Chapter 157: That Very Mr. Hong

"Steward Xiao, are your people here?" Dai Yanqiu asked anxiously.

Steward Xiao smiled and said, "They should be. Ten minutes faster than I expected. Not bad; we must reward them well when we get back."

"Come on, follow me to invite them in."

With that, Steward Xiao strode forward. Hearing this, the Chen family relatives and guests immediately followed.

Seeing that Steward Xiao's reinforcements had arrived, Chen Shufen finally dared to curse, "Hong Yu, you beast, you just wait! And that old beast beside you too—Steward Xiao will never let you walk out of the Chen family gates today!"

Hearing Chen Shufen's curses, Hong Yu merely smiled and ignored her, but Shen Chong was different.

In his own urban district, he had always been a lofty and influential figure. Even if people weren't overly respectful when they saw him, they at least gave him some face. When had he ever been humiliated like this?

"Damn it, do you think I won't hit a woman?" Shen Chong cursed, lifting his legs to rush at Chen Shufen and teach her a lesson.

"What the fuck! Death is at hand and you still dare to hit someone?" Chen Shufen shrieked, turning on her heel and running away.

Shen Chong charged forward. When he rushed out of the Chen family gates and saw the people outside, he suddenly chuckled, "Hahaha, why are you so late? I just watched quite a dramatic show."

Li Zhanpeng frowned as he looked at Shen Chong. At this moment, his own steward had unexpectedly appeared here, and he had no idea what was going on.

Li Zhanpeng looked at Steward Xiao and asked, "Why are you here?"

Steward Xiao had no idea that Li Zhanpeng was here for Hong Yu. He assumed that since today was the birthday of the Chen family elder, his master had come here for this very occasion.

If it were in the past, had anyone told him Li Zhanpeng would attend the birthday banquet of the Chen family elder, Steward Xiao would have slapped them across the face.

What status did Li Zhanpeng hold? He was the undisputed tycoon of the entire Huaizhou. There was no way he would attend a birthday banquet for such a minor family.

Yet, at this moment, Li Zhanpeng was standing right in front of him. Steward Xiao naturally didn't dare to question him, so he could only smile and say, "Like you, Master, I am here to offer birthday greetings to the Chen family elder."

"I never expected the Chen family elder to actually know you, Master. This is truly his great fortune!"

"What the hell? What did Steward Xiao just call this old man? Master? Did I hear that right?" Hearing Steward Xiao's words, the Chen family guests who had just run out gasped in shock.

"Impossible! That is the head of the Li family, the most powerful tycoon in all of Huaizhou. With a busy schedule of thousands of matters a day, how could he possibly have time to run all the way out here?"

"Could the Chen family be so insanely powerful that not only the steward, but even Li Zhanpeng himself came to wish the Chen family elder a happy birthday?"

"I don't think so. No matter how powerful the Chen family is, they are still just a minor family. There's no way Li Zhanpeng would make a special trip here."

"Wait, didn't Steward Xiao just make a phone call? I thought he was calling for some bodyguards or something. I never imagined Steward Xiao had so much clout in the Li family that he could actually summon Li Zhanpeng, the family head himself."

"We're safe now. With Li Zhanpeng here, Hong Yu and that bastard will never dare to act brazenly."

"Heh, brazen? They don't even have the qualification anymore. With Li Zhanpeng's arrival, they probably won't be walking out of the Chen family gates today."

...

If Chen Shufen had gone by her initial thoughts, seeing that the newcomer was actually Li Zhanpeng, she would have acted arrogantly and dared Shen Chong to touch her if he had the guts.

However, just moments ago, Chen Shufen had seen Shen Chong exchanging greetings with Li Zhanpeng. She sensed that things were definitely not that simple, and immediately shrunk back to the side, terrified that Shen Chong would spot her.

"The Chen family elder?" Li Zhanpeng asked with a frown. "What kind of nonsense is that? I came here today to look for Mr. Hong."

"By the way, have you seen Mr. Hong? Where is he? Why haven't I seen him?"

"H-Hong... Mr. Hong..." Steward Xiao froze instantly upon hearing Li Zhanpeng's words.

In his wildest dreams, he could never understand why the dignified Li Zhanpeng would come looking for Hong Yu, a useless live-in son-in-law.

Still, there were quite a few people with the surname Hong in this world. Steward Xiao frantically tried to give himself mental suggestions—the Mr. Hong Li Zhanpeng was looking for definitely couldn't be Hong Yu.

"I asked you a question, did you see him or not? I have a matter of utmost importance to entrust to Mr. Hong. If you've seen him, tell me immediately!" Li Zhanpeng frowned.

Steward Xiao forced himself to regain his composure. Of course he hoped that Hong Yu would walk out of the Chen family gates right now and stand near Li Zhanpeng.

That way, it would prove that the Mr. Hong Li Zhanpeng was looking for wasn't this live-in son-in-law, Hong Yu. But the problem was, Steward Xiao had glanced at the surrounding people out of the corner of his eye just moments ago and noticed that Hong Yu had not stepped outside; he was probably still inside the Chen family's main hall.

This single glance made Steward Xiao's heart sink straight to the bottom.

Steward Xiao smiled bitterly and said, "Master, is the Mr. Hong you are looking for... Hong Yu?"

"Duh! Otherwise, are there any other Mr. Hongs?" Li Zhanpeng scolded, then immediately demanded, "Since you know Mr. Hong's renowned name, that proves you've already seen him. Tell me quickly, where is Mr. Hong?"

"This matter is truly urgent. If you delay, I will hold you accountable!"

Steward Xiao was truly caught between a rock and a hard place right now. Speaking was wrong, and staying silent was also wrong.

He genuinely never expected that his lofty master would make a special trip to this small place to look for Hong Yu, a mere live-in son-in-law. These were two completely unrelated people—how could they possibly be connected?

Meanwhile, Dai Yanqiu's expression turned extremely ugly. At first, he had been thrilled that Steward Xiao had managed to summon Li Zhanpeng, thinking about how he could cozy up to Li Zhanpeng once this whole mess was over.

Never in his wildest dreams did he expect that Li Zhanpeng wasn't called by Steward Xiao at all. Even more preposterously, Li Zhanpeng was actually here looking for Hong Yu.

If he had come to seek revenge on Hong Yu, that would have been a wonderful two-in-one deal. But the problem was, judging by Li Zhanpeng's tone, Hong Yu seemed to be some sort of remarkable person, and Li Zhanpeng actually needed to ask him for a favor.

The more Dai Yanqiu thought about it, the more his mind went completely blank. Chen Shufen had long since hidden tightly behind him; at this moment, she was even considering making a run for it.

Even a stubborn, somewhat foolish woman like Chen Shufen knew that the game was up, let alone the Chen family relatives and guests.

"This is bad. Who would have thought Li Zhanpeng is actually here to find Hong Yu?"

"Why? What qualifications does Hong Yu, a useless live-in son-in-law, have to make Li Zhanpeng come looking for him?"

"Saying all this is useless now. Li Zhanpeng is here anyway. Do you dare go up and tell Li Zhanpeng not to look for Hong Yu?"

"Steward Xiao is done for this time. He surely never imagined he was about to practically go to war with his own master's distinguished guest, right?"

"Dai Yanqiu is probably finished too. Getting that stock listing is completely out of the question now. Having offended Li Zhanpeng, it's doubtful he'll even be able to survive in Huaizhou."

"Damn it! It looks like this fellow Hong Yu has been playing the pig to eat the tiger all along!"

"Sigh, with his play-acting, a few people are about to be dragged down to their deaths by him."

Just as Steward Xiao stood in silence and the Chen family members whispered among themselves, a string of luxury cars rolled up one after another to the Chen family gates.

At the sight of this formidable array, those Chen family members who had just been cursing Hong Yu nearly lost their footing.