Chapter 267: 2067 Notification Conference

Business booming was a good thing, but it really took a toll on her doing it all alone.

When the prepared braised dishes sold out, she was about to pack up and then take a rest in her space, but her second older brother had returned from the countryside.

Initially, Xia Chengzong’s face was stern, but after seeing the state of the shop, he first looked incredibly surprised and then disapprovingly said, “Why did you open up by yourself? Why didn’t you wait for me to come back and help you!”

Xia Chuyi knew her second brother was worried about her and chuckled, “Second Brother, I…”

Halfway through her sentence, she paused, “I should call you brother now.”

Xia Chengzong was taken aback, “Yeah.”

After a brief silence, Xia Chuyi continued, “Brother, here’s the thing, our cousin is recovering well; Zhang Xiao Ling and her group have been punished as they deserved; the issues with Heshan Village have finally been resolved, and Huo Shiqian and his people left yesterday.”

“Currently, there’s nothing going on here, so why shouldn’t I open the shop instead of just paying rent?”

Hearing this, Xia Chengzong furrowed his brows but didn’t say anything more.

Anyway, he couldn’t out-talk Chuyi.

“You’ve been busy the whole day, so sit down for a bit, the rest I can handle,” Xia Chengzong pushed her aside, stood in front of the counter, rolled up his sleeves, and started working.

Xia Chuyi intended to decline, but seeing Xia Chengzong’s determined look, she listened to him and rested off to the side.

She knew he wanted to be a good brother and fit into the second branch of the family.

Sitting on the side and watching her second brother, oh no, her brother, he indeed had changed a lot.

Not only did he seem more mature and stable—in just two short days, the confusion on his face and the ferocity he used to mask his feelings had all disappeared without a trace.

“Brother, how are things in the countryside?” Xia Chuyi, after resting for a while, asked Xia Chengzong.

Xia Chengzong’s movements paused for a moment, and he said in a heavy tone, “Last night, the village chief made an impromptu broadcast over the loudspeakers, notifying all the villagers that there would be an announcement meeting today.”

An announcement meeting… of course, that was to report on Xia Chengzu’s situation.

“What about the main branch?” Xia Chuyi asked.

She believed people from the main branch would definitely cause trouble.

“Yeah.” Xia Chengzong uttered a single syllable, affirming it.

After a long pause, as if he had thought it through, he continued, “The village chief reported on Xia Chengzu’s situation, demanding that my mother…”

He swallowed the rest of his words and quickly changed them, “demanding that people from the main branch declare in front of all the villagers that they were severing ties with Xia Chengzu.”

Xia Chuyi raised her eyebrows and looked at him.

She hadn’t expected the village chief to act so swiftly and decisively.

Probably because Huo Shiqian had some influence after all.

Using the tiger’s might—seems like she, the fox, really did make full use of Huo Shiqian, the tiger.

The village chief was acting swiftly and decisively, taking advantage of the Xia Family being in disarray to suppress any dissent.

“Grandpa… too ashamed to speak, hid in the back.”

“Grandma Xia… utterly disagreed, she threw a tantrum, laying on the ground and screaming at the meeting, claiming Xia Chengzu was innocent, a good person.” Xia Chengzong’s eyes showed a hint of irony as he spoke.

What he didn’t mention was that Grandma Xia, in front of all the villagers, accused him of being heartless, betraying his own brother.

It was the village chief who stopped her from making more of a scene.

“In the end, the main branch did not agree to sever ties with Xia Chengzu.”

In fact, there were those who wanted to agree—Xia Mei.

But Grandma Xia said, if she dared to cut ties with Xia Chengzu, she could get out of the Xia Family.