into the hall and immediately stood at the very front.
all the personal guards who had followed her also stood behind her, trailing behind her at an appropriate distance.
lin che swept her eyes across the people below and said to everyone, “everyone, no need to worry. even if gu jingze isn’t here right now, we won’t collapse either. everything he left behind is still here. the rules that he set are still in force. right now, all of you can pretty much continue to do what you’ve been doing. i’ve already arranged for someone to take over the headquarters. there’s no need for all of you to worry. you can just go about your lives as usual. you don’t have to gather here. anxiety will only cause us to make more mistakes. everyone can make their own way home now. if there’s anything you want to know, you can come to the headquarters and ask me.”
after coming in, lin che started instructing them very efficiently. the moment she finished speaking, everyone started discussing even more.
“why is she here?”
“exactly. what does she mean by this? is she going to take charge now?”
“why do we need her here? even if something happened to jingze, she shouldn’t be the one to take over.”
“precisely. her surname isn’t gu either. she’s an outsider but still wants to be in charge of us.”
xue mengqi was at the side. she had not enjoyed herself enough when she saw lin che unexpectedly arrive so swiftly. she immediately got so angry that she felt incredibly suffocated.
lin che could understand everyone’s skepticism. she waited for them to discuss for some time before she slowly smiled. “if something is the matter, all of you can tell me directly.”
hearing this, someone down below asked bluntly, “why should you be the one taking over the headquarters?”
lin che said, “gu jingze is my husband. he has gone missing and his whereabouts are unknown. is there anything wrong with me taking over?”
“do you know what’s in the headquarters? how can you take over?”
lin che said, “the headquarters contain everything that gu jingze left behind. this includes his trusted aides and subordinates. i trust that the gu family has gathered together all the capable people. it has never kept idle people around. even if gu jingze isn’t around, it’s not as if they won’t be able to support the gu family.”
“ha. what a joke. so, do you mean that you won’t do anything at all? that it’s enough for you to just go over and oversee things?”
“that’s right.”
“hahahaha. you’re really so naive.”
“oh? if i’m naive, then tell me. if i can’t take over, are you going to take over?”
“we… we will nominate someone ourselves to take over.”
“ha. historically, the mistress has been elected, so i won’t say anything about that. but when did the master have to be chosen by all of you?”
lin che’s gaze immediately turned sharp. it was so piercing that the person immediately seemed to suffer an electric shock. her complexion went slightly pale and her voice instinctively turned weak as well.
“it’s not as if the gu family doesn’t have descendants, such that we need you to find us a master. it’s not as if my husband doesn’t have children either, such that we need you to find us a child. forget about my husband. even without him, there’s still his older brother and gu jingyu too. they’re both still around. when was it ever your turn to nominate the master of the gu family?”
the position of the head of the gu family had always been inherited. the father would pa.s.s it on to his son and the son would pa.s.s it on to his grandson. the last master would decide to whom he would pa.s.s the position. it was definitely not something they could decide by an election just because they wanted to.