Chapter 600 - Chapter 600: Chapter 598: The Friendship Over Two Beef Buns
Chapter 600: Chapter 598: The Friendship Over Two Beef Buns
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What the Jiang Family Members in Beiping didn’t know was that a fierce inheritance battle had already erupted within the Sun Family, a thousand miles away in FJ, characterized by unabashed hostility and an outburst of conflicts that left relationships tattered and tempers flaring.
On March 17th at 10 a.m., while absentmindedly doing his work in the kitchen, Jiang Feng was stealthily glancing at Sir, who was busily preparing lavish bento boxes for Director Zhong—ever ready to deliver meals to the hospital.
All that could be heard in the kitchen was the roar of machinery and the hum of the smoke extractor, creating a noisy environment that strangely seemed very quiet, which in turn was imbued with a sense of silence and awkwardness.
“Jiang Feng.”
As Jiang Feng was blatantly staring at the luxurious bento being prepared for Director Zhong by Sir, Ji Yue had already appeared in front of him, holding a phone that was still in the middle of a call.
“It’s Sun Jikai’s call, for you,” Ji Yue handed the phone to Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi immediately looked towards him.
“Hello.” Jiang Feng took the phone.
“Hello, this is Sun Jikai,” Sun Jikai said, his voice steady without any discernible emotion, “My grandpa’s funeral is set for tomorrow afternoon. Although it’s short notice and you’re quite far from us, I still hope that you and Grandpa Jiang can attend. I will arrange accommodations for you.”
“Of course, Grandpa and I will definitely come. I’ll check for flights today and if there are any, we’ll leave today,” Jiang Feng replied.
“Thank you. I should have informed you yesterday, but things were delayed here, and it was only confirmed today. I’ll send you the specific time and location later via WeChat,” Sun Jikai explained.
For some reason, Jiang Feng felt that in the background of Sun Jikai’s call there was the sound of two people arguing, or perhaps a one-sided tirade. He could distinctly hear a shrill female voice shouting loudly in a dialect he could not understand and in what seemed like an unfriendly tone.
“By the way, how is Granduncle Weiming doing now? Is he recovering?” Sun Jikai asked.
“He’s recovering well and should be able to get out of bed in a couple of days.” Even though Sun Jikai couldn’t see him, Jiang Feng instinctively smiled.
“That’s good to hear,” Sun Jikai replied politely, indicating a desire to end the call, “I’ve got other things to attend to, so I’ll hang up now.”
“Okay.” After Jiang Feng responded, he felt that he should say something comforting, considering Sun Jikai had just suffered the loss of his loved one—a deeply distressing experience.
“Condolences.”
The call ended.
“What did they say?” Ji Yue and Wu Minqi asked in unison.
“Sir Sun’s funeral is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon,” Jiang Feng said succinctly. “Qiqi, call your mom at noon to confirm if Sun Jikai has informed your family. If you’re sure you’re going, we’ll book the tickets this afternoon. It’s best to go today to avoid haste.”
Wu Minqi nodded, “I’ll call my mom at noon.”
“Ah.” Ji Yue sighed.
Although she got on well with Sun Jikai, she had no connections with Sun Guanyun and certainly would not attend his funeral. All she could do was send a couple of dull and ineffectual words of comfort via WeChat—cliché and lacking any feedback.
Besides, her poor writing skills made her words appear even more lackluster—undeniably original as such terrible expressions could not be found online, and even if they were, nobody would bother to copy them.
“Let me know when you’ve confirmed the time, as Xiaxia wants to make some peach pastries for you to take over,” Ji Yue said.
“Peach pastries?” Jiang Feng looked puzzled, unable to see the connection between peach pastries and the matter at hand.
“Aren’t peach pastries sweet? Xiaxia read some article on a WeChat public account a few days ago—it might have been an advertisement for a dessert shop—claiming that sweet foods can make people happy. She took it to heart and decided to make some peach pastries to take over as a token of her sentiments,” Ji Yue explained.
“Have Xiaxia and Sun Jikai met?” Jiang Feng felt there might be a mistake in his memory. He couldn’t recall any interactions between Ji Xia and Sun Jikai.
“They’ve met,” Ji Yue confirmed without a doubt, “She told me about it last night. Remember how she ran away from home and went to work in a textile factory over there? Sun Jikai helped catch her, and since it was early morning, he even bought her two beef buns.”
Jiang Feng suddenly understood—the bond of two beef buns.
Meanwhile, after finishing the calls at home, Sun Jikai finally had the chance to go downstairs and deal with his biological parents who were already in the midst of an uproar on the ground floor.
Such incidents were rare in their family, as anyone on good terms with the Sun Family knew that Sun Changping (Sun Jikai’s dad) had a gentle nature and was affectionate towards his wife. It was unlikely for him to quarrel with anyone, let alone his own wife.
Put nicely, Sun Changping was good-tempered and soft-hearted; put critically, he was a spineless man who easily endured grievances.
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Sun Jikai rubbed his temples, which were throbbing with a dull headache, as he struggled to control the urge to rush downstairs and yell at the two people to get out. Slowly making his way down the stairs, he tried to quell the irritability and anger within his heart.
Ever since Sun Guanyun passed away, there had been no peace in the Sun Family.
Even though Sun Guanyun’s will had not yet been made public by the lawyer, Sun Jikai’s mother acted as if the company and Jewel Building were already in the bag, eager to make sweeping changes from day one—reassigning positions, cutting staff, and replacing all of Sun Channing’s (Sun Jikai’s second uncle) people with her own cronies.
But she didn’t seem to realize that someone who only knew how to spend money and picked fights over trivial matters didn’t have any true loyalists.
It was as if she couldn’t just live a perfectly good life without turning it into some braindead corporate battle drama.
Sun Jikai had reached the living room.
The room was in disarray—various broken pieces scattered all over the floor, and several shelves, vases, and baskets had been knocked over, clearly indication a fierce skirmish had taken place.
Sun Jikai felt no inner turmoil, in fact, he felt the urge to hit someone.
He looked at his biological parents.
Sun Changping sat on the sofa, his face grim. His mother stood in front of Sun Changping like a cocky rooster that had emerged victorious.
“It’s not happening,” said Sun Changping.
“Why the hell not!” Sun Jikai’s mother’s voice was hoarse—understandable, given they had been arguing for nearly an hour.
“Sun Changping, who have I been working so hard for? Isn’t it all for you, for our son? If it weren’t for you, you incapable thing, not cultivating any competent subordinates in the company all these years, would I need to do this? What’s wrong with Xiao Wei? He graduated with a degree in management and he’s our nephew. What’s wrong with letting him help out now when there are no others?” she defended her position passionately.
“That Qian Lin is entirely Sun Channing’s man. How could such a person be the manager of Jewel Building? Isn’t that just handing over our family’s assets right into Sun Channing’s mouth? Do you have any idea how many people Sun Channing is contacting right now? If you don’t act fast, it will be too late!” she argued vehemently.
“I said no, and it means no!” Sun Changping suddenly shouted, startling not just Sun Jikai’s mother but Sun Jikai as well.
“He’s responsible for most of tomorrow’s funeral arrangements, and I won’t allow any changes!”
“Lin Cuihua, I’m telling you, you’re not allowed to meddle in anything! Don’t even think about other matters until my father’s funeral is over. If you’re not okay with that, then we can get a divorce right now.” After saying that, Sun Changping, not caring about the mess on the floor, stormed upstairs in a rage.
Lin Cuihua also angrily grabbed her bag and slammed the door as she left, acting as if the Sun Jikai standing in the living room was invisible.
Observing the disastrous state of the living room, Sun Jikai could only take out his phone and call the home service company to come for clean-up, as it would be too much to ask a regular cleaning lady to handle such a mess.
Sitting in the living room, Sun Jikai suddenly remembered how his family used to be when he was a child.
Back then, the Sun Family certainly was wealthy, but only moderately so; there was no listed company, only the Jewel Building, and they were not nearly as ostentatiously rich as they were now.
The love story of his parents had also been a popular tale, with the young master of Jewel Building falling for a waitress there, a rich man and a poor girl, a regular prince falling for a common Cinderella, a narrative that just needed a little tweak to make a cliché idol drama about a domineering CEO falling for me.
Sun Jikai still faintly remembered that his family and the second uncle’s family used to get along well, and although their houses were not as big as they are now, the two families often interacted, either dining together or going on vacations. Although not as close as the Jiang Family, at least it wasn’t as bad as it is now.
Such a pity.
The story of Cinderella and the Prince was, after all, just a fairy tale, or maybe a series of novels—after all, nobody knows whether Cinderella, once married to the prince, would become corrupted by money and desire into a wicked queen.
He only hoped that the prince wouldn’t end up like his father, who was all about arguing and not getting things done.
They had time to argue with his wife downstairs and smash the place up, but he didn’t have the time to go upstairs and check the guest list for any omissions.
Sun Jikai closed his eyes, feeling the throbbing headache, and thought about lying on the sofa to rest for a while, when suddenly he remembered something very serious. His eyes snapped open as he frantically began to search through his phone.
Before Sun Guanyun died, he had instructed him to be the second to call Sun Maochai. Not having Sun Maochai’s phone number, he asked Assistant Wang to send it via WeChat. Assistant Wang didn’t have Sun Maochai’s number and needed to look it up, taking some time, so he went ahead and notified other people first.
As a result, with so many people messaging him later on, and his mother and second uncle’s sudden and intense quarrel, he had forgotten about it.
Sun Maochai didn’t know about the incident yet!
Sun Jikai broke out in a cold sweat from the shock.