Chen Zhenxin sat in the middle of the main hall; although the situation was on the brink of spiraling out of control more than a few times, he was able to hold back his urge to get involved each time that happened.
He simply didn’t want to acknowledge his nephew’s newly revealed power. He still remembered Chen Fan’s disdainful expression when he said that he denounced his request for an apology.
“I am an elder of the family, the backbone of the Chen Family of the Jin City. I will not be bested by a high school student.”
With that thought in mind, he refrained from standing up to receive any of the prestigious guests from Jiang Bei, instead, he simply nodded at them to acknowledge their attendance.
“Boss Lu from Wan Xiang Group. Boss Zhang from Jiu Din Group, Xu Ao from Dong Wan Group…”
These three were CEOs of public firms. There were only over a few dozen public firms in the entire Hu Dong Province.
Luckily for Chen Zhenxin, they were in the Jin City, the provincial capital where Chen Zhenxin’s influence ran deep and far. Therefore, his home advantage had lent him the courage to sit still in his chair and didn’t have to be alerted by the appearance of multiple tycoons.
“Ah! Boss Zhang, nice to see you here!”
“Nice to meet you Boss Xu!”
“Please, here, grab a seat Boss Lu.”
Chen Zhenxin was an influential figure in his home province and therefore he could afford to be aloof before Jiang Bei’s magnates, the same could not be said about his younger brother. Chen Zhenxin moved about from the courtyard to the main hall to receive the guests. Every guest managed a company that was no smaller than The Chens Group, if not bigger. A lot of them ranked much higher in the top manager list of the Hu Dong Province’s business guild.
If he left them with a bad impression, he would never be able to survive in the field of business.
That being said, he also had helpers. Fourth Uncle, Fourth Auntie, and the in-laws all plastered on welcoming smiles and greeted the guests with him.
However, these tycoons barely spared them a glance. Once they were through the entrance, their routine was the same: they would bow to Chen Fan, and then to Chen Gexin and Wang Xiaoyun to offer their gifts. These multi-billionaire’s gifts were also getting increasingly more expensive.
Vacheron Constantin’s watch; Bugatti Veyron; a mansion by the creek that ran through Jin City, an estate in a foreign country, they just kept pouring in.
By then, Chen Gexin was dumbfounded and so was Wang Xiaoyun. They simply stood there speechless and dared not to accept any of these outrageously expensive gifts.
Xu Rongfei stood beside Wang Xiuaoyun and helped the couple deal with the tycoons as a daughter-in-law would. She accepted each and every gift from the tycoons and gave them a sweet smile. Most people who came to pay tribute to Chen Fan knew that she was Xu Ao’s daughter, and some were even aware of the intimate relationship between her and Chen Fan.
“Xiao Fei, why do you accept these gifts? It’s too much. I will have to return them back anyways.”
Even though Wang Xiaoyun was from a prominent family and a self-made multi-millionaire, she was scared by the amount of wealth offered freely to her.
The combined worth of these gifts was in the hundreds of millions, enough to create another Jin Xiu Group.
“That’s alright, auntie. These gifts were their appreciation for Brother Chen Fan. Don’t worry, go ahead and take them.” Xu Rongfei said cheerfully.
“Xiao Fei, can you please tell me the truth? What happened to Chen Fan?” Wang Xiaoyun seized a break in the flow of guests and asked while holding Xu Rongfei’s arm.
She was concerned that if Chen Fan had misused her less-than-amicable relationship with the Wang Family.
The Wang family of Yan Jin was one of the top families in China. If Chen Fan so much as hinted his connection with the Wang family, all the rich men and women would flock to him to pay tribute. However, neither Wang Xiaoyun nor Chen Gexin wanted anything to do with the Wang family, otherwise, they would have stayed in Yan Jin and became an elite.
“Um.. My dad forbids me to say anything about it.” Xu Rongfei stuck the tip of her tongue out and said sheepishly.
“Auntie Wang, I can only tell you that Brother Chen Fan is super bad-ass. He is the most powerful man in Jiang Bei, not even Sheng Ronghua, the richest man of Jiang Bei could rival his position.”
“Sheng Ronghua?” Wang Xiaoyun gasped.
Sheng Ronghua was a household name in the Hu Dong province. He used to be number thirty on the Hurun Wealth List. His real estate company, the Wan Rong Real estate even had a branch in Zhong Hai and was Wang Xiaoyun’s main competitor. Having dealt with Sheng Ronghua for many years, Wang Xiaoyun knew his methods and clout every well.
Her company was nothing but child’s play before the mighty Wan Rong Group.
However, never had she thought that her son would have already surpassed the main competitor that she had tried so hard to catch up with and failed.
“That’s impossible! Xiao Fan is not even eighteen, he is a high school student!”
Wang Xiaoyun could not wrap her mind around the situation.
However powerful Chen Fan was, even if he was a genius, a prodigy, he would not be able to make a few billion dollars in less than half a year. She had never heard of any unimaginable feat such as what her son had pulled off.
“Could it be that he opened an IT firm?”
Nearly all the startup unicorns that could earn over a billion dollar revenue in less than half a year were IT-related firms.
“No, Chen Fan is much smarter than those nerds.” Xu Rongfei covered her mouth and giggled.
She remembered that when her father said that Master Chen had turned ordinary water into a billion dollar industry, she was shocked. She worked so hard at the production sets for an entire year and was only getting paid a million yuan. She had spent all that money on the Channel watch she gave to Wang Xiaoyun.
Chen Fan could just sit home, kick back and wait for billions of yuan fell onto his lap. That was unheard of and amazing!
Quickly, Wang Xiaoyun’s doubt turned into shock and surprise.
At the entrance of the Chens Village, on a tall hill…
An old man sat on a rock and was surrounded by many kids.
This old man’s skin was wizened and weather-beaten. He was wearing an old army uniform and was drawing smoke from a tobacco pipe.
The kids around him know him as Old Bone Chen. Rumors had it that he used to work in the city and eventually became the chauffeur for a powerful man. However, due to one reason or the other, Old Bone Chen returned home and worked at The Chens Group as Chen Huaian’s chauffeur.
When the old man retired and came back to his family village, so too did Old Bone Chen.
Old Bone Chen’s children were all working in the city and spent little time with him. Therefore, he mostly hung out with the kids of the village.
Everyone knew that Old Bone Chen had a brilliant party trick. He remembered all the tycoons and their rides by rote. One only needed to tell him the car and the license plate, Old Bone Chen could fill out the rest of the information about the owner: name, age, wealth and status.
Old Bone Chen’s trick worked every time and was fun for the kids. Therefore, during the Chen family’s annual gathering, a group of kids would carry him to the top of the hill and ask him to perform his trick by looking down at the vehicles parked in the parking lot.
“Those days, I drove for the richest man in the city. It was good times. Most businessmen didn’t dare to ignore me when they saw me.”
Old Bone Chen bragged about his past wistfully.
“You are bragging again, Old Bone Chen. The richest man in the city had at least a few billion yuan of wealth. If you drove for him, how could you be so poor?”
A bypasser jested.
Old Bone Chen stuck his neck out and murmured indignantly: “You don’t know anything! I … I got into trouble, and therefore had to quit.”
Such conversations happened almost every day, and if anyone pressed him about what kind of trouble he was in, Old Bone Chen would usually become quiet all the sudden.
“Looks like the Chen family is doing better every year!”
“Just look at that! Their cars are becoming better and more expensive each year. Two years ago, everyone was driving Audis if not a Volkswagen Passat, now there are Mercedes, BMW, Cadillac, and even Lincoln.”
Old Bone Chen exclaimed.
“Old Bone Chen, look there, the logo is two letter R’s and the plate reads J88888. What car is that?”
A kid shouted at the old man.
“That’s Rolls-Royce. It costs five million each. The Rolls-Royce company makes plane engines and so making a car is a walk in the park.”
Old Bone Chen drew some smoke from the pipe and murmured: “Interesting… Why are there so many powerful tycoons from Jiang Bei this year?
“Maybe Lord Chen is going to get promoted and therefore even the businessmen from Jiang Bei would have to come and pay tribute?”
Old Bone Chen mulled over the question.
Suddenly, a kid shouted at him.
“Old Bone Chen, there is an old and beat up looking Audi A6. Must be a less important person, lame.”
“But why is the license plate 00001? There is a parking pass on the dashboard as well. Old Bone Chen, Who is that?”
Old Bone Chen didn’t reply, so the kid turned around to look at his wizened face.
Old Bone Chen was frozen in place. He moved the pipe away from his lips and murmured: “Audi A6, 00001, parking pass… That’s Wei Fu’s car!”
