She looked behind Gu Shishi.
“Where’s your man? He didn’t come with you?”
She had invited the entire Huo family this time.
Recently, words had it that Gu Shishi was good luck for her husband.
Not only did she negate Huo Sishen’s cursed nature, she brought good luck for both her husband and son and allowed the Young Master Huo to live a happy life.
As opposed to the Second Young Master Huo who had been wasting away, having bad luck both in his marriage and on the having children fronts, Huo Sishen’s life was seemingly going very smoothly right now.
Whenever the couple showed up together in any events, they both looked well-rested and their cheeks pink. They just looked like lucky and happy people.
Their little son was chubby and smiled no matter who it was who picked him up. He rarely cried. He particularly loved to grab onto elegant things and was very precise when he did that.
The distance that people had been keeping from Huo Sishen were, often times, minimized for Huo Xiao Bao who earned the fondness of everyone.
Old Mrs. Chen, at her age, and being closed with Gu Shishi had long since stopped avoiding Huo Sishen.
“What did he know about appraisal? He just wants to shove it into his mouth when he sees big and bright things.” Gu Shishi genuinely worried that the next thing her son was going to do with to shove the piece into his mouth and chomp down on it. She quickly took him away. “His dad is behind us. He is bringing in the diapers and bottles.”
Old Mrs. Chen looked at the child and rubbed him on his head. “I was wearing a gold locket a few days ago and he didn’t even look at it twice. He wasn’t interested in that one at all. This jade was polished by an old master with the carving of buddha. It had even won an award before. And the little guy fell in love with it right away! He’s got good eyes!”
Gu Shishi smiled bitterly and shook her head.
Her son, indeed, had good senses in this area.
He would act abnormally excited when he encountered renowned work.
To make matters worse, he had a prodigal father and would not only buy him whatever he grabbed, but also a string of new things.
He was such a prodigal that he even said if his son was broke in the future, he could always go into appraisal.
Gu Shishi couldn’t stop these two men and had no choice but to let them immerse in their precious items day in and day out.
“I am sure he had inherited Sister Shishi’s artistic talent,” said Chen Kexin as she looked over enviously.
“I still can’t tell these things apart. He is surely better than me on this front.”
Gu Shishi smiled helplessly, “You come and babysit for me. I guarantee that you will be able to tell good jade from bad in three months.”
All the bad ones were tossed behind him by Huo Xiao Bao and picked up by Aunty Lin.
Those that he approved of he would shove into his toy box and only she was allowed to touch them.
Chen Kexin’s eyes lit up but she quickly saw Huo Sishen who was walking inside. Tall, cold, and a very intimidating aura. She immediately shook her hands in intimidation.
Gu Shishi, on the other hand, looked over in the same direction and saw her prodigal man. She quickly handed her heavy son over to him.
The little kid always wanted to play with precious things. It was getting harder and harder to stop him.
“Happy birthday, Old Mrs. Chen.”
Huo Sishen took his son and put one arm around him tightly. The little boy pouted immediately.
He nodded and greeted Old Mrs. Chen.
“Aye!”
Old Mrs. Chen was emotional.
It wasn’t so much that she cared a lot of congratulatory words from him but, for some odd reasons, hearing them made her happy.
Huo Sishen was extraordinarily handle and was an elite among his generation.
He was a cold one, though, and rarely attended any events in their circle. No other elders had received congratulatory words from him before.
Old Mrs. Chen’s eyes reddened a little all of a sudden. “When you were still a child, you came to celebrate my birthday once. I remember a girl was chasing behind you and Keke bawled her eyes out because you didn’t want to play with her.”
“No way, Grandma! That did not happen!”
Chen Kexin almost bit her own tongue.
Huo Sishen’s lips curved a little. He reached out his hand and held Gu Shishi’s. “Mmhmm. I remember that too. Grandma Chen didn’t look a day older than you did before.”
Old Mrs. Chen put her hand over her mouth and smiled.
“Now we know who your precious bun looks like.
“He truly is the child of the two of you.”
Gu Shishi had known for a long time now that this man knew how to say sweet things. He just didn’t care to engage with people normally.
“Come. Come. C’mon in, quickly. Chat with us old folks inside.”
Old Mrs. Chen quickly showed them in.
Inside, the guests separated into the men and women groups.
The ladies were chatting about skincare and the men gathered to talk about current events or business.
Even though Huo Sishen hadn’t been to events like this in a long while, he was still able to quickly locate his own spot.
He was an articulate talker, had a lot of substances, unique viewpoints on things, worldly experiences, and had a good grip on the information on the everchanging market.
All of the patriarchs and those of the uncle and grandpa generation all had their attentions on him instantly and only wish they could chat with him all night long in their studies.
Gu Shishi, naturally, followed Old Mrs. Chen. The old lady insisted on carrying Huo Xiao Bao, even if he had one hand on her jade while drooling all over her.
After she had sat down, Old Mrs. Chen wiped his saliva off of him and his shirt before handed him an opal bracelet for him to play with. She then smiled at Gu Shishi and said, “I’ve heard from my oldest son that Jiahe is going belly up and that the Gu family plan on packaging it up and selling it?”
That was a known secret by now.
Jiahe had been penalized by the Industry and Commerce Bureau for false advertisement and outrageous pricing. Not only did they have to pay a large fine but they had lost all of their reputation.
Even Chen Kexin chimed in when they were talking about that.
“Aren’t they packing it with their gaming business as well?
“They are hoping to fetch a good price, I’ve heard. But who would want that?”
First, they had offended the official of their district, then they were exposed as unconscientious business. Others were no fools. Who would want to pay high price for something like that?
“The remaining estates aren’t doing all that hot either. I heard from my husband that the next two years will be wintertime as far as real estates are concerned.”
Mrs. Zhou chimed in from next to them.
She had heard about it already. Gu Wushuang wanted to use their Zhou Mi’s dowry as a contrast and be ahead of them. So how could the mother not be upset at that?
This Gu Wushuang wasn’t shut out by the Huo family for no reasons!
“I heard that Gu Wushuang is about to develop businesses overseas. She hired an overseas upper management and it was said that they have been in contact with an oil merchant,” said Mrs. Zhang softly as she put down her tea cup.
With the exception of Gu Shishi who had no ties to the Gu family, none of the other ladies from the Gu family were invited today. As such, nobody would defend the Gu family when they were talked about.
Everybody wanted to add in their 2 cents’ worth in degrading them.
All because Old Mrs. Chen clearly sided with Gu Shishi.
“And that Mother Huo. Why couldn’t she just accept Gu Wushuang? It’s been almost 2 years already.”
“Aiya, Gu Wushuang already had a miscarriage once. Who knows when she can get pregnant again. I would worry about a daughter-in-law like that too.”
Gu Shishi had a peculiar look on her when she heard that.
“She was pregnant?”
The lady immediately gave her a this-is-between-you-and-I look.
Finally, Mrs. Zhang was the one who elaborated on that.
“She got pregnant a while ago. It was an accident, I think. Neither one of them were prepared. My daughter-in-law ran into her and Wencheng when she went for her prenatal checkup. She ran into them a week ago right after the miscarriage and Gu Wushuang was crying. My daughter-in-law overheard that she asked… for 50 million from Huo Wencheng and they will get a divorce.”
Chen Kexin’s eyes widened as she gasped. “50 million. Oh wow! Huh, I didn’t hear about that before.”
Mrs. Zhang smiled and waved her hand. “You are a single girl. You don’t need to know these things.
“And it only happened a week ago. I have invited you to come for flower appreciation and you skipped out on it.”
Chen Kexin let out a small cry. “Oh. I was travelling last week.”
She missed out on this big melon.
Gu Shishi wasn’t close with the Zhang family and took her son swimming the week before and also missed the gathering.
She, too, was surprised when she found out about it.
It seemed Chuchu didn’t know about that either.
“Alright. What’s talked about here stays here. Shishi, give this chocolate mouse a try,” said Mrs. Zhou with a smile.
“You must stay and play mahjong with us tonight. Grandma Chen will help you babysit your child.”
Gu Shishi bowed and smiled bitterly for real this time. “I need to head to a dinner event with my husband tonight.”
“Huh?”
Huo ChuChu truly didn’t know about this one.
It was until after Old Mrs. Chen’s mini birthday celebration did Mother Huo threw a glass tea cup at Huo Wencheng in front of the whole family.
“How did I end up with a trouble like you who can’t read people and bring about disasters to our family?!”
Mother Huo’s breathing was hastened.
“This was the first time that the Chen family did not invite us to their birthday banquet.”
Grandma Huo closed her eyes for a little bit and said, “Everybody is just waiting to watch our dramas right now. It would be unpleasant for us to be there anyway.”
Huo ChuChu had her head lowered and her head to her side while she listened quietly.
That how she learned about the incident.
Huo Wencheng’s eyes were bloodshot. “We used protection. The pregnancy was an accident. We didn’t expect her to have a miscarriage.”
He also didn’t expect that she would turn around and ask for 50 million yuan.
She said that her body was damaged and probably wouldn’t be able to have children again. The 50 million yuan would compensate for both her physical and psychological recoveries. That the amount was lowered considered the years that they had spent together.
All of those were just excuses!
The thought of it all made Huo Wencheng gritted his teeth.
He would most likely feel that he had wronged her had he not heard about the rumors between her and an oil tycoon. Lo and behold, not only had he heard about the rumors, he also saw photos taken stealthily of the two together on his desk a few days later.
Gu Wushuang was all over a blonde man passionately.
He was a 32-year-old man with two sons. He didn’t need her to give him children and he could help her take her businesses overseas.
She had her road paved for herself well ahead of time!
Huo Wencheng couldn’t be angrier.
All of his loyalty and protection for her over the years was but a big joke!
“Not only was she the fake daughter, she was not even a healthy one. And she is shameless, flirting with you starting from a young age. Now that she is all grown up, she was an unappreciative one, vicious and dirty. I have no idea what you see in her! You have pretty much lost your mind when it came to her! Had you listened to me back then and married Gu Shishi instead, none of this would have happened!”
Mother Huo, too, was infuriated.
“You are so much worse than your big brother. You have disappointed me so!”
Huo Wencheng turned pale and his hand trembled as he clenched them into fists.
Gu Shishi……
Her pretty and delicate face flashed through his mind……
“We have a dinner gathering tonight and you are coming with.”
Mother Huo took a few deep breaths.
“They want to meet both you and Chuchu.”
Huo Wencheng was taken aback a little. His pale face twitched before returning to normal.
He knew that he no longer has the rights to go against his mother’s wish.
Nor would he have the right to decide on who he would be marrying in the future.
“Alright.”