My Wife, The Ice Queen President

On their way, Yang Xinyi briefed Ye Xiong about the people they were going to meet.

Tonight, besides her father, Yang Dingguo, and her mother, Zhao Lizhen, there would also be her aunt and her aunt’s husband.

Her aunt, named Yang Yueru, was currently the owner of a well-known enterprise in Kyoto, worth billions; her uncle, Tang Jianjun, was a department-level official with considerable influence in Kyoto. Although the couple couldn’t be said to control everything like emperors, they were certainly not individuals to be trifled with. They had only one daughter, the physically disabled Tang Ning.

“Aunt has always doted on me since I was young and is easy to talk to, but my uncle is not a simple character. He’s a former military man who got used to being a high-ranking officer. He’s very decisive and doesn’t tolerate dissent. When you talk to him, avoid trying to act smart or arguing with him, do you hear me?” Yang Xinyi seriously warned.

“I know how to act.”

The two went to the hotel’s private room, ordered their food, and quietly waited for the guests to arrive.

The first to arrive were Yang Xinyi’s parents, Yang Dingguo and Zhao Lizhen. As they walked in, their gazes fell upon Ye Xiong, and those looks were clearly scrutinizing him.

Yang Dingguo was around fifty years old, wore glasses, had a beard, and his hair was streaked with white. He had an innate sense of authority that didn’t require anger—a clear businessman’s demeanor.

Next to him, Zhao Lizhen, although also nearing fifty, still looked radiant, her face aglow, and her appearance well-maintained, making her look around forty.

Together, they didn’t seem like a couple at all, but rather as if the radiant Zhao Lizhen was a mistress kept by Yang Dingguo.

“Dad, Mom, you’re here.” Yang Xinyi quickly got up. Seeing Ye Xiong still in a daze, she promptly kicked him under the table.

Ye Xiong then stood up and awkwardly called out, “Dad, Mom, please take a seat.”

Calling strangers “Dad” and “Mom” was indeed awkward!

It was Yang Dingguo and Zhao Lizhen’s first time meeting Ye Xiong. Seeing that he was presentable and polite, they felt slightly better.

The couple sat down, and Yang Dingguo said, “So you’re Ye Xiong, huh?”

With no one else here, if it’s not me named Ye Xiong, could it be you’re called Ye Xiong?

Despite his internal complaints, Ye Xiong still managed a smile and replied, “Yes, I’m Ye Xiong, Xinyi’s husband.”

“I heard you’re now the general manager at Mingyang International Hotel. How is that going?” Yang Dingguo inquired.

“It’s okay, so-so,” Ye Xiong answered.

“What’s your monthly salary? Do you get five hundred thousand?” Yang Dingguo pressed on.

“I don’t know how much the monthly salary is.”

Ye Xiong wasn’t receiving a salary at the moment. His income was mainly from performance. If the hotel didn’t make money, he would earn nothing. If it turned a profit, he would split it with Du Yuehua. That’s why Ye Xiong couldn’t answer when Yang Dingguo asked about his salary.

“You don’t even know your own salary and call yourself a general manager? Are you just a freeloader?” Yang Dingguo snorted, his face showing a look of contempt.

Ye Xiong had been holding back, but as the older man mocked him again and again, if he continued to tolerate it, he would be too easy to bully.

“Chairman Yang, then let me ask you, what is your current monthly salary?” an indignant Ye Xiong responded, even changing the title he used.

“What is this nonsense?” Yang Dingguo roared with anger, “I am the chairman of Yang Group, that’s my own company. Do I need to take a salary?”

“I’m drawing profit dividends from Mingyang International Hotel. Asking me how much I make in a month is just nonsense, isn’t it?” Ye Xiong rolled his eyes and shot back fiercely.

In his life, he had never bowed down to anyone. The moment Yang Dingguo walked in and started firing at him, it was hard to bear.

“Ye Xiong, how can you talk to Dad like that?” Yang Xinyi didn’t expect Ye Xiong to be so aggressive. She hurriedly kicked him several times under the table, signaling him to stop messing around.

“You’ve only married my daughter for a short time, and you’re already talking to me like this. In a year or two, who knows, you might take over the entire Xinyi Group and have it in the palm of your hand?” Yang Dingguo’s face turned pale with anger, and he snorted as he glanced at his daughter. “I raised you, paid for your education, handed over the group to you, and you choose a construction worker over a good son-in-law like He Haodong. What is that if not blindness?”

“Don’t think I don’t know. A construction worker becoming the general manager of Mingyang International must be your doing behind the scenes, right?”

“You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Do you think giving him a high-ranking position means he’s fit for it?”

Yang Dingguo snorted again, his face showing even more disdain.

After hearing this, Ye Xiong suddenly laughed, a laugh that was strangely eerie.

If Phoenix were here, she would definitely be taken aback, because every time Ye Xiong laughed like that, it signified the height of his anger, and the consequences were severe.

“Mr. Yang Dingguo…”

From previously calling him Dad, to Chairman Yang, and now directly by name, it showed that Ye Xiong’s anger was accumulating bit by bit.

In his life, Ye Xiong had never been humiliated like this; even when the leaders of Huaxia asked him to return, they were always polite. Yet now, a fake father-in-law, a clown, kept insulting him. If he didn’t fight back, they’d really think he was a pushover.

At that moment, he suddenly stood up and said loudly,

“Twenty-three years ago, when Mr. Yang Yuanshan renamed the group to Yuanshan Group, its value was around two billion. Twenty years have passed, cabbages have gone from fifty cents to four dollars a pound, candy from five cents to fifty cents a piece, yet under the leadership of Mr. Yang Dingguo over twenty years, Yuanshan Group went from two billion to three billion—a full ten billion increase over twenty years. Mr. Yang Dingguo, you truly are a man of great talent!”

Bang!

Yang Dingguo slapped his hand on the table and abruptly stood up, his face turning crimson with anger, pointing at Ye Xiong and shaking all over.

“You… you… you.”

“What about me? Did I say something wrong?” Ye Xiong sneered.

In his life, Yang Dingguo’s greatest failure was not achieving fame in the business world. But he wasn’t incompetent, since during his management, he managed to survive a financial crisis, which was not bad at all. However, this was his sore spot, and nobody had ever dared to mention it to his face. Ye Xiong struck right at his weak point with his first remark.

Yang Xinyi hadn’t expected Ye Xiong to retaliate so fiercely, backing her father into a corner with just a few words. She quickly kicked under the table, urging him not to be impulsive.

“Why are you kicking? Did I say anything wrong?” Ye Xiong ignored her, ice forming on his face as he continued sternly, “Everyone in Jiangnan City who knows He Haodong, knows what kind of person he is. Knowing that, you still pushed your own daughter towards the fire, just to use the power of Haotian Group to give Xinyi Group a lift. Isn’t that too selfish?”

“And you.” After scolding Yang Dingguo, Ye Xiong pointed at Yang Xinyi, his tone full of disappointment, “I know you respect your father, but there should be a limit. Whatever he tells you to do, you do it. Do you have any backbone? If he asked you to marry some decrepit sixty-year-old, would you do it?”

Yang Xinyi felt her face burn with embarrassment and glared fiercely at him.

It was only acting, was there really a need for it to be so realistic?

But truth be told, Ye Xiong’s words had made her feel quite relieved. She had long wanted to criticize her father’s behavior, but because he was her father, she had not dared to speak up.

“Xinyi, the man you’ve chosen is so low-class, I absolutely do not agree to your union. Divorce him immediately, or don’t blame me for not regarding father-daughter ties.” Yang Dingguo started to rage.