The slap mark on Chen Huanrui's face was swollen, and the malice in his eyes made it seem as though he wished Chen Wanli were dead.
Chen Wanli's fury no longer erupted; instead, only a chilling calmness and indifference remained. He stepped forward, grabbed Chen Huanrui by the throat, and said:
"Back in the eighth grade, when you were cornered in an alleyway for money, you cried and called me big brother, begging me to help you. I took a knife wound while you ran faster than a dog. When we got home, you even claimed I was just fighting someone and it had nothing to do with you. You certainly didn't show this kind of ability back then!"
Chen Huanrui could not draw breath. Seeing him turn red from asphyxiation, Chen Wanli's expression did not waver in the slightest.
Tang Yanran was terrified by Chen Wanli's demeanor. "Wanli, let go! Let go right now!"
Without moving an inch, Chen Wanli glared coldly at Chen Yaoyang: "Where are my father's tea set and my mother's amber necklace?"
Wu Min instinctively lunged toward Chen Wanli.
Only to be kicked flying away by a single strike from Chen Wanli.
For the very first time, Chen Yaoyang saw a murderous glare in his nephew's eyes—the exact same fierce expression his late older brother had worn when driven to madness.
"They really were sold!" Panic compelled Chen Yaoyang to blurt out the truth, unwilling to hold back.
"Those items aren't worth that much!" Chen Wanli narrowed his eyes.
He watched his son's flushed face and pupils that had already begun to roll upward.
Chen Yaoyang roared, "Tianyang Collection Company was more than happy to buy them! They specifically demanded to purchase your father's tea set and your mother's amber necklace!"
"They offered a sky-high price of two million! Of course I sold them!"
"..." Chen Wanli released Chen Huanrui, a sensation striking his mind as if something had violently exploded within it.
His father's tea set had been fired by a ceramic artist and, strictly speaking, was not worth much—at most thirty or fifty thousand.
As for his mother's amber necklace, it was merely an ordinary piece bought when the family's financial situation was still modest, capping out at a hundred thousand at most.
Why would anyone offer an astronomical price of two million? Chen Wanli could see that Chen Yaoyang was not lying.
In that instant, countless past events and minuscule details he had never paid attention to surfaced in his mind.
"One month. You have only one month! Otherwise, I guarantee your chain hotel will change hands, the bureau chief will become a prisoner, and the collection company will turn into scrap metal!"
Chen Wanli left with Tang Yanran.
Chen Huanrui was still gasping heavily for breath, his brutal expression laced with a trace of fear. "Why didn't you call the police? Why didn't you..."
"Kill him, we have to kill him! Look at how ruthless he is! If he doesn't die, our family will never have peace!"
Hearing his son screaming and shouting, Chen Yaoyang swung his hand and delivered a fierce slap across his face. "Shut up!"
Heart aching, Wu Min pulled her son into her arms and glared furiously. "What are you doing? If you've got the guts, go beat up your deranged nephew!"
Chen Yaoyang said with a sinister tone, "I'll send him down to keep my big brother company. Don't you think my big brother misses him?"
...
On the drive back, Tang Yanran looked at Chen Wanli's gloomy expression. That silent collapse stirred a twinge of heartache within her.
Ever since Chen Wanli recovered from his illness, he had always maintained a calm demeanor. Even when her mother spoke harshly, even when he violently beat up Li Tianyang, and even when facing Song Siming, he remained poised and composed.
This was the very first time he had experienced such a complete loss of composure and outburst!
"Actually, what they said wasn't entirely true!"
Chen Wanli abruptly turned his head to look at Tang Yanran. "What do you mean?"
....
....
....
Chapter 24: Are You Lecturing Your Father-in-Law?
Chen Wanli's sudden, piercing gaze was like that of a wounded beast of prey.
Tang Yanran gathered her thoughts and said, "My dad knows your family quite well! He said your father was a man of great wisdom, an elite graduate from the archaeology department at Tsinghua University."
"It seems he originally started his own business elsewhere, and then for some unknown reason, he returned to Nanbin and passed the civil service exam!"
"Your mother's collection company initially only dealt in low-end cultural artifacts. It wasn't until after she married your father that they got involved in antique collecting."
"Although your mother stepped forward to manage the company, it was actually your father supporting it from behind the scenes. Because your father was sufficiently professional and successfully snapped up undervalued items several times, the company managed to establish a foothold."
Tang Yanran paused for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps because your father held an official public position—even if it was just the most ordinary civil servant—he still wanted to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, which is why he never spoke of it publicly."
"Mm."
Everything Tang Yanran had just said was something Chen Wanli had always known.
Yet hearing it spoken aloud by her still offered a measure of comfort to his previously over-excited emotions.
"There is another matter, though. I'm not sure if I should mention it!" Tang Yanran hesitated before speaking.
"Hmm?" Chen Wanli raised his head.
"My dad held your father in extremely high regard, saying he was a gentleman as flawless as jade, a person of impeccable character and a top-tier scholar from Tsinghua. Yet, with a man of such caliber, how could he remain a mere low-level civil servant for so many years..."
Back when Tang Yanran resisted her father's arrangement of repaying a debt by marrying off his daughter, Tang Dapeng had told her a great deal about the father and son of the Tang Family in order to persuade her.
Tang Yanran had even gone to Chen Wanli's university in person to understand this man's disposition and character before he fell ill.
Chen Wanli remained silent for a long while, various doubts swirling within his heart.
Just like when he had produced his former family's company accounts earlier, leaving Chen Yaoyang utterly shocked.
At the time, he had simply assumed his father viewed him as a little man of the house and was therefore willing to share those things.
Yet at this moment, a dazed illusion struck him: it seemed as though his father had constantly been preparing for his own final affairs, acting as if he knew an accident could befall him at any given moment.
Was that home invasion and accidental homicide really just an accident? Why would that collection company pay a sky-high price for his parents' posthumous belongings?
Furthermore, the claim that he was born to his father and another woman was the hardest thing for him to accept.
In his memories, his parents' relationship was exceptionally good, and his mother Wu Yuan doted on him immensely. They were no different from any normal mother and son—so how could he now be told he wasn't Wu Yuan's biological child?
Chen Wanli's thoughts drifted to one person: Tang Dapeng!
A man who dared to marry his daughter to him when he was suffering from a mental illness with no guarantee of recovery could not possibly be completely ignorant about his family background.
At this thought, Chen Wanli pressed down on the accelerator, sending the car speeding forward.
When the two returned home, Tang Dapeng was sitting on the sofa, looking over some reference materials on herbal cultivation.
Seeing the dusty and disheveled state they were in, he instantly knew they had suffered humiliation at Chen Yaoyang's house. Just as he was about to offer a few words of comfort, Chen Wanli spoke up:
"Dad, I want to talk to you alone!"
"Oh, right! Yanran, go to your room. We can talk right here!" Tang Dapeng nodded.
Tang Yanran cast a nervous look at her father before turning back to her room.
"When I was mentally ill, you had no idea whether I would ever get better. At the time, my family assets had even been seized by Chen Yaoyang and I was left completely penniless. Why on earth did you agree to marry Yanran to me?"
Chen Wanli cut straight to the point.
Tang Dapeng frowned. "Your mother showed immense grace to me and the Tang Family. I promised her that if you ever ran into trouble in the future, I would protect you!"
"My mother was merely the owner of a small curio company. What kind of immense grace could she possibly have shown to you and the Tang Family?" Chen Wanli gazed intently at Tang Dapeng.
Tang Dapeng sighed. "Did Chen Yaoyang say something?"
Chen Wanli remained silent.
"It wasn't Wu Yuan!" Tang Dapeng did not evade the question.
"Oh!" Chen Wanli turned on his heel to leave.
"Don't you want to ask who she is?" Tang Dapeng had imagined countless times that one day Chen Wanli would stand before him and ask that question, and he had rehearsed countless ways to dodge the answer.
He simply never expected that Chen Wanli wouldn't even ask.
"I have no interest in knowing who a person who could abandon her husband and child is. I have only one mother, and that is Wu Yuan!"
Chen Wanli spoke with absolute finality, his eyes entirely devoid of the previous bewilderment.
Tang Dapeng sighed. "Some things might not be as you imagine."
Chen Wanli smiled. "I know, you're going to say she had her difficulties. But everyone has their own struggles in life; some people choose to take responsibility, while others choose to run away!"
"You chose to marry your daughter to a mentally ill man simply to fulfill a past promise—wasn't it difficult for you at the time?"
"Yanran decided to marry me solely because her family owed a massive debt of gratitude—wasn't it difficult for her?"
"Both were difficult, yet you both shouldered the burden, didn't you?"
Tang Dapeng was momentarily left speechless. "You brat, your illness is cured, but you're quite full of talk. Are you giving a lecture to your father-in-law now?"
"..."
"Chen Yaoyang is a greedy man. Three years have passed; getting him to spit that money back out is simply impossible!"
"Of course he won't spit it out voluntarily! But I'll make sure he learns the consequences of keeping it!" Chen Wanli said in a deep voice.
"Over the past three years, his family must have had some incredible stroke of luck. Their company suddenly grew to a certain scale, and they've been getting awfully close to all sorts of shady characters!"
"You'll come out the loser if you go head-to-head with him!" Tang Dapeng advised earnestly.
"Our family's conditions are ordinary, but we do have two apartments and two storefronts, and the income from the herbal plantation is quite stable. All of this will belong to you and Yanran in the future!"
Changing the subject, Tang Dapeng tried to persuade him further.
Chen Wanli nodded. "Mm, our family has plenty to eat and drink, and I'm not worried about my own ability to make money in the future!"
"That still doesn't give him the right to trample all over my parents' life's work!"
"..." The more Tang Dapeng listened, the more worried he became, having no idea how to advise him anymore.
Just then, the door to the older couple's bedroom was yanked open, and Zhang Yuehong strode out aggressively:
"Are you out of your mind, you little brat? Can't you understand plain speech from your father-in-law? What kind of person is your second uncle? What kind of person are you? You still want to make them understand the consequences? I think you have no idea how much you weigh!"
"Do you think those are still your poor relatives from back in the day? They're hotel tycoons in Nanbin City now! If they turned all the cash in their hands into coins, they could bury our entire family alive!"
"If you want to court death on your own, don't drag the whole family down with you!"
Zhang Yuehong delivered a rapid-fire barrage of complaints without a shred of shame about eavesdropping on their conversation.
Chen Wanli frowned. "I naturally have my own methods! And I won't drag the family into it."
"Talk is cheap! Didn't you claim earlier that Fifth Master Huang's business wouldn't drag Yanran into it either? And how did that end? In the end, didn't it still rely on the family spending two million and begging for help to get it resolved?"
Unable to handle his hot-tempered wife, Tang Dapeng bellowed, "Have you argued enough? We're all family here, must you keep this endless bickering going?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuehong grew even angrier. She snatched up a gift bag prepared in the corner and tossed it right at Chen Wanli's feet:
"Zhang Haimin asked us to come and celebrate his daughter's birthday. Your dad was originally supposed to go; now the two of you are going instead. Go experience firsthand just how humiliating it is to beg others for favors, so you'll stop acting like you don't know your own limits and thinking you can conquer the world."
A wave of irritation washed over Chen Wanli. Giving money to Zhang Haimin—from another perspective, that was practically paying an intelligence tax!
However, he had agreed to it in the first place for their sake!
"Fine!" Chen Wanli agreed flatly.
"Yanran, go with Wanli!" Tang Dapeng, unable to overrule his wife, called out toward the bedroom.
Stepping out, Tang Yanran said, "I'm not going, and Chen Wanli isn't allowed to go either!"
Chen Wanli had just been provoked at his uncle's house, and things wouldn't be pleasant over at his maternal cousin's place either. Tang Yanran was afraid Chen Wanli might have another relapse.
"It's fine, I happen to have a few things I'd like to discuss with my cousin anyway," Chen Wanli said calmly. Extortion had reached his doorstep, and that two million wasn't going to be so easily kept!
"What could you possibly have to discuss with your cousin?"
"Take a guess?"
....
....
....
Chapter 25: The Idiot Syndrome Is Contagious
Zhang Hong's birthday was held at Leitianju, one of the upscale local restaurants.
Not many elders were present at the venue, but quite a few friends and relatives of the same generation had turned out.
The moment Tang Yanran and Chen Wanli stepped inside, a wave of whispering immediately broke out.
Without even needing to listen closely, Tang Yanran knew they were gossiping about her—talking about how she had married a mentally ill man.
Chen Wanli, on the other hand, maintained a completely composed expression.
"Happy birthday, cousin!" Tang Yanran handed over the gift. It was a package Zhang Yuehong had picked out from the high-end American ginseng and dendrobium orchids sent by Fifth Master Huang.
Zhang Hong took the gift, glanced at it casually, and muttered, "I've always said a woman shouldn't marry beneath her station!"
"Look at this—nowadays people give medicine as gifts. Don't tell me this is some herbal stuff grown on your family's farm?"
With a disgusted huff, she tossed the gift aside into a corner.
Tang Yanran frowned in displeasure. American ginseng and dendrobium candidum counted as high-grade health tonics.
Moreover, these were gifts sent by Fifth Master Huang, and even Tang Dapeng had praised them as top-tier goods.
Still, she decided not to say anything further.
With a vague gesture toward a corner table, Zhang Hong told the two of them to go sit there.
Tang Yanran had originally intended to exchange a quick greeting and leave straight away, but Chen Wanli pulled her over to take a seat instead.
"No rush! Cousin hasn't arrived yet!" Chen Wanli said.
Just then, another familiar face walked through the entrance.
It was Chen Huanrui, sporting a face covered in bruises and swelling.
Chen Huanrui was Zhang Hong's university classmate, and the two of them were currently in an ambiguous, courting phase.
"Huanrui, welcome, welcome! What on earth happened to your face?" A trace of heartache laced Zhang Hong's tone.
Chen Huanrui replied, "Just as I was leaving the house this morning, I happened to run into some lunatic bullying a young woman. I stepped in to help and accidentally got into a fight!"
"You're so brave! Next time don't be so impulsive—you can always just call the police!"
"Pfft..." Chen Wanli burst out laughing.
Tang Yanran couldn't help but feel a mix of amusement and exasperation, the corners of her mouth curling upward.
Hearing the sound, Chen Huanrui looked over. He never expected to run into Chen Wanli; his old face flushed red, but he kept his mouth shut.
Zhang Hong, however, grew irritated, pulled Chen Huanrui over, and demanded sharply, "What are you laughing at?"
"None of your business!" Chen Wanli laughed even louder.
Furious, Zhang Hong snapped, "I forgot, you're mentally ill! Why am I even bothering to argue with you?"
She then turned her gaze to Tang Yanran. "And what's so funny on your end?"
"Huanrui's new company just secured an investment from Mr. Zhou, with an initial funding of thirty million! Huanrui's father is a hotel tycoon, and his mother is a government official. He goes out and has the courage to do a righteous deed—what's so funny about that?"
"He's my boyfriend now!"
"And what does Chen Wanli have? Chen Wanli is just a mental patient! I told you back then not to marry below your station. You went ahead and married him anyway, but what now—is mental illness contagious or something?"
Zhang Hong delivered a fierce, aggressive rant.
Clearly, she had no idea that Chen Huanrui was Chen Wanli's cousin.
Too lazy to argue, Chen Wanli simply retorted, "Mental illness probably isn't contagious, but the idiot syndrome definitely is!"
Zhang Hong flushed bright red with anger.
Chen Huanrui was equally incensed; he could clearly tell that this was a jab calling both him and Zhang Hong idiots.
"I heard you stirred up trouble and had to rely on Zhang Hong's father to bail you out. Talking like that right here at her birthday banquet—don't you think that's a bit inappropriate?"
Chen Huanrui looked down his nose at Chen Wanli from his superior height.
Chen Wanli chuckled. "And so?"
"So you should apologize to Honghong!" Chen Huanrui declared.
Chen Wanli crooked a finger. "Didn't quite catch that. Come here, say it a bit closer!"
Recalling how he had nearly been choked to death by Chen Wanli earlier, Chen Huanrui felt a twinge of cowardice and did not dare step forward.
"Don't have the guts?"
"If you don't have the guts, what are you acting so tough for?"
Chen Wanli smiled with utter contempt.
Chen Huanrui was a prideful person, and being provoked like that made him step right up to Chen Wanli, pronouncing each word clearly: "I said, if you've got the damn nerve to cause trouble, you should have the nerve to clean it up. Stop putting on a fake front!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Chen Wanli's hand swept across, landing a sharp slap right on Chen Huanrui's face.
"You dare hit someone?!"
Zhang Hong flew into a rage.
Tang Yanran opened her mouth, but ultimately remained silent.
She knew that since Chen Huanrui had used his words to wound others today, Chen Wanli was in no mood to heed any persuasion.
Chen Wanli watched calmly as Zhang Hong threw a tantrum. "I'm just disciplining my cousin, teaching him how to properly address his older brother. Is there a problem with that?"
"..." Zhang Hong stared at Chen Huanrui in shock.
Clenching his fists, Chen Huanrui's face flickered between shades of green and purple.
"Oh, right—you asked if mental illness is contagious earlier. Let me answer that again: mental illness isn't contagious, but my mental condition might be genetic. Who's to say my cousin doesn't have the same gene?"
"Well now, looking at the two of you, you must be talking about getting married soon!"
With just a few casual sentences, Chen Wanli directly ground Zhang Hong and Chen Huanrui's faces into the dirt.
"Congratulations, you'll be marrying a mental patient real soon too! From now on, don't ever use that to lecture Yanran again. After all, the two of you are cut from the same cloth, aren't you?"
"..."
Zhang Hong and Chen Huanrui had to admit that even if they teamed up, they were no match for Chen Wanli's sharp tongue!
"Fine, wonderful! You dare treat me like this! I'm going to make my dad stop managing anything for you people!"
"Without my dad protecting you, let's see how your family survives!"
Just as she spoke, the door to the banquet hall was suddenly pushed open from the outside.
The hotel manager, Yang He, walked in with a smile, accompanied by several gorgeously dressed young women.
Behind them followed staff members pushing small dining carts loaded to the brim with five-year-aged Feitian Moutai.
Setting aside their bickering, Zhang Hong recognized Yang He and hurried forward to greet him:
"Manager Yang, what brings you here?"
With a smile, Yang He replied, "I'm here to deliver wine on behalf of Fifth Master Huang."
With that, Yang He scanned the room and walked straight toward Chen Wanli's table.
Clueless as to what was happening, Zhang Hong could only follow along.
Yang He casually pushed Chen Huanrui out of the way. "Step aside."
Then he waved his hand, and one of the pretty women beside him poured a glass of wine.
Raising his glass politely, Yang He said, "Since distinguished guests are gracing our restaurant with their presence, allow me to toast you!"
However, no one at the table reacted.
Most of the occupants at Chen Wanli's table were ordinary younger relatives.
None of them were narcissistic enough to believe they possessed the qualifications to warrant a toast from Yang He.
Chen Wanli's reaction was equally calm. He roughly guessed that Fifth Master Huang had noticed his arrival and sent people over with gifts, but since he was in a foul mood, he couldn't be bothered to entertain them.
Yang He felt a momentary awkwardness.
Yet, recalling the look of sheer panic on Fifth Master Huang's henchman's face when he spotted Chen Wanli at the entrance earlier, it all came back to him.
That henchman had gone up to report to Fifth Master Huang, and within moments, the Fifth Master had issued strict, repeated orders to show utmost respect and deliver the wine.
How could someone of such status be a figure that Yang He himself was qualified to cozy up to?
As a seasoned veteran of the dining and banquet scene, Yang He figured it out and smoothly dissolved the awkwardness without changing his expression. "Come, come, a toast to everyone."
Without wasting any breath, he downed the wine in his glass in a single gulp.
Only then did the people at the table snap back to reality, realizing the toast was meant for everyone in general rather than any specific individual, and they hurriedly stood up with smiles to raise their glasses.
Chen Wanli took a casual sip of his wine.
Sensing the previous awkwardness, Zhang Hong rushed in to smooth things over. "Manager Yang is far too polite, having you personally deliver wine and offer a toast. I'll be sure to tell my dad so he can go thank him in person."
Subconsciously, she assumed Yang He had come to deliver wine because of her father.
The guests seated at this table were poor relatives she didn't even care to associate with.
In her mind, the only reason Yang He had come over to toast this table was because her father wasn't present, and this table happened to be closest to the main entrance.
With a faint smile, Yang He replied, "It's only right!"