Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins
Years of Heartflutter · Page 108 of 214
Yang Jiyan had caught the gist of it. So his uncle's Moonlight City really had fallen into crisis, just as he had predicted. Running it the way he did, this outcome was inevitable—but Yang Jiyan had not expected it to collapse within mere days.
What gratified Yang Ce, moreover, was that his father finally seemed to have come around. He had grown considerably more tactful in his dealings with people, no longer making promises lightly, and had begun to see matters in a more well-rounded way.
It was, he supposed, all thanks to Feng Wanjiang and Hou Lin over this past stretch—they had taught his stubborn, immovable father a thing or two about business.
"Dahai, you can't just watch your big brother go under," Yang Dashan said urgently. "This Yaoguang City was set up together with Brother Bao of the Bao Lin crowd. If it goes belly-up, Brother Bao will hack me to death—he's in the underworld, you know!"
"Ai." Yang Cheyan sighed helplessly. When it came down to it, this was still his own elder brother, and he could not bring himself to turn his back on him. So he said, "Brother, what exactly do you want me to do? The money is truly not mine to decide—and you know as well as I do that the group is now funded by Mingyang Entertainment Group. I'm only a chairman in name."
"Dahai, aren't you close with President Hou of Mingyang Entertainment? Couldn't you talk to him, ask him not to hold me responsible? Otherwise I really will be hacked to death," Yang Dashan said, having given up on borrowing money and turned his thoughts to saving his skin.
And indeed—having sunk the partnership's Moonlight City into a resounding loss, Yang Dashan was sick with worry, at his wit's end, when he suddenly heard that his younger brother Yang Cheyan had shot up in the world and become chairman of Songjiang Mingyang Heavy Industry. True, it was wholly funded by Mingyang Entertainment Group, but at least he was a top executive of Mingyang and could certainly get a word with Hou Lin. If President Hou would do him this favor, he figured, his life would no longer be in danger.
"That much I can smooth over for you, but whether it works, I can't say," Yang Cheyan said with a nod, which passed for agreement.
"That's good, that's good." Seeing Yang Cheyan agree, Yang Dashan finally set his mind at ease. He looked up and saw Yang Ce coming in, and quickly said, "Yang Ce, you're back."
"Yes. Hello, Uncle." Yang Linyue gave a faint nod. He was somewhat vexed inside—this uncle of his simply would not take advice. He had told him long ago not to venture into businesses he did not understand. Now look: he had lost everything, and here he was seeking help.
"Yang Ce, you see what's to be done about your uncle's Muyun City?" Yang Dashan knew Yang Ce was on good terms with the Bao Lin crowd, though just how good, he had no idea.
"Uncle, what exactly is the situation with Muyun City now?" Yang Wenru frowned. "You keep saying you've lost money, but that's very vague. At the very least you have to let me know what state you're in, so I can decide how to help you."
"It's my nephew who understands me," Yang Dashan said, delighted at Yang Cenbin's words. "The situation now is that Yaoguang City simply isn't making money. Every day we spend more than we take in. At first I thought it would be like that only at the beginning, and that after a while it would get better—but who'd have thought it would only get worse, and our reputation has gone downhill too. A lot of people are spreading word behind my back that I'm crooked. How am I crooked? When we opened, I treated them to plenty of free meals, and in the end I'm the one who's crooked? It infuriates me!"
"Uncle, it's precisely because you gave away too much for free when you opened that people turned around and called you crooked," Yang Ce said, shaking his head. "Your freebies in the beginning spoiled these people. They came to think free is only natural, and that charging them is your fault."