Chapter 239: A Complete Falling-Out

Chapter 239: Chapter 239: A Complete Falling-Out

Soon after dinner was finished, Zhang Wei Qiang put down his bowl and chopsticks and looked at Zhang Dazhuang and Wen Xiu, who were also nearly done eating. "Dad, Mom, I fired Second Brother, his wife, and Third Brother today. I expect they’ll be showing up here in the next day or two."

"What did they do this time?"

Wen Xiu SLAMMED her bowl and chopsticks down. Before Zhang Wei Qiang could even speak, her face twisted in fury. "Never a moment of peace! They can’t rest unless they’re stirring up trouble. Have both of their families forgotten the promises they made when they came begging for these jobs?" Then she glared at Zhang Wei Qiang. "You knew what kind of people they were, Qiangzi. Why did you have to be so soft-hearted back then?"

Zhang Wei Qiang gave a bitter smile.

"Mom, you can’t blame Eldest Brother for being soft-hearted. He was in a tough spot," Zhang Minzhen spoke up for her brother, stating the facts of the matter. "Back then, Second Brother and Third Brother’s families made such an ugly scene trying to get into the company. Besides, we’ve hired plenty of people from the Zhang clan and the village. Leaving out our own brothers would have looked bad to outsiders, wouldn’t it?"

’We were all born from the same parents,’ she thought. She knew that even though her mom talked tough, it pained her to see her own family branch prospering while her other two sons’ lives were still so difficult. She remembered her eldest brother telling her in private that he wanted to give those two families one more chance. If they could change and learn to be content, he wouldn’t mind giving them a hand for the sake of brotherhood. If they couldn’t, then so be it. At least he would have an answer for their parents, and by then, Mom and Dad should be able to finally give up on them for good.

Zhang Minzhen sighed to herself. ’A leopard can’t change its spots.’ She had long suspected it would come to this and was prepared for the day they would finally have a complete falling out.

"They’re a lost cause! When we hire people from the clan, the village, or even outsiders, at least they’re grateful and hope our company does better and better. But them? The bigger and more successful our family’s company gets, the more green with envy they become. Have you heard the things they say behind our backs? Not a single word shows they wish us well!"

Speaking of his two good-for-nothing sons had Zhang Dazhuang bristling his mustache and glaring. Every time he heard news about them, he’d be hopping mad. After those two joined the family company, he naturally couldn’t truly trust them, so he inevitably had someone keep an eye on them. He’d have been better off not knowing; what he found out was infuriating. One day he’d hear they were throwing their weight around and bullying people, the next he’d hear they were complaining to someone that their own parents were incredibly biased. They claimed all the benefits went to the eldest son, and that even the youngest daughter and granddaughter were reaping huge rewards while the ’proper’ sons and grandsons were left behind...

What kind of nonsense was that? Didn’t everyone know the family business started with a secret recipe for meat buns?

Even the two of them—the older generation—and the eldest son’s family had benefited thanks to their daughter and granddaughter. But in the mouths of those two, the truth was completely twisted.

"Are you just now figuring out what they’re like? Hmph, I saw right through them from the start. And to think you once considered leaving them some company shares... Heh, good thing you changed your mind. Otherwise, just you watch, with shares in hand they’d be even more brazen. It would be much harder to clean up the mess when they did something to really harm the company," Wen Xiu said resentfully, turning her verbal fire on her husband.

"Ahem, why are you bringing that up? I changed my mind later precisely because I figured out their true nature," Zhang Dazhuang said, embarrassed.

"Mom, don’t keep bringing this up to provoke Dad..." Zhang Minzhen quickly interjected.

Seeing that her grandpa, grandma, and mom had completely derailed the conversation and no one remembered to ask why her eldest uncle had fired her second and third uncles, Gu Nuan Nuan curiously pressed, "Eldest Uncle, what did Second and Third Uncle do this time that made you finally kick them out for good, without holding anything back?"

"Yeah, what did they do this time?" Gu Nuan Nuan’s question pulled Zhang Dazhuang, Wen Xiu, and Zhang Minzhen’s attention back. The three of them chimed in with the same question.

"I know about this one. Heh, they really went too far this time. They colluded with the deputy manager of the ecological farm over in Zhang Family Village to secretly sell wild fish. It was their third time. They were only caught red-handed by Eldest Uncle because someone secretly reported them." Having been with the Zhang family for so long, Luo Xiaohu had a clear understanding of the situation and held both Zhang Weihong’s and Zhang Weimin’s families in contempt.

"The third time stealing and selling wild fish?"

Gu Nuan Nuan looked at her eldest uncle with suspicion. She remembered that her second uncle, his wife, and her third uncle had indeed all been assigned by Eldest Uncle to the ecological farm not far from Zhang Family Village. That farm was the largest of the Zhang family’s several farms, and because it was closest to Zhang Family Village, most of the employees were from the Zhang clan and the village.

’Something’s not right. When did Eldest Uncle’s supervision become so lax that fish could be stolen and sold three times before being discovered?’

"Their audacity has really grown. They knew how important those wild fish are to our family, and they still dared to steal and sell them." Wen Xiu was furious, so angry she felt like she could spit blood.

Zhang Dazhuang furrowed his brow. This was the first he had heard of it, and besides being furious, he shared Gu Nuan Nuan’s confusion. "Did they do it so secretively? How else could they get away with it three times before being discovered?"

"That’s right, Eldest Brother. It seems there are still loopholes in our management. If they could do this, could the same problem be happening at our other farms?" Zhang Minzhen had a policy of not commenting on her second and third brothers’ actions in front of their parents if she could help it, so her focus was naturally different from her parents’ and her daughter’s.

"There were indeed loopholes. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have succeeded in selling the fish the first time," Zhang Wei Qiang admitted with a nod. "So, right after they sold the fish that first time, I thoroughly investigated all the other farms. Fortunately, no one else was exploiting any loopholes."

"So you’re saying they didn’t succeed the second time? Then why was there a third time?" Gu Nuan Nuan voiced the question on everyone’s mind.

"Eldest Uncle said he let it go the second time to give them a chance. He’d allow it once, maybe twice, but not a third time. That’s why he waited for the third attempt to make his move and catch them red-handed," Luo Xiaohu said, curling his lip. "He should have sent them to the police station, but Eldest Uncle said he didn’t want to make things too ugly for the sake of their brotherhood, so he let them off. He just made them return the dirty money they’d earned and then fired them along with that deputy manager."

"That’s letting them off way too easy," Wen Xiu said bitterly. Then she fell silent, a look of sorrow inevitably clouding her face. She knew that this time, her three sons had truly fallen out, and there would be no chance for reconciliation.

Everyone saw Wen Xiu’s sorrow. It wasn’t just her; the others also felt a heavy, stifling feeling in their chests, and so, no one spoke.