Chapter 385 — Wang Xinyan's Family Troubles
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
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.