Chapter 921 — An Exorbitant Demand of the First Order: No Sooner Were Matters Settled Than the Xiao Family Came Knocking!

Gu Pengzhan turned and went into the lounge adjoining his office. The Xiao family men did not follow; they simply stood where they were, sneering.

In the lounge, Gu Pengzhan dialed his daughter's number, but on second thought hung up — at this hour she would be in class — and instead called Wei Zhao directly.

"Uncle Chu!" Wei Zhao was at Guan Xuemin's house just then, along with Kang ** and Fatty Lai. There were a few matters he had to arrange properly before he left.

"Xiao Yi, there's something I want to ask you about — it concerns Yaoyao and a person named Gou Huli..." Gu Pengzhan said.

"Oh? Gou Huli?" Wei Zhao was briefly startled, then remembered the woman, and recounted the whole affair to Gu Pengzhan. "But that was quite a while ago. What made you suddenly ask about it, Uncle Chu?"

"Gou Huli is the wife of Xiao Ji, the eldest young master of the Xiao family. And now they have come knocking at my door..." Gu Pengzhan sighed.

According to what Wei Zhao had told him, Yaoyao and Xiaoshu had indeed been at fault at the start, but it had been nothing more than a trifling squabble — they had only splashed water on Gou Huli's clothes. Once Yaoyao and Xiaoshu apologized and offered compensation of their own accord, it was Gou Huli who had behaved unreasonably through and through...

But now the Xiao family were seizing upon the affair to claim that Yaoyao had insulted Gou Huli. It looked as though the Xiao family had not come with good intentions — a caller who comes uninvited comes for no good.

"Oh?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. "They are from the Xiao family in Yanjing? And they have come to your door?"

Wei Zhao had not expected the enemy to move so quickly. Some time had passed since the dispute between Gu Mengyao and Gou Huli, yet the Xiao family had made no move at all. They had not come earlier or later, but precisely when Uncle Qing was injured and Wei Zhao himself had lost every scrap of his strength. There had to be some scheme behind it.

Yet there was nothing Wei Zhao could do. He had met the two younger members of the Xiao family only once, and in terms of strength he held no advantage whatsoever.

"Heh, it's nothing. I can handle it. I only wanted to verify it with you — don't worry." Gu Pengzhan sighed, secretly counting himself lucky. Thank heaven Wei Zhizun had arrived; otherwise, the Xiao family would surely have had him over a barrel today.

After hanging up on Wei Zhao, Gu Pengzhan turned and left the lounge. He glanced at the Xiao brothers, then at the old man beside them, and his gaze could not help but sharpen.

He had not noticed the man earlier, but now, looking closely, he saw that the old man carried a dense, heavy killing aura about him. Gu Pengzhan was only an ordinary man, yet in the presence of such an expert he still felt a faint chill.

Could he be Uncle Pi, the legendary expert who guarded the Xiao household? If it truly was him, then the Xiao family's visit this time surely concealed some design.

"Mr. Xiao, I have made my calls. But this matter hardly seems to be the fault of my daughter alone," Gu Pengzhan said, neither servile nor overbearing. "If we are apportioning blame, your wife's attitude was somewhat hasty as well, was it not?"

"F*** you! What did you say?" Xiao Ji cursed roundly at Gu Pengzhan's words. "How the Xiao family conducts itself is not for you to teach!"

Before the old master of the Xiao family passed away, Xiao Ji had been a good-for-nothing wastrel, brawling all day long and running with a pack of fellow wastrels, stirring up trouble wherever he went. But in those days the Xiao family stood at the height of its prosperity, so it hardly mattered.

In recent years Xiao Ji had restrained himself somewhat, but the violent, profligate nature in his bones had not changed. Hearing Gu Pengzhan quibble and shuffle off responsibility, he flew into a rage at once.

Gu Pengzhan had not expected Xiao Ji to be so utterly lacking in breeding — to start spewing filth the moment a single word displeased him. What sort of meeting between men of standing was this?

"Mr. Xiao, what is the meaning of this?" Gu Pengzhan asked, swallowing his anger. "Have you come here deliberately to make trouble?"

"So what if I have? I'll tell you straight — I am here to stand up for my wife!" Xiao Ji gave a cold snort and kicked the sofa in the office. "Dare to bully a member of the Xiao family? I would say you are tired of living. However fallen we may be, the Xiao family is still one of the great houses. And you, Gu Pengzhan — what the hell do you think you are?"

Wei Zhizun, meanwhile, sat off to the side, looking for all the world like a man watching a play. Gu Pengzhan had not asked him to act, so he was happy to keep enjoying the show — the wilder the other side made trouble and the tighter things grew, the more brilliantly his own intervention would display his abilities.

"Xiao Ji, have you come here to pick a fight? What is it you want? Say it plainly." Gu Pengzhan did not believe that Xiao Ji and Xiao Ben had come all this way merely to curse, kick, and smash things. They must have another purpose.

"Enough, Elder Brother. Calm your temper and let me talk with Mr. Gu." Xiao Ben was quite satisfied with his brother's earlier performance — a good show of force to cow Gu Pengzhan first, and the terms would be much easier to negotiate afterward. So he made a pretense of soothing Xiao Ji, then continued, "I am sure Mr. Gu is a sensible man, and will certainly make compensation to our Xiao family. Isn't that so, Mr. Gu?"

"Hmph!" Only then did Xiao Ji snort coldly and sit down on the sofa, sulking in silence.

"Whatever you have to say, say it plainly." How could Gu Pengzhan fail to guess the purpose of the Xiao brothers' rampage? They simply meant to use a trifling pretext to squeeze something out of him.

"Straight to the point — I like that!" Xiao Ben looked at Gu Pengzhan and nodded. "Our Xiao family is a house of name and lineage. Even if we have fallen on somewhat hard times, the Xiao family is not to be insulted at will. If you, Mr. Gu, do not pay some price, then before long anyone at all will dare to insult us."

"What price do you want?" Gu Pengzhan asked, forcing down the fury in his heart. It had been so long, and only now did the Xiao family come calling — and they had timed it so very neatly, waiting until Li Fu and Wei Zhao were both injured. Gu Pengzhan could not help but suspect they had come only after receiving word.

"We won't ask for much. The Xiao family has come to Songshan City to do business, after all. I say, Mr. Gu, you give us the Pengzhan Commercial Building and the Pengzhan Business Hotel, and toss in a casual two hundred million in starting capital as well, and the matter is settled." Xiao Ben opened his mouth as wide as a lion — in any case, such bargaining meant asking for the sky and settling on the earth. Besides, he had no intention of settling on anything less; seeing how Gu Pengzhan swallowed his anger and dared not speak, his greed only grew.

"You are demanding the moon!" Gu Pengzhan was startled by Xiao Ben's terms. If the Xiao family had merely wanted a few million, or certain business conveniences in Songshan City, he might perhaps have agreed. But their present terms were utterly absurd.

Fastest updates; for a pop-up-free reading experience, please remember this site.