Supreme Warrior in the City

Chapter 60: Chapter 60 Hou Xiangde Welcomes Personally

”Su Brothers, I’m really sorry, my elder brother didn’t know about you. For any offenses, I apologize to you here!” Hou Shilin said with a face full of remorse.

Su Yang’s expression remained calm as he watched Hou Shijun walk away and said softly, ”It seems, with you taking over the family’s business, many in the family are not convinced.”

Hou Shilin sighed and said in a low voice, ”The family’s business was basically built by my second uncle. For so many years, my eldest uncle has been the pillar of the family, and my second uncle has been controlling the family’s financial lifeline without any change. As for our branch, as you know, my father has been mixing in the city for many years, so our status in the family is not high.”

”Despite my hard work over the years, in the eyes of the family, I will never match up to the children of my eldest and second uncles. My elder brother has taken the official route and will succeed my eldest uncle’s position in the future. Both of my second uncle’s children, one joined the military and the other has been managing the family’s business since childhood and will also take over from my second uncle to manage the family’s business.”

”These are all things that have been settled. As a result, I suddenly came out to take over all of the family’s businesses. Such a thing, not to mention the children of my second uncle, even my own elder brother and others are very unconvinced.”

Su Yang looked at Hou Shilin and said calmly, ”What can they do if they are not convinced? You are my friend Su Yang, and from now on, the Hou Family must also respect you above all!”

Hou Shilin was excited by Su Yang’s words and said softly, ”Su Brothers, thank you.”

After a pause, Hou Shilin added in a low voice, ”I... I’m not thanking you just because I want to be respected in my family, I... I’m thankful... thankful that you treat me as your friend...”

”Because you treat me as a friend, that is why you are my friend,” Su Yang said calmly.

Hou Shilin carefully savored Su Yang’s words and couldn’t help but smile. He had previously found Su Yang a bit too aloof, but now he realized that Su Yang was actually quite easy to get along with. The attitude you present to him is the attitude he’ll return to you.

”Let it go, let’s go inside the house for now,” Hou Shilin said with a smile, just as he was about to move forward, but two men stepped forward to stop them.

”Third Young Master, just now the Eldest Young Master instructed that you take this guest out to arrange his stay. Also, he said you should stay outside to accommodate those outside and there’s no need to enter the main hall.”

Hou Shilin immediately became angry and said, ”What are you two talking about? Master Su is a distinguished guest specially invited by Grandfather, how can you treat Master Su like this?”

The two men kept a calm face and said, ”These are the Eldest Young Master’s orders, Third Young Master, we’re really sorry. We haven’t heard of the Old Master inviting any distinguished guests, so please don’t make it difficult for us!”

Hou Shilin was extremely annoyed but couldn’t say anything. These two men were Hou Shijun’s trusted followers and wouldn’t listen to him.

”Su Brothers, I’m really embarrassed. Please wait a moment, I will speak with my grandfather!” Hou Shilin said awkwardly.

”No worries!” Su Yang, with his hands behind his back, walked out of the main hall.

Hou Shilin took a deep breath of relief; he had been worried that Su Yang would get angry. Su Yang’s calmness surprised him and also filled him with gratitude.

At that moment, seeing Su Yang coming out, the second-generation young lords and ladies outside immediately became noisy as if they were injected with adrenaline.

”Look, look, there’s Su Yang coming out. Haha, did you see? He only spoke a few words at the entrance and then got chased out; he can’t even enter the main hall!”

”I was wondering, even my father can’t enter the main hall, why should he be able to? Turns out he was just posturing, without the qualifications to enter at all!”

”What kind of family background does he have? Of course, he couldn’t enter the main hall. I told you so earlier, but you wouldn’t believe me, now you do, don’t you?”

”Heh heh, he was so capable last night, isn’t he subdued today? Now, he’s really lost face completely!”

”What’s the big deal about last night’s capability? In front of the Hou Family’s Eldest Young Master, he’s no different from an ant. How could the Hou Family’s Eldest Young Master take him seriously?”

The crowd was buzzing with discussion, and Lin Qingru also furrowed her brows, feeling a bit disdainful of Su Yang. Since he didn’t have the ability to enter the main hall, why lose face like this?

”Su Yang, come and sit with us!” Zhou Xue’er suddenly stood up and waved.

”Xue’er, have you gone mad?” The girl next to her immediately glared and said, ”Didn’t you see? Su Yang was just chased out by the Hou Family’s Eldest Young Master, which means the Eldest Young Master doesn’t have a good impression of him. By bringing him over to our table, aren’t you making the Eldest Young Master look down on us?”

”Yes, Xue’er, he’s just close to Ling Zi. Even Ling Zi doesn’t have the qualifications to attend the birthday celebration, what is he worth? This kind of underground world will never surface. Don’t be associated with him; it will affect your own reputation!”

”I don’t care, if he comes over, I won’t sit at this table!”

”I won’t sit here either!”

All the girls around were indignantly muttering; they didn’t feel good about Su Yang, thinking of him as nothing more than a rough man who relied on Ling Zi and had some physical strength.

Su Yang heard everyone’s discussions, his expression was as calm as still water. He waved to Zhou Xue’er but didn’t walk over.

Just then, a commotion suddenly came from the direction of the main hall. Everyone looked up to see an elder coming out surrounded by a crowd, it was none other than tonight’s birthday star Hou Xiangde!

Seeing Hou Xiangde, everyone immediately became spirited and started shouting, ”Wishing Elder Hou a fortune as vast as the Eastern Sea, longevity greater than Nanshan.”

”Wishing Elder Hou to accumulate wealth and longevity, add brilliance and auspiciousness.”

”Bright eyes and keen ears without troubles, smiling at life with ease and comfort.”

All sorts of birthday wishes came forth, and Hou Xiangde smiled as he returned the courtesy with a bow. Then, under everyone’s gaze, he walked directly towards Su Yang.

”Master Su, you’ve finally arrived!” Hou Xiangde said excitedly.

The room instantly fell silent as water, and everyone was stunned, shockingly looking at the two figures at the scene.

Hou Xiangde had come out to welcome Su Yang?

The people at the scene exchanged glances, for tonight, Hou Xiangde had personally welcomed a total of three people: one was Commander Hu, and the other two were Numbers Two and Three from the province.

Welcoming these three people was expected and uncontroversial. For others, even the several bigshots from the city and the family heads of the four major families, Hou Xiangde did not come out to welcome them personally; instead, Hou Xiaolian acted as his proxy.

But now, Hou Xiangde had actually come out to welcome Su Yang?

What was so special about this young man who looked like a middle school student that warranted Hou Xiangde’s personal reception?

And those young people who had just been mocking Su Yang were now pale-faced.

Hou Xiangde had personally come out to welcome Su Yang; could it be that Su Yang had such significant clout?

It turned out that it wasn’t that Su Yang was unworthy of entering the main hall, but rather that the person who came to greet him was not of sufficient status!

Those who had been laughing at Su Yang before now had faces red with embarrassment, wishing they could hide under the tables.

The group of girls at Zhou Xue’er’s table was now also completely dumbfounded, deeply regretting their actions.

Being personally welcomed by Hou Xiangde—if they had listened to Zhou Xue’er earlier and had Su Yang sit with them temporarily, wouldn’t Hou Xiangde have had to come to their table himself?

If that had been the case, they could have basked in the limelight. Didn’t everyone who came tonight want to gain favor in the eyes of the Hou Family? To be noticed by Hou Xiangde was something they hadn’t even dared to dream of; even their elders weren’t qualified for that.

And now, because they had collectively rejected Su Yang, they had all missed that opportunity!

At that moment, the people at Zhou Xue’er’s table couldn’t help but wish they could slap their own faces swollen.

Su Yang said with a light smile, ”I wish the old master a healthy life beyond one hundred and three!”

As soon as he said this, the people around him looked at each other in confusion. What kind of birthday greeting was that?

”Yo, young man, isn’t your birthday greeting a bit insincere?”

An elder with a strange tone behind Hou Xiangde said, ”Live healthily beyond one hundred and three? What kind of birthday greeting is that? Are young people nowadays all so ignorant?”

The people around also snickered secretly: As expected, he gave himself away as soon as he spoke. Lack of depth was just lack of depth, he couldn’t even talk properly!

Hou Xiangde was immediately embarrassed and hastily smiled to smooth things over, ”Elder Li, Master Su has always been carefree and doesn’t care for these complex formalities.”

”Heh, is that so?” The elder’s mouth curled into a hint of a cold smile.

Su Yang glanced at the elder, reading some information from his eyes. This elder, named Li Weixian, was Hou Xiaozhi’s father-in-law, no wonder he harbored such animosity towards Su Yang.

”Master Su, Elder Li always likes to joke, please don’t take it to heart!” Hou Xiangde said with a smile to Su Yang, ”Come, Master Su, let’s go inside and have a seat first.”

”That sounds good,” Su Yang replied calmly and entered the main hall accompanied by Hou Xiangde.

Hou Shijun stood at the door, watching everything with an iron-blue face, his gaze towards Hou Shilin filled with anger.

The banquet for the birthday star was set up in the main hall, which featured a big round table that currently seated three individuals.

One of them, an elder sitting in the place of honor, had a tall stature, a bright spirit, and a commanding presence, obviously not an ordinary character, presumably that was Commander Hu.

On the other two sides, there sat two middle-aged men. Both men wore smiles, and though they didn’t say much, their aura of high authority was unmistakable.

These two middle-aged men were seated in the third and fourth positions, with the second position likely meant for Hou Xiangde. This meant that Hou Xiaolian would also have to sit behind these two, indicating the high status of the men, who must be Number Two and Number Three from the province.

There were only eight chairs around the table, and Hou Xiangde placed Su Yang in the seventh chair, with Hou Xiaolian sitting in the last position to accompany them. In front of Su Yang were two elders, including the earlier Li Weixian and another one who was Hou Xiaolian’s father-in-law, Xu Jianqin, also no ordinary individual.

Once everyone was seated, Hou Xiangde immediately picked up a wine glass from the table and said with a smile, ”Today, being able to celebrate this birthday, first of all, I must thank Master Su. If it hadn’t been for Master Su, I might no longer be alive, and this birthday celebration would be unnecessary. Master Su, cheers to you!”

All eyes at the table were now on Su Yang, each with a hint of amusement. None of them were ordinary people, and to sit at the same table with a middle school student, they all inevitably felt some displeasure.

And the fact that Hou Xiangde’s first toast was to Su Yang made them even more unsatisfied.