At that moment, the whole private room was enveloped by an awkward and stirring atmosphere. Everyone in the room had a very complicated expression plastered on their face.
The only exception was Chen Guo Tao who was still laughing as he looked at the shattered glass on the floor and said, "Look at this daughter of mine, she had totally lost it from all the excitement."
"Dad, you…"
Chen Xiao Yan's face had immediately turned pale as it lost colour.
"You don't have to say anything here. Marriage is an important matter and your dad had everything planned out for you." Although Chen Guo Tao had sounded very amiable, his eyes on the contrary were giving Chen Xiao Yan a stern warning!
Ji Jing abruptly stood up and indignantly asked, "Guo Tao, are you serious?"
"Off course I'm serious. How could I joke over such an important matter?" Chen Guo Tao spoke in a very serious tone. "Xiao Yan and Shi Cheng could be considered childhood friends. Given their similar age, they were the perfect pair made for each other. That's what both Brother Song and I had talked about in the past. Ah Jing, could it be you have already forgotten about it?"
Ji Jing could only grit her teeth because she didn't know what to say. Old Song had indeed made a verbal marriage agreement with Cheng Guo Tao in the past. However, Ji Jing was absolutely sure that the original agreement of his late husband was between Song Shi Cheng and Chen Yi Xian. It was a well-known fact that both families had been upholding this agreement for many years now. No one could have guessed that Chen Guo Tao would suddenly decide to complete this marriage agreement by replacing his eldest daughter, Chen Yi Xian with his illegitimate daughter, Chen Xiao Yan.
Ye Wen Sheng quickly moved beside Ji Jing and whispered in her ears when he realised the whole matter was going well. "Madam, why don't we postpone this matter for the time being? We should go back and think this through first."
Ji Jing finally just grunted after regaining control of her emotion. Without even saying anything else, she just quickly walked off.
"Chairman Chen, there was an emergency in the company and the madam had to personally take charge. As for this matter… it's very important. Please allow the madam time to consider it."
Ye Wen Sheng had to give a rather dubious excuse. He then discreetly tucked Song Shi Cheng's sleeve as a hint he should quickly leave as well.
"It's fine. Take your time to handle the emergency. I will wait for your good news." Chen Guo Tao gave off a refreshing smile before turning to look at Song Shi Cheng and said, "Ah Cheng, I await the day you call me father-in-law."
Song Shi Cheng just gave off a dry laugh before leaving with Ye Wen Sheng. His emotion was currently in turmoil and complete chaos. He was sure that Chen Guo Tao would have already broken off the alliance if he truly had such intention.
In contrast to how Ji Jing had reacted, he was actually ecstatic and even grateful to Chen Guo Tao after the initial shock had passed. Up to now, he was still racking his brain how he could marry Chen Xiao Yan.
Thus, he couldn't dare to believe what Chen Guo Tao had said when he brought up the matter of the marriage agreement. Originally, he had though it wouldn't be easy for him to escape the fate of being erased by the System yet Chen Guo Tao had actually handed Chen Xiao Yan to him on a silver platter!
This was no different than a blind cat bumping into a dead rat. Bah! It's better phrased as a criss-crossed love story instead. Wait, this phrase isn't exactly accurate too. Forget it. All that matters here is he'll be able to marry Chen Xiao Yan!
However, another concern had surfaced immediately when Song Shi Cheng was leaving the room.
According to the original plotline, the political marriage was supposed to be fulfilled when Song Shi Cheng marries Chen Yi Xian. Now that Chen Guo Tao had chosen to use a ploy of sacrificing the plum tree for the peach tree, it had become worrisome because this was a major deviation from the author's original plotline!
Thus, he subconsciously stole a glance back into the room right before leaving it and saw the cunning smile on Chen Guo Tao's face and despondency in Chen Xiao Yan's face.
At this point, he finally realised what's not quite right when he first saw a Chen Yi Xian who didn't met the description of the novel. The fictional world he wrote about in his own novel had turned into reality. Furthermore, the characters in his novel are now living blood and flesh capable of independent thoughts. They can experience emotions such as affection, anger, sorrow and joy, be kind on the surface but rotten deep down, is a masterful strategist or planned their future action based on their own self-interest. These characters are now completely free from the author's will and intent.
*****
"There was indeed an ulterior motive whenever someone invites you to a feast!"
Ji Jing was now backed in the car. No longer able to withhold her anger, she lambasted outward, "All those years ago, it was very clear that the marriage agreement was between Ah Cheng and Chen Yi Xian. How could Chen Guo Tao go back on his own word and invert the facts! He's outright shameless and downright despicable!"
Ye Wen Sheng just remained silent. He just waited until Ji Jing's emotion had subsided before he softly said, "Madam, Chairman Song is no longer with us…"
Ji Jing was rather disturbed by it and he could only slap the armrest. As expected, Chen Guo Tao was as shameless and deceptive as usual.
Now that Old Song is dead, there won't be anyone who could refute his claim. As long as Chen Guo Tao maintained his story, he can just claim that it was Ji Jing's side who were mistaken!
"All this years, our collaboration with Chen Guo Tao had proceeded so smoothly that I had almost forgotten he was one sinister wily old fox!" Ji Jing said in agitation and exasperation. "Now that we're currently facing both internal and external threat at the same time, he no longer wished to trade his eldest daughter to further his own interest. It's just shrewd of him to use his illegitimate daughter as a sacrificial pawn."
Ye Wen Sheng could see that Ji Jing's rationality was being clouded. She was venting without truly looking at the bigger picture. So, he could only dutifully remind her, "Madam, there's one point you need to consider. Why would Chen Guo Tao deliberately bring up the retirement village collaboration before moving on to discuss the marriage agreement?"
Before Ji Jing could figure it out, Song Shi Cheng had already realized the crux of the matter.
Thinking about it, if the Song family truly no longer holds any value to him, Chen Guo Tao would have just abandon the marriage agreement. There wouldn't be a need for him scheme against them by substituting the marriage candidate thus creating unnecessary enmity.
Therefore, a conclusion could be quickly drawn. Chen Guo Tao still finds the Song family and Feng Hua Group to be useful and had value. It was obvious that he need them to build his retirement villages!
"Are you trying to say Chen Guo Tao still wanted to tie us up with this marriage agreement because he needed us to build his retirement villages?"
Ji Jing finally calmed down after evaluating what she had heard. She then agitatedly said, "He can take a hike with his wishful thinking! I might still consider collaborating with him if hadn't brought up marriage matter. Now that he had planned to wed us his illegitimate daughter instead, does he think can humiliate us and still expect us to work with him?!"
"Madam, our authority is no longer what it used to be." Ye Wen Sheng sighed as he patiently advised, "All this years, we had been helping Chen Guo Tao to expand his medical business empire by building all those hospitals across the countries. Now that the medical sector had almost reached saturation, he still sees value in us simply because he's eyeing the retirement sector."
"Chen Guo Tao dared to change the marriage candidate right now simply because he knew we couldn't afford to reject his proposal. We're currently in a very tight spot. A breakdown in alliance with the Chen family right now will have severe implication. I fear these will caused further turbulence both internally and externally. The company definitely cannot afford to take another blow at our current stage."
Ji Jing could only let out a breath in frustration. Although she is still mad inside, she couldn't help admiring how Chen Guo Tao had plotted out this scheme of his.
Song Shi Cheng was also amazed by the scheme. It needs to be said that this "boss" (TN: This is the video game term "boss") shrewdness had exceeded his original design. Even he, as the original author would have difficulty conceiving such a sophisticated scheme. He's without a doubt the "final boss"!