Chapter 106: To Unearth the Truth

In Chen family.

Grandma Chen said sullenly, "What was Chen Xiao Mi thinking? He actually has asked his owner brother to marry Shen Chi, a Bio! He is a Bio, he gave birth to a Bio kid, and now his brother married a Bio! What a ridiculous family!"

Grandpa Chen sighed and said, "Let's not talk them behind their back now that they don't mind being betrothed with a Bio."

Grandma Chen asked excitedly, "What do you mean by that, how can I just ignore it? Chen Xiao Mi didn't even inform me about his brother's wedding!"

Grandma Chen thought that even if Chen Xiao Mi had renounced them, he was still their grandmother. She must be among the guests list for the wedding. So on the day Chen Xiao Cai got married, Grandma Chen got changed first thing in the morning and waited for Chen Xiao Mi to come invite her.

Grandma Chen originally thought that if Chen Xiao Mi came, she would put on airs before she accepted the invitation. However, Grandma Chen waited at home till lunch time, and there was still no one visited her. Grandma Chen started to realized that the Chen Brothers had already renounced her from their hearts, it didn't even occur to them that they needed to invite their 'grandmother' in name.

On the other hand, Grandma Chen and Grandpa Chen had heard it from the villagers who were invited to the wedding ceremony that the food served on the ceremony was great. Most dishes were heavily meat based, they must have spent a lot of money. The villagers also said that Shen Chi was a lucky person. He and Chen Xiao Cai were going to lead a comfortable life for sure.

Grandpa Chen also felt a bit depressed.

Although Grandpa Chen didn't wear his heart on his sleeve as much as Grandma Chen, he still felt disappointed that the Chen Brothers didn't even bother to inform him about Cai's wedding ceremony. He felt the villagers were all laughing at him for his grandsons all respected Granny Shen instead of him.

Grandpa Chen cast a glimpse at Grandma Chen and said, "All right, talk as much as you wish, it's not going to change the fact that they have renounced us already!"

Grandma Chen was rendered speechless, she just lowered her head in silence.

Even though the betrothal presents that Chen Xiao Cai got for Shen Chi was not as impressive as Lu Cheng Yu for Li Fang Yue, it was still quite a lot. In the past few years, the Chen family didn't show any improvement financially because they had spent all of their income on Chen He and Chen Qu's weddings.

Chen He and Chen Qu would go to town and work as seasonal workers to support their little families, but the pay was terrible. The working condition was far worse than Zhang Rui's, let alone than Chen Xiao Mi's.

Neither Chen He nor Chen Qu was that interested in doing seasonal work due to that.

Grandma Chen looked at Grandpa Chen and said, "This Zhang Rui is doing so great in Chen Xiao Mi's store, shall we ask him to hire He and Qu?"

Grandpa Chen frowned. Everyone in the village knew that the Sino Commercial House was a great place to work at, but they had a very strict hiring system, so far there was no villager got hired by them.

"Xiao Mi won't hire them," Grandpa Chen closed his eyes and let out a sigh, he knew Chen Xiao Mi's personality very well.

Grandma Chen said unhappily, "Our grandsons are way more clever than Zhang Rui."

Grandma Chen seemed to have forgotten than Zhang Rui was also her grandson.

"Save it for Chen Xiao Mi, what's the point of telling me that?" Grandma Chen spluttered.

Grandma Chen's expression changed abruptly, and she stopped talking.

"If you had Mi'a father better back then, things wouldn't have been this ugly," Grandma Chen said that with bitter hatred.

Grandma Chen's cheeks burned with embarrassment after she heard that.

During this period of time, quite a number of villagers would talk to Grandma Chen in a grave tone, "If you had treated Mi's father a little better back then, you would be the one who lived in the big house in town now, screw that Granny Shen, the Chen Brothers respected her so much, it could be you!"

Some people would just repeatedly praise Chen Xiao Mi for his prowess and capability.

Grandma Chen would get oversensitive whenever people praised Xiao Mi in front of her, she thought they were actually laughing at her.

It was fine when the villager said that. Grandma Chen gasped in anger when her own husband said exactly the same thing to her.

......

In the Lu family.

"I didn't expect that Granny Shen would enjoy such happiness," Grandma Lu rolled her eyes with disdain.

Lu Ming said sullenly, "The Chen brothers are really filial towards her."

"Cheng Yu! I heard that Old Madam Shen came back with a worker from the store! That worker even called Granny Shen Old Madam. Can you believe that?"

Only the rich families in town could afford to hire some help and enjoy being referred as 'Master' or 'Madam'.

Grandma Lu had been dreaming about the day when Lu Cheng Yu became an official, she would be respected as an 'Old Madam' who lived in an imposing dwelling, Cheng Yu would hire a few maids to serve on her.

Grandma Chen turned indignant when Granny Shen was the one who was enjoying all that treatment now. upset.

Unlike the villagers who were all obsessed with the betrothal presents, Lu Cheng Yu has seen something different.

Chen Xiao Cai's wedding banquet was held in Good Luck Restaurant, the wine alone was worth several taels of silver. What was more, many respected masters attended it and extended their blessings.

Lu Cheng Yu thought to himself, 'Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi seem to be enjoying absolute authority in the commercial shop. The employees in the store all act upon whatever they say.'

Lu Cheng Yu was tempted to investigate the owner of the store from a long time ago, but it got delayed. He was intrigued to do it again after seeing Chen Xiao Cai and Lu Lin's friend circle.

Before Lu Cheng Yu found a good excuse to visit the Secretary-General and ask him to do the investigation, Li Fang Yue told him that the Secretary-General wanted to meet him.

"Really? Your brother-in-law wants to see us at Fuyuan Restaurant?"

Li Fang Yue nodded and said, "Yeah! Sister said that we have seen each other for a long time, so we should have a gathering."

Lu Cheng Yu used to respect this Secretary-General brother-in-law a lot before he passed the exam, but now his confidence was greatly boosted and he had lost respect for that so-called brother-in-law. He would even roll his eyes on thinking that he hadn't got any benefit from this brother-in-law.

However, Lu Cheng Yu was still a little curious when he knew that Secretary-General had taken the initiative to invite them.

Lu Cheng Yu didn't think that Secretary-General was inviting them because they hadn't seen each other for a long time, he was sure the Secretary-General wanted to ask him a favor.

Lu Cheng Yu felt that it might relate to the exam, but on a second thought, it had been some time since he passed the exam. It was a little strange for Secretary-General to talk about something happened a while ago.

......

The next day, Lu Cheng Yu and Li Fang Yue went to Fuyuan Restaurant together.

The Secretary-General was short and fat, and he was not young. Li Ru was a few years older than Li Fang Yue, but she aged well, she still looked so gorgeous. In comparison, although Li Fang Yue was young, she looked so careworn due to the overworking for years in the village.

"Congratulations, Brother Lu, you're so talented. Brother Lu, you must have a bright future waiting for you. With a little bit of luck, you can have a meteoric rise. Don't forget about your brother-in-law when you rise in the official world."

"You're joking, Secretary-General. How can it be as easy as you just said!"

Of course, Lu Cheng Yu wanted to go further, but he also knew that what Secretary-General said was just a compliment.

After three rounds of alcohol, Secretary-General finally quit beating around the bush. "Cheng Yu, I heard that Lu Lin of Sino Commercial House is your cousin?"

Lu Cheng Yu was confused. He didn't know why Secretary-General suddenly mentioned Lu Lin.

"He's really something!" Secretary-General showed a meaningful smile.

Lu Cheng Yu was a little confused. Although Lu Lin had a lot of money, he was just an employee. How could he be described as 'really something'!

"My cousin has been working for the boss of Sino Commercial House. I heard that the pay is good."

Secretary-General smiled, "Work for the boss of the store? Is that so? The boss of Sino Commercial House is Chen Xiao Mi. Although Lu Lin is married into Chen Xiao Mi's family, they are still family. Lu Lin is also the boss of the store."

Lu Cheng Yu was shocked to the core and so was Li Fang Yue.

"Brother-in-law, is there some misunderstanding? It is said that behind Sino Commercial House, there is a Big Boss, Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin are both working for him," Li Fang Yue couldn't help but chime in.

In Li Fang Yue's opinion, Chen Xiao Mi was a senior employee. She didn't believe that Chen Xiao Mi was the boss.

Looking at the shocked look on Lu Cheng Yu and Li Fang Yue's faces, Secretary-General squinted his eyes and said helplessly, "That cannot be wrong though, I saw it on the documents. A few years ago, both the store and residential area were transferred under Chen Xiao Mi's name."

Lu Cheng Yu murmured, "This is impossible."

Secretary-General looked at the two of them and let out a sigh. " As the saying goes, never reveal the silver in your pocket. Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin must have cooked up a story about the 'Big Boss' to not attract too much attention. Cheng Yu, they have fooled us all."

Lu Cheng Yu's face darkened and his fingers trembled slightly as he heard that. The news hit him like a thunderbolt, Lu Cheng Yu was at a loss.

The Secretary-General frowned, "Isn't Lu Lin your cousin? Don't you know anything about it?"

The Secretary-General looked at Lu Cheng Yu and thought to himself, 'It is true then, he and his cousin have fallen foul of each other!"

When Chen Xiao Mi first bought the Sino Commercial House, no one had paid any attention to this regular store. Over the years, the business in Sino Commercial House became more and more popular. There were also many merchants who heard the reputation of Sino Commercial House and travelled all the way from their hometown to purchase from them.

The Sino Commercial House even made Forest Town famous. To the Lu family, Lu Cheng Yu marrying Li Fang Yue was a big deal, but in fact, the Secretary-General didn't care about Li Fang Yue, one of his concubines' sister, at all, so he didn't care much about the Lu family. However, recently, Lu Cheng Yu got the title fo Xiucai, the Secretary-General started to look at Lu Cheng Yu differently.

The Secretary-General then found out that Lu Cheng Yu and Lu Lin were cousins. However, it seemed that the Lu family and Lu Lin were not on great terms, their entire family had no idea that the Sino Commercial House actually belonged to Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi!

Lu Cheng Yu forced a smile, "The villagers all said that the boss of Sino Commercial House went to a different province, so he hired Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin to manage the commercial house for him."

The Secretary-General shook his head and said, "The commercial house is under Chen Xiao Mi's name. Chen Xiao Mi spent two hundred tales of silver when he bought it. Hasn't your cousin mentioned this to you?"

Lu Cheng Yu lowered his head in silence.

Li Fang Yue clenched her fists. She had been married into the Lu family for many years now. She knew a little about the conflicts between Lu Lin and Lu Cheng Yu. Never had she imagined that Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi actually own such a successful business! Her heart ached on thinking about how much benefits they could have gotten from Lu Lin if they were still on good terms.

Lu Cheng Yu walked out of the restaurant, his mind was filled with disbelief.

'If Sino Commercial House belongs to Chen Xiao Mi, how much money do they have?'

Lu Cheng Yu suddenly felt that the whole world had collapsed right in front of him. People in the village had always thought that Chen Xiao Mi sold the house due to lack of money, including himself.

Some villagers even felt sorry for Shen Chi who married Chen Xiao Cai, because Chen Xiao Cai had a good job, but his family didn't have a house. They were living in town, that was good, but they had to move once the owner came back.

Lu Cheng Yu clenched his fists. It was not hard to guess that the shops and house in Willow Town were actually under Chen Xiao Mi's name as well, Chen Xiao Cai and Shen Chi could live there for as long as they wanted.

'No wonder none of their family members was in a rush to build a new house in the village, there is indeed no need!'

Lu Cheng Yu felt so indignant that Lu Lin had built himself and his family such a successful business empire in town over the past few years.