Jiang Chiyu had just finished planting the incense when she turned to see Chen Mo standing there, looking at her with an unreadable expression. She guessed he must have overheard something to react that way, but she didn’t care. Using her thumb, she casually rubbed away the bit of incense ash clinging to her fingertips and walked over with a composed face.
“Is something the matter?”
There was plenty the matter.
Chen Mo followed beside Jiang Chiyu as they walked out together. “The Little Young Master is returning to the country today.”
What?
There’s another one?
“Jinnian’s brother?” Jiang Chiyu’s brows knitted. Her pace, however, remained leisurely.
“Yes.” Chen Mo thought for a moment about how to explain before continuing. “The Young Master previously went abroad with Miss Meng. Miss Meng is returning today, so he is coming back as well.”
At this point, he still hadn’t revealed the real reason he had come.
Jiang Chiyu could easily guess that Chen Mo wouldn’t show up just to tell her something as simple as Pei Jinnian’s brother returning. Seeing that he wasn’t continuing, she took the initiative to ask, “Is he… coming to find trouble with me?”
Congratulations, you guessed right.
So you’re not that stupid after all.
Chen Mo grumbled a few things in his head but relayed the information he had received truthfully, curious to see how Jiang Chiyu would react.
“The Little Young Master has a rebellious temperament. Upon learning that you inherited all of the Young Master’s estate, he flew into a rage. He vowed that the first thing he would do upon returning is snatch back everything in your hands that doesn’t belong to you.”
And those “things” included not just money and real estate, but also the position of CEO of Hengchuang.
When Pei Jinnian made that decision, he only informed Cheng Wanru and Chen Mo; he didn’t tell a soul more. Everyone working around him during this period had signed numerous contracts; if anyone let a word slip, they couldn’t blame him for being ruthless.
Consequently, Pei Jinnian’s brother, Pei Yufan, had no idea that the news of his brother’s death was fake. He truly believed his brother had passed away and that the woman his brother had just married had inherited everything—even the chairmanship of Hengchuang!
How could he possibly endure this?
If he didn’t take those things back, he wouldn’t be Pei Yufan!
After listening to Chen Mo, Jiang Chiyu fell into deep thought for a moment, looking as if she were truly stumped by this sudden development.
However, what she was actually thinking about had nothing to do with how to deal with Pei Jinnian’s bratty brother. She was wondering: What should I have for lunch?
She had noticed when she went downstairs earlier that lunch was already being prepared. All she had to do was show up and eat.
Seeing that Jiang Chiyu hadn’t responded for a long time, Chen Mo assumed she was at a loss. Suppressing a smile, he called out, “Miss Jiang?”
“Huh? Oh, Jinnian’s brother, right? It’s fine. If he actually tries anything, I’ll just hire someone to give him a beating. I’ll just beat the sense into him.”
Jiang Chiyu gave a distracted reply before impatiently heading toward the dining table. It was clear her current fixation was entirely on food.
Chen Mo could naturally see that her answer was nothing more than perfunctory.
Watching her silhouette trot toward the dining table, he felt that he would never be able to match her mindset in this lifetime.
The enemy was practically at the doorstep, yet she was focused on stuffing her face. Should he say she underestimated her opponent, or that she overestimated herself?
Furthermore, Miss Meng was returning with the Little Young Master.
There weren’t many people in Jinghai City who could be considered a perfect social match for Pei Jinnian, but Miss Meng—Meng Tinglan—was definitely one of them.
The Meng family had been in business for three generations. Since the time of Meng Tinglan’s great-grandfather, they had been carving out a place in Jinghai City. Back then, it wasn’t even called Jinghai. Initially, the Meng patriarch ran a book business, starting with a single shop and expanding to several branches, gradually monopolizing the entire book and educational materials trade in the region.
By the time Meng Tinglan’s grandfather took over with the family savings, he opened a small pawn shop. At first, they only pawned gold and silver jewelry, but later, people could even trade houses and land for cash at his shop. As these assets grew, he opened several branches of the pawn shop as well.
Meng Tinglan’s father was the boldest of them all. He took the wealth accumulated by the previous two generations and invested it all into the internet finance industry. He threw himself into it completely, and after years of hard work, the payment software “WeiBao,” created by his own hands, successfully went public with a national coverage rate of 80%.
Essentially, eighty out of every hundred people were using WeiBao to pay for things.
If the Pei family hadn’t been involved in such a wide range of fields, the Meng family might not have even looked twice at Pei Jinnian.
Of course, the most important point was that the Meng family’s most beloved youngest daughter loved Pei Jinnian.
It wasn’t just a simple crush—it was an obsession.
Meng Tinglan was two years younger than Pei Jinnian. They had attended middle and high school together, and the signs were already there back then. If Pei Jinnian had been unmotivated, with terrible grades and a poor family background, Meng Tinglan’s father would have immediately transferred her out of Jinghai No. 1 Middle School, even if it was the best school in the city.
He could clearly distinguish which was more important: his daughter’s future or her personal whims. Moreover, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t pull strings to get her into a prestigious school abroad.
But the point was that Pei Jinnian wasn’t that kind of person. Not only were his grades excellent, but his family background was also decent, even if it was technically on a downward slope at the time.
So, while Meng Tinglan’s father didn’t force a transfer, he still didn’t intend to let his daughter marry such a man.
His attitude shifted once Pei Jinnian reached adulthood.
By then, Pei Jinnian had already entered Hengchuang. While it wasn’t a “bootstraps” story starting from the bottom, he had joined the board with no one to rely on, as the assets left by his father had long been carved up.
Under those circumstances, it took Pei Jinnian three years to reclaim his father’s seat as the Chairman of Hengchuang. He had held that position for two years, during which countless people tried to unseat him, but all failed.
It was for this reason that Meng Tinglan’s father stopped preventing her from getting close to him.
Even though he knew about Pei Jinnian’s frequent engagements and the rumors that he was “cursed” and caused his wives’ deaths over the past two years.
He knew the truth behind those events and didn’t care; he only needed to know that Pei Jinnian hadn’t done anything to betray Tinglan.
But just a few days ago, he learned a piece of news that made him fly into a towering rage. “What did you say? Pei Jinnian registered a marriage? The wedding is next week?”
“Does he have any respect for Tinglan? Does he have any respect for me?”
After his outburst, Meng Fenglin immediately decided to sever ties with the Pei family. “Meng Tinglan is coming back today. Tell her that if she dares to go to the Pei house, I’ll break her legs!”