For Qin Changan, considering his status, the Spring Festival was a great trouble due to the tradition of paying the New Year visits. He didn’t need to visit many people, but there were quite a lot of people who were eager to meet him. The Spring Festival holiday time was only a few days’ long, so it was impossible to meet all of them, and he had to refuse some of those visits. Usually, Qin Changan went out to pay his visits in the early morning and went home at noon to entertain his guests. The first day of the New Year was significant. It was his present status that allowed him to arrange that day by himself. He had to buzz here and there for the whole day when he was young.
Since Qin Sheng was back, Qin Changan could let his son represent him to entertain the guests. That way, he also declared to everyone that his son was back and was taking his position.
His business rivals had been teasing him for he had no sons to inherit his mantle. Qin Changan was looking forward to see their reactions.
Humans were born to have a desire to excel. Qin Changan couldn’t wait to see his rivals and show off.
Qin Sheng was willing to be arranged by Qin Changan, paying the New Year visits, entertaining the guests and working in his company. That time, Qin Sheng was tame about it.
Qin Sheng was not going to refuse. He didn’t care that much. Though it was delayed, he was sure he deserved it. Additionally, he needed the power to take revenge for Qingyang.
Qin Ran and Qin Sheng prepared some presents and went out. Gongsun arranged an Audi car, which was rather low-profile. There were unspoken rules about the choice of presents and cars for different people, when paying the New Year visit. Gongsun, who had been in charge of all the affairs in the Qin Family for a couple of years, knew about those rules and always followed them, never making any mistakes.
Qin Ran knew a little about the Song Family. Though she didn’t get in touch with the young generation of the Songs often, she visited Grandfather Song along with her father every year. Someone from the Song Family had introduced her to an excellent young man from his family. Qin Ran had met up with the man some times, but they didn’t enter a relationship then. She had sworn that she wouldn’t get married before she found her younger brother. More importantly, she was not content with the man, who had been expected by lots of people.
It disappointed others that Qin Ran and the young man from the Song Family didn’t get married. And then a young lady from the Songs was introduced to Qin Sheng. That lady was as excellent as her cousin, who had a short story with Qin Ran. They had an informal engagement many years before. But the Old Master Song was pleased with it. Qin Changan didn’t say a word about the engagement for it was decided by the two Old Masters. And he didn’t say a word about the fact that Qin Sheng already had a girlfriend.
Qin Changan didn’t want to interfere on Qin Sheng’s relationships with women. He knew about Qin Sheng. Too much interfering might trigger Qin Sheng’s unpleasant feelings and even confrontations, which would worsen their relation. Qin Sheng and Lin Su were deeply in love, and they had experienced a lot of ups and downs. It was impossible for Qin Sheng to abandon Lin Su and choose another woman from the Songs.
But Qin Changan was in a dilemma, for he didn’t want to offend Old Master Song, who had been thinking about that engagement. The only thing Qin Changan could do was to keep silence. Anyway, marriage required the agreement from two sides. He hoped that the young lady from the Songs wouldn’t fall in love with Qin Sheng, and then he would have a reason to talk with Old Master Song.
Qin Changan was clear about the situation. The young lady from the Songs was extraordinary and picky. Honestly, Qin Sheng, at present, was not good to her.
Qin Ran didn’t understand Qin Changan. She knew that Qin Changan was satisfied with Lin Su. Lin Su had been good to Qin Sheng and supported him, to which the Qin Family had no reasons to refuse. Qin Sheng used to be not good enough for Lin Su, but things were currently different. When Qin Sheng was down, Lin Su didn’t leave him and tried her best to support him. How could he abandon her after becoming prosperous?
It was morality.
After listening to Qin Changan, Qin Ran understood her father. It was a real dilemma and there were no better plans. Nobody dared to offend Old Master Song, the senior big shot.
Their only hope then was for the young lady from the Songs to dislike Qin Sheng.
It took only ten minutes to drive from the Qin Family’s siheyuan to the Song Family’s. Qin Ran was familiar with the route. Qin Sheng sat beside her, with his mind wandering. He considered that visit as a mission. He just went to finish that.
“The Song Family and our Qin Family have been getting along well. I heard from Old Dad that grandpa helped Old Master Song twice at critical times. That’s why the Song Family has been good to us,” Qin Ran told the family story to Qin Sheng. She preferred to call their father “Old Dad.” After all, their father was really getting old.
Qin Sheng nodded, showing that he was listening to her. A new story had just begun. The Qin Family had been prosperous for several decades. The wealth, relationships and other resources would not be given to him easily. He couldn’t take those for he was Qin Changan’s son. And Qin Changan was unable to give Qin Sheng everything, only because Sheng was his son. Qin Changan also experienced those obstacles. He had overcome incredible difficulties when he was young to earn the acknowledgement from the others.
The Song Family’s siheyuan was located in a Hutong alley behind Jingshan. That area was similar to that of the Qin Family’s. Only rich and powerful people lived there. The Qins’ siheyuan had been rebuilt into a two-floored modern house. Conversely, the Songs’ was rather low-profile, maintaining its original and more mysterious style.
It was still early in the morning, but many people were going to and fro. It was the first day of the Chinese New Year. People were busy paying the New Year visits on one street after another. The Hutong alley where the Song Family lived was not narrow. There were two cars parking beside the gate. Qin Ran pulled over, and Qin Sheng got off the car, taking with him the presents they had prepared.
Qin Ran pointed at the grey iron gate and said, “Here we are. We should stay for half an hour.”
They rang the doorbell. There was a surveillance camera set next to it, and people inside the house checked their identities. Then, a middle-aged man opened the door shortly after.
“Uncle He, happy New Year,” Qin Ran said and smiled to the man approaching.
The man squinted and smiled. “The Old Master is waiting for you.”
The man nodded to Qin Sheng and took over Qin Sheng’s presents, but asked nothing about who the young man was. Although Qin Sheng was uninvited, the man was still polite to him. The Songs’ house had no casual guests.
The middle-aged man didn’t say other words. He was familiar with Qin Changan, but not with Qin Ran.
Qin Ran said to Qin Sheng with low voice, “He used to be Grandfather Song’s secretary and had worked with him for many years. It isn’t easy to meet Grandfather Song. But with his help, things would be different.”
That was an unspoken rule in China since ancient times. That man had to be fully trusted by Old Master Song and he had the similar position Uncle Gongsun had in the Qin Family. But what surprised Qin Sheng was that there were policemen guarding the siheyuan. Who on earth was Old Master Song?
The structure of the Songs’ property was similar to that of the Qins’. They entered the gate, walking to the front yard. There were three cars. They then went along the corridor to the central yard; one main room and two wing-rooms beside it were found. The yard was clean, with flowers and other plants here and there.
At that moment, Old Master Song was sitting at the center of the living room in the main room. He wore a Chinese tunic suit. Three men sat around him. Two of them were at around Uncle He’s age, at their fifties or sixties. The other one was younger than them. He seemed to be at his thirties.
“Someone’s coming.” Old Master Song was over ninety years old. He was still hale, rather than being blind or deaf like other elderly people.
Other people also heard the sound of steps and paid attention to it. They went there with their important mission.
Uncle He opened the door, drawing their attention. He smiled and said, “Old Master, Ran’s here.”
Qin Ran and Qin Sheng went into the room after the man. Qin Ran smiled and relaxed. She was familiar with the Songs. When she noticed the young man, she was surprised and felt awkward.
Qin Ran was born and had been brought up by a rich and powerful family. She had seen and gotten along well with a lot of big shots from all walks of life. So, that scene didn’t give her much pressure.
But Qin Sheng was different. He was nervous since he was experiencing that for the first time. The Song Family, which was highly thought of by Qin Changan, was incredibly strong. Before entering the room, Qin Sheng kept taking deep breaths to calm down.
But it turned out to be useless. When he walked into the living room, he felt as if something heavy was placed on his shoulders in one second. The attention from all the people there was aimed at Qin Sheng, telling him that they already knew who Qin Sheng was.
Qin Sheng was shocked by the elderly sitting at the center. He recognized the elderly man in a second and froze.
Most young people might have no idea of that elderly man, but not Qin Sheng. He had seen that face several times on TV, and had never expected to see the man in person.
At that very moment, Qin Sheng fully realized the power of the Qin Family. His imagination was limited by his vision before that day.