"What, 200,000 taels? Do you think the money in my family comes from thin air? Do you even know how much blood, sweat, and tears the Yuan Family have poured in from the time of your great-great-grandfather to amass this fortune? Do you think earning 200,000 taels is easy?" Before dawn had even broken, an enraged tirade from the Family Head of the Yuan Mansion could be heard echoing throughout.
"What, Zhengying Academy? How did you manage to provoke such a colossal entity? Is our small Yuan Family even capable of stirring such trouble?"
"Beat him, beat him! Beat him mercilessly, I don’t care if he dies or is crippled. He’s infuriating me to death, truly infuriating me to death!" Afterward, Yuan Family Master’s livid roars and the dull thuds of a stick hitting flesh resounded.
Poor Yuan Tianbo, now there was no need to pretend; he would surely cough up blood.
"You... you unfilial son, how dare you conspire with the Zhao Family and the Zhou Family against Han Yan? Even if Han Yan is useless, is he someone you can afford to offend? How could you do something so foolish! Enough, enough, prepare the money, and first, drag him out and deal with him according to our family laws." In the Chen Family, the sorrowful and indignant rebuke from the Chen Family Patriarch could also be heard.
The Zhou Family, by comparison, was much quieter. After all, it was one of the few major families in Heishi City second only to the Mu Family. The poise of Family Head Zhou was much better than that of the previous two family heads, but from the occasional screams of Eldest Young Master Zhou, it was clear his rage was no less intense than the two family heads’.
In contrast, the calmness of the Zhao Family seemed somewhat unusual.
"Ling Xian has made a grave mistake, I beseech Grandfather to punish me," Fourth Miss Zhao said after explaining the situation, kneeling before Family Head Zhao.
"What mistake did you make?" asked Family Head Zhao.
Fourth Miss Zhao fell silent. What mistake had she made? From start to finish, the scheme this time was flawless. Han Yan had cooperated very well and fell into their trap. But who could have foreseen that in the end, Han Yan would hatch a Griffin from an egg that had been definitively deemed to only produce a quail! Fresh chapters posted on novｅlfire.net
If she really had to point out a mistake, it would be that Han Yan was simply too lucky.
"Do you think that Han Yan was just too lucky?" Family Head Zhao seemed to read Fourth Miss Zhao’s mind and asked.
"Yes, Zhao Sinin once said, even his uncle from Zhengying Academy asserted that the Griffin Egg could only hatch a quail. Who knew Han Yan would be so fortunate to hatch a Griffin?" Even now, Fourth Miss Zhao didn’t dare to consider that all of this was intentionally done by Han Yan because, in her view, that was simply impossible.
"Have you ever considered that you may have underestimated Han Yan?" Family Head Zhao suddenly asked.
"What, how could that be possible?" Fourth Miss Zhao looked at her grandfather in disbelief. She had been competing with Han Yan since childhood; did she not know what kind of person he was? How could she have underestimated him?
"Our Zhao Family was also a Beijing Family, dating back thousands of years, and our status was even once above the Mu Family," Family Head Zhao stated leisurely, not rushing to alleviate her confusion.
"What, our Zhao Family was once a family on par with the Mu Family in the capital? How could that be possible and why did we end up in Heishi City?" Fourth Miss Zhao was shocked by her grandfather’s words.
The Beijing Mu Family was one that even the Royal Family had to treat with utmost respect. Fourth Miss Zhao was self-aware, knowing that their Zhao Family was at best capable of contending with the Mu branch in Heishi City; they were not even fit to hold the shoes of the Beijing Mu Family.
She had never dared to imagine that her own family had once been a super family comparable to the Mu Family in the capital. She dared even less to imagine how such a super family could fall to such a state.