256: Chapter 256 The Submission of the Noble Families

The November north wind howled through the alleys of Sijiu City, cold as a blade scraping against bone.

In front of the tightly closed vermilion gates of the Longwan No. 1 Courtyard House.

Elder Bai stood straight against the wind, leaning on his dragon-headed cane and wearing only a thin Chinese-style jacket. He didn't dare wear thick clothes, fearing it would make his sincerity seem lacking.

Beside him on the cold bluestone slabs, Bai Yu knelt on the ground with a thick plaster cast on one leg, his shoulders held down firmly by two bodyguards in black. Bai Yu was so cold his nose was running, but he didn't dare make a sound.

Neighborhood residents passing through the alley stopped one after another, gathering in the distance to point and whisper.

Elder Bai, a man of status in the capital who was usually surrounded by a massive entourage wherever he went, was now standing at someone else's door like a schoolboy being punished for a mistake.

The wind blew Elder Bai's hair into a messy tangle. He had been standing for over two hours; his legs had long since gone numb, and he relied entirely on the cane in his hand to keep from collapsing.

He knew very well the weight of the person inside. Just half an hour ago, he had received internal information that his two sons, who held deputy positions in the city, had been taken away by the Commission for Discipline Inspection for questioning, and all the family's bank accounts had been frozen.

The sky had fallen on the Bai family. And it was all because of this rebellious grandson kneeling on the ground.

"Creak."

The heavy vermilion gate opened a crack.

Chen Haoyu walked out wearing a black windbreaker. Standing on the high threshold, he looked down at the Bai grandfather and grandson outside the gate.

"Assistant Chen!" Elder Bai took a half-step forward with his cane, his voice trembling. "Mr. Chen, he..."

"The Boss is in the backyard playing in the mud with the Young Master; he doesn't have time for guests." Chen Haoyu's tone was stiff as he cut him off directly.

Elder Bai swallowed hard, not daring to voice even half a word of complaint.

"Then did Mr. Chen... have any instructions?" Elder Bai asked with his head bowed.

"The Boss's exact words," Chen Haoyu said, looking at the kneeling Bai Yu. "'The Chen family doesn't look for trouble, but we aren't afraid of it either. Have Young Master Bai go to the Alxa Desert in the Northwest to plant trees for ten years. For every day he misses or every tree he fails to plant, the Bai family can forget about staying in the capital.'"

As soon as the words fell, Bai Yu on the ground became frantic.

To go to the desert in the Northwest to plant trees for ten years, eating sand every day—that would be more miserable than killing him. He had lived in luxury since childhood; how could he endure such hardship?

"I'm not going!" Bai Yu howled at the top of his lungs, struggling desperately. "On what basis does Chen Fan get to make me suffer with just one sentence! I'm not going to that hellhole! Grandpa, take me home!"

Bai Yu stiffened his neck, about to continue his tirade.

Elder Bai turned around and swung his cane directly into Bai Yu's face.

Bai Yu was knocked flat onto the ground, spitting out two bloody teeth.

"Pin him down!" Elder Bai roared at the two bodyguards.

The two bodyguards, one on each side, pinned Bai Yu firmly against the bluestone slabs.

Elder Bai gripped the metal handle of his dragon-headed cane with both hands and raised it high above his head. He looked at Bai Yu's intact left leg, grit his teeth, and smashed it down ruthlessly.

Crack.

The sound of bone breaking was heard clearly in the empty alley.

"Aaaagh—" Bai Yu let out a distorted scream, his head lolling to the side as he fainted from the pain.

Both legs were now completely ruined.

Elder Bai tossed the blood-stained cane aside, turned, and bowed deeply to Chen Haoyu on the steps, bending his waist to a ninety-degree angle.

"Please tell Mr. Chen," Elder Bai panted heavily, "Bai Yu will appear with the desertification control team in the Northwest tomorrow morning. If he dares to take half a step out of the desert within the next ten years, I will take his life with my own hands."

In the face of true power, even an influential aristocratic family could only seek a way out by bloodily breaking their own legs.

Chen Haoyu didn't give the mess on the ground a second look; he turned back into the courtyard and closed the gates tightly.

In the backyard of the Courtyard House.

Chen Fan was squatting by a mud pit under the grape trellis. His suit jacket had long been tossed aside, and the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to his elbows.

One-year-old Chen Xingchen, wearing denim overalls, was covered in black mud. He grabbed a handful of wet mud and giggled as he smeared it on Chen Fan's face.

On the stone bench nearby, Chen Muyang and Chen Nianyao watched this scene, laughing so hard they couldn't stand straight.

Su Wanqing walked out of the kitchen carrying a basin of warm water. She took a hot towel and walked to the edge of the mud pit to wipe Chen Fan's face.

"Is it quiet outside now?" Su Wanqing asked while wringing out the towel.

"They've been sent away." Chen Fan took the towel to wash his hands, then picked Chen Xingchen up out of the mud pit. "Add a guard post outside the main gate in the future. Don't let every random riffraff come shouting at the door; it disturbs the child's nap."

Chen Fan tucked his clean son into Su Wanqing's arms, completely indifferent to the life or death of the capital's Bai family.

...

Three days later. Huihuang Group Headquarters, top-floor CEO's office.

The Bai family matter had been completely settled. No other blind aristocratic family dared to point fingers at the Huihuang Group anymore.

Chen Muyang sat behind a wide desk, reviewing the construction budget for the Southeast Asia ports.

The office door opened. Lin Wanqiu walked in wearing a professional suit, holding a printed guest list, her brow furrowed.

After the Bai family issue was resolved, Chen Fan had given the word, and the wedding date for the two of them was officially put on the schedule.

"Muyang, the wedding invitations have all been printed." Lin Wanqiu walked to the desk. "Assistant Chen has also confirmed the venue; the infrastructure work on that private island in the Pacific is complete. The French wedding dress design team will fly to the Imperial Capital tomorrow morning to take measurements."

Chen Muyang put down his pen and took the list to look it over.

"My dad said that for this wedding, cost is no object." Chen Muyang took Lin Wanqiu's hand. "As the daughter-in-law of the Chen family, the scale must be one-of-a-kind in the world."

Lin Wanqiu wasn't particularly happy; instead, she pointed somewhat hesitantly at a few handwritten names at the very bottom of the list.

"The rest of the process is fine. It's just... some distant relatives from my hometown heard I'm having a wedding in the capital, and yesterday afternoon they suddenly showed up in the Imperial Capital with their whole families in tow." Lin Wanqiu bit her lower lip.

"It's a good thing for relatives to come for the wedding. Have the logistics department arrange presidential suites for them at the Great Wall Hotel," Chen Muyang said.

"They're not here for the wedding." Lin Wanqiu handed a folded piece of A4 paper to Chen Muyang. "They caused a scene in the lobby on the first floor all morning; the security guards couldn't even stop them. The Second Great-Uncle leading them said..."

Lin Wanqiu took a deep breath before she could finish her sentence.

"Second Great-Uncle said that although our Lin family is bankrupt, my marriage shouldn't lose the Lin family's face. To let me leave the house with dignity, the Huihuang Group must first give five percent of its original shares as a 'dowry for the bride's family.'"

Lin Wanqiu clenched her fists.

"They also declared that if they don't see the equity transfer documents before sunset today, they'll go to media reporters to expose me for not supporting my elders, making the Chen family lose face in front of the whole society."