Chapter 385 — Wang Xinyan's Family Troubles

Though puzzled, Wei Zhao still answered the call. "Hello, who's this..."

But no sooner had he picked up than the line went dead at the other end.

What did that mean? A wrong number? Or something else? Wei Zhao hesitated a moment, then called back. After all, this was the first time Wang Xinyan had ever phoned him; he could hardly just ignore it.

"Sorry, the number you have dialed is switched off or out of the service area. Please try again later..."

The mechanical recording told him the other party had turned off her phone.

Wei Zhao frowned. Could it be that Wang Xinyan had been about to call him and her battery had simply died at that very moment?

He shook his head and slipped the phone back into his pocket. Since he could not reach her, there was nothing more he could do. He was worried, yes, but they were, after all, only chance acquaintances, and Wang Xinyan was far away in Yanjing. Distant water cannot quench a fire nearby—he had no idea where she was at all.

In Yanjing, inside a *** mansion, a man with a murderous look on his face snatched the phone from Wang Xinyan's hand and dashed it violently to the ground. Not content with that, he stamped on it several times and cursed, "You little wretch! Trying to call for help, were you? Who would have thought you'd have a phone hidden on you! Good thing I didn't dare stray far and kept my eye on you the whole time, or you'd have ruined everything!"

Wang Xinyan silently glanced at the phone, its casing smashed to pieces under his heel, then raised her head coldly. "I'm your cousin. Is this how you treat me?"

"Cousin? Hah! First spit out the property of the Xiao family you've swallowed, then we'll talk!" The man gave a cold snort. "By Grandfather's will, you've already been married off to someone else. Until that man comes to deliver the betrothal gifts, don't even think about leaving this room!"

With that, the man slammed the door shut with a bang, and the sound of the lock turning came right after...

Wang Xinyan gave a helpless sigh. Had she known the Xiao family's situation was this dire, she would never have come back. Now not only were her parents under house arrest at the hands of these people, but she herself had, for no reason at all, been promised in marriage to a man she had never met—all because of her grandfather's will!

Only after arriving at the Xiao household did Wang Xinyan learn that the Xiao family was not nearly as prosperous as it appeared. Her two uncles were still fighting over the family fortune, but the Xiao family had long since been rotten at the core, strong only in appearance.

Her grandfather had suffered from senile dementia, and in the last few years of his life he had signed a series of muddled contracts that not only lost the company a great deal of money but buried it under a mountain of debt. Even if the company were sold now, it would barely be enough to cover what was owed.

Her two uncles, who had been at each other's throats over the inheritance, became—once they had a clear picture of the family's finances—strangely united. They could not even pay off the debts now; what was the point of fighting over the estate? What estate was there left to fight over?

All that remained were a few properties the old man had bought while he was alive. But a handful of properties you could count on your fingers was not worth quarreling over—a rough, even split would do.

To ordinary people, these villas and properties were already a fortune worth its weight in gold; the rent alone would support a comfortable life for a lifetime. But for the two Xiao brothers, long accustomed to lavish, free-spending luxury, it was unbearable.

And so they set their sights on their sister, who had been away from home for years—Wang Xinyan's mother, Xiao Qinlin.

Their reasoning was simple and utterly shameless: that back when Xiao Qinlin ran away from home and eloped with Wang Xinyan's father, Wang Xuben, the old man Xiao had given them fifty thousand yuan for traveling expenses!

And that fifty thousand yuan was now being described as Wang Xuben's capital investment in starting his company. Now he was to pay it back, principal and interest together!

Of course, apart from that will of the old man Xiao's—authenticity unknown—the Xiao brothers also had in their possession an IOU, written by Xiao Qinlin herself all those years ago.

Back then, the old man Xiao had, for the sake of Xiao Qinlin being his daughter, still given her fifty thousand yuan for the road even though she had broken with the family and eloped with Wang Xuben. She was his daughter, after all; he could not let her go off too badly off.

But the Xiao Qinlin of those days was proud and headstrong. Having broken with the Xiao family, she would not take their money for nothing, and so she insisted on writing out an IOU for the old man, saying that when she made her fortune she would repay it with interest.

The old man Xiao had never intended for his daughter to repay it; he merely laughed it off and told his elder son, Xiao Ji, to throw the IOU away. But Xiao Ji, at the time, had kept a cunning thought in reserve—he hid the IOU instead.

After the old man Xiao passed away, that IOU became the evidence with which the Xiao brothers extorted money from their sister, Xiao Qinlin.

With the IOU and Old Master Xiao's will in hand, Xiao Qinlin could fume all she liked, but she was helpless. Who had told her to write that IOU back then? Of course, that was hardly the most infuriating part. The most infuriating part was that Old Master Xiao's will had actually arranged a match for Wang Xinyan. A girl who had only just reached her third year of high school — was it not a little too early for her to get engaged?

The Xiao brothers were utterly insolent. They declared that if Xiao Qinlin did not hand over twenty percent of her company's shares, they would see her in court, so that outsiders could see for themselves that after Old Master Xiao's death, his daughter not only paid no heed to his remains but also coveted her brothers' property!

In all conscience, who was coveting whose property here?

True, Xiao Qinlin had resolutely broken with her family for the sake of love in those years, but at bottom she was still a filial daughter. Otherwise she could never have set aside her work at once to see to Old Master Xiao's funeral.

The Xiao family, of course, was in complete chaos, though Wei Zhao did not know the details. Even if he had, he would not have known how to step in. Family affairs of this sort were the hardest to settle.

When Wei Zhao returned to the villa, however, he found Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu digging for something in its courtyard, each of them wielding a little trowel and digging away with great relish. Shen Yushu's face was streaked all over with mud. Gu Mengyao had come off somewhat better: only her clothes were dusty, and her face was not nearly so bad as Little Shu's.

Wei Zhao parked the car in the villa's courtyard, got out, and looked at Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu in some puzzlement: "Yaoyao, Little Shu, what are you two doing?"

"Oh? So you're back, Arrow-Brand Bro? We're digging for treasure, come help me and Sister Yaoyao! The two of us are about to drop dead from exhaustion!" Shen Yushu was delighted to see Wei Zhao back, and waved at him eagerly.

"Little Shu, what did you have to go calling him for?" Gu Mengyao shot Shen Yushu a glare and lowered her voice. "What if he sees it? Don't you find that humiliating?"

"Sister Yaoyao, the keys are in our hands anyway. Even if he digs it up, there's a lock on the box, isn't there?" Shen Yushu jingled the key in her hand and said to Gu Mengyao.