Chapter 348 - 196: "Farce
"Sir, you don’t look too well. Didn’t you sleep well last night?"
Chen Fei was just about to knock on the door to wake Su Chen for breakfast when he saw Su Chen emerge from the bedroom, a weary look on his face.
"I’m fine. I just had a little trouble getting used to the bed," Su Chen said, waving his hand dismissively.
The real reason was that as he was trying to sleep last night, it felt as if the entire building was swaying. He’d spent the whole night terrified that the building might collapse and hadn’t slept well at all.
He’d only drifted off in the early hours of the morning, when sheer exhaustion finally took over.
’How could he tell Chen Fei the truth? Did he, the boss, not have his pride?’
Breakfast was steak. It was part of the supplies Raymond had stocked up after the house was renovated; otherwise, they would have had to go out to eat this morning.
Besides, he really couldn’t get used to American breakfasts. Things like bread and milk or fruit and vegetable salads just made Su Chen shake his head.
"The view here is actually pretty incredible." Su Chen gazed through the floor-to-ceiling windows toward Central Park. The vantage point was absolutely superb, offering a panoramic view of half of Manhattan.
Eating his meal while admiring the beautiful scenery was pure bliss.
Of course... aside from the floor being just a tad too high up, the apartment was perfect in every other way.
"Sir, Mr. Arthur is on the phone." Just then, Jiang Hui walked to Su Chen’s side with a phone and spoke respectfully. Interestingly, Jiang Hui had changed into a bespoke butler’s tailcoat and looked considerably more professional than before.
He looked just like the personal head butler of a movie tycoon.
"This early?" Su Chen muttered. He put down his knife and fork, wiped his mouth, and then took the phone from Jiang Hui.
He was still mumbling, wondering what Arthur could possibly want, when he answered the call. It turned out Arthur just wanted to ask where he was staying; he’d left in such a rush the day before that he’d forgotten to ask.
Su Chen didn’t waste any time. He told him the address of One Central Park and hung up. After instructing Jiang Hui that Arthur would be coming over, he picked up his knife and fork and went back to his meal.
Arthur must have been nearby, because Su Chen had just finished the steak on his plate when he saw Jiang Hui escorting him in.
"This view is truly beautiful! It must be a real pleasure to live here!" Arthur couldn’t help but exclaim as he entered the living room.
Su Chen shot him a look and said irritably, "You’re the third heir of the great Morgan family. What kind of view haven’t you seen before?"
"Besides, One Central Park only costs a few tens of millions of USD. For you, isn’t that just a drop in the bucket?"
A wry smile appeared on Arthur’s face when he heard that. "It’s not as easy as you make it sound!"
After a long sigh, Arthur began to explain to Su Chen the difficulties of being in a prominent family.
For top-tier families with legacies stretching back hundreds, or even several hundreds, of years, an outstanding heir is exceptionally important. This naturally leads to brutal internal competition.
Of course, you could also choose to just coast and be a trust fund kid. The family would give you a three or five percent stake in some world-renowned companies and an annual dividend from the family fund.
Beyond that, you wouldn’t receive any other income or benefits.
’Some might say, ’I’ll just start my own business and make money.’ But come on... if you had that kind of talent, why would you need to start from scratch? Isn’t the family’s massive foundation enough for you to make your mark on the business world?’
Arthur wasn’t content with being ordinary, but he wasn’t an overly ambitious person either. What he was doing now was simply demonstrating his abilities to the family’s older generation. That way, even if he lost the battle for succession, he would still secure enormous benefits for himself.
But if he succeeded, that would be a completely different story. It was just a matter of a few years of hard work, and even failure was a better outcome than just giving up from the start.
After Arthur’s explanation, an image of Shuraya surfaced in Su Chen’s mind. She was the first choice to inherit the Louis Vuitton Group from its current head, yet all she wanted was to be a rich woman who could just coast through life.
’I wonder if the Louis Vuitton Group has chosen its new heir yet.’
"So, you didn’t come looking for me this early just to talk about this stuff, did you?" A glint flashed in Su Chen’s eyes. He was still a bit wary of people from these top financial dynasties.
’Isn’t there an old saying? ’To show unsolicited courtesy is to be either a villain or a thief.’ Especially with the rich—why would they be nice to you for no reason, especially when you’ve only met a few times?’
’If the roles were reversed, Su Chen definitely couldn’t be like Arthur. After all, you can never truly know a person’s heart. Who knew what malicious thoughts or devious schemes the other person might be harboring?’
"Of course not. There’s a private get-together today, and I thought I’d invite you to come along," Arthur said, leaning back on the sofa rather languidly.
"A get-together?" Su Chen was puzzled. ’Normally, gatherings like that are pretty private. Is it really appropriate for you to bring an outsider like me?’
As if sensing Su Chen’s hesitation, Arthur quickly explained, "It’s just a few friends getting together for tea, a bit of conversation, that’s all."
’Su Chen wanted to roll his eyes at Arthur. With his background in the Morgan family, what ’simple’ friends could he possibly have? They were most likely the young masters and ladies of other prominent families.’
After a moment of thought, Su Chen politely declined Arthur’s offer.
"I’d better not. I won’t go to the get-together. It wouldn’t be appropriate for an outsider like me to be there."