Chapter 569 Zheng Hongliang’s Conspiracy
At the Chu family, Chu Shanhe, the master of the Chu family, looked at the crowd in front of him with a grave look. Just now, they had also heard the news that Qin Zongheng had returned to the capital and broken through the Saint-stage bottleneck.
At this time, there was an extremely complicated feeling in his heart and even a hint of remorse.
Although the Chu family had never gotten along with the Qin family, if he had supported the marriage between Chu Xuanyue and Qin Heng, would that possibly have alleviated their hatred towards each other? Then currently he would not have been in such a difficult and awkward situation.
“Master, now that Qin Zhenhong has reached the Saint level, will he arrive to take revenge on our Chu family?”
It was another old man who spoke; his younger brother, Chu Shanchuan.
Chu Shanchuan’s words made everyone fall into silence. If Qin Zongheng really came to take revenge, how could they resist the wrath of a Saint?
A middle-aged man in his forties said, “Father, how about we bring Xuanyue back? Anyway, she is still a member of our Chu family. As long as she is here then Qin Zongheng will not go too far.”
This person was Chu Xuanyue’s older brother, Chu Xuanli. He had doted on his younger sister since they were young. In the past few years, he had tried to persuade Chu Shanhe many times to bring Chu Xuanyue back to the family, but he had been turned down harshly.
“Don’t panic.”
After all, Chu Shanhe was the head of the family so compared to the others, he was much calmer. He said, “Qin Zongheng won’t come to our Chu family yet.”
Chu Shanchuan asked in surprise, “Big brother, how can you be so sure?”
Chu Shanhe sighed and replied, “Qin Zongheng is now a Saint. If he wanted to take revenge on our Chu family then he would have come a long time ago. There was no need to wait until he killed Han Zaixing.”
Everyone suddenly realized that it was true. If Qin Zongheng really wanted revenge then he would have come to the Chu family a long time ago. There was no need to let the Chu family find out about his return first.
Chu Shanhe continued, “As for Haodong Group, we should not be in conflict with them and anyone who disobeys my order will be punished according to the family law.”
Apart from Qin family, Chu family, Han family, and Yan family, the other major families were also holding family meetings.
However, Qin Zongheng didn’t have any conflicts with these major families so the news didn’t have much of an impact on them. They just issued a strict order not to provoke the Haodong Group while waiting to see what would happen.
Qin Haodong did not know that his impersonation of Qin Zongheng had caused such a huge sensation amongst the seven major families in the capital. In order not to expose his ident.i.ty, he accompanied Chu Xuanyue for the day, and then he and Ye Qing returned to Shanghai.
During the time that he left, not only the seven major families in the imperial capital were shocked, but also the Zheng family in Shanghai was dreading.
In the study of the Zheng Family, Zheng Hongliang stood with his hands down. An old man with silver hair and beard was sitting in a chair opposite him. He was Zheng Yuan, the master of the Zheng Family.
Zheng Yuan glanced at Zheng Hongliang and said, “You were the representative of our family to attend this time’s summit held by Haodong Group. Before you went there, you promised that you would have a great harvest, but you came back empty handed; not even one order. How do you explain that?”
Upon hearing Zheng Yuan’s question, Zheng Hongliang answered nervously, “Grandpa, I admit that I didn’t obtain any benefits for our Zheng Family this time, but there is a reason for my failure. It was Qin Haodong who sabotaged our plan.”
Zheng Yuan said discontentedly, “It’s all because you and Hongda provoked him. Otherwise, why would he be hostile to the Zheng Family?”
“Grandpa, it’s not like what you think. Even if Hongda and I hadn’t provoked Qin Haodong, he would sooner or later antagonize our Zheng family. Now he has exposed his plan in advance, so we can prepare for it.”
Zheng Yuan looked at him furiously and rebuked, “Are you making an excuse for yourself?”
Speaking of this, Zheng Hongliang felt much more relieved as he replied, “Grandpa, this is really not an excuse. I have my reasons.
“First of all, before Qin Haodong came to Shanghai, the three families were neck and neck with each other. No one could dominate over the other and there was a fine balance between the three families.
“But after he came here, he immediately became very close to that girl from the Zhou family, Zhou Xinzhu, which broke the balance of strength between our three families.
“Then the Sun Family was beaten like a tortoise, shrinking its neck and not daring to come out. Who do you think would be his next target? It can only be our Zheng Family.
“Even if Qin Haodong didn’t want to go against our family, the Zhou family would still draw his Daddy Security Company to their side. How can they not take advantage of all these exceptional fighters?”
Zheng Yuan’s eyes were slightly closed and there was no expression on his face. He just waited for Zheng Hongliang to continue.
Knowing that the old man was starting to believe him, Zheng Hongliang’s spirits were lifted. He continued, “And Qin Haodong also has a reason to turn against our Zheng family.”
Zheng Yuan’s eyes widened slightly. “What do you mean?”
Zheng Hongliang said, “I’ve found out Qin Haodong’s background in the past few days. He owned several companies when he was in Jiangnan. One of them was the Daddy Security Company, which led him to Shanghai in advance.
“The other company is Lin’s Group, a jewelry business. Now it has also entered Shanghai and its business was so successful that Xue’s jewelry was overwhelmed.
“But his most important company was the Tangmen Traditional Chinese Medicine Company. Currently the other two companies have entered Shanghai. The pharmaceutical company wouldn’t be left alone in Jiangnan.
“The pharmaceutical industry of Shanghai is in the hands of our Zheng family, especially the wholesale market and plantations of medicinal herbs. Qin Haodong is determined to capture this market, so after he gains a firm footing here then he will inevitably take action against our Zheng family.”
At this time, Zheng Yuan’s expression had completely changed. His eyes were wide-open and twinkling with malice. He said ferociously, “If he wants to break down our Zheng Family then he must have the ability to do so.”
Zheng Hongliang replied, “Grandpa, don’t look down on Qin Haodong. He has a lot of masters in Daddy Security Company. Otherwise, the Sun family would not have fallen so low like this.
“Originally, it was not enough for our aristocratic families to fight by relying on force, but now they have a close relations.h.i.+p with the Zhou family. After the two families join forces, their strength surpa.s.ses our Zheng family. Moreover, he is now hooking up with Ye Qing of the Haodong Group.
“This level of strength is enough to pose a threat to our Zheng Family. We must deal with it carefully, otherwise it will be easy for them to completely destroy us.”
His words really hit home as Zheng Yuan stood up abruptly from his armchair and said angrily, “I didn’t expect that a b.u.mpkin who came from Jiangnan would pose such a huge threat to our Zheng Family.”
Zheng Hongliang’s heart was filled with joy because he would not be punished this time after successfully persuading his grandpa.
He said, “Grandpa, we can’t sit around waiting for our doom, or it will be too late once Qin Haodong starts a fight with us.”
Zheng Yuan looked at him and asked, “Tell me if you have any good ideas?”
Zheng Hongliang replied, “The best way to deal with Qin Haodong is to take the initiative and attack him when he is unprepared. Kill him before he can do anything.”
“This is a good idea, but the strength of Daddy Security Company is very strong and they have several masters with supreme power. I’m afraid it will not be easy. There must be a reason why Sun Shengtian, that old fox, turned into a turtle with a shrinking head.
“The strength of our Zheng Family is similar to that of the Sun Family. If we have a head-on confrontation with Qin Haodong then we will lose and bring more trouble to our Zheng Family.”
Zheng Hongliang said, “We can’t go head to head with them, so we have to catch them off guard and use strategy.”
Then he whispered his plan in Zheng Yuan’s ear.
Finally, he said, “Grandpa, I don’t believe that I can’t kill Qin Haodong this way. Even if he is a master, so what? As long as you give me enough authority to mobilize the manpower of the Zheng Family then I will surely kill that guy.”
Zheng Yuan thought over Zheng Hongliang’s plan several times from the beginning to the end and felt that it was almost perfect. He nodded his head with satisfaction and said, “You are indeed my favorite grandson. Just do as you planned. Use my authority token and the resources of the Zheng Family will be at your disposal.”
“Thank you, grandpa!”
Zheng Hongliang was overjoyed. As long as this matter was done properly then the position of head of the family would undoubtedly belong to him in the future.
What was this? This was called a blessing in disguise. Qin Haodong was the stepping stone for him to sit on the family master’s throne.
It was noon when Qin Haodong and Ye Qing returned to Shanghai. He sent Ye Qing back to Haodong Group’s branch and returned home.
Many girls were at home and had not gone out because it was the weekend.
Seeing Qin Haodong come back, Li Meiyu and the other girls immediately surrounded him to express their dissatisfaction with his sudden departure. Finally, to shut them up, Qin Haodong made a table of sumptuous lunch as an apology.
After lunch, Jia s.h.i.+han pulled Qin Haodong aside and said, “Little brother, over the past few days Shanshan has been looking for you. It’s just that your phone was not reachable.”
Qin Haodong thought for a moment. When Ouyang Shanshan must have called him, he would have been on the Shenbao mountain with Yan Feifei, so the mobile phone would have had no signal.
He asked, “What did she want me for?”
Jia s.h.i.+han said, “Shanshan is leaving tomorrow. She wants to have dinner with you before she leaves.”
“Oh!” Qin Haodong knew Ouyang Shanshan had feelings for him. He already had several girlfriends so he wouldn’t have more. Hence, he could only pretend that he didn’t know about it.
However, it was still fine to have a meal with her.
He called Ouyang Shanshan and she answered the phone excitedly, “Haodong, you’re back. I heard from s.h.i.+han that you had gone to the capital.”
“Yes, I went to the capital and just came back at noon.” Qin Haodong continued, “I heard that you are leaving tomorrow. I’ll see you off tonight at dinner. You can order whatever you want to eat.”
“Great.” Ouyang Shanshan said happily, “I know a western restaurant and the ambience is very good. I’ll send you the address later.”
After a pause, she said in a low voice, “Just the two of us, okay?”