Chapter 1124

Facing his father's rebuke, Su Shoudao said with a pained expression: "Dad, isn't that just how feelings are? One party is always more invested than the other, and besides, Haiqing has been with me all these years, living a down-to-earth life with me. Compared to that, I'm the one who has let her down..."

Su Chengfeng waved his hand impatiently, saying: "Don't mention Haiqing anymore. This isn't the time to discuss your romantic affairs. What's most critical now is how we'll deal with the trouble coming our way!"

"Yeah, big brother!" Second brother Su Shoude said with a worried face: "We've really stirred up a hornet's nest now. The whole of Japan is up in arms against the Su family, and domestically, people think we're heartless and unjust. Online, it's all calls to condemn us. When the stock market opens tomorrow, the share prices of our listed companies will surely plummet, and our losses will be incalculable!"

Third brother Su Shouren blurted out: "Besides, even our own people might now feel chilled because of Su Ruoli's situation. The kids don't even know if they've heard about this, but if they have, they're bound to overthink things..."

Su Chengfeng said with a dark face: "Go back and tell your children clearly! I wanted to have Su Ruoli cooperate with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces for two reasons: first, because Su Ruoli isn't a legitimate daughter born in wedlock but an illegitimate child kept hidden; second, because Su Ruoli is as good as dead anyway, so tell your children not to dwell on it! And don't discuss this within the family—violators will be directly exiled to South America for three years!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions tightened.

The old man surely felt this was deeply embarrassing. As the behind-the-scenes operator, once this came to light, he'd certainly feel unable to hold his head up.

So, everyone one by one tacitly kept silent, no one speaking, not even nodding.

This is where the Su family's descendants show their cleverness.

They all know the old man places extreme importance on his face and dignity, so once he deems this incident a scandal and doesn't want it mentioned again, they simply won't even acknowledge it—acting as if it never happened.

Seeing everyone fall silent, the old Su patriarch's face eased slightly as he said: "Now I'm arranging a few things—listen up!"

Upon this, everyone stepped forward respectfully, saying: "Dad, you speak!"

The old Su patriarch coldly ordered: "First, from now on, contact all media we can reach and pay them heavily to delete the reports!"

"Second, contact all social media, platforms, and apps, demanding they remove the Su family's incident from all hot search lists and delete negative content!"

"Third, deploy the water army to spread counter-rumors, claiming this is all fabricated by competitors and that Su Ruoli isn't even a descendant of the Su family! Anyone daring to spread rumors on the internet or other media platforms must bear corresponding legal responsibility!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The old Su patriarch sighed: "Given the current situation, our Su family can only engage in crisis PR."

"If the crisis PR is handled well, it's not impossible to turn the tide against the wind."

"Of course, turning the tide against the wind is only possible in domestic public opinion. The Japanese people and government now hate the Su family to the bone. No matter how much we whitewash, we can't clean our name in Japan, and we'll certainly never make money from the Japanese in the future. Moreover, the Japanese side will definitely retaliate against us comprehensively..."

Su Shoudao forced himself to temporarily put Du Haiqing and Su Ruoli out of his mind and asked: "Dad, have you estimated how much loss this will bring us?"

Su Chengfeng sighed: "Hard to say for now. Japan is the largest market in Asia outside our Huaxia homeland. Just this one market alone poses immeasurable losses for our Su family, both now and in the future."

"Moreover, Japanese companies have laid out overseas for years with great influence. Whether in America or Europe, they're deeply involved. If they really want to target us overseas, our future overseas expansion will suffer greatly!"

Second brother Su Shoude pressed: "Dad, is there really no way to mend relations with the Japanese government?"

"Mend relations?" Su Chengfeng gave a bitter laugh: "How? If we could find Su Ruoli and hand her back to the Japanese judiciary, we might salvage something. But now Su Ruoli's whereabouts are unknown—what can we do?"

Su Shoude hurried: "Then let's find Su Ruoli! When we do, hand her over to the Japanese judiciary, add a sincere public apology letter, and if possible, offer compensation—this should ease things somewhat!"

Su Chengfeng waved his hand: "Forget compensation. We want to pay but have nowhere to pay. The Matsumoto family was wiped out. Even if we wanted to compensate their relatives, we'd damn well need to find those relatives first! Otherwise, we'd just end up hurting Japanese nerves more."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

This matter is indeed different from ordinary criminal cases.

In ordinary criminal cases, as long as you actively compensate the victim's family and get them to voluntarily issue a letter of forgiveness, you can obtain a certain degree of leniency in law and public opinion.

But Su Ruoli wiped out the entire Matsumoto family, even Matsumoto Yoshihito's son, who had already followed his ex-wife and changed his surname—no one was spared. The Matsumoto line is extinct—where would any relatives come from?

So, even if the Su family wanted to compensate, there's no one to compensate.

Su Shoude said with a resentful face: "Since that's the case, let's prepare on two fronts: rush to do crisis PR, and rush to find Su Ruoli's whereabouts!"

After saying that, he looked at Su Shoudao with regret and said earnestly: "Big brother! You shouldn't blame your younger brother for saying this—you said the whole thing is your doing. If you hadn't messed around with He Xiuying back then, we wouldn't have this troublesome illegitimate daughter, Su Ruoli..."

Seeing his second brother suddenly turn on him, Su Shoudao couldn't help but furrow his brows tightly and said coldly: "Shoude, this is something from twenty years ago. You're bringing it up now, in front of Dad and our other siblings, making a big deal out of it—what's your motive?"

Su Shoude didn't expect his big brother to be so sharp, instantly seeing through his thoughts, and even doing it in front of Dad and the siblings—giving him a moral guilt trip first.

He himself had wanted to speak up in front of the old patriarch, using this as an excuse to vent, pushing all the blame onto Su Shoudao's shoulders—thus helping Dad shift responsibility, and even in Dad's presence, pouring a bucket of dirty water on his big brother.

But Su Shoudao's mind works fast—he immediately flung that dirty water back.

So, he immediately said: "Big brother is right—Su Ruoli is in her early twenties now. Bringing this up again serves no purpose, but let's just talk about the present! Let's talk about the kidnapping of Zhifei and Zhiyu a few days ago—if you had just stayed a bit calmer back then, not acted rashly in anger, and not let Su Ruoli wipe out the Matsumoto family, this wouldn't have come to this point at all! In the end, it's still you who caused the trouble!"