Inside the Su Family residence’s main hall.
Su Yanghao pulled a taut face and was quiet. The other youngsters of the family stood still it the hall and scarcely dared to breathe.
“Third Brother, don’t stress out about it too much. Who would have thought that a young man from Jiang Bei could have achieved such greatness? It wasn’t Zhende’s fault to misjudge his power.” Su Yangzhi put in as an attempt to ease the tension.
Su Zhengde let out an ugly grin that made him look like he was crying.
He was the lord of the Su Family of Wu Zhou City and one of the loudest critical voices against Chen Fan. This incident had taken a toll on Su Zhengde’s influence and not only his control over the family was eroded, but the old man’s opinion of him also downgraded significantly. Most people outside of the Su Family must have also gloated at his mistake
He nearly forced such a true dragon out of his family.
What an idiot.
Seeing that Su Yanghao couldn’t even bring himself to look at him, he knew his father was extremely disappointed in him.
“Just so, Third Grandpa. How could we know that Chen Fan has such a complicated background? Who would have thought that he was the General Major of the Cang Dragon, a tycoon from Hong Kong and the Grandmaster on the Heaven roll? We were convinced that he was just a tycoon in Jiang Bei, that’s all.” Su Qian put in indignantly.
“You didn’t expect that, you said? Why didn’t you investigate? Why are you all sitting on your ass and doing nothing?”
Su Yanghao slammed the table and let out a cold smile.
Without digging deep and hard, no one in Su Family would easily find out the full extent of Chen Fan’s power, however, that was not impossible either. Chen Beixuan was famous among martial artists and was well known to many military personnel. If Su Family tried hard enough, they might have been able to find out his title at the Cang Dragon unit.
However, the Su Family had overlooked Chen Fan’s ability due to their arrogance.
Even Chen Fan’s dominance over Jiang Bei had caught them by surprise, so they would never even have thought of reconciling the teenage boy to outrageous titles such as Grandmaster and Head Sergeant of Cang Dragon.
Seeing the old man’s temper was about to flare again, everyone quickly lowered their heads. Feeling abashed, Su Zhengde wished he could bury his head in the sand. He was in charge of the family and failed everyone because of his incompetence.
“Third Grandpa, what if we just leave Chen Fan alone from now on? Without him, we will still live and are still the number one family of Jiang Nan Province. There is nothing he could do to change that.” Su Ze put in indignantly.
Although no one chimed in, they nodded their agreement in silence.
Su Family of Wu Zhou City had strived for centuries and weathered countless storms. The run-in with Chen Fan would just be another one of the bumps in their journey that they would eventually get over like they always did.
“Hehe… you guys still believe that the Su Family is still growing well and strong?” Lord Su coughed and then let out a wry smile. “I am ninety years old and my days are numbered. Once I pass away, who could shoulder the responsibility and guide the Su Family forward in this treacherous world? Can we count on Zhende and his meager title at the Chamber of Commerce?”
The rise of the Su Family in the last few decades was solely because of my contribution to the party during the revolution. The leaders of the country granted me many privileges in appreciation of my support. However, the times have changed and their appreciation is waning. The leaders were going to cut ties with us once I pass away, but I wager that what happened today would make that happen much sooner.
The sharp glint in Lord Su’s eyes seemed to shed more light on their situation.”Without our privileges and support, we are just a piece of meat on the butcher block, waiting to be carved up. We would lose our edge when competing against other families such as the Ji Family, Qiao Family, and the Zhu family.”
The old man’s words were a wake-up call to everyone.
They had never thought of their future so far ahead of time.
However, after reflecting on the old man’s words, they realized that he had hit the mark. The Su Family appeared to be strong and wealthy but its appearance was on the old man’s immense influence and connection. All of Su Family’s clients, let it be those in the textile industry or those in the banking system offered Su Family business opportunities because of the old man. As soon as Lord Su passed away, they would disregard the Su family as their business partner and profit from their downfall.
Of all the younger generation of the Su Family, only Su Zhengxun seemed competent enough to barely measure up to Su Yanghao’s expectation.
“The leaders would have to evaluate our status if we had Chen Fan joining our ranks. But it’s too late now.” Su Yanghao shook his head and heaved a sigh. Suddenly, life seemed to have slipped away from his face and his wrinkled face looked even older than it used to be.
Then and only then, the younger generation of the family finally noticed how tired and wizened the old man had gotten.
As the fact that the only backbone of the family had turned ninety years old finally set in, Su Zhengde panicked. He hurried to rise to his feet and announced: “Dad, I will go to apologize to Little Nine right now. I will kowtow to Chen Fan if I have to.”
“That’s pointless.” Su Yanghao heaved a sigh and said: “He is the General Major of Cang Dragon Unit, and a Grandmaster Martial artist. Do you think such a decisive and determined man would be swayed by your pathetic plea?”
“Then… then what should we do?” Su Zhengde was suddenly at a loss.
Su Qian, Su Ze and Su Peng were all unnerved by the development. For the first time, they felt that the fate of their family laid in Little Nine and her seemingly ordinary husbands hands.
Suddenly, Su Xiao broke her silence and put in.
“Grandpa, maybe things are not as bad as you think.”
“You might not have noticed it, but I found out that he had protected Little Nine whenever they were together. His attention had always been on Little Nine either at the party last night or today’s banquet. I have noticed subtle eye contact between the two and it was obvious that Chen Fan had spared the Ji Family because Little Nine wanted him to.”
“What you are getting at is…” Su Yanghao looked to Su Xiao, both hands shaking with excitement.
“Yes, we have been focusing mainly on us and ignored Chen Fan’s feelings and what he cared about. It was evident that he cared most about Little Nine and he might have come to Wu Zhou because of Little Nine. Therefore, the key to solving our problem is to win over Little Nine, making sure she is on our side.” Su Xiao said tenderly.
Everyone nodded in agreement after pondering on Su Xiao’s words for a while.
Su Yanghao looked at Fang Mingde and his wife, willing them to put in their two cents. Su Susu put on a smile and said: “Third Uncle, I am not too familiar with Xiao Fan, but I knew he had fallen head over heels in love with Little Nine. They have been good friends ever since childhood and made a promise to each other to go to the same University, and they did.”
After she said that, she paused a second and then said with suspicion: “I wager that even the undoing of the Sheng family was somehow linked to the love competition between Sheng Ronghua’s son and Chen Fan over Xiao Qiong.”
Although it was just Su Susu’s suspicion, no one seemed to have doubted it.
“Yes, I have heard about what had happened to the Sheng family. I have never thought that there were more than what met the eye. Chen Fan was the Head Sergeant of the Cang Dragon unit, a billionaire in Hong Kong and if he wanted to topple the Sheng family, he would only need to make a request to Li Wuchen. Killing everyone in the Sheng family seemed unnecessary unless his love interest is involved.” Su Zhengde suddenly slapped his head as realization dawned upon him.
“A powerful young man would often turn into a dangerous beast in the name of love.” Su Yanghao said.
After he had said that, he turned around to look at Su Xiao. “You are the closest to Little Nine, so it would fall upon you to help the family mend the relationship with Little Nine. If Little Nine forgives us, so would Chen Fan.”
“Plus, from today onward, Little Nine will be our family lord. Treat her as you would treat me.” Su Yanghao announced heavily.
“Yes.” Everyone nodded their consent.
The birthday banquet was over, but people had just started to feel the implication of what had happened during the banquet.
Although everyone was warned to keep their lips sealed about what they saw, it was impossible to expect the hundred or so guests would keep the secret.
It wasn’t long before rumors started to spread.
“Have you heard? Chen Fan is the General Major of the Cang Dragon Unit.”
“What are you talking about? Who is Chen Fan?”
“He was the one who wrecked the Sheng family. This time he brought the Ji and the Nin Family to their knees.”
“Really? fill me in please!”
Such conversations were carried out all over the Jin City, Wu Zhou, Jiang Zhou City. Even some well-connected elites in Zhong Hai heard of the incident in passing.
Compared to the names such as Grandmaster or the Heaven roll, the title of General Major in Cang Dragon was more relatable to ordinary people. Therefore, it was most prevalent in the rumors.
“A General Major less than twenty years old? That’s unheard of!”
“The Chen family is incredibly powerful! No wonder even Gao Tianmin was removed from his position. I think they are soon going to claim supremacy in Jin City.”
“I have heard that even Boss Lou’s secretary had joined the other families, but he was over trumped by someone even more powerful at the banquet. The Chen family must have deep connections in the government.”
Everyone in Jinlin City was impressed by Chen Fan.
Zhou Qinya had heard the story in passing, and it stirred up a mix of complicated feelings.
She had never thought that Chen Fan was not only the Master Chen of JiangBei but also a General Major in the military. A General Major less than twenty years old sounded like the stuff of urban legends.
The Chen family members were elated by the news.
Before they learned the news, only Chen Huaian knew Chen Fan’s involvement in the military. He was a cautious old man and therefore he didn’t disclose that information with his family, fearing the Chen family would grow content. Therefore, when the other family members learned of Chen Fan’s military rank, they were caught by surprise.
Chen Guoguo frolicked joyfully on the sidewalk in front of her house and announced to all of her neighbors that her cousin was a general.
A wave of complicated feelings rose inside of Chen Ning as he watched everything unfold.
Chen Fan was no longer the little brother that he used to be. He had grown into a large tree that could provide shade and shelter to his family.
Meanwhile, Chen fan was facing a much bigger problem. He had to explain to Fang Qiong about Chen Beixuan, about the title of General Major in Cang Dragon and about the Heaven roll.