Shen Chen had never understood why people inexplicably value sentimental feelings when they grow old. People who originally had iron fisted methods would also become soft-hearted and indecisive. Just like father Shen, he clearly knew what to do was the best option, but he still took into account the traditional code of conduct, so he deceived himself and others.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Shen Chen didn’t think there was anything wrong with such soft-heartedness. If his competitors and business partners were such people, he might even be able to wake up laughing from his dreams. It was a pity that there was another kind of person in this world. Just like Yao Shengan, who could enjoy the meal in his own bowl comfortably, but still insisted on running over to someone else’s bowl to fight for food while all the while declaring their mutually beneficial friendship.

Completely not understanding how businessmen placed importance on profit at all, and that wealth could shake the will. In the face of huge profits, human relationships would always be as thin as paper.

“Father has been in the business world for so many years, so naturally you understand the principle that the powerful dragon will not crush the local snake. The Li family built their financial empire through finance and opening department stores, and have not entered the real estate industry these many years. The Luo Group is far away in Beijing, and this time they spent a huge amount of money to win the land in the Pudong New Area. In terms of the financial resources of the Luo Group, it is already at the limit. Presumably, the Luo family will not be able to make any major moves in the next few years. So they are not a concern.”

“In contrast, our Shen family in Shanghai can be said to have deep roots. If we can get a connection with the Li family through friendship with Tao Mu. Even if the Li family wants to enter the real estate industry through us, we can also take advantage of the trend to enter the real estate industry in Beijing, and even the northern market. In fact, as early as the Pudong New Area land bidding, I wanted to jointly develop the land with the Yao family and the Luo family. Unfortunately, the Yao family and our family are not of one mind. Now thinking about it, maybe it was a good thing that my original plan was not successful at that time. Cooperating with the Li family is better than cooperating with the Yao family.”

Again, Shanghai City was too small. It could only accommodate one affluent family in control. The Yao family could be regarded as a half-local snake. If they really were supported into strength, he was afraid that they would not be able to be gotten rid of in the end. What was a better choice would be the Li family and Luo family, one had never been involved in the real estate industry and was well-funded, while the other was far away in the capital. In regards to making advances they could work together, and in regards to making retreats they were a distance apart from each other.

Though he said this, it was still the Shen family betraying an old friend who they had had a deep friendship with for decades. It was inevitable that father Shen would not be able to get past that hurdle. “Public judgement is terrifying. We don’t want to alienate other old friends.”

It was true that businessmen payed great attention to profit, but if they could betray even business partners who they had cooperated with for decades, how could such a person be trusted by others.

Shen Chen smiled slightly: “Father, don’t worry. I know it in my heart.”

As Shen Chen spoke, he motioned to his assistant to take out a document of information from the safe and hand it to father Shen.

Father Shen took it in puzzlement, flipped a few pages, and then his expression changed. In the thick document, there was evidence that Yao Shengan had made a request for private detectives and commercial espionage to investigate various records of the Shen Group in the past year. But the key was that the Shen family had been friends with the Yao family for many years. If the Yao family wanted to understand what the Shen family did in the market, why hire a private investigator to investigate it privately. Therefore, what appeared in this document material was naturally some secrets that were not easy to declare out loud.

Shen Chen smiled and said: “I knew that people like Yao Shengan like to forget righteousness and do not want to repent. He was able to betray Song Ji for profit, and now he can naturally betray the Shen family for profit. Our Shen family will not be the first to attack for profit, but we won’t let others calculate us either.”

As Shen Chen had always said, Shanghai was too small. The so-called one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, since the Sheng’an Group wanted to enter the real estate industry, one day it would confront the Shen family. Maybe Yao Shengan investigated these materials just to make full preparations and had no other intentions. But Shen Chen didn’t dare to bet whether Yao Shengan was a saint or not.

After all, the facts had already proven that this old man was really not a gentleman.

Father Shen really did not expect that he had been friends with Yao Shengan for many years, and yet Yao Shengan would actually do such things behind his back. So it was inevitable that he felt disbelief.

“I truly didn’t expect this.” Father Shen put down the teacup heavily, the tea in the cup trembled violently and overflowed from the teacup, accidentally dripping onto his fingers: “Yao Shengan! What a very capable Yao Shengan!”

At this moment, Yao Shengan, whom the father and son of the Shen family spoke of, was standing outside the Song family courtyard residence.

Thirty years had passed in a flash. Yao Shengan looked at the two front doors with the vermilion lacquer having fallen off in places, and at the Song Ji plaque over the door that had been eroded by wind and rain.

“Who are you looking for?” The two workers of Song Ji looked at the luxury car parked at the door and at Yao Shengan, who appeared very distinguished all over, and they exchanged looks with each other.

“I’m looking for…..Song Daozhen.” As if there was a knife concealed in this name, Yao Shengan paused for a while before saying the name with some difficulty. With just such a simple action, Yao Shengan’s tongue seemed to be cut by a blade, feeling very painful indeed.

“Oh, you’re looking for Mr. Song!” One of the workers suddenly realized, thinking that Yao Shengan was also a visitor who came here after being attracted by Song Ji’s reputation. Since the dozens of media outlets teamed up to discredit Tao Mu, the places where Tao Mu had worked in the past years had become very popular. Especially Night and Song Ji, the business was so good it was bursting. Many netizens came here admiringly.

But it was rare to see someone as old as Yao Shengan. Most of them were young girls and boys in their teens and twenties.

“He is not here. He was picked up by his grandson. Song Ji won’t be doing business these days. Please come back next month.” The worker waved his hand and went to do his own work.

Yao Shengan was in a daze for a moment: “He has a grandson?”

The worker didn’t know who Yao Shengan was, and naturally he didn’t know the old grudge between Yao Shengan and the Song family. Hearing this, he immediately smiled and said, “Not his blood related grandson but one he just recognized. His grandson is very caring of him. Two days ago, he took Mr. Song to the hospital for a full body checkup. The checkup revealed that the blood pressure was a bit high and his heart was also not so well. The doctor said he must rest so his grandson, worried that he was living alone here, picked him up and brought him to live with him, saying he would take care of him for a few days. Mr. Song will come back after he has rested well.”

Yao Shengan was a little disappointed that he did not see the person he came for. He opened his mouth and said: “Thank you. I must trouble you to relay a word for me. I am Yao Shengan, Song Daozhen’s old acquaintance. Just tell him that I will come to Song Ji at this time tomorrow, and I hope he can see me.”

The two workers looked at Yao Shengan suspiciously, and when they went back inside they called Tao Mu.

After Tao Mu recognized two fathers and a grandfather, he had been in an extremely excited state the whole time and wanted to stick to his family all day long. But he had to go to school during the day, and at night he had to take care of the work at FlyNews, so he didn’t have time to go to Song Ji. Besides, Tao Mu had been thinking about the health of old man Song and dean Tao. Taking advantage of the joyous event of familial adoption, Tao Mu finally coaxed the two elderly people into the hospital for a physical examination. As a result, it was found that both dean Tao and old man Song had a little heart problem.

Tao Mu originally wanted the two elderly to be hospitalized for recuperation, but dean Tao worried about the children in the orphanage and refused, and old man Song also said that he would not be hospitalized no matter what, complaining that it was unlucky. Forcing Tao Mu to have no choice but to ask Qin Miaoru and the others to look in with the dean more often, while he personally took care of old man Song.

Old man Song originally didn’t want to go, but Tao Mu remarked that he happened to plan for FlyNews to do a show related to food and would like to ask old man Song to be a consultant. Otherwise, he was afraid that the program crew would not shoot well. Only then did old man Song moved over to jis place without saying a word.

Tao Mu originally wanted old man Song to live in the apartment near hia school, but Liu Yao and Meng Qi disliked that the apartment he bought for Tao Mu was too small, and it was really inconvenient for them to live in. So they directly took Tao Mu and old man Song to Meng Qi’s three-hundred-square-meter large villa.

Old man Song had lived in a courtyard residence all his life, and when he first began living in the East Lake Villa he was very unused to it. Fortunately, during the day, there was a group of FlyNews employees fooling——cough, discussing with him about food delicacies. Once a person has something to do, naturally they won’t feel lonely anymore.

Tao Mu originally wanted to coax old man Song to be happier, and by the way, pave the way for the future dealing with the Sheng’an Group. But he didn’t expect that this move would allow them to avoid the shameless Yao Shengan. This made Tao Mu even more grateful that he had taken the old man away——otherwise, with the old man’s temperament, who knows how much anger he would suffer after meeting Yao Shengan who came to look for him.

“If that person comes again in the future, just shoo him out with the broom. Don’t pay attention to him.” Tao Mu almost laughed from anger. He really didn’t expect there to be such a shameless person in this world. Actually still having the face to come to the door after doing so many bad things. He almost couldn’t believe that this person still had the courage to report his name and make another appointment for a meeting.

Who gave him the courage!

Tao Mu put down the phone and did not say a word of the matter to the old man. He just told the people of FlyNews to prepare the show as soon as possible. He wanted to make the food show elaborately prepared by FlyNews become an instant hit, and then publicize the bad things that Yao Shengan did in the past. When the time came, grievances would be avenged and grudges would be dealt with. Even if the stock price of Sheng’an Group could not be shaken temporarily, the injustice of the Song family would still be made known to the world.

Both Liu Yao and Meng Qi knew Tao Mu’s plan. They also silently urged the ruthless lawyer Zhou to resolve the lawsuit as soon as possible. The best case would be to make Yuxiao Media cough out a hundred million to vex some of the anger first.

Lawyer Zhou conspired with Liu Yao for a long time, and flipped through the law books and related cases before setting up such a trap deliberately, so naturally it would be a sure win. They believe Yao Wenxiao and his lawyers also understood this. Because Yao Wenxiao’s lawyers had always suggested not to go to court, and that it would be best to reach an out-of-court settlement with Tao Mu. It was just that Yao Wenxiao’s inexplicable hostility towards Tao Mu kept him reluctant to bow his head.

This time Yao Shengan personally went to Beijing to help his grandson solve the problem. With Yao Shengan’s scheming and shrewd calculating mind, he naturally understood the saying that a wise man knows when to retreat. Therefore, as everyone expected, on the third day of Yao Shengan’s arrival in the capital, Yao Wenxiao and his lawyers finally bowed their heads before the trial would be held and contacted Tao Mu to reach an out-of-court settlement.

When Liu Yao took Tao Mu and Lawyer Zhou to see Yao Wenxiao, he was not surprised to see Yao Shengan, who had just arrived in Beijing and was driven out with brooms by two of Song Ji’s workers the day before.

Yao Shengan stared at Tao Mu with scorching eyes. After a long while, he said, “Are you the grandson Song Daozhen recognized?”

Tao Mu smiled slightly: “What advice does Mr. Yao has for me?”

Yao Shengan’s face was darkly clouded. After he fled to Shanghai he founded the Sheng’an Group from scratch. After so many years of accumulation of prestige, it had been a long time since anyone dared to treat him so irreverently to his face: “Young man, where it is possible to let people off, one should forgive them. Never create bad blood between you and anyone since you might eventually meet again.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“To hear these words from Mr. Yao, it is really awkward indeed.” Tao Mu knew it well. With Yao Shengan’s character and shrewdness, even if he pretended to be meek and subservient, it wouldn’t numb this old bastard. This grandson (TN: used in a negative and insulting way) would absolutely not hesitate when he should be ruthless. He would never let you go just because you called him grandpa.

That being the case, Tao Mu didn’t bother to be courteous with this old bastard and just conducted himself as he liked.

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Tao Mu’s feelings towards Shen Chen, or the Shen family men, were very complicated. In the previous life, after he returned to the Shen family, everyone hated him, rejected him, used the sharpest words to hurt him, and used the most vicious thinking to speculate on him. Only Father Shen and Shen Chen, one just ignored him and treated him as if he did not exist while the other allowed him to enter the company after he was blacklisted by the entertainment industry. He even taught him how to do business and trade stocks and how to negotiate business deals with others. As well as how to judge whether a company had potential, and how to grasp the timing of acquisition.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Although Shen Chen’s attitude towards him was still indifferent, he never communicated with him on private matters except for official business, and even Tao Mu could faintly feel Shen Chen’s alienation and vigilance towards him. But compared to so many people around Shen Yu who just brainlessly rejected him, Shen Chen’s attitude towards him was the best out of the entire Shen family. At least the other treated him as a living person and was willing to communicate with him.

Although all their conversations were limited to the scope of official business.

After being reborn, every time Tao Mu thought back to his experience after returning to the Shen family’s house in the previous life, in the beginning he would still feel heart-piercing pain, as if his heart had been dug out leaving just a big hole behind. But when he was adopted by Liu Yao and Meng Qi, had his own fathers and grandfather, and received his own household registration, the once unforgettable pain seemed to have reduced a lot when once again recalling the Shen family. And as a result he also had time to ponder those details covered under those intense emotions.

It was like a stray dog ​​who had suffered from human abuse, even if it is bone skinny, even if it was bruised all over the body, even if it had conditioned reflex to be afraid and vigilant whenever seeing a human, but one day, it was lucky enough to be adopted by a kind-hearted owner who healed its wounds, healed its illness, gave him fresh food, and even pet its fur from time to time. A strong and warm love would heal those horrors and pains that lay deep in the heart and memory, allowing it to become a whole and healthy dog again. Even if it recalled the fearful and uneasy vagrant life, there would only be simple memories and gratitude for its new and happy life.

Those pains and shadows that were originally thought to remain entangled around it for a lifetime could now no longer hurt it.

Tao Mu’s situation was similar. So when he had his own family and friends, and these people were completely unaffected by Shen Yu’s halo, would not inexplicably hate him and feel that he was unkind and would not inexplicably stab him in the back, Tao Mu felt that he was finally in a relatively safe environment.

Recalling the experience of the previous life, Tao Mu was stunned to discover a detail——every time he targeted Shen Yu, he would face crazy suppression by the Shen family and Shen Yu’s admirers; but aside from this, whenever Tao Mu performed better, for example, the box office of the film that he brought capital with him into the crew breaking the record, the TV series he was an investor had very high ratings, as well as every time he won a large deal for the Shen Group or successfully helped the Group acquire a new company with great development potential and received Shen family friends and other Group shareholders’ praises, he would always inexplicably have various scandals exposed about him. Of course, it turned out that these scandals were indispensable from Shen Yu’s admirers. So Tao Mu’s attention would always shift from official business to the old grudge with Shen Yu and his admirers again. And as a result, disappoint the expectations of the major shareholders who had praised him.

Like a traveler struggling to crawl out of the mire, every time he tried his best to climb to the edge, he would be dragged into the mire again. It was like a reincarnation cycle in which hope was never seen, until death.

In the previous life, Tao Mu had always believed that these things were caused by Shen Yu behind the scenes. But in this life, when he was completely free from the influence of the plot halo and thought about these experiences again, he discovered the subtleties.

At least based on his understanding of Shen Yu, a certain brainless silly white sweet had no such kind of shrewdness and scheming. So Tao Mu guessed that these things were caused by Shen Yu’s admirers, who wanted to suppress him so as not to cause harm to Shen Yu by his existence. However, in the last few years of his previous life, Tao Mu was banned from the entertainment circle, and was called into the company to help out by Shen Chen. In order to adapt to the high-intensity working atmosphere within the Group, Tao Mu had no time to be distracted. He devoted all his energy to work. When there was a project, he often worked overtime for several months in a row, fearing that his denseness and unfamiliarity would affect the progress of the project. Until the successful end of the project would he hold his hard work over several months and offer it like one would offer treasures to Shen Chen in exchange for the other’s praise “you did well”.

Since there was no energy to think of Shen Yu at all, how could he be a threatening harm to Shen Yu? Since there was no fundamental conflict, and yet those admirers of Shen Yu would always inexplicably counterattack, ao long as he connected their counterattacks to the point in time when they occurred, some context was immediately apparent.

Perhaps the one who disliked him the most in the Shen family, and the person who didn’t want him to succeed was not Shen Yu, the cuckoo who occupied the nest, nor mother Shen and Shen Yan, who inexplicably hate him, nor Shen Yu’s admirers either. But instead, his eldest brother Shen Chen, who hadn’t shown any disgust towards him from beginning to end and even taught him how to do business.

As for the reason, after being reborn and without the plot halo, Tao Mu, who had been deeply trapped and blinded by the plot, could finally see from an outsider’s perspective.

——That was, whenever Shen Yan always yelled out “You worked so hard and so urgently to come back, is it so you can fight for the family property with elder brother” for fear that others would not hear him. And father Shen and mother Shen always saying things like, “Why can’t you be as innocent as Yu Yu who has no scheming and always treat people sincerely. Don’t always think about fighting with others.”

Regardless if in the previous life, the Shen family really disliked him, or were deliberately alerting him. When Tao Mu thought of Shen Chen complimenting him, “As expected you are my blood related little brother, you are very smiliar to me.” Every time he heard these words in his previous life, no matter how exhausted he was, he would feel that his hard work was worthwhile, at least he would be recognized by his elder brother. But in this life, when Tao Mu recalled what Shen Chen said so meaningfully, he could not help but feel goosebumps up and down his arms.

—— As expected, you are my blood related little brother, you are very similar to me. So the better you are, the more worried I will be. So I want to suppress you, and even place you by my side to keep an eye on you at all times, and never tolerate your growth to reach out of my control and threaten my inheritance rights.

In truth, this was what Shen Chen actually wanted to express, right?

Then when I was betrayed by people around me in my previous life, did you have anything to do with it as well, elder brother? When I ended up committing suicide by jumping off the building at Shen Yu’s wedding, could you be feeling relief that you could sit back and relax from now on?

Tao Mu looked at Shen Chen with an obscure expression. His profile blended into the light and shadow, that pair of phoenix eyes were narrow and long, and the ends of the eyes were upturned. When the eyes were lowered, it gave off a solemn, cold, and arrogant aura. At that moment, he looked exactly like Shen Chen who was sitting across from him.

When Shen Chen’s assistant knocked on the door and came in, he was shocked by the two men who looked like mirror images of each other. Immediately after he came back to his senses and walked to the side of Shen Chen to whisper a few words.

Shen Chen waved his hand, and his assistant quietly left. It just so happened that the waiter had also arrived to serve the dishes, and Tao Mu coldly watched as the table was placed full with his favorite dishes, unconsciously sneering in his heart.

This person, Shen Chen, always had this ability. Even though he was constantly cold-faced and expressionless, never even saying a sappy word to people. But if he had the heart, he could still make you feel that you were valued by him. He would have his subordinates investigate your past experience and all your preferences first, and then reveal one or two inadvertently during conversations. You would then have a kind of nervous delight of a noble emperor-like being going out of his way to please you.

Just like in his previous life, when Tao Mu accompanied Shen Chen on a business trip and when they ate out, Shen Chen would glance at the menu and casually order two dishes that Tao Mu liked. Of course, Shen Chen never explained to Tao Mu why he ordered these two dishes. It was just that he would not touch those two dishes while eating. Then Tao Mu would delude himself with the belief that Shen Chen had specially ordered those two dishes for him. And in his heart he would think “even though elder brother acts indifferent, he still cares about me very much. It’s just that his personality is like this and he doesn’t know how to express it”.

Not to mention that in his previous life, Shen Chen did not just carry out such habitual operations during eating and ordering food. When Tao Mu worked overtime to finish projects, and came down with a fever due to fatigue, Shen Chen would stay by his side to take care of him all night. When he was busy at work and forgot to eat, Shen Chen would send his assistant to bring him a lunch box. When his and Shen Yu’s birthday came and the rest of the Shen family was busy preparing a grand celebration for Shen Yu, only Shen Chen remembered to send him a birthday card personally written by him along with several books that ranged from how to improve one’s acting to economic management. For Shen Yu he would gift a Ferrari luxury car, a birthday gift that never changed every year. The car brand would not change, just the latest model that year.

So Tao Mu always believed that he was special in Shen Chen’s heart.

Then he gradually thought of the other as his intimate friend, an intimate friend he could die for.

And Tao Mu really did die in his previous life. Until his death, he never doubted this great elder brother who taught him many things personally.

No wonder, as when everyone around you rejected you and hated you, only one person was willing to reach out and pull you out of the mire, even if his attitude was cold and indifferent and not at all enthusiastic, but for the sake of the other’s sincere mentoring, how could you suspect that this person was plotting wrongdoing against you?

People who were drowning would only worry about the seawater that was drowning themselves. Why would they doubt that the tightly held driftwood in their hands could actually kill them?

They wouldn’t. So Tao Mu had never doubted Shen Chen in his previous life so he had never verified if the other played a part in his tragedy or not. In this life, Tao Mu had doubts, but there was no way to verify it anymore. He also didn’t want to viciously speculate about the only person in the Shen family who was good to him in his previous life just on the basis of suspicion. Anyway, he would never return to the Shen family’s house in his life, and he had no conflict of interest with Shen Chen.

In the future, one of them would be in Beijing and the other would be in Shanghai. Anyway, there was no chance of meeting, so the messy things in the previous life would be just left as it was.

Shen Chen watched with calm eyes, watching the light in Tao Mu’s eyes suddenly dim after seeing the dishes on the table, and asked in a warm voice, “Why, do these dishes not suit Mr. Tao’s appetite? Why don’t we order a few more dishes?”

“No need.” Tao Mu came back to his senses: “These dishes are very good. Mr. Shen, please continue.”

After being reborn, Tao Mu wanted nothing to do with the Shen family. But seeing as Shen Chen was able to tell him in detail about the past experiences of Yao Sheng’an and Sheng’an Group at the dinner table, Tao Mu still patiently finished the dinner that he was unsure whether it meant as amends or a bait.

After the meal, Shen Chen wanted to send Tao Mu back to school out of courtesy. After being turned down by Tao Mu, he did not insist, and drove back to the hotel by himself.

Father Shen had been waiting in Shen Chen’s room for a long time.

After seeing Shen Chen, he asked slowly: “Have you met with the kid surnamed Tao?”

Shen Chen nodded. He took off the coat and hung it on the hanger. His slender fingers plucked at his tie: “He is a very interesting young man. My assistant also said that the two of us are very similar.”

Father Shen casually agreed, perhaps even he himself did not pay attention to what he said. He just looked at his eldest son, words at the tip of his tongue.

Shen Chen frowned slightly, and without needing Father Shen to speak he said with understanding, “Grandpa Yao came to see you?”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Father Shen nodded repeatedly and said, “I always feel that the Yao family and the Shen family have been in friendship for several generations. If we really help Tao Mu to defeat the Sheng’an Group. You also said that Tao Mu is backed by Li Xiaoheng and he also has a good relationship with the Luo Group. The Luo Group has just won the land bid in the Pudong New Area in Shanghai. Obviously, they want to enter the real estate industry in Shanghai. So if we do this, will we just be inviting a wolf after expelling the tiger?”

Shen Chen hooked up the corner of his mouth. Father was indeed getting old.

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