Experience It Well

"Yeah, I also don't think my son should be the one doing the dirty work and offending people." Han Yanhu stood up as well. Why should her son solve their troubles for them? Disgusting.

Huo Xi looked at Shen Can standing in front of him and at his mother, who had stood up for him. "Can Can, go back and sit down. Mom, you sit down too."

He had not expected Shen Can to suddenly rush out and speak up for him. After all, no one would think someone like him needed help.

Most of the time, they simply followed his arrangements, believing he could solve everything and that there was nothing to worry about.

Today, Shen Can had been the first to rush out and defend him, and then even his mother could not help speaking up.

Although Huo Zhenyun's words would not have trapped him, having someone consider his feelings, stand in front of him, and speak up for him felt rather nice.

He had also discovered that Shen Can was truly bold. No one else had stepped forward, yet he, a junior, had dared to confront Huo Zhenyun like that.

The Shen Household had not expected Shen Can to suddenly charge out either. They all watched the situation closely. If Huo Zhenyun said anything unpleasant to Can Can, the Shen Household was not to be trifled with.

"You insist on acknowledging them yourself, yet you won't allow others to do the same. I will not make that decision." Huo Xi looked at Huo Zhenyun.

Huo Zhenyun was furious. Others could not stop him from acknowledging them, but since he had started this, he could not stop others from doing it either.

"We understand what you mean, but Grandpa is different from everyone else. How much has Grandpa contributed to the Huo Household? And them? I'm afraid they can only rely on everything the Huo Household provides to survive every day."

"Is it really appropriate for people like that to have all their sons and grandsons acknowledged? I think you should understand." Zhou Jingxuan smiled confidently after speaking.

He refused to believe that, after hearing this, those people would still cling shamelessly to the matter. If they did, they would only embarrass themselves. If they insisted on making trouble, then they could see whether they deserved to return based on their contributions.

Shen Can nearly laughed out loud when he heard that. Holy shit, the male lead actually dared to say that. It would have been one thing if he only thought it, but he actually said it out loud. How many people is he going to offend?

And maybe these people themselves have not contributed much, but their elders definitely have. Otherwise, the Huo Household isn't stupid. Besides, this kind of thing can't be sorted out clearly at all.

A century-old aristocratic family has its advantages—prestige, grandeur, and style—but the waters run deep too. You can experience that properly this time. The old man won't be able to smooth the road for you this time.

If you hadn't hidden things so well in the original plot, and then taken advantage of Huo Xi being trapped in Africa, at risk of infection from a new virus, and out of contact, allowing Old Master Huo to naturally step back in as family head, returning to the Huo Household would not have gone so smoothly.

Huo Zhenyun's second cousin was the first to curse. "Is there any place for you to speak, you little brat? You want to talk about contributions? Huo Zhenyun, wasn't my father killed for your father? Without my father, you would not even have had the chance to be born. Contributions, my ass."

"Your mother was an illegitimate daughter, and you're an outsider. What right do you have to judge whether we have contributed anything? Do you deserve to? My father met with disaster abroad while following Huo Zhenyun. My mother was harmed because of the Huo Household's business in a chaotic region."

"That XX branch company of the Huo Household was founded by my grandfather. The family did not support him much at the time, and he put up two-thirds of the money himself. Everyone knows how much income it brought the family. If that counts as no contribution, then have the family cough up the portion that belongs to us. Better yet, let's all stop working and stop taking anything."

"When my grandmother was young, she bought a mine for the Huo Household with her own spending money. Our family did take the larger share from that, but if you think my grandmother made no contribution, then cough it all up too."

Everyone started shouting, "What about mine? What about mine?" In the end, it turned out that they themselves were also running small businesses. They were not merely living off the Huo Household as Zhou Jingxuan had imagined. Huo Zhenyun had never expected these juniors, who had once seemed incapable of anything, to have gone into business too.

Those people continued cursing until the sound of someone slamming a hand on the table rang out, finally silencing them. The sound had come from the table of the Huo Household's oldest elders, and they did not dare keep going.

"Arguing, arguing, arguing! Are you all trying to turn the heavens upside down? You people who produced illegitimate sons and daughters act as though it's something glorious, don't you? And Huo Zhenyun, did you inform anyone before acknowledging relatives? Do you think us old folks don't exist?"

The speaker was one of the Huo Household's oldest elders, already over ninety years old. "Have you all forgotten the Huo Household's family rules? We're clearly one family, yet you're calculating contributions here? With so many guests present, do you have no concern for your dignity at all?"

"Which of your families has not benefited from other members of the Huo Household? Which of your elders, you, and your children was not raised on the Huo Household's money?"

After saying that, he looked at Huo Xi. "Xi'er, what do you think?" Only after Huo Xi walked over to support him did he speak. "Since they all have contributions and blood ties, then acknowledge them all."

"Those with poor character and morals, or those who have done things that harmed the Huo Household's reputation and interests, can simply be driven out as before."

"Likewise, those who insist on acknowledging them must take responsibility. They have already made the Huo Household lose face today. They cannot be allowed to damage our reputation or other interests afterward."

"So, anyone who insists on bringing them back and then causes trouble for us will be expelled from the Huo Household along with them."

The Huo Household elders nodded one after another. Huo Xi's solution was good. They did not like the Huo Household being in such a mess either. Only today had they learned that the Huo Household had so many illegitimate children outside.

It was so absurd that they did not even know what to say. But they could not exactly police everyone's lower halves for them. If not for the fact that they truly carried Huo blood, and children could not choose the circumstances of their birth, why would they acknowledge them at all?

In any case, they had better not cause any trouble. When the Huo Household said they would expel someone, they truly meant it. Those people had better behave themselves.

After Huo Xi finished speaking, Huo Zhenyun still did not step down. The elder supported by Huo Xi glared at him. "What, you still have a problem? The children have all been acknowledged, and you're still not satisfied?"

Ordinarily, since Huo Zhenyun had once been family head and had made contributions, these elders should not have treated him coldly. But this time, Huo Zhenyun had truly gone too far.

"Ruyan and I are already married. From now on, she is the wife of me, Huo Zhenyun." Huo Zhenyun held Shi Ruyan's hand, said this, and stepped down from the stage.

Huo Zhang was furious, and the White Household did not look pleased either. Remarrying after losing one's spouse was perfectly normal, but Huo Zhenyun had brought his mistress home as his wife. How could they possibly tolerate that?

"I will seek justice for Grandma. I will make him pay the price." Only after Huo Xi said this did Huo Zhang restrain himself.

Otherwise, would that not make things far too easy for Huo Zhenyun? If he had someone he loved, then he should not have accepted the family-arranged marriage. The Huo Household did not forbid pursuing true love.

It was simply that the young Huo Zhenyun had been unwilling to give up power and status. But since he had married, he should have lived properly with his wife. Instead, he insisted on cheating during the marriage and even having a child.

Although the White Household was no longer as powerful now, that had not been the case decades ago. Huo Zhenyun had clearly secured the position of family head because of his marriage to Huo Zhang's grandmother and the close cooperation between both families afterward.

Yet he insisted on betraying Huo Zhang's grandmother. When she had been seven or eight months pregnant, he cheated on her and spent three months entangled with another woman in another city.

He had kept thinking about that woman and that child, never showing any care for Huo Zhang's grandmother or his own son.

Even though Huo Zhang considered himself rather indifferent toward familial affection, he could not understand how Huo Zhenyun had done such things. Was it really true that the shameless were invincible?

This banquet was destined to be a failure. Even though the matter had passed, the atmosphere remained incomparably awkward.

This was nothing like the homecoming Zhou Jingxuan and Shen Keke had imagined. They had envisioned the entire room congratulating them, with everyone currying favor with them. They had never expected things to turn out this way, but they could only endure it.