Best Young Master
Chapter 338 - 301 Undercurrents Surging

Chapter 338: Chapter 301 Undercurrents Surging

The Ye Family would hold a 110th birthday celebration for Old Master Ye on New Year’s Day.

After Christmas, this news spread like wildfire through the upper echelons of Huaxia society.

For a time, all the powerful circles in Huaxia were abuzz with discussion, with those elites who counted in the Forbidden City checking the news’s accuracy through various channels, only to learn that Old Master Ye’s birthday party was to be limited to the Ye Family members and no outsiders would be invited.

This left some elites who hoped to use this opportunity to curry favor with the Ye Family feeling powerless.

For them, if Old Master Ye’s birthday party had been open to outsiders, then even if they were not qualified to attend in person, they could still send their congratulations through someone who could.

However, now that Old Master Ye’s birthday party had turned into an internal gathering for the Ye Family, they had no way to send gifts even if they wanted to.

Two days before New Year’s Day, Bai Guotao, the helmsman of the Nanling Region, took the opportunity of attending a meeting in Yanjing City and returned to the equally exclusive Bai Family Mansion in the evening.

"Dad, it seems Old Sir Ye doesn’t have any serious health problems; there likely won’t be any surprises in the next couple of years,"

Inside the study of the Courtyard, Bai Guotao sat opposite Bai Yuan, the helmsman of the Bai Family. After some idle chatter, Bai Guotao couldn’t help but sigh.

As the future successor of the Bai Family, he paid great attention to every move of the Ye Family; not only did he know about the birthday party for Old Master Ye, but he also understood what it meant for the Ye Family.

Just as he said, Old Master Ye had no significant health issues; otherwise, they wouldn’t have made such a fuss about a birthday party.

For aristocratic families, the status of the family is often directly proportional to the health of the family elders: the longer the elders live, the more the family thrives.

As long as Old Master Ye was alive, the Bai Family could forget about overtaking the Ye Family’s position as the number one aristocratic family!

"That’s not necessarily the case,"

Seeing Bai Guotao’s slightly dejected mood, Bai Yuan replied with a smile to reassure him.

"Dad, what do you mean?" Bai Guotao was initially stunned, then asked with a hint of confusion.

"First, Old Ye is over a hundred years old, essentially reaching the limit of a common person’s lifespan. No one can guarantee how much longer he will live. Maybe he has another decade or so, or maybe he’ll pass away in a few days,"

As Bai Yuan spoke, he intentionally paused, then with a gleam in his eye, he calmly analyzed, "Secondly, just because the Ye Family is hosting a birthday party for Old Ye doesn’t necessarily prove that Old Ye is in good health..."

"You mean, it’s possible that Old Ye’s health is failing, and the Ye Family, taking advantage of the breath he still has, deliberately planned the birthday party on the pretext of celebrating his birthday, to give outsiders the illusion that Old Ye is in robust health, thereby influencing some people’s decisions?"

"Exactly, to put it simply, it’s creating momentum, making use of the last of Old Ye’s influence. To put it more complicatedly, it’s like the ruse of the empty city used by Zhuge Liang back in the day, appearing strong outwardly while weak inside," Bai Yuan said, looking at Bai Guotao with approval.

"Now that you mention it, that’s quite possible. Otherwise, why would Ye Wenhao step in for his son to face the challenge of the Great Elder of the Wudang Sect not long ago and, instead of being punished or criticized by the authorities, he advanced even further by removing the ’acting’ designation and took complete control of Jiangnan,"

Bai Guotao, hearing this, had a thought, suddenly recalling the recent event where Ye Wenhao became the top leader of Jiangnan.

It was known that when Ye Wenhao was parachuted into Jiangnan, he did so as the deputy leader.

Although after his arrival, the top leader became physically unfit and Ye Wenhao essentially took charge, leading many directly to refer to him as ’Secretary,’ he was, on the surface, still the deputy.

Latterly, with the top leader hospitalized for treatment, Ye Wenhao became the acting ’Secretary’ and governor in charge, until recently, after he eliminated Murong Gu, the Great Elder of the Wudang Sect, and the ’acting’ title was removed. His rapid rise could almost be described as supersonic, causing quite a stir within the system.

"Hmm, during the meeting when this was discussed, several people raised their hands to approve immediately; Old Ye might indeed have exerted his influence behind the scenes,"

Bai Yuan smiled knowingly, "If Old Ye were in good health, he wouldn’t need to hurry like this, right? After all, the next conference is still over two years away."

This time, Bai Guotao chose silence.

Under the lamplight, his eyes shone with expectation, veiling deep aspirations.

"Guotao, it’s still the same message for you; right now, don’t think about anything else, just focus on doing your job well. If something major happens in the Ye Family, your rise to the top is almost certain. Even if Old Ye manages to live until then, you still may not lose," Bai Yuan said with solemn emphasis.

"With that bastard from the Ye Family around, Bai Guotao has no interest in politics. I think it would be hard even to lose!"

Speaking of Ye Fan, Bai Guotao’s face showed a cold smile, his eyes flashing with an icy light, wishing he could send Ye Fan straight to Hell to vent the rage for his son!

To this day, the once unbridled Young Master Bai was still confined to the Yanhuang Organization East Sea Branch’s secret prison, out of sight of the sun!

...

In Yanjing City’s Commissioned Residential Compound.

Ye Wenhai, the second-in-line successor of the third generation of the Ye Family, sat alone in his study as usual, perusing some of the secret red-headed documents issued in the past couple of days, meticulously pondering their intent to keep his work aligned with the higher-ups and to find any way to shine.