65: Chapter 65 A call from the Chen family in China: You unfilial son, why aren't you back yet?

"Is it over?"

Chen Yuan held the phone, his other hand lifting a cup of black tea, gently blowing on the steam rising from it.

His expression was calm, so calm it was chilling.

It was as if the news coming from the other end of the line was not the bankruptcy of his family or the critical illness of a close relative, but an insignificant weather forecast.

"How could this happen?"

The voice on the other end was filled with despair and sobbing; it was his nominal father, Chen Hai. "Your grandfather... yesterday during the family meeting, he was so angered by your uncle that he... suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage... He is currently lying in the intensive care unit... The doctors said... the doctors said we should prepare for the funeral..."

"Come back quickly, Xiao Yuan!"

Chen Hai's voice carried a plea. "Only you can save the Chen Family now! They say you've made a fortune abroad and have your own company... Your uncle and the others have absconded with all the money, and now the bank comes to demand repayment every day, we..."

"Snap."

A soft sound.

It wasn't Chen Yuan who hung up; the phone had been snatched away by someone else.

Immediately after, a commanding voice, full of vigor and condescension, exploded from the receiver:

"Chen Yuan!"

It was his uncle, Chen Tianba.

The head of the family who had once swept him out the door like trash.

"Grown some backbone, have you? You dare to be so dismissive of your own father's call?"

Chen Tianba's voice carried a hint of irrepressible anger, but even more so, a kind of patronizing arrogance. "Enough, stop blubbering with that useless father of yours. I'll talk to you."

Chen Yuan didn't speak, just listened quietly.

"We know all about your shenanigans abroad."

Chen Tianba's tone was like that of someone lecturing an unruly junior. "Dealing in drugs, dabbling in arms, and even getting entangled with the British Royal Family. Your wings have hardened, and you think the Chen Family can no longer control you, right?"

"Let me tell you, Chen Yuan, don't think that just because you've made a name for yourself abroad, you can act lawlessly. As long as your surname is Chen, you belong to the Chen Family. Your belongings are the Chen Family's belongings."

Chen Yuan couldn't help but laugh.

It was a laugh from the bottom of his heart, one filled with extreme mockery.

He remembered several years ago.

It was also on a rainy day when he was called into the study by Chen Tianba.

That man sat on the grand armchair, rolling two walnuts in his hand, looking down at him as he knelt on the floor.

"You bastard, you were never meant to exist in this world."

"Now you dare to cause trouble outside, losing all face for our Chen Family."

"Take this money and get out of China. Never come back in this lifetime. Our Chen Family does not have someone like you."

That scene was like a needle, deeply embedded in his memory.

And now, this man who had thrown him away like trash back then was actually using this patronizing tone to tell him to "come crawling back"?

"Listen, Chen Yuan."

Chen Tianba on the other end of the line didn't seem to notice the shift in Chen Yuan's mood and continued to speak to himself:

"Although the old man is dying, the family cannot fall. You must immediately, right now, come crawling back to Jinghai."

"Hand over all that miscellaneous technology you have, and all the ill-gotten gains you've made abroad, to the family."

"Considering that you are also of the Chen Family's bloodline, as long as you atone for your crimes and help the family get through this crisis..."

Chen Tianba paused, his tone filled with a sense of benevolence:

"I can consider leaving a position for you in the family. Perhaps even allow you to return to the ancestral fold and have your name written in the genealogy."

Listening to these words, the smile on Chen Yuan's face grew wider, but the temperature in his eyes grew colder.

As cold as the ice of a Scottish winter.

"Are you done?"

He finally spoke.

His voice was very light, very flat, yet it made Chen Tianba on the other end of the line shiver inexplicably.

"If you're done, it's my turn to speak."

Chen Yuan put down the teacup, stood up, and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window, the rain continued, shrouding the entire castle in a hazy mist.

"First."

His voice, transmitted via satellite signal, clearly reached the Jinghai courtyard thousands of miles away:

"I bear the surname Chen not because I am seed of your Chen Family, but because my mother's surname is Chen. It has nothing to do with you bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites."

"Second."

"My technology, my money, that was earned with my life. Let alone handing it over, you don't even have the qualifications to take a look at it."

"As for the third..."

Chen Yuan turned around, looking at his reflection in the window glass, his pitch-black eyes flashing with a devilish light.

He spoke into the receiver, enunciating every word. His voice was not loud, but it carried an arrogance and disdain enough to make the very heavens change color:

"What kind of thing do you think you are?"

"To be worthy of... commanding me?"

"Beep—beep—beep—"

The other end of the line instantly fell into a dead silence.

Chen Tianba gripped the phone, frozen in place, the expression on his face shifting from shock to anger, and then to extreme distortion.

In his entire life, he had never been insulted like this!

Especially by a bastard he had personally driven out!

"Rebellion! Rebellion! This ungrateful son!"

Chen Tianba was shaking with rage, violently slamming the antique phone in his hand onto the ground, smashing it to pieces.

He pointed at Chen Hai, who was standing beside him, already scared witless, and cursed furiously:

"Look at the fine son you sired! This is the monster you raised!"

"He thinks that just because he's made a name for himself abroad, he's something special? Does he think the Chen Family is a pushover?"

"Pass on my word!"

Chen Tianba roared at the butler outside the door, his voice becoming shrill and piercing due to his extreme anger:

"Mobilize all of the family's overseas connections! Investigate for me! I want to know exactly what kind of hellish things he's been doing abroad!"

"I want him to know what real family power is!"

"I want him to kneel! To cry! To come crawling back and beg me!"

...

Scotland, Thorn Castle.

Chen Yuan casually pressed the hang-up button.

The rain outside the window seemed to be getting heavier, pattering against the glass.

"Boss, do you need me to... handle this?"

Alice's voice came from behind him.

In her hand, she already held a detailed list of all the overseas assets and connections of the "Jinghai Chen Family".

With just one word from Chen Yuan, the Red Queen could make this once arrogant family's overseas power vanish into thin air within ten minutes.

"No need."

Chen Yuan shook his head, his face showing no sign of joy or anger.

"An old dog about to drown will always bark a few more times before it dies."

He picked up the cup of black tea again, which had already gone a bit cold, and took a sip.

"Let them investigate."

"I am quite curious to see just how big a splash this so-called 'family power' can actually make."

"However..."

Chen Yuan put down the teacup, his eyes becoming somewhat playful:

"Since they like making phone calls so much..."

He picked up the Chinese phone, found the number that had just called, and then pressed the "Add to Blacklist" option.

"Then let's just make it so they can never get through again."