“The project was Xiao Ze’s mistake; I never intended to let Nannan clean up his mess.
Mr. Wei holds several major projects in his hands. Although he is a bit older, Nannan’s capability is clear to all. Once she marries over and outlives the old man, I will let Nannan inherit all of the Wei family’s assets.
As for his few good-for-nothing children, they won’t be able to stir up any trouble.”
Chu Lianxing lowered his head to fiddle with the prayer beads on his wrist. He knew that from his uncle’s perspective, this angle of him most resembled his mother: “You make it sound so nice, isn’t it still just for your own benefit?”
Zhu Hua looked somewhat dazed, as if remembering how his sister would lean against the sofa to lecture him when she lied as a child. As he thought about it, his eye sockets unconsciously grew moist: “Wh-what.”
Chu Lianxing continued, “You wanted to annex the Wei family relying on this project, but unfortunately it didn’t succeed. So you wanted to sacrifice your daughter to push the Zhu family a step further.
Uncle, more than twenty years ago you allowed your mistress to come over and provoke your wife when she was gravely ill; twenty years later, you are using your daughter as a pawn.
Uncle, you really are born to be a businessman.”
Chu Lianxing raised his head to look directly at the other person: “I won’t agree. You already sacrificed my aunt; even if I die, I won’t let you touch Nannan.”
Seeing through his uncle’s hidden intentions, Zhu Hua showed no embarrassment at all, instead voicing his true thoughts: “If she weren’t holding onto her mother’s assets, the Wei family would have already fallen into my hands. After twenty-some years of a life of luxury and fine clothes, it’s time to contribute something to the family.”
Chu Lianxing lowered his head again, trying to make his voice match his mother’s as closely as possible: “You climbed so high because you suspected the cause of Mother’s death. Back then, the police already investigated it as an accident; don’t trap yourself in your own obsession. Until you figure things out, Nannan will live with me.”
With that, he instructed Huo Ci to drive him away.
It wasn’t until the car had driven a certain distance away from the Zhu residence that Chu Lianxing finally relaxed a breath.
Huo Ci maintained a turtle’s speed as he turned his head to look at Chu Lianxing: “So scared?”
Chu Lianxing gave Huo Ci a fierce glare: “What do you know? If I hadn’t relied on my resemblance to my mother to soften his heart, if we had tried to take them away today, we wouldn’t even have made it past the Zhu family gates.”
“That terrifying?”
Chu Lianxing let out a cold snort: “Of course. The Zhu family you see today was built single-handedly by him. Back then, when he heard that my mother had married into the capital, he immediately threw his company aside and followed my mother here.
After my mother died, he couldn’t accept it and suspected that the person who hit her had been maliciously bought off. I was still being held in arms back then. Later, my grandfather told me that the police investigated even the driver’s ancestors back eighteen generations.
There wasn’t a shred of suspicion. Unreconciled, he rebuilt the current Zhu Corporation right here in the capital.
When you ran me over, if you had delayed climbing into my bed by even one step, your father would have jumped off the roof and died right in front of you.”
Huo Ci looked through the rearview mirror at Zhou Nannan, who was currently applying medicine to Li Yuanbai: “Turns out perversion runs in the family.”
“Who are you calling a pervert?” Zhou Nannan glared back unyieldingly.
Chu Lianxing gave Huo Ci his final piece of advice: “Uncle even suppresses the main branch of the Zhu family crushing you to death would be a piece of cake for him, so don’t provoke him lightly.”
“Then why does he dote on that illegitimate son so much?”
“Because his capability is sufficient to conquer him.”
Huo Ci continued to ask: “Since Uncle is so formidable, wanting to acquire a group should be a piece of cake.”
“The Wei family is working for Gu Jinyu.” Without Chu Lianxing needing to say the rest, Huo Ci already knew.
The plot didn’t allow it.
Looking at the increasingly unfamiliar scenery outside the window, Zhou Nannan asked with confusion: “Brother, this doesn’t seem to be the way to your house?”
Huo Ci looked like a primary school student who had finally caught a fault in someone he disliked: “Anyone can tell you aren’t truly concerned about Xingxing. The villa we used to live in collapsed, so we’re going to my house now.”
Zhou Nannan looked anxiously at Chu Lianxing: “Brother, did you get hurt?”
Thinking that the leg injury he saw last time wasn’t even this severe, she answered her own question: “Looking at what I asked, of course you got hurt, otherwise you could still walk the last time I saw you.”
As she spoke, her eye sockets turned heavily red.
Throwing away the medicine in her hand, she grabbed Chu Lianxing’s arm from behind and shook it back and forth: “Brother, let’s go live in the old mansion.”
“The old mansion is too far from Huo Ci’s company.”
Hearing Chu Lianxing say this, Huo Ci felt a warmth bloom in his heart after living together day and night for so long, how could there possibly be zero love?
As he thought about it, a huge, beaming smile pulled across his face, only to hear Zhou Nannan say the next moment: “Let him live outside by himself then.”
Chu Lianxing hesitated somewhat; on one side was his beloved younger sister, and on the other was his husband with whom he shared a cohabiting relationship.
Zhou Nannan hugged Chu Lianxing’s arm and acted coquettishly: “Brother, I’m begging you.”
Chu Lianxing could least handle his sister acting spoiled: “Fine, fine, let’s go to the old mansion.” Then he said to Huo Ci, who was driving: “Go to the old mansion first, you”
“I want to go too.”
Zhou Nannan immediately retorted: “No way.”
Huo Ci parked the car on the side of the road and started bickering: “There are too many door sills in the old mansion, it’s not convenient for a wheelchair to pass through.”
Zhou Nannan burst out laughing. Only after she laughed her fill did she say: “Brother tripped over a door sill when he was little, so Grandpa had people saw off all the door sills in the old mansion.” After mocking him, she continued to mutter softly: “What kind of Chu family wife are you if you haven’t even been to the old mansion?”
This sentence completely stimulated Huo Ci’s nerves. He hugged Chu Lianxing’s waist, crying and making a fuss: “I don’t care, I want to live there too. I’ve never been to the old mansion, and you’ve never even brought me home what kind of legitimate spouse am I?”
Unable to wrangle with him, Chu Lianxing finally had Huo Ci call a driver over. The location of the old mansion was relatively remote, situated on a mountain in the suburbs; at the speed Huo Ci drove, they wouldn’t arrive even by dark.
The entire mountain was a private area planted with pines and cypresses, maintaining a stretch of lush green even in winter. At the foot of the mountain, a Chinese-style quadrangle courtyard (siheyuan) was extremely eye-catching.
Leaning against the mountain behind it implied having backing.
Seeing the familiar environment, Chu Lianxing felt a myriad of emotions well up in his heart. He hadn’t been to the old mansion in a long time either; because its location was too remote when he was in middle school, his grandfather had bought him a house right next to his school, and he only came back every weekend.
After starting work, with tens of thousands of families depending on him behind his back, he had even less time.
Although the house looked old, its functions were abnormally intelligent the main gate was fingerprint-unlocked, and the interior had all been renovated.
Huo Ci acted like Granny Liu entering Grand View Garden on his first time here, looking left and looking right.
Huo Ci felt very flustered inside. The only connection between him and Chu Lianxing was a marriage certificate, making them nominal husband and wife on the surface.
In reality, today was the only day he had met Chu Lianxing’s elder, and he had been forced to bring him along at that.
He felt like he was a mistress who couldn’t see the light of day.
After Elder Chu died, the house sat empty. When the family housekeeper’s term expired, it wasn’t renewed, leaving only a single housekeeper to live in the sprawling house.
Although someone came to clean every week, the house still betrayed a sense of desolation that kind of desolation lacking human vitality.
The weather was pretty good today, and Grandpa Housekeeper sat on a lounge chair in the center of the courtyard reading the newspaper.
Old age had left him hard of hearing; the person who used to grab the young Chu Lianxing by the scruff of his neck to drag him before Elder Chu whenever he was mischievous was now leaning on a walking stick.
“Uncle Zhao.” Chu Lianxing stood not far from him and called out.
The housekeeper raised his head in pleasant surprise, scanning the area to see only the man who had crawled into his young master’s bed and an unfamiliar woman.
Giving Huo Ci a white-eyed glare, he continued lying back down to read the newspaper, sighing inwardly that he really was getting old and hallucinating, muttering to himself: “Just now I seemed to have heard Young Master Xing’s voice.”