Du Zhaohuei had also been biding his time, wanting several times to visit Xia Xiaolan but being held back by group affairs.
Though Du Chengrong let him take control, she hadn’t transferred the group’s shares to him, so Du Zhaohuei didn’t dare relax. Finally, with new industries under his name, he had a sufficient excuse.
Hearing that Second Madam had sold 60% of Chaoyang Real Estate’s shares to ‘Qihang Capital’ and didn’t mind him being an indirect shareholder, Du Zhaohuei chuckled:
“Second Madam isn’t that clever. This must be Loser Ji’s idea. After a year in prison, knowing he won’t be released anytime soon, he’s finally accepted his fate.”
Loser Ji was still cunning.
If Second Madam had remained Asia Department Store’s major shareholder, whether Xia Xiaolan could tolerate it was unknown, but he certainly couldn’t.
But with Second Madam taking a step back, changing from major to minor shareholder, and giving the extra shares to Xia Xiaolan, Du Zhaohuei felt this surrender showed sincerity.
If the Second Madam could behave from now on, Du Zhaohuei might consider showing mercy to the Second Family.
This wasn’t about the winner’s magnanimity – the Second Family had little fight left. It depended on the Second Madam’s performance in business… the Second Family had no hope of rising again.
Of course, Du Zhaohuei’s generosity mainly stemmed from Second Madam’s relatively less aggressive actions compared to Liu Keying’s siblings’ outright attempts to assassinate him!
With Du Zhaobi, his strongest competitor, seemingly destined to serve his full sentence, Du Zhaohuei felt he could keep the Second Family around to demonstrate his generosity – Liu Keying’s family absolutely couldn’t be spared. Though Liu Keying and Liu Tianquan were dead, there was no guarantee their children wouldn’t return for “revenge” once they grew stronger, even though the old man had killed Liu Keying and Liu Tianquan. Du Zhaohuei feared Liu Keying’s children wouldn’t believe that!
“So you want to kill them?”
After all this time, was Du Zhaohuei still stuck in patterns of violence?
Xia Xiaolan felt somewhat disappointed in the dog.
Du Zhaohuei was astonished, “Why would I kill them? Am I that kind of person? I just want to keep them abroad, raise them as useless people, then they won’t be a threat to me!”
At this moment, Du Zhaohuei and Xia Xiaolan were on a flight to Hainan Island.
Du Zhaohuei used exaggerated gestures while explaining his plans for the Fourth Family’s children.
Xia Xiaolan showed him no respect, “You are exactly that kind of person… though making people useless isn’t difficult.”
“Of course, it’s not difficult! Becoming an elite like Loser Ji isn’t easy, but being useless is very simple. Look at me – though Loser Ji isn’t even one percent as handsome or clever as me, compared to those useless ones in the Du family, he’s quite elite!”
Du Zhaohuei never missed a chance to praise himself while belittling others – his thick skin was truly unmatched in the Du family.
Xia Xiaolan listened to him summarize his experience in raising useless people:
Those who only knew how to eat, drink, and play were low-end useless people. These types wastefully spent Du’s family money and might even cause trouble, like “Young Master Qiu” who had harassed Xia Xiaolan at Tang Yuanyue’s wedding – he was a typical low-end useless person.
In Du Zhaohuei’s view, high-end useless people should be obedient and educated. There were so many professions in the world – as long as they stayed away from business and politics, he wouldn’t oppose whatever the Fourth Family’s children chose.
Art had many branches, and he planned to send the Fourth Family’s children climbing up the artistic path.
“If they become painters or musicians, they could even bring honor to the Du family.”
Well, Du Zhaohuei made sense. If Liu Keying’s children fell into the art pit, climbing out would be extremely difficult.
Outsiders couldn’t say Du Zhaohuei was harming them – studying art required substantial investment in training, and achieving some success brought decent social status. It was the most refined profession… but since scholars couldn’t successfully rebel in three years, Du Zhaohuei had thoroughly cut off their path to “revenge.”
What surprised Xia Xiaolan was Du Zhaohuei’s attitude toward the Du family’s Third Family.
The Third Family had maintained a low profile, the Third Madam wasn’t good at competing for favor and had no major grievances with Du Zhaohuei. Xia Xiaolan had thought Du Zhaohuei would use the Third Family to demonstrate his benevolence, but Du Zhaohuei said he would send them abroad too.
About this, Du Zhaohuei just sneered:
“The Third Family isn’t uninterested in competing – Third Madam is biding her time. If she had no tactics, how did she enter the family? She secretly supported Du Zhaobi against me before – such people are more treacherous than the Second Family and Liu Keying!”
Xia Xiaolan had no deep impression of Du Chengrong’s Third Madam.
She only remembered that when Du Chengrong was ‘comatose’ and the lawyer announced Du Zhaohuei would manage Chengrong Group, Third Madam had raised one question but quickly retreated when Du Zhaohuei rebuked her.
She had a cautious personality.
Perhaps, as Du Zhaohuei said, the Third Madam was smarter than the Second and Fourth Madams, appearing low-key and honest while hoping to watch Du Zhaohuei fight with the Second and Fourth Families until mutual destruction, then step in to take advantage.
Unfortunately, Du Zhaohuei’s rise was too swift and decisive, leaving Third Madam’s hopes unfulfilled.
Whether she had ill intentions or not, for Du Zhaohuei, the Third Family had secretly supported Du Zhaobi in the family property war, not standing on his side – being sent abroad was their misfortune.
As for the directly competing Second Family, because Du Zhaobi would serve his full sentence and Second Madam had become sensible, Du Zhaohuei didn’t plan to destroy them, choosing to show magnanimity instead – if media learned that Du Zhaohuei and Second Madam were both Asia Department Store shareholders, Du Zhaohuei’s reputation for generosity would spread. Second Madam had previously threatened Du Zhaohuei with suicide, yet now they could coexist peacefully – Du Zhaohuei, the Du family successor, indeed showed great tolerance!
After understanding Du Zhaohuei’s logic, Xia Xiaolan felt quite emotional.
Du Zhaohuei had arranged the Third Family’s future without violence, and Xia Xiaolan felt he had truly matured.
She looked at Du Zhaohuei with that “little dog has finally grown up” expression of satisfaction:
“Du Zhaohuei, you don’t even need my help anymore…”
Du Zhaohuei became instantly alert, “What do you mean? Are you planning to make money without me? Xia Xiaolan, don’t forget you still owe me 100 million!”
“…”
Xia Xiaolan vowed not to speak another word to this dog until the plane landed in Hainan!
Yes, she had borrowed 50 million last year, and now owed 100 million. The due date had arrived, and Xia Xiaolan was prepared to repay it. She had planned how, but Du Zhaohuei refused, saying he wanted to temporarily leave the 100 million with her, mentioning something about transferring assets that worried Xia Xiaolan, making her think there might be complications with Du Chengrong.
When she asked Du Zhaohuei, he wouldn’t explain in detail.
Now Xia Xiaolan suspected his refusal of repayment wasn’t about transferring assets at all, but using that 100 million to keep her tied to him – Xia Xiaolan wondered what sins she had committed, what wrong she had done to Du Chengrong. His concubine and eldest son were both like this!