Chapter 424 Thick Skin

• Shen Xiaoxiao felt her cheeks heat under her grandpa’s stare. She put on an act and shot Old Mr. Lu a fierce glare. “Grandpa!” “Hahaha...” Old Mr. Lu laughed heartily and let it go. He turned to Felix Cohen. “Mr. Cohen, you here for the jade exhibition too?” Felix nodded. He’d already gotten what he wanted; now he just needed to pick some raw stones for Caio Solari. “Yeah. Plus, my buddy’s family runs a jade business. He wants to buy a batch of top-grade rough stones and finished pieces here, and maybe set up a long-term deal.” With that, Felix introduced Caio and the others to Old Mr. Lu. After getting acquainted, Old Mr. Lu hurried to say, “Mr. Solari, everything here belongs to the Shi family—jade and rough stones. Whatever you like, take it.” “Also, the mines owned by the Four Families and our Lu family have been producing a lot of jade lately.” “If you need large quantities, I can take you to the mines tomorrow to pick straight from the source.” “Thanks a lot, Mr. Lu.” Then Caio went off with Old Mr. Lu to discuss the contract. Before this, all the best jade mines in Blue Dragon City were monopolized by the Four Families. The Solari Family used to buy rough stones at high prices from second-tier dealers. But now all those mines belonged to the Lu family, so of course Caio chose to work with Old Mr. Lu. Felix and the others wandered the showroom. Fantong and a few more wanted to try their luck at stone gambling, so they started picking rough stones. Just then, the showroom doors burst open. Lu Qinghe’s eldest uncle and third uncle rushed in. The two families charged straight up to Old Mr. Lu and dropped to their knees. “Dad, we were wrong. We messed up. For real!” “Dad, it was our fault before. That damned Shi Tianyi from the Shi family misled us. That’s why we did those awful things.” “Sir, we truly know we were wrong. Please forgive us!” Today, when they learned Felix had forced the Shi family to hand every asset to the Lu family, they were stunned stupid. They’d thought once their daughters got engaged to Shi Tianyi, their two branches could latch onto the Shi family and live the good life forever. Who could’ve guessed the Shi family would get wiped off Blue Dragon City’s rolls in a single day and lose everything? What shocked them even more: all of the Shi family’s assets, plus half the holdings of the other three families, had ended up in Lu hands. With the Shi family erased, their dream of living large went up in smoke. They couldn’t stomach that. Panicking at the thought of losing the gravy train, the two branches huddled up fast and decided to beg Old Mr. Lu. If he let them rejoin the Lu family, they could still enjoy the high life. Maybe they could even snag some business from him. After all, the Lu family had just absorbed a mountain of assets overnight; there was no way Old Mr. Lu could manage it all alone. So they rushed here to plead for forgiveness and a way back in. Even if he wouldn’t take them back, they wanted him to cut them in on a slice of the fortune. Before Old Mr. Lu could speak, Lu Qinghe’s voice came laced with biting mockery. “Well, well, aren’t these our dear in-laws-to-be from the Shi side? What brings you to the Lu family today?” Back when his grandpa was sick, he’d gone to borrow money from these people—just two thousand. Look how they treated him. Now the Lu family had weathered the storm and taken over the Shi family’s and three other families’ assets, and these clowns wanted back in? Their skin was thicker than a city wall.