Henry Carter also nodded along, thinking to himself that he had originally just wanted to give a warning and exercise a bit of control, but since James Carter was being so brazen, it was time to really rein him in.

“Ha ha…” James Carter suddenly laughed, and his laughter left William Carter and the others below feeling utterly baffled.

James Carter lightly jumped up and stood on the family head’s chair, which was even more imposing than a dragon throne in the imperial palace on Earth. Looking directly at William Carter and the others, he spread his hands and said, “You want to play, huh? Then I’ll play along. If you really want to pass this resolution, the real elders’ council requires all seven elders to be present at the same time, right? Then have the Grand Elder come out of seclusion immediately, contact my second and fifth uncles, and have them all come back to attend the elders’ meeting together. Only if they all show up at the same time will it count. You want to use the power of the elders’ council? Fine, then from now on, every meeting will require all of them to be present for a vote.”

Ah!

Hearing this, William Carter and the others were all stunned, because Ren Tianheng was the Grand General of the Northwest, commanding six hundred thousand troops stationed there—how could he possibly leave so easily? And Ren Tianqi was stationed in the south as the Grand General of the South, also commanding nearly five hundred thousand troops—how could they just come back whenever they wanted?

As for the Grand Elder, he had been in seclusion for many years—how could he possibly come out just to decide whether to cut a bit of James Carter’s family head expenses? If that really happened, it would be a huge joke.

“And that’s not all. Do you think I’m easy to bully just because I’m young? You don’t treat me as the family head, so if you can use the elders’ council’s power, then I’ll use the family head’s power. From today on, every penny spent by each of you and every branch, every family treasure or expenditure used, must be signed and approved by me, the family head. Not only that, but soon I’ll have someone come and thoroughly review all the family head’s powers. I remember I can even amend the family rules. I’ll amend the rules specifically for you. If I can’t deal with you all at once, I’ll deal with you one by one.”

So satisfying, damn it, so damn satisfying.

At this moment, James Carter felt a surge of relief in his chest. He suddenly realized that being a playboy wasn’t so bad after all—no need for scheming, just say whatever you want, and you can achieve your goals in the simplest, most direct way.

Looking at those guys who were dumbfounded by his scolding, he felt truly comfortable, truly exhilarated.

Because James Carter actually wasn’t very clear about what powers the Ren family head really had—he was just venting. Of course, if these guys kept making things difficult for him, James Carter wouldn’t go easy on them. Even if he stopped being the family head, he wouldn’t let them off easy. Besides, in a big family like the Ren family, it wasn’t that simple to replace the family head.

From the little information he had, he deduced that the only reason he could become the family head was because his father, Ren Tianxing, was so formidable—so formidable that he had become completely autocratic. Even the elders’ council was established at his say-so, probably for some kind of balance. After all, he himself wasn’t as formidable and couldn’t truly keep everyone in check, so if he didn’t set up the council, other problems might arise.

And the Ren family was huge, with each elder’s branch having many people and involving a lot of power.

At this moment, William Carter and the others really didn’t know what to say, or rather, didn’t dare to say anything, because James Carter’s outburst was so fierce. As the family head, his power was much greater than he had imagined. Not to mention anything else, if he wanted to control or punish the elders and their families and subordinate forces, or even the family’s support for them, it was just a matter of a word—no need for discussion at all.

“Go ahead, keep having your elders’ meeting. I, the family head, don’t have time to play with you anymore.” Having vented enough and seeing that they were all silent, James Carter felt it was about time to stop. After all, there was still a lot he didn’t understand, so this was enough for now. After saying this, he jumped down from the family head’s chair and strode out.

Only Grace Bennett, still holding her teacup, and the three elders, standing there at a loss for words and completely stunned by James Carter’s scolding, were left behind.

“Whew!” Exiting the council hall, James Carter let out a long breath. Satisfying, so damn satisfying.

But after calming down a bit, James Carter also felt a bit emotional. The previous owner of this body, apart from women, eating, drinking, having fun, and playing with birds and animals, didn’t seem to have anything useful in his head. He didn’t even know the current emperor’s reign title or how many years he’d been on the throne, nor did he know the family rules or the overall situation, not even the state of the Mingyu Dynasty.

That won’t do—he had to get a clear understanding of all this as soon as possible. But some things couldn’t just be asked of others. After thinking it over, James Carter decided to read up on it himself. A big family like the Ren family had its own library, and apparently, it was huge.

That’s it?

James Carter wanted to find out where the library was, but found that in his original memories, all he had was an impression of a huge, magnificent library—nothing more. It seemed he’d passed by it at some point, but had never really paid attention.

Helpless, James Carter could only beckon a guard and ask him to take him to the library. These ordinary guards were still very respectful toward James Carter, because even if he wasn’t the family head, just being a direct descendant of the Ren family’s main line was not someone they could afford to offend.

They came over respectfully, but when they heard James Carter say he wanted to go to the library, the guard froze and stared at James Carter, even shaking his head in disbelief.