Li Xiuzhe had originally planned to take Huahua out to get something to eat, but on the way, he received a call from the Old Master asking him to bring his daughter back to the old residence.
He was not surprised that the Old Master had learned the news so quickly. Quite a few people had seen Huahua call him Dad, so it was only natural that the news had spread so fast.
The journey back to the old residence was rather long. Li Xiuzhe stopped at a bakery by the roadside and bought several of the most expensive pastries and a small carton of milk to tide Huahua over, then drove all the way to the old residence.
As someone who disliked being in close contact with others, he did not even have a chauffeur despite being a company president. He had no choice but to drive himself.
Huahua was in high spirits the whole way as she ate the expensive little pastries her mother could never have afforded. She did not care in the least where her father was taking her.
After eating and drinking her fill, she fell asleep for a while. When she woke up, she found herself being carried in her father’s arms along a quiet path through a bamboo grove. As far as the eye could see, there was not a trace of human habitation.
A bright full moon hung at the edge of the sky, set off by glittering stars. In the distance, ranges of mountains lay hidden in darkness. All around them was silent save for the calls of insects and birds.
Huahua looked around for a while. When a rustling sound came from the bamboo grove beside them, she was so frightened that she burrowed straight into her father’s arms.
“It’s all right. Just a little rabbit passing by. We’re home.”
Hearing her father’s reassurance, Huahua lifted her head again and discovered that he had already carried her out of the bamboo grove. The view before them suddenly opened up.
Rows of festive lanterns lit the road ahead. At the end of a winding series of bridges over the water stood a strikingly large wooden house in the distance.
Huahua had never seen a house like this before, but even with her limited experience, she thought it was extraordinarily beautiful.
The lanterns beneath the eaves were lovely, the huge stone lions at the entrance were imposing, and the lotus blossoms and leaves spread across the river were gorgeous. The tiny fireflies dancing above the flowers were so beautiful that she could not take her eyes off them.
Seeing this scene, the audience gained their first impression of her cheap father’s wealth.
【A waterside household, a deep and secluded compound. Withered flowers beneath the steps, the slanting evening sun beyond the gate. What came after that?】
【This house can’t be cheap. Cheap Dad’s family is really rich.】
【An old man is coming over. Could he be Grandpa?】
Huahua was so absorbed in the view that she failed to notice an old man had already approached her and her father.
The old man was dressed in a traditional Chinese jacket. His gaze swept unobtrusively over Huahua’s transfixed little face, and surprise flashed through his eyes before he quickly concealed it. He respectfully performed an ancient courtesy toward Li Xiuzhe and said, “Young Master Xiuzhe, the family head and all the masters are waiting for you.”
Li Xiuzhe nodded. He reached out and turned Huahua’s little head toward the old man, reminding her, “Huahua, this is Uncle Lin. Say hello.”
Huahua was a polite, well-mannered child. At once, she called out in her soft, childish voice, “Hello, Grandpa Lin.”
A fond smile appeared in Uncle Lin’s eyes as he praised her. “Miss Huahua is such a good girl. You look so much like Young Master Xiuzhe when he was little. The family head and the masters and madams will certainly adore you when they see you.”
Li Xiuzhe gave a faint smile but said nothing. There probably were not many people who would truly be happy.
The two of them walked along while conversing, keeping a short distance between them, and soon entered the main hall.
Her father set Huahua down. She opened her eyes wide and looked around curiously. The beautiful hall, just like the ones she had seen on television, was filled with people sitting in a circle. Many of them were elderly men and women, along with quite a few uncles and aunties. Seven or eight young men and women stood behind the chairs.
They all stared at her and her father with strange expressions.
Huahua keenly sensed that some of the gazes directed at her were malicious. She quietly pressed herself against her father’s leg. Only after she felt safe did she continue walking.
Li Xiuzhe glanced down at Huahua clinging to him, and a faint smile flickered in his eyes. Before they came in, he had even worried that she might be frightened enough to cry.
He took Huahua’s hand and walked up to the Old Master, who was seated in the place of honor. Then he knelt on both knees and kowtowed. “Grandfather, your grandson has returned. Huahua, call him Great-Grandfather.”
In a daze, Huahua followed her father and knelt down. She was small and soft-bodied, and could not keep her balance on her knees, so she had to lean against her father to manage a proper kneeling posture.
She looked curiously at the extremely old old man seated in a carved chair. His skin was covered in as many wrinkles as the bark of the century-old banyan tree at the village entrance. In her soft voice, she said, “Hello, Great-Grandfather.”
The Old Master was already one hundred and eight years old. He opened his toothless mouth in a kindly smile and raised a hand. “Good child, get up quickly.”
At his words, Li Xiuzhe rose. He carried Huahua over and briefly greeted the others before taking a seat at the place closest to the Old Master.
Among the younger generation present, he was the only one allowed to sit. Several people pressed their lips into a thin line after watching him sit down.
A woman who had been staring at Huahua with shining eyes ever since she entered said happily, “Huahua, I’m your Grandmother—your father’s mother. Hurry and call me Grandmother.”
She pulled over the refined-looking man beside her. “This is your Grandfather.”
Huahua looked up at her father. When he nodded, she was just about to obediently greet them when an old woman beside her gave a cold snort.
“Third Grand-Uncle’s wife, this child only found Xiuzhe today. I imagine they haven’t even had time to do a paternity test. Why are you in such a hurry to acknowledge her? Besides, you know perfectly well that Xiuzhe can’t have children. It isn’t even certain that she shares our bloodline.”
Mother Li retorted coolly, “There’s no need for a test. You can tell just by looking at her that she’s Xiuzhe’s child. Look at that little face—she looks exactly like he did when he was young.”
Before the old woman from earlier could speak, several others contradicted her.
“Never mind that Xiuzhe can’t have children. Everyone knows that Xiuzhe will become the family head in the future. The people outside would do anything to establish a connection with him. Finding a child who looks like him isn’t difficult.”
“Exactly. They’ve clearly put a great deal of thought into this. They might even tamper with the paternity test. It would be better to have one of our own people handle it. My son A-Xin happens to run a hospital. Let him take care of it.”
“That’s right. Where did this child come from? Who is that woman? She sent the child here to claim kinship but didn’t show up herself. Her family background must be terrible. How good could a child born to a woman like that possibly be?”
When Huahua heard them mention her mother, the confusion vanished from her little face. She puffed up angrily. “You’re not allowed to say bad things about my mom!”
But no one paid her any attention.
Protective of his child, Li Xiuzhe said, “It’s enough that the child is mine. You people should stop poking your noses into matters that don’t concern you. Third Grand-Uncle, your daughter-in-law may have come from a good family, but unfortunately, all three of the sons she bore are good-for-nothings who eat, drink, gamble, chase women, cheat, and shirk their responsibilities. They’re useless lumps of mud. Clearly, a good family background doesn’t necessarily produce good children.”
Third Grand-Uncle was so enraged that he nearly fell backward. “You! Is that how you speak to your elders?”
“In front of the child, I ask that you act like an elder and refrain from saying hurtful things. Then, naturally, I’ll respect you.”
The room fell silent for a moment. No one dared truly go head-to-head with the future family head. Huahua alone gazed at her father with stars in her eyes.
She was so moved. Having a father protect her felt wonderful~
【Oh my, the infighting in a great family is so intense~ I love it~】
【It looks like Huahua still isn’t a hundred percent safe. These people are definitely going to cause trouble for their own benefit, right?】
【Cheap Dad actually can’t have children? What a pity for such a handsome man.】
【Does that mean Huahua’s birth counts as an iron tree blooming?】
【If you’re uneducated, don’t spout nonsense. This is called a miracle!】
After quite some time, someone could no longer resist the temptation in his heart and tentatively asked the Old Master, “If he can’t have children, it makes it easy for all sorts of sordid schemes to arise. Shouldn’t we reconsider the choice of family head?”
To this day, they still could not understand why the Old Master, who valued descendants so highly, was so dead set on making Xiuzhe the future family head.
“Yes, yes, exactly. I understand that the Old Master and the two of you are anxious, but you can’t be this hasty. How can such a vast family fortune be handed over to outsiders in the future?”
So you don’t want it handed to outsiders—you just want to hand it to yourselves, do you?
Mother Li felt stifled with anger. She knew exactly what these people were thinking. As long as her son remained childless, their children and grandchildren would not only have a chance to compete for the position of the next family head, but could also fight over the empire her son had built with his own hands after she and her family died.
Even an ordinary family fortune was enough to make people envious and scheming. How much more so the Li family’s wealth, accumulated over three hundred years and several generations? It was no exaggeration to say that it was practically an imperial throne waiting to be inherited.
Ever since the Old Master had personally designated her son as the future family head, how many accidents had Xiuzhe encountered over the years? Several of them had even been found to bear traces of these people’s involvement.
Why couldn’t Xiuzhe have children? Because some people had refused to accept that the young Xiuzhe was the future family head. They had bribed the nanny he loved most to poison his food. Although he had been rescued, and the people responsible had been dealt with by the Old Master, her son had been left unable to have children!
Every time she thought about it, her heart ached with anger.
Unfortunately, she currently had no solid evidence proving that Huahua was truly her granddaughter. She glared at her husband, who knew nothing about what was being said, then looked at her son pleadingly, urging him to produce the evidence.
Li Xiuzhe lowered his gaze in exasperation, concealing the dark, icy depths of his eyes.
If his mother had merely guessed what everyone was thinking, he had heard it all clearly.
Every calculating voice had been plotting how to keep his daughter from being acknowledged—and, even if she was acknowledged, how to snuff her out before she could grow up.
He glanced at his innocent, bewildered daughter in his arms and gave a cold laugh inwardly. No matter how much they schemed, some things could not be theirs. If they were unworthy of possessing them, then they were unworthy.
Huahua had inherited that mysterious illness. She was destined to become the family head after the next one.
In the past, he had believed he would never have children, so he had not cared much about the position of family head. No matter how capable or hardworking he was, in the end, the benefits would only fall to these disgusting people. If that was the case, he might as well do his job half-heartedly.
But now, Heaven had given him an unexpected gift. He would definitely become the family head and clear away every thorn and danger in his daughter’s path before she grew up.
He restrained the savagery in his eyes, raised a hand to interrupt everyone’s argument, then stood and handed Huahua’s report to the Old Master, who had been sitting on the sidelines the entire time. He leaned over and whispered a few words in the Old Master’s ear.
The Old Master’s drooping eyelids lifted, revealing a pair of sharp, lucid eyes. He took the report and held it close to examine it.
It took him quite some time to finish reading. As he did, his eyes opened wider and wider. At last, he solemnly announced, “Huahua is a child of our family. Three days from now, I will hold a banquet for my great-granddaughter and invite every prominent figure in the capital. I’ll let them all know that our family has gained a Little Princess.”