Chapter 929 — Yet Another Uninvited Guest!

Though Wei Zhao, too, felt a certain reluctance to leave Guan Xin behind—the girl had, before he knew it, carved a deep impression into his heart—he could not possibly stay. There was no other reason: he had to find a way to restore his strength!

Guan Xuewen's words had not been wrong. His strength might be gone, but his medical skill remained, and with it he could still obtain a measure of standing. Yet Wei Zhao had always held that medicine was merely auxiliary—only strength was true capital.

What Gu Pengzhan could never have anticipated was that, toward evening that same day, just as everyone was about to leave the office, two more uninvited guests arrived at the company!

Work was over, and most of the company's employees had already gone. Gu Pengzhan had not left. Gritting his teeth, he had reached a most difficult decision: he would satisfy the demands of the Xiao family and of Zhao Qibing.

The Xiao family's demands could not be met in full, but Pengzhan Commercial Plaza and the Pengzhan Business Hotel could be handed over. As for the two hundred million yuan in seed capital, Gu Pengzhan had no intention of paying it. He was a shrewd businessman, and from the tone of the Xiao brothers he could tell that the two hundred million was open to negotiation.

With Zhao Qibing, however, there was no room to bargain. The man had opened by demanding a branch company—one of the most valuable branches, at that. The real estate company itself was worth little, but the plots of land it held and a batch of unsold units were priceless; among the remaining units were luxury villas of the top grade, a single one of which was worth tens of millions.

Still, Gu Pengzhan knew that this was precisely what the man was after, and that he had no choice but to give it.

The only thing Gu Pengzhan prayed for now was that, once these interests had satisfied the Xiao family and Zhao Qibing, they would trouble him no more. And though the Gu Group would be left with little in the way of assets, it could still scrape by and keep running.

But just as Gu Pengzhan reached this decision, the office door was pushed open.

Gu Pengzhan had grown used to people bursting in on him today—first Wei Zhizun, then the Xiao family, then Li Cihua and the Medicine King, and now two more had abruptly forced their way in.

"Yu Haitian?" Gu Pengzhan knew one of the two—Yu Haitian—and knew him to be the man in charge of business for the Yu family of Yanjing. The middle-aged man beside him, however, Gu Pengzhan did not recognize.

"Chairman Chu has a keen eye, to recognize this Yu!" Yu Haitian laughed heartily, though his brows and eyes were filled with haughtiness. He was a businessman too, but managing business for the Yu family was something Gu Pengzhan could never compare with.

Gu Pengzhan's face fell. Those who came were not friendly, and the friendly did not come. For the Yu family to burst in here at such a moment gave Gu Pengzhan an immediate foreboding. Could it be that they, too, had come to make trouble for him?

Gu Pengzhan could hardly be blamed for the guess. After all, two groups of trouble-seekers had already come today, and back at the villa, Wei Zhao had clashed with General Weiwu and the Yu family's Yu Kun on his account and wounded him. That the Yu family should come here now—their purpose was self-evident.

"I wonder what business Mr. Yu has here—" Before Gu Pengzhan could finish, the middle-aged man beside Yu Haitian cut him off.

"So you're Gu Pengzhan? What a nerve you have! The brat of a daughter you spawned actually had someone beat my son crippled!" Yu Bide had come looking for trouble, and the grief for his son in his heart made him barely able to restrain himself; the moment he set eyes on Gu Pengzhan, he exploded.

Had it not been for the Yu family's interests, Yu Bide would have liked nothing better than to slap Gu Pengzhan dead on the spot, then go settle accounts with his daughter and Wei Zhao.

Gu Pengzhan's heart clenched. So it was trouble after all—and over that affair.

"That's right, I am Gu Pengzhan. What instructions might Mr. Yu have for me?" Gu Pengzhan smiled a bitter smile, knowing that disaster could not be avoided today.

"Instructions? Hah! My son is ruined now, a useless cripple who can't get out of bed—and you ask what instructions I have?" Yu Bide raged. "I could kill your whole family and still not quell the fury in my heart!"

"Third Uncle, please calm yourself. We are respectable businessmen—we can't go around killing people!" Yu Haitian said with a smile. "Besides, we've come to discuss compensation with Mr. Gu Pengzhan. Of course, if the compensation doesn't work out, it won't be too late to kill his whole family then."

Fury! Gu Pengzhan trembled all over with rage. Yu Haitian's words were fair enough on the surface, but every phrase, inside and out, was a threat! If the compensation failed, he would kill Gu Pengzhan's whole family? This was going too far!

Yet in the face of the Yu family—first among the Four Great Houses and the Five Minor Houses—Gu Pengzhan had not a shred of temper to show. He did not doubt for an instant that the Yu family's words were mere bluster; for the Yu family to kill him was no more than to crush an ant beneath a foot.

At most, when an investigation was made, there would be countless people eager to take the blame.

Yu Kun had been the one who trespassed into another's home, and now that he was injured, the blame was being pinned on Gu Pengzhan—he felt deeply wronged! But with the Yu family there was no reasoning to be had. By the stance the Yu family had taken, it was plain as day that they had come to make trouble for him.

You reason with them, and they answer with thuggishness, and you cannot even summon a scrap of temper!

"That's true enough!" Yu Bide nodded. "Haitian, you had better do the talking. Lay out the Yu family's terms for him, and if he refuses, I will kill his whole family."

"Mr. Gu Pengzhan, my third uncle does have a bit of a temper, and Xiaokun is his only son, so I hope you will not take offense!" Yu Haitian smiled. "So long as you satisfy our Yu family's terms, he will not kill your whole family."

Gu Pengzhan's face had gone a mottled purple. Never in his life had he been so suffocated with rage, and he had not the slightest power to resist! Whatever the other side said, he was helpless, for the two parties were not standing on any level ground at all; he was being bullied pure and simple, with no chance to strike back.

"What terms?" Gu Pengzhan asked, drawing a deep breath.

From the Xiao family to Zhao Qibing and now to the Yu family, every one of them was a force to be reckoned with, and not one of them was someone Gu Pengzhan could afford to provoke! He did not know whether even more formidable people would come knocking in the days to come, but as for those already before him, he had no way left to deal with them.

"Give your daughter to my cousin Yukun as a concubine, and your Gu Group shall come to my Yu family as her dowry!" Yu Haitian pronounced the Yu family's terms word by word.

"What!" Gu Pengzhan was startled on the spot, his expression changing at once. The Yu family's terms surpassed even those of the Xiao family and Zhao Qibing; they had reached the point of the unthinkable!

The Yu family was simply trampling him into the ground! Terms like these, how could Gu Pengzhan possibly agree to them?

"What is it, Mr. Gu? You do not wish to agree?" Yu Haitian fixed his eyes on Gu Pengzhan and asked in a sinister, insinuating tone.