Volume 4: Hidden Struggles, Chapter 122: Challenging the Powerhouses

Yet, his elder brother happened to stand in front of Chu Tianyu, speaking sternly to Zhou Kunwei of Tianxing Group: “I think this is no longer just a matter of being drunk! In front of everyone, these people not only spoke rudely to Miss Xue Ning’er but also tried to touch her and injured the banquet security. With so many elders and predecessors here, how do you plan to explain this?”
“What a big deal! The eldest son of the Chu family really carries himself with great authority!” As these words were spoken, an old man dressed in a Tang suit slowly stepped forward from the crowd.
Chu Tianyu glanced at him and recognized him as Zhou Tianxing, the current chairman of Tianxing Group. He inwardly muttered, “My son can’t handle this anymore; it’s finally my turn!”
Seeing the real master show up, Chu Tiancheng didn’t hold back either. He said seriously, “Mr. Zhou, ‘individuals’ are no match for ‘situations’! If a person can’t even distinguish basic principles, then no matter how old they are, they’ve lived in vain!”
Chu Tianyu and the others felt greatly relieved. His elder brother was truly remarkable—his words were so sharp that they hit the opponent’s weaknesses right in the heart!
“Dareful!” Zhou Kunwei, seeing that Chu Tiancheng dared to defy him, roared and was about to order his men to act. But Zhou Tianxing calmly waved his hand before stepping forward a few steps and whispering in Chu Tiancheng’s ear, “Not bad. I did come here to cause trouble at your banquet. What can you do to me? Young man, if you want to take advantage of the chaos, you’d better know your limits. I’m well aware of all your little tricks. Hmph, be careful—otherwise, you might get stabbed instead of catching anything!”
Chu Tianyu heard every word clearly from beside him. Yet now, he felt a sense of calm—a calm that came from intense anger. It was a strange feeling, as if it were a way to control the Qi of the Ink Dragon. But as for exactly how to do it, Chu Tianyu felt lost, unable to grasp it.
His blood still boiled with anger, but his mind was eerily clear. He could see every wrinkle on Zhou Tianxing’s ugly face clearly, as if he could see through his entire head.
They dared to act like this in such a situation—surely they had planned this in advance. But what was their goal? Chu Tianyu’s mind raced, connecting all the events that had happened over the past few days and analyzing them carefully. After some thought, he roughly figured out Zhou Tianxing’s intentions for today.

Judging from the development of events, they are finally reaching the final confrontation stage. Chu Family’s intervention has provided them with an opportunity to shift from secrecy to openness, as well as a reason to go to extremes and force acquisitions or mergers with other companies. Choosing this moment to step in clearly also shows an intention to challenge the government. After all, due to his grandfather’s connection, many government officials attended this dinner. Zhou Tianxing dared to boldly order those foreigners, obviously aiming to escalate the situation further. And in case anything went wrong later, he could deny any involvement. Look, since he dared to start like this, he must have more tricks up his sleeve.

Moreover, Chu Tianyu believes that his decision to take this step early is closely related to his grandson and the assassination attempt on Zhan Zifeng! According to the information from Qianfeng, the pressure from Longhun and the competition for Yu Xiang have pushed things to the point of eruption!

While Chu Tianyu analyzed the entire situation, the onlookers saw Zhou Tianxing whisper something in Chu Tiancheng’s ear first, then step back and laugh loudly, “Haha, this is a misunderstanding. I’ve already explained it to Tiancheng. These foreigners just express themselves differently—cultural differences, you know! Hehe, I’ll talk to them now and ask them to apologize to Miss Xue Ning’er in person! After all, they are just guests from afar, trading partners of our Tianxing Group, with no personal ties to us. And I certainly disapprove of their behavior!”

Chu Tiancheng remained pale-faced and silent, merely watching as Zhou Tianxing acted like a cunning old fox, talking nonsense. At Zhou Tianxing’s gesture, those men seemed to sober up and apologized to Xue Ning’er.

Teng Yuan and the bodyguards on the ground were also helped up. It seemed the storm was about to subside, but suddenly Zhou Tianxing changed his tone and said, “But Tiancheng, I just remembered something I want to ask you. Can you represent Chu Family?”

Zhou Tianxing paused. Seeing Chu Tiancheng’s cold expression, he didn’t wait for an answer and continued with a smile, “Let’s say you can represent them! How do you explain the little tricks your Chu Family has been playing between our Tianxing Group and other companies lately? Do you also have an explanation for that?”

Faced with Zhou Tianxing’s relentless questions, Chu Tiancheng never expected that after all those preliminaries, he would end up bringing up this topic!

In fact, there are many behind-the-scenes aspects in business competition, all of which are established conventions and unspoken understandings among people. But if discussed openly, it would indeed leave Chu Tiancheng at a loss for words.

Zhou Tianxing smiled triumphantly, not giving Chu Tiancheng a chance to catch his breath, and struck again: “Since you can’t answer, our Tianxing Group won’t press further. After all, you’re still young, and it’s understandable for young people to be impulsive. Besides, business is all about competition. Setting aside business ethics, it can’t entirely be blamed on you!”

As the saying goes, experience does matter. His words made it seem as though Tianxing Group was extremely tolerant and ethical, while blaming the Chu family for Chu Tiancheng’s youthfulness and impulsiveness!

Before Chu Tiancheng could speak, Zhou Tianxing suddenly raised his voice and said, “Tiancheng, I’m just an old man who speaks bluntly. Since things have been clarified, there’s no need for us to stay here for this so-called ‘Hongmen Banquet’! Kunwei, say hello to the other bosses and let them know we’re leaving first!”

“By the way, Kunwei, take the chance to tell our old friends that it happens to be my birthday today, and I’ve organized a party at ‘Glory’. Well, in these days, even an old man like me follows the trends—no more banquets or cakes! When everyone arrives, there will naturally be entertainment to celebrate…” Zhou Tianxing continued.

As soon as he finished speaking, chaos erupted in the hall. The onlookers realized what was going on—it wasn’t just a normal conversation; it was a direct confrontation between the two sides!

Soon, Zhou Tianxing gathered nearly half of the attendees. Clearly, they had come prepared this time. On Chu Tiancheng’s side, there were only a few people left. The rest were neutral parties who didn’t take sides. Even several high-ranking government officials took a clear stance.

Chu Tiancheng, with a cold expression, watched the bosses around Zhou Tianxing—those who had just promised to cooperate with him—feeling a mix of emotions well up inside him. His body trembled uncontrollably. It seemed he had been utterly defeated. Just as Zhou Tianxing said, he was still too young and thought too simply…

The uncles from Tiancheng Tianyu also had grim expressions, watching the officials who had sided with Zhou Tianxing—people of their own rank. They felt helpless and couldn’t offer any help.

Just as Zhou Tianxing and his group were about to leave, triumphant, a calm and clear voice suddenly came from behind Chu Tiancheng: “Wait, you’re Zhou Tianxing, right? Though you’re so old, as my elder brother said, you’ve really wasted all these years. For all the dirty deeds you’ve done, calling you by your full name is already showing too much respect for you!” As he spoke, under everyone’s attention, Chu Tianyu slowly stepped forward from beside his elder brother Chu Tiancheng, came to the middle of the two “formations,” pointed at Zhou Tianxing, and then swept his hand over the people around him, saying coldly and firmly, “Anyone who leaves this hall now will no longer be a friend of Chu Ye Group. After tonight, Chu Ye will cut off all business ties with you. In the future, let fate decide everything! That’s all I have to say. You may go!” Hearing Chu Tianyu’s words, Zhou Tianxing couldn’t help but laugh loudly, saying, “You’re the third son of the Chu family, the idiot, right? Haha, it’s so funny! What you said is absolutely hilarious. Haha, I don’t blame you; I really don’t. Your situation is special, haha…” Inspired by him, laughter and chatter erupted from his side, with everyone treating Chu Tianyu as an idiot! On the other side, elder brother Chu Tiancheng and his uncles also looked embarrassed. They never expected Chu Tianyu to suddenly step forward and say such childish things, talking about cutting off all ties with others. With Chu Ye’s current strength, trying to confront Tianxing Group and its allies—a force so much larger—was nothing but delusional talk! Just as Chu Tiancheng was about to step forward and pull Chu Tianyu back, Ouyang Ziyi also stepped forward, stood beside Chu Tianyu, raised the phone in her hand, and said firmly, “I just spoke to my father on the phone. He said he will unconditionally support Chu Ye Group, so our Ouli Jia Bao Group will also stand with the Chu family through thick and thin!” As soon as Ouyang Ziyi finished speaking, President Huihuang also stepped out of the crowd and said firmly, “From now on, Huihuang will no longer entertain anyone who is hostile to Chu Ye Group!” “Hehe, what a lively scene! I really didn’t come to this banquet in vain today. What does your wife say?” “Nonsense! Did our son drag us here just for you to have fun?” Among the crowd, the Bai Han couple also stepped forward hand in hand, echoing each other’s words.

Bai Han slowly scanned the crowd, especially those suppliers of raw materials and food products, before calmly saying, “Our Xunlei Technology and Xiaoxiangguan Chain Restaurant Group will unconditionally support Chuye Group and move forward and backward together!”
Soon after, several sub-agencies of Qianfeng also voiced their support for Chuye, causing the situation on the scene to change abruptly and silence to fall.
“Our Fudu Industry also supports Chuye Group! We will cut off all trade relations with any companies that are enemies of Chuye!” A cold and elegant voice rang out again.