"Grandfather Xiao's two ungrateful swines are back again."
"These two families have no shame coming back. They look like dogs, yet they drive such nice cars, as if they were actually decent."
"Good men don't live long, while scum live for centuries!"
...
First Uncle Xiao and the Third Uncle's families pulled up in their luxury cars and parked outside the Xiao family gate. As they came out of their cars, not a single person wasn't wearing brand-name clothing.
Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel, Cartier, Bvlgari...
As long as it was a recognizable brand name, it was there. They looked like a runway exhibition!
But the two families did not draw much attention from the villages.
Everyone understood where their money came from.
They sold out their brother! Only these two people could commit such a thing.
The two families were aware of this, but they didn't bother acknowledging it.
To them, the Xiao village was nothing but a poor, peasant town! The people here weren't even worthy of wiping their shoes.
So, what if they were looked down on? As long as they had money and lived better than them, that was all that mattered.
Grandfather Xiao stood in front of the entrance, chatting with a few neighbors from the villages. Seeing First Uncle Xiao and Third Uncle Xiao's families, he snorted coldly. The smile on his face disappeared, and his expression became stern.
First Uncle Xiao and Third Uncle Xiao approached their father and chided in unison:
"Dad!"
Grandpa Xiao scowled, responding with a curt 'hmph'.
The two sons knew in their hearts how their old man viewed them and didn't ask for much.
As for Madam Xiao and Auntie Xiao, their respective wives, they were too lazy to interact and received the cold shoulder.
The two were decked out in brand names and looked around them with a condescending gaze. Naturally, they didn't want to bow their heads to Grandpa Xiao.
In their eyes, all formalities, customs, and respect were all garbage!
If Grandpa Xiao had been a powerful state official, they were willing to sleep with him, and not to mention—bow down to him.
Unfortunately, he wasn't.
The two ladies would never acknowledge a poor man, even if he was their own father—like Grandpa Xiao, their father in law.
At this moment, they had pulled out two clean stools out of nowhere and were nibbling on sunflower seeds under the sun. They acted like two upper class ladies out watching a play, chatting away with occasional bits of laughter. They ignored the people that surrounded them.
However, their grandchildren followed Uncle Xiao and Third Uncle to greet their grandfather.
Towards his grandchildren, Grandpa Xiao treated his grandchildren with more warmth than his sons. A small smile appeared as he nodded at them.
"You kids are all grown up! That's great. Our Xiao family is finally spreading its roots."
He paused for a moment before turning stern again.
"But you kids have to love each other and stay united. Do not be unkind and shameless like your fathers! THey have no morals whatsoever!"
The grandchildren looked at each other.
Uncle Xiao frowned slightly, evidently upset.
"Dad! What do you mean by that?"
Grandpa Xiao did not hold back.
"You guys know exactly what I mean. Do you really need me to spell it out?"
The Third Uncle also chided in.
"Dad! What happened with Old Number Two has passed for several years. Why do you still care about it? That year, we only wanted Xiao Chen to learn his lesson. Liu Yunxuan wasn't someone he could touch so casually! Who knew that Young Master Lu would be so merciless and murder our brother and his wife? Or break Xiao Chen's limbs and toss him in the Yangtze? We didn't expect that either! If we had known, we would have prevented Lu Qiran from coming, even if it meant our death!"
Grandpa Xiao smiled coldly.
"Keep pretending. Keep pretending! Do you think I have dementia? Let me tell you. If I was twenty years younger, I would have stabbed you parasites already! Hmph."
Uncle Xiao was visibly irritated.
"Okay, okay! If you slice us in half, who would pay for your retirement? Stop trying to sell us this old trick everyday. We aren't kids anymore, we don't need your teachings. As long as you live well, that's all that matters. Let me tell you, Third Brother and I have invited a lot of celebrities and upper class elites to your birthday today, so don't you go on with that long face of yours! When the time comes, you will be the one to lose face."
After he spoke, Uncle Xiao flipped his sleeves and placed his hands behind his back and headed to the side. The Third Uncle immediately followed after.
"Big Brother, don't be so angry! Today is our dad's eightieth birthday."
Grandpa Xiao was fuming with anger. His cheeks were flush red, and his body was trembling.
The villagers standing by were trying to calm his temper.
"Gramps, don't be angry. Today is your eightieth birthday, it's not worth it if you get angry!"
Grandpa Xiao pounded on his chest, heartbroken.
"What an unfortunate family… An unfortunate family!"
The villagers couldn't help but sigh deeply. Indeed, if anyone ended up with a son like Uncle Xiao and Third Uncle Xiao, they must have sinned in their past eight lifetimes to deserve it!
They betrayed their own brother for prosperity and wealth. To harm their brother so badly was worse behaviour than a dog!
First Uncle stood in front of his car as he glanced towards the old man with boredom in his eyes.
"That damned old man is pissing me off!"
Third Uncle tried to dissuade him.
"Whatever, Big Bro. Don't be angry! He's just a sour old man, how much longer can he live for? In two years, he'll be under the ground. Don't let his words get to you!"
Uncle Xiao sneered.
"He's just biased toward Second Bro. He just thinks Old Number Two has potential and talent? Just because he started from nothing and created his own business. He thinks we only got our wealth and glory because we sold out our brother. Let me tell you. If it wasn't because our reputation is already ruined and might affect our business if it got worse, I would have killed the old man long ago!"
Third Uncle Xiao patted Uncle Xiao's back, reassuring him once again.
"Calm down! You have to keep your face. Right now, our status is different from before, and it's very unique. If it gets out that we were disrespectful to the old man, it would be bad for our reputations. When the time comes, it could affect our company's growth; that would be awful!"
Uncle Xiao tugged at his collars to loosen them and sighed a long sigh.
"Whatever. For the sake of money, I won't squabble with that old man."
"Oh right, Big Brother, why isn't Xiao Wan here today?"
"God knows what got into that girl's head. She probably just broke up with her boyfriend. I don't want to bother with her, she's already an adult. But a few days ago, she did tell me something."
"What did she say?"
"That punk, Xiao Chen, is back!"