The Master Descends the Mountain: My Destined CEO

Xiao Ye's lips curled into a malicious smile. "Leave? Why should I?"

"So you can take my money and then force me to kneel and apologize? Dream on!"

The Xiao Family members were utterly speechless. "There was no other way. It's your fault for offending Young Master Yang. We had to do it."

"That's right. Besides, we did it for your own good—to make sure you could survive!"

"Without us, do you really think Young Master Yang would have let you go?"

'Even at a time like this, they were still trying to make excuses.'

'As expected. The Xiao Family was rotten to the core.'

'The rot starts at the top.'

'It was useless to expect them to ever admit their mistakes.'

Xiao Ye couldn't be bothered to waste any more words on them. It was like talking to a brick wall.

He casually picked up a cup and threw it straight at one of them, holding nothing back. "Are you leaving or not?"

"If you don't, I'll have to make you end up like the ones before you."

At these words, the Xiao Family members grew fearful.

They had witnessed Xiao Ye's methods before. His fighting skills were no joke.

A few old geezers like them were truly no match for him.

"Fine, we'll go!"

「In a mid-range residential complex in the Imperial City.」

The Patriarch of the Xiao Family, Xiao Wenbin, took several calls in a row. The messages were all largely the same, and they were all about the recently returned Xiao Ye.

"Patriarch, you need to get back from abroad! If you don't, something terrible is going to happen!"

"That son of yours is about to destroy the Xiao Family!"

"He gave everyone at the company time off! If you don't get back soon, no one will be working, and we'll be losing hundreds of thousands a day!"

Xiao Wenbin rubbed his aching temples. "All right, I get it. I'll buy a ticket and fly back tomorrow. For now, you all figure out a way to keep him under control."

After hanging up, he was so angry he almost smashed his phone.

'A bunch of good-for-nothings!'

'So many of them, and they can't handle a single person!'

'And he had repeatedly told them to treat Xiao Ye well, but it had all ended up like this.'

'Whatever. He would just have to go back and take a look.'

The next day, Xiao Wenbin returned to the Xiao Family estate.

The moment he stepped through the door, he saw his so-called "eldest son" leisurely eating fruit.

As for the people around him, they were all groveling at his feet, each one of them writhing in pain.

To make matters worse, each had an apple core stuffed in their mouth, which they had to bite down on. They absolutely could not let it drop, or a brutal beating would follow.

Xiao Wenbin's head instantly throbbed. "Xiao Ye, what do you think you're doing! Are you trying to raise hell?!"

Xiao Ye looked at him without a hint of deference. "This is the first time you've shown your face since I've been back."

"And the first words out of your mouth are to criticize me. Is that what a Patriarch is supposed to do?"

"Don't you try to twist things. I know everything that's happened these past few days. Don't think for a second that just because I was abroad, I wasn't getting daily reports."

Xiao Wenbin's eyes widened as he tried to project his authority as Patriarch.

Xiao Ye shot him a sidelong glance.

'Abroad?'

'Abroad my ass!'

'He could fool others, but if he thought he could fool me, he was dreaming!'

'Xiao Wenbin hadn't gone abroad at all. He'd been holed up with his mistress, too scared to even step outside.'

'But at least I'd managed to force him out of hiding.'

'This man, Xiao Wenbin, was definitely a very useful lead.'

Xiao Ye stood up and kicked away the person beside him. "Alright, you can all get lost now!"

Xiao Wenbin glared at this but said nothing more. Instead, he gave Xiao Ye a cold look and started up the stairs. "Come to the study. We need to have a proper talk."

The two men, finally released, scrambled away, terrified that if they stayed a second longer, Xiao Ye would catch them and beat them again.

All they had done was say a few bad things about Xiao Ye, and they had been tortured to within an inch of their lives.

If they had known this would happen, they would have kept their mouths shut!

Xiao Ye followed him with a lazy swagger, and they entered the study together.

The study was the Patriarch's domain, a place where no one else was permitted to enter.

Xiao Ye pulled out a chair and sat down, showing no regard whatsoever for the so-called Patriarch.

Seeing this, Xiao Wenbin's eyelid twitched with anger. "I know you're resentful."

"But your disappearance wasn't the Xiao Family's fault. It was all just an accident."

"An accident?" Xiao Ye asked with a humorless smile.

His expression made Xiao Wenbin's heart sink. 'Could he know something?'

'No, that shouldn't be possible.'

They were not the legendary Hidden Clan, the Xiao Family, but they were a branch that had split off from it.

The price for losing that power struggle was that they were no longer part of that behemoth.

They had split off a hundred years ago. The one who led them out had used his own funds to re-establish the Xiao Family.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, they could never hold a candle to the Hidden Clan, and they had long since lost all contact.

Xiao Ye strongly resembled the people of their branch—or perhaps it was more accurate to say that all members of the Xiao Family looked alike.

"Yes, an accident," Xiao Wenbin said, clearing his throat to make himself sound more confident. "So there's no need to take your anger out on anyone."

"I know you've suffered in the past. That's why we brought you back the moment we learned of your whereabouts."

"If I hadn't been abroad, I would have come to get you personally."

'Have to admit, this old fox Wenbin had some thick skin.'

'He could lie without so much as a blush or a quickened heartbeat, even managing to look like a loving father.'

Xiao Ye had no interest in listening to this nonsense. "If that's the case, how do you plan to compensate me?"

"Let's put other things aside for now. The other juniors of the Xiao Family grew up here. They received all sorts of elite education; they ate and wore the very best."

"People around my age get an allowance of over a hundred thousand a month, but I never got to enjoy any of that."

"So how about this? First, you compensate me for the twenty-odd years of money I'm owed. We can talk about the rest later. I did a quick calculation. I won't ask for much—how does three hundred million sound?"

Xiao Wenbin was so furious he almost grabbed the calligraphy brush holder and smashed it over Xiao Ye's head.

'This little bastard!'

'Three hundred million, just like that. Why doesn't he just go rob a bank?!'

Xiao Wenbin barely managed to swallow the curse that rose to his lips.

He suppressed his fury and maintained his composure as Patriarch. "It doesn't cost three hundred million to raise someone to your age."

"Besides, the Xiao Family only looks prosperous on the outside. In reality, we are already in decline."

But Xiao Ye just waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine. A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. You owe me this, so you should pay me back."

Xiao Wenbin had no choice but to change his approach. "From now on, you are the Eldest Young Master of the Xiao Family. You will have the primary right of inheritance."

"Once you're in control of the Xiao Family, won't you be able to have anything you desire?"

'He's really good at making empty promises.'

'Every transfer of power inevitably led to a war fought without gunpowder.'

'Only the final victor could become the new Patriarch; birth order had nothing to do with it.'

"Fine. In that case, let me join the company," Xiao Ye agreed with a crisp nod.

Xiao Wenbin had already planned for this. "You're the eldest, so of course you should join the company. However, you certainly can't become CEO right away."

"There is still much for you to learn. I will find you a mentor and an assistant to support your training and help you take over gradually."

"You are my son, after all, and you've suffered so much out there. How about this? I'll give you a whole company to practice with. What do you say?"