Seeing Song Lantian's fury soar to the heavens, Song Hao and Song Qingyun both jumped in fright.
Song Lantian had exceptional self-control; they had not seen him lose his temper in decades.
What on earth could have made him so furious?
"Dad, calm down first. Don't make yourself sick with anger! What happened?" Song Qingyun hurriedly asked.
Song Lantian gave a bitter laugh. His eyes reddened as he said through gritted teeth, "The Yao Group just held a press conference. They said they'll supply the Ji Group with Huashun Chips at the standard price!"
"Crack-"
A sharp sound rang out.
White, rootlike cracks spread across the wineglass in Song Hao's hand before it shattered in an instant. Glass shards and red wine splashed all over him, a vivid, bloodlike red.
Glass fragments pierced his palm, sending a dull ache through it, but he no longer had the presence of mind to care.
"Grandpa, what did you say?!" He looked at Song Lantian in shock, unable to believe what he had heard.
"You didn't hear me? Are you deaf, or am I mute?" Song Lantian pounded his cane against the floor with loud thuds, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
"How is that possible?!" Song Qingyun cried out in shock and anger as well.
"Look at the Yao Group's corporate Weibo yourselves!" Song Lantian was seething.
Something this serious had happened, yet these two bastards' first reaction was to question whether he was telling the truth, rather than think about how to deal with it?
Song Qingyun and Song Hao hurriedly picked up the tablets they had each tossed aside and checked the Yao Group's Weibo.
Moments later, both their faces had turned pale.
Song Qingyun was more seasoned and quickly accepted the truth. "Dad, what do you think we should do?"
Song Lantian sneered, his expression ugly. "What should we do? I'd like to ask you two that!"
Song Hao gritted his teeth and cursed, "Those scheming bastards in the Ji Family! They had a better fallback all along, but didn't breathe a word of it. Weren't they deliberately trying to screw us to death?"
Had they known the Yao Family would strike a partnership with them, the Song Family would never have dared demand such an astronomical price, even with ten times the courage. They would certainly have brought up their ties as "old family friends," conceding a certain share of the profits to keep the Ji Family working with them.
But now that the Song Family had failed to steal the chicken and lost their rice to boot, Song Hao could still righteously curse the Ji Family for being underhanded. His skin was as thick as a city wall...
"Fuck, I knew something was off about this." Song Qingyun was swearing now, wishing he could slap himself for being such a hindsight Zhuge Liang.
Fuck, the Ji Family had been so adamant earlier. Why hadn't I noticed sooner?!
If he had noticed earlier, shifted all the blame onto his son, and approached the Ji Family with humility, then given how much they valued loyalty and old ties, there might still have been a chance of reconciliation, right?
"It's too late to say any of that now." Song Lantian was old, after all, and the emotional turmoil left him exhausted, his strength unequal to his will.
He slumped onto the sofa, looking as though he had aged ten years in an instant, and said hoarsely, "I'm afraid our Song Family is facing a great calamity this time."
Not only had they lost a major business partner like the Ji Family, but with Huashun Chips, the Ji Family's products would be like a tiger given wings, certain to sweep away the market share the Song Family had originally held.
Song Hao remembered Lin Fei's hypothetical claim that as long as the Ji Family had a better alternative, the Song Family would decline. He had not taken it seriously at the time, even treating it as a joke.
But now, those words had indeed become a prophecy. The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it was!
A chill rose from deep within Song Hao. Unwilling to accept it, he gritted his teeth and said, "Grandpa, you're so resourceful. Isn't there any other way?"
Song Lantian let out a bitter "Ha." His heavily wrinkled eyelids slowly drooped as he sighed deeply. "Resourceful? What a joke. Can resourcefulness produce a chip better than Huashun? Can resourcefulness make the Ji Family forgive us and restore our friendship?"
"The tide is against us. We have no power to turn back the heavens..."
Song Hao felt awful hearing that, but could not refute it.
His grandfather was the only person he respected. Seeing him like this, Song Hao felt a heartache he had not experienced in a long time.
He took a deep breath and said resolutely, "I'll go beg the Ji Family for mercy! Whether I have to kneel, kowtow, or make it known to everyone, I'm willing to do anything as long as it gets the Song Family out of this predicament!"
Song Hao felt he truly had such a spirit of self-sacrifice that he had even moved himself.
To his surprise, however, Song Lantian did not support him. Instead, he angrily rebuked him, "Nonsense!"
Song Hao looked at him in astonishment. "Grandpa?!"
Song Lantian sneered and struggled to straighten his back, declaring in a ringing voice, "We were the ones who drove the Ji Family into a dead end, and we were the ones who severed this bond and friendship. If someone acted like an ungrateful wolf and bit you that viciously, would you forgive him?"
Song Hao gritted his teeth and fell silent.
Of course he would not forgive them.
Not only would I not forgive them, I'd fucking hound them to death. Whatever vented my anger, whatever felt good!
Seeing that both his son and grandson had fallen silent, Song Lantian continued, "Do you understand now? Don't waste your effort and make yourselves a laughingstock. No one who dominates a corner of the business world is a fool, and our Song Family cannot be an exception."
He raised his voice and struck the floor hard with his cane. "Listen carefully, both of you! Our Song Family can be defeated villains, but we cannot be clowns for others to laugh at!"
"I won't allow it, and neither will our ancestors beneath the nine springs!"
Song Hao's heart jolted violently, and his eyes reddened. His lips moved, but no words came out.
After roaring those words, Song Lantian almost failed to catch his breath. He panted rapidly, only speaking again after a long while. "I'm tired. I'll go rest for a bit. Qingyun, hurry to the company. With this news out, quite a few people in the group must be thinking of jumping ship."
"If any valuable talent brings up resigning, do your best to keep them. Salary increases within a certain range are acceptable too-use your own judgment on that. After this battle, we've already lost our reputation and prospects in our employees' eyes. We can't cost them their take-home benefits as well."
Song Qingyun answered and hurriedly rose to head to the company, while Song Hao quickly stepped forward to help Song Lantian go and rest.
After leaving the bedroom, Song Hao collapsed dejectedly onto the sofa and stared blankly at the luxurious chandelier on the ceiling, worth over three hundred thousand.
He still could not understand why the Yao Family had formed a partnership with the Ji Family.
Fuck, they'd been in business for so many years, and there had clearly never been the slightest contact between them!
"Could it have been Lin Fei?!" Song Hao startled himself with his own guess.
Just as he was pondering this, his phone suddenly rang at an inopportune moment.
Song Hao irritably picked up his phone. Seeing "Liu Cheng" on the screen, he sneered again.
He answered the call and heard a fawning laugh from the other end. "Young Master Song, to congratulate you on taking control of the Ji Family, we've prepared a banquet. Please do us the honor of attending. I've already gathered all those executives who resigned from the Ji Group. They'll all be your people from now on, so it'll be a convenient chance to get acquainted."
Hearing this, Song Hao felt as though another layer of salt had been rubbed into his wounds, and immediately exploded in curses. "Get acquainted, my ass! What the fuck do your resignations have to do with me? Fuck off!"
Liu Cheng was left dumbstruck by the torrent of abuse.
What the fuck? This wasn't how it was supposed to go!
Wasn't the Song Family about to take over the Ji Family's market, just when they needed people?