Chapter 154 A Perfect Match

After this eccentric young man blurted out those words, I had no idea what was actually going on inside his head. I had assumed he was cooped up in his office plotting some grand retaliation, whether by calling in reinforcements or devising some scheme, only to find out he was merely trying to salvage a shred of his pride.

The Fatty couldn't help suppressing a chuckle as he looked at Little Seven and said, "Girl Seven, this Sun Liancheng is an absolute match made in heaven for you. You two were truly cut from the same cloth."

Sun Liancheng snapped his fingers at the Fatty and replied, "I love hearing what this big brother has to say. Miss Seven of the Li family, I fell in love with you the very moment I laid eyes on you—what should I do about that? Can we consider this a case of making friends through a fight?"

The Fatty gave Sun Liancheng a thumbs-up and remarked, "My good man, you've got guts."

No one could have expected that after Little Seven created such a massive uproar, things would end in this bizarre fashion. At that very moment, a boisterous group of people rushed in, looking travel-worn and dusty. They were all armed with weapons and were clearly Sun Liancheng's backup. Among them, a burly, broad-shouldered man glared at Little Seven and demanded, "Where did this wild brat come from? You've got some nerve!"

"Brother Hai, forget it. This young lady is going to be your future sister-in-law, so cut her some slack," Sun Liancheng said.

"What?" Brother Hai was momentarily stunned.

Sun Liancheng walked over and whispered a few words into Brother Hai's ear. Upon hearing this, Brother Hai's expression turned even more incredulous. He stared at Sun Liancheng and retorted, "No way! So what if she's from the Tianjin Li family? This isn't Tianjin, this is Jinan! What happens to our Sun family's dignity?"

"They're here because of Sun Mou," Sun Liancheng replied.

That single sentence made Brother Hai's already dark complexion turn even gloomier. Sun Liancheng pointed at me and said to Brother Hai, "Take a look at this fellow here. He bears quite a striking resemblance to Sun Mou. If I'm not mistaken, he must be Sun Mou's younger brother from Luoyang—the youngest son of the former Jinan Military Region's legendary soldier king, Ye Tianhua."

"That's right, I am Ye Jihuan, Sun Mou's younger brother," I stepped forward, looking at both Sun Liancheng and Brother Hai.

Brother Hai looked me up and down once more, his gaze filled with extremely complicated emotions. He nodded at Sun Liancheng and said, "Since that's the case, I'll withdraw my men for now. But a company being smashed to pieces is a major incident; we still have to give an explanation back at the main house."

Sun Liancheng patted Brother Hai on the shoulder and instructed, "Go ahead, I know how to handle things."

After Brother Hai led his men away, Sun Liancheng walked over to Little Seven and coaxed, "I've come out just as you wanted, Girl Seven. Shouldn't you crack a smile for me? Why are you still looking at me with that kind of expression?"

"Done dawdling now? Finally willing to see me?" Little Seven sneered, glaring at him.

"Alright, alright. It's not often I try to put on airs, but Grand Auntie, you've completely wrecked my place and made a fool out of me, Sun Liancheng. That should count as getting your revenge, right? I haven't complained, have I? There's no need to keep harping on it. Besides, your goal was to see me, not to kill me. If you're still not venting your frustration, come on, hit me with that mallet of yours!" With that, Sun Liancheng actually stretched his neck forward.

He wore an expression of absolute confidence, but he severely underestimated Little Seven's tendency to play by her own rules. Little Seven swung the mallet and struck Sun Liancheng squarely on the head, sending him crashing to the floor.

Even the Fatty couldn't bear to watch and cried out, "Girl Seven, you actually hit him!"

Little Seven tossed the mallet aside, dusted off her hands, and asked, "Are you satisfied?"

Sun Liancheng rubbed the massive bump swelling up on his forehead, hoisted himself up from the ground, and muttered, "I'm naturally satisfied. I just don't know if Grand Auntie has gotten all the anger out of your system yet."

"Let's talk business," Little Seven nodded and said.

"Right here? It's much too messy, that won't do. Come on, I'll arrange a quiet place for us," Sun Liancheng said, wincing as he clutched his forehead.

"Forget it, I'm pressed for time. Let's go, to your office." Frivolous though Sun Liancheng might be, one had to admit that after his little stunt, Little Seven's anger seemed to have dissipated completely.

Sun Liancheng told his staff to knock off early, and Little Seven also instructed the man in the black-rimmed glasses to lead the rest away. We headed up to Sun Liancheng's office. He grabbed a bottle of iced beverage from the fridge and pressed it against the swelling on his forehead, asking, "What urgent business brings you here to see me? Could it be that you deeply admire this young master's peerless good looks?"

Sitting on the sofa, Little Seven didn't even spare him a glance as she replied, "Things have reached this point, so you can drop the act. If you didn't know why we came, would you have refused to see me?"

"I don't actually know all that much about Sun Mou. He was taken under the wing of my Second Great Uncle, and Second Great Uncle severed ties with the Sun family long ago. Furthermore, Sun Mou has an exceedingly eccentric temper and has never had a good relationship with the rest of the family. Knowing that you came from Luoyang, I figured it must be because of him, and I also knew that your people were investigating him, which is why I didn't want to meet with you," Sun Liancheng explained, glancing over at me.

Actually, I had hoped to question Sun Mou further about my older brother's whereabouts, but his words effectively shattered that hope.

"So you're saying you didn't know Sun Mou had returned to Jinan?" Little Seven stared at Sun Liancheng.

The bottled drink in Sun Liancheng's hand slipped and crashed to the floor. He knitted his brows tightly and exclaimed, "Impossible. Sun Mou would never return to Jinan."

"Why is it impossible?" The Fatty stood up at that moment and challenged him.

Sun Liancheng's casual remark allowed me to catch a subtle underlying nuance: my older brother would never return to Jinan. Could it mean that my brother had a falling out with the Sun family, and they had driven him out of the city?

"After Second Great Uncle passed away, because of certain matters, Sun Mou had a bitter falling out with our grandfather. When he left the Sun family, he swore he would never return. That guy is as stubborn as a mule; whatever he says, he means," Sun Liancheng said.

With that, he offered us a polite smile and said, "Pardon me for a moment, I need to make a phone call."

He took out his phone and stepped outside. A short while later, he returned, picking up the car keys from his desk. "I just called home. Sun Mou has indeed come back. Girl Seven, now I understand why you've been so frantic this time—it turns out he managed to bring your family's old matriarch along with him. Let's go, talking here is useless now; my grandfather wants to see you."

Upon descending to the underground parking garage, Sun Liancheng discovered that his car had been completely battered beyond recognition. He looked at Little Seven and sighed, "Girl Seven, you really owe it to me to pledge your hand in marriage after this."

"It looks like you didn't get beaten enough," Little Seven shot him a cold glance before opening the car door and telling him, "You're driving."

Sun Liancheng was an exceptionally talkative person, radiating an air of complete nonchalance. Yet I knew that someone capable of managing the Sun family business at such a young age could not possibly be as simple as he appeared on the surface. On the way, he glanced at me and Little Seven, observing, "We have descendants from three of the four Gates of the Ghost Dao sitting together in a single car right now. Thank goodness it's just the three of us youngsters. If three old geezers sat together like this, can you imagine what kind of massive storm it would stir up? Would it leave certain people tossing and turning all night, unable to sleep just like back in the old days?"

I had heard from my mother that when the old patriarch of the Sun family came looking for my grandfather years ago, the two of them seemed intimately acquainted, acting much like old friends of many years. My grandfather, who rarely drank, ended up completely intoxicated. Thus, I knew my grandfather shared a profound history with the elders of the Sun family. I simply hadn't expected that the Sun family was also part of the Ghost Dao practitioners of yesteryear, and it was through Sun Liancheng's words that I first heard the designation of the Four Gates of the Ghost Dao.

"The Four Gates of the Ghost Dao? The Ye family, the Li family, your Sun family, and what is the fourth?" I inquired.

"Naturally, that would be the lineage of Guo Zhongyong. It seems you really know nothing at all," Sun Liancheng replied.

I shrugged. "Actually, I only learned about the concept of the Ghost Dao very recently."

Though I appeared calm on the surface, my mind was in turmoil. Viewed in this light, apart from Guo Zhongyong's lineage, both the Sun family and the Li family had been thriving remarkably well. The Li family in Tianjin and the Sun family in Jinan were both prominent and influential clans. Yet our Ye family, which seemingly should have stood on equal footing with them, was reduced to a mere farming household in a ditch. The disparity was staggering.

"Little Sister Seven, tell me, if I were to actually bring a bride price to the Li family and ask for your hand in marriage, do you think your family would agree, considering the ties between our older generations?" Sun Liancheng began teasing Little Seven once again.

"Ask for my hand? Whether my family would agree, I don't know, but I would definitely break all three of your legs. I like men of resolute character and unyielding backbone, just like my cousin Sun Mou. I have zero interest in men like you whose gender is hard to distinguish," Little Seven retorted.

"What do you know? What's so great about Sun Mou? He's just a stubborn block of wood. What I represent is fashion—fashion, understand? Do you know what's most popular in the entertainment industry right now? Little fresh meat! Exactly my type!" Sun Liancheng hollered.

"Just drive your car before you turn yourself into a fresh meat dumpling," Little Seven glared at him.

At that moment, even I had to admit that my cousin and this Sun Liancheng were a match made in heaven—truly cut from the same cloth.