Chapter 11

Chapter 11

This is about real money!

The Su Group shareholders immediately demanded an emergency meeting, accusing Su Wanlin of meddling in the true/false young master scandal under the company's name the moment he returned from his business trip.

Otherwise, the Su Group’s stock wouldn’t have fluctuated so wildly.

One shareholder sneered at Su Wanlin with thinly veiled sarcasm.

"When your Su Shengli was being lambasted online, your whole family didn’t make a mountain out of a molehill; you just released a simple surveillance video to clear his name. But when Gu Yihong was criticized, you went all out, couldn’t wait to use the Su Group’s name to nail him to the pillar of shame!"

"Anyone would think Su Shengli was your true son! The one raised at home is clearly treated differently from the one who was cast out."

Another snorted coldly.

"Of course it’s different. The adopted son is pampered like a treasure; even a tiny scratch would break your hearts. Meanwhile, the true son can be thrown to the wolves for public shaming. At the end of the day, it’s just because pushing the blame onto Gu Yihong was the most expedient solution, the most profitable for the company. Anyone would think the one outside was some worthless bastard!"

"But I have to say, Su Shengli truly lives up to his upbringing. So cunning. He’d barely been criticized for a few days before he couldn’t wait to release the surveillance footage to divert attention."

"Honestly, you should have just let your Su Shengli weather the storm. So what if he got flamed? Everyone online already knows he’s not of the Su bloodline. Even if he was cursed to high heaven, it wouldn’t have affected the Su Group’s stock price. But no, you couldn’t resist dragging the true young master into this. Now look—our shares are tanking again!"

Hearing these two mock Su Shengli and their family, Su Linyuan’s face instantly darkened.

He said sternly, "Uncle Wu, speak with some conscience! If it weren’t for stabilizing our Su Group’s stock, Father wouldn’t have decided to sacrifice Yihong’s reputation—it was all about trying to quell public opinion! Weren’t you all in full agreement back then?"

The major shareholder, addressed as Uncle Wu by Su Linyuan, showed no respect for the younger man.

He scoffed, "Well, none of us knew you’d failed to properly appease Gu Yihong behind the scenes!"

"It’s all because your Su family is useless, presuming everyone has to kowtow to you."

A sneer curled on his lips. "I say that true young master did the right thing—at least he has some backbone, fighting back when wronged! He hasn’t taken a single grain of rice from your Su family—why should he save you any face?"

"Hmph, unlike that true young master who actually ate your family’s rice—even with surveillance footage to clear his name, he couldn’t even manage the aftermath properly! Dragging all of us down for nothing."

"I don’t care. The losses shareholders suffered this time—your Su family will compensate every cent. Not a penny less!"

After the harsh rebuke, Uncle Wu and several other major shareholders stormed out of the meeting room.

Leaving behind Su Wanlin, whose face had turned to ice, and Su Linyuan, seething with anger.

-----

Su Wanlin, at least, kept his composure. He closed his eyes, lost in deep thought.

Su Linyuan didn’t dare speak.

Finally, Su Wanlin opened his eyes and said gravely,

"Your Uncle Wu was indeed impolite, but he wasn’t wrong about one thing. You knew Shengli was upset by the online slander and released surveillance footage to clear his name—why didn’t you help him manage the fallout? Why didn’t you appease Gu Yihong?"

"I wasn’t home at the time, but didn’t I tell you—even if you dislike that estranged brother, you had to bring him home! Does our Su family lack the means to raise a child? Or do you, like outsiders, think Gu Yihong’s return would bully Su Shengli?"

Su Linyuan’s face flushed alternately red and pale with shame.

He remembered Gu Yihong’s disastrous first meeting, the lobster perched on his head, and the goosebumps that had risen on his skin.

Then he recalled Butler Zhang’s failed attempt to contact Gu Yihong, only to be met with brazen disrespect. His expression soured further.

"Dad, you haven’t met Gu Yihong—you don’t know what a loose cannon he is. He’s like a wild horse, completely uncontrollable! I even suspect the current social media firestorm is his doing—he’s deliberately dragging the Su name through the mud!"

"Oh?"

Su Wanlin’s eyes flickered, then darkened at the memory of Old Master Su’s furious phone call. Disgust flashed briefly in his gaze.

"So you just let Gu Yihong stay away? Let him run amok? If you’d brought him home, even if he resented the Su family, would things have escalated this badly?"

Su Linyuan lowered his head in shame.

"No, they wouldn’t. I assumed too much—thought Gu Yihong, raised outside, would be like those outsiders. I never expected him to be... so unyielding."

A complicated glint passed through Su Linyuan’s eyes.

Compared to Su Shengli—who grew up by his side, was simple-minded, and knew how to charm and please the family—he’d naturally been more wary of the biological brother returning from the outside.

He’d assumed that with the Su family’s influence, no one would easily reject the chance to claim their birthright.

Gu Yihong, having grown up estranged, must have picked up many bad habits. Their first meeting indeed revealed Gu Yihong to be not only cunning but also ill-tempered.

It was just a matter of identity, yet Gu Yihong acted as if it threatened his potential interests.

He was completely unwilling to consider the family, unwilling to let Su Shengli become the Su family’s rightful ‘twin’ young master.

His defiance had put Su Linyuan on guard instantly.

When Su Shengli, without consulting the family, released surveillance footage and hired online trolls to clear his name, Su Linyuan knew the online tide would turn against Gu Yihong—the one caught vandalizing Su property. But he did nothing.

He’d wanted to teach the unruly Gu Yihong a lesson, to force him to submit and behave.

But he never imagined Gu Yihong wasn’t playing hard to get—he genuinely didn’t care about the Su family!

He didn’t care how the Su family viewed him, didn’t care about the power and wealth they offered. He endured the online abuse, patiently waited until the Su Group stepped in to define the True and False Young Master farce—then, leveraging the natural buzz around college entrance exam results, he exposed the Su family’s true intentions and revealed their true colors to netizens.

Far from the greedy, vicious, domineering brat Su Linyuan had assumed, Gu Yihong was shrewd!

The thought of the Su Group’s plummeting stock made Su Linyuan’s eyes burn with fury.

What deep-seated grudge did the Su family have against Gu Yihong, to warrant such retaliation?

Still indignant, Su Linyuan argued,

"Even if the Su family wronged him first, it was trivial—couldn’t he have talked it out? I think he never intended to return to the Su family. Dad, why not just give up on him? Why is Grandpa forcing us to bring him back?"

Su Wanlin’s eyes gleamed. He stood, face cold, from his seat.

"If you want the Su family to become a national joke, to never hold our heads high again—then go ahead, announce in the papers that we’ve severed ties with this wayward heir. If not, shut up!"

His tone was severe. "The Recognition Banquet invitations have already been sent out. The arrow is on the string and must be shot—everyone knows we will treat both Su family young masters equally. Now that Gu Yihong has exposed the Su family’s actions online, all we can do is make amends."

"Instead of continuing to feud with Gu Yihong, we should focus on how to coax him home! If the Recognition Banquet lacks its main guest, the Su Group’s stock will surely face another upheaval. Then, these shareholders won’t just settle for a few harsh words!"

Su Wanlin picked up his suit jacket.

Su Linyuan protested, "Must we really go fetch Gu Yihong in person?"

Su Wanlin pushed open the meeting room door and left. "Just get him back first."

Casually, he added, "As for how—isn’t his comatose foster father still hospitalized? If needed, you can find someone to visit him."

Su Linyuan froze, a flicker of shock in his eyes.

"It’s not that bad... I'll go persuade him to come home myself."

When Su Linyuan returned to his office, Su Shengli, who had been waiting for most of the day, rose anxiously.

He lowered his head timidly, twisting his fingers. "Elder brother, I... I've been a burden to you. Perhaps... perhaps I should just leave the Su family."

Su Linyuan had been fuming inside, but seeing Su Shengli's tearful expression, his anger melted away.

He sighed, running his fingers through Su Shengli's hair. "It hasn't come to that yet. Your big brother's got your back. However arrogant Gu Yihong acts, he won’t affect your life."

Su Shengli bobbed his head meekly, his eyes filled with admiration as he looked at Su Linyuan.

"Elder brother, I brought you home-cooked meals—Mom made them special for you!"

"Alright, thank you. Let me go wash up. Wait here for me."

Su Shengli finally smiled.

But the moment Su Linyuan left, his smile dropped. He picked up his phone, fired off a text, and quickly deleted it.

---

In the dead of night, Gu Yubai snapped awake in the middle of his sleep.

He realized Su Shengli’s behavior around him had been off.

After the surveillance footage was leaked online, Gu Yihong had been dragged through the mud.

Yet, netizens only focused on Gu Yihong’s short fuse, completely ignoring his social circle and friends at school.

The attempt to cover it up was way too obvious.

Someone was deliberately hiding his connection to Gu Yihong.

He knew what was going on.

Just as he was about to go back to sleep, a suspicious skittering noise reached his ears.

It was as if a mouse was skulking about in the living room.

Recalling Gu Yihong’s no-holds-barred takedown of the Su family’s true nature online, Gu Yubai slitted his eyes and decided to get up and investigate.

He watched as Gu Yihong furtively packed his belongings in the dark, only speaking up when he saw him hoisting a duffel and heading for the door.

"So... pulling a disappearing act?"

Gu Yihong froze, then barked a nervous chuckle as he turned around guiltily.

"B-bro, you’re still awake?"

Gu Yubai walked to the water dispenser, filled a glass, and replied with faint amusement.

"I was asleep, until a suspicious little rat woke me up."

He sat down on the sofa, yawning as he looked at Gu Yihong.

"Alright, what are you planning this time?"

Seeing that Gu Yubai wasn’t angry, Gu Yihong grinned and flopped down next to him.

"Big brother, nothing gets past you. I figured the Su family would contact me soon, so I thought I’d just pack up and bolt and go on a trip. I really don’t want to claim that blood connection—I’d love to see them humiliated."

"If I leave, the Su family won’t be able to find me. Once the three-day deadline I set passes, I’ll publicly cut ties with them in the papers and on social media. Let them be a public disgrace."

Gu Yihong’s plan seemed foolproof to him, and he was practically vibrating with anticipation to mess with the Su family.

Before Gu Yubai could respond, the lights in the room flickered, then went out completely.

A power outage.

The smell of burning wires filled the air.

A bright glow suddenly illuminated the room from downstairs, casting fiery reflections through the south-facing floor-to-ceiling windows.

The temperature rose rapidly. Sensing something was wrong, Gu Yihong rushed to the window to look.

Within seconds, he dashed back, his face pale with panic.

"Big brother, something’s wrong! There’s a fire downstairs—in the middle of the night!"

Downstairs?

Their new neighbor—Yu Li!

Gu Yubai sprang up.