Chapter 418 - The Four Brother’s Past (3)
Jiang Yu shrugged. "I thought you would know better than me about this."
"But..." Uncle Mo stuttered. "But how could it be..."
Jiang Yu stared at him. "But doesn't this make everything clear? Jiang Chenglang has already arranged for a genetic test. Jiang Wan said it herself. Uncle Mo, do you think Jiang Wan would lie about such a thing?"
"If you don't believe me, you can ask Jiang Chenglang."
Uncle Mo still found it hard to believe.
But, he also knew that Jiang Yu wouldn't lie. She had already moved Jiang Chenglang out and lived under the same roof. If it was really a lie, it would be immediately exposed.
It was just that he found this information hard for him to accept.
If Jiang Wan is Master's illegitimate daughter and seeing that she's only a few months younger than Jiang Yu, wouldn't that mean that Master had had an affair while Madam was pregnant?
But after Jiang Yu was born, Master and Madam had stayed in love for so many years. Was it all just an act?
Uncle Mo suddenly recalled that when Madam was not feeling well, she had once looked for him and asked him a question.
At that time, she had asked him who he had seen a lot recently. He had even comforted Madam, saying that he was busy at the company, so he had to meet with different people often.
Now that he thought about it, Madam had started getting depressed after Jiang Yu had gone missing. Was it not because she could not find the young miss, but because she had discovered something?
Then, when he thought about the love between Master and the miss of the Lu family, Uncle Mo felt it even more ironic.
Master had been nice to him, but it was also Madam who kept him in the Jiang family.
His feelings for Madam grew stronger. When he thought about how Master had treated Madam's children like that, forcing them to compete with each other, and how he doted on the daughter of the mistress, Uncle Mo felt an anger rise in his heart.
"How could he... how could he treat Madam like this!"
Uncle Mo said angrily, "What kind of position did he place his wife in? It was clearly his wife who had paid no mind that he was from a poor family and was a poor boy. She brought with her dowry when she married him and had supported him in building his own business, which is how the Jiang Corporation has managed to become what it is now. Otherwise, how would he have started a business when he didn't have any capital?
"He abandoned his wife as soon as he achieved his goal. He's so heartless!"
Jiang Yu: "..."
Uncle Mo was quick to anger.
Jiang Yu: "So, what kind of education did he give the four of them?"
Uncle Mo was still a little indignant, "That heartless man said that he wanted to give them some kind of elite education, so he made the four young masters compete ever since they were young. In school, they had to get first place in their respective exams. At home, the heartless man even hired tutors to teach them music, foreign languages, public speaking, and so on, so that they could also be at the top in every other aspect. Basically, it could be considered a year-round competition.
"However, not all of the four young masters like the courses he arranged. For example, the second young master liked biology and chemistry, the third young master liked music, the fourth young master liked cars, and so on. They rebelled fiercely against the unfaithful man."
Jiang Yu had to first figure out that Uncle Mo had switched from calling Father Jiang "Master" to "unfaithful man". She felt as if Uncle Mo was a floodgate that had opened that was beginning to talk non-stop.
"When Madam was still around, Master had been rather restrained, meaning that he'd lecture them and let them reflect in their rooms. After Madam passed away, he became even more strict. He either cut off their pocket money or locked them up in the house and didn't allow them go out. They could only study the courses he arranged for them. If they didn't do well, they wouldn't be allowed to go to school.
"And..."
Uncle Mo paused for a moment, his expression a little pained. "He even set up a reporting mechanism among the four young masters."
Jiang Yu was a little disgusted when she heard this term, but she didn't interrupt him to avoid affecting Uncle Mo's thoughts.
"This reporting mechanism, as the name suggests, is to get the four brothers to snitch on each other. Those who successfully reported to him were rewarded. They could avoid an exam or make other requests.
"In the beginning, none of the four brothers were willing. Later, there would always be some unexpected accidents. For example, the fourth young master would sneak out to participate in a race, or the third young master would go out to attend music classes. So, as long as one started opening their mouths, everyone else followed suit."
Uncle Mo asked, "Miss, guess who opened their mouth first?"
A person suddenly flashed through Jiang Yu's mind. She followed her instincts and said, "It was Jiang Chenglang, wasn't it?"
Uncle Mo didn't think that there was anything wrong with Jiang Yu calling Jiang Chenglang by his name.
No matter what, the Jiang family owed Jiang Yu.
He nodded and said, "Yes, it was the eldest young master. He was consequently hated by the others just like that. But actually, it's not that the others didn't do such things. It was just that the eldest young master took most of the brunt."
Uncle Mo sighed and said, "What do you think of Eldest Young Master, Miss? Cold? Rigid? Serious? Steady?"
Jiang Yu: "Blind."
Uncle Mo choked. He hadn't expected Jiang Yu to give such a reply.
But, he quickly figured it out.
"Miss, you're talking about how Eldest Young Master dotes on the mistress' daughter, right?"
Jiang Yu couldn't help but admire Uncle Mo's tact.
This title change was too smooth.
"Actually, the eldest young master is a very soft-hearted and good child."
Uncle Mo said, "The unfaithful man treated the Madam's four children like that because he wanted to choose a qualified successor. The mistress would naturally not object and that way, one of his boys could inherit the company and make it bigger."
To put it bluntly, he had engaged in military-style management to stimulate their potential in the competition. He also wanted to tell them that there were no brothers in the business world and that they had to fight for what they wanted. Cold-blooded and cruel, that was the business world. However, this had completely ruined that sense of brotherhood.
"Imagine telling a secret to your brother and hoping for him to cover for you but instead, your father sets up a reporting mechanism and then your brother sells you out. Who would trust anyone else anymore?
"Moreover, you can't do what you want and you can't have what you want. These four children were really pitiful. It's a pity that I couldn't say anything. I can only try my best to take care of them."
Jiang Yu imagined that many years ago after Mother Jiang had passed away, these four brothers were still little carrots. The oldest, Jiang Chenglang, was only 13 years old.
They never got the fatherly love they wanted. The brothers who thought they could rely on each other became competitors and were forced to become backstabbers.
What kind of mentality was instilled into them?
This place was no longer a warm and happy home, but a dream-devouring cave that swallowed ambitions and shattered illusions.
"So, at this time, the eldest young master took charge.
"He felt that as the eldest son, he should inherit the Jiang family.. The other brothers could do what they wanted because judging from their expressions, none of them were interested in business."