Even as a "normie," I'm completely oblivious to it.

"Seeing that you elders are all tired from the meeting, let's call it a day and continue later..."

"Wait a minute!"

Wow, it's still this third grandfather.

Yu Zhe frowned.

Judging from his expression, it seems he still has something to say.

If he speaks, it's definitely not a good thing.

"We can eat whenever we want. It's a rare opportunity for us to gather here. There are some things we need to clarify today. Zhenfeng, have you forgotten? That was only the second issue, which has been resolved, but there's still the first and most important issue that hasn't been addressed yet!"

Tsk.

Su Zhenfeng clicked his tongue, realizing he hadn't been fooled after all.

It wasn't that he hadn't remembered there was another issue, but this issue was likely to annoy Yu Zhe.

If you really piss this kid off, what good will come of it for you splitting up the family?

"Alright, Uncle, if you insist on continuing this discussion, then I have nothing more to say. I'll have to trouble you to speak on behalf of everyone."

"can."

This time, Third Grandfather was no longer as reserved as he had been when facing Yu Zhe and Yu Che, and his tone was much colder.

"The last issue is whether Su Zixiao can be considered a child of the Su family. I suggest we reach a conclusion today. This issue cannot be delayed any longer."

"?"

He spoke without any politeness, and Yu Zhe, upon hearing this, had no intention of being polite to him either.

"Third Grandfather, does this issue need to be discussed in the meeting room? Whether Zixiao is considered a child of the Su family's main branch is a matter for the main branch to decide. This is our own family matter, and you may be meddling too much."

As a junior, Yu Zhe's words were indeed a bit impolite.

But if Zixiao hadn't secretly tugged at his sleeve under the table,

I'm afraid Yu Zhe could say even harsher things.

Third Grandfather had no intention of backing down: "Yes, it is indeed a matter for your main family, but at the same time it is also a matter for each branch family and for the Su family as a whole."

He spoke with reason and evidence, and without regard for Zixiao's presence, he explained carefully and without any hesitation.

"When our family adopted this child, it was your mother Yang Qiuyun's own decision. She disregarded all the objections to the division of the family and adopted a child from the orphanage without any reason. To this day, we still don't know her purpose."

“Yu Zhe, I know you definitely don’t want to hear this, but you have to listen. Your mother is gone now, and we can’t keep asking her why she adopted this child back then. You were all young then, so it didn’t matter. But now that the three of you are all adults, the problem will arise immediately.”

Yu Zhe is annoyed.

He even sounded a bit impatient: "Excuse me for being frank, but I don't think there will be any problem."

That's why he said they were a bunch of stubborn old men.

This is also why Yu Zhe dislikes the Su family's division of property.

What business is it of theirs? Why do they have to meddle in everything?

Do you really think this is still ten years ago?

At that time, the main family was powerless to refute the decision to split the family, but now, Yu Zhe is sitting here listening to their complaints without losing his temper, which can be said to be giving these elders a lot of face.

"This is a big problem."

But the third grandfather persisted: "According to the rules of my Su family, all children of the main family have the right to inherit the family property, and adopted children are no exception. That's why the main family needs the consent of the whole family to adopt a child. But Yang Qiuyun adopted this child without saying anything back then. What was her purpose? Isn't this an uncertain factor in the family?"

"Almost got it."

Even though Yu Zhe himself had a lot of opinions about Yang Qiuyun's actions, she was still his mother, and he wouldn't allow others to gossip about her.

Furthermore, and more importantly, he just referred to Zixiao as an "uncertain factor."

This is enough for Yu Zhe to turn against them.

But at this moment, Zixiao, who had been silent all along, gently placed her palm on Yuzhe's right leg.

"Brother, calm down. It won't do you any good to fall out with them here. Besides, I think I can figure out that they are deliberately trying to provoke you, but I still can't guess what their purpose is."

Yu Che echoed softly, "That's right, Zi Xiao actually had some sense this time. Every word they said was meant to provoke my brother; it's clearly a trap..."

"Don't worry, I know."

Yu Zhe took a deep breath and quickly calmed himself down.

"They're trying to annoy me, to make me talk back to my elders in such a formal meeting, so that they can spread rumors that the eldest son of the main family has been bewitched and led astray by the adopted daughter of the main family, and that he has become disrespectful to his elders and a completely different person because of her. In short, this is just a little trick targeting Zixiao."

Then Yu Zhe smiled to himself.

I've got an idea.

38. I'm not leaving!

"Enough? Yu Zhe, what do you mean by that?"

Third Grandfather felt that everything was within his calculations.

If Yu Zhe, in his anger, starts saying disrespectful things, he's giving them an opportunity.

Hehe, soon they can say that Yu Zhe was such a sensible child when he was young, but ever since his family adopted Su Zixiao, he has become obsessed with playing around and neglecting his duties at the company, and even openly defying his elders!

Given this fact, all the families who split up will jointly propose that Su Zixiao sever ties with the Su family, at which point no one can protect her.

The abacus is quite well-thought-out.

But to the surprise of the third grandfather, Yu Zhe, who had been frowning and seemed on the verge of exploding at any moment, suddenly relaxed.

"Oh dear, what I meant was, enough, Third Grandfather. You don't need to say such obvious things. As the eldest son of the Su family, I certainly know more about the Su family than you do. You don't know, Zixiao is slow at learning everything. She's far behind Yuche. She has absolutely no potential to influence the Su family's inheritance rights. How can you talk about 'uncertain factors'? You're really overestimating her."

"Pfft..."

Yu Che couldn't help but chuckle lightly, which was rather unkind.

what the hell!

Zixiao glared at her fiercely at first, but when she found it had no effect, she continued to laugh as before!

He could only turn around and give Yu Zhe a look.

Her eyes were full of grievance, meaning that although she knew you were saying that to deal with the elders below, Zixiao thought about it carefully and realized that compared to Yuche, she really was useless!

Waaah, I'm so bad at everything, I'm really sorry!

Yu Zhe, still smiling, looked down at the audience and quickly patted Zi Xiao's leg under the table.

Don't be disappointed! I had no choice!

Yu Zhe is having a tough time. He has to deal with these stubborn old folks while also trying to soothe his sister's emotions.

Only after Zixiao gradually calmed down did Yuzhe feel relieved and continue speaking.

"So, everyone, my sister is so useless, she can't do anything right, what's there to be wary of? Aren't you just worrying unnecessarily?"

"Being careful is better than being reckless."

Third Grandfather seemed to have no intention of considering Zixiao's presence at all, repeatedly emphasizing the need to be wary of her. This actually meant that he didn't consider Zixiao as family at all, and his only attitude towards "outsiders" was to expel them.

But so what? Yu Zhe remained calm and unhurried.

"Alright, then be careful. That's true, but, Third Grandfather, Zixiao has lived with me for ten years."

"It's impossible for me to kick her out of the family just because of your word. Otherwise, it would seem a bit excessive for us to separate, right?"

In other words, you don't have that ability.

The elders looked at each other and nodded helplessly.

"That's... Although we can't kick her out, our opinion is that she can't continue to be recognized as a member of the main family. She can stay by your side, Yu Zhe, but her status shouldn't be so high."

"That won't do either. We can't have come to this conclusion after all this discussion, can we?"

Yu Zhe couldn't help but laugh when he said those words. Haha, did he sound a little sarcastic just now?

"What's wrong with that?" Third Grandfather asked in return.

“It’s obvious,” Yu Zhe analyzed. “My mother, Yang Qiuyun, adopted Zixiao back then, and the adoption process was very formal. Regardless of whether you agreed at the time, the result is that Zixiao is already a member of the family. Now that you are suddenly saying that you want to kick her out, shouldn’t you at least try to get my mother’s consent?”

Your mother is long gone!

Below, a hot-tempered old man angrily waved his arms and said just that.

Hey, why are you cursing at me?

Oh, you were scolding Yang Qiuyun, then it's alright.

Yu Zhe laughed and said, "Since there's no way to win over opinions, if people don't acknowledge Zi Xiao, they can't deny my mother, can they? She's gone. And since this decision has been made, we shouldn't overturn it directly, but at most impose some restrictions. After all, we can't be so thorough in doing things."

After all this rambling, the elders below are almost dizzy.

Third Grandfather asked on their behalf, "Yu Zhe, what exactly are you trying to say?"

Yu Zhe chuckled and replied.

“It’s very simple. What I’m trying to say is that none of us have the right to kick Zixiao out of the main family. However, we can restrict her rights within the family, such as inheritance rights, management authority, or other matters. In any case, there’s no need to kick her out.”

"I understand what you mean," Third Grandfather said. "Do you mean the same as before, or do you mean to clearly stipulate restrictions in legal documents, right?"

"As expected of Third Grandfather, do you agree?"

This time, he didn't ask for anyone else's opinion; his third grandfather simply nodded and said, "It's fine."

"In that case, please have the legal department come again."

Sorry, legal department, it's Chinese New Year and you still have to work overtime like crazy.

Third Grandfather chuckled to himself.

Hooked.

His first plan, to provoke Yu Zhe, failed.

And now, he's implementing his second backup plan.

But he didn't notice that Yu Zhe also chuckled to himself.

The person who wanted him to take the bait has taken it.

What you thought was a plan, Yu Zhe saw as nothing more than blatant stupidity.