Chapter 46: The Xia Family Arrives

Zhao Nan hurriedly looked at her son, Xia Xiantao: "Tao'er, quickly have someone invite the Divine Doctor Xiao here."
"No... don't send someone, you go personally, and make sure to offer a sincere apology to him first."
With Divine Doctor Xu speaking so highly of Xiao Nan, even though Xia Xiantao had previously held a very poor impression of him, for the sake of his father's illness, he dared not delay now and hurriedly drove off.

Lin Guodong's family had originally attended the mayor's birthday banquet in high spirits, only for things to end unpleasantly because of a single remark from Xiao Nan. Not only did they offend the mayor's family, but they didn't even get to eat. Lin Guodong simply had people arrange for the Qingyun Hotel to prepare dishes and have them delivered to Emerald Mountain. They would just have a family dinner at Emerald Mountain tonight. On one hand, he wanted to discuss the current difficulties facing Lin氏 Pharmaceuticals with his daughter, Lin Ziqing. On the other hand, he also wanted to take this opportunity to have a good chat with Xiao Nan, his prospective son-in-law.

At this moment, in the courtyard of the Lin family's villa at Emerald Mountain, Lin Guodong and Xiao Nan sat facing each other. Lin Guodong pulled out a cigarette and handed it to Xiao Nan: "Smoke?"
He didn't usually smoke much. The pack he kept on him at all times was primarily for socializing. Feeling in low spirits today, he had lit one up.
"Thanks, I don't smoke," Xiao Nan waved his hand.
"Xiao Nan!" After lighting his cigarette, Lin Guodong looked at Xiao Nan with a somewhat earnest expression, "Perhaps you've lived in the mountains all this time and haven't interacted with many people. You might still need to learn a lot about worldly sophistication and social etiquette. After all, you're going to marry Ziqing in the future. You know how it is—your aunt and I only have two daughters and no son. This vast family enterprise of the Lin family will very likely fall upon your shoulders in the future. Therefore, Uncle Lin hopes that you can learn to be a bit more steady in the future, just like with today's incident..."

Xiao Nan listened quietly to this "preaching" from his prospective father-in-law, a bitter smile hidden in his heart. To be honest, he really didn't care about the Lin family's so-called fortune. If he hadn't needed Lin Ziqing's pure Yin constitution to purge the fire toxin within his body, he wouldn't have stayed in the Lin family at all.

As for what Lin Guodong said about him needing to learn social etiquette, Xiao Nan simply let it go in one ear and out the other. It was true that he had spent most of his time living in the mountains with the old man, but that didn't mean he had never interacted with people or didn't understand the ways of the world. The reason he acted so willfully at the moment had nothing to do with social graces. It was simply because his strength had reached a certain level. He could act entirely according to his own heart, without needing to play courtier or bow and scrape to anyone. However, he also knew that his prospective father-in-law could not comprehend his state of mind, and since saying these things came from a place of genuine goodwill, he simply listened in silence.

"You probably don't know much about Mayor Xia as a person." Lin Guodong felt it necessary to make Xiao Nan fully understand the kind of person he had offended today. After all, although they had walked out directly today, he had made a promise to Mayor Xia to bring Xia Chen over to apologize in person later.
"Their Xia family is an extremely formidable clan, even in the provincial capital. As for him rising to the position of Mayor of Luocheng, while it's impossible to say he didn't rely at all on the Xia family's help, from what I know... all of this is inseparable from his personal ability and capability. Having governed Luocheng for merely three years, the entire city's GDP has nearly doubled. I also had to pay a heavy price and pull many strings before I finally managed to establish a connection with him. The Lin family isn't like what outsiders imagine—we don't have some incredible background. Maintaining our position as the richest family is no easy task! Therefore, Xiao Nan, we must absolutely not truly offend Mayor Xia. As for your side..."

Xiao Nan roughly grasped the meaning behind Lin Guodong's earnest advice and looked at him with keen interest: "Uncle Lin, are you asking me to go and apologize to him?"
Lin Guodong nodded: "I know you have a proud nature, but you must also admit that today's matter was indeed your fault. Moreover, if we fail to mend our relationship with Mayor Xia and things remain estranged over this, the Lin family's path forward probably won't be so smooth!"
"Uncle Lin, you're worrying too much," Xiao Nan waved his hand dismissively. "Rest assured, it won't be long before we won't even need to go looking for him to apologize—the people from the Xia family will surely come knocking on our door themselves."

Asking him to apologize to a mere mayor would be an absolute joke. Besides, based on his observations, Mayor Xia's illness should be acting up around now. Aside from himself, he refused to believe there was a second person in Luocheng who could cure it. As long as the man wasn't a total fool, he would definitely seek him out proactively.

Of course, whether the people of the Xia family came looking for him was their business, but whether or not he would treat Xia Yunong's illness entirely depended on Xiao Nan's mood.

"Sigh..." Seeing that he had given advice with all his heart for so long without Xiao Nan seeming to take a single word in, Lin Guodong couldn't help letting out a sigh. Xia Yunong was a figure who could summon the wind and rain across all of Luocheng; historically, it was always others who went to curry favor with his family, and he had never seen them curry favor with anyone else. How could members of the Xia family ever come to visit the Lin family in person? For the first time, a trace of doubt arose in his heart as to whether his decision to marry his youngest daughter to Xiao Nan was truly correct.

Right at that moment, Lin Shuyun suddenly hurried over, interrupting their conversation: "Dad, you need to go to the living room quickly—the mayor's eldest son has come to our house."
"Huh?" Hearing the words "the mayor's eldest son," Lin Guodong's expression froze instantly. He looked at Xiao Nan as if looking at a monster. Less than a minute had passed since Xiao Nan predicted that the Xia family would come visiting in person, and yet they had really arrived? Furthermore, it wasn't just some ordinary character; it was actually the notoriously haughty eldest young master of the Xia family.

However, although Xiao Nan's prediction had been spot-on, hearing that Xia Xiantao had come personally didn't bring Lin Guodong any joy. In his view, Xia Xiantao's visit was most likely to call them to account.
"Let's go, Xiao Nan, hurry and come with me," Lin Guodong said, signaling Xiao Nan while continuously instructing him, "Remember, when you see the eldest young master of the Xia family, absolutely do not run your mouth again. Given Young Master Xia's status, there's no way he would come to the Lin family for no reason; he's most likely here because of what happened at the banquet. Once we're there, no matter what he says, your attitude must be good. Make sure you offer a proper apology."