Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Upon hearing this, Tang Muxin who had been supporting Hong Dali, knew that things had gone wrong.
She knew Hong Dali’s character very well. If it were the usual joking around, he, of course, couldn’t be concerned. But what kind of place was the family meeting? That was a tradition passed on since many years ago, and it was where the young descendants of the Hong Family were trained.
Tang Muxin’s grandfather had quite a long history with the current Big Elder Hong Tu, and she recalled the Hong Family meeting had been mentioned back then by her grandfather.
Moreover, it was said that the Hong Family did not feed idle people. If Hong Dali was to go just like that… not to mention about others, solely having those young descendants who were jealous of Hong Dali’s family background to mock and ridicule him was not entirely impossible.
Especially that Hong Anbao and that Hong Ancheng they had seen just once previously.
With even both of them behaving that way, there was no need to mention the other descendants of the family.
While Tang Muxin was having such a dilemma, Hong Dali, instead, was wobbling and looking at those two people, grinning as he said, “What family meeting, I’m not going. You go just go back and tell him that I’m not feeling well.”
He was an infamous prodigal anyway, so going to that kind of place would only make him unwelcomed by the others.
There would neither be any good dinner nor meeting there. Naturally, it was best not to go.
“This…” Those two people were put into an awkward situation. “We don’t call the shots, Young Master Dali. Why don’t you just make a trip back with us and just treat it as some time to relax. Once you’ve arrived there, you can just ask for permission from Big Elder and come back, what do you think?”
Hong Dali was greatly displeased. “Can’t I not attend it? This family meeting can still go on without me.”
It was actually understandable why he said that. Hong Weiguo had always wanted him to be happy just as he was, thus, he did not explain about the family meeting to Dali in detail. According to Hong Weiguo’s plan previously, Hong Dali only had to make an appearance for a while there, and anyway, there wouldn’t be any loss suffered by him doing so. There was no big issue with that, and thus, no need for him to explain any details to Dali.
Hong Dali was too lazy to move as well, for he desired neither fame nor fortune, and there was not much for him to speak with those fellow descendants who were green with envy. Instead, he would be unable to avoid all kinds of mockery and sarcasm against him. Thus, he would naturally not want to go.
However, those two people who came to fetch him had no right to decide whether he could miss the meeting, so they pleaded. “Young Master Dali, please don’t make things difficult for us. To be honest with you, the two of us are just the messengers. If you refuse to go, we’ll be fired for sure. Actually, it’s not so much whether we’d be fired, but the problem is that there will still be people coming to fetch you after us, and it will be worse if it’s an elder from the family.”
Oh right, if they were to return, suppose the family insisted on getting him to go for the meeting, they would still have to send someone else here instead.
Should that person sent here be an elder whom he did not like, that would spell trouble for certain.
Fine, he’d just go then. Fortunately, Hong Dali didn’t have too much to drink yet, so he swayed just a little while standing up. “I’ll make a trip there, then, it’s not a big issue anyway. Brothers, just continue drinking first, I’ll be back shortly!”
His words sounded as if he were Li Kui from “Water Margin” who was going out to kill someone—”Brothers! Feel free to drink some wine fist, I’ll be back shortly, after which I’ll drink heartily with you, my brothers!” After which Li Kui took two axes and went off to chop someone’s head off…
Hong Dali’s friends were naturally not worried about him, but Tang Muxin couldn’t bear to leave him alone and anxiously said, “Dali, look at how drunk you are. I’ll accompany you, I’m don’t feel safe letting you go alone!”
“Then, let’s go together, together!” Hong Dali laughed heartily. “Sister Nianwei and Sister Xiaoyi are going too, let’s go!”
Those two people who came to fetch him hastily said, “Young Master Dali, this is a family meeting, outsiders are not allowed to enter…”
“What does that have to do with me?” Hong Dali was angered upon hearing that. “We’re going together if I’m going. Otherwise, forget about it. I’ll leave it up to you to decide!” He wasn’t close to those descendants of the family anyway, and Hong Dali couldn’t be bothered to form any ties with them, but it was, instead, those around him whom he relied heavily upon. Naturally, they had to go altogether. Moreover, he had a tad too much to drink. So, he couldn’t tell what kind of chaos may ensue should he go alone.
Upon hearing what Hong Dali said, those two people glanced at each other. Fine, just bring them all back, Young Master Dali would be going anyway, so there should not be a big issue with bringing two more people along, they just had to warn them not to play around. They immediately agreed. “Since Young Master Dali has spoken, let’s go now, then.”
“That should be the way.” Hong Dali beamed with delight. “Then, let’s go now!”
A few people went out together at once. During the journey, Tang Muxin, who was worried that Dali didn’t understand the structure of the family meeting, took the time to softly instruct him. “Dali, within your family, Big Elder is called Hong Tu—he’s your grandfather who has some history with my grandfather—Second Elder is called Hong Wei, and Third Elder is called Hong Ying, don’t forget that no matter what. Should you not want to participate in the meeting, just find Big Elder to take your leave.”
“Understood, understood.” Though he was walking in an “S” shaped manner, Hong Dali’s mind was still very alert. “Rest assured, I know what to do.”
They quickly got onto the helicopter, flew towards the north direction throughout, and reached the large-scaled Hong family estate “Forest Capital” in the blink of an eye.
After the helicopter had landed onto the helicopter runway, Hong Dali giddily got off the helicopter… he had gotten a little airsick.
Those two people who came to fetch Hong Dali led him inside. While Hong Dali glanced around while walking, Li Nianwei and Ling Xiaoyi were dumbstruck by what they saw. They only knew that the Hong Family was one of the rare large-scale families in the country, but upon seeing it now, it was still much larger than they had imagined it to be.
There were tens of buildings in sight alone, a swimming pool, table tennis court, movie theater, musical theater, underground wine cellar, and so on, came into their sight. Just this huge construction area alone had to measure up to at least two to three hundred thousand square meters, it was truly absolutely scary.
“Right, do you know where’s my Big Grandfather?” Hong Dali asked as he walked. Since he was here to take leave, of course, he wouldn’t be satisfied with aimlessly walking around the whole area.
“He should be in the big meeting room at this time. Even if he’s not, you should be able to wait for him.” One of the two people replied.
“Then, I’ll go to the big meeting room.” Hong Dali didn’t waste any time. “Let’s go!”
The estate was now filled with quite a number of young people. Once they saw Hong Dali from afar, they made animated gestures, and a voice sounded from afar—
“Quickly look, Hong Dali has come.”
“Hehe, this prodigal, he actually knows how to bring women back, sigh, seriously…”
“That’s Li Nianwei, right? Speaking of which, it’s very possible for Dali to be given a new lease of life this time, those things that he has started up seems rather lucrative.”
“What new lease of life, I heard that Big Uncle had given him over 20 million, how much has he earned back?”
“That’s true, seems like the family meeting this time will be a fun one to watch.”
“Can’t say for sure, I’ll just wait and see, there’ll definitely be a big event coming up tomorrow!”
“Don’t mention tomorrow, I reckon that there’s going to be some fun even in short while later. Look at him walking in that “S” shaped way, he probably had too much to drink, haha!”
The faint sounds of conversations in the surroundings spread to the ears of Hong Dali and the rest. Tang Muxin, while supporting Hong Dali by the arm, made it a point to give a fierce glare at those around. Li Nianwei, on the other hand, along with Ling Xiaoyi, stood behind the two. She knew her own position very well. Over here, she had to tone down on everything and make it her priority to not cause any trouble for Hong Dali.
Everyone walked forward, and in no time, reached the front door of the big meeting room where the family meeting was to be held.
Hong Dali lifted his leg to enter the room but was stopped by the entrance guard, who said, “Young Master Dali can enter, those outsiders are not allowed to enter.”
“Damn!” Hong Dali was greatly angered as he exclaimed. “What kind of rule is this, you’re the outsider, your whole family are outsiders!”
Those two entrance guards were, however, not angered, and they just stood there guarding the door.
At this point of time, Tang Muxin softly spoke. “Dali, it’s fine, we’ll just not enter, you just go in to take leave and come out afterward.”
“Okay then, seriously,” Hong Dali mumbled. “They’re rules all around, it makes people so uncomfortable.”
How would he not enjoy coming, if not for all these? Once he stepped into this place, there were rules everywhere, how was it possible to for him to have fun like that?!
However, just then, an enigmatic voice sounded. “Oh, isn’t it Dali who has come. Why isn’t he going in?”
Hong Dali turned his head to look. The person who had come was evidently gloating, who would it be other than that rotten Hong Anbao?
“Humph, I can’t be bothered with you.” Hong Dali gave off a humph, ignoring Hong Anbao as he entered the room alone.
“Why are you so anxious?” Hong Anbao grinned and went after him, filled with an exceedingly annoying expression. “I haven’t congratulated you properly during your coming of age ceremony that time. It’s such a rare chance to do so today.”
“This is counted as a congratulation. Where’s my Big Grandfather?” Hong Dali didn’t bother to look at him, as he single-mindedly searched for his target, which was Big Elder Hong Tu. He felt completely uncomfortable under this kind of atmosphere, and he only wanted to take leave as soon as possible.
The outside of the conference room where the family meeting was to be held didn’t look that outstanding, and it was after entering the room that he discovered its size was so astoundingly huge. Within the entire meeting hall, the huge wooden table was very round, placed on top of which were various types of fruits, apples, oranges, kiwis, and so on, and quite a number of drinks as well, which made Hong Dali a little hungry just by seeing them.
There were quite a number of descendants coming to help out, but Hong Dali recognized none of them. He reckoned that they were probably not closely related to him as well, seeing their expressions as they busied themselves around. They were probably trying to grab more chances to show off and curry favor from the three elders of the family, which would naturally bring them many benefits.
“Big Elder? I’m not sure?” Hong Anbao followed Hong Dali into the room and sneered. “But to be honest with you, it won’t help even if you want to find Big Elder to make yourself look better. Nevertheless, I admire you very much for your boldness.”
As mentioned in the previous chapter, Hong Dali was perfectly normal after having too much to drink, it was only that he was randomly swaying as he walked. All along, he never liked Hong Anbao, and especially after hearing Hong Anbao’s words, he felt rather offended and thus increased his walking speed. In the end, Hong Anbao caught up closely with him after noticing, and the two of them somehow bumped into each other just like that.
Initially, Hong Dali did not use much force. However, it could be due to Hong Dali’s full attribute strength points or on purpose by Hong Anbao. Anyway, after colliding with each other, Hong Anbao was thrown two meters away accompanied by a scream—landing on the meeting table with a thud sound. There wasn’t much harm done to the meeting table since it was made of hardwood. However, the fruit platters on the table were implicated as they fell one by one on the floor.
