Chapter 10: The Great Clan Brawl

“Sir, dinner is ready!”

At the Shen family villa, Maid Liu knocked on the study door.

Shen Feifan, who had been watching a dating reality show live stream all afternoon, reluctantly looked away from his tablet.

He stared for a long time, finally convinced that the stubborn and temperamental young man was truly being completely commanded by a woman.

It was well known that no matter how earnestly he had tried in the past, Shen Mu never listened—always doing things his own way.

He picked up his phone from the table and made a call.

“Hello, it’s me. Can you look up someone named Xu Zhaozhao for me?”

There seemed to be some confusion on the other end, so Shen Feifan explained, “Check the cast of the dating reality show ‘Love in the Wilderness.’ She’s one of the participants.”

“Yes, the more detailed, the better.”

After hanging up, Shen Feifan left the study.

At the long European-style dining table sat four people:

His only son, Shen Guangming, current general manager of Feifan Construction.

His daughter-in-law, Wang Jiaojiao.

His eldest granddaughter, Shen Ying, and second granddaughter, Shen Yu.

“You all came together today,” Shen Feifan remarked as he took his seat.

“Dad, we’ve wanted to come for a while, but the company’s been too busy!” Shen Guangming explained.

“The company was founded by me; do you think I wouldn’t know if it’s busy or not?” Shen Feifan sneered. “I believe what Shen Ying says about being busy, but not what you say.”

“Dad, how can you trust your granddaughter over your son?” Shen Guangming said. “Ying is only the planning department manager; I’m the general manager. Of course I’m busier than her.”

“Old man,” Wang Jiaojiao spoke up just in time to defend her husband, “Guangming is really managing the company seriously now. You should trust him more.”

She glanced at her husband, who carried a faint scent—no doubt from another wild escapade with some sly vixen.

She swallowed her anger; this was not the time to confront him.

“Is that so?” Shen Feifan gave Wang Jiaojiao a skeptical look.

He sensed a great difference from her usual hysteria.

“Your grandfather,” Wang Jiaojiao said as she ladled soup for Shen Feifan while addressing her husband and daughters, “he locked himself in the study watching live streams all afternoon…”

“Live streams? What live streams?” Shen Yu asked curiously.

At 35, she was still hopelessly obsessed with love, always dreaming of romance and nothing else.

Wang Jiaojiao did not reveal that Shen Mu had been on a dating show; she simply sat silently.

Seeing everyone quiet, Shen Yu turned her gaze to her elder sister.

“Sis,” she whispered, “do you know what kind of live stream it was?”

“It should be…” The eldest sister Shen Ying glanced at their mother’s expression and hesitated.

“Should be what?” Shen Yu, puzzled by their mother’s look, pressed her sister for details.

“It’s probably the live stream Shen Mu appeared on,” Shen Ying tentatively looked around, “the dating reality show ‘Love in the Wilderness.’”

She had also learned that afternoon from her son’s call that he had suddenly developed appendicitis and could not appear on the originally scheduled show, so Shen Mu took his place.

Originally, this was no big deal.

But their mother, Wang Jiaojiao, found out.

A strong-willed woman who had spent her life battling her husband’s numerous mistresses, Shen Mu’s mother was the most cunning and capable of them all.

She nearly succeeded in ousting the original wife and her children by leveraging her son’s status.

In the end, the old man intervened, sending that mother and son to a remote island abroad and destroying their documents to prevent their return.

What should have been a great victory for Wang Jiaojiao turned sour over the years.

Their younger brother, Shen Ye, grew increasingly frail, eventually diagnosed with ALS.

Watching her brother lose his bodily functions, their mother fell into deep despair. To make matters worse, the old man sent someone abroad to bring back the mistress’s son, Shen Mu.

Seeing the son of the mistress, whom she had struggled to push out, officially enter the family registry and gain recognition was a massive blow to Wang Jiaojiao.

Since then, she often lost control in fits of hysteria and regarded Shen Mu as an enemy, forbidding her own children and grandchildren from associating with him.

However, Shen Ying’s son, Su Chengyu, was an exception—he had liked Shen Mu since childhood and often clung to him.

As an adult working at Feifan Construction, he looked up to his uncle Shen Mu unquestioningly.

Now, with Wang Jiaojiao learning that Su Chengyu had allowed Shen Mu to appear on the dating show in his place, her fury must have been immense.

To Wang Jiaojiao, Shen Mu was the one who came back to seize the family fortune. She was trying hard to protect what her children deserved, but no one understood her intentions.

She had even watched some of the dating show herself.

Shen Mu’s secret appearance had already attracted much attention. If his true identity were revealed, his fame would explode even more.

For a company, celebrity influence would undoubtedly attract more followers. Then Feifan would truly be under his control.

Wang Jiaojiao would never allow this to happen, which was why she had hurriedly gathered the family.

She wanted to use Shen Mu’s absence to make herself more visible to the old man.

Preferably, the old man would die soon.

Wang Jiaojiao’s thoughts were venomous: Shen Feifan was nearly eighty—why couldn’t he just die earlier?

Once he was gone, no one would protect Shen Mu and the family fortune would remain with her children.

“Shen Ying, what happened with Chengyu’s hospitalization?” Shen Feifan avoided talking about the dating show and instead asked about Su Chengyu’s condition.

“Grandpa, Chengyu just had a mild appendicitis, nothing serious. Don’t worry,” Shen Ying explained.

“Oh, is that so? Good to hear,” Shen Feifan picked up his spoon to sip his soup.

“You’re the mother, and that’s how you care for your child? Appendicitis is a minor thing?” Wang Jiaojiao, seeing the old man dodge the main point and focus on Su Chengyu’s affair, vented her suppressed anger on her daughter.

Shen Ying remained silent.

Shen Feifan put down his spoon with a clatter. “Enough. Even eating isn’t peaceful. You all eat at your leisure.”

He knew that since Shen Ye fell ill, his daughter-in-law had held a grudge against him.

But there was nothing he could do—starting from him, the Shen family line had only one heir.

He had Shen Guangming, and Shen Guangming had Shen Ye.

When Shen Ye became ill, he felt a strong sense of crisis about the family’s future and had traveled thousands of miles to bring back Shen Mu, whom he had once ruthlessly sent away.

Now, not only did his daughter-in-law treat him as an enemy, but Shen Mu did as well.

Wanting to avoid his daughter-in-law’s resentment, Shen Feifan hurriedly left the dining table.

He returned to the study and immediately resumed watching his youngest grandson’s dating show live stream on his tablet.

At this moment, all the teams in the show had returned to the starting point.

The director announced which participants failed the task, followed by the first round of eliminations.