Playing the male antagonist in a melodramatic novel is fine for a bit of fun.

"Young Master Chen, could you please grant me the honor of temporarily releasing Zhang Ling?"

While Chen Zhou was deep in thought, an old yet powerful voice rang out.

Following the sound, Chen Zhou saw an elderly man in a Tang suit leaning on a cane and a girl with brown hair in pigtails.

At that moment, the girl with pigtails commanded, "Chen Zhou, did you hear me? My grandfather told you to release Brother Zhang immediately."

"Wow, it's actually the former president of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Gu, and his granddaughter, Gu Wanwan."

"It seems that Elder Gu is going to stand up for Zhang Ling."

"What's the point of him? Can his status compare to the Chen family of Shanghai?"

"It's nothing more than taking advantage of one's age and using one's old face to sell oneself."

Chen Zhou's face darkened. He took the bone-piercing needle from Zhang Ling's hand and coldly looked at the old man surnamed Gu: "Who do you think you are?"

Before the old man surnamed Gu could reply, Gu Wanwan jumped out.

"Brother Zhang cured my grandfather's illness; he's a great benefactor to our Gu family. If you know what's good for you, just let him go..."

Whoosh!

The bone-piercing needle flew out, passing through Gu Wanwan's left shoulder, leaving a beautiful spray of blood before returning to Chen Zhou's hand.

Chen Zhou looked at the old man surnamed Gu: "Old man Gu, if you don't know how to teach your granddaughter, shall I teach her for you?"

Chen Xin looked at Chen Zhou with considerable surprise. She hadn't expected Chen Zhou to have this skill and wanted to learn it.

But the timing isn't right now; I'll definitely need my older brother to teach me once it's over.

Standing opposite Chen Zhou, Gu Lianhu smiled, but his voice turned stern: "Wanwan, apologize to Young Master Chen!"

He thought he could easily subdue Chen Zhou with the reputation he had accumulated in Shanghai over the years, but he never expected that Chen Zhou would not give him any face at all.

This is his Achilles' heel.

In Shanghai, people will call him "Old Gu" out of courtesy, and "Old Man Gu" if they don't.

Clearly, Chen Zhou belongs to the group of people who don't give face.

Gu Wanwan's face was pale, her right hand clutching her left shoulder, her expression quite unwilling: "Grandpa."

Today is a gathering of prominent second-generation figures. How can you expect her to apologize in front of so many people? Where does that leave her dignity?

Gu Wanwan is beautiful, but because of her injury, she looks even more like a sickly beauty.

His current stubborn refusal to apologize has attracted the attention of many second-generation rich kids, who are now tempted by his actions.

But now she is facing someone that even the second generation dares not offend.

At that moment, the ten bodyguards Chen Xin had called arrived from downstairs.

They looked at Chen Xin, then at Zhang Ling lying at Chen Zhou's feet like a dead dog, and then at the Gu family grandfather and grandson confronting Chen Zhou. They immediately drew their batons from their waists and pointed them at the Gu family grandfather and grandson: "Second Young Master, Third Miss, are you going to attack them?"

Pointing ten batons at her, Gu Wanwan was startled, a chill running down her spine.

She wanted to say something, but looking at the bodyguards' cold faces, she instinctively said, "Young Master Chen, I'm sorry, I'm willing to compensate you."

Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on Chen Zhou's face.

He looked at the bodyguards and said, "It's alright now. Put your batons away; it's not good to scare people."

Then, Chen Zhou looked at Gu Wanwan and said, "I've heard that Elder Gu has a rare 500-year-old ginseng. I'd like to see it."

These words immediately made Gu Lianhu so angry that his liver hurt.

That 500-year-old ginseng was Gu Lianhu's most prized possession, and many people would find it difficult to even catch a glimpse of it.

But this young member of the Chen family immediately tried to take it away.

But seeing Chen Zhou's gaze lingering on Wanwan, she couldn't bring herself to say no.

Left with no other choice, Gu Lianhu had to say, "Tonight, the old ginseng will appear at the Chen family's residence."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhou smiled broadly and tapped Gu Wanwan's left shoulder. Gu Wanwan felt the pain subside significantly, and the bleeding stopped.

"In that case, thank you, Elder Gu."

Gu Lianhu had lost interest in continuing his pleasantries with Chen Zhou. After a brief chat, he took Gu Wanwan to the hospital for a checkup.

Guo Le spoke up at the opportune moment: "Young Master Chen, what about our cooperation?"

Chen Zhou: "Come to my sister's company at nine o'clock tomorrow morning to sign the contract."

All you need to do in Guo's business is make him a shareholder; he can get shares in the company. It's a very profitable deal.

Upon receiving Chen Zhou's affirmative reply, Guo Le beamed with joy and began to eat and drink with Chen Zhou.

During this time, people occasionally tried to get closer to Chen Zhou, but they were all deterred by Chen Zhou's constant eating.

In the end, besides Chen Xin, only Guo Le, Wen Rou, and Liu Ruyan remained by Chen Zhou's side.

After the entire gathering ended, Chen Zhou finalized a business deal and purchased a wild ginseng.

……

Late at night, at the Chen family home.

In the spacious living room, Chen Zhou and his siblings were leisurely enjoying soup prepared by the family chef.

Tong Xiao walked in angrily, carrying a fragrant wooden box. As soon as she entered, she said, "Chen Zhou, have you grown some guts?"

Behind Tong Xiao was Chen Mu, who reached out to stop her, saying, "Old Tong, the child is all grown up now."

Tong Xiao turned around, pointing her finger at Chen Mu, and said, "Xiao Ya is like this, and A Zhou is like this too. I think it's because you, as their father, spoil them."

"Did I invite him over for dinner? I invited him on a blind date!"

"He had it easy, enjoying himself to the fullest!"

As she spoke, Tong Xiao slammed the wooden box on the table: "Your son is quite impressive, he even brought back a 500-year-old ginseng, but I wonder if he'll bring back a girlfriend."

Chen Mu gave an awkward smile: "The child is still growing."

On the other side, Chen Zhou saw the wooden box and drank the soup in his hand in one gulp.

Then, in front of Tong Xiao, he opened the box, revealing an old ginseng root shaped like a dragon.

Chen Ya also came over and looked at the old ginseng with a sigh, "The shape is quite unique."

Chen Xin chimed in, "Indeed, this look alone is worth 499 years."

Tong Xiao asked curiously, "Ah Zhou, are you going to use this thing to practice your skills?"

They also knew about what happened at today's gathering, and naturally knew about Chen Zhou's actions of throwing the bone-piercing needle and then recalling it, so they also knew that Chen Zhou possessed martial arts skills.

Chen Zhou shook his head: "This is for you."

If this old ginseng had grown in the cultivation world, it would have been of great help to Chen Zhou, but unfortunately it was born in the mortal world, so it was of little use to Chen Zhou.

As he spoke, Chen Zhou sent the cultivation technique, which he had already made into a PowerPoint presentation, to the four people.

"Make a note of this, and I'll lead everyone through it every morning and evening."

All four of them opened the PowerPoint presentation that Chen Zhou had edited. Then Chen Ya asked curiously, "What does 'Cultivation Technique 1.0' mean?"

Chen Mu replied, "Your mother and I are too old to train anymore, let your older sister and younger sister train instead."

Chen Zhou first looked at Chen Ya and answered her question, saying, "1.0 is because this is the first version; it will be updated later."

Then, Chen Zhou looked at Chen Mu and said, "With the old ginseng, it's enough for you and Mom to reach the internal strength level, so don't worry."