"The Family Head must’ve stirred up some trouble out there!"

Hearing Cao Meng’s response, they exchanged a glance, and all came up with almost the exact same guess.

With that guess in mind, they nervously clenched their fists.

They didn’t know who exactly Cao Meng had pissed off, but since the other party dared to come straight to the door, that meant it wasn’t some ordinary person.

Cao Meng caught the changes in their expressions and frowned in irritation.

Very quickly, he spoke coldly with clear disgust on his face, "What? What’s with those faces? Just one uninvited guest and you’re scared shitless? Are you all this useless?"

"Family Head, how could we possibly be scared!"

"Yeah! Family Head, don’t worry, there’s no way we’ll be scared!"

"That’s right!"

Hearing Cao Meng’s angry questioning, they rushed to show their stance.

They knew they had to say this now, otherwise they’d definitely end up on Cao Meng’s bad side.

"You’d better really be thinking that way."

With that cold remark, Cao Meng strode off quickly.

They exchanged a look and quickly followed after him.

They knew Cao Meng was a bit displeased with them now.

Once they were sure of that, they looked at each other again.

They knew they had to perform well later, otherwise they’d really end up on his blacklist.

...

"Looks like our Family Head stirred up some trouble outside and got someone coming straight to him, huh."

"Sure does."

Not far away, the people from the Elder Council narrowed their eyes and spoke casually.

Earlier, they had a good discussion and decided not to go against Cao Meng...

But they also weren’t planning to help, so right now they were just standing here quietly, ready to watch a good show.

At this moment, one of them hesitated for a second, then spoke somewhat uncertainly, "Is it really fine for us to just sit on the fence like this? We should probably try our best to stand with Cao Meng now, that’s the only way to avoid a lot of future trouble, right?"

This elder knew that after what had happened earlier, there was some rift between them and Cao Meng.

Under these circumstances, they really did need to stand by Cao Meng as much as possible, because only then could their relationship be eased.

Hearing this uncertain suggestion, the most authoritative elder smiled slightly and replied, "True. If we stand with Cao Meng, we can indeed avoid a lot of trouble later, and also ease our relationship."

Hearing that response, all the elders spoke up in unison, "Then what are we waiting for? Let’s hurry and catch up!"

"Hold on."

"What’s wrong?"

Seeing everyone looking at him, this particularly authoritative elder calmly explained, "What I just said applies in normal situations. Right now is a special situation."

"Special? What’s special about it?"

"Yeah, what?"

Seeing their confused faces, he smiled lightly and said, "By ’special situation’ I mean this: someone’s here to cause trouble now, so we wait and see. If Cao Meng can handle it, we naturally go stand on his side. If he can’t, then we step out. Wouldn’t that earn us even more of his gratitude?"

"That’s right!"

Their eyes lit up.

It’s easy to add flowers to brocade; it’s hard to send charcoal in the snow.

If they went now, he wouldn’t be that grateful. But once he actually ran into trouble and they stepped in then, they’d reap much more gratitude in return.

Seeing all their expressions brighten, he knew they clearly thought his idea was pretty good...

Smiling faintly, he looked at one of his subordinates and said, "Go up ahead and keep an eye on things. Report back to us immediately if there’s any new development."

"Yes!"

The young man agreed and quickly left...

Watching the young man leave, he smiled casually and said, "Alright, now we wait quietly. Oh right, I’ve got some pretty good tea. Interested in a cup?"

"Of course."

Now that their mood had settled, they nodded lightly.

"Since you’re interested, let’s have some together."

...

"Your damn sister! Who the hell is shouting out there! Did all my men drop dead?"

Security captain Cao Yan roared hysterically...

Earlier, after he left the security room, he was planning to find a place to get some solid sleep, but he had barely walked a short distance when he heard someone shouting Cao Meng’s name.

The moment he heard it, he was scared shitless...

Without any hesitation, he immediately went to see what was going on.

In his mind, no matter what this was about, it had to be handled immediately. Otherwise, his position as security captain was as good as finished.

"If I find out they were slacking off, I’ll make sure every last one of them packs up and gets the hell out!"

After saying this, he turned the corner and saw the scene up ahead.

In that instant, he was completely dumbfounded, because he saw his men lying on the ground in utter disgrace.

Standing in front of them was a young man who looked completely calm.

"What the fuck is this? Just one guy took down all my men?"

Stunned like that, Cao Yan quickly walked over.

As he got closer, he heard some miserable groans.

Taking a closer look, he realized the three subordinates were even more miserable than he’d imagined.

"Trash, trash, absolute trash!"

Cursing them harshly in his heart, he darkened his face and said, "All of you, crawl over here!" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Captain, we..."

Hearing them try to explain, Cao Yan barked coldly, "Cut the crap and tell me what the hell happened!"

"Yes!"

Clutching their chests, they staggered to their feet and, feeling very wronged, briefly recounted what had happened.

After hearing them out, he felt the urge to beat the crap out of them.

Three people, and the other side took them down with ease.

"Looks like I’ll have to recruit more people later! And I’ll have to be more picky. I can’t just put any random guy here, or they’re useless when it actually matters!"

After making that decision, he stopped looking at them and turned instead to Hu Xiaobei, his face gloomy. "Even when you’re kicking a dog, you look at its owner. You beat my dogs up just like that. Don’t you think that’s a bit much?"

If it were any other time, Cao Yan would’ve already swung first...

But right now, he didn’t quite dare, because he couldn’t see through Hu Xiaobei...

Hu Xiaobei glanced at Cao Yan and said, "I already said I’m here for Cao Meng. Get Cao Meng out here. I have no intention of making things hard on you guys."

"Cao Meng is our Family Head. If you don’t make yourself clear, there’s no way I’ll let the Family Head come, and I don’t even have that authority anyway, right?"

"So you’re saying you’re going to stop me too?"

"Of course. I—"

Before Cao Yan could finish, he heard footsteps. He turned his head and saw the Family Head, Cao Meng, walking over with a lot of people.

"Your damn sister!"

Cursing silently, he hurried over to greet Cao Meng.

Right now, he felt like ten thousand grass-mud horses were stampeding through his heart...

Because Cao Yan really hadn’t expected Cao Meng to show up here in person...