family

Back at the villa, Steve followed Chen Chao, who exuded a gloomy aura, upstairs. As soon as they entered the bedroom, Chen Chao slammed him against the wall. A fierce kiss enveloped him, and Steve felt an instant surge of desire arose within him amidst Chen Chao's domineering presence.

"Boss..." Steve called out to Chen Chao in a low voice during a breath, as if begging for mercy or calling out.

Chen Chao pushed Steve onto the bed, ripped off his tie and pinned Steve's hands to the headboard, then roughly tore off all of Steve's clothes.

Steve looked at Chen Chao, his eyes welling up with tears, and his breathing became rapid.

“Boss…” Steve called out again.

Chen Chao grabbed Steve's hair and kissed him again. Steve opened his mouth, accepting Chen Chao's intrusion without resistance. The sound of saliva exchanging filled his ears. Steve looked at Chen Chao, who was taking from him without restraint, and involuntarily pushed himself forward again, as if offering himself as a sacrifice.

Boss, I'm willing to give you everything I have, including my soul.

The next morning, Chen Chao was called back to his residence in the central district by Chen Fei. When he got up, he specifically told Steve that he had informed the driver so that Steve would not have to get up early.

It's not far from here to the main house in the central district, and the roads along the way are all high-security highways, so nothing bad is likely to happen. They didn't go to sleep until almost dawn last night, and Steve was indeed quite tired.

"Boss, since we're going back to our home, try to get some sleep after you've finished dealing with things."

"I understand." Chen Chao's face remained expressionless, but his heart was filled with sweetness.

Chen Fei told Chen Chao to go back. They wanted to discuss the impact of the events in the east on the Song family.

The power structure of the six Nutag families was established a century ago after the Patriotic War. The six families in power were all people who made significant contributions during the war.

At that time, the country was weak after the war, so the six major families were put in charge of six important sectors of the country. This was to reward the heroes who had contributed to the war and to prevent foreign powers from taking advantage of the situation and seizing domestic assets through non-war means such as capital and entertainment.

This arrangement has proven effective. Over the past century, all attempts by foreign powers to carve up Nutag's assets have failed. Through the united efforts of the entire nation, Nutag overcame numerous difficulties and painstakingly restored its historical status as a major power.

However, the rulers at the top always understood that family rule was not a long-term solution for a country. Therefore, when the country was founded, they stipulated that industries could be divided, but the government must be elected by the people, leaving room for social mobility.

Nutag is now economically prosperous and technologically advanced. With social development, more and more sectors are opening up to private and foreign capital.

At the same time, more and more government officials without family backgrounds are being elected to power, and the balance of power in the country has developed to a very delicate stage.

Among the six major families, the Rabino and Chen families control the nation's most powerful weapons and have always maintained a low profile, so social development has not had a significant impact on their interests.

As for the He family's agriculture, it has only been partially opened to private capital, and the main lifeline is still in the hands of the He family.

With the economy improving and people's desire to consume food increasing, even with more private capital sharing the profits, the He family is still not at a disadvantage.

Vonsenjevich's industry has been hit quite hard, with foreign capital and private forces taking away most of its end-market share in recent years.

However, thanks to its early planning and continuous investment in scientific research, Voncinjevich had long since firmly controlled the upstream industry and established a solid technological moat.

These specialized technologies not only safeguarded Vonsimjevich's own interests but also served as a crucial support for the Nutag military industry.

Of the remaining businesses, the Popov family's commercial sector and the Song family's cultural, educational, and health sectors were the most severely impacted.

The business market is free yet ruthless; giants can fall in the blink of an eye.

However, for business people, risk and reward go hand in hand, which is perfectly normal. The current open market presents both challenges and opportunities for the Popov family.

The new head of the Popov family, Landpopov, is a very capable young man who has established himself in this competitive market shortly after taking over the family business.

But the Song family is different.

The three fields of culture, education, and health each carry a flavor of ancient mentorship. Masters teach apprentices, senior apprentices help junior apprentices, and academic cliques and factions abound.

These three fields all belong to the superstructure, which is often very abstract and relies on rhetoric. A single sentence from a leader in the field can elevate a complete newcomer to stardom, or it can dismiss an established figure from the industry with a single sentence.

The greater the individual's power, the easier it is for corruption to breed, and the easier it is for small groups to form. With more small groups, the Song family's control weakens.

When a large family has less control, all sorts of problems can arise.

Chen Chao had previously discovered that researchers at universities in the eastern part of the country were accepting bribes from abroad and secretly transferring controlled technologies and materials overseas. Digging deeper into this line of investigation would inevitably uncover more, potentially leading to the Song family. And this wasn't the first time something like this had happened in recent years.

Big names in the arts openly act as mouthpieces for foreign governments.

The director of the medical institute attempted to leak Nuttall's genetic map to a foreign institution.

A local primary school textbook blatantly distorts the facts of the Great Patriotic War.

...

Although each incident was thwarted at the last minute and did not cause significant impact, the instability and weakness of the Song family was already a consensus in high society.

But the more this happened, the more the other families tried to appease the Song family.

Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; once the Song family is driven to the brink, no one knows what they might do.

Chen Chao stood in Chen Fei's study, his face showing no signs of fatigue, not at all like someone who had only slept for three hours yesterday.

Chen Fei briefly recounted his conversations with the heads of several families to Chen Chao, and drew the following conclusions:

“Song Qin is a sensible man; he knows what is important and what can be sacrificed. However, in practice, he can’t control those scheming individuals who are involved in the division of the Song family. He agreed to use us to eliminate those who are disobedient, even if it would damage the Song family’s power.”

"In the long run, we will eventually have to return power to the people. Every family will have to gradually hand over power in the future. The Song family is just doing it a little earlier, and sometimes it's better to do it sooner rather than later."

Chen Fei nodded, agreeing with Chen Chao's view: "So just go ahead and deal with those unstable factors domestically; there's no need to have any reservations."

Chen Fei's words made Chen Chao hesitate for a moment. After hesitating for a while, he asked, "Although there is no evidence, I suspect that Song Zifeng is behind many things. He is much more arrogant than his father and may be unwilling to fall from grace. He wants to find another way out and a powerful backer."

Arresting a few people who split up the family is completely different from directly investigating the heir, Chen Chao reminded his father.

“Song Zifeng is indeed Song Qin’s only son, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he has to inherit the family business. If he really goes too far, Song Qin’s nephew would be a much better fit.”

As Chen Fei spoke, he took out an invitation from the drawer: "The day after tomorrow is Song Qin's nephew Song Canglan's engagement banquet. You were not originally required to attend, but the concerns you just mentioned are reasonable. Please go the day after tomorrow to help Song Canglan make an appearance, and consider it a reminder to Song Zifeng."

"Yes, Father." Chen Chao accepted the invitation.

"Alright, go and get some rest. You didn't sleep well last night, did you?"

Chen Chao gave an awkward laugh, realizing that his father had seen through him.

"Chen Chao, you have always been excellent and I am very satisfied with you. You don't need to push yourself too hard. You need to understand the saying 'water overflows when it's full.'"

"I understand, Dad."

As Chen Chao lay down on the soft bed in the house, he was surprised to find that, after only a few days, he was already not used to having a bed all to himself.

The delicate silk quilt exuded a familiar scent. This was the room he had slept in since childhood, and he had always slept here before officially becoming the deputy minister of Tean.

Chen Chao stared at the familiar ceiling in the room and suddenly felt a strong urge to bring Steve back to visit, to let Steve sleep with him in the bed he had slept in for twenty years.

He wanted to share the taste of home with Steve.

After getting up, Steve drove to Tean's training facilities. He didn't have many friends or any particular hobbies, and the familiar training sessions made him feel at ease when Chen Chao wasn't around.

At 3 PM, Steve finished his training, texted Chen Chao to ask if he was coming home for dinner, and then drove back to the villa.

On the elevated highway, Steve received a reply from Chen Chao saying he was coming back for dinner. He then turned the steering wheel off the highway, intending to find a shopping mall to buy groceries.

The shopping mall Steve chose had a basement level that was half supermarket and half arcade. After finishing his grocery shopping, he unintentionally spotted a familiar figure.

Chenxi?

What is the young lady doing in a place like this?

He couldn't help but follow, and saw Chenxi with a rather artistic young man by her side.

Boy friend?

Steve had no intention of prying into Chenxi's privacy and was about to leave when Chenxi called him back.

"It's you?" Chenxi walked towards him with her boyfriend, and couldn't help but tease him when she saw the groceries he was carrying. "Is my brother's kitchen not just for show?"

"Would you like to eat with us, Mr. Chen?" Steve pretended not to understand the implication in Chen Xi's words.

"What, Mr. Chen? I'm just an office clerk, don't tease me." Chen Xi winked playfully at Steve.

Is this role-playing? Steve was speechless.

"No, no, no, I don't care what happens outside, but at home you're the boss." Steve thought to himself, but he played along naturally.

Chenxi laughed happily, clearly satisfied with Steve's cooperation: "Are you good at playing games? I want that doll over there, but Kevin isn't good at it, and we've spent several hundred dollars and still haven't gotten it."

Steve looked in the direction Chenxi pointed and saw a huge doll hanging on a thin line. Players had to operate a machine to cut the line in order to get the doll.

The scissors are small, the thread is thin, and you need excellent hand-eye coordination to use them.

Steve glanced at the man named Kevin next to him and thought this might be a bit too difficult for the nerd.

"I'll do it."

But it was easy for him.

When Chenxi finally hugged the big doll and happily spun around, Kevin also smiled happily and silently gave Steve a grateful look.

"Thank you. Next time you have the chance, let Kevin and me try your cooking."

"good."

Chenxi smiled and said goodbye to him, while Steve carried the groceries back to his car. For a moment, he suddenly felt a sense of wonder; it seemed as if he had unconsciously become a part of Chenchao's family.