273 — Insults Fly At The Gao Family Meeting (1)

The atmosphere was tense as Qiao Mingran concluded her words. "So, the purpose of this meeting is just to inform you that we want to add our eldest daughter to the genealogical records of the family."

Her even voice showed that she was really only informing them, not soliciting their opinion or agreement.

One of the men present was the first to speak out, "No! Absolutely not. How can you bring a stranger into our family just like that?"

The rest of the guests kept quiet. They all had the same opinion, but the third brother had always been the most reckless and outspoken one among them, so they let him handle it.

The stare Qiao Mingran directed his way could have melted a person down. She sneered as she spoke mockingly,

"Third Brother-in-law, do you perhaps need me to book a doctor's appointment for you? Perhaps your ears are no longer functioning properly? I was talking about my eldest daughter, not a stranger."

"You—" Gao Yigang first froze in shock, then he lost his ability to form a coherent sentence due to anger. When did his brother's wife become so uncouth?

"Me what? Third Brother-in-law, it's in your best interest to calm down. It won't do for you to suddenly have a stroke in my house. A funeral this early in the year is unlucky."

Even Gao Tinghua coughed this time. His mother was on a roll today.

"First Brother, are you just going to sit there and listen to your wife insult me?" Gao Yigang spoke angrily.

Gao Zhipeng looked at his wife, trying to signal her with his eyes to calm down. Although this was his younger brother, their elders were still here. Their silence only meant that they agreed with Gao Yigang's words.

Exasperated at his brother's weakness, Gao Yigang turned to the oldest man in the room— Gao Zhuang, "Uncle, say something. Talk to her!"

Gao Zhuang was the younger brother to Gao Zhipeng's father, who died many years ago. He was the eldest person in the Gao family, and commanded quite a bit of respect.

Qiao Mingran smiled coldly, "Third Brother-in-law, might I remind you that this is my house? Or should I introduce you to your brother's eye doctor? Just in case you need to check your eyes as well."

Gao Zhipeng looked worriedly at his wife, but didn't want to offend her. The divorce papers she had served him were still on his desk and they really had a huge deterrent effect.

Qiao Mingran ignored her husband's gestures and calmly sipped her tea, leaving the hall to lapse in silence for a short moment.

Helpless, Gao Zhipeng spoke, "Our daughter has just been found recently, but no matter what, she's still the flesh and blood of the Gao family. We have to acknowledge her."

"But First Brother, can't you see? This will mess up the order of the family! And how do we even know she's your daughter?"

"Gao Yigang! Are you saying I should not recognize my daughter just to preserve the family order? And do you think I won't even recognize my own daughter?"

Gao Zhipeng was merely saying words to keep the peace at first, trying not to offend any side, but now he was actually angry. Why was it that everyone was always trying to tell him what to do? It was his daughter for crying out loud, not their's.

Seeing how his elder brother's face darkened, Gao Dilin—Gao Zhipeng's second brother added his own voice, "First Brother, what Yigang is trying to say is that we can't be hasty in this matter. So much rides on this arbitrary decision of yours."

"It has already been thirty-four years, yet it's considered "hasty"? If we do it your way, Second Brother-in-law, won't my daughter have become a grandmother by that time?" Qiao Mingran didn't give the man any face at all as she spoke.

Gao Dilin strove to find calm, "Sister-in-law, I don't mean it like that. What I'm trying to say is that, seeing the peculiar circumstances, why can't we introduce her as a long lost cousin? Or even as a distant relative from your side of the family? Tongues will wag if things are done your way."

Qiao Mingran put her disdain for his words on full display, "Second Brother-in-law, I say this out of concern, but I don't think you're in your right mind. Because if you were, you wouldn't even suggest those poorly crafted lies. You would have done better than that."

Gao Dilin, just like his brother threw up his hands in anger after shouting "You—" a few times. Was this how the matriarch of a noble family should behave?

"Enough." Gao Zhuang finally spoke up. His voice wasn't loud, but it effectively silenced everyone, managing the tension in the room.

"Nephew's Wife, you need to calm down. We understand how you feel, but to make the best decision, we need to cast sentiments aside."

In deference to his seniority, Qiao Mingran stopped spitting out barbed words, "Uncle, I'm not an unreasonable person, but they're forcing me. After more than three decades, I finally found the daughter I've been searching for—their full-blooded niece, but see how cold they are. No one even cared to ask about her, how she has fared all these years, if she's alright, not even her name!

"Without knowing anything about her, they're just obstructing her from coming into her own family. For what? Some shares? Just for some measly sum of money, my daughter should be denied her heritage and inheritance?"

Agitated again, Gao Yigang didn't wait for his Uncle to speak before butting in, "Sister-in-law, what do you mean by "measly sum of money"? It's easily in the tens of billions, alright? And those shares are currently balanced out. How can we upset the balance so easily? Not to mention, the main problem is—"

"I said it's enough. Keep quiet." Gao Zhuang's voice sounded sharply in the room, quieting Gao Yigang's exasperated voice.

Seeing everyone had stopped talking, he said, "It's indeed cold of us to to just speak like that, but you have to understand where we're coming from, Nephew's Wife. First, you have already done the DNA test, right?"

"Yes Uncle. She's indeed our daughter."

Gao Zhuang nodded, then stayed silent for so long that Gao Yigang was almost fidgeting. Why was his uncle hesitating?

He was about to speak when Gao Zhuang finally opened his mouth, "Nephew's Wife, before anything else, you are the matriarch of our Gao family. Everything you do should be in the interests of the family.

"We are not cold-blooded, and the girl in question is a legitimate daughter of our family, so we will not deny her. It is just that now is really not a good time."

Qiao Mingran's face was so tightly furrowed that Gao Zhipeng thought she was about to explode on the spot.

But she calmed down and asked, "Uncle, why?"

*****

Little theatre:

S_J: Chairman Li, do you know that your wife is worth tens of billions? She's rich ah!

LCM: (Condescending) Just that much and they're making such a fuss, threatening my wife's peace? It's just chump change.

S_J: (Annoyed) Don't flaunt your wealth in front of me. This girl has not yet seen so much money in her life, okay?!