Chapter 2343 — Picking a Fight

"The hidden Pi family has a few. I asked them for some—one for each of the people close to me," Wei Zhao said.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony!" Qing Bo nodded and put away the Small Qi Gathering Pill, intending to consume and refine it as soon as he got back.

"By the way, Qing Bo, have you ever heard anything about the essence prime necklace?" Wei Zhao wanted to ask him about it.

"No. When you mentioned it to me, I was rather curious myself—that a spirit beast's essence prime inner core could be made into such a necklace is something I never knew before." Qing Bo shook his head. "But even if I had known, it would be of no use. Essence prime inner cores are very rare. Most spirit beasts, when they die, choose some secluded place; they do not easily let anyone find their corpses and inner cores. So you were lucky this time—you came away with two spirit beast essence prime inner cores at once."

"It seems... most people don't know this secret. The Tagan family is becoming more and more extraordinary..." Wei Zhao said with some feeling.

The group was still talking when suddenly footsteps came from the stairs outside. Wei Zhao and Qing Bo were both cultivators and noticed at once. They exchanged a glance and dropped the subject.

"Let's go out and have a look. It's probably Mr. Gu coming down," Qing Bo said, rising to his feet.

"All right." Wei Zhao had finished what he came to say, and he was not going to fret over the rest. As for Sun Jingyan's origins, that could wait—there was no rush.

When Wei Zhao, Qing Bo, and Granny Sun came out of the room, they saw Gu Pengzhan coming downstairs with Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. Seeing Wei Zhao and the others also emerging from their room, Gu Pengzhan was slightly taken aback. "Have you finished your talk as well?"

"Yes. It was nothing important to begin with—I just found some clues about matters long past and wanted to tell these two about them." Wei Zhao nodded. "Uncle Chu, why don't you stay for lunch?"

"Gladly. It's been a long time since our family sat down to a meal together. You and Yao Yao are at university now, so far away—back then we used to eat together every weekend," Gu Pengzhan said with a nod.

"Mr. Gu, it won't be long before our business sets up a branch here in East Sea City. Then we'll be able to meet often!" Qing Bo put in quickly.

"That's true." Gu Pengzhan said, "But East Sea City is a place where tigers crouch and dragons hide—there are too many business rivals here, and too powerful. The commercial landscape is nothing like Songshan City's. To gain a firm foothold here will not be easy at all!"

Wei Zhao nodded. He knew nothing about business, so he had no say in the matter. Surely he could not ask Gu Pengzhan to point out who the competitors were so that he could go and eliminate them? That would completely violate the order of normal commercial competition, and Wei Zhao could never do such a thing.

"Daddy, I believe you and Qing Bo can do it," Gu Mengyao said, taking Gu Pengzhan's hand and encouraging him.

"Heh heh, I hope so," Gu Pengzhan said, though in his heart he was not very optimistic.

At first he had been full of grand ambition, wanting to move the company to the provincial capital, to achieve the next leap toward his goals and double the company's scale. This was his dream—and his father Chu Sanwa's as well.

"Mr. Lin, shall we eat out at noon, or shall I prepare the meal?" Granny Sun asked.

"Let's eat out—come along, all of you. Cooking for so many people would be too much trouble," Wei Zhao said.

"Very well." Granny Sun nodded. "Then I'll change my clothes and get ready."

Ten minutes later, Wei Zhao's Grand Cherokee carried Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, while Qing Bo's Bentley carried Granny Sun and Gu Pengzhan. The party of six headed for the Arctic Ocean Seafood Restaurant, one of the largest hotels in East Sea.

Last time Zhang Duopan had hosted a meal here, he had nearly come up short when the bill arrived. With Gu Pengzhan, there would be no such problem—a man of his means would hardly care about the cost of a meal. Of course, Wei Zhao's own assets were not inconsiderable either; it was just that they were all tied up in Fat Lai's real estate and fixed property, and could not be used.

Wei Zhao and Qing Bo parked the cars, and the group got out, just about to step into the Arctic Ocean Seafood Restaurant, when a Rolls-Royce Ghost pulled up right beside Qing Bo's Bentley. From it emerged a balding, middle-aged man with a garishly dressed woman on his arm. Catching sight of Gu Pengzhan, he grinned broadly. "Well, well? Isn't this President Gu? Not even a businessman from our East Sea City, yet you copy our East Sea businessmen and come spend your money at the Arctic Ocean Seafood Restaurant—tsk, tsk, a real country bumpkin come to town!"

Gu Pengzhan frowned slightly and said coolly, "President Lei, is where I take my family to eat any of your concern? Aren't you casting your net a little too wide?"

"Haha, too wide? I'm merely offering President Gu a friendly reminder: Songshan City is not the provincial capital—it's not the same. Take this restaurant, for instance—not just anyone can eat here." The fat man called President Lei laughed. "The chairman of the Arctic Ocean Seafood Restaurant is a friend of mine, and a member of our chamber of commerce. Mr. Gu had best not eat here, to avoid any unpleasantness."

"Are you threatening me?" Gu Pengzhan was somewhat angered. He had only come for a meal. This Lei Tianming was the chairman of the East Sea Chamber of Commerce; when Gu Pengzhan had wanted to move his company to East Sea, Lei Tianming had joined forces with many members of the chamber to obstruct him at every turn, making his plans in East Sea City advance with great difficulty.

But who would have thought that even coming here for a meal would not be peaceful—that Lei Tianming would interfere with that too.

"Threat? Hardly. I said it was a friendly reminder." Lei Tianming smiled. "Well, I'm going in to eat. President Gu can think it over himself."

With that, Lei Tianming put his arm around the garishly dressed woman and turned, swaggering toward the Arctic Ocean Seafood Restaurant.

Wei Zhao frowned. It had not been easy for the family to come out for a meal together, and now a bald man had ruined the mood. If Wei Zhao had not seen that he was an ordinary man, he would have dealt with him long ago. But Wei Zhao was not about to let him off so easily either. He glanced at Xiaoshu, and Xiaoshu understood at once. With perfect timing, she spoke up: "Uncle Chu, who is this **?"

"Pfft... cough, cough..." Shen Yushu's words left Gu Mengyao not knowing whether to laugh or cry. This girl was really fierce—cursing the man outright.

Still, Gu Mengyao knew it was Wei Zhao's doing. He must be thoroughly fed up with this Lei Tianming; otherwise, given Wei Zhao's character, he would never have had Xiaoshu deliberately pick a fight.