After Old Master Lu’s funeral, the relatives staying over at the Lu’s family house began to leave one after another. The only ones remaining were a few elderlies that were of the same generation as Old Master Lu.

They were either Old Master Lu’s siblings or cousins. All of them had been living a luxurious lifestyle off of the Lu family’s goodwill. Old Master Lu’s will sent the message that they would no longer receive any more goodwill or money from the Lu family loud and clear.

The amounts they had received were not shabby. They were amounts larger than a normal person dared to dream about. But now that these people were used to a certain lifestyle and that they now had children and grandchildren, the amounts seemed very insufficient.

Not to mention that this was meant to be the final payout. Once they walked out of that door, they would no longer receive another penny from the Lu’s fortune.

As such, how could the cousins not panic under such a situation.

Early in the morning, sitting at the dinner table, these relatives looked at Lu Beichuan solemnly, hoping to have a conversation with him.

“Beichuan, have you given what we have talked about at the hospital some more thought?”

They were referring to the fact that the fortune was not divided equitably.

A sarcastic voice came from the door and reached the dinner table. “What is this all about?’

Lu Shaoyan, who had disappeared for 5 days, finally came out of his room. Walking over to the dinner table languidly, he picked a seat casually, sat down, and helped himself to a bowl of congee. He mumbled as he ate, “Why the silence all of a sudden? Carry on.”

Nobody at the dinner table talked.

Lu Shaoyan finished up a bowl of congee and smiled at the others, who had a variety of expressions, and asked, “What? Nothing now? What is it that I am not privy to?”

Many of them looked over at him with very disgruntled looks.

Fourth Great-uncle, who sat next to Lu Beichuan, was the first to break the silence. “Alright, Shaoyan, since you have finally decided to leave your room, you might as well be a part of this conversation. We feel that the way that Old Master Lu had divided up his assets was inappropriate!”

“Oh? Not appropriate? What is so inappropriate about it?”

Fourth Great-uncle grunted. “You haven’t been here in China in recent years and have no idea of the cost of living here. Old Master Lu hadn’t been healthy and had resigned from the frontline a long time ago. Beichuan is the one who had been taking care of the Lu’s Corporation. But now? All Beichuan gets is the Lu’s Corporation and none of the other Lu’s assets. I feel that that's unfair to Beichuan!”

Lu Beichuan, being the person in question, had not chimed in when many others at the dinner table concurred with Fourth Great-uncle.

“So, what exactly are you trying to say, Fourth Great-uncle?”

“I think we need to have lawyers redistribute the Lu’s real estates and overseas assets.” Fourth Great-uncle sighed and carried on. “Old Master Lu was not at his best on the day that he divided the assets. Most likely he did not have his mental clarity either. Had we known that Old Master Lu was that ill, we should have taken him to the hospital!”

Lu Shaoyan snickered and tossed down the bowl and spoon. Reclining backward, he gave Fourth Great-uncle a sideway glance. “So Fourth Great-uncle feels that I should offer up the real estate and assets overseas for redistribution.”

Fourth Great-uncle showed no shame whatsoever. He carried on in all seriousness. “I am glad we see eye to eye on this.”

Lu Shaoyan snickered and listened to what he was saying as though it was all a big joke. He didn’t even bother responding to him before he got up and started to leave.

“Lu Shaoyan, where are you going? We are still in the middle of this conversation.”

Lu Shaoyan shrugged, looking ever so nonchalant. “I’ve heard what you were saying. Carry on. Don’t mind me.”

“Nobody wants to pay you any attention! Old Master Lu had truly raised a white-eyed wolf. He doted on you so much when he was alive and didn’t even get so much as an incense from you after his death. Just look at yourself. You are a mess!” said Fourth Great-uncle angrily. “Had he known that this is how you are going to be like after his death, he would definitely not have left you with what he did!”

“Well, pardon me. Old Master Lu is dead now and there were lawyers who witnessed the come about of the will. Take a look at yourself if you think you can demand a cut from me just because you don’t agree with the distribution of the properties. To put it bluntly, those were Old Master Lu’s money. He could give them to whoever he pleased. Better to give them to me than to you leeches.”

His words made Fourth Great-uncle tremble in anger. Pointing at Lu Shaoyan with his shaking finger, he said, “You… what did you just say?!”

He looked over at Lu Beichuan after he said that. “Beichuan, listen to this. Listen to what this white-eyed wolf is saying. Had Old Master Lu been still alive, he would have been driven to his grave by such speech! It was a waste for the Lu’s assets to go to him! He would just blow them all off!”

Lu Beichuan just let the two of them go at each other and did not get involved.

Lu Shaoyan just chuckled. “Better I blow off the money then let you suck it all dry. Tell you what. The thought of you having nowhere else to leech from makes me happy.”

Lu Beichuan has not had a lot of contact with these Lu relatives mostly because he looked down on these greedy leeches with no bottom line. They bragged about being a part of the Lu family, held various roles in the company, and gained benefits without putting any effort whatsoever. Old Master Lu might allow them to do that because of their relationships in the past, but Lu Beichuan didn’t care about those.

He knew full well that Lu Shaoyan, being able to stay lowkey this entire time, was no ordinary individual. Them wanting to force him into giving up what was his was nothing but a fantasy.

Sure enough, just a few mocking words from Lu Shaoyan, and he was able to push their buttons and make them jump up and down in anger. These people turned to Lu Beichuan to stand up and defend them.

“Look, Beichuan, Old Master Lu had just left and he's already so arrogant. Can you imagine what he’d be like in a few years’ time?”

“You never bowed to Old Master Lu or offer him up an incense the entire time. Beichuan was the one who took care of everything. Where were you the entire time? Now that everything was settled and you came right now pretending that all is well? Lu Shaoyan, do you really think that we will dote on you the way that Old Master Lu did?”

“Had Old Master Lu known that you would be so unfilial in his afterlife, he would for sure regret leaving you with everything that he did!”

Lu Shaoyan did not get upset. He merely looked at them coldly and comforted them calmly. “Fellow uncles, there is no need to get so upset. I am not going to spit out what’s mine and split them with you no matter how angry you get. Let me get something clear right now. You were all around when Old Master Lu divided up his assets as were the lawyers. Like it or not, what’s mine is mine. If you think you can get any of them from my share, you are gravely mistaken.”

Lu Shaoyan had an unruly look. He looked over at everyone arrogantly and the look in his eyes clearly conveyed how generous he was by not being petty with them. “As for that idea of yours… save it. We are all part of the Lu family and we know each other well. You can put away that ugly look of yours now.”

His voice came from afar. It was only when Lu Shaoyan disappeared from the Lu’s front door that these people finally looked away angrily. They were being disrespected by someone of the younger generation, and they looked to Lu Beichuan to do something for them.

Through the entire exchange, Lu Beichuan had quietly finished his breakfast. He took the towel handed to him from the servant and wiped his hands with it. “My grandfather’s will is legally binding and I respect his wishes. Pardon me for not being able to fulfill what you are asking me to do. Grandpa’s funeral is over now and I appreciate all of you for coming. I shall arrange for drivers to take fellow uncles home after breakfast. Excuse me if there is nothing else.”

The only reason that Lu Beichuan was being nice to them was because they were still his elders. He didn’t want to get into a spat with any of them before it had even been seven days after the old man was gone.

The fellow great-uncles, on the other hand, had their ulterior motives and were ambitious. They were enraged by Lu Beichuan’s words. They assumed that Lu Beichuan was in cohort with Lu Shaoyan.

“Beichuan, whatever do you mean by that? We are only doing this for your own good. Is this how you are going to treat us?” Fourth Great-uncle looked authoritatively at Lu Beichuan with his cane in hand. “Had it ever occurred to you that Lu Shaoyan, being Old Master Lu’s favorite son when he was still alive, only got some of his real estate. Do you think he’d appreciate you defending him right now? Watch out for him trying to take Lu Corporation from you.”

That didn’t seem to bother Lu Beichuan a bit. “You don’t need to worry about a thing, Fourth Great-uncle. Don’t worry. Grandpa had given the Lu’s Corporation to me, and I promise I shall not let him down.”

With Old Master Lu gone, Fourth Great-uncle was the highest in authority. Lu Beichuan belonged to the grandchildren's generation. As far as Fourth Great-uncle was concerned, Lu Beichuan’s words carried no weight whatsoever. Being talked back to by him made Fourth Great-uncle very unhappy.

“Rubbish!”

A servant came running over and said urgently, “Young Master, Young Madam had me come and fetch you. She said that Little Young Master is ill and have you go take a look.”

Lu Beichuan frowned and said, “I will be right over.”

Having said that, Lu Beichuan ditched the group of elderlies who were trying to pull their elderly cards and walked briskly toward the backyard.

When Lu Beichuan pushed open the room door, he could hear very energetic sounds coming from Zhouzhou. Lu Beichuan felt a sense of relief immediately.

“They told me that Zhouzhou isn’t feeling well, what’s the matter?”

Ye Zhen was trying to help Zhouzhou, who was still rolling around in bed, change. No matter what she said or did, he refused to get out of bed. She finally tossed his clothes to Lu Beichuan and said to him, “I can’t do this. I don’t know where he picks up this illness called laziness from. You are the father; you do it.”

Lu Beichuan wasn’t sure what to make of it when he had Zhouzhou’s clothes in his hand. Walking over to the child’s bed, he could see a little lump underneath the blanket, leaving no gaps to even breath.

“Lu Zhifei” was all Lu Beichuan had to say when the lump rocked under the blanket and a little hairy head popped out. Looking up at his father, the child said in a mistreated tone, “Daddy.”

Zhouzhou had always been very well-behaved when he was around Lu Beichuan.

Lu Beichuan pulled the blanket off of him, scooped him up from bed, and asked, “Why didn’t you listen to your Mommy?”

Zhouzhou cocked his head, thought for a little while, and replied very matter-of-factly, “Baobao needs his sleep.”

“You sleep at night. It’s daytime now. Who said you can roll around in bed in the daytime?”

With a very mistreated look, Zhouzhou said to Lu Beichuan, “But… Uncle said that Baobao is still a baby and can sleep for a long time, as long as I want.”

“Uncle? Which uncle?”

“You know… the uncle who gave Baobao his toy!”

Zhouzhou was referring to Lu Shaoyan.

Lu Beichuan turned to look at Ye Zhen, “When did that happen?”

Ye Zhen rested her palm on her forehead, disturbed. “When we first got here.”

Lu Beichuan dressed him, and Zhouzhou cooperated with him reluctantly.

“Do you like this uncle?”

Zhouzhou nodded with no hesitation. “I do! Uncle said that he will buy Baobao lots and lots of toys in the future!”

Ye Zhen frowned a little and said, “Lu Zhifei, you are already 2 years old. You are a big kid now and not a 1-year-old child anymore. Didn’t you promise Mommy that you want to grow up into a real man? Toys are for little kids. Are you still a kid?”

“No! Baobao is a real man!” said Zhouzhou loudly, air whistling through the gaps of his missing teeth.

Ye Zhen nodded. “Real men should play with real man toys. The ones that Uncle had bought you are for little kids. We don’t want those. Mommy will buy you toys for real men later on, okay?”

“Okay!”

Ye Zhen stroked Zhouzhou on his little head. She was very pleased that she was able to trick her silly little son.

Lu Beichuan chuckled and shook his head.

With Zhouzhou finally dressed properly, the servant had brought over breakfast. Lu Beichuan carried him over to the dinner table and scooped out a bowl of porridge for him after he washed his face and brushed his teeth.

“I know you plan to send those relatives home after breakfast. Do you think they will leave?” asked Ye Zhen after she had put Zhouzhou’s little scarf on him.

“You heard?”

“Of course. Why else would I make up an excuse to have them fetch you?” Ye Zhen sighed. “They are, after all, relatives from grandpa’s generation. I figured… from this point forward…”

Ye Zhen was short of calling them blood-sucking vampires.

This group of people was able to leech off of the Lu family the entire time simply because they shared the same surname. Back when Old Master Lu was alive, they were able to take everything for granted without contributing anything. Perhaps, even Old Master Lu realized that Lu Beichuan would never have the patience to deal with these people, so he figured he would just give them a portion of the family assets and that would be that.

Unfortunately, it was difficult for one’s nature to change. As the adage goes, when you help someone during their most difficult times, they will always be appreciative of that favor; if you give them too much help, they would become dependent and expectant of it. And withdrawing that help afterward will only bring about resentfulness. It was always easier going from rags to riches than the other way round. They would probably continue to try to leech off of Lu Beichuan.

“You don’t need to worry about this. I will take care of it.”

Zhouzhou enjoyed his porridge without a care but asked out of the blue, “Mommy, can I go look for Great-grandpa in a little bit?”

Ye Zhen paused a little before she turned, fetched a tissue, and cleaned up some of the porridge that was on the corner of his mouth. “Great-Grandpa went to a very faraway place and Zhouzhou wouldn’t be able to see him recently. If Zhouzhou will be a good boy, Mommy will tell you where Great-Grandpa went, okay?”

“Okay!”

***

Lu Beichuan sent all the remaining relatives away that same day. Lu Shaoyan, too, left without a word. The immense old estate quieted down all of a sudden. It was so quiet that one could almost hear snow falling off the branches in the courtyard. Lu Beichuan packed and got ready to move back into the city after 7 days.

Butler Lu became very dispirited since the passing of Old Master Lu and looked more and more so as time went on. He spent a lot of time in his room alone. Lu Beichuan wanted to ask Butler Lu to come with him so he could take care of him, yet Butler Lu rejected his offer adamantly and insisted on staying at the old mansion.

Lu Beichuan did not insist on it. He merely told the servants at the ancestral home to contact him immediately if anything was to happen to Butler Lu.

The New Year's feel began fading away by the time they returned to the city. Everybody was returning to work at the beginning of the year and Ye Zhen, too, received notification on the start date of Qinhuai River the first day she returned to the office.

It was scheduled for the end of April, two days before the long weekend in May.

Many movies had chosen to launch over this 3-day weekend and wanting to get on the top of the box office was no small feat.

Naturally, the quality of the movie mattered a lot. The movie itself was what would determine its box office standing.

Ye Zhen had a long discussion with Direction Ning Yang and finally decided to launch at the end of April. Nevertheless, in less than a week, Ye Zhen found out online that the launch date of Shen Weiyin’s movie, The Ultimate Warfare, had been decided.

On the same day as them.

Ye Zhen had no idea whether it was a coincidence or intentional. Let it be the fame of the director, the cast, the production team, or the magnificent post-production, all of them were leaps and bounds ahead of Qinhuai River.

The director of The Ultimate Warfare was asked about his thoughts on being launched the same day as Qinhuai River. He replied that he was pleased to see new directors joining the field and hoped that the young directors could remain neither arrogant nor frustrated and keep up with the good work.

Many others did not have high hopes for Qinhuai River and many fans of the cast of The Ultimate Warfare felt that Qinhuai River launching on the same day as The Ultimate Warfare was very bad news and that Qinhuai River would do terribly on the box office end on launch day.

Comments online came abruptly and massively.

The cast of The Ultimate Warfare were all well-known, and each and every one of them had upwards of tens of millions of fans. This movie had recruited almost all big shots in the entertainment circle and had high publicity since its preparation stage. Its official website already had 200,000 followers as of now.

Looking over at Qinhuai's Riverbank, from the producer all the way to the actors, none of them had been heard of by anyone and there was not much to show for.

Online, everybody was buttering up to the winner and stomping down on the loser. The fans of the cast of The Ultimate Warfare wholeheartedly despise the crew that were thrown together for Qinhuai's Riverbank. The Ultimate Warfare could not have received more compliments and Qinhuai's Riverbank, on the other hand, had been bashed to no end. They mocked that Qinhuai's Riverbank was asking for it by trying to challenge The Ultimate Warfare with their cast and story. And that they should pick a different launch date if they didn’t want to be crushed.

Many movies set to launch around the April – May time frame decided to wait and observe for that exact reason.

The production team was not fazed by this.

Everybody understood that what the fans were saying online was the truth and that their setup was no match of The Ultimate Warfare. Nevertheless, they were also well aware that in order to get out of this rut and earn themselves a standing within the film industry, the movie itself was the key.

The recent rumors about the movie and the cast and the reviews of the movie was caused by businesses being in cohort with officials and the disgruntled members of the Lu family spending some behind-the-scenes money.