Sen Miao began explaining to him, "The Gong Family are actually old friends of ours, in a sense. They started working with my mother back in my biological father's day, so their partnership goes back almost twenty-two years. Even before that, they were a merchant family of considerable standing in the Royal City. It's said that the ancestor who first built their fortune a hundred years ago was a mixed-blood member of the Fulin Taiyou People. That's why the Gong Family all have handsome or beautiful faces, but tend to be half a foot shorter than the other wealthy gentry."
"The head of the Gong Family is named Gong Heng. He used to be a Bard and only took over his father's business when he turned thirty, yet within just a few years he brought the family to new heights. After all these years, they've almost reached the pinnacle."
"But he's getting on in years now. He's left most of the family affairs to his sons and stepped back behind the scenes."
"Aside from three daughters who have already married, he has five sons. Two inherited the free-spirited nature of his youth: one became a Bard, and the other a Performing Artist. Of the remaining three, two aren't particularly sharp, at least by a businessman's standards. One is too rigid in his reasoning and doesn't know how to adapt, while the other is too honest and kindhearted to cross any lines."
"In the end, it was his youngest son who carried on his legacy. His name is also Gong Heng, pronounced exactly like his father's. Perhaps it was fate. The elder Gong Heng is very pleased with his youngest son. To him, having someone who can succeed him and shoulder the burden of the entire family business means all his