Jing Qingfu, who had been puffing away at his water pipe, coughed twice, and the old butler hurriedly patted his back. After finally catching his breath, Jing Qingfu cleared his throat and said, "...Zhengwei, what do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said."
Le Yu did not sit down. He stared coldly at his brothers. "If our Jing family falls because of this, it'll be you lot who caused it."
"Speaking insolently will only expose your weakness, Big Brother." Jing Zhengwu lifted his teacup and gently blew across it, smiling. "The century-old Jing family is an estate left behind by countless forebears. It may weather countless storms and challenges, but how could it possibly collapse after one setback and never rise again? Empty threats and shirking responsibility—is this your sense of duty, Big Brother?"
The clan elders also recovered, and they looked at Le Yu with displeasure—Damn, you nearly scared me into wetting myself. You came in and immediately said, 'The Jing family is doomed.' How could the Jing family possibly fall? What nonsense!
Le Yu gave two cold hums and sneered. "Is that so? Since you called me here, this is about what happened in Half-City the night before last?"
At that, everyone else's expression darkened. Jing Zhengtang hurriedly tried to smooth things over. "None of us wanted something like this to happen..."
"Of course you didn't want it, because you took advantage and then acted innocent!" Le Yu pointed at himself with his thumb. "Who doesn't know that those people attacked the factories because the three of you joined forces with the other chambers of commerce to push through a wage-cutting reform? I didn't have anything to do with your bullshit. I was honestly running my newspaper, and what happened? My factory was burned too!"
"I don't get any