Gou Huli paid the security guard no further mind. She turned and walked out of the property management office, got into her sports car, and, still seething, dialed her man Xiao Ji's number once again.

"What is it this time?" Xiao Ji answered the phone with a note of impatience. He had come to realize that promoting Gou Huli to official wife had been a failed decision; back when she was merely his mistress, she had not been nearly so full of trouble.

"Husband, I've gotten to the bottom of it. That little nanny really is the owner of the villa. Her name is Gu Mengyao, and she's the eldest daughter of the Gu Group!" Gou Huli said.

"You see? What did I tell you? 'Little nanny,' and you couldn't even read the situation properly. You've gone and offended her, haven't you?" Xiao Ji frowned. "The Gu Group? Isn't that Gu Pengzhan's enterprise?"

"Is this Gu Pengzhan very formidable?" Gou Huli asked cautiously, sensing the displeasure in Xiao Ji's tone.

"Formidable is hardly the word, but the Gu Group is one of the foremost enterprises in the entire province. Offending them amounts to adding an enemy to our Xiao family!" Xiao Ji said, annoyed. "Hold on, I'll call you back. Let me ask Xiao Ben and see what's to be done."

"All right!" Gou Huli did not dare say more and hastily hung up. In her heart she reckoned that although the Gu Group was one of the province's leading conglomerates, so what? The Xiao family had come to Songshan City and had yet to find a place to establish their authority. When the time came, using the Gu Group to make their name would suit just fine!

After hanging up, Xiao Ji told Xiao Ben about Gou Huli's affair, wanting to discuss a course of action with him. In the Xiao family, though Xiao Ji was the figurehead, it was Xiao Ben who truly made the decisions, for Xiao Ji's temperament was rather crude, while Xiao Ben was the real strategist.

"Second Brother, what do you think we should do about this?" Xiao Ji recounted to Xiao Ben how Gou Huli had offended the eldest daughter of the Gu Group, seeking his counsel. "It's your sister-in-law's rash nature—the moment she arrived in Songshan City, she stirred up trouble..."

"Oh? Trouble?" Xiao Ben shook his head and smiled faintly. "This trouble was well stirred. Our Xiao family is a stranger here, and the only local gentry we have ties with is the Kang family—and that is clearly not enough! Most enterprises probably have no idea of the Xiao family's renown. I was just thinking we needed an opportunity to establish our authority, and Sister-in-law has delivered one right to our door. Why would we refuse?"

Xiao Ji was slightly taken aback, somewhat at a loss. "Second Brother, you mean we're to make an enemy of the Gu Group?"

"Enemy is hardly the word," Xiao Ben waved a hand. "But making them bleed a little and cough up some interests—that is indeed the idea. What good would enmity do us? The Xiao family's foundations are not here, and we are currently beset by troubles within and without. This is no time to make enemies! What we must do is use high-handed tactics to force the Gu Group into submission, extract a sum of money in compensation, and then have them cede some of their holdings to us. That way we spare the Xiao family the trouble of starting from scratch here!"

"Second Brother, you've thought it through thoroughly! This way the Xiao family not only gains profit, but also avoids a mutually destructive war with the Gu Group!" Xiao Ji nodded, though he still had some doubts. "But will Gu Pengzhan really submit?"

"Hmph! With the Xiao family's name standing as it does, would he dare not submit? And we'll fix ourselves to this matter—Gu Pengzhan failed to give the Xiao family face and bullied my sister-in-law! If he won't pay and won't cede interests, then fine—let Uncle Pi pay his household a visit and see whether they comply!" Xiao Ben sneered. "That daughter of Gu Pengzhan's was arrogant in just the right way. Hahahaha, she's given me the perfect opportunity to extort them!"

"Second Brother's insight is brilliant!" The moment Xiao Ji heard that Uncle Pi could be sent to Gu Pengzhan if all else failed, his heart settled at once! He had heard that Gu Pengzhan's bodyguard, Uncle Qing, was merely a late-stage Yellow-rank external expert at his peak—a full tier below Uncle Pi. When the time came to send Uncle Pi, Gu Pengzhan would not dare say another word!

A great clan like the Xiao family, a towering colossus—how could a petty merchant like him dare to bully them? If they did not show him some color, he would never learn the Xiao family's true power!

"Enough. Let us go pay a visit to the Kang family first." With a few words, Xiao Ben settled the matter, greatly reassuring Xiao Ji. He had thought that the moment his wife arrived in Songshan City she had made an enemy, which boded ill for the Xiao family's future prospects! Yet he had never imagined that Second Brother would so easily turn a bad thing into a good one, transforming this conflict into a pretext for the Xiao family to amass wealth! Hmm, on second thought, this wife of his was not so bad after all. There were advantages to being arrogant and domineering—he would have to praise her when he got home and let her carry on being arrogant and domineering!

"Has Uncle Pi arrived yet?" Xiao Ji glanced at his watch and asked.

"I've already sent someone to fetch him from the hotel. Coming to the Kang family this time, if Uncle Pi weren't here to hold things down, I'd truly fear that old hand Kang Shenyi might stir up some trouble. The ties between the Kang and Xiao families have not been close of late!" Xiao Ben said with a sigh.

The Kang family's attitude had the Xiao brothers anxious!

The Xiao brothers understood the Kang family's aim perfectly well. The so-called marriage alliance was nothing more than the Kang family wanting to use the Xiao family as a springboard to cross the threshold into the ranks of the great clans. But of late, as the Xiao family declined further and further, the Kang family had likely come to look down on the Xiao family's usefulness!

This time the Xiao family had sold off their holdings in Yanjing and come to Songshan City to put down roots—first, to bring about the marriage alliance between the Kang and Xiao families, and second, because competition in a small place was nothing like the fierce battles of Yanjing!

The Xiao brothers had already reached the point in Yanjing where they could not move a single step. Old friends their grandfather had made in his day had all turned their faces away, and even the Yu family no longer regarded the Xiao family as a great clan! In the end, it all came down to this: the Xiao family had no one who could stand on the stage, no true expert of their own!

Though Uncle Pi, a Mystic-rank retainer, existed, he was, after all, merely a retainer—not the Xiao family's own strength. The Xiao family had risen through commerce, and in their heyday, it was only because the old master Xiao had Uncle Pi's wholehearted support that they had been elevated to the ranks of the great clans.

But now, the two Xiao brothers lacked the old master's abilities, and Uncle Pi's attitude had shifted somewhat. Naturally, the Xiao family had grown much weaker! Both Xiao Ji and Xiao Ben regretted not having cultivated alongside Uncle Pi in their youth. Had the two brothers been even Yellow-rank experts, they would not have fallen to such a state!

But back then they could not endure hardship and had not practiced martial arts, believing that with the old master and Uncle Pi present, the Xiao family would endure for ten thousand years. Now it was too late for regret!

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