Chapter 56 Rule Challenge

Chapter 56: Challenging the Rules

He must have been on one of the terraces at the evening banquet, the violin music distant, carried on the wind. Tan Zhongshan’s voice, though not loud, resonated with authority, and even Tan Duole, from afar, felt its impact. Quick-witted, she immediately opened her children's phone and meticulously scrolled through the gossip about her biological father.

"Beer Belly Meets Bikini: Ceng Shaohui's Lavish Flings," "Five Women, Three Cities, One Day: Drunken Public Indecency Leads to Fine." The accompanying photos showed Ceng Shaohui disheveled, hiding from the cameras, his face flushed as he angrily shooed away the paparazzi, looking utterly flustered and disheveled.

Tan Youming glanced at the articles, not entirely satisfied. "Too subtle. The editor-in-chief of *Huadu Evening News* is capable of sharper writing. They must have gone easy on him."

Tan Zhongshan said calmly, "And I suppose I should praise you for this?"

Tan Youming leaned against the nanmu low cabinet, one long leg casually propped up, a picture of nonchalance. "If you do wrong, don’t be afraid of people talking."

"Mind your language," Tan Zhongshan snapped quietly. "Did you even consider how the child would feel if she saw this?"

Tan Youming tilted his head to glance at his niece. "She seems to be devouring the gossip with relish." She was hunched over, scanning the lines rapidly like a little critter foraging in a melon patch.

"Besides," Tan Youming added, though he’d never been in a relationship, he was full of parenting theories, "real-life education should start young. If she can’t handle this, how can she be a Tan family child?"

"I think," he continued, "the one who can’t handle having this cover torn away is someone else entirely."

"What nonsense. Don't give me that crap. If you want to play the hero and uphold justice, no one’s stopping you, but could you at least pick the right time and place?"

Tonight’s banquet was attended by elites, old family friends, and various partners. Tan Zhongshan and Guan Kezhi had just clinked glasses with the head of the Ceng family when, the next second, they were hit with this bombshell news.

The banquet hall was instantly filled with undercurrents. On the surface, everyone remained composed, but secretly, they had all caught wind of the news. Such a huge joke—the Tan and Ceng families holding their glasses, staring at each other in awkward silence.

"Now of all times? Several collaborations between our families are about to be launched. The Maritime Trade Association’s opening ceremony is next month—you’re the host, he’s the co-organizer."

"Was this decision discussed internally at Pinghai? Did the family office's investment committee vote on it? Did the family members consult each other?"

"You didn’t tell anyone, not even your mother or me. How will our partners react to the stock plunge? How will we report to the shareholders? The Zhongyuan ancestral ceremony is coming up—what will we say when relatives ask?"

"Tan Youming, how many years have you been leading the family? Do I still need to teach you about considering the bigger picture and planning carefully, thinking things through and covering all the bases?"

Tan Zhongshan, who usually doted on his son, rarely spoke so harshly. Tan Youming straightened up, shedding his casual demeanor, and said seriously, "Dad, how do you know this was just a spur-of-the-moment decision?"

Tan Zhongshan fell silent.

Tan Youming stood his ground, calm and firm. "First, this exposé is about Ceng Shaohui’s personal affairs—at most, a family matter. I don’t think it needs to be escalated to the company level or involve outsiders. If I had discussed it with you and Mom beforehand, would you have let me do it? If we’d brought it to the investment committee for analysis or put it to a family vote, would this plan have passed?"

He spoke calmly and confidently. "You and I both know very well—it would have been impossible."

Tan Yulin was just another sacrifice to family interests and risk avoidance.

In a family of wealth and privilege, it can be warm, but it's also brutally realistic.

Every member of this family was taught from childhood that family interests come first. The privileges they enjoy come with responsibilities; the affection they receive comes with expectations.

Family warmth is merely decoration—interests are the foundation.

All personal value and individual happiness are like branches and leaves growing from this century-old tree of glory. The family’s prosperity and the continuity of its power and wealth are the roots, the guarantee. Only under the family’s protection can everything else exist.

Tan Zhongshan said, "So you do understand."

"Of course I understand," Tan Youming replied. He didn’t judge the right or wrong of these rules—great families maintained their prosperity this way for generations. But he had his own twisted logic. "I’m not trying to destroy it; I’m systematically reforming it."

"..." Tan Zhongshan was about to scold him again, but Tan Youming cut him off first. "The stock plunge is temporary. Even an amicable divorce would cause market fluctuations."

He had considered all the consequences before taking action. "By tearing off this cover now, everyone can see right from wrong clearly. It eliminates outside speculation about who’s to blame, prevents the media from profiting from the drama, and stops the Ceng family from obfuscating, squabbling, and then turning the tables. It’s a preemptive strike."

"The Tan family now holds the moral high ground, and the stock price will soon recover and level out. On the contrary, public opinion will force the Ceng family and Ceng Shaohui to publicly disown him."

"Without the protection and backing of the Ceng family, Ceng Shaohui is nothing!"

All that time as a tabloid regular wasn't wasted. Tan Youming turned their own game against them: "They dare to treat the Tan family like this and still expect me to cover up their scandal? That’s going too far. Whoever did wrong should bear the consequences." "If they think they can sweep their mistakes under the rug without paying a price, what are they thinking? There’s no such thing as a free ride."

The other side was merely relying on the intertwined interests between the two families, assuming the Tan family would downplay the matter and compromise—something that had always been the unspoken rule in their circle.

Unfortunately, they ran into Tan Youming, an immovable force. He laid down the law unequivocally: "If the Ceng family can’t bear to part with their 'filial son,' then they’ll have to stomach the public ridicule, the stock market crash, and the complete collapse of their reputation!"

"If they can’t take it, then let the one responsible step forward and apologize, so everyone on the island can see his cowardly, groveling face."

Tan Zhongshan was alarmed. Compared to his own, his father’s, his grandfather’s, and the Tan family’s traditionally steady, conservative, and Confucian merchant style, Tan Youming was bold, radical, and unafraid to trample over conventions.

He didn’t know where Tan Youming found the courage to challenge the Ceng family’s threats and pressures, or to defy the unspoken rules of their society.

Tan Zhongshan also didn’t know whether such fearlessness and clear sense of right and wrong were good or bad. He just suddenly realized that the sky he had once built for his child was no longer high enough.

With such vision and temperament, Tan Youming was destined to soar to broader and loftier horizons. In the stormy voyages ahead, aside from his parents, who could offer him shelter and companionship?

Tan Youming’s expression was resolute and fearless: "Perhaps you think I’m acting impulsively, prioritizing one person’s interests over the bigger picture. But in truth, I’m not doing this just for my sister—or at least, not just for her alone. I’m doing it for every member of this family."

Those outdated, rotten clichés should have been discarded long ago. Tan Youming didn’t even bother to spell it out, choosing instead to be as polite and tactful as possible without tearing apart that rotten facade: "Only by safeguarding the interests of each specific, tangible member of the Tan family can we truly protect the family as a whole."

Because every family member could one day be placed in the position of a sacrifice. Upholding real, concrete dignity and integrity is more important, more practical, and more humane than preserving hypocritical, elusive so-called family honor and reputation.

Tan Zhongshan was taken aback. Whether convinced or not, he coldly challenged, "Even if you have a thousand reasons, the Ceng family is the legitimate co-organizer of the Maritime Trade Association."

The public bidding, the procedures, the documentation—all were in order. As the saying goes, you have to respect the institution, even if you dislike the people.

"By causing this scene at such a critical moment, whose face are you slapping? Forget the public opinion—how will you manage the upcoming exhibition period? You’re leaving no room for maneuver, straining relations to this extent. Will the Ceng family still cooperate? Can you even mobilize their partners and suppliers?"

Tan Youming let out a cold laugh: "Do you think I’d still let them have a share of the pie?"

Tan Zhongshan’s brow furrowed abruptly, his anger flaring up again: "Tan Youming! What more do you want to do?"

If it were just a private feud between two families, that would be one thing. But the Maritime Trade Association involved complex, intertwined interests, and the Ceng family had its own extensive network of allies. Tan Youming was kicking over the whole hive, leaving no room for compromise.

Not even thirty years old, with his foundations still unstable, how dare he act so recklessly? Tan Zhongshan was determined to crush this demonic arrogance and sternly warned, "I think you’ve been spoiled too much since childhood. Don’t think for a second that Pinghai can dominate Haishi single-handedly. What makes you so capable, huh? Tan Youming, are you really trying to kick them off the table entirely?"

Tan Youming was resistant to force but responsive to reason. When Tan Zhongshan reasoned with him, he could reason back, but when scolded, he defiantly shouted into the phone, "Hey, you’re absolutely right! I’m making an example of them!"

"From the incident until now, has their family ever apologized to my sister or shown any remorse? If the cost of offending the Tan family is so low, then everyone will think they can step on us whenever they want. That’s unacceptable!"

Adding fuel to the fire, Tan Zhongshan was left speechless by Tan Youming’s twisted logic, both exasperated and furious: "You—"

Tan Youming was about to say more when his phone was suddenly snatched out of his hand mid-air. He froze for a second, then reached out to grab it back.

Shen Zongnian, while effortlessly restraining him with one hand, spoke into the phone: "Uncle Tan, it’s me."

Tan Youming stood on his tiptoes, but Shen Zongnian was tall and had large hands, easily gripping both of Tan Youming’s wrists firmly as if with thick chains. His voice was calm and steady: "I was the one who arranged for Ceng Shaohui’s scandal to be leaked."

"The photos, headlines, wording, and timing of the exposure were all handled by me. It was an impulsive decision, and I apologize."

But his tone didn’t sound apologetic at all: "You and Auntie Guan can tell the Ceng family you knew nothing about it and pin it on me."

Tan Zhongshan scolded his son and adopted son equally: "Stop competing to take the blame in front of me. What you did is no different from what Tan Youming did. He acts recklessly, and you follow along? Huh? What, is the chaos not enough? Do you want to drag Huantu into this too?"

He reflected and pondered—neither he nor Guan Kezhi had spoiled Tan Youming in his upbringing, so how did they end up raising such a little hellion? He nearly forgot that the boy had always had a safety net and an enabler, protecting and indulging him since childhood.

Tan Youming’s temperament today: thirty percent came from his parents, seventy percent from his older brother Shen Zongnian. "Shen Zongnian, you just keep indulging him, don’t you? When he breaks the sky, you’ll be the one fixing it."

As soon as Tan Youming heard this, he got fired up again. Scolding him was one thing, but why drag Shen Zongnian into it? He immediately tried to grab the phone to start a showdown with Tan Zhongshan.

Shen Zongnian restrained him, and Tan Youming was held firmly against his chest, like a furious kitten throwing a useless tantrum.

Being called by his full name by Tan Zhongshan didn’t bother Shen Zongnian—it meant he was being treated like a real son. Formality would have felt more distant.

He held Tan Youming still to keep him from struggling, then pressed a hand to his shoulder to soothe him, taking the initiative to admit fault: "Uncle Tan, it won’t happen. Please don’t be angry, and rest easy. We’ll handle this quickly and won’t make things difficult for you or Auntie Guan."