Chapter 806: Shifting the Trouble East

After a night of chaos that tore apart the warmth of the Nie Family, Gu Baishuang was tired. She just wanted to go back to her room and sleep.

"Mom." Nie Xiaofeng mumbled, feeling an indescribable ache in his heart.

The events of tonight completely dissipated the good mood brought by the family reunion.

Gu Baishuang patted her son’s shoulder and went back to her room without looking back.

Nie Xiaofeng took a long time to come to his senses.

Gu Baishuang deliberately shattered the false image of family harmony and brotherly love for Nie Xiaofeng to see.

Otherwise, Nie Xiaofeng’s fantasy of family affection towards them would only harm himself.

If Nie Xiaofeng insisted on maintaining an emotional connection with them and believed in a harmonious family, she would completely give up on him as her son.

She understood her two daughters-in-law, and also knew her grandchildren well.

Nie Xiaofeng knew his two older brothers harbored resentment about his birth, and his sisters-in-law were particularly focused on the family inheritance. He tried to convince himself that human nature was like that.

In the past, he also thought that no one could take away his share.

His brothers and sisters-in-law pursuing their own interests was not wrong.

He was now a Deputy General, and had earned his wealth himself; he would not lay a finger on what belonged to the Nie Family if they wanted it.

At the dinner table, the father’s love and the two brothers’ kindness made him mistakenly believe that all family conflicts over interests had disappeared along with his achievements.

The dispute tonight shattered his illusions.

At this moment, he only felt that he was too naive, naive to the point of stupidity.

How could he not realize that human greed knows no bounds?

He hadn’t even sacrificed anything yet, but his sisters-in-law were already thinking about dividing his inheritance and continuing his lineage.

They must have been talking about it at home every day, otherwise, how could the children speak so smoothly about continuing his lineage?

Nie Xiaofeng’s face looked particularly unsightly, regretting letting his two brothers and their wives into the mansion.

"Dad, tonight’s events, no matter who you want to blame, you can’t put it on Mom. Big brother and second brother decided on my inheritance without me even knowing. My mom has been tolerant enough with them." Nie Xiaofeng said to Nie Mingyuan.

Not waiting for Nie Mingyuan to respond, Nie Xiaofeng continued, "Dad, you heard everything just now. Your two dear sons are hoping for me to die so their sons can inherit my estate."

Nie Mingyuan avoided Nie Xiaofeng’s gaze and explained, "It’s all a misunderstanding. Your two brothers aren’t that malicious. This is a long story. When you left for two years without any news, with brutal war at the border and frequent news of defeats, your two brothers just thought you... They meant well, and discussed with me that if it really happened, they couldn’t let your lineage end, so they thought of choosing one of their children to be adopted to continue your lineage."

"These words weren’t hidden from the children. You know how kids are; they can’t understand adults’ words properly, and passed it around until it became what you heard today."

"Your two brothers absolutely had no ill intentions and only wish you well. To put it bluntly, only if you’re well can they benefit. When they later learned you were promoted to Deputy General, your two brothers cried out of excitement."

"Don’t take a child’s naive words to heart. What is there to argue with children over?"

Nie Mingyuan surprisingly downplayed the night’s events to immature words from a few children.

Nie Xiaofeng looked coldly at Nie Mingyuan.

Feeling guilty, Nie Mingyuan, gritting his teeth, said, "Your two brothers had no mother since childhood and treated your mom as their own. Later, when your mom gave birth to you, she focused all her attention on you, so they naturally felt neglected in comparison. As your mother’s biological son, your mom planning for you is what she should do as a mother. But there is only so much within a family. Everyone who stands in everyone’s shoes will naturally see things differently. As the father in this, I sometimes feel very difficult too. We’re a family, and if misunderstandings arise, we should talk through them. You and your brother are both Nie Family, broken bones with connected tendons. Family should be supporting each other. We can’t allow trivial matters to breed resentment."

Nie Ming also seemed to have a hint of blaming Gu Baishuang in his words.

He implied that if Gu Baishuang wasn’t holding onto the family business so tightly, the two sons wouldn’t have conflicts over getting less.

Gu Baishuang had control over the shipping business and was a shareholder in Jufu Supermarket, and she had a fur business at the border with Gu Dashu. The profits each year were worth more than what Nie Mingyuan and his sons could earn in ten years. She was clearly using the Nie Family’s capital, but the Silver she earned wasn’t shared with the two step-sons.

This left the two step-sons to cling to the small business in their hands, which bred suspicion.

In Nie Mingyuan’s vision, Gu Baishuang’s business should be handed over to the eldest son, his lacquerware shop to the second son for inheritance, and Nie Xiaofeng, with his own hard-earned deputy general position, could have his own share, putting an end to quarreling.

But Gu Baishuang would not agree, not willing to hand over her business to the two stepsons. Not just that, she would not let them touch a bit of the profits.

Everything she had was left to Nie Xiaofeng, who didn’t even need it, which, of course, led to complaints from the two step-sons, ultimately stirring discontent within the household.

Nie Xiaofeng, upon hearing Nie Mingyuan blaming Gu Baishuang, became annoyed.

He retorted to Nie Mingyuan, "Dad, you’re quite partial. Are the two brothers your sons and I’m not? The two brothers want to steal my things while I’m not even dead yet, and not only do you find no fault in them, but you even defend them. Why did big brother and second brother clash? It’s all because you spoiling them and ignoring their discord. Once exposed, not only do you fail to see your own mistakes, but you blame everything on my mom instead."

"Is it wrong for my mom to love me? Doesn’t Dad also love the two brothers? As their stepmother, when brother and sister-in-law are disrespectful to mom, has Dad ever reprimanded them? He always advised mom to be magnanimous, always pressuring my mom that others outside would only blame the stepparent. Dad ignored all the grievances mom suffered in the Nie Family, so why blame mom when the two brothers have a conflict? If you were worried about the two brothers’ grievances, you shouldn’t have remarried, you should have lived with the two brothers and managed."

With the family conflict erupting just as Nie Mingyuan arrived in Shengjing, instead of addressing it, he sought to push the blame onto Gu Baishuang.

The aim was to pressure Nie Xiaofeng to stress Gu Baishuang, so for the sake of family harmony, Gu Baishuang would be forced to relinquish her business.

Nie Mingyuan was rendered speechless by Nie Xiaofeng’s sharp retorts.

Nie Xiaofeng continued, "Why did sister-in-law tell the children they would inherit my lineage after I died? The root of it all lies with you, Dad. You wanted to marry mom to handle household affairs and take care of your sons, yet you were afraid she would touch the family property. Under your influence, the two brothers think everything in the family rightfully belongs to them, and any share for mom and me is seen as wishful thinking. Even the wealth I earned myself is still seen by brother and sister-in-law as the Nie Family’s, and because it’s the Nie Family’s, they think it’s theirs."

Nie Mingyuan was hit at his sore spot by Nie Xiaofeng, leaving him with a flushed face.