"And when you have no customers and no food, he'll probably end up buying over the land for some stupid reason, like building another hotel. Nevermind that this place is just a tiny town in the middle of nowhere and doesn't need one!" Jingwei paused, realising that his words could be taken as an insult.
"I mean, this place is lovely, but it doesn't exactly boast tourist attractions to justify the investment. But that doesn't matter! He'll just make some stupid reason and you guys will just have to accept it, and before you know it, he'll evict you and demolish your restaurant and your house and the houses of your neighbours, just because he can."
There was a stunned silence, which Jingwei assumed meant that they wanted more information of the twisted workings of his father's mind, so he quickly provided more. It wasn't hard. These were all things his asshole of a father had already done to people he hated. Jingwei didn't like it, but it wasn't as though his words counted for anything. Half the time, he was sure his father hated him too.
"And he'll make sure all your neighbours know it's your fault, so you'll be ostracised by them. Oh of course, that's not all. He'd probably want to injure you guys too, just to really make sure that your bodies are in pain in addition to having no house, no money and no friends."
"Sending thugs to the restaurant is so…mild in comparison." Jingwei wrinkled his nose as he ended his explanation. "It's such a lousy move that I don't believe my father did it. He always made sure he destroyed his enemies utterly so they couldn't stand up again."
"That's… good to know," Xue Ning said faintly, staring at Sun Jingwei's eyes as though seeing him for the first time. Chills traversed through her body at the thought of Sun Haowei doing everything that Jingwei said. What a callous and cruel man!
"I stand corrected," Yue Niang smiled, but there was not much amusement in it. "You do know your father quite well indeed."
"Thanks?" Jingwei replied politely. "But then again, I can say the same for you Auntie. How do you know that I was not bullshitting about my father? His actions aren't public knowledge."
If they were, Sun Haowei would be facing a lot more public outrage!
"Yeah Mom, Jingwei has a point," Xue Ning narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her mother. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
'Oh my daughter,' Yue Niang thought wryly to herself, 'if only you knew.' But outwardly she simply shook her head and laughed.
"Haven't you ever watched a Korean drama in your life? That's what all the rich tycoons do, in addition to giving the poor female protagonist a blank check to leave their precious son. I always thought those dramas were exaggerated, but it turns out reality is worse." Yue Niang replied, sipping on her water.
She knew that all too well. After all, she and her husband had first hand experience regarding Sun Haowei's modus operandi. They worked for him, with him, closely for decades after all.
The only reason why they could even eke out a peaceful living in a distant corner of the country was because they had the skills to vanish!
Perhaps it could be due to Sun Haowei still retaining the last bits of his conscience, and he realised hunting down his old best friends to the ends of the earth just because they wanted to retire from their life of crime wasn't the right idea.
Nah. Impossible. Yue Niang wasn't that optimistic, even if her husband believed that Haowei would eventually respect and accept their decision to leave him. If he was that type of man, he would have accepted their resignation with a handshake, and not aimed a gun at them to get them to reconsider.
She then turned back to face Jingwei.
"But for all your claims, at least three pairs of ears heard the exact words the leader of the thugs said. He and his group charged into our restaurant and flung our tables and chairs around, scaring the life out of our customers! When my husband and I tried to stop them, he got cut from their knives. When we asked why they were bothering us, he said that Sun Haowei paid them good money to wreck the place!"
"Mom, you didn't call the police?" Xue Ning asked, appalled.
"We already made a police report this morning, but you can guess how effective they are. They practically pissed their pants when I told him that Sun Haowei ordered them to trash the restaurant!"
Jingwei winced; his father's name had that effect on people.
"And those that didn't piss their pants just laughed and told me to lay off the alcohol, as though I had just imagined the whole thing. Can you believe we are paying tax for them?"
Xue Ning's mother snorted, and it was so much like Xue Ning's that Jingwei had to stop himself from smiling.
This was not the right time for it! He hurriedly looked back down.
"The thugs also kicked me in the chest, wanna see?" Tai Xuan asked, and immediately pulled up his shirt without waiting for a reply, revealing toned muscles and a huge purple bruise smacked right in the middle of his chest, along with several small bruises around his sides.
"Ouch," Xue Ning muttered as she eyed her brother's body. "That must hurt."
"Like a bitch. You have no idea," Tai Xuan grumbled, putting his shirt back down. "No amount of iodine will make this better! I'm still alright, but Xin Yu got scared terribly. You know she isn't the bravest of people. "
"Ah," Xue Ning mumbled, feeling strangely guilty. Her sister-in-law was a sweet intelligent young woman (and possibly too good for her brother) who never even raised her voice. Seeing things enacting violence at close range would have scared her. "Where is she now? At the hospital?"
"Nah, she's resting in our bedroom. There's no point in making her go to the restaurant when it's closed anyway, since we can't tidy things up that quickly. And Dad can't cook - he's injured. I could take over, but then I would have to cook and make deliveries too."
"I can help!" Jingwei suddenly volunteered, drawing the eye of everyone in the room.