Chapter 163: Let the person in charge decide

After Hoover's words fell, Zhou Ming and Tang Ran did not speak for a long time. After all, such shocking news takes a certain amount of time to digest.

However, before that, Hoover did disappear from Brighton for a period of time. It seems that he came back to San Francisco to deal with the inheritance issue within the Tang family, and even went to Lingnan to look for Tang Ran, but he didn't find her, or maybe at that time Tang Ran had already fallen out with her parents or run away from home. On Tang Ran's side, Zhou Ming finally understood why her parents, who valued boys so highly, would still adopt a girl.

These things can finally be matched with Zhou Ming's memories, and they have helped solve many mysteries for Zhou Ming. Of course, after learning these things, there are also more and more head-scratching mysteries, but these are not urgent matters.

Zhou Ming and Tang Ran were silent, but Hoover continued, 'Since Miss Tang Ran is the only daughter of the uncle, then she is naturally the first-in-line heir according to the family rules. However, these rules were newly integrated after coming into contact with Western royal family rules. In the eyes of most clan members, a woman is someone who gets married and leaves the family. Even if she is the first-in-line heir, it is still very unconvincing to the Tang family in the Chinese cultural sphere.'

'Moreover, Miss Tang Ran has lived in her ancestral home in Lingnan since birth, and not only has she never done anything in the family, but few people, apart from a few elders, even know that there is such an heir, let alone support.'

Hoover concluded, 'Therefore, I think the best and most direct way for Miss Tang Ran to quickly improve her competitiveness is to marry another heir with great strength. This dual guarantee of strength and order of succession will ensure Miss Tang Ran's smooth succession. I believe no matter who it is, including the several elders in the family, they will not be able to find any faults.'

Almost as soon as Hoover finished speaking, Tang Ran shouted, 'Stop right there! I'm not the heir to the Tang family, and I don't want to inherit the Tang Bank. I'm just Tang Ran. I was born and raised in Nanjiang. I'm a true Nanjiang native. I'm not an heir to anything! Please let me go!'

Hoover gave a helpless smile in response: 'If it were just me personally, I would of course be happy to do so, but I'm sorry, this concerns the Tang family, which means that from the day Miss Tang Ran's body began to carry the Tang bloodline, this was a destiny you were destined to bear...'

Before Hoover's words had finished, Tang Ran cried out again: 'But I don't want to bear this destiny, I don't even want this shit Tang bloodline!'

Tang Ran shouted the last sentence almost hysterically. After she finished shouting, she turned her gaze to Zhou Ming. There were glistening tears in her eyes as she sobbed but said firmly, 'Brother Ming, I like you. I don't want to marry someone I don't know. If I have to marry someone, I only want to marry you, even if I have to be your concubine... Brother Ming, I beg you, help me!'

As Tang Ran spoke, her tears fell from her eyes like a dam breaking. Zhou Ming was not made of stone. Tang Ran looked so pitiful with her tear-stained face that Zhou Ming reached out and took her in his arms, saying to her, 'Don't worry, as long as I'm here, no one can force you to do anything you don't want to do. Ranran, do you trust me?'

Hearing Zhou Ming say this, Tang Ran finally smiled. She nodded vigorously and said, 'I believe you!'

Beautiful scenes are always interrupted, and unfortunately Hoover was just such a character. At this time, he interrupted, 'I'm sorry, you two, I know I shouldn't speak at this time, but I still want to say that because things have come to this, I'm afraid it's not something you can decide.'

Zhou Ming's happiness was ruined, and Tang Ran glared at Hoover, hating to skin him alive. On the other hand, Zhou Ming was much more rational, just meaningfully asking, 'Why? Has this risen to the level of a world peace issue?'

"That's not the case yet, but it does relate to Miss Tang Ran's safety. I'm also thinking of her.'

Hoover then pointed his finger at Tang Ran and continued, 'I think perhaps Mr. Zhou Ming and Miss Tang Ran don't understand the current situation, nor do they understand the extent to which the issue of inheritance has been stirred up by the heirs. Let me tell you, a few days ago a villa was set on fire and burned to the ground, and no one inside, including the servants and bodyguards, survived.'

'Are you saying that if Tang Ran leaves here, her life will also be in danger?' Zhou Ming asked.

Hoover shrugged: 'I can't be sure, but maybe they will go all out and eliminate the source of the problem. Or maybe, given Miss Tang Ran's special status, they will put her under house arrest and force her to marry them, so as to increase their competitiveness. But in any case, that would be very bad, and it is an outcome we don't want, isn't it?'

'In my opinion, it's not much different from what you did, isn't it?' Zhou Ming said.

'Okay,' Hoover sighed with his arms spread out, "but at least I didn't do anything to hurt Miss Tang Ran, and I also respect her personal wishes very much."

'You should be very happy that you did this, otherwise I don't think we would be able to sit here and chat peacefully like this,' Zhou Ming said.

If someone else had said this to Hoover, Hoover would definitely have laughed at the other person's naivety, even if the other person was a powerful figure in an organization, because such a hindsight threat was really lame! But the person saying this at the moment was Ming Zhou, which made Hoover's heart thump. Hoover didn't understand, such words coming from the mouth of someone with overwhelming strength really did have the power to threaten, but in front of him was clearly just Ming Zhou, who had been easily driven out of Brighton by the Adams family. How could this be?

Ming Zhou didn't care about the confusion in Hoover's heart at the moment, and he continued, 'But anyway, thank you very much for telling me all this about Tang Ran, and I'm also very grateful for your protection of her these past two days...'

Zhou Ming's words made Hoover frown. Before Zhou Ming could finish, Hoover said, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, don't tell me that your final decision is still to take Miss Tang Ran away from here?'

'Respecting her own decision wasn't what you just said yourself, Mr. Hoover?' Zhou Ming asked curiously in return.

To this, Hoover said with some embarrassment, 'I did say that, but I care more about Miss Tang Ran's safety. After all, she is the first-in-line successor of the Tang family.'

Zhou Ming laughed: 'First-in-line heir? I think what Mr. Hoover or the heir behind you really cares about is not the safety of Tang Ran, but the need for her to willingly become your weight, right? Because if she is unwilling, other heirs can take advantage of the situation to smear the heir behind you and even disinherit him. That's why you have to do this.'

At the end of his words, Zhou Ming paused for a moment, and then deliberately leaned forward and asked Hoover, 'Mr. Hoover, am I right?'

Zhou Ming's words hit Hoover's heart like a heavy hammer, shattering his mind. He didn't expect Zhou Ming to have figured it out in just a few words, and what terrified him even more than that was that he simply didn't understand Zhou Ming's purpose.

'Looks like I was right.' Zhou Ming turned to Tang Ran and asked, "What do you think?"

Tang Ran answered without even thinking: "I don't want to inherit the Tang family, I don't want the Tang Bank, I just want to leave here immediately, I don't want to stay here for even a second longer!"

Faced with Tang Ran's answer, Hoover immediately objected, 'No! You must stay here, otherwise you will just have one more enemy!'

Hoover's voice changed tone, showing that Tang Ran's words really made him anxious. Perhaps the person behind him had given him a death order, telling him to persuade Tang Ran at all costs. If Tang Ran really ran away, the person behind him would not let him go.

But Tang Ran obviously didn't care about what Hoover was thinking. She just said, 'One more enemy is one more enemy. You're afraid of the Tang family, but I'm not. As long as Ming is by my side, I can handle anything!'

Hoover looked at Ming with great surprise. He couldn't understand what magic Ming had that made Ran trust him so much. After all, in his opinion, Ran was not bad-looking or of poor quality, not to mention that she was the first-in-line successor to the Tong family. Even if she were just an ordinary girl, she wouldn't have been like this.

Ming also felt a little embarrassed at Hoover's surprise. He couldn't understand what kind of charm he had that made Ran trust and rely on him like this.

Coughing lightly, Zhou Ming said, 'Well, since Tang Ran trusts me so much, then just listen to what I have to say.'

Just one sentence made both Tang Ran and Hoover quiet, because they knew that Zhou Ming would definitely have a solution, and indeed Zhou Ming did have the ability to do so.

"In fact, it is not impossible for Tang Ran to be the first heir, or even accept your cooperation...'

Zhou Ming paused here and then continued, 'Please note that I am talking about cooperation here, that is, a way of working together for the same goal on the basis of full respect for each other's personal wishes and equality between the two sides, not your house arrest and forced marriage. Do you understand what I mean?'

Hoover laughed as if he were hearing something from heaven: 'Cooperation? I think you've got it wrong, Mr. Zhou Ming. Or are you joking with me?'

"I don't think I'm joking. On the contrary, I feel very serious right now,' Zhou Ming looked at Tang Ran and said, 'At least you said that Tang Ran is the first-in-line successor, didn't you? Although we don't care about this identity and don't want to get involved in the Tang family succession turmoil, if we have now been dragged into it and have no choice, and if this identity can bring Tang Ran great benefits, I don't think I should refuse to accept it.'

"I don't know what to say anymore. Mr. Zhou Ming, you don't seem to understand how powerful the Tang family really is!'

Hoover continued, 'Two hundred years ago, the Tang family had already become the world's wealthiest superfamily. Later, due to the Opium War and the Mexican-American War, the core of the Tang family immigrated to California. Relying on their own wealth and the support of local American consortia, they staged a western gold rush by themselves, and established the Tang Bank. Relying on the gold rush, they quickly accumulated capital to form the California consortium with the Tang Bank at its centre.'

'Over the next two hundred years, the California consortium continued to grow and became one of the top ten consortia in the United States. The Tang family, which had taken root in San Francisco, became even more formidable, rivalling even the Adams family of Brighton, and even surpassing them in terms of wealth and control over the local area!' Hoover said.

Upon hearing Hoover's words, Zhou Ming and Tang Ran both let out an "oh", to which Hoover immediately widened his eyes.

'Then what? Do you want me to jump up and say that the Tang family is really amazing? I'm sorry, I don't think that's my style.' Zhou Ming shrugged, 'Besides, I've already messed with the local snake, the Adams family, in Brighton, so now I naturally don't care about adding another Tang family. More importantly, I may not come to San Francisco in the future, so it seems like it doesn't matter if I mess with them.'

Hoover's eyes widened as he was about to say something, but Ming first said, 'But Mr. Hoover, please rest assured, I was only saying that because I don't want to do it. So, Mr. Hoover, I hope you can help me contact the gentleman behind you. I know that you may not be in charge of this matter, so I think I need to talk to him.'