Chapter 7: The Feud of the Prestigious Family

◎“Daddy’s never scolded or hit you, so why are you afraid of him?”◎

When Pei Wenyu returned home, weary from travel, the first thing he heard was the sound of hurried footsteps coming from the staircase. Looking up, he saw Pei Yuqi, who rarely ever left his room, rushing down in a panic.

“What’s wrong?” Pei Wenyu asked from where he stood. The moment Yuqi saw him, he froze like a frightened little rabbit, his big round eyes filled with terror.

But instead of darting back to his room like he usually did, he stood stiffly on the stairs, clutching the handrail so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

“Is there something you need help with?”

Seeing Yuqi glancing at him nervously from time to time, Pei Wenyu, who limped over, asked with patience.

“Hic!”

It was only then that Pei Wenyu realized Yuqi had been hiccupping. He quickly turned his head toward Aunt Zheng, who was cleaning in the kitchen, and called out, “Aunt Zheng, Yuqi’s hiccupping and uncomfortable—could you bring some warm water?”

“Yuqi, take a deep breath and try to relax. The hiccups will stop soon,” Pei Wenyu comforted gently, unaware that he himself might have been the cause of Yuqi’s fright.

But Yuqi, still standing frozen in place, took a panicked step backward as he hiccupped.

Standing on the stairs, that backward step naturally caused him to stumble.

Seeing his body tilt dangerously, Pei Wenyu dropped his cane and rushed forward in a few quick strides, catching Yuqi and pulling him into his arms.

“Are you hurt?” Pei Wenyu asked anxiously, looking him over after stabilizing both of them.

Yuqi, suddenly held tightly in his father’s arms, lowered his head in fear. He shook it like a drum, not daring to meet Pei Wenyu’s eyes.

“What’s going on, Mr. Pei?!”

Aunt Zheng, who had rushed over with the cup of warm water, saw Pei Wenyu holding Yuqi and his cane lying at the base of the stairs. She quickly picked it up and offered it back with concern. “Mr. Pei, let me carry him…”

Why couldn’t the boy stay in his room like usual? Why did he have to stir up trouble the moment Pei Wenyu got home?

Now Aunt Zheng started to regret not slipping some sleeping pills into his food today…

Pei Wenyu let out a complicated sigh. Seeing that the scare had stopped Yuqi’s hiccups, he didn’t press further.

After setting Yuqi down, the boy turned away from Aunt Zheng, refusing to be carried. Head down, he darted back to his room.

Rejected, Aunt Zheng stood awkwardly with the water, murmuring, “Mr. Pei, the young master was really well-behaved today… He finished almost all his food, even spent a long time reading… Maybe he just got bored of being cooped up in his room and wanted a change of scenery…”

Knowing Pei Wenyu didn’t like seeing Yuqi, she quickly added with a hopeful smile, “It’s actually a good thing! It’s not healthy to always be shut in.”

“Mhm.”

Pei Wenyu nodded slightly. Watching Yuqi make it safely into his room, he took the cane from Aunt Zheng and slowly made his way upstairs, leaving her puzzled and frozen in place.

Xue Huiyu had witnessed the entire scene. She also noticed that, for a brief moment, the heart rate monitor on Pei Wenyu’s wrist spiked wildly… He clearly did care about his son.

Worried that Pei Wenyu might have hurt his leg while catching Yuqi, she followed him upstairs with concern. But the moment he entered his room, he began to unbutton his shirt with one hand and loosen his tie, causing her face to flush red. She immediately covered her eyes and dashed out of the room at lightning speed.

They’d been married for a year and a half, considered an old married couple by others… but she had only seen him like that once.

And even then, it was when she’d been tipsy and barely conscious…

Back in Yuqi’s room, she found the boy curled up in the corner, hugging his knees with his head bowed.

She walked over gently and asked with concern, “Sweetheart, why are you so afraid of Daddy? Is he mean to you? Does he hit you?”

Yuqi shook his head slightly, still staring down at his toes.

“Daddy hasn’t yelled at you or hit you, so why are you so scared of him?” Xue Huiyu was confused. Could it be that Aunt Zheng had been sowing discord behind their backs?

Yuqi said nothing. Thin and small, he looked even more fragile curled up in the corner. His lowered head and overlong bangs covered his eyes, making him seem completely shut off from the world once more.

“If Mommy were here, she wouldn’t let anyone bully you.”

Xue Huiyu felt a pang in her chest and instinctively reached out to hug him—but her hand passed right through his body.

Her voice broke with sadness. “I’m sorry… I never really got the chance to take care of you…”

At her words, Yuqi slowly lifted his small face. When her hand withdrew, he reached out his little hand toward her.

He looked at her and opened his mouth, wanting to speak—but no sound came out.

Xue Huiyu’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately reached out again to hold his hand. Even though their hands couldn’t truly touch, her heart melted at this tiny gesture of affection.

“Thank you for not hating Mommy.” She knelt in front of him, both hands hovering around his small ones, and spoke gently and seriously, “You can take your time speaking. Mommy will teach you.”

Yuqi nodded softly, then smiled—his first sweet smile—his eyes curved into crescents as he looked at her.

“My baby is so beautiful! You should smile more from now on too!”
Xue Huiyu’s heart melted from that dazzling smile—completely softened by her motherly love!

Unable to hold back her gush of compliments, she watched as her little boy’s ears turned red, and he shyly lowered his cute little face. In an instant, his whole face was flushed.

Xue Huiyu was overwhelmed by his cuteness: …Too adorable… How can my baby be this cute?! If that dog of a man Pei Wenyu had taken good care of him after my death, how could our child have developed autism?!

Now that Pei Yuqi was finally opening up again, Xue Huiyu picked a bedtime fairy tale suitable for his age and began reading it to him in a soft, gentle voice.

After reading for a while, she noticed that little Pei Yuqi had already fallen asleep.

His long, curled lashes rested on his cheeks, and he tightly hugged his stuffed toy as if seeking a sense of security. He looked so obedient and precious.

“Good night~ Sweet dreams.”

Xue Huiyu floated out of Pei Yuqi’s room and continued secretly watching Zheng Huiwen’s every move. She caught her sneaking into her (Xue Huiyu’s) room while Pei Wenyu was in the shower and stealing a seemingly inconspicuous platinum necklace from the jewelry drawer.

Xue Huiyu frowned coldly: Well, well—turns out she’s a thief too!

What the hell was I thinking back then, keeping such a two-faced, light-fingered ingrate by my side?!

When Pei Wenyu stepped out of the shower, he happened to receive a phone call.

“Mr. Pei, everything you arranged has been taken care of. The online public opinion is already starting to spread. Do you have any other instructions?” came the voice of his young secretary, Zhou Qihua.

“Keep a close eye on the developments online. We can’t afford even the slightest misstep.”

After ending the call, Pei Wenyu opened his laptop to glance at the current news headlines—and sure enough, Pei Group’s scandal was plastered across the top.

“Eldest Young Master of Pei Group, Pei Yongyu, Involved in Tax Evasion and Sex Scandal Before Even Taking Over the Company”

Pei Zheng Hotel, founded in 2001, is a high-end business hotel under the Pei Group. Recently, it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Huahang Group, planning to leverage each other’s resources to collaborate globally across various sectors, which sparked market buzz. Following this, Pei Group’s stock soared for three consecutive days.

However, just as Pei Group’s market cap surged by billions, shocking news broke: General Manager Pei Yongyu had engaged in tax evasion through dual contracts.

The whistleblower also released a video showing a manager at Pei Zheng Hotel physically abusing a female employee, claiming that since Pei Yongyu took over, the hotel’s top floors have been used as a place for illicit dealings among the elite. Over a dozen high-ranking officials were implicated, including a leader from the National Tax Bureau who allegedly protected Pei Yongyu’s tax evasion operations…

Netizen Comments:

• “Yu Weiyu”: Damn! Is this for real? I just bought shares in Pei Group—am I about to get wrecked?!
• “gire醉醉”: Is Pei Group finished? Their heir is involved in such an explosive scandal… If I remember correctly, Pei Yongyu is the heir, right? Didn’t the other one get into a car accident and become disabled a few years ago…?
• “Happy Angel”: Is this the whole Pei Group or just Pei Yongyu’s hotel? I’ve stayed in other Pei Group hotels—hope they’re not secretly filming guests or anything…

Gossip Elite Bot:
Pei Group was founded by Pei Guoli as a family-owned business. It operates under a hereditary model, with all of its major sectors—commerce, culture, real estate, and finance—managed by different family members. Three of its subsidiaries are ranked among the world’s Fortune 500 companies.

But with such a powerful family empire comes inevitable internal strife. Pei Guoli married three wives and had four children—three sons and one daughter. Initially, he chose the eldest son to inherit the group.

Unfortunately, the eldest turned out lazy and incompetent. Within half a year, he nearly ruined the company. Following a petition from multiple shareholders, Pei Guoli stripped him of all management power and divided the business into sectors managed separately by each child.

Though the original intent was for peaceful co-governance, the eldest son’s fall from grace triggered a succession war. The second son built his own faction and tried to oust him, deeply disappointing Pei Guoli, who then exiled him from the family.

He considered grooming his youngest son instead. But at 39, the youngest was on night duty at a Pei Group factory when a devastating fire broke out.

The cause was poor storage of large quantities of rubber shoes and dangerously old wiring. In the high summer heat, a short circuit started a massive blaze, producing thick smoke and intense flames. The fire killed four employees and injured five others.

This incident caused Pei Group’s stock to nosedive and severely impacted its finances. Pei Guoli fell ill shortly after.

In 2014, due to health reasons, Pei Guoli officially stepped down from running the multibillion-dollar empire, signaling a plan to select his successor from among the third generation.

The Pei grandchildren were notably good-looking, but the real candidates were narrowed down to two: Pei Yongyu, son of the disgraced eldest, and Pei Wenyu, son of the late youngest son. Pei Guoli didn’t consider daughters’ children or granddaughters as viable heirs, seeing them as outsiders.

Given the eldest son’s reputation, Pei Guoli placed little hope in his line. In contrast, he had always shown special care toward Pei Wenyu, who lost his father young, and displayed exceptional intelligence and business acumen from an early age. Rumors swirled that Pei Guoli preferred Pei Wenyu over Pei Yongyu as the next heir.

To further solidify his position, Pei Wenyu married Xue Huiyu, heiress of the Xue Group—a powerful union. Together, they even had the family’s first great-grandson.

In prestigious families, male heirs are paramount. Meanwhile, Pei Yongyu’s firstborn was a girl. But fate was cruel—only a month after their child was born, Pei Wenyu and Xue Huiyu were involved in a car accident while out together…

The major traffic accident was caused by slippery roads due to rain and snow, combined with the truck driver Li Xuhong’s fatigue and serious overloading violations. In an attempt to avoid the out-of-control truck, the car carrying Pei Wenyu and Xue Huiyu made a sharp turn to dodge it but still ended up in a chain collision.

Xue Huiyu was thrown from the car and fell into a river. Despite days of search and rescue efforts, she remains missing to this day. Pei Wenyu, whose legs were crushed under the overturned vehicle, was left permanently disabled and has yet to recover.

Devastated by the death of his wife, Pei Wenyu became disheartened after being discharged from the hospital. He stopped managing his company properly, leading Pei Guoli to become extremely disappointed in him. Pei Guoli deemed him too sentimental and soft, and therefore removed him from his position as chairman of his subsidiary company.

In the world of business empires, image is everything. It was impossible for someone with a disability to remain chairman. A string of these misfortunes meant that Pei Wenyu effectively lost his competitiveness as an heir.

Meanwhile, truck driver Li Xuhong, who was charged with causing the traffic accident, received a sentence of only four years in prison due to his voluntary surrender and good attitude during the investigation, in accordance with the relevant laws.

In contrast to Pei Wenyu’s downfall, not long ago, Pei Yongyu had signed a cooperation agreement between Peizheng Hotel and Huahang Group. It was also rumored that he had been quietly buying shares from other family members. His current holdings already exceed the 30% held by Pei Guoli.

The board of directors was about to convene. Pei Guoli’s term had ended, his health was deteriorating, and a new chairman and vice-chairman would soon be elected by majority vote.

However, with Pei Yongyu now caught in a wave of negative scandal, regardless of whether the allegations are true or not, the recently skyrocketing stock prices were expected to hit the limit down when the market opened the next day.

If the accusations were proven true, not only would Pei Yongyu lose his chance at succession, but he would also face at least ten years in prison—or even more.

So, who was the one who leaked the Pei Yongyu scandal to the media?
Was it Pei Wenyu, who had been quietly biding his time after three and a half years of apparent defeat?
Was it a power play from another one of the Pei children?
Or was it a strategic attack from a rival company?

Because of this leak, the Pei Group’s public image took a nosedive.
If this was truly a case of infighting among the elite, it would be a classic case of hurting the enemy a thousand times only to suffer eight hundred in return.