Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

"Say a few words while everyone is together. Even if you have nothing to say, you have to say it."

After dinner, Lao Dou called Ah Zhuan and asked her if she had any information to prove that the house belonged to the Kang family. Ah Zhuan said she had to go home and look through the safe to find out. She went to the Ruins of St. Paul's with her friends today and there were no boats back to Hong Kong. However, she knew the situation was urgent and agreed to take the first boat back tomorrow morning.

Seeing this, the five brothers of the Kang family walked into the room of the second brother to hold a meeting. The second brother continued his opening remarks: "We brothers haven't sat together for a long time. Since we can sit together, we are brothers. So."

Ah Yao was getting impatient, so he interrupted the second brother and said, "Hey, hey, hey, you are in a meeting, why are you talking so much? You have already talked about the prelude, when will you get to the topic? Let's get straight to the point."

"You've been a cadre in the government for so long, but you're still not familiar with the way leaders talk?" Er Lao joked, and then went straight to the point: "Like A Rui said, we have to prepare for both situations. Now the reply from my grandmother will not come until tomorrow, so let's talk about the second option. How much of the one million can each of you contribute?"

"I can afford a few hundred yuan, but if you want more than 10,000 yuan, don't ask me." The boss was the first to speak out, but his words made everyone frown. Kang Qirui asked, "Boss, you are not the boss, are you? You don't even have 10,000 yuan? You only won more than 100,000 yuan in the lottery before."

The other three also stared at Big Boss Guang, who felt uneasy. He explained, "The 13 was used to renovate the noodle shop, but after the renovation, the business is not as good as before. Now Xianglan and I only have or in our savings account. We have to keep some for backup, right?"

Kang Qirui was speechless after hearing this. How could this big boss still be so poor? How did he do it?
"I can come up with 50,000 yuan." A-Zu thought for a moment and said, "You all know that I used to live paycheck to paycheck. It was only after I married Diana that she forced me to save some money. But I used it to start a film and television company some time ago. But I can ask Diana for money. She got about 30,000 yuan from the lottery. Although we have always been financially independent, it should be no problem for her to come up with 50,000 yuan."

"What about you, handsome?" Er Lao also knew that A Zu had done his best, so he turned to look at A Yao. A Yao looked at Er Lao and Kang Qi Rui separately, and after a while he said, "For me and Sachiko, let's say 200,000. Last time you talked about speculating in real estate, we actually bought one. So this is all we have now." A Yao and Sachiko won more than 80,000 in the lottery last time, not to mention their usual income.

"Azu gets 75, Ayao gets 30, which means there's still left." Er Lao did a simple calculation and looked at Kang Qirui, "We two brothers each pay half?" Er Lao said this very easily. He was the first one to start a business with Kang Qirui, and he had shares in several companies, big or small. He got a full in the last lottery alone, so it was relatively easy for him to pay more than now.

Kang Qirui had no problem with it at all, he nodded to show that he agreed.

"The whole day was spent, the problem is solved, hahaha." The big boss said with a smile when he saw that the money problem was solved. Just when everyone thought the meeting was over, the second boss said, "The money problem has been solved, so let's talk about the share of Xiguan Mansion."

"What do you mean, A Zong?" asked Big Brother Guang.

"That's what it means." The second brother was also very straightforward. "When we bought Mingzai's Xiguan mansion before, we went to the notary office to allocate everyone's share of the Xiguan mansion according to how much each household contributed. Now we have to pay one million to buy this side as well, so shouldn't we recalculate everyone's share?"

Kang Qirui was the first to nod his head in agreement. He also agreed that brothers should be clear about their accounts. A Yao and A Zu looked at each other and agreed. This was like everyone starting a company together. After the second capital injection, the shareholding ratio must be recalculated.

The boss didn't say whether he agreed or disagreed. He pretended to be relaxed and asked, "If you calculate it according to what you said, how much share do I get?"

The second brother took out a piece of white paper from the drawer and started to calculate directly: "Last time, Lao Dou's mother said that their shares would be divided equally among the five of us brothers, so we can calculate it based on the amount of investment. The last time we bought Mingzi's Xiguan mansion, it cost a total of 30, and you contributed 2. This time you didn't contribute 100 million, so it's 2/130, and you will own 1.5% of this Xiguan mansion from now on."

二佬干脆把大家的份额都算了出来，“阿祖你上次2万这次5万，那就是占5.4%。阿耀两次加起来出了26万，就是20%。我和阿睿分别都出了47万5，各占36.55%。”

"What? 1.5%?" The big boss Guang Teng jumped up and yelled excitedly, "Brother, you still say that we are brothers just because we sit together. This Xiguan mansion was left to me by my ancestors. I am the eldest son and the grandson. According to the old society, none of you had any share. It all belongs to me. Now you use a piece of paper to calculate and then leave 1.5% for me? You are wrong."

"Boss, you are only talking about the old society. Now it is a new era. In the market economy, you get a share based on how much money you pay. It is fair and just. We are not taking advantage of you." The second boss retorted.

The eldest brother ignored the second brother and walked out angrily. He even slammed the door with great force, making a loud "bang". "What's the time now?" A Yao asked when he saw that no one was talking.

"Is there anything to gain? Brothers should settle accounts clearly. If he says he disagrees, then he will not agree?" The second brother was also very angry and said angrily: "Since we have to pay for it, the share will be calculated according to how much money each household pays." A Yao and A Zu had no objection to this, and the meeting ended just like that. After Kang Qirui returned to the room, he told Zhu Wanling what happened in the meeting.

"What if uncle just doesn't agree?" Zhu Wanling thought for a moment and asked.

"If we really want to pay to buy it, then this Xiguan house must be divided according to everyone's investment ratio as the second brother said. This is fair to everyone. You get as much as you pay. It's fair." Kang Qirui said without hesitation. For the five brothers in the family, the amounts must be clearly divided to be fair and just.

Zhu Wanling nodded, and suddenly sighed, "I mean, uncle and his family are the same, they don't even have tens of thousands of dollars. Where do they need to spend money? I see them eating cheesy food all the time, and they are covered in cheap things. I really don't understand why they are so bad at managing money."

Kang Qirui shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I heard from the boss that they used all the hundreds of thousands of yuan they had shared to renovate the noodle shop, which caused the business to be so bad that now it is just enough to pay the workers' salaries every month." Fast food restaurants like noodle shops, which are just for basic needs, do not necessarily have better business the better the decoration. The owners of these shops just want good food and low prices. If you decorate so luxuriously, people will have a preconceived notion that your shop is expensive but not filling, so how can the business be good?

Kang Qirui thought about it and said, "Forget it. Maybe tomorrow my grandmother will call and say she has found the proof." As for Da Lao Guang, he was not worried. After all, Da Lao Guang still had shares in the tea restaurant company, so it was impossible for him to be really poor.

Just as Kang Qirui expected, Ah Zhuan called back the next morning and said that she had found information that could prove that the Xiguan house belonged to the Kang family. She asked her father to invite Ma Guifan to come over and she immediately came to Guangzhou from Gangcheng.

At 1917 pm, Ma Guifan arrived at Kang's house as scheduled. Ah Zhuan, who had already arrived, showed him an IOU and said, "This IOU was written by a man named Ma Dengke to my father-in-law Kang Dingbang years ago, in . It clearly states that Ma Dengke borrowed yuan from my father-in-law. If he fails to pay back the money in two months, this house will belong to my father-in-law."

"Later, Ma Dengke never paid back the money, so my parents-in-law moved in. I don't know who this Ma Dengke is to you, Aso, but this Xiguan mansion definitely belongs to our Kang family now."

Ma Guifan was stunned when he saw the IOU in his hand. After a long while, he said, "My great grandfather's name is Ma Denglong, and Ma Dengke is my great grandfather's elder brother. During the war at the end of the Qing Dynasty, my grandfather's great grandfather took my great grandfather to South America, leaving my great grandfather's elder brother to guard the house. I didn't expect..."

As he said this, he sighed loudly, "I didn't expect that my great-grandfather...he actually lost his home. I'm really sorry, everyone. I didn't know this was the case before. So, I'll treat everyone to dinner tonight as an apology to everyone."

After that, he stood up and bowed 90 degrees to everyone. Kang Qirui, who was closest to him, quickly helped him up and said, "Asheng, you don't have to be like this. We have been here all the time. We don't know or understand our great grandfather's affairs. You and your great great grandfather are separated by the North and South Oceans, so you don't know even more. We all understand. It's just a misunderstanding."

"Yes, yes, yes." Ma Guifan nodded dejectedly. For a moment, he still found it difficult to accept the fact. He made an appointment with everyone again to treat everyone to dinner in the evening and then said goodbye and left.

Everyone was very happy that they could keep the Xiguan Mansion without spending any money. The old man looked at Ah Zhuan and said with a smile: "This time, it's really thanks to you, my dear mother. If you hadn't taken out the IOU, we would have really spent a lot of money this time."

Ah Zhuan waved his hand and said, "Ah Shou, do you remember that there was a secret compartment in the closet in your uncle's room?"

The old man nodded and said, "I remember, after you left, I went to look for the secret compartment, but everything inside was gone."

Ah Zhuan smiled awkwardly and said frankly, "Yes, I took it. When I left, I took everything in the secret compartment with me. When I arrived in Hong Kong, I took it out and found that it was just some contracts and promissory notes and the Kang family tree."

As she spoke, she took out a family tree and a stack of papers from her bag and handed them to her father solemnly, saying, "After so many years, I almost forgot about it. I only remembered it when you called me yesterday. The Kang family tree and the contracts are all here. I'm handing them over to you, the head of the Kang family."

The old man didn't care much about the loan agreements, he cared about the Kang family tree. He held the tree with trembling hands, and said to the nanny with tears in his eyes: "Uncle, the tree, the Kang family tree."

In the eyes of the old Cantonese, family genealogy is very important and is a very important part of the traditional culture of South Guangdong. They believe that compiling family genealogy has the functions of respecting the dead and remembering the ancestors, remembering the source of water, glorifying the past and benefiting the future, and strengthening the clan and the Mu clan. (End of this chapter)