Chapter 201 - Family Meeting (Part Three)
Chapter 201: Family Meeting (Part Three)
Translator:Atlas Studios
Editor:Atlas Studios
"Uncle Wang, where do we go?" Li Yang today, who was down, needed to fear no fall. Young Master had been so nice to them, as the saying goes, "I will repay back my lord's compassion by death." Anyway, that was what it roughly meant, that chap had received much kindness from Hong Dali in the past. Now that Hong Dali had encountered some trouble, he would have felt uneasy and lost sleep should he not have stood up for him. Thus, once he entered the Hong Family estate, Li Yang drove in full throttle!"
"Go all the way forward, turn right at the cross junction ahead, turn left when you encounter the big wheel, the largest building is it!" Wang Mingyu had previously come twice when he was still Hong Weiguo's driver, thus, he could still remember the location of a few prominent buildings.
"Okay, got it!" Li Yang drove the Prayer Angel to open the way forward, honking furiously as he drove. Within less than a minute, he could already spot the building where the family conference room and, thus, the family meeting was held at.
Four cars screeched to a stop in front of the front door of the big conference room building.
"Miss Muxin, where is Young Master?" Wang Mingyu alighted from the car along with his lackeys and asked once he saw Tang Muxin. "How is Young Master doing? Did he get injured?"
Though Hong Dali was recovering rather well, he couldn't possibly handle so many people at once, and if something bad happened to him…
"He's inside, they didn't let us enter!" Tang Muxin anxiously said, "Uncle Wang, quickly think of a solution!"
"It's too late." Wang Mingyu looked left and right. There were already large numbers of guards running in their direction, thus, Wang Mingyu quickly made a decision to, together with Geezer Wang, knock those two guards guarding the entrance of the conference room unconscious, after which he waved his hand. "Come in with me to protect Young Master!"
Therefore, a large group of people barged inside, and they were stunned as they saw the scene inside the room.
All the descendants' faces were filled with fruit juice—there were those with oranges, bananas, and kiwis, and a number of them lay on the floor squealing, and judging from the banana peels at their foot soles, they should have slipped and fallen…
The mess here was not unexpected. What was truly unexpected was that Hong Dali was perfectly fine and was even munching on an apple as he grinned and asked. "Are you still fighting? If you still want to fight, I think I can still continue for another five hundred years!"
"You… you're despicable!" Hong Anbao lay on the floor, his face full of fury. "What kind of man are you to crawl and hide under the table!" He had just stepped on a banana peel by accident, that fall was such a tragedy!
Upon hearing Hong Anbao's words, Tang Muxin and the others heaved a sigh of relief.
Right, it seemed like there had just been a fight here, and Hong Dali had found a place to hide from it. This lad was truly sly.
Tang Muxin held in her laughter as she took quick steps towards Hong Dali, and, after scanning him from top to bottom, asked, "Dali, are you okay?"
"Me?" Hong Dali took another bite of the apple. "Of course I am, but my Brother Anbao fell so heavily just now, I don't know how he is. Sigh, you can't blame me for that, I was just eating fruits under the table just now, I didn't do anything." After which, he didn't forget to smack his stomach with a satisfied expression on his face. "Throughout this whole time I've eaten five apples, four oranges, three bananas, and two kiwis, the feeling is not too bad."
While everyone was discussing it, the entire conference room was surrounded by the guards, and after a while, someone announced loudly from the outside. "Old Elder Hong Tu, Second Elder Hong Wei, and Third Elder Hong Ying have arrived—"
The entire conference room was in absolute silence at once. As Hong Dali and the others turned around to look outside, they saw that the guards who were blocking the entrance moved aside instantly, leaving a space in between, after which three people slowly walked in.
The person in the middle had white eyebrows that were two inches long and a white beard on the bottom of his chin which was around one inch long. Though his face was rather wrinkled, it glowed with a healthy red color, and his pair of eyes were bright and shining. He wore a black Chinese Tunic suit with a gold-plated walking stick in his hand. Needless to say, that was naturally the Old Elder of Hong Family, Old Master Hong Tu!
The elder on Hong Tu's left wore a dark red Tangzhuang which was filled with gold coins. He wore a black round little hat on his head, his eyes were squinted, and he was holding and turning a gym ball made of blood jade in his hands. He wore a kindly smile on his face. He was another subsidiary, Elder Hong Wei, who was of equal seniority as Hong Tu.
The third person was an old lady with a full head of grey hair, with a slight hunchback. She held a leading cane carved with top-quality rika tree, and she looked almost the same as Old Matriarch Yu from Generals of the Yang Family. She was naturally the only woman of the same seniority as Hong Tu and Hong Wei, Elder Hong Ying.
Following behind the three elders was yet another person with handsome looks, dressed in a silver Western suit without a tie, with a slicked-back hairstyle. He was Hong Anbao's father, Hong Weiguo's fourth brother, Hong Jianye.
Once the four people had arrived, they scanned their surrounding, and Hong Tu heavily landed his walking stick on the ground with a humph. "Look at what you've done! Such an important conference room has been made into such a state. What exactly happened?"
Upon seeing this, Hong Anbao crawled up to his feet and came forward to complain. "Old Elder, Hong Dali tricked me, he stealthily attacked me—my eyes are still hurting even up till now. Old Elder, please serve some justice for me!"
Once he had stated that, Hong Jianye, who had followed behind, immediately joined in. "That's right, Old Elder. Descendants are not to fight against one another, though as little kids it may be unavoidable to have some conflicts. But fighting and creating a ruckus at such an important place, this has certainly broken the rules of the family. Should this be ignored, I'm afraid others may not be convinced."
"What kind of manners is it to start a group fight in the family conference room!" Old Elder's loud exclamation frightened the descendants present as they shivered in fear. They had originally thought of disqualifying the right of everyone present to participate in the elections, but as the saying goes, the law didn't punish numerous offenders, and he couldn't possibly strip everyone off that right. Thus, he let out a small sigh.
After which, he turned his head to look at Hong Dali, and his originally stern expression immediately changed to one full of elderly love, and, leaving aside the entire incident for the moment, asked with a smile, "Dali, you seem to look more energetic from what I see. Has your body recovered well?"
Hong Dali grinned and walked forward as he grabbed Hong Tu's arm and said, "Big Grandfather cares about me the most, as expected. Hehe, I have a much stronger body than before—at least I can run and jump with ease now. It's Big Grandfather, instead, who has such a strong aura, with such a healthy facial complexion and a young face. You're getting younger the more you live." Afterward, he greeted Hong Wei and Hong Ying. "Hello, Second Grandfather. Hello, Third Grandmother!"
Wang Mingyu, who was listening from the side, drew a cold breath.Young Master Dali is seriously thick-skinned. I salute this flattery!
Coming to think of it, it was actually normal for him to do so. This lad has done such a good job in being a prodigal. Thus, his skin is probably almost as thick as the city wall.
Upon hearing Hong Dali's words, Hong Tu felt elated as he smiled and said, "After not seeing you for a few years, you've become such a sweet talker, hehe."
He laughed heartily as he patted Hong Dali on the back of his hand. Afterward, he turned around and stared at Tang Muxin who was not far behind. Seeing her rosy face and beautiful looks, with her expressive eyes, she was indeed a beauty. He recalled the looks of his old comrade, Tang Fei back then, and thus gently asked, "Little lass, you're Tang Fei's granddaughter, Tang Muxin, right?"
Upon hearing Hong Tu's question, Tang Muxin pressed her lips and smiled as she obediently came forward and greeted him. "Tang Muxin pays her greetings to Grandfather Hong Tu. Greetings, Grandfather Hong Tu."
Upon hearing that, Old Master Hong Tu became excited and smiled as he said, "Good, good. Aiya, how beautiful you are, beautiful!" Hong Tu searched around his entire body as he said that and finally took out a jade bangle. "Little lass, your grandfather didn't bring anything nice today, take this mediocre jade bangle. Here, have it, don't you dare dislike it."
Hong Ying smiled and said, "Little lass, Old Elder has taken out his precious gadget. Though this bangle is of an ordinary texture, it means much more than that. That was when Old Elder encountered danger many years back…"
Hong Tu's face turned red with embarrassment. "The past is the past, don't talk about it anymore."
Hong Ying smiled and said no more.
At this point, Tang Muxin, no matter how dumb she was, could recognize the extraordinary significance of the bangle, which she initially didn't want to accept. However, thinking on it, if she were to accept it, Hong Dali would have more clout on his side. Thus, she instantly wore it and smiled. "Thank you then, Grandfather Hong Tu."
Hong Tu's smile seemed like it had reached his wrinkles as well. "Good child, decisive, just like your grandfather's attitude back then!"
This was originally meant to be a joyous moment. However, Hong Jianye had to remind them and repeated what he just said. "Old Elder, descendants are not to fight against one another, though as little kids it may be unavoidable to have some conflicts. But fighting and creating a ruckus at such an important place, this has certainly broken the rules of the family. Should this be ignored, I'm afraid others may not be convinced. I know you favor Dali very much, but don't you think we can change the time to do so? I'm just afraid that this may cause a bad influence, for rules are definitely not to be broken."
The corners of Hong Tu's mouth moved a little. This fourth son of his had always been petty and had always been jealous of Hong Weiguo's business talent, and he even wanted to gain more benefits on behalf of his son, Hong Anbao. How could Hong Tu not know that?
However, what he said was not wrong as well. The family rules were already in place for everyone to see, and as the Old Elder, he naturally had to set an example for others. Upon thinking about that, Hong Tu looked towards Hong Dali. With the kindly love in his eyes gone in a flash, he softly sighed and asked, "Dali, what do you have to say?"
"Me?" Hong Dali sniffled and grinned and he said, "I had initially wanted to take leave from you, Big Grandfather. You're also aware that I'm quite a prodigal, and I was thinking that since this was a big event of electing outstanding descendants of the family, it's not very appropriate for me to be here. Those little things that I've started up are only mediocre at best, it's good enough that they didn't cause me to lose much money, so it's impossible that I will play a part in participating in this election of the outstanding descendants."
Once Hong Dali finished his speech, the faces of Hong Anbao and Hong Jianye became green instantly.
So this chap was here just to take leave, and after all the ruckus, he was not leaving anymore?
Hong Anbao felt bitter. Had I known that before, why would I even want to create all this mess? Wouldn't it be over once he'd taken leave and left?!