At this moment, the woman was caught in a dilemma.
In fact, she didn't want to choose either option. No matter which one she picked, it would be a great insult to her.
Actually, the first condition wasn't too bad.
Although it would harm the interests of the family, the damage to her personally would be the least.
The second option, however, would completely damage her personal reputation and interests.
From a broader perspective, sacrificing herself to protect the family seemed to be the best choice.
But the problem was, if she made the sacrifice, who would know?
Her subsequent conversation with the old butler was conducted in secret.
She simply didn't want to lose face by groveling to others in front of her own family.
How could she hold her head up in the future? And how could she intimidate those under her command?
Because of this, no one knew the specific content of their conversation.
Even if she made a choice, no one would know about her sacrifice.
Currently, the members of the Hu family still had a poor impression of her. They thought she was an incompetent family head who had only gotten the position through connections, soon fell into a coma, and upon waking up, managed to offend a powerful family like the Shen family.
If they knew what sacrifices she had made, it would be different. At least the family members would remember her good deeds.
Although she would lose some face outside, at least in the eyes of the Hu family, she would be seen as a dedicated and competent family head. It wouldn't be a total loss.
But the problem was, no one knew, and no one would remember her good deeds.
"Has the head of the Hu family still not made up her mind? Are you trying to test my patience again?"
The old butler didn't want to give her so much time to hesitate. He took out his phone and made a call.
Once a person became wealthy enough, they would find that most problems in this world could be solved with money.
And problems that could be solved with money were usually not real problems.
Take this situation for example.
When the old butler made the call, the other party didn't even answer but simply hung up.
Not long after, a man rushed in.
The man looked to be of a certain age. As soon as he came in, he glared at the woman with his beard bristling.
His tone was extremely urgent. "Family head, what on earth have you done? Half of our external industries have suddenly had their investments withdrawn! The investors said they were dissatisfied with you as the family head and didn't want to cooperate with us anymore! You're going to bankrupt the Hu family!"
There were significant differences between families.
The old man spoke bluntly. Although he addressed the woman as the family head, he showed no respect as a subordinate.
The woman was left speechless by his questioning. She turned to look at the old butler in shock.
She never expected the old butler to act so quickly, nor did she expect the Shen family to have such great influence.
It had only been a few minutes!
In less than an hour, was the Hu family really going to go bankrupt?
Please, no!
No matter what family or industry it was, it needed financial support.
The world of metaphysics and Taoism was no exception.
Using money to attack them was really hitting them where it hurt.
Who would want a once - great family to decline into a small, struggling workshop that couldn't even make ends meet?
The reason the Hu family had their current status was mainly because they were wealthy.
"Wait! I'll issue a statement to apologize to these two kids, and I'll hand over the participation rights to you!"
The woman made a quick decision. Her decision was to sacrifice the family to protect herself.
As long as her reputation remained intact, she could shift all the blame onto the two people who had restrained her soul and tried to harm her.
Even if others heard about it, they would only sympathize with her situation, and the family members wouldn't blame her too much.
Anyway, they were already dissatisfied with her. It didn't matter if there were more problems. As long as her father's soul remained intact, her position as the family head would be secure.
After all, she was from the direct line. Unless the family was extremely disappointed, no matter how poor her talent and ability were, she wouldn't be removed from the position.
"That's better. Since that's the case, then I'll..."
The old butler readily agreed. Just as he was about to say that he would take the two kids away, Xiaotuanzi tugged at his sleeve and whispered, "Butler grandpa, I want to stay here for a few days."
Stay here for a few days?
The old butler was a bit confused.
They had really caused a lot of trouble for the woman. The Hu family was going to be in chaos for a while. Logically speaking, it wasn't appropriate to stay here.
Why did Niannian suddenly want to stay here?
The woman was also very confused.
In her opinion, except for the fact that Ningning had saved her at the beginning, nothing good had happened whenever Xiaotuanzi was involved.
To her, Xiaotuanzi was like a curse. She couldn't wait to get rid of her as soon as possible. How could she allow her to stay here?
If she stayed for a few more days, the Hu family might be completely ruined.
The woman never considered her own problems. If she hadn't had such evil thoughts, none of these things would have happened.
She simply blamed all the mistakes on Niannian and Shen Weixun.
She couldn't really hate them.
After all, if she hated them, she would want to take revenge.
But the woman was very clear - headed. She knew her own limitations. In every aspect, she didn't have the ability to take revenge on these two kids.
She just complained and tried to avoid them.
If they had revealed their identities as members of the Shen family from the beginning, things wouldn't have developed like this.
The woman forced a smile, hoping that the old butler would flatly refuse or persuade Xiaotuanzi not to stay.
She didn't dare to refuse directly. She had no say in this matter.
Although the old butler was puzzled, he wouldn't refuse Niannian's request.
After all, Shen Weixun hadn't said anything. As a butler, he naturally couldn't make decisions on his own.
"Our young miss wants to stay here for a few days. I wonder if it would be too much trouble for the head of the Hu family?"
The old butler's meaning was very clear.
He was going to spoil Niannian.
Although he asked, his attitude of allowing her to stay if she wanted really angered the woman.
But the woman still maintained a smile on her face and pretended to be magnanimous. "Of course it's okay. All of you are our esteemed guests of the Hu family. It's no problem to stay for a few days. But as far as I know, Miss Yu and Young Master Shen still have a competition later. Staying here might be a bit inconvenient. You can..."
"It's okay. I'm not going to participate. I've achieved my goal."
Just as the woman was about to politely refuse, Niannian interrupted her.
She had only one goal, which was to obtain the Soul - Reviving Grass. Now that her goal had been achieved, why would she participate in the competition?
Moreover, the competition was really boring to her.
There was no one in any field who could match her. If she went, it would just be a one - sided victory. What was there to enjoy?