Episode 40

The Su Family's New Year's party was held tonight.

When Mother Shen and Father Shen arrived, there were already a lot of people in the venue. Liu Fang and Su BoNian at the door personally welcomed them in. They were obviously treating them with great importance.

Mother Shen glanced at the other guests. She was familiar with some of them, but she never spoke to any of these people before. Mother Shen nodded at one guest who looked over, then sat in an inconspicuous corner with Father Shen to quietly wait for the party to end. There was no need for them to take the initiative and greet anyone here.

Liu Fang and Su BoNian stayed by the door to welcome the guests but later, whether intentional or not, the Su couple brought some business people with them to greet the Shen couple.

Father Shen and Mother Shen were polite on the surface. Father Shen talked about the current economic situation, and Mother Shen mentioned her gardening skills. It looked like they were talking freely, but in truth, they didn't say anything of substance. But Su BoNian and Liu Fang didn't mind. What they wanted was to show people they had a relationship with the Shen family. If the relationship between the two families looked good, then in the future, it'll be relatively easy to ask the Shen family for help.

"Didn't the Shen family rely on the Su family's money to avoid bankruptcy?" Some of the guests secretly gossiped. "But why is it like this? Rather than the Shen family, it's the Su family who's fawning over them."

"If the Shen family collapsed, it wouldn't matter. But the problem is, the Shen family didn't fall. Even if the Shen family recently experienced a catastrophe, in the end, they're still top-level giants. There are a lot of things money can't buy."

"Does that mean that the Su family gained nothing? Not only did they lose money, but they still have to grovel to them..."

"Didn't Su Hang marry Shen Xi? Maybe they're looking for long-term rewards. The Shen family only has one child. In the future, won't the Shen family assets all belong to the Su family?"

"So their loan was actually a direct acquisition?"

"Hm, spending 3 billion yuan for the Shen family might be good. After all, acquiring the Shen family means you also get all their contacts."

"Spending 3 billion for all that...the Su family has good insight."

"It's a pity Shen Xi married that bastard Su Hang though."

"Speaking of, I wonder why they didn't come today?"

"I heard the relationship between Su Hang and the Su family isn't very good..."

"Oh no, most of the Su company shares are in Su Hang's hands. If the situation is really like as you said, then the Su family..."

"Not necessarily. After all, isn't Mr. Shen and his wife here right now? You should know, Mrs. Shen rarely attends parties."

"Also..."

Su MingLi, who sulked in the shadows, had an ugly expression as she listened to the gossip. Today, half of the people attending came for Su Hang, and the other half came for the Shen family. Why is it that she has to depend on a beggar-born illegitimate son for a living?

The more Su MingLi thought about it, the angrier she got. She took a sip of her red wine, then slammed it on a nearby table. Her diamond bracelet clinked on the stem of her wine glass.

"Ah, MingLi, come here." Liu Fang noticed her daughter and beckoned her to come.

Su MingLi frowned and didn't move.

Liu Fang walked over to her and asked: "Why aren't you replying to me?"

"What?" Su MingLi impatiently replied.

"Come with me and meet Mrs. Shen." Liu Fang pulled Su MingLi's arm.

"I'm not going." Su MingLi threw off her hand.

"What's with this temper tantrum?" Liu Fang frowned.

"I don't want to curry favor with that illegitimate child's mother-in-law." Su MingLi huffed.

"Shut up!" Liu Fang shouted at her daughter, then hurriedly looked around to make sure that no one paid attention to them. "Why are you spouting such irresponsible remarks?"

Su MingLi bit her lip, her expression full of discontent.

Liu Fang yanked her daughter towards her and said: "Do you think I like doing this? This isn't about you. The Su family is now under Su Hang's control and your father and I have no real power in the company. If it wasn't for Su Hang's apprehensions about the company's image, your father and I would've been kicked out of the company a long time ago. Without the Su company, do you think people will still bother to remember that you're the eldest miss of the Su family?"

"He dares?" Su MingLi was furious. The Su company was obviously her birthright.

"With 51% of the company's shares in his hands, he certainly can. He has all the other major shareholders' trust, while we only have 8% of the shares." Liu Fang told her.

"Why did you and dad transfer so many stocks to that bastard?" Su MingLi couldn't fathom the reason they even thought of giving the shares to Su Hang.

"If we didn't transfer it to him, the Su company would've gone bankrupt three years ago." Liu Fang said.

"Couldn't you have sold it to someone else?" Su MingLi still didn't understand why it had to give it to Su Hang specifically.

"If we sold it to outsiders, the world would find out that the Su company changed hands. If that happened, do you think our family would still have the right to mix in this circle?" Liu Fang asked. "Or are you willing to live off the dividends of our measly 8% share?"

"So what can we do?" Su MingLi gloomily asked.

"We need to draw in Su Hang and the Shen family's network of connections." Liu Fang looked at her daughter. "The Su family doesn't belong to us anymore. When Su Hang inevitably splits off from us, we can use the Shen family's abundant connections to develop a new and successful company. Our future depends on this, got it?"

"..." Su MingLi gave her mother a sullen nod.

Liu Fang saw this and her shoulders eased a bit. She took Su MingLi's hand and brought her towards the Shen couple.

"Uncle Shen, Auntie Shen." Su MingLi's face changed in an instant. Her expression turned cute and pure.

"Ah, hello Miss Su." Mother Shen met Su MingLi during Shen Xi's wedding.

"Auntie, you can call me MingLi." Su MingLi noticed that Mrs. Shen's shawl was a little askew, so she lifted her hand and helped her straighten it. "Auntie, your shawl is a little off-center. Let me help you with that."

Mother Shen didn't shy away from her hands and let Su MingLi help her. When Su MingLi lifted her hand, Mother Shen noticed her diamond bracelet. At the sight of this accessory, Mother Shen's eyes flickered.

"There." Su MingLi let go with a smile.

"Thank you." Mother Shen smiled at her. Then, as if unintentional, she asked: "Miss Su, your bracelet looks very unique. Where did you buy it?"

Su MingLi was somewhat taken aback. She raised her left hand and asked: "Did you mean this?"

Her actions caused Father Shen to glance at Su MingLi's wrist, and his eyes flashed too when he saw the bracelet. He immediately understood the reason for his wife's question.

"Yes, it looks vaguely familiar." Mother Shen explained with a smile.

"One of my friends gave it to me." Su MingLi replied.

"Which friend? Can you ask them for me where they found this bracelet?" Mother Shen asked.

Liu Fang noticed the couple's interest, and couldn't help but ask: "Qingjia, you know this bracelet?"

Mother Shen looked at Father Shen. At his nod, Shen Mother smiled and said: "To be honest, this bracelet might be mine."

"Yours?" Liu Fang froze.

"But when my friend gave it to me, he said it was a lucky bracelet he grew up with," Su MingLi explained.

"Is your friend a man about thirty? Was he orphaned as a child?" Mother Shen asked.

"Yes, he spent some time in an orphanage when he was a child, but then got adopted at eight years old," Su MingLi replied.

"That should be about right." Mother Shen happily clapped her hands. "Miss Su, could you please introduce your friend to us?"

"Of course." Although Su MingLi didn't know what was going on, she still nodded.

"Qingjia, what's going on?" Liu Fang asked.

"If I'm right, then Miss Su's friend is a long time benefactor of ours." Mother Shen smiled.

Father Shen also nodded along with his wife.

Liu Fang asked for details and Mother Shen didn't hide anything. She explained that Shen Xi once got lost when she was a child.

\==

Meanwhile, Shen Xi was in the study, listening to Su Hang explain an idea for the future development of her cafes.

"Open more than 20 branches? Won't that be too much?" Shen Xi asked.

"It won't." Su Hang looked through the investigation report in his hands. "The way you operate your cafes are quite novel. Take the cat cafe in the CBD for example. Its annual turnover is higher than 70% of the cafes in the city. Your 50-square meter store makes the same amount of profits as a 100-square meter cafe."

Su Hang continued: "According to the survey report, your establishment ranked first in terms of price, atmosphere, and taste. What's more, your profits mainly go to welfare activities. I'm sure even more people will visit your cafe once they know this."

"I asked Fang Yu to compile a market report of other coffee shops in the past five years, but it won't be finished until tomorrow. However, even if I have the report, I personally think opening 20 stores isn't too many. In fact, it might not be enough."

"But... I don't have that much money," Shen Xi told him.

"You can get a loan, ah." Su Hang explained: "Your cafe is under the Shen charity. Such a distinguished and reputable foundation will make it easy for you to get a loan from the bank. Your cafe also has a good consistent profit margin, and this particular project has good prospects. Approval should be no problem."

"But I'm afraid I won't be able to manage things if it's expanded to such a large scale," Shen Xi regretfully replied.

"That's nothing." Su Hang tried to appease her with a smile. "We can find someone to help you look after the stores."

"You'll help me find someone?" Shen Xi asked.

"I'll help you find someone." Su Hang nodded with a smile.

"Can you also help me look after the stores?"

"Of course." Su Hang loved nothing more than to dote on his wife.

"Whew. It's amazing how much you can plan in just one day. I've been looking over the reports for more than a week already, but my mind was still a mess," Shen Xi ruefully said. "I really don't have any talent in the business."

Su Hang thought Shen Xi's distressed expression was overwhelmingly adorable.

"I'm glad you're here." Shen Xi gave Su Hang a sweet smile.

After Shen Xi said this, her cell phone suddenly rang. She looked at the screen and found it to be her mother, so she quickly answered the call.

"Mom?" Shen Xi happily cried out.

"Really?"

"That's great!"

"Tell me then."

Su Hang sat next to Shen Xi. Although their bodies were quite close, he couldn't hear the voice on the other end of the phone. Still, Su Hang was happy to see Shen Xi happy.

"Why are you so happy?" After Shen Xi ended the call, Su Hang asked her this.

"My mother said she found the brother that saved me," Shen Xi told him, obviously delighted.

"The brother that saved you?" Su Hang asked.

"You may not know this," Shen Xi began. "But I got lost once when I was a child. A little brother saved me, but when my parents found me, the little brother disappeared. Our family's been looking for him ever since. We wanted to thank him in person, but we couldn't find him no matter where we looked. But now, we finally have a clue."

"You...where did you wander off?" Su Hang suddenly asked.

"In the hospital," Shen Xi replied.

"What kind of clue did you find?" After a moment's thought, Su Hang asked.

"When I wandered off, I had a diamond bracelet with me. It was my father's gift to my mother and was custom made. It's the only one in the world," Shen Xi told him. "My mother saw it on Su MingLi's wrist today."

"..." Was that the bracelet he lost?