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Chapter 337: The Troubles Upon the Tang Family
“Tell me the details! Maybe I can do something,” said Tang Xiu.
“Xiu’er, though the Tang family is currently unstable, but be we can still deal with it, albeit barely. At the worst we’ll only suffer some losses, since the enemy won’t dare to launch an all-out attack. After all, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. They will suffer heavy losses if they want to uproot the Tangs.”
What does it mean, “a lean camel is still bigger than a horse”?
Tang Xiu creased his brows as he asked, “Dad, I don’t get what you mean. What’s this lean camel is still bigger than a horse? To my knowledge, the Tangs are still a major family in Beijing. Although we might not be ranked first, we can still be considered to be in the top three, right?”
“Had it been ten years ago, the Tangs would perhaps still be ranked in the top three.” Tang Yunde replied in a self-deprecating tone, “But since your grandpa’s asthma flared up with more frequency, plus the changes in the top leadership, our Tang Family has been weakened by a great deal. The problems in Beijing being complicated as they are, our enemies took advantage of your grandpa’s poor health to incite many issues to pressure our Tang family harder and harder. Now, though the Tang family is still in the top ten major families of Beijing, we’re far from being qualified to be in the first three anymore.”
“You mean… currently, the enemy is strong and we’re weak?” asked Tang Xiu, frowning.
“Yes, that’s the situation,” Tang Yunde wryly replied, “When we were both safe, we each developed our own families. But recently, a family hostile to us suddenly gained the support from a medium-sized force, so their forces increased a lot. Hence, they are now getting ready to move against us. Though they dare not lose all decorum with us so brazenly, they didn’t stop inciting several small conflicts.”
“Which family?” asked Tang Xiu.
“The Yao Family.”
Taking a note of the family name, Tang Xiu said, “Dad, I may not be involving myself in the family matters as of now, but should the family need me, just tell me right away. The power I wield, regardless of force or financial resources, is bigger than you know.”
“What force? You didn’t tell everything to me?” Tang Yunde bewildered.
“Don’t ask, Dad. Shortly put, let’s keep in touch. Contact me at once should a problem occur. Right, I haven’t asked you. In which city our Tangs and the Yaos have clashed?”
“Guangyang and Fukang.”
“I see. But Dad, you and Mom must pay attention to your own health and safety.” Said Tang Xiu with a nod.
“Rest assured, son!”
****
As he hung up the phone, a chilling light flashed in Tang Xiu’s eyes. He may have little affection for the Tangs. But they were, after all, his own blood. He knew well how the Tangs felt about him, for which he could accept and recognize a lot of them. If the enemy acted really rampant, he didn’t mind utilizing the Everlasting Feast Hall’s strength.
Furthermore, it was doomed to be a bloody scene when he used the Everlasting Feast Hall’s forces.
Dressed in pajamas, he stood up from the bed and walked to the wine cabinet at the side. He opened it and took out a bottle of red wine. Though he wasn’t particularly fond of red wine, he felt like it wouldn’t hurt taking a little. After pouring the wine, he carried the crystal glass and went to the balcony.
He sighed inside while watching the swaying shadows of the trees outside. His forces were still too small. Were he to be given a few more years, let alone the Yaos, he was confident that he would be in an invincible position if he had to contest against all families across the country.
“Talented people and experts!”
A cold light flashed from Tang Xiu’s eyes as he thought deeply about it. Where should he go looking for a group of talented people? A few minutes later, after he gulped down the red wine, a vague smile appeared on his handsome face.
The Immortal World was a huge world, whereas Earth was a small one in comparison. Yet, regardless of how big or small it was, they shared the same characteristics.
Through great undertakings and battles in the Immortal World, he ruled an enormous domain and recruited a lot of subordinates. Although he delegated the management and control of the domain to his subordinates after his strength reached the Supreme level. When all is said and done, he had experienced it personally.
Hence, inside his heart, he already paid attention to the prisons and the black market! He believed that there would be many capable individuals in these places.
When he was in the Immortal World, Tang Xiu trained a group of experts in order to help him gather intelligence across the realm and secretly selected a group of people from several large countries’ prisons. Those people were ruthless, whereas each and every one of them had their own skills and abilities. Despite their problematic natures and mentality, but he could control and govern their life and death with his magical powers.
Thus, he had once covered most of the Immortal World realm with his intelligence network organization. Many of its member even became powerful existences under his training. Although they may not have reached the Supreme level, the talent and strength showcased by some of them was also dreaded by millions of celestial beings.
Since the Immortal World had black markets, so would Earth he believed. Although the black markets on Earth were not as insane as the ones in the Immortal World, where good and evil people mixed up, however, he could recruit some capable people with good martial arts from the underground black markets’ fighter rings.
Half an hour later, Tang Xiu had made up his mind about it. But he could only put the idea to to the back of his mind, since he had just registered himself to Shanghai University, while the other reason was that Gu Yan’er may awaken at any time.
I’ll have to seize the time to stroll around many places after everything has returned to normal and stabilized. Aside from the from the Everlasting Feast Hall’s people, I have no other experts available to deal with other situations, which makes me rather paralyzed in doing anything, thought Tang Xiu inside his mind.
Beijing.
Inside the Tang Family’s ancestral house, Tang Guosheng deeply frowned as he read the documents in his hands, whereas Tang Guoshou, who was sitting across him, had anger on his face.
“Father, the Yao Family has cut off our Starlight Group’s business channels’ goods supply lines in Guangyang and Fukang. They also violently ambushed the Bai Family attached to our Tang Family. The Bai’s family head—Bai Yang has already stopped the investigation, and if we don’t fight back immediately, I’m afraid that Bai Yang won’t be capable of holding it.” Tang Min, who stood next to the two men, spoke with blazing anger in her eyes.
Slowly raising his head, Tang Guosheng then said, “The Yao Family has been setting up their machinations in secret in Guangyang and Fukang for several years now. Except for the two largest families which are maintaining their neutral position, several other major forces have been secretly colluding with the Yaos. Hence, it will be very difficult for us to fight back unless the largest families in these two provinces stand up to help us.”
“Acting openly is out of the question, but we can resort to violence in secret.” Said Tang Min with a grim expression, “I have trained a lot of people all these years, and each of them has disguised their identities. Hence, it’s highly unlikely that anyone can look into the relationship with our Tang Family if they act.”
“The Yao Family in Guangyang and Fukang are not stupid.” Tang Guosheng shook his head and said, “Even if there’s no direct evidence, I’m afraid they will still be able to guess correctly that our Tang Family is the one attacking them. Once they use their intelligence network, it won’t be too difficult to investigate the relationship between you and your people.”
“Hmph, even if they can investigate, so what?” Tang Min snorted coldly and said, “We must let them know that our Tang Family is not that easy to mess with. If they really want to lose all decorum with us, we’ll accompany them in the fight.”
At the side, though Tang Guoshou was quite furious inside, he could still keep his head cool as he said, “Tang Min, remember the saying that lack of forbearance in small matters will upset the great planning. If we and the Yaos were to lose all decorum now and struggle to death, we won’t be able to hold a bargain. Moreover, it’s highly likely that other families will cast their eyes covetously at us. At that time, even if the Yaos are unable to exterminate our Tang Family thoroughly, the other families will rob us while our family is down.”
“That’s right! What we must do for now is to slowly develop and strengthen our own forces,” Tang Guosheng nodded and said, “I was sick back then and had no time to manage a lot of things. All of our enemies believe that I won’t last any longer so they are eager to trouble us. But now, my illness has been cured and I can still hold on for another decade. Why did you think I hid the fact that my illness has been cured? It’s because I want to patiently win more time for our Tang Family. We already began to implement our secret plan last month. After we allocate such huge resources under these circumstances, I’m sure we’ll certainly be able to overtake the Yao Family by then.”
“But the Yao Family’s forces in those two southern provinces are way too tight!” Tang Min forced a wry smile and said, “If it were to continue like this, they will completely decimate our forces in those two provinces.”
“I’ll contact Second Brother. He’s been enjoying himself in Jingmen Island for so many years, so he gotta come out for a little walk! Even if our forces in those two southern provinces were to be uprooted completely, we’ll make sure that the Yao and those several small families are unable to feel better,” said Tang Guosheng.
“Do you want me to go?” asked Tang Min quickly.
“For the time being, no!” Tang Guosheng shook his head and said, “Your elder brother has gone there personally. He should be able to buy some time. That’s right. I have also told Yunde about our family situation. I didn’t expect that he actually had left behind some hidden chess pieces in the past. If the situation worsens, it’s possible for us to use some of his hidden forces.”
“Second brother? Didn’t he…” Tang Min stared at him blankly and asked in astonishment.
“There are some things out of your knowledge. Your Second Big Brother and his wife are now on the way to Beijing; they should be arriving soon. You’ll know about it clearly after they get here.”
Tang Min somewhat was curious as she didn’t know as to why her second big brother would straightly fall into a vegetative state in the past, yet he was still able to arrange some hidden moves in secret.
Ring, ring, ring!
On the table, Tang Guosheng’s mobile phone ringed all of a sudden.
Tang Guosheng narrowed his brows as he grabbed the mobile and said, “What happened?”
“Father, some people have just burned our Starlight Group’s HQ in Guangyang. The fire is very fierce and several security guards inside were unable to escape. The person in charge over there has already reported the fire to the fire department, but the firemen have been delayed and it’s been nearly twenty minutes already since the fire started.” Said Tang Yunpeng in an angry voice.