Dad had had a bit too much to drink.
Ignoring Jason Hart's words, he headed straight for the familiar stall and ordered a plate of beef bacon fried rice, hoping to sober up a bit.
Jason Hart's mom, Arabella, was similarly distracted at the moment.
It was frustrating.
Suh Yeh-hao clearly knew that his views on the Hong Kong property market were correct.
When a systemic financial crisis hits, the property market is bound to crash, and their investments would undoubtedly suffer heavy losses.
But his parents dismissed his words as mere rambling, laughing them off and telling him not to worry about it.
As they ate pork chop buns, Jason Hart carefully considered the situation and realized that his parents' attitude was understandable.
Firstly, because he was young and inexperienced, even his own parents didn't think his investment insight was remarkable, still viewing him through the lens of their old-fashioned perspectives.
Secondly, while there were fluctuations in the Hong Kong property market recently, stemming from the Asian financial crisis originating in Thailand, the full impact had yet to be felt. Due to the early acquisition of land, the projected profits from those few properties in Hong Kong remained substantial.
George and Arabella, as a couple, couldn't simply treat their billions of dollars worth of business as child's play because of a few words from their son.
Ultimately, the reason was that Jason Hart was too young and inexperienced for his parents to consider his views valid.
Realizing this, Jason Hart immediately changed his approach.
Without a well-thought-out plan, it would be difficult to convince them with just a few words. Perhaps he had been too naive before.
With such a large business at stake, even as the only child, he still had no say in front of his father, who had been in the business for many years.
If his father had a soft spot and no temper, he wouldn't have been able to build such a massive family business.
Fortunately, there was still some time. Jason Hart decided to stop mentioning the matter for now and focus on carefully planning his strategy. He would present the evidence and facts that supported his views to his parents and then try to persuade them to change their minds.
...
Dad had caught his son fooling around at the Wynn Hotel just two days ago, and the memory was still fresh.
Now, as they ate their fried rice, he chuckled and asked, "What's in the papers today? I've seen that teacher of yours, and to think a woman like her could be won over by you? Quite the skill you've got there. I underestimated you."
Jason Hart's mom, immediately displeased, retorted, "You're talking nonsense because you're drunk. I've already said it's just a misunderstanding, he's been falsely accused. Son, I was planning to bring it up to Isabella's parents, to see if our families could arrange a marriage, but with this incident, it's not the right time. I can't find the opportunity to bring it up."
"Isabella? Marriage!?!"
"What's wrong? Son, you've been talking about Isabella all the time. Isabella is indeed outstanding in all aspects, but I'm not sure if she'll be interested in you. That couple already has two daughters, and it seems like they're thinking about getting a son-in-law to inherit the family business. It's a bit difficult."
As soon as his mom finished speaking, his dad became agitated and said, "We only have one son. How could we possibly hand him over as a son-in-law to someone else? Isabella's family is quite powerful, but so are we. However, Isabella is indeed quite a girl. It's not easy to win her over. If we had a few more children, we could at least discuss it."
George had once been considered a prospective son-in-law himself, even when Jason Hart was young, he had followed Arabella around.
It's no wonder he couldn't stand the term "son-in-law", his male ego acting up.
Of course, Arabella understood this.
But they had been separated for many years, and the more uncomfortable the old man felt, the happier she was.
Today, they had only come together because of business matters, nothing more.
Now, she joked, "Your young canary outside might be able to give you another child. If not, then so be it. But if it happens, don't blame me for not considering the old times. At that time, I'll take half of everything you have. Maybe even more than half, after all, even the start-up capital for the company came from me, and I hold the majority of the shares. Don't even think about taking advantage, including your mistresses."
Hearing this, Dad suddenly felt overwhelmed and muttered, "I'm so old, why would I want to have another child!"
After a brief observation, Jason Hart realized that both his parents had strong personalities, making it difficult for them to come together.
Many of the conflicts may have been planted when George married into the Tang family all those years ago.
Perhaps that's why, later on, whether it was the second or third mistress they found, they weren't the type of strong women, merely spending money to play mahjong and buy clothes and tea, just being docile ornaments.
As for the separation of the two, Jason Hart was quite indifferent. Seeing that the tension was increasing, he immediately changed the subject and asked, "Let's not talk about this now. My teacher and I are now famous. The culprit has been identified by me. Can we clarify things with the media tomorrow?"
Dad calmly mocked, "With all the mischief you've done, even if it's clarified now, it'll keep coming back to haunt you in the future. Do you even care about your reputation?"
Jason Hart continued, "I don't mind being shameless, but my teacher Linda is innocent. If this isn't clarified, how will she continue to work at the school?"
"Very good, it's nice to see you considerate of others."
His mom finished with a smile, adding, "I've arranged all this. If we say you bumped into her at the mall, no one will believe it. So I'll contact her in advance and give her a heads-up. How about having her tutor you?"
It was rare to see Jason Hart caring so much about a teacher, although it seemed a bit odd to his mom, she thought it was a good opportunity for her son to focus on his studies.
Without much thought, Jason Hart agreed readily.
Suddenly remembering something important, Jason Hart continued, "By the way, I heard you want to donate money to the university to get me a place? We don't need to spend this unjust money. Instead, if I study seriously and get into a university on my own, can you just give me the money you were going to donate in cash? I've been thinking about trying to learn about investment and finance lately."
With his past record, both parents didn't believe in such nonsense as "investment and finance," thinking he was eyeing some fancy car or something.
Even so, Dad joked, "If you can get into a good university on your own, that would be quite a miracle. If you can do that, I'll give you ten million dollars without any problem."