These two short sentences prompted Song Tianyao, who was standing next to him, to nod in agreement repeatedly, looking as if he had learned something.
Chu Xiaozhong looked at the old man and the young man sitting at the head and foot of the study. The old man was his father, ruthless and thick-skinned. The young man was his brother's secretary, who was good at reading people and understanding their true nature.
Compared to the arrogant aura that Zhang Yujie had intentionally or unintentionally revealed earlier, the two people sitting calmly in the study now sent a chill down his spine.
Chapter 149 Never Divide the Family
After leaving the Chu Family, Zhang Yujie checked into the Guanghai Hotel, where his mother was temporarily staying. His mother said she couldn't see Zhang Yuliang and forbade her three brothers from seeing him. Zhang Yujie stayed in a suite a few rooms away from his mother's place. At this moment, Cai Jianxiong was guarding the corridor outside the door. Zhang Yujie was sitting on the sofa in the living room, and his assistant A-Yin, was massaging his head and neck from behind. Opposite the sofa were Zhang Yujie's wife and concubine. The two seemed completely oblivious to A-Yin behind Zhang Yujie, both looking at their man.
Zhang Yujie closed his eyes, tilted his head back so that the back of his head rested on A-Yin's full breasts, and slowly asked, "How is Mother?"
"After dinner, Xiuying from Yuqi's room is now accompanying her in chanting scriptures. The scriptures that Mother-in-law often chants, Father-in-law's memorial tablet, and Buddha statue have all been brought to the hotel. We have also specially invited two Western doctors to be on standby in the next room 24 hours a day, in case Mother-in-law is frightened or upset by what happened today." Zhang Yujie's first wife and concubine exchanged glances, and finally it was the first wife, Li Suiyi, who spoke.
Li Suiyi was married to Zhang Yujie when he was sixteen. Her father was a butcher who sold pork. At that time, the Zhang Family, who traded mountain products, were considered a good match. Later, the Zhang Family became wealthy and needed more manpower for their business. In 1948, Zhang Yujie took Chen Yaofang, who is sitting next to Li Suiyi at the moment, as his second concubine.
As for A-Yin behind the scenes, whether she had the status of a concubine or not was irrelevant to the people in this room.
Zhang Yujie did not abandon his first wife after becoming rich. In this family, besides his mother and himself, there was his first wife, Li Suiyi, who gave birth to the eldest son and grandson of the Zhang Family. She had the highest status. Even Zhang Yujie's three younger brothers had to treat Li Suiyi with courtesy and respect, even though Li Suiyi did not have the demeanor of a wealthy woman and was just an ignorant country woman.
"Mother doesn't know what Yuliang has been doing outside, does she?" Zhang Yujie shook his head slightly to make himself more comfortable, and continued to ask.
Li Suiyi said timidly, "I don't know, but the fourth son set fire to the house, and my mother-in-law keeps asking if Yuliang wants to divide the family property. The fourth son's wife, Jieying, knelt before my mother-in-law all afternoon today..."
"Don't try to talk to me. You want to divide the family property?" Upon hearing his wife's words, Zhang Yujie's eyes immediately opened, sharp as knives, as he looked at Li Suiyi: "It was Jieying from the fourth son's wife who knelt before Mother first, and then Mother asked her if she wanted to divide the family property, right? By reversing the order and telling me this, it sounds as if Jieying was kneeling before Mother begging her to divide the family property."
Li Suiyi turned her head away, not daring to look into her husband's eyes, but still said with a bitter face, "Let them divide it if they want. I saw that the house burned down today, and my mother's attitude has softened a bit."
Zhang Yujie waved his hand, signaling A-Yin to step aside. He sat up straight, lit a cigar, and put it in his mouth. "Divide the family? How? It's a mess! Putting aside Yuliang, Yuqi and Yulin have worked so hard for the family business all these years. If we divide the family, how much should I give them to show that I, as the elder brother, care for my younger brother? Before Father died, he said that we should live together and share property, and that we would never divide the family. After I die, the eldest son will be in charge." Everyone heard these sixteen words, even the youngest Yuliang, who was by Father's bedside at the time. Are you getting dumber and dumber by bringing up dividing the family?
"The second son and his wife now have four children. Although the third son isn't in a hurry to get married, there are quite a few people who are interested in him and have come to propose marriage..." Li Suiyi was, after all, a country woman. She didn't know how to continue expressing her thoughts after saying half of her sentence, and she opened her mouth, not knowing what to say next.
A-Yin spoke softly from behind Zhang Yujie, helping Li Suiyi out of Zhang Yujie predicament. "What Madam means is that although Yuqi's father-in-law's family has declined due to the war, and Yuliang married the old worker's daughter Jieying at your and the old lady's behest, Yulin is handsome, gentle, and has always been in charge of social interactions. Among those prominent families, those with daughters will definitely want to marry their daughters to Yulin. If Yulin's future father-in-law is from the Chu Family, Zhou Family, Cai Family, and his wife's family becomes Yulin's backer, then when Yulin's wife proposes a division of the family property, Mr. Zhang, you will be in a very passive position. This is also an excuse, taking advantage of the old lady's interest..."
Before A-Yin could finish speaking, Zhang Yujie snorted heavily, "Whether it's Yuqi or Yulin, back then, Hong Kong, Macau, Zhanjiang, and Guangzhou were all infested with Japan. I risked my life to build this empire. By the time Yuqi resigned to help me, the family's pharmaceutical business was already stable. As for Yulin, he's just a useless errand boy. In the end, even Yuliang, who set the house on fire, has more merit than either of them. At least when my mother was captured by the Japan and there was no one else to help her, it was fifteen-year-old Yuliang who found a way to raise money and rescue her. Otherwise, would he still be hiding outside and refusing to see me? I would have had A-Hung drag him out of the house and break his arms and legs long ago. The family cannot be divided, and the father's teachings cannot be changed. From now on, the Zhang Family will continue to live together and share property. We will never divide the family. After I die, the eldest son will take charge."
After he finished speaking, the three women in the room stopped arguing. However, even the most ignorant Li Suiyi was wondering if, if they didn't separate the family, and her husband were to die young like her father-in-law, would her eldest son Zhang Weilin, with three outstanding uncles standing beside him, still be able to keep them in check without Zhang Yujie's pressure?
Li Suiyi certainly hoped that the Zhang Family would not separate, and that her son Zhang Weilin would inherit the entire family business, allowing her to become a mother-in-law, a figure like an empress dowager in the family. However, if the family did not separate, Zhang Yujie would eventually pass away. Among the next generation of the Zhang Family, her sons from her branch of the family were far inferior to the two sons from the second son's branch in terms of both knowledge and intelligence.
"Why not hand over Taihe Trading House to the third son and Zhuxing Trading Company to the second son?" Li Suiyi pondered for a long time, still feeling that it was best for his sons to take the opportunity to divide the family now. So he boldly said another sentence and even came up with his own distribution plan.