Chapter 385 — Wang Xinyan's Family Troubles

Despite his confusion, Wei Zhao still answered the call. "Hello..."

But the moment he picked up, the line on the other end went dead.

What did that mean? A wrong number? Or something else? Wei Zhao hesitated for a moment, then called back. After all, this was the first time Wang Xinyan had ever called him, and he could not simply ignore it.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is powered off or out of service area. Please try again later..."

A mechanical prompt sounded, telling Wei Zhao that the other phone had been switched off.

Wei Zhao frowned. Could it be that Wang Xinyan had been about to call him when her phone ran out of power?

Wei Zhao shook his head and slipped the phone into his pocket. Since he could not reach her, there was nothing he could do. Worried though he was, the two of them were little more than chance acquaintances, and she was far away in Yanjing. Distant water could not quench a nearby fire, and he had no idea where she even was.

In Yanjing, inside an imposing mansion, a fierce-looking man snatched the phone from Wang Xinyan's hand, hurled it hard to the floor, and stomped on it a few more times for good measure. "You rotten girl, trying to call someone for help?" he cursed. "I never thought you had a phone hidden on you! Lucky I did not dare go far and kept watching you, or you would have ruined everything!"

Wang Xinyan glanced silently at the phone, its casing shattered by his stomping, then raised her head coldly. "I am your cousin. Is this how you treat me?"

"Cousin? Hah! Spit out what you swallowed of our Xiao family's fortune first!" the man snorted coldly. "According to Grandfather's will, you have already been married off to someone else. Until his family comes with the betrothal gifts, do not think of leaving this room!"

With that, the man slammed the door of the room shut with a bang, and then came the sound of the door being locked from the outside...

Wang Xinyan sighed helplessly. Had she known the situation in the Xiao family was this bad, she would never have come back. Now not only had her parents been put under house arrest by these people, but she herself was inexplicably to be engaged to a strange man because of her grandfather's will!

Only after arriving at the Xiao household did Wang Xinyan learn that the Xiao family was not nearly as splendid as it looked from the outside. Though her two uncles were fighting over the inheritance, the Xiao family had long been strong on the outside but hollow within!

Her grandfather had suffered from Alzheimer's, and in the last few years of his life he had signed several muddled contracts that not only lost the company a great deal of money but left it buried in debt! Even if the company were sold now, it would barely be enough to pay it all back!

Her two uncles, who had been fighting over the family fortune, united with surprising speed once they had sorted out the true amount of the assets! They could not even pay off the debts, so what damned fortune was there left to grab? What fortune was there at all?

All that was left were a few properties the old master had bought while he was alive, so few they could be counted on one's fingers. There was hardly any point in fighting over them, and a rough equal division would do.

In ordinary eyes, those villas and apartments were already priceless estates, enough to live a comfortable life for a lifetime on rent alone, but to the two Xiao brothers, long used to a lavish and free-spending life, it was unbearable.

So they set their sights on their younger sister who had left home years ago -- Wang Xinyan's mother, Xiao Qinlin.

Their excuse was simple and shameless. Back when Xiao Qinlin ran away from home and eloped with Wang Xinyan's father, Wang Xuben, Old Master Xiao had given them fifty thousand yuan for traveling expenses!

And that fifty thousand yuan for the road was now described as capital invested in Wang Xuben's company, which he must now repay with interest!

Of course, besides Old Master Xiao's will of uncertain authenticity, the Xiao brothers also held an IOU written by Xiao Qinlin all those years ago!

Back then, though Xiao Qinlin had broken with her family and eloped with Wang Xuben, Old Master Xiao still treated her as his daughter and gave her fifty thousand yuan for the journey. She was his daughter after all, and he could not let her suffer too much.

But the Xiao Qinlin of those days had acted on pride. Since she had broken with the Xiao family, she would naturally not take the family's money for nothing, so she insisted on writing an IOU to Old Master Xiao, saying that when she prospered she would repay it with interest.

Old Master Xiao never expected his daughter to repay it and only laughed it off, telling his eldest son Xiao Ji to throw the note away. But Xiao Ji had been cunning at the time and hid the IOU instead.

After Old Master Xiao passed away, that IOU became the Xiao brothers' evidence for blackmailing their sister Xiao Qinlin.

With the IOU and Old Master Xiao's will in hand, Xiao Qinlin was furious but helpless. Who else could she blame for writing that note back then? And that was not even the most infuriating part. Worst of all, Old Master Xiao's will had actually found a husband's family for Wang Xinyan. For a girl only in her third year of high school, was not an engagement a little too early?

The Xiao brothers were arrogant. They said that if Xiao Qinlin did not hand over twenty percent of her company's shares, they would see her in court and let outsiders see how, after Old Master Xiao died, his daughter cared nothing for his remains and only schemed to swallow her brothers' property!

Heaven be witness, who was trying to swallow whose property?

Though Xiao Qinlin had resolutely broken with her family for love all those years ago, at heart she was still a dutiful daughter. Otherwise she would never have dropped everything at once to come handle Old Master Xiao's funeral.

Of course, Wei Zhao knew nothing of the chaos in the Xiao household, but even if he had, he would not have known how to intervene. Such family affairs were the hardest to resolve.

When Wei Zhao returned to the villa, he saw Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu digging at something in the yard of the villa, each holding a little spade and digging with great delight. Shen Yushu's face was streaked with dirt, while Gu Mengyao was better off, with only some dust on her clothes and nothing as bad as Xiaoshu's face.

Wei Zhao parked the car in the courtyard of the villa, got out, and looked at Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu in puzzlement. "Yaoyao, Xiaoshu, what are you doing?"

"Oh? Shield Brother, you are back? We are digging for treasure. Come help me and Sister Yaoyao! We are about to die of exhaustion!" Shen Yushu was delighted to see Wei Zhao return and waved happily at him.

"Xiaoshu, why did you call him over?" Gu Mengyao glared at Shen Yushu and lowered her voice. "What if he sees it? Would you not be embarrassed?"

"Sister Yaoyao, the key is in our hands anyway. Even if he digs it up, the chest has a lock on it, right?" Shen Yushu shook the key in her hand as she spoke to Gu Mengyao.

For the fastest updates, please read without pop-ups.