Contesting the Family Patriarch

Mrs. Penny Zhao immediately pointed at Edward Yu and scolded, "Edward Yu, how dare you! Who do you think you are, speaking to me like that? The position of House Patriarch should go to my son!"

In the past, with Mrs. Penny Zhao’s status, her word was law in the clan, and everyone scrambled to curry favor with her.

But as the saying goes, thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—fortunes change. Now that Mrs. Penny Zhao is a widow with a young son, her situation is far less favorable than before.

Mrs. Penny Zhao confidently waited for her loyal followers to speak up for her, but to her surprise, not a single person supported her. In fact, those who used to flatter her most were now kicking her while she was down.

"Mrs. Penny Zhao, as a woman, you really shouldn’t meddle in the affairs of the House of Zhao. We only gave you a seat at the clan meeting out of respect for your husband and father-in-law. Don’t get carried away and try to rule the roost."

"That’s right! Mrs. Penny Zhao, your son is only six years old and still nursing—how could he possibly be the House Patriarch? You must be out of your mind!"

"Mrs. Penny Zhao, you’d best stay quietly in the inner chambers and raise your son. Don’t come out here again."

Everyone chimed in, and Mrs. Penny Zhao’s face turned ashen. She slammed the table and pointed at the clan members, shouting, "You bunch of backstabbers! When you needed my help, you groveled like dogs. Now that my son and I have fallen on hard times, you show your true colors! Bah! You’re all a pack of dogs! Ungrateful wretches!"

Mrs. Penny Zhao vented her anger, but forgot that the House of Zhao clan members would no longer tolerate her behavior.

The crowd immediately turned on her. "You brazen woman! We only put up with your nonsense out of respect for the late House Patriarch and Justin Zhao. Don’t push your luck!"

“I say, kick that woman out! What right does Mrs. Penny Zhao have to meddle in the Zhao family’s clan meeting?”

“Yeah, get her out of here!”

The crowd erupted, shouting for Mrs. Penny Zhao to leave. Clutching her sleeve, Mrs. Penny Zhao glared, her teeth clenched in fury. “You—you’re all outrageous! I’m the eldest daughter of the Qian family, the second most powerful house in the Southeast! Are the Zhaos bullying us just because my family has no one to stand up for us?”

But with everyone fighting over the clan leader’s seat, nobody cared what Mrs. Penny Zhao said. They simply tossed her out of the ancestral hall, banning her from the meeting.

Mrs. Penny Zhao, dragging her son behind her, was shoved outside. Standing at the ancestral hall’s gate, her eyes red with anger, she shouted, “Hmph! The Zhaos think they’re all that? Your house soldiers have been wiped out seven or eight times already—like a toothless tiger, all bark and no bite! The Qians are the real power in the Southeast now! Just wait—my father and brothers won’t let this go!”

After her outburst, Mrs. Penny Zhao stormed off with her son, fuming and indignant.

Back inside, the Zhao clan members were still locked in a heated debate over who would be the new clan leader. Each family branch was fiercely determined, and it looked like a brawl might break out at any moment.

Zachary Yan himself wanted the top spot, but seeing things spiral out of control, he called out, “There’s no use fighting now! The final say on the clan leader goes to Prince Alexander Hayes. All we can do is submit our list of nominees. Even if you bash each other’s heads in here, it won’t change a thing!”

At Zachary Yan’s words, the hall went quiet. Everyone lowered their heads, lost in thought.

With the clan leader undecided, Zachary Yan, in front of everyone, wrote down the names nominated by each branch on a list. The list would be sent to Prince Alexander Hayes’s palace for him to personally choose the new clan leader.