SWNOVELXO Chapter 197 - 197: Shen Zikuang Was Kicked Out by the Shen Family's Old Master!
Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Shen Zikuang Was Kicked Out by the Shen Family’s Old Master!
Looking at the shopkeepers who dared not even raise their heads, Shen Zikuang understood everything.
His father already knew everything about the situation here!
“Father, please believe in your son. Pharmaceuticals are the future hope of the Shen Family. I will definitely find a way…”
“Shut your mouth!” Shen Wanzhen punched the small tea table next to him. The delicate table fell over under his force, making a loud noise.
“Father…”
Shen Zikuang tried to explain, but Shen Wanzhen brutally interrupted him.
“Don’t call me father! You are no longer my son! Since you dared to spend such a large sum of money to build a pharmaceutical factory, you should have prepared for failure! Poor me, the Shen Family’s century-long foundation is ruined in your hands.”
Shen Wanzhen’s eyes, wide open, bulged with infinite rage, his face swelling even rounder, hiding even his usual wrinkles.
He stood up, angrily pointing at the pharmaceutical factory’s facilities!
“Five million taels of silver, and this is what you’ve done with it! Tell me, how will you explain this to the entire Shen Family!”
“I now declare that from today on, you are no longer a part of the Shen Family!”
Upon hearing this, Shen Zikuang nearly collapsed.
“Father, you can’t do this! I am also your son, have you forgotten what you promised my mother on her deathbed?”
“Times change, back then you were still young, and it was my duty as a father to look after you, but look at the misfortune you’ve brought upon the Shen Family today!”
Shen Wanzhen said, without blinking an eyelid, his face full of sternness, clearly resolute.
“No, father, the pharmaceutical factory has just started production. Believe me, I can change this situation…”
Shen Zikuang pleaded desperately, but Shen Wanzhen did not even glance at him.
Looking once more at the shopkeepers, they all had the indifferent expressions of unconcerned bystanders.
Shen Zifang, the second eldest of the Shen Family, also jumped out and pointed a finger at Shen Zikuang, his face vicious with malice.
“Big brother, you alone squandered 500,000 taels of silver, that’s half of our family’s fortune! Won’t you let go, do you have to destroy our family?”
Shen Zifang, with a sneer, looked on contemptuously.
“Big brother, you’ve gambled away my and the second brother’s shares as well. Even if you leave the Shen Family, you must pay back that portion of silver!”
With that, Shen Zifang pulled out a document from his chest and threw it onto Shen Zikuang’s chest.
Shen Zikuang unfolded it to find it was an IOU.
The IOU stated that since he had decided on his own to open a pharmaceutical factory, he had borrowed five million taels of silver from the Shen Family, with a term to repay it within five years.
He realized that his father already completely regarded him as a lost cause, coupled with his two brothers and their mother constantly scheming behind his back, they wouldn’t stop until they brought him down.
A sense of powerless and helpless sadness rose from his heart, eventually turning into world-shattering rage.
“Father, are you just going to watch them treat me this way?”
Resentment slowly welled up in Shen Zikuang’s eyes.
“Father, since you mentioned the assets of the Shen Family, let your son properly calculate them with you.”
“When I was thirteen, I followed you around, began selling medicine independently at sixteen, and secured a deal of one million in the first year alone. Over the years, I’ve been running around outside, bringing about every single collaboration, haven’t I?”
“From the age of sixteen to now, eighteen years have passed. The family assets you talked about, I earned them all by myself, and now you want to kick me out of the house? I absolutely will not agree!”
Saying this, Shen Zikuang disdainfully glanced at his two younger brothers, and words he usually couldn’t utter burst forth.
“You just care about that vile woman in the back yard, don’t you see that she’s just after your property! And those other women, she brought them to seduce you. Can’t you see all this?”
“Unfilial son! How dare you defy and offend your elders like this!”
Shen Wanzhen roared as he stood up, his large body moving directly towards Shen Zikuang, raising his hand to slap him.
But this time, Shen Zikuang did not dodge or flinch, but stared with wide eyes at the man he had called father for over thirty years.
An instant, and a myriad of emotions surged through his heart.
Back then, his father had entrusted him with managing the Shen Family business, how overjoyed he was!
He worked diligently and tirelessly!
Every day, he thought of ways to expand and strengthen the Shen Family business, first aiming to become the foremost pharmacy family in Dongjiang, then the whole of Beiyuan, and finally, the entire continent.
Over a decade, watching the family enterprise grow bit by bit, with the wealth in the storerooms increasing, he felt an immense sense of accomplishment.
Even though he knew there were some who were squandering the very business he toiled for day and night.
But he thought, no matter how much his stepmother and younger brothers spent, they couldn’t keep up with the pace at which he earned money.
Only now did he suddenly realize, he was terribly wrong.
Years of indulgence and provision had raised several hungry wolves.
Today, he was about to be devoured by the very wolves he had nurtured.
Shen Wanzhen was shaken by his unflinching stubbornness and hesitated without acting.
Shen Zifang and Shen Ziao sensed something was amiss and immediately stepped forward to add fuel to the fire.
“Dad, how can big brother say such outrageous and unfilial things? Has he forgotten that it was the Shen Family that raised him?”
“Exactly, big brother relies on his merits and doesn’t even regard Dad. He doesn’t consider that without the foundation you laid, Dad, he would be nothing!”
“Exactly, let him try starting from scratch!”
“…”
Shen Wanzhen’s face shifted from anger to rage, his round face once again shrouded with a cold, loathsome expression.
He pushed Shen Zikuang, who was blocking him, aside and stormed off.
“I have no son like you!”
Seeing this, Shen Zifang and another shouted at Shen Zikuang, “Did you hear that? Dad disowns you, gather your things now, take your family, and move out of the Shen family!
Shen Ziao also said with a face full of pride, “If it wasn’t for pity, I wouldn’t even want to give you the Shen surname! Hmph!”
The shopkeepers had already taken the opportunity during the quarrel to sneak away.
In the blink of an eye, the council hall was empty.
Shen Zikuang finally couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground.
Qi Yue had been waiting in Linjiang Pavilion for half a day but didn’t see Shen Zikuang; instead, she heard plenty of rumors.
These diners seemed unaware that Linjiang Pavilion belonged to Shen Zikuang and spoke without restraint.
“Did you hear? Shen Zikuang got kicked out by the old master of the Shen Family!”
“Really?”
“Of course, it’s true. I just saw on the road that the third young master of the Shen Family has already taken over the management of all the Shen pharmacies.”
“Such a thing, the old master shouldn’t have acted like that! Without the eldest son, the Shen Family probably wouldn’t have its status today!”
“Whether it’s right or wrong, who are we to say? Just blame his bad luck for having a mother who died early!”
“Hasn’t the old master been out of affairs for many years? What suddenly stirred him to action?”
“What else could it be? Of course, it’s because the youngest son has grown up!”
“Speaking of the stepmother, she really is remarkable, not only did she give birth to two sons, but she also spun the old master around her finger.”
“Of course, people from the Murong family are not to be messed with.”
“You guys might not know yet, but I heard that Lady Murong and the mother of the eldest son Shen were close friends!”
“I heard about that too. They say that when the mother of the eldest son died, she specifically entrusted her young son to Murong Xueyu! If they weren’t close, she wouldn’t have entrusted her young child to someone outside the family.”
“An outsider? Not long after that, didn’t Murong Xueyu become the old man Shen’s wife? Hahaha…”
“Hahahaha….”