Lying on the bed in his bedroom, Ethans mind was in a daze. He wasnt particularly disappointed with his fathers decision; he just felt the cruelty of the big family was a bit inhuman.
The Hunt familys ancestral home is located in Shunde, Guangdong. When the Thirteen Factories in Guangdong were in full swing, the Hunt familys Tai Ping Hang, although not comparable to Wu Bingjians Yihe Hang, was also a well-known big business in Shunde. After the first Opium War, the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou disappeared, and Tai Ping Hang was also severely damaged. Ethans great-great-grandfather, seeing that merchants were not as good as dogs in troubled times, studied hard and became a scholar during the Tongzhi period, but the Qing Dynasty was dying. Ethans grandfather, Thomas Hunt, became a scholar and inherited the family business. When the family business was declining, he could only put down his books and focus on making a living. He closed Tai Ping Hang, which had been in business for a hundred years but was suffering heavy losses, and finally established Tianbao Rong Jin Shop and Yongsheng Bank, focusing on gold and foreign exchange business. The Hunt familys business was revitalized. However, it coincided with the successive outbreaks of the Anti-Japanese War and the Civil War, and the market was declining. John Hunt went to Hong Kong alone to find another way out and finally found a way out for the family. In 1956, the Hunt family moved to Hong Kong, and John Hunt took the position of the head of the family with the family business he created in Hong Kong.
Ethan admired his father more and more as he got to know him, but this admiration was more for the familys contribution and the persistence in starting a business, as for the father-son relationship, is there such a thing?
A father and son who didnt meet once a month couldnt talk much, plus Ethans own secret, and he didnt want to reveal more in front of his father, who was as determined as iron and as cunning as a fox. The submission of that booklet at the age of ten was already a misstep, which made him regret it for three years. Isnt it just trying to save the integrity of a family? How could he think so much?
He got out of bed, sat in front of the desk, and the face in the mirror in front of him was far more than the composure of thirteen years old. He threw the envelope in his hand into the drawer casually, and then took out a password book from the bottom of the drawer. There were already six such password notebooks in the drawer, and this was the seventh one.
He carefully checked the password books in the drawer and found that the hair he had left between the third and fourth books was still sandwiched in the middle. Well. No one has moved it. Then he opened the one in his hand and prepared to continue recording his strange thoughts in his brain.
"Ah Chen, are you in there?" The voice was clear and gentle, ringing at the door, followed by two knocks on the door. This was Richards eldest daughter, who had grown up accompanying and serving Ethan since childhood. She is 16-year-old Emily Adams.
Loyal, benevolent, righteous, and brave are the family-born of the Hunt family and the four major butlers of the Hunt family now. Ethans great-great-grandfather took in a branch of the nine surnames of the fishermen, who were the lower class in the Qing Dynasty, and left them as housekeepers, who were given the surname Li by the great-great-grandfather. Their descendants have served the Li family, and the excellent ones are all working in the Empire Group. Emily Adams is the eldest daughter of Richard, studying at the Catholic Chung Tak English Academy, and has been accompanying and serving Ethan since childhood.
Ethan put the password notebook back into the drawer, quietly cleaned up the desk, tiptoed to the door, and suddenly opened the door. This was a game they often played when they were children, and every time Xiang Ning was frightened. As expected, Xiang Ning, who was raising her hand to knock on the door, was startled and her eyes widened. She raised the book in her arms and smashed it at Ethan, "Dead Chenzi, you scared me again!"
Ethan sidestepped and pulled Emily into the room with one hand, kicked the door shut with one foot, and said with a smile, "I can finally leave this cage, and I am very happy."
Emily observed Ethans expression carefully and found that it was not fake. "Ive been worried about you all day, are you really not disappointed?"
"I was a bit lost at first, but now I think its great to be a dandy." Ethan stretched lazily and comfortably, lying on the bed, "You dont have to think about calculating people all day, you dont have to worry about making a living; you can eat when you eat, and you can wear clothes when you wear clothes; you can tease beautiful women with taste when you are idle, and you can bully the weak when you are idle..."
"No way," Emily sat down on the edge of the bed and smoothed the bedsheet with her hand, her phoenix eyes full of determination, "You cant be a dandy. The great-grandfather, the old master, and the master are all outstanding people of their generation, and even the eldest young master has a lot of ideas in his chest. You are so smart, its just that you didnt inherit the family business, who cares! Create another one."
"Start a business? Can you help me?"
"Yes, I will help you!"
"Build a big family business, and you will watch it for me?"
"Yes, I will help you!"
"Have seven or eight children, and you will help me?"
"Yes, I will help you..."
"Marry ten or eight wives, and you will help me?"
"Dead Chenzi..." She reached out and pinched Ethans ribs, twisted a circle, and then let go, jumped off the bed, and ran away laughing.
"Ouch... Cant even make a joke." Ethan rubbed his aching ribs and muttered.
"By the way, I almost forgot. The old master asked you to come over." The door suddenly opened a crack, revealing a smiling face. Seeing Ethans embarrassed appearance, she was a bit proud. "Im really leaving, bye!"
The old master Thomas Hunt was full of knowledge, and he became a scholar during the Guangxu period. Later, the world was in chaos, and the family business was declining. He had to come out to support the family. After becoming the head of the family, he acted decisively, closed Tai Ping Hang, which had been in business for a hundred years but suffered heavy losses, and focused on "gold in troubled times." He established "Tianbao Rong Jin Shop," mainly engaging in gold processing. The first major business partner was Li Yaohan, the first bandit in Guangdong, who had robbed 800,000 taels of gold and silver. In 1917, Li Yaohan suddenly became the first governor of Guangdong, and naturally, he dared not use the bandit funds wantonly. Thomas Hunt re-cast the bandit funds for Li Yaohan through his teacher, making a profit of more than 50,000 taels of silver. With this, Thomas Hunt also set up Yongsheng Bank and started remittance business.
At the same time, Thomas Hunt created a new business called "coin washing." At that time, everyone only liked to keep complete, flat, and clean banknotes. As a result, the value of mutilated and dirty banknotes fell by 30 to 40% during transactions. Thomas Hunt and John Hunt invented a way to rejuvenate old banknotes: soak the old banknotes in water, wash off the stains with bleaching powder, apply a layer of protein to make them strong, and then dry and iron them. They were collected at a discount of 60 to 70%, and then quietly cleaned and sorted out, but they were exchanged at full price. This is also the origin of the term "money laundering" in the underworld.
What is most admirable is that Thomas Hunt acted decisively. In 1956, Thomas Hunt went to Hong Kong with the main members of the family and saw that his fourth son, John Hunt, was doing well in Hong Kong. The second day after arriving in Hong Kong, he held a family meeting and transferred the position of the head of the family to his fourth son, John Hunt, on the grounds of "no two masters in a family."
Regarding the parents divorce, Ethan also had some insight. It is impossible to say that there was no promotion behind this matter without Thomas Hunt. This time, he was "divorced from the family," and it is estimated that there is also a reason for this old man. In addition, the eldest young master Robert Hunt was raised by Thomas Hunt himself, so Ethan has not been very close to this grandfather since he was a child. He only greets his grandfather on holidays every year, and he never goes to his villa at ordinary times.
This time, he was summoned, and it is estimated that it was also for the familys childrens routine "Zhous fortune". The Hunt family, who holds the scholarly family, allows the children ofthe family to pick two items at will in their own study, as the heirlooms of the side branches. The quality of the items is good or bad, and it depends on the eye power.
When he saw Thomas Hunt, he was pruning the boxwood in the garden.
"Grandpa," Ethan stood next to the garden bed.
The old man turned his head, and at that time, the sky was a bit dim, but Thomas Hunts eyes were like a sharp sword, and they scanned Ethan from top to bottom. "Not bad. Stand like a pine, stand like a stone, neither humble nor arrogant, you are more proud than your brother. You are a thousand-mile horse of the Hunt family."
"Thank you, Grandpa, for your praise!" Ethan lowered his head, and there was not much joy on his face.
"Hmm." Thomas Hunt found that this little grandson was more and more unpredictable. "You should have been born five years earlier, and your father and I would give you another ten years! Its a pity..." There was some regret in the tone, but there was no wavering.
"I understand my fathers decision," Ethan said. John Hunt will be 50 years old next year. He has been working since he was young, and his health is not very good.
"Its good to understand," Thomas Hunt continued to prune the branches, "A family, a strong trunk and weak branches are the right way. I have experienced this three times in my life. The first time, I closed Tai Ping Hang, and I kicked out many uncles and brothers from the family. How many people scolded me as a demon scholar, but if I didnt do it that way, everyone could only sink together. The second time, the world was in decline, and in order to support your fathers trip to Hong Kong, I closed Yong Sheng Bank. My younger brother was so angry that he went far away to the United States; the third time I made your father the head of the family, and your uncle died young, which was also due to this matter." Thomas Hunt was like an eighty-year-old man at this time, and the nostalgia and sadness in his tone were vivid.
"But all of this is for the sake of the family, there is no way," Thomas Hunt pruned the last piece of branch, rubbed his sore arm, and walked back to the hall with his back to the front. His eyes lit up again, "I know, because of your mothers matter, you have opinions about me." Lis family can do business with the Hunt family, can take some advantage, can make some profit, and it doesnt matter, but if they want to use your mothers hand to intervene in the Hunt family, intervene in the affairs of the Empire Group, that is unforgivable." His eyes, which were very sharp, stared at Ethan, "Boy, youd better remember that as a member of the Hunt family, the affairs of the family are the most important things. The three-hundred-year-old Shunde Hunt family is the most important thing."
At this time, it was close to dusk, and the figure of the old man was a bit hunched, but his power was full. Involving the mother and the mothers family, Ethan did not respond.
The old man was a bit bored and waved his hand, "Go, the study door is not locked."
Unlike his fathers study, which is full of bookshelves, the study of the old master is mostly full of antique shelves. Ethan picked up one at will, looked at the bottom, opened the cover, and touched the inner glaze. This is a Kangxi blue and white five-color landscape character pattern general jar. Then, it was calligraphy and painting. He opened a scroll, and the simple and vigorous meaning came to him. It was a picture of asking a child under the pine tree, and the signature was white and bald, which was a painting by Liu Kuncan. Across the row, there were more calligraphy, ink, paper, and inkstone, and the bookshelves on the other side were mostly ancient books.
"Two pieces?" Ethan, who was not unfamiliar with antiques due to his influence, was a bit difficult to choose in this study, which could be called a small museum. In the end, he picked up the general jar and took the painting of the bald pine tree, ready to go out. The corner of his eye saw a book on the rosewood table of his grandfather. He was a bit curious about what kind of books his grandfather usually read, so he put down the two antiques and picked up this ancient book, which was tightly wrapped in kraft paper. When he opened it, the pages of the book were extremely old, and the paper seemed to be bark paper. If he exerted a little force, it seemed to be broken. Then he looked at the content, "This old man is not serious," Ethan complained in his heart.
"Grandpa, Ill take this one," Ethan said as he walked out of the study, showing the book in his hand to Thomas Hunt in the hall. "When youre old, dont think so much, its not good for your health!"
Seeing the book in Ethans hand, Thomas Hunts eyebrows twitched, "You are really knowledgeable!" He seemed to be very reluctant, but the hand that had been raised was retracted. "Are you sure you want it?"
"The pictures inside are quite interesting. Ill take it!"
"Maybe I really have no fate with it. Ive been looking at it for more than fifty years, and I still dont understand it. You can think about it, but dont deceive yourself, understand?" There was not only reluctance but also some pity in his eyes. He stroked the book and handed it to Ethan again. "Wait a minute."
Thomas Hunt went back to the study and came out with a notebook in his hand, handing it to Ethan, "Well, this one is also for you. Our Hunt familys rule of Zhous fortune cannot be broken. It is said to be two pieces, and it must be two pieces."
Ethan took the notebook and flipped through two pages. "Wow, Grandpa, you read porn and also write reading notes?"
"Get out of here, you little brat!"
Seeing the usually serious grandfather being embarrassed, Ethan ran away laughing.
With the lights on the corridor gradually turning on, Ethan peeled off the kraft paper. The somewhat dilapidated ancient book had four characters written in official script on the cover, "Peng Zus Heart Sutra."
Looking at the first page of this book, Ethan was a bit silly. This is not scientific.
Then he turned to the second page.