Chapter 823 — The Xiao Family's Calculations
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"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!