Xiao Zhan's second Uncle, Xiao Hongtu

"Master."

A middle-aged man came to the front hall door and knocked on the door. After a moment, a man's voice came from inside: "Come in."

Pushing open the door.

Sitting in front of the desk opposite was a middle-aged man in his forties wearing a gray Tang suit. He had a square face and was holding a thumb-thick jade brush pen, waving it to write calligraphy.

This person was Xiao Zhan's second uncle, Xiao Hongtu.

"Ah Zhong, you came at just the right time."

Xiao Hongtu didn't even lift his head and laughed: "Come see how these characters I wrote look."

Ah Zhong strode over and glanced down at it.

Grand Vision!

The four big characters were written with vigorous power and mighty spirit. Every stroke was filled with an unrestrained aura that could not be concealed. Floating like roaming clouds and twisting like startled dragons.

"The dots are like falling rocks, the strokes like summer clouds, the hooks like bent gold, the horizontal like released crossbows. With both shape and spirit, open yet connected, ethereal yet thorough, the style lively and edges sharp..."

Ah Zhong seemed to be quite skilled in calligraphy. He casually commented on several points and then bowed: "Congratulations Master, your calligraphy improves swiftly by the day, more and more like that of the great masters."

"Flatterer!"

Xiao Hongtu put down the jade brush pen and glared at him, laughing and scolding: "Your mouth flatters more and more cleverly."

"I only speak the truth before the Master."

Ah Zhong's face didn't even twitch at the obvious flattery.

Xiao Hongtu sat down in the nanmu chair in front of the desk. He picked up the brewed hot tea and took a sip, then asked: "Speak, why were you in such a hurry to come find me?"

Ah Zhong was Xiao Hongtu's confidante as well as the steward who managed the Xiao family affairs. His personality suited his name, being extremely loyal to Xiao Hongtu.

Every day Xiao Hongtu would practice calligraphy.

He didn't allow anyone to disturb him while he practiced. That was the rule!

So from the moment Ah Zhong knocked on the door to enter, Xiao Hongtu knew something big must have happened.

Ah Zhong hesitated for a moment before speaking: "It's about Xiao Zhan."

"Xiao Zhan?"

Xiao Hongtu's brows twitched slightly and he casually asked: "Didn't Mother already personally order people to go to Quancheng to bring him back? What, did you kill him halfway?"

His tone was light, as if he didn't care at all whether Xiao Zhan lived or died.

After all, in these past five years, Xiao Hongtu and Mother had completely controlled the Xiao family's foundation and connections in the capital. Xiao Zhan's father Xiao Pojun's side had been completely cleared out, never to rise again.

No worries!

Xiao Zhan was just a rapist who had gotten out of jail. What waves could he make?

Whether he lived or died depended entirely on Mother's word.

"No."

Ah Zhong shook his head. His expression was grave as he said: "Not only was he not caught and brought back by the people Mother sent to wait outside the prison, but he married the woman he originally raped after getting out of prison and became the Xiao family's son-in-law."

"Oh?"

Xiao Hongtu was clearly somewhat surprised. He had just raised the tea to his lips but now placed it back on the desk, puzzled: "The Su family? Which Su family?"

"The Quancheng Su family, an insignificant small family."

Ah Zhong explained: "Five years ago, Zhang Fenglin and the others got a woman into Xiao Zhan's bed to frame him for rape. That woman's surname was Su, named Su Muqiu. She was the granddaughter of the Su family patriarch Su Bingtian..."

"So you're saying that after Xiao Zhan got out of jail, instead of being caught by the people Mother sent to wait outside the prison to bring him back, he married the woman he had originally raped???"

Xiao Hongtu frowned.

"Yes!"

Ah Zhong nodded.

"Interesting, very interesting."

After a brief stunned moment, Xiao Hongtu suddenly laughed and sneered: "It seems our former young master still has a romantic heart. We randomly found him a woman to sleep with once five years ago, but he still wasn't satisfied."

"Getting married? He wants to hold that woman and sleep with her for a lifetime, hahaha..."

A great man doesn't care for trivial affections. The gentle village is where heroes are buried!

In Xiao Hongtu's eyes, after getting out of jail the first thing Xiao Zhan should have done was return to the capital for revenge instead of secretly contacting his former subordinates to make a comeback. But he had gone to find a worthless woman. It was an extremely foolish thing to do.

"I heard that woman suddenly got pregnant five years ago and gave birth to a daughter. Based on the timing, she should be Xiao Zhan's."

Ah Zhong gave Xiao Hongtu a simple overview of the Su family's circumstances, then solemnly said: "The Su family is insignificant. It would be easy to destroy them. But there's one thing I still don't understand. Xiao Zhan got out of jail this morning, that news is absolutely reliable. Mother sent dozens of people to wait outside the prison to catch him, how did they lose him?"

"Didn't those people report back?" Xiao Hongtu asked.

"No word from them."

Ah Zhong shook his head. "From this morning until now, I haven't been able to contact them. All their phones are off. Something must have happened."

Hearing this, Xiao Hongtu's smile gradually faded away.

"Since something happened to them, where did you get the news about Xiao Zhan from? Did Zhang Fenglin, Liu Hangong and the others tell you? They know Xiao Zhan's whereabouts, so shouldn't they know what happened?"

"It wasn't them."

Ah Zhong shook his head.

"Who was it then?" Xiao Hongtu asked.

"Qian Yiming."

Ah Zhong said: "The son of Quancheng tycoon Qian Bancheng. I don't know how he got my number, but he knows the relationship between Xiao Zhan and the Xiao family. So he called me just now and told me Xiao Zhan married into the Su family."

"I think he wanted to gain merit with us and build connections."

"Oh?"

Xiao Hongtu's eyebrows furrowed again and he sneered coldly: "The Quancheng tycoon Qian Bancheng? I remember him. He personally came to the capital several times in the past to ask for connections with me and I refused to even meet him."

"Now that he has news of Xiao Zhan, he had his son call you instead. That sly old fox is up to no good."

A small city's top tycoon wasn't even worth noticing in Xiao Hongtu's eyes.

However, Xiao Hongtu didn't know that Qian Yiming had contacted Ah Zhong secretly without Qian Bancheng knowing.

"According to Qian Yiming, this afternoon he happened to run into Xiao Zhan at the Quancheng Ruiding Mall. They had a minor conflict and Xiao Zhan even kicked him..."

Ah Zhong said: "He also mentioned that at the mall Xiao Zhan had bought out a whole clothing store for Su Muqiu. When paying, he used a black card that looked like the limited edition Supreme Black Card from Global Bank."

"Supreme crap!"

As soon as Ah Zhong finished speaking, Xiao Hongtu immediately sneered: "A snot-nosed brat like him doesn't even know what Global Bank's Supreme Black Card looks like!"

"I personally submitted an application to Global Bank last year and it still hasn't been approved!"

Like everyone else's reaction, Xiao Hongtu scoffed in disbelief, instinctively feeling that Qian Yiming's eyes were faulty and he was spouting nonsense.

The more someone understood Global Bank's Supreme Black Card, the more they knew how difficult it was to obtain. So no one would believe Qian Yiming's tall tale!

"I feel the same."

Ah Zhong smiled awkwardly, about to chime in, when the cell phone suddenly rang. He took it out and glanced at it, his expression changing as he gestured: "Master, it's Liu Hangong calling!"