Chapter 823 — The Xiao Family's Calculations

Gou Huli paid the security guard no further mind. She turned on her heel, left the property management office, climbed into her sports car, and — still seething — dialed her husband Xiao Ji's number once again.

"What is it this time?" Xiao Ji answered, his voice laced with impatience. He was beginning to think that making an honest wife of Gou Huli had been a serious miscalculation. Back when she was only his mistress, she had never been this much trouble.

"Husband, I've gotten to the bottom of it. That little nanny really is the owner of the villa. Her name is Gu Mengyao, and she's the heiress of the Gu Group!" Gou Huli said.

"You see? What did I tell you? 'Little nanny,' indeed. I don't know what you were looking at — you've gone and offended her," Xiao Ji said with a frown. "The Gu Group? Isn't that Gu Pengzhan's operation?"

"Is this Gu Pengzhan very formidable?" Noting the unpleasant edge in Xiao Ji's tone, Gou Huli asked cautiously.

"Formidable? Not exactly. But the Gu Group is one of the top enterprises in the province. Offending them amounts to handing the Xiao family another enemy," Xiao Ji said, clearly displeased. "Hold on — let me call you back. I'll ask Xiao Ben and see what's to be done."

"All right!" Gou Huli did not dare say more. She hung up at once, turning matters over in her mind: so what if the Gu Group was one of the province's leading conglomerates? Just when the Xiao family had come to Songshan City and still lacked a place to establish their authority — this would do nicely as a target for a display of strength!

After hanging up, Xiao Ji told Xiao Ben what Gou Huli had done, hoping to discuss a response. Though Xiao Ji was the nominal head of the Xiao family, it was Xiao Ben who truly made the decisions. Xiao Ji's temperament was crude and blunt, while Xiao Ben was the real strategist.

"Second Brother, what do you think we should do about this?" Xiao Ji recounted how Gou Huli had offended the heiress of the Gu Group and asked for his counsel. "It's your sister-in-law's reckless temperament again — the moment she arrives in Songshan City she stirs up trouble..."

"Oh? Trouble?" Xiao Ben shook his head and smiled faintly. "This is good trouble. We Xiao family folk are strangers here, and the only local magnate we're on good terms with is the Kang family — and that's plainly not enough. Plenty of businesses likely have no idea of the Xiao family's prestige. I've been wanting an opportunity to establish our authority, and your sister-in-law has delivered one right to our door. Why not make the most of it?"

Xiao Ji was taken aback, somewhat confused. "Second Brother, are you saying we should make an enemy of the Gu Group?"

"Enemy is too strong a word," Xiao Ben said with a wave of his hand. "But making them bleed out a bit of profit — that I do mean. What good would enmity do us? The Xiao family's foundation isn't here, and with troubles within and threats without, this is no time to be making enemies! What we do is use high pressure to force the Gu Group to capitulate — to compensate us with a sum of money and cede a few of their businesses to us. That way the Xiao family saves itself the trouble of starting from scratch here!"

"Second Brother, you've thought it through as always! This way the Xiao family gains without fighting the Gu Group to mutual ruin!" Xiao Ji nodded, though a doubt lingered. "But will Gu Pengzhan actually submit?"

"Hmph! Our Xiao family's name carries weight. Would he dare not submit? And we'll cling to this one matter: Gu Pengzhan failed to show the Xiao family proper respect and bullied my sister-in-law! If he won't pay and won't cede any interests — very well, we'll send Uncle Pi to pay them a visit and see whether they cooperate then!" Xiao Ben gave a cold laugh. "It's a fine thing Gu Pengzhan's daughter is so arrogant, hahaha — she's handed me the perfect excuse to extort them!"

"A wise assessment, Second Brother!" At the mention that Uncle Pi could be sent to call on Gu Pengzhan if all else failed, Xiao Ji's heart settled at once. Word had it that Gu Pengzhan's close guard, Uncle Qing, was merely a peak late-stage Yellow-rank external expert — a full tier below Uncle Pi. Send Uncle Pi to call, and Gu Pengzhan would not dare utter another word!

How could a minor merchant like Gu Pengzhan push around a colossal clan like the Xiao family? Give him no taste of their mettle, and he would never learn the Xiao family's fearsomeness!

"All right, let's go pay our respects to the Kang family first." A few words from Xiao Ben settled the matter, greatly reassuring Xiao Ji. He had assumed that the moment his wife arrived in Songshan City and made an enemy, it would harm the Xiao family's future prospects. Little did he expect his younger brother to turn disaster into advantage so easily, transforming the quarrel into a pretext for the Xiao family to enrich itself! Yes — on reflection, his wife wasn't so bad after all. There were advantages to being arrogant and domineering. He'd have to praise her when he got home and encourage her to carry on being arrogant and domineering!

"Has Uncle Pi arrived yet?" Xiao Ji checked the time on his watch and asked.

"I've already sent someone to the hotel to fetch him. Visiting the Kang family without Uncle Pi to hold the line — I really was afraid that old fox Doctor Kang might stir up some mischief. The Kang family and the Xiao family haven't been close lately!" Xiao Ben said with a sigh.

The Kang family's attitude had the Xiao brothers rather anxious!

The Xiao brothers understood the Kang family's purpose perfectly well. The so-called marriage alliance was nothing but an attempt to use the Xiao family as a springboard for the Kangs to cross the threshold into the ranks of the great clans. But lately, as the Xiao family's fortunes declined further and further, the Kangs had likely begun to discount the Xiao family's usefulness.

This time the Xiao family had sold off their Yanjing holdings and come to Songshan City to put down roots — first, to bring about the Kang-Xiao marriage alliance; second, because commercial competition in a smaller place was nowhere near as fierce as in Yanjing.

In Yanjing the Xiao brothers had already reached the point where they could not take a single step. The old friends their grandfather had made in his day had all turned their backs, and even the Yu family no longer regarded the Xiao family as one of the great clans! In the end, it came down to this: the Xiao family had no one who could stand up on the public stage. The Xiao family had no experts of its own.

True, there was Uncle Pi, a Mystic-rank retainer at their back — but a retainer was a retainer, not the Xiao family's own strength. The Xiao family had risen through commerce, and in its heyday had been elevated to the ranks of the great clans only because the old master Xiao enjoyed Uncle Pi's wholehearted support.

But now the Xiao brothers had none of the old master Xiao's ability, and Uncle Pi's attitude had shifted somewhat; inevitably the Xiao family had grown much weaker! Both Xiao Ji and Xiao Ben regretted that they had not cultivated alongside Uncle Pi in their youth. Had even one of the brothers been a Yellow-rank expert, they would never have fallen to such a pass!

But back then they could not stomach the hardship and never trained in martial arts, believing that with the Old Master and Uncle Pi around, the Xiao family would endure for ten thousand years. Now it is too late for regrets!