"Arrowhead Bro, this guy really is a fool!" Shen Yushu said, casting Lei Daming a look of pity.

"Gu Pengzhan, are these your children? What dreadful manners. You're getting on in years too—don't let your children drag you down and leave you with no one to rely on in your old age!" Lei Daming threatened, his tone veiled. "Make them kneel and knock their heads to me twice, then get out of East Sea. Otherwise, none of you are leaving!"

Gu Pengzhan was no fool. He could see that Shen Yushu was speaking up on Wei Zhao's prompting, and he could not help but sigh. He had meant to keep these matters from Wei Zhao and his daughter and find a way to handle them himself. But now that Wei Zhao had stepped in, the problem would naturally be resolved properly—though did it not make him look a little useless?

Gu Pengzhan did not for a moment believe that Lei Daming was capable of doing anything to Wei Zhao. Never mind him—had not all those great families and hidden families been trampled flat beneath Wei Zhao's feet? Lei Daming was nothing but an ordinary businessman. Even if he was the chairman of the chamber of commerce, what of it?

"Uncle Chu, this man is insane. If you do business in East Sea, you should keep your distance from his sort—otherwise you'll end up insane too!" Wei Zhao paid Lei Daming no attention at all. Instead he said to Gu Pengzhan, "Let's go eat. While we're at it, I'll make a phone call and introduce you to a few people here in East Sea."

"You... you people... good. Very good! Gu Pengzhan, are you sure you want to eat here?" Lei Daming was beside himself with rage. In East Sea City he was a man of considerable standing. His enterprise might not be the largest, but he was the chairman of East Sea's chamber of commerce. The chamber was a civilian organization, true, but to rise to its chairmanship in so short a time showed that he had powerful backing behind him!

In East Sea City, Lei Daming walked almost as if the streets belonged to him. So long as he kept clear of the few people who could not be provoked, he held everyone else in utter contempt.

But his words might as well have been spoken to himself. Wei Zhao had no intention of paying him the slightest heed. Together with Gu Pengzhan and the others, he strode head high into the North Ice Ocean Seafood Restaurant, making a phone call as he walked.

"Xiao Po, come over to the North Ice Ocean Seafood Restaurant, will you? I have an elder here who wants to do business in East Sea City. Come and pay him a visit," Wei Zhao said into the phone once the call connected, speaking to Han Xiaopo.

"Of course, Boss. I'll be right over!" Han Xiaopo answered at once with a nod.

In truth, "pay him a visit" was only because this man was Wei Zhao's elder. Han Xiaopo understood that Wei Zhao was summoning him mainly so that the hidden Han family would look after Gu Pengzhan here in East Sea City. The hidden Han family was not like the hidden Zhao family: because they kept a low profile, they had no holdings at all in East Sea City, whereas the hidden Zhao family, after testing the Hidden Families Arbitration Association and finding it ineffective, had begun building enterprises on a grand scale in East Sea City to start extracting money from the secular world.

Still, the hidden Han family's standing spoke for itself. Once word got out that Gu Pengzhan had ties to the hidden Han family, then—provided he did not cross anyone from the hidden Zhao family—the hidden Han family's name would serve him very well in East Sea.

In the past, the hidden Han family had kept a low profile and stayed out of business for fear of provoking the other hidden families. But now that they had torn off all pretense at the Hidden Families Summit, the hidden Han family no longer cared about such things—especially when the favor was for Wei Zhao.

Of course, even if Gu Pengzhan did cross the hidden Zhao family, Wei Zhao would deal with it himself; that was beyond the hidden Han family's worry.

So the moment Han Xiaopo received the call, he drove at top speed to the North Ice Ocean Seafood Restaurant.

Once Wei Zhao and the others entered the restaurant, they booked a private room, ordered food and drink, and went inside.

"Xiao Yi, about what happened just now..." Gu Pengzhan began only after they were in the room. "To be honest, Li Fu and I meant to handle it ourselves. It's nothing major, after all—the man is merely working with a few East Sea businessmen to squeeze out our Gu Group. I didn't want to trouble you..."

"Ha, Uncle Chu, I'm the second-largest shareholder of the Gu Group. Don't tell me you're trying to push me out?" Wei Zhao said with a laugh. He had noticed before that Gu Pengzhan might be running into some trouble, but he had not thought much of it—he had assumed it was ordinary business competition.

But now it was clear that was not the case at all. Lei Daming was targeting Gu Pengzhan outright, the sort who wanted to wipe him out root and branch. Naturally Wei Zhao did not want Gu Pengzhan wasting his effort dragging things out with the man. Was it not a contest of who had more power? Perfect—he would summon the hidden Han family, the local snakes of East Sea, to crush him.

"How could I?" Gu Pengzhan laughed. "I'm getting on in years. The Gu Group will naturally be yours and Yao Yao's in the future. But now that you mention it, I'd truly forgotten—you're still a member of the company's board of directors, so of course you have a duty to contribute to the company."

Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback. The implication in Gu Pengzhan's words seemed to be that he intended to leave the Gu Group to him and the young lady in the future. With Wei Zhao's present wealth, he might not care about such things, but back when he had first come to Songshan City, penniless and with nothing to his name, Gu Pengzhan had already hinted at such an intention.

The young lady naturally understood her father's pointed remark. Her face flushed slightly, and she lowered her head, not daring to look at Wei Zhao.

"Oh, Yao Yao, Uncle Chu really does want to take Arrowhead Bro as his son-in-law! Yushu is amazing—she predicted it all along!" Shen Yushu said happily.

"He's finding a son-in-law for himself, not for you. What are you so happy about?" Gu Mengyao, made even more embarrassed by Shen Yushu's remark, glared at her and said in exasperation.

"You're the proper wife, so I'll be the concubine. Eh? Yao Yao, you haven't forgotten, have you?" Shen Yushu said with perfect seriousness.

"Ha..." Gu Pengzhan laughed. Far from being displeased that Shen Yushu was competing with his daughter for a man, he was gratified that the two sisters would be able to stay together forever. His father, Chu Sanwa, had said that a man like Wei Zhao could never be bound by a single woman. Gu Pengzhan did not quite understand why his father had been so certain, but his father's judgment had always been remarkably accurate!

Qing Bo and Granny Sun exchanged a silent glance, each seeing a trace of gratification in the other's eyes. What relationship Sun Jingyan had once had with Wei Zhao, whether she had been his lover, whether she would compete with the young lady—none of that was any concern of Qing Bo's, nor of Granny Sun's. Sun Jingyan was simply a relative of theirs.

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