It was already late into the night by the time Xia Fei made his way back to the hospital. Though the arrangements he had made were all in place, he did not relax his guard one bit.
He carefully ran through all the possible avenues he might have neglected as he walked back. After all, this matter concerned Avril’s safety, and he was not about to let anything slip past him if he could help it.
“Don’t dwell too much on things. The plan you’ve just set in place is detailed and comprehensive. As long as Thuram’s men treat it seriously, we shouldn’t run into any issues,” Phantom reassured Xia Fei.
Xia Fei sighed. “That is exactly what I’m worried about. More people means more mouths; if we have even a single slip-up, it can very well cause the entire plan to collapse.”
“Since you’re not at ease, why don’t you do it yourself?” Phantom pursed his lips as he suggested.
Both arrived at the ground floor of the hospital as he chatted. Tidying his clothes to make himself look more energetic, Xia Fei answered, “I need to by Avril’s side. Even if there are gaps in the plan, we still have to protect the person at the center of all these.”
Now that the stage has been set, all that remained was to harvest their catch.
Xia Fei handed over command to the Ling brothers and dedicated himself to staying by Avril’s side and protecting her.
The Ling brothers, whom he had gotten quite close with, had his confidence, and this was why he could entrust the harvest plan to them instead of others.
Furthermore, Xia Fei had once saved Ling Feng’s life. Given the personality these three brothers shared, they would most definitely give their all when helping him.
This was the result he came to after mulling over this for a long time.
If Xia Fei was the one commanding the operation, it meant that he could not be by Avril’s side. If he wanted to stay by her side, he needed to hand command over to someone else. He could not have both his cake and eat it, and when weighing both options, Xia Fei considered Avril more important to him.
The number of bodyguards along the corridor appeared to have increased by quite a bit, which brought Xia Fei some surprise. That was when Pang Xing walked over and said in a deep voice, “The patriarch’s here.”
Xia Fei was slightly stunned. This patriarch should be Avril’s grandfather. It was rumored that the elderly man had already taken a backseat from everything and had retreated deep on the mountains to self-cultivate, ignorant to the world around him.
Xia Fei nodded at Pang Xing and thanked him for his kindly reminder before he slowly made his way to Avril’s room.
His brain was thinking fast. They were now at the critical juncture of harvesting their catch, and Xia Fei had already made his approach known to Pang Hai already; no matter what, Xia Fei would not let off that scum of a human, Barty, yet right now, the real big boss of the Jian family had appeared out of nowhere, and Xia Fei refused to believe that the two were not related at all.
In the room, Avril was seated beside the elderly man. The Jians possessed blond hair, but because this man had already gotten on in his years, his hair was now a mix of yellow and white, somewhat making people feel strange. His face was similar to Newman and Barty’s aside from having even more wrinkles. His gaze was turbid but shrewd, his chin bare without even a bit of fuzz.
Pang Hai was standing at the side, smiling as he watched Ernst and Avril play around. Xia Fei furrowed his brows and reached his hand out to knock on the door.
“You’re back!” Avril excitedly opened the door, dragging Xia Fei in. “Xia Fei, this is my grandfather, Ernst.
“Grandpa, this is Xia Fei.”
Xia Fei very respectfully greeted Ernst and Pang Hai, pulling a chair from the side to sit in.
Ernst’s eyes focused on Xia Fei, seizing him up. His gaze seemed very complex. Xia Fei did not say a word, pouring himself a cup of tea and leaning back in his chair, enjoying his beverage.
“You’re Xia Fei?” Ernst asked.
“Yes.”
“I heard that your home planet is somewhere called Earth?”
“That’s right,” Xia Fei answered very simply.
Ernst felt that it was pointless, so he did not ask any further.
Though Avril was not one who understood the ways of the world, she nevertheless could sense some unpleasantness from the conversation between the two.
‘Oh, no, grandfather doesn’t seem to like Xia Fei; what should I do?’ Avril was a bit flustered thinking this. Her father did not like Xia Fei, and neither did her grandfather. This fact caused Avril to feel quite a terrible headache.
“Xia Fei, my grandfather likes hearing jokes. Why don’t you tell him some of the jokes you’ve told me?” Avril’s quick thinking made her come up with the idea of getting Xia Fei to tell a joke to ease the tension in the room.
Xia Fei shook his head. “I’m a little tired today; can we postpone this to another day?”
Ernst laughed uproariously. “Okay, there’s no need to force yourself if you don’t wish to speak. You should all leave. I want to discuss something with Xia Fei.”
Avril obediently listened to her grandfather. Pang Hai and she walked out together, eyeing Xia Fei before she went, signaling for Xia Fei not to anger her grandfather. Xia Fei pretended not to catch this gesture, causing Avril to pout in response.
“Now that it’s just the two of us, I do believe you already know why I’m here?” Ernst asked.
Xia Fei nodded. “Barty’s your son at the end of the day. I would show up as well if I were in your shoes.”
Ernst heaved a long sigh, his eyes looking out the window. “You’re right. When a son makes a mistake, there’s no way for a father to shirk his responsibility.”
Pausing for some time, Ernst continued. “I know all about Barty’s deeds. Pang Hai did all he could to hide this from me by his volition. Had it not been for the fact that he could no longer cover for Barty, he would very much have continued keeping it from me.”
“Pang Hai’s family has been serving mine, and given that my son caused this matter, I don’t have any reason to blame him. With how old Pang Hai is already, he’s at the age where he ought to retire. You’ve met his son, Pang Xing; what are your thoughts on him? Think he is qualified to take over the role as the head butler?”
Xia Fei was slightly shocked at the question. He could not understand why Ernst would ask for his opinion on who should become the head butler of the Jian family or if someone was qualified to take over a job.
Smiling, Xia Fei gave his answer. “I won’t interfere with matters concerning your household.”
“Then, can you at least tell me what your thoughts are on Pang Xing? I heard that you had fought with him before?” Ernst persisted on this topic.
Xia Fei had already formulated an answer in his mind. “I’m not really familiar with him, but I do feel that his loyalty to your family is beyond doubt, and he treats Avril well, too.”
Ernst seemed to be somewhat dissatisfied with Xia Fei’s evasive answer, folding his arms to ask, “Do you like Avril?”
“I do.” Xia Fei did not expect Ernst to ask such a blunt question. Thankfully, he had the bachelor’s momentum and was not at all thrown off by the question, simply giving a very generous answer.
Old Ernst’s eyes glowed as he grimaced. “I dote on my son as well.”
Superficially, it seemed that both statements were unrelated to each other, but when considering the time and place, everything became all the more intriguing.
“All fathers under the heavens dote on their sons; that is only a given,” Xia Fei softly commented.
“A father is willing to pay any price in order to protect his son.” Ernst promptly reverted to his previous attitude, becoming all somber.
“Everyone’s their father’s offspring, and there’s no such thing as anyone being more valuable than another. I believe other fathers will also do everything within their power to protect their sons.”
With the conversation reaching this point, Xia Fei became clear on Ernst’s goal, which was why he was hinting on the old man that those girls, who had died by Barty’s hands, were also others’ offspring, so there was no reason for his son not to be held accountable for his deeds.
Ernst was abruptly taken aback by this. At that very moment, it was as if he had grown a lot older, and it was without a doubt that Xia Fei’s words had struck a strong chord in him.
“Is there really no way to let him off?” Ernst’s two hands went to cover his face, asking in his hoarse voice.
“Things aren’t as what you’ve imagined; I’m not the only one who knows about Barty’s business, so it’s pointless for us to discuss this matter.”
“I know that those people work for you and that you are able to de-escalate things.” Ernst finally stopped beating around the bush and went straight to the point. “I’m not here today to plead for that bastard’s life. What Barty has done is enough for him to be killed a hundred times over! Today, I’m representing our Jian family’s ancestors to beg you; once Barty’s matter is leaked to the outside world, our entire family will be ruined. I don’t wish to see the foundation that my ancestors painstakingly built be ruined by that bastard’s hands!”
Ernst was becoming more and more agitated as he spoke, with his old and pale turning beet-red. Xia Fei was very certain that what Ernst said was the truth. He was indeed not doing this for his son, but for his entire family, including Avril.
“If you agree to letting Barty go, I’ll marry you to Avril. Everything of the Jian family will belong to you,” Ernst said with red eyes.
Shock!
Extreme shock!
This was indeed a condition that no one could refuse. The beautiful Avril and the Starlink Corporation, the thirteenth largest business in the whole Alliance. Countless men did not even dare to dream of something like this, yet such an opportunity was up for grabs in front of Xia Fei right now. As long as he nodded, everything would belong to him!
Xia Fei really hesitated. Anyone would most definitely waver in the face of such a tempting offer. Besides, Xia Fei was someone who had struggled from the lowest rung of society; he was very well acquainted with the importance of money more than anyone else.
Ernst’s eyes slightly squinted. The wily old fox knew that Xia Fei was hesitating. He believed that, as long as this boy was not insane, there would not be anyone who could refuse such an offer, but what he did not realize was that Xia Fei really had such a nickname: Crazy Xia.
Xia Fei contemplated this with knitted eyebrows for the longest time, then he seemed to have understood something suddenly, and his entire person became a lot more at ease.
“I’m sorry; I can’t do that.” Xia Fei chuckled as he gave his answer.
Ernst was completely flabbergasted. He was confident that no one in the universe would be able to reject his offer, yet Xia Fei had actually gone ahead and done just that!
At the moment, Ernst felt quite drained inside as if even the air around him was mocking the decline of his distinguished major family, and to add insult to injury, that it had happened in his time.
Getting up, Ernst headed out with faltering steps. Now that all the pieces had fallen in place, there was no need to continue the chat any longer. Since Xia Fei rejected such an offer, there was simply nothing he could think of that would make this boy change his mind.
“Actually, I do have an idea to avoid your family’s decline,” Xia Fei said after deliberating it for some time.
“What is it?”
“You ought to know it.”
Ernst barked out a self-deprecating laugh, turning around to nod in Xia Fei’s direction. “Though it’ll be an ending different from what I expected, I must still thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Xia Fei replied.