Chapter 140: Something Major Has Happened

Huang Tao imitated the way a pig talked with uncanny accuracy, sending all the adults in the room into laughter.

“You rascal. You’re always so good at telling that sort of joke.”

Huang Guolun laughed as he praised him.

“Born with it. Nothing I can do.”

Huang Tao put on the airs of a little grown-up, looking as smug as could be.

Grandmother Zhou said to Huang Guolun, “You shouldn’t stay here with us any longer. Go and say hello to your father. He’s in the study and wants to speak with you.”

“Grandpa, Grandma, I’ll go see my father first.”

Huang Guolun rose and took his leave of Taozi’s great-grandparents. As he passed, he ruffled Huang Tao’s hair.

“You rascal. Don’t cause any trouble.”

With that, he went upstairs and entered the study to see Old Master Huang.

Old Master Huang was drinking tea, gazing absently at a piece of calligraphy someone had recently given him. His brows were faintly knitted, and he seemed troubled.

Knock, knock, knock.

Huang Guolun knocked and entered the study.

“Dad.”

“You’re here.”

Old Master Huang set down his teacup and lifted his eyes to his son.

“What are you doing? Admiring calligraphy again?”

Huang Guolun came closer to the desk and chatted casually with him.

“Just taking a look. Sit down.”

Huang Guolun sat opposite him.

“Mom said you wanted to see me?”

“Yes.” Old Master Huang asked, “What about your brother? Is he coming over for dinner today?”

“Probably not. The new film he made is currently in theaters, so he’s busy running around promoting it.”

Old Master Huang nodded in understanding and did not ask further about Huang Guokun’s film company.

Huang Guolun felt that his father seemed rather dispirited today. His brows had remained faintly furrowed, clearly indicating that something was weighing on his mind. He cautiously asked, “Dad, did something happen? Is there trouble at the cemetery company again?”

“Nothing is wrong there,” Old Master Huang replied calmly. “You and your brother don’t need to worry about it.”

“Then why did you specifically call both of us home for dinner today and say you wanted to speak with us?” Huang Guolun asked anxiously. “Is someone in the family having health problems?”

“No, no. Your grandparents, your mother, and I all have regular checkups every quarter. We’re perfectly healthy.”

Only then did Huang Guolun relax. He smiled and said, “Then what is it? You’ve made such a production of things.”

“What production? Can’t I ask my two sons to come home and see me on the weekend? I missed you.”

Old Master Huang’s words were utterly uncharacteristic. He normally never said anything sentimental of that sort to Huang Guolun.

Huang Guolun felt rather embarrassed and hurriedly assured him, “My brother and I have both been especially busy this month, and we haven’t come to see you or our grandparents. That’s our fault. Next week, no matter what, I’ll drag my brother back home. We’ll all go to the reservoir and have a proper family meal.”

Old Master Huang smiled and nodded. He opened a drawer and took out two walnuts that he often rolled in his palm. Lowering his eyes, he began turning them slowly, saying nothing. Gradually, a distant, deeply troubled look emerged between his brows.

Huang Guolun could tell that his father had something on his mind.

“Is there something else?” he asked.

Old Master Huang suddenly raised his eyes. Still rolling the walnuts in his palm, he stared at Huang Guolun for several seconds before saying, “Go shut the study door tightly.”

Seeing the gravity on his father’s face, Huang Guolun had a premonition that something serious had happened.

He had rarely seen Old Master Huang so hesitant and restless, so full of anxious deliberation.

Could the family cemetery business have encountered a crisis?

Although Old Master Huang rarely discussed the cemetery business with the family, Huang Guolun often heard Grandmother Zhou muttering about it.

The situation facing his father’s company had been extremely complicated over the past two or three years.

As the cemetery market around the imperial capital continued to rise, cemetery management had become an increasingly lucrative business, and more and more forces were setting their sights on that tempting prize.

If several powerful groups had not invested in and partnered with Old Master Huang’s cemetery investment company, he would never have been able to build the business to its present scale.

Yet once a business grew large, disagreements inevitably arose within it. At present, Old Master Huang and the various forces cooperating with him had developed significant differences over the company’s future direction.

From the day Old Master Huang entered the cemetery industry, he had never intended to make the business under his name bigger or stronger. He had merely steeled himself to “guard the tombs,” determined to repay, honestly and thoroughly, the Huang family’s forty-nine-year “heavenly debt.” So long as he could keep his sons, Huang Guokun and Huang Guolun, from repeating the mistakes of those who came before them, he would consider his life’s work complete.

But running cemeteries was simply too profitable, and the industry enjoyed strong government support. The powerful groups cooperating with Old Master Huang all wanted to expand the cemetery business. They might not expect to make it the largest in the country, but they at least wanted to grow it to the scale of a publicly listed company.

With the combined strength of those forces behind him, Old Master Huang had been swept aboard a fast ship charging through rapids. The cemetery business under his control expanded at astonishing speed, acquiring new land almost every year and spreading its reach farther and farther.

By now, the cemeteries belonging to the Huang Group were already close to ranking among the top three in the imperial capital, and the company was still expanding rapidly.

If the several new cemetery projects currently under negotiation were secured, the Huang family’s cemetery business could become number one in the imperial capital within three years.

The more money they made, however, the greater the pressure became. Problems facing the company multiplied as well, leaving Old Master Huang frequently feeling that his strength was no longer equal to the task.

If he had not been obligated to repay the Huang family’s “heavenly debt,” he would have withdrawn long ago. He would have stopped making this money and worrying over these affairs.

Unfortunately, he was fated to guard the tombs for forty-nine years. In the face of that destiny, Old Master Huang had nowhere to retreat.

When he had first followed the Blind Granny’s advice, resigned from his job, and gone into business to inherit his elder brother’s cemetery enterprise, he had been only half-convinced by her prophecy.

After all, he had grown up under a communist education and was an intellectual by background. At that time, Old Master Huang had been a staunch atheist.

One of the main reasons he had chosen that path was that he could not bear to watch the empire his brother had built wither away before his eyes.

How many people could remain unmoved in the face of enormous material wealth?

Back then, Old Master Huang had half believed the Blind Granny’s words and half been swayed by the cemetery industry’s tremendous prospects. Together, those motives had driven him onto a road from which there was no return.

Once he had devoted himself completely to the business, he spent nearly twenty years weathering its ups and downs. During that time, he endured countless hardships and encountered more than a few bizarre incidents, yet in the end he had always managed to turn danger into safety. Somewhere beyond human perception, it seemed that an inscrutable force was protecting the Huang family’s enterprise.

After exchanging lessons with masters from all walks of life, Old Master Huang’s atheism had long since been shattered.

Some things in this world were simply too strange—so strange that one could not help believing in gods and destiny.

By now, Old Master Huang had become a firm believer in fate. His duty to guard the Huang family’s tombs for forty-nine years had become an unwavering conviction.

No matter what storms he encountered, he would continue forward without fail, serving until his final breath.

Grandmother Zhou understood the determination he carried, and the pressure weighing upon him, more deeply than anyone else.

Whenever she had nothing else to do, she would remind Huang Guolun and Huang Guokun of the burden resting on their father’s shoulders. She urged her sons to guard their conduct, never allowing music and pleasure to befuddle their ears or restlessness to disturb their hearts. They were to do one good deed each day and never commit evil. Otherwise, all the virtue their father had accumulated for the family over so many years might be destroyed in an instant.

Influenced by Old Master Huang, Grandmother Zhou had also become a firm believer in destiny.

And influenced by Grandmother Zhou, Huang Guolun likewise believed deeply in fate and was able to understand his father’s resolve and suffering.

Whenever he thought of his father constantly maneuvering among various powerful interests, engaging in schemes and counter-schemes, Huang Guolun felt a deep ache in his heart.

His father had once been a teacher, a model of virtue and learning. He had never been suited to business.

Yet for the sake of repaying the family’s “heavenly debt,” he had been forced to soak himself in the treacherous and unpredictable sea of commerce until he became a hardened old hand. The bitterness and hardship of that transformation were probably things only he himself could truly understand.

Sometimes, when Huang Guolun thought of all this, he wanted to resign from teaching and follow his father, learning how to manage the cemeteries and helping to shoulder some of his burden.

But Old Master Huang had never allowed either of his sons to involve themselves in the cemetery business. It was a father’s way of protecting his children.

Old Master Huang intended to bear the family’s heavenly debt alone. He did not want his descendants to suffer the same injustice.

Huang Guolun understood his father’s feelings and predicament very well. Thus, unless he could avoid causing Old Master Huang trouble, he would never burden him. Whenever his father needed his help or advice, he contributed everything he had without hesitation.

Now that Old Master Huang had asked him to shut the study door, Huang Guolun thought his father must have encountered some terrible obstacle.

At a time like this, he had to stand beside his father and do everything in his power to face the crisis with him.

Having prepared himself mentally for hardship, Huang Guolun closed the study door, returned to the desk, and sat down. With a solemn expression, he asked, “Dad, tell me. What exactly happened? Whatever it is, our family will face it together.”

Old Master Huang nodded with relief. He took a sip of tea and, unusually hesitant, said, “This isn’t easy for me to bring up, because I’m still not certain myself. I actually wanted to tell you last week, but I was afraid that saying it aloud would have a serious negative psychological impact on you and your brother.”

Huang Guolun was bewildered.

“Has the company fallen into some enormous financial hole? One we can’t fill? If you need my brother and me to sell our assets to cover it, just say so. Everything my brother and I have was given to us by you. If the family’s finances are in trouble, tell me. The money in my accounts, together with the house in Purple Star Residence, should add up to more than fifty million.”

Old Master Huang gave him a helpless smile.

“This has nothing to do with money. Our family already has more money than we know what to do with. Anything money can solve isn’t really a problem.”

Huang Guolun’s heart tightened.

If this was a problem money could not solve, then it had to be something truly serious.