161: Chapter 161 The Belated "Family" Card

Imperial Capital, Courtyard House.

The afternoon sun filtered through the dense branches and leaves of the old locust tree, casting mottled light and shadows on the blue-brick paved ground.

Inside the study, Chen Fan was reviewing the new quarterly global business report for the Huihuang Group, his fingertips gliding gently over the virtual screen as rows of data streams scrolled silently.

The study door was pushed open gently, and Chen Haoyu walked in with a rather strange expression on his face.

"Second Uncle, there's someone at the door who claims to be your Third Uncle, saying he was sent by the Chen family."

Chen Fan didn't even look up, his gaze remaining fixed on the steep growth curve in the report.

"Let him in."

Chen Haoyu stood where he was, not moving immediately, his tone tinged with hesitation: "Second Uncle, for the Chen family to send someone at a time like this, I'm afraid they don't come with good intentions..."

Chen Fan finally lowered his hand, and the virtual screen dissolved into specks of light that vanished into the air. He leaned back against the chair, the solid wood frame emitting a slight creak.

"Perfect," he said, watching the swaying tree shadows outside the window. "I also want to see what new tricks they have up their sleeves."

In the living room, an old man wearing a dark purple Tang suit sat on a yellow pear wood master's chair.

The old man was around sixty, his hair combed meticulously with hair wax, and he held a cup of freshly brewed Dahongpao tea, sitting with an air of great importance.

Chen Fan walked out of the study, his footsteps very light.

Hearing the movement, the old man immediately put down his teacup and stood up, a warm, eager smile piling onto his face as he hurried forward to greet him.

"Fan'er, oh my, it really is Fan'er! It's been so many years, you've grown up so much!"

Chen Fan did not shake his hand, walking straight to the main seat opposite him and sitting down, gesturing with his hand.

"Third Uncle Chen, speak your mind."

This opening line lacked any shred of respect from a junior; it sounded more like a superior questioning a subordinate.

The old man claiming to be Third Uncle, Chen Jianjun, saw his smile stiffen for a moment. He gave a dry cough, sat back down in his chair, sighed, and put on the posture of a heartbroken elder.

"Fan'er, you child, why are you speaking so distantly? No matter what happened outside, we are family. Even if you break the bone, the tendons are still connected; blood is thicker than water."

He set down the teacup, placed his hands on his knees, and leaned forward slightly, attempting to create an earnest and well-meaning atmosphere.

"I have come this time representing the entire Chen family, and also representing your father. I know you harbor resentment, but your father has been unable to eat or sleep these past few days, constantly reflecting on himself."

Chen Fan did not respond, simply watching him quietly, his eyes calm and waveless, as if watching a performance that had nothing to do with him.

Chen Jianjun continued his one-man show: "There were many misunderstandings in the past. Your father sent me here just to tell you personally that the doors of the Chen family will always be open to you."

He paused, observing Chen Fan's expression, and after finding no reaction, finally tossed out what he considered an olive branch.

"You are now successful in your career, a dragon among men; it is time to return to your ancestors and have your name written back into the family genealogy."

Chen Fan finally spoke, his voice very light, yet it was like a cold winter wind that made one's eardrums ache.

"Return to my ancestors?"

He picked up the teacup in front of him but didn't drink, instead using the lid to gently skim the foam.

"Third Uncle Chen, I remember twenty years ago, on a night when it was snowing heavily, who was it that threw my mother, who was still pregnant, along with a tattered quilt, out of the Chen family gates?"

Chen Jianjun's expression changed abruptly, his eyes flickering, and he hurriedly waved his hands to explain: "That... that is all in the past! Back then, your father was forced by circumstances; the pressure within the family was too great..."

"Forced by circumstances?" Chen Fan interrupted him, placing the teacup heavily on the table. A few drops of tea splashed out, leaving dark water stains on the mahogany tabletop.

"So, that justifies letting a pregnant woman about to give birth, along with a five-year-old child, wander the streets in the freezing winter of the Imperial Capital, left to fend for themselves?"

Chen Jianjun was left speechless by these words, his face turning alternating shades of green and white, with fine beads of sweat seeping from his forehead.

He realized that the "family affection" rhetoric he had prepared all along the way was fragile and crumbled before the other's calm and sharp questioning.

Seeing that the emotional card had failed, he took a deep breath, a flash of embarrassment crossing his face, but he quickly forced a smile again.

"Fan'er, let the past be the past. One must look forward."

His tone shifted, finally revealing the true purpose of his visit.

"Right now, the Chen family has indeed encountered unprecedented difficulties. As a descendant of the Chen family, you surely cannot just watch the family's century-old foundation be destroyed in an instant, can you?"

He rubbed his hands together, his voice carrying a hint of near-sycophantic ingratiation.

"I heard that you have a... what is it called, holographic projection technology. Look, as long as you bring this technology out, inject it into the group, and help the Chen family get through this crisis, then you will be a great hero to the Chen family! Your father said that when the time comes, he will give you thirty percent of the shares of the entire Chen Group!"

Chen Fan laughed.

The laughter was not loud, but it was filled with undisguised sarcasm and contempt.

"So, you came for the technology."

He slowly stood up, his height of one meter eighty-five carrying an invisible sense of oppression, looking down from above at the restless Chen Jianjun.

"Third Uncle Chen, let me ask you."

"Back when my mother was critically ill and urgently needed three hundred thousand for surgery, and I knelt at the Chen family gates for three days and three nights until my head was bloody, where was the Chen family?"

"When I was five years old and was pushed into the pond by Chen Zihao, almost drowning, where was your so-called bloodline affection then?"

"Now that the Chen family needs me, you suddenly remember that 'blood is thicker than water'?"

Three questions in a row, each heavier than the last, each colder than the last.

Every word was like a slap in the face, striking hard across Chen Jianjun's face, and also striking the hypocritical monument known as the "Chen family."

Chen Jianjun's face swelled to the color of a pig's liver. Left speechless by the questioning, and out of shame and anger, he slammed the table and stood up.

"Chen Fan! Don't be ungrateful! Without the Chen family, where would you be today? The Chen family raised you for five years; is this how you treat your elder?"

Chen Fan looked at him coldly, his eyes as if watching a clown.

"Raised me for five years?"

"Third Uncle Chen, I suggest you go back and check the accounts. From the day I was kicked out of the house at five years old, I haven't spent a single cent of the Chen family's money, nor eaten a single grain of the Chen family's rice."

He paused, the temperature in his voice dropping to freezing.

"As for being an elder... someone who could watch their own nephew and sister-in-law be swept out the door and nearly freeze to death on the streets, what right do you have to call yourself an elder in front of me?"

These words were like the sharpest knife, completely slicing open the last piece of Chen Jianjun's fig leaf.

He trembled with rage, pointing at Chen Fan, his lips quivering, but he could not utter a single word.

Chen Fan stopped looking at him and instructed Chen Haoyu, who was standing at the door.

"Show him out."

Chen Haoyu immediately stepped forward, making a "please" gesture toward the ashen-faced Chen Jianjun, his eyes cold.

"Please, Third Mister."

Chen Jianjun knew that today's negotiation had completely failed. He looked at the young man with cold eyes in front of him, and a huge sense of fear surged in his heart.

He shook off Chen Haoyu's hand, pointed at Chen Fan's back, and roared with a fierce but empty threat: "You will regret this! The Chen family... the Chen family will absolutely not let you off!"

Chen Fan did not turn back, walking straight back into the study.

Behind him came the sound of Chen Jianjun slamming the door as he left; the old locust tree in the courtyard was shaken, causing a few leaves to fall, and then, everything returned to calm.