Translated by Eve
Thank you Terin for the kofi
When their conversation ended, the banquet formally began.
As the host, Song Xuanhe naturally could not sit down with Wei Chen and Zhou Nan. He had to first go meet with Song Yansong. Before Song Xuanhe could knock on the lounge, someone pushed the door open from the other side. When Song Xuanlin saw Song Xuanhe, he paused for a moment before speaking in a lowered voice. “Father’s inside.”
Song Xuanhe’s hand paused in mid-air and he raised a brow. It wasn’t odd for Song Guochao to be inside. There must be a reason why Song Xuanlin had given him a heads-up. He nodded gently and then stuck his head in to look inside. Upon finding Song Yansong, he smiled. “Grandpa, everything’s ready downstairs. I came to escort you down.”
Song Guochao whipped his head around. His dark expression confirmed Song Xuanhe’s conjecture. Indeed, an issue had cropped up.
Song Yansong had also noticed Song Guochao’s expression. He waved Song Guochao, who had reached out to support him, away and stood up. In a heavy tone, he said, “Regardless of what has happened, mind your expression. Don’t make a farce of my Song Family.”
As he was saying this, he walked over to the door. When he saw Song Xuanhe, who had peeked his head in, he gently tapped the other’s head. His tone softened. “What are you looking at? Where did you run off to play?”
“Wei Chen said that he’s afraid of unfamiliar places so I kept him company.” Song Xuanhe beamed at him.
Looking at his smiling, flippant expression, Song Yansong couldn’t help but glare at him. “How could I not know what that youngster from the Wei Family is like?”
“Grandpa,” Song Xuanlin said, “I’m the one who told Xuanhe to accompany Wei shao.”
Song Yansong glanced at Song Xuanlin and then nodded. He raised his hand towards Song Xuanhe and said, “Help me walk over.”
Just then, Li Nianan, who had left the madams’ circle, once again opened the lounge room door. When she saw Song Guochao, her smile faded slightly but she still looped her arm around his. Song Xuanhe and Song Xuanlin walked on either side of Song Yansong while Song Guochao and Li Nianan trailed behind them. With their arms linked with the other members of the family, they made for a very harmonious image.
As the three generations of Song walked over to the main table, all the guests stood up, their congratulations never-ending.
The banquet proceeded normally, with everyone networking and clinking glasses. The only thing that shocked everyone was that, after dinner, the Song Family proclaimed that there had been a change in the management of shares in the Song Group—Song Xuanlin had been promoted to President and Li Nianan and Song Guochao’s shares that accounted for 20% of all shares had been transferred to Song Xuanhe.
When Song Yansong finished speaking, everyone beneath the stage immediately began to discuss this.
Song Xuanlin’s promotion was subtle whereas Song Xuanhe had acquired a high proportion of shares. The guests really couldn’t tell who would be the one to succeed the Song Group. Based on their current posts, it seemed like Song Xuanlin was undoubtedly going to be the one to take over the Song Group.
However, while the title of President sounded good, he was still just an employee of the company. The entity that had true authority and influence was the Board of Directors. Song Xuanhe held twenty percent of the shares himself. On the Board of Directors, only his grandfather, Song Yansong, had more say than he did. If one were to base it on this, then the likelihood of Song Xuanhe inheriting that Song Group rose.
Song Xuanhe was very resourceful. During the toasting portion of the banquet, he ran over to Zhou Nan’s table. After hearing the news just now, the other people at the table would occasionally look at Song Xuanhe. Zhou Nan also widened his eyes and looked at Song Xuanhe weirdly. “It can’t be…your grandfather isn’t planning on giving the Song Group to you, is he?”
“My brother is the President,” Song Xuanhe said in a casual tone, “Why would he give it to me?”
“He’s just the President…” Zhou Nan lowered his voice. “Forget it. Let’s not talk about this now.”
Wei Chen turned his head to the side and glanced at Song Guochao, whose expression was extremely ugly. He then clinked his glass with Song Xuanhe. “Congratulations.”
Song Xuanhe knew what Wei Chen was congratulating him over. He smiled and downed his glass.
The other people at the table had been watching them. When they couldn’t hear about what they wanted from the three of them, they looked away. However, their ears were still pricked.
Zhou Nan chuckled when he saw this and he changed the topic. “I heard that Film Emperor Xue went to shoot a film overseas?”
“You seem to care a lot about Xue Mian?” Song Xuanhe knew that there were a lot of people listening in on their conversation. Therefore, he looked at Zhou Nan and played along.
“Why would I care about him?” Zhou Nan rolled his eyes. “I’m paying attention to him on your behalf. Who doesn’t know that he…is interested. I think that this is weird. Xue Mian isn’t easy to deal with. I’ve seen plenty of people like him. People like him will use everything they have to get what they want. They will never let go until they get it. It’s way too fishy that he’s left the country without a word. I heard that he’s going to be shooting that movie for two years.”
“What’s odd about that?” Song Xuanhe said, unconcerned, “He’s an actor. All actors want to go international. He obviously went abroad for that.”
“Tsk.” Zhou Nan looked like he thought Song Xuanhe just didn’t get it. He carefully explained, “Xue Mian is no ordinary actor. He doesn’t need to rely on acting to make money either. Didn’t you see? Qian Ping liked him so much but he still didn’t dare lay his hands on him. That means that he has a good background. If he really wanted to go international, his family could make that happen for him. The fact that he’s gone overseas—he definitely knows something we don’t. I think it has to do with Yuanmu. I heard that Yuanmu quit the Song Group. Did he say where he’s going to go?”
Song Xuanhe looked pensive. A few seconds later, he chuckled. “So that’s what it is.”
“What is it?” Zhou Nan asked curiously.
“Is it any of your business?” Song Xuanhe glanced at him, “You’re so curious. What, did you fall for Xue Mian?”
“I’d fall for you before I fell for Xue Mian, okay?” After Zhou Nan said this, he suddenly turned to look at the front of the room. There was schadenfreude in his tone. “You’re dad’s coming over. He doesn’t look too happy.”
Song Guochao was extremely unhappy. Song Xuanhe had noticed this as soon as he had entered the lounge earlier today. But when he found out the reason why he was unhappy after being led back to the lounge, Song Xuanhe became ecstatic.
“What’s with that look on your face?” Upon seeing Song Xuanhe’s smile, Song Guochao was so angry he pointed his finger so close to the other’s face he nearly poked his nose. “Look at that boyfriend of yours. He actually dared to beat up your cousin! He was even so ruthless. Did you know, Jiabao had nearly frozen to death after being left in the parking lot by him?!”
Song Xuanhe had not known that, so he only blinked his eyes innocently. In a very sincere tone, he asked, “So did he die?”
“You!”
Song Guochao said ‘you’ for a long time but couldn’t follow up with anything. This was not the time nor place for this right now. Even if he was furious, he had to subdue his rage. He sucked in a deep breath and said, “Your grandpa already knows about this. Just you wait and see how he deals with you.”
“You can’t accuse me like this,” Song Xuanhe said innocently, “First of all, putting aside whether or not Song Jiabao froze to death, do you even have proof that it had been Xiao Yuanmu who had beaten him up? There are so many people who want to beat him up. You can’t just accuse Xiao Yuanmu like this. Maybe he’s just accusing me or Xiao Yuanmu just because. After all, Xiao Yuanmu is my boyfriend.”
“We’ll obviously find proof.” Song Guochao had originally wanted to retort but he changed his words when he heard Song Xuanhe’s last sentence. “I called you over to tell you that the family will never approve of you being with Xiao Yuanmu after such a thing has occurred. That kind of man isn’t worthy of entering my Song Family.”
Song Guochao had a lofty, disdaining expression as he said this, as if even mentioning Xiao Yuanmu’s name was blasphemous towards the Song Family and himself. His tone was full of his dislike for the younger man.
Song Xuanhe wanted to laugh. So he did.
Before Song Guochao could speak, Song Xuanhe beamed at him. “Since it’s like that, I hope that you will forever maintain that stance of yours. If you were to one day change your mind, I’ll look down on you.”
Song Guochao had no idea why Song Xuanhe was laughing. When he heard this, he sneered. “Unless you break off ties with the family, you will have no control over your marriage and I will never change my mind.”
Song Xuanhe nodded earnestly. “I hope that you remember the words you said today.”
Song Guochao smiled insincerely. “Obviously I’ll remember what I said. What you have to do now is to take that boyfriend of yours to the hospital to apologize and make it up to your uncle. I don’t care how your boyfriend does it. He can kneel or he can ask to be punished. You must obtain your uncle’s forgiveness. Otherwise, don’t blame me for sticking my hand into this.”
“I still stick by what I said. If you want him to admit to it, first you must present evidence. Regardless of whether it’s a witness or physical evidence, you can’t just base this accusation over Song Jiabao’s words.”
“Just you wait.” Song Guochao looked at Song Xuanhe coldly and then left the lounge.
As soon as the door shut, the System asked：【Do you think Xiao Yuanmu beat up Song Jiabao?】
【Of course.】Song Xuanhe didn’t hesitate. He then pulled his phone out and dialed that familiar number.
Very quickly, Xiao Yuanmu’s voice trickled in through the other side. “Is the banquet over?”
Song Xuanhe raised a brow. He didn’t ask how Xiao Yuanmu knew about the banquet. Instead, he got straight to the point. “Did you beat up Song Jiabao?”
“Yes.” He admitted to it very straightforwardly, without any hesitation.
“Did you leave behind any evidence?” Song Xuanhe walked over to the sofa. “I heard that you left him in the parking lot. Will the parking lot camera be an issue?”
Xiao Yuanmu was silent for a moment. He then laughed. “Are you worried about me?”
“Not just about you. I’m worried for myself too,” Song Xuanhe said, “Song Guochao wants me to take you over to Song Jiabao’s family and apologize. His original words were: He can kneel or he can ask to be punished. You must obtain your uncle’s forgiveness. Otherwise, don’t blame me for sticking my hand into this.”
“Don’t worry.” Xiao Yuanmu’s voice was low. “The security cameras in the parking lot just so happened to have been broken at the time.
When Song Xuanhe heard this, his lips curled up. “I’m a bit curious. What did Song Jiabao do to make you beat him half to death?”
Xiao Yuanmu was silent. A moment later, his refreshingly cool voice quietly came through the receiver. “He said things I didn’t want to hear.”
Song Xuanhe knew just how good at enduring Xiao Yuanmu was. Xiao Yuanmu had never shown any signs of anger before despite all the terrible things Song Jiabao had said in the past. Even if Song Jiabao had crossed a line, at most, Xiao Yuanmu would give him a cold glance. He had always acted like he didn’t care. He was indeed curious. Just what could Song Jiabao have said to provoke Xiao Yuanmu’s anger?
As he thought this, Song Xuanhe decided to ask again, “What did he say?”
Xiao Yuanmu: “You want to know?”
“Yes.” To make it seem like he wasn’t just finding joy in someone else’s misfortune, Song Xuanhe found a reason to justify himself with. “So I know what not to say to avoid angering you and reduce the odds that we’ll have a fight.”
“He said that you didn’t take me to today’s banquet because you plan on breaking up with me one day. He said you didn’t bring me because you don’t need the Song Family to acknowledge me.” Xiao Yuanmu’s voice was quiet and relaxed. Through the phone, there was a metallic-like chill to it. “Was he right?”
Eve: SGC really gonna eat his words one day and I can’t wait to see it.
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