399: That advice came a little late

That advice came a little late

Heaven already prepared herself for any disparaging or awkward situation the moment Dominic told her about the party. That didn't scare her, but at the same time, she prepared herself for anything like that. However, things were different from what she expected. No one attacked her directly or indirectly.  0

If anything, the moment the dinner began, everyone was just silent.

'I prepared myself for being in an awkward situation,' Heaven thought as she chewed her food as slowly as a cow. 'But this awkwardness wasn't anything as I expected!'

She peeked her eyes over the table, seeing that everyone was simply eating in silence. Although there were discussions everyone had once in a while, it would end due to the lack of interest. Some relatives tried striking up a conversation with Dominic, only to hear a short reply or none at all. 

It was the same scenario with Lionel, who was sitting across from his son. But unlike Dominic, he would exchange a couple of words before ending each conversation with, "I'll reconsider or his son will make that decision."

Some cousins also approached Axel, complimenting the second young master, that was a completely different approach from Dominic and Lionel. However, Axel wasn't in the mood for any conversation as he grumpily ate his food while totally ignoring everyone. Ria Zhu was the only one who conversed that showed slight interest, but she would strategically stop the conversation.

'This is crazy.'Heaven raised her brows briefly, setting her attention to her son. "Basti, do you want more?"

Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it was enough to interrupt the prolonged stifling silence in the dining hall. Sebastian flashed his mother a bright smile as he looked up, nodding. 

"Here," she whispered, adding some meat to his plate.

"Thank you, Mommy." Sebastian happily ate, having a good appetite despite the air reigning in the dining hall.

If there was someone who wasn't affected by this growing awkwardness in this place, that would be Sebastian. Well, he didn't need to affect himself with the air the adults were causing. 

'At least, this silence isn't because of me,'she thought, smiling affectionately at Sebastian while she stroke his head. 

The mood in this dining hall wasn't because everyone was being wary of Dominic's wife. But it was because they were being wary because of a particular person's presence in this dining hall. 

Silas Zhu. 

It seemed everyone was aware of what the troublemaker had done. That was already given, though. After all, the majority of people in this dining hall either had positions in the LYON Group or were running a subsidiary company under the LYON Group. 

"Hmm... we'll all get indigestion if we continue this dinner in silence." After another minute of pin-drop silence, someone finally spoke. And that someone instantly brought a frown to the majority at the table. 

"Isn't this a happy occasion that we, as a family, can share dinner together?" Silas leaned his arms against the table, turning his head in Grandma Zhu's direction. "If we don't talk, Grandma might think we are all forced to be here."

"Tch." Axel snickered, finally breaking his silence after ignoring all the compliments he received earlier. "Silas, I know you've been abroad after being in so much debt. But how can you forget how Grandma dislikes the lack of table manners? Everyone is eating. She would be even more annoyed if we kept talking with our mouths full."

Silas smiled, ignoring the snide input in Axel's remark. "I didn't forget, but chatting in between isn't that bad. I'm just concerned." He shrugged indifferently.

'Wow.' Heaven glanced at Axel, remembering that one time he vexed Grandma Zhu because of his lack of table manners. 'It seemed Butler Fu was right back then. He was just doing it on purpose. What a mischievous child.'

"Concerned. Hah!" Axel scoffed, rolling his eyes. 

"By the way, Axel, how's your company?" Silas inquired as the corner of his mouth curled up into a crafty smirk. "I hope it's doing well."

"Thanks to me for being a genius, I managed to survive the crisis a particular brain dead had caused!"

"Axel." This time, Dominic spoke in his deep baritone. 

Axel looked back at this brother, only to see Dominic slicing through his steak without looking at him. His frown deepened, getting even more annoyed now that he was looking at his brother. 

How could Dominic and Silas look so much alike? Yet, their personality was completely different!

"Tsk." Axel clicked his tongue in annoyance, glaring daggers at Silas once more. 'Copycat!'

"Silas, stop teasing your cousin." Lionel also spoke calmly, casting his nephew a look. 

"I'm not teasing him, Uncle Lionel." Silas raised his hands over his shoulders. "I know everyone here is blaming me for what happened, but trust me. I didn't mean harm. All I want is to help. After all, his directors were secretly selling their shares because of the CEO's negligence. So I wanted to save him the trouble, only to realize that the company's situation was worse than I thought."

"What —!" Axel, who told himself to just ignore Silas, clasped his cutlery even tighter. His eyes blazed with anger, turning his head in his cousin's direction. "You were just trying to help? Where in the part where you sold all your shares at a bargain price is trying to help me?"

Silas frowned. "You don't understand, do you? The price for every stock dropped, so I have to get anything instead of getting nothing. I didn't have a choice."

"You!" Axel halted from springing up from his chair when an abrupt noise pierced through the building tension in the dining hall. 

SLAM!

Everyone gulped, turning their heads at the person who slammed the table loudly. Their eyes fell on Lionel Zhu, only to see the grave expression plastered on his face.

"Axel," Lionel called sternly before shifting his eyes to Silas. "Stop this right this instance. What happened is already in the past and Axel managed to emerge from this crisis, proving his capability as a leader of his own company."

"There is no point arguing about it," he continued, moving his eyes to everyone's faces. "However, I hope this will be the last time you will provoke each other. We are still a family, eating at the same table."

Axel frowned, clicking his tongue as he suppressed the growing rage swelling in his chest. He glared at Silas once more, only to see the latter smiling at him. 

'That prick…' Axel ground his teeth, not a bit pleased that Silas could get away from bullying him. '... I'll get back at him one day!'

"I'm sorry, Dad." Before the silence following Lionel's remarks could set in once more, Dominic spoke. 

Everyone instinctively moved their gaze on Dominic, only to see the man picking up his glass of wine. Dominic leaned back, snapping his eyes ever so tenderly at his father before his eyes slid to the corner where Silas sat. 

"But that advice came a little late," he dawdled, bearing the same poker face. "I felt a little playful the other day and thought I should tease my dearest cousin for a bit."

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