128: Chapter 128 The Ironclad Rule of Heirs: Reject Romantic Thinking

At seven in the morning, the dining room of Longwan No. 1 was filled with the aroma of freshly ground coffee and buttered toast.

A snow-white tablecloth covered the long table. Chen Fan sat at the head, holding a copy of the day's financial morning paper, with a bowl of light millet porridge in front of him. Su Wanqing was still upstairs catching up on sleep due to morning sickness, and Chen Nianyao hadn't woken up yet; only the father and son were at the table.

Chen Muyang sat on the left, mechanically cutting the fried egg on his plate. There was a slight darkness under his eyes, a lingering effect of staying up late to organize dirt on others, but his spirit was very excited. His phone in his pocket contained enough evidence to give Chen Jianye and his group a hard time, and he was calculating how to speak up and claim credit from his father.

"Didn't sleep until two last night?" Chen Fan turned a page of the newspaper, not even looking up.

Chen Muyang's fork and knife paused for a moment, then he sat up straight and adjusted his glasses: "Dad, I found something. My cousin Chen Jianye is collaborating with Tiansheng Group, trying to make a move regarding taxes. I've already obtained the key recordings and accounting loopholes. As long as I send them to the Economic Crime Investigation Detachment, they'll lose a layer of skin even if they don't die."

The teenager's tone carried an irrepressible pride. He felt that he had perfectly executed the phrase "why use a cleaver to kill a chicken" from last night.

"Hmm, your efficiency is decent." Chen Fan's tone was flat, making it impossible to tell if it was praise or just perfunctory.

He put down the newspaper, took a sip of the millet porridge, and then pulled a thin A4 paper from the stack of documents beside him, sliding it across the smooth marble tabletop to Chen Muyang.

"Take a look at this."

Chen Muyang picked up the paper in confusion. With just one glance, his originally calm young face instantly turned pale, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

It wasn't evidence of Chen Jianye's crimes.

It was a printed screenshot of a chat log.

Time: 02:15 AM last night.

Sender: Lin Wanqiu (Avatar: a small orange cat).

Content: [I've figured out today's problem, thank you for the necklace...]

Reply: [Mm.]

Further down, there was also a detailed background check on Lin Wanqiu, covering everything from her first time winning the "Three-Good Student" award in third grade to her family background—her father's early death and her mother working as a female laborer in a textile factory—nothing was omitted.

"Dad, are you spying on me?" Chen Muyang stood up abruptly, his chair making a harsh scraping sound on the marble floor.

"Sit down."

Chen Fan's voice wasn't loud and didn't even have much fluctuation, but that kind of imposing pressure made Chen Muyang's knees go weak, forcing him to sit back down.

Chen Fan unhurriedly peeled a hard-boiled egg. The white shell fell away under his fingertips, revealing the tender egg white.

"Muyang, you are very smart and know how to use hacking methods to bring down enemies. But you made a fatal mistake." Chen Fan placed the peeled egg on a plate and pushed it toward his son. "You thought you were hunting, but in fact, you were also in someone else's crosshairs."

"It would be easier for me to crush an idiot like Chen Jianye than to crush an ant. I didn't move against him because I was fishing—fishing for the big fish behind Tiansheng Group. Last night, you thought you were being clever by trying to report him. If I hadn't had someone intercept your email, your actions would have been alerting the enemy."

Chen Muyang opened his mouth, his expression extremely unsightly. What he thought was a finishing move was actually just causing trouble in his father's eyes?

"And this girl." Chen Fan tapped the screenshot, his gaze suddenly becoming sharp, like a cold blade just unsheathed, piercing straight into Chen Muyang's heart. "Lin Wanqiu. Clean background, resilient character—she's good potential. I don't object to you liking her."

Just as Chen Muyang breathed a sigh of relief, Chen Fan's next sentence sent him straight into an ice cellar.

"However, when you received her message last night, you hesitated for a full three minutes before replying. What were you thinking? Afraid of disturbing her? Or were you weighing your words?"

Chen Fan leaned forward, his eyes that had seen everything staring fixedly at his son. "As the eldest son of the Chen family and the future heir of Huihuang Group, you can play with cars, you can play with watches, you can even play with power politics. There is only one thing you absolutely cannot have."

"And that is—a love brain."

"Dad, I don't..." Chen Muyang wanted to defend himself.

"Shut up." Chen Fan interrupted coldly. "Buying her a necklace and helping her out of a predicament—those are tactics, a display of strength. But your emotional fluctuation late at night because of a single message from her, which even affected your judgment on the Chen Jianye matter—that is called a weakness."

Chen Fan stood up and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, his back to Chen Muyang. Outside was the luxurious courtyard of Longwan No. 1, and further away was the rolling river.

"Do you know why I was able to survive five years ago?" Chen Fan's voice was somewhat ethereal. "Because I shredded all my emotions and fed them to the dogs. In the business world, a place that devours people, being soft-hearted is like handing the enemy a knife to stab you with."

He turned around, silhouetted against the light, his tall figure casting a large shadow in the dining room, like an emperor in control of life and death.

"Muyang, I'll give you two choices."

"First, take the unlimited black card I give you and be a happy second-generation rich kid. You can fall in love with that little girl; even if you buy Tiansheng Group later and give it to her to set off like fireworks, I won't care. But the right of inheritance, I will give to Nianyao, or your unborn younger siblings."

"Second, be my successor. This means that in your world, family interests come above all else. If one day, that girl named Lin Wanqiu becomes a bargaining chip for an opponent to attack you, or a stumbling block to the development of Huihuang Group..."

Chen Fan walked behind Chen Muyang, pressing his hands on his young shoulders with a bit of force.

"You must excise this weakness with your own hands. Do you understand?"

Chen Muyang felt like what was pressing on his shoulders wasn't two hands, but two great mountains. Through the reflection in the dining room glass, he saw his father's eyes, which were cold and devoid of any warmth.

It was an absolute rationality, a clarity that bordered on cruelty.

The boy's fists clenched tightly under the table, his nails digging into his flesh. The slight throb and unwillingness in his heart seemed so small and fragile in the face of the family's immense power.

A long time passed.

Chen Muyang took a deep breath and relaxed his fists. He looked up and pushed his glasses, the gaze behind the lenses becoming cold once again, like a piece of steel rapidly cooling.

"I understand, Dad."

Chen Muyang picked up the glass of ice-cold milk on the table and downed it in one go, as if to extinguish the last trace of heat in his heart. "I will handle Chen Jianye's matter cleanly. As for Lin Wanqiu... she's just a slightly difficult advanced math problem. Once solved, it loses its interest."

Seeing his son's face quickly return to a state of calm, a flicker of hard-to-detect appreciation flashed in Chen Fan's eyes.

Ruthless enough.

This was indeed Chen Fan's offspring.

"Eat." Chen Fan patted his shoulder and sat back at the head of the table. "Change your clothes after eating. Your unreliable uncle, Su Qiang, is getting married in a few days."

Chen Muyang was stunned, then frowned. "Uncle? That Su Qiang who only knows how to gamble and live off his parents?"

"That was before." Chen Fan cut a piece of bacon and put it in his mouth, his tone becoming playful. "Now he is the brother-in-law of the boss of Huihuang Group. His wedding is a flag our Chen family is planting in Yunzhou."

"Doesn't Tiansheng Group want to cause trouble? Then we'll use this happy occasion to set off a loud thunder in the stagnant water of Yunzhou."

Chen Fan picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth, took a phone out of his pocket, and dialed Chen Haoyu's number.

"Hello, Haoyu. How are the preparations for Su Qiang's wedding going?"

Chen Haoyu's excited voice came from the other end of the phone: "Second Uncle! Everything is being done according to your instructions! I've also booked the most luxurious Buckingham Palace Hotel in Yunzhou! It's just that... the woman's family seems a bit reluctant. They think our Su Qiang is uneducated and it's a second marriage..."

"Reluctant?"

Chen Fan let out a cold laugh, a sound that made even the servants preparing to clear the tableware shudder.

"Tell the woman's family that on the day of the wedding procession, I will deploy twelve helicopters to lead the way. I'd like to see who in this Yunzhou territory dares to look down on Chen Fan's brother-in-law."