Chapter 154: An Endless Blood Feud

At first, Lin Yuxin was so angry that her liver ached, her lips trembled, and her face turned pale. However, once Shen Huifang finished scolding Hong Chen, her liver stopped aching, her lips stopped trembling, and her complexion returned to normal.

Meeting Shen Huifang's turning gaze, Lin Yuxin calmly said, "If Hong Chen is taken away, I will not stay either."

What shamelessness, what ingratitude, what a complete lack of bottom line—Shen Huifang vividly embodied all of these. What she brought to Lin Yuxin was not disappointment, but utter despair. After despair came a silence greater than death, leaving only a tranquility as still as water.

Shen Huifang raised her eyebrows in anger, wanting to say something, but Hong Chen's indifferent voice sounded first. It was not addressed to her, nor to Lin Yuxin, nor was it seeking help from Gao Yuanjie...

"Grandfather, this is the Shen family residence. The one who makes the decisions should be you."

Elder Shen's expression grew dark, his brows furrowed slightly, and a cold smile played in his heart. Qian Jingsong was insistent on taking him away, and since he had been abandoned by Shen Huifang's family and Young Master Gao could no longer be relied upon, was he trying to use him as a straw to save his life?

To offend the Qian family just to protect a worthless, discarded son-in-law—only a fool would do such a thing.

While Elder Shen put on a show of hesitation, Yang Meihua could not help but speak up, "Dad, President Qian came to take someone, and it wasn't something I agreed to on my own. It was Shanliang and Tianbao who gave their word to President Qian."

Elder Shen favored males over females; the weight of his eldest grandson and eldest son far outweighed that of a mere daughter-in-law.

Elder Shen's expression softened slightly, and before he could speak, the old madam said, "Old man, can you really afford to show no respect at all to the head of the Qian family?"

The old madam was generally mild-tempered towards people, but she had one major flaw: she pampered her eldest grandson, Shen Tianbao, without any principles. Since it was Shen Tianbao's wish, the matter was settled.

Elder Shen used the opportunity to step down, ignoring Hong Chen and nodding to Qian Jingsong. Qian Jingsong breathed a secret sigh of relief and glanced at Gao Yuanjie, who was whispering to Luo Song. It was obvious that they had no intention of interfering.

That was for the best!

"Let's go," Qian Jingsong said, looking at Hong Chen. Hong Chen raised a hand and said, "President Qian, give me ten minutes. If you do not change your mind after that, I will go with you."

Without waiting for Qian Jingsong's reply, Hong Chen looked at Shen Huifang and said coldly, "A month ago, Shen Huizhu's family came to Qing City. You insisted on putting on a false front to appear wealthy, resulting in a dinner bill of nearly a million. If I hadn't paid the bill, how would you have ended that day?"

Shen Huifang's face changed slightly. Hong Chen continued, "That night, Xiao Ting and her boyfriend called Yufei, and after a car accident, the whole family was trapped in the hospital. If I hadn't pleaded with Elder Qi to treat the Jiang family's young master, do you think the Jiang family would have let you and Shen Huizhu's two families off?"

Shen Huifang's face changed once more, and even Shen Huizhu's family wore unnatural expressions. Hong Chen went on, "Yufei owed nearly four million to outsiders, and you saw the kind of people who came knocking in the middle of the night to collect debts—they were loan sharks. If you don't pay up, they wouldn't hesitate to kill you. When your family was at your wit's end, if I hadn't found a way to solve Yufei's debts, wouldn't you all have ended up on the streets, if not utterly ruined?"

Shen Huifang's face flushed slightly, her eyes revealing a flash of malice. She might have felt a shred of guilt, but it certainly did not outweigh her anger. What did Hong Chen mean by digging up all this family linen?

Was he prepared to break the vessel since it was already cracked, dragging them all down into total disgrace now that he was doomed?

She wanted to interrupt him, but seeing Lin Yuangui, Lin Yuxin, and even Lin Yufei all wearing expressions of guilt, she ultimately held her tongue. She was terrified that if she said something excessively outrageous, it would provoke the three of them into rebelling against her, which would only bring about an even greater loss of face.

Hong Chen took a breath and spoke again, "As for what happened last night, if I hadn't gone to great lengths to maneuver and mediate, Yufei would have been taken away by Young Master Lu by now."

With that, Hong Chen's expression suddenly darkened. "In the past, you nitpicked everything about me, but I turned a blind eye for Yuxin's sake. I wouldn't lose a single hair anyway, and even when you did vicious things against your own conscience, I didn't hold it against you for Yuxin's sake. But today, just now, your words and actions made me see your true colors completely. Not only are you ungrateful, but you even added insult to injury, kicking me while I was down and stabbing me in the back. Heh..."

At the end, Hong Chen laughed, a laugh full of bitter mockery. He suddenly turned to look at Lin Yuangui, "Dad, I'll ask you just this once: who on earth is your son-in-law?"

This sudden question caught Lin Yuangui off guard. Soon, a struggle appeared in his eyes and across his brows. Seeing this, Shen Huifang shrieked, "Hong Chen, are you trying to sow discord? If our family hadn't supported you for over two years for free, you would have starved to death or frozen to death on the streets long ago! Our family doesn't owe you anything; if anything, you owe our family!"

Ignoring her, Hong Chen waited a moment longer. Seeing that Lin Yuangui still gave no answer, he simply shook his head. Just as he turned to leave, Lin Yuangui's voice rang out: "Hong Chen, you are my son-in-law. You don't owe our family; it's our family that owes you."

"Lin Yuangui..."

"Shen Huifang, you have made my heart completely cold. The one whose marriage has reached its end shouldn't be Hong Chen and Yuxin, but the two of us." Lin Yuangui's expression was cold, filled with an unyielding determination, alongside a hint of unspeakable complexity.

Shen Huifang turned as white as a sheet, pointing a trembling finger at Lin Yuangui. At that moment, another voice rang out: "My brother-in-law is Hong Chen!"

These words were spoken by Lin Yufei, her teeth biting into her lips until a trace of blood appeared. One could only imagine how difficult a choice this answer had been for her.

Hong Chen looked at Lin Yuxin with a hint of surprise, a faint, inexplicable smile playing at the corner of his mouth, though he said nothing. He took out his phone, sent a pre-drafted text message, and then stepped forward. Amidst everyone's puzzled gazes, he walked straight to the main table, grabbed the gift box containing the jade pendant, opened it, and lifted the pendant high into the air.

"Shen Huifang, why don't you tell everyone how much money you actually gave me..." With that, Hong Chen's hand abruptly clenched, and instantly, the jade pendant shattered into dozens, if not hundreds, of pieces.

Everyone gasped in shock!

Elder Shen's expression instantly darkened like stagnant water. "You brat, are you trying to rebel..."

With a sharp gaze, Hong Chen looked straight at him and said word by word, "Do you think I still acknowledge Shen Huifang as my mother-in-law? Without that relationship, why on earth would I give gifts to you people of the Shen family!"

Hearing this, the expressions of the Shen family members changed drastically. Elder Shen was left momentarily speechless. Hong Chen sneered, "I may not acknowledge Shen Huifang, but Yuxin is still my wife, which means I still have lingering ties to the Shen family. Elder Shen, I gave you a chance to choose, but unfortunately, you sentenced me to death."

With that, he picked up the bundles of cash from the table. Within moments, all seven hundred and eighty thousand were in Hong Chen's hands. A surge of energy overflowed from his palms, and then, before everyone's horrified eyes, the pile of cash burst apart into thin air, the flying paper fragments fluttering like falling snow in the sky.

Elder Shen was trembling with rage. One million and five hundred thousand was just gone like that! Regardless of how the money had been obtained, in his mind, it already belonged to the Shen family—it belonged to him.

Qian Jingsong watched with an amused expression, showing no sign of urgency to take Hong Chen away. Since Hong Chen was causing a scene at the Shen family, he was more than happy to sit back and watch the show.

"Take him down!"

Elder Shen let out a furious roar that shook the ceiling. Just as the Shen family members were about to move, Luo Song suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "If anyone dares to lay a hand on Hong Chen, my Luo family will fight them to the bitter end!"

Everyone's heads turned in unison. They saw Luo Song looking utterly agitated, his terrifying gaze sweeping across the entire room as he shouted again, "Let me repeat: whoever dares to touch Hong Chen, or even show the slightest disrespect to him in words, is the mortal enemy of the Luo family! We will fight them to the death!"

As his voice fell, the echo still reverberated through the grand hall, leaving everyone in dead silence, their faces etched with shock and sheer disbelief!

Luo Song didn't care what others were thinking; his heart was already pounding with extreme anxiety. Right on the spot, he pulled out his phone, made a call, and roared into the receiver, "Get to the Shen family hall immediately!"

Gao Yuanjie was completely baffled and couldn't help asking foolishly, "Young Master Luo, what is going on?"

Luo Song gave him a deep look, his eyes stripped of all warmth, dropping to freezing temperatures, before he silently stepped backward, pace by pace.

Hardly twenty seconds after Luo Song's call went out, two figures burst into the hall—one tall, one sturdy, both dressed in gray garments.

As Luo Song continued to retreat, he suddenly raised a hand and pointed at Gao Yuanjie: "Beat him! Just make sure he doesn't die!"

The moment the order was given, the two gray-clad men lunged forward like fierce tigers. Gao Yuanjie's expression turned ashen with terror. One of his bodyguards bravely stepped up to shield him, but it was like a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot; he was sent flying over ten meters by a single collision from one of the gray-clad men, his back slamming hard against the wall. His spirit instantly collapsed as he vomited a mouthful of blood.

Immediately after, Gao Yuanjie was pinned to the ground by the other gray-clad man. Then, the two men began raining punches and kicks on him, and blood-curdling screams echoed through the grand hall!