Chapter 1315 - 1312: The Xu Family Arrives

Chapter 1315: Chapter 1312: The Xu Family Arrives

Everyone stared darkly at the group appearing at the doorway, all subconsciously shifting into a defensive stance. Ji Han was the first to pull Bi Xiaoyuan and Xia Shi behind him, those eyes as deep as an ancient pool dark and cold as he watched the people from the Xu Family step in one by one.

Bi Xia’s expression sank; she set the guitar in her hand onto the chair and slowly stood up, coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ji Qiutang, who had moved to her side, while Chu Wu stood in front of the Feng Family couple. His usually careless face was now filled with gravity and chill.

The situation in front of them might have to be rewound a bit.

There was no way Qin Zhongyang could answer Bi Xia’s question, no matter how Ji Han threatened him. And Ji Han himself knew exactly where Qin Zhan was. You could say Qin Zhan’s departure had been orchestrated by them, so he wasn’t stupid enough to push Qin Zhongyang into a corner and have him blow his cover.

While the two of them were still trading barbs, the restaurant owner—Ji Han’s former comrade-in-arms—rushed over, trying to get them to leave. But it was already too late. The Xu Family, who had never received an invitation, were already swaggering up to the doorway. Fortunately, in order to have a peaceful birthday party, Ji Han had given his old comrade advance notice and booked out the entire restaurant. So at this moment, besides them, there wasn’t a single other guest in the place, only the staff.

And once the owner sensed something was wrong, he had already sent all the staff away, staying back himself to help Ji Han and the others.

Elder Ji half-squinted his eyes at Xu Chou of the Xu Family, who emerged from behind the crowd like some triad boss. He gave a cold snort. "Xu Chou, you show up uninvited and with such a big show. Looks like you’re not here with good intentions."

Xu Chou let out a careless chuckle. He slowly sat down on a chair, crossing one leg over the other, and swept his gaze across everyone present. Every single person here was someone who could change Beijing’s power structure with one sentence. He couldn’t help sticking out his tongue to lick his lips, rubbing his hands together in excitement. If all these people were to fall here at once, the Xu Family would practically become Beijing’s new number one.

With that thought, he looked at Elder Ji and smiled. "Uncle Ji, that’s where you’re wrong. If we’re talking bad intentions, you lot are the ones with them."

"Who could be more suited to the words ’bad intentions’ than your Xu Family?" Qin Zhongyang’s face was a perfect poker mask at this point. He had always understood Xu Chou very well. Over the years, apart from the Feng Family, the Xu Family’s biggest enemies had always been the Qin Family. Back in Elder Qin’s generation, they could at least keep up the façade, but by Qin Zhongyang’s generation, the smiles and the hearts behind them no longer matched.

Qin Zhongyang might be a womanizer, but as a person he was rigid to the bone. When it came to family interests versus national interests, he had always been someone whose word was law. Because of that, he’d spent his entire life openly and covertly fighting the Xu Family people who tried every which way to sell national intelligence. The one who truly blew things up with the Xu Family, though, was Qin Zhan’s generation.

Qin Zhan wasn’t the type to play at appearances, so unlike his grandfather, he never bothered with superficial politeness toward the Xu Family. But he also wasn’t as stiff-headed as his father, blindly charging down one path to the end. Just from the way he treated the Qin Family, you could see it clearly: if you want me to guard the Qin Family, then you do things my way. The minute someone harbors a different agenda, then sorry, Qin Zhan doesn’t serve anyone. His Z Group and his title in Country Y are more than enough for him to live like a king in Country C.

In other words, Qin Zhan could live without the Qin Family, but the Qin Family couldn’t live without Qin Zhan.

So when it came to people he didn’t like—like the Xu Family—Qin Zhan had always handled them with an icy face. But given what he’d gone through—his mother leaving, his sister dying—there wasn’t a single person who could thaw his cold expression. Add to that the "Cold-faced Yama" title he picked up later, and over time, everyone simply assumed that was just Qin Zhan’s temperament.

Back when Xu Yushi was engaged to Ji Qiutang, she was the textbook case of "one look at Qin Zhan, ruined for life." Xu Yushi was a well-known goddess in Beijing’s circle, so she confidently went to seduce Qin Zhan. In the end, it wasn’t Ji Qiutang—the one who got cuckolded—who exploded. Instead, Qin Zhan directly tossed the stark-naked Xu Yushi, who had appeared in his own house, right out the door, and that very night he started demolition work on that house.

That turned Xu Yushi into a huge laughingstock in Beijing. The rumor that Qin Zhan didn’t touch women started spreading from that incident. Fortunately, before Xu Yushi made her move, she and Ji Qiutang had already called off their engagement, so Ji Qiutang didn’t suffer too much public backlash.

From that point on, the Qin Family and the Xu Family were at each other’s throats.

And so, with the Feng Family, who already had a grudge against the Xu Family, plus the Qin Family now led by Qin Zhan, and the Ji Family, who’d hated the Xu Family ever since the broken engagement, the original four-family balance—four legs holding the table steady—shattered in an instant. The Xu Family was left isolated, with no one to rely on.