Chapter 937 — Old Master Chu's Attitude

Gu Pengzhan had not gone to see Wei Zhao off, because he did not want to tell Wei Zhao what had happened at the company and make him bear that burden. That burden was his to carry, not Wei Zhao's.

Gu Pengzhan was a light smoker, yet by now the cigarette butts in the ashtray on his desk had piled into a small mountain; many had even tumbled onto the tabletop, and ash was scattered everywhere.

But Gu Pengzhan had no mind to tidy away those butts and ashes. His thoughts were wholly fixed on the Gu Group and on Yaoyao's future.

The Gu Group he could give up, but his most beloved daughter he could never give up.

Gu Pengzhan was a man who set great store by sentiment, the very opposite of those who prized career above all. Some men would sacrifice their children's marital happiness for the sake of their own careers, forcing them to wed people they did not love. Gu Pengzhan, by contrast, would give up everything for his children's happiness.

At that moment Gu Pengzhan had even lost the will to live. If some troubles could be ended by death, he would sooner die and have done with it all.

But that would not do now. He could not die. Even if he died, he could not change Gu Mengyao's fate. From the Xiao family's words one could detect a little room for maneuver, and Zhao Qibing's demands were the most reasonable of the lot; he had not asked for the moon, though his appetite was by no means small, yet it remained within a limit Gu Pengzhan could accept. The Yu family's demands, however, were somewhat excessive: not only did they want shares in the company, they wanted Yaoyao to go to the Yu family as a concubine.

If Gu Mengyao were willing to be another man's concubine, Gu Pengzhan might have let it go. But the situation now was that Yaoyao could never marry into the Yu family. Gu Pengzhan knew his daughter's temperament far too well; force her, and she would sooner die.

He glanced at the time. Wei Zhao should have left by now. Helpless as he was, Gu Pengzhan had reached his final decision. After hesitating again and again, he dialed his father's number.

Gu Pengzhan truly did not want to add to his father's worries. His father was retired and ought to be enjoying a quiet, comfortable life, yet because of the company's troubles he was forever troubling him.

This time the Gu family had reached a moment of gravest crisis. If they did not find a way out now, the Gu family might well be destroyed.

If the Yu family insisted on Gu Mengyao marrying into their house, was Gu Pengzhan to dress his daughter in bridal robes?

"Pengzhan, are you in great distress right now?" Old Master Chu picked up the call and asked, quite calmly.

"Father, you know what has happened here?" Gu Pengzhan asked, slightly taken aback.

"I know a little. You may be the chairman of the company now, but don't forget, I founded the Gu Group with my own hands, and I still have my eyes and ears inside it," Old Master Chu said.

"Father, what should I do now? The Gu Group is finished. The Xiao family, Zhao Qibing, and the Yu family have all come pressing in at once. In an instant it seems every power has gathered in Songshan City, all of them coming to make trouble for me!" Hearing that his father already knew what had happened, Gu Pengzhan opened his heart and poured it all out: "I truly feel powerless. I don't know what to do..."

"The Gu Group—if they want it, then by all means give it to them. You may know a little of this: when I was young, I too ran a company, but lack of experience and poor management drove it into bankruptcy..." Old Master Chu consoled him with a smile. "The Gu Group was my second enterprise. I was already as old as you are now when I founded it. So even if we fail this time, it doesn't mean there will be no chance later..."

"Father, I can give up the Group, but Yaoyao's happiness I absolutely will not give up! I cannot let her marry into the Yu family; it would ruin her whole life!" Gu Pengzhan smiled bitterly. "And you know Yaoyao's temper. Force her into the Yu family, and she would sooner die!"

"Why marry her into the Yu family?" Old Master Chu laughed. "Didn't I tell you to marry her to Wei Zhao?"

"Oh?" Gu Pengzhan was startled, then smiled bitterly. "Wei Zhao has lost all his martial arts and is going back to his hometown to seek a way to restore his strength. I tried to keep him here before. I wanted him for my son-in-law, offered the Gu Group as dowry, and would have married Yaoyao to him, but he refused..."

"Pengzhan, your thinking was wrong from the start. The Gu Group means nothing to Wei Zhao! So you must look further ahead and not fret over immediate profit and loss," Old Master Chu said. "Have you forgotten what I told you before? It is our Gu family that clings to Wei Zhao—not he who covets the Gu family's fortune!"

"I haven't forgotten. I bear that firmly in mind. That is why I have always been so genial to Xiaoyi and treated him as one of our own..." Gu Pengzhan said humbly.

"Then what problem remains before you now?" Old Master Chu laughed.

"Hm?" Gu Pengzhan did not quite grasp his father's meaning.

"Keeping Wei Zhao is more important than keeping the company!" Old Master Chu said.

"What you mean is..." Gu Pengzhan was momentarily taken aback. He thought he roughly understood his father's meaning, yet he was not entirely certain.

"Isn't Wei Zhao going back to his hometown to take refuge? Then why not have Yaoyao go with him?" Old Master Chu said with a smile. "If Wei Zhao won't stay, then you take the initiative and deliver Yaoyao to his door!"

"Ah? But Wei Zhao has a girlfriend... and she's going back with him this time too. If Yaoyao and I tag along after him, wouldn't that be rather inappropriate?" Gu Pengzhan felt this was a bit shameless.

"Who said anything about you tagging along?" Old Master Chu retorted. "Don't tell him in advance. After he leaves, you take Yaoyao and follow a little later. Once you've arrived, can he really drive you out?"

"Is that so?" Gu Pengzhan said. "But isn't this a bit shameless? Besides, Xiaoyi has a girlfriend now too. If Yaoyao goes like this, wouldn't that make her the lesser wife?"

Although Gu Pengzhan could accept Tang Zhi for his daughter's sake—and he had made this point clear when he spoke with Wei Zhao—that acceptance was founded on the premise that Wei Zhao would marry Gu Mengyao. In that arrangement, his daughter would hold the dominant position. As for Tang Zhi, so long as his daughter raised no objection, Gu Pengzhan naturally had nothing to say.

But now, going back with Wei Zhao under such circumstances—would that not amount to placing her beneath Tang Zhi?

"Hmm, so are you going to have Yaoyao be a concubine to the Yu family, or a lesser wife to Wei Zhao?" Old Master Chu asked.

"I... I understand!" Gu Pengzhan was suddenly enlightened. The old master, it turned out, had seen the situation most clearly of all!RO