Chapter 44

Chapter 44

The people sent by Gu Chengzhi found out that Lin Xiaotang was living in Greenwater Bay.

The houses in Greenwater Bay weren't large in design, but the location and landscaping were top-notch and extremely valuable. Even the smallest units cost forty to fifty million, while larger ones were over a hundred million. How could Lin Xiaotang afford to live in such a villa district?

At first, the people following Lin Xiaotang thought he was working as a servant there. But after tailing him for a few days, they realized that wasn't the case. Lin Xiaotang seemed to be living there purely as a resident. He often went out with another equally handsome young man, sometimes to buy things, sometimes just to get some fresh air. That was strange—could that boy be Lin Xiaotang's partner?

Gu Chengzhi speculated whether Lin Xiaotang had taken advantage of Rong Yuanan's connections to meet some new rich and powerful figures. But upon investigation, he discovered that the owner of the house where Lin Xiaotang was staying had the surname Rong!

Rong wasn't a very common surname, and coincidentally, Lin Xiaotang happened to know someone with that surname.

What surprised Gu Chengzhi even more was that it wasn't just one house!

There were actually two properties registered under Rong Yuanan's name, with a combined market value of about one hundred and fifty million!

Where did Gu Shenhan get so much cash?

They all had their own side businesses, and he knew Gu Shenhan was no exception. But wasn't this too much? This wasn't all of his assets—this was just spare cash he could casually use to buy residential properties that weren't even necessities.

He suspected the money wasn't from Gu Shenhan at all, but from the old man and old lady.

When Rong Yuanan had come earlier, he had mentioned the second branch's affairs. Could it be that Rong Yuanan knew about Gu Shenhan's background, and the old lady had bought the houses to buy his silence?

Gu Chengzhi also found that unlikely. Although they hadn't met many times, he didn't think Rong Yuanan was that greedy. That meant the houses were probably given to Gu Shenhan by the old man and old lady, just not explicitly stated.

This wasn't a good sign.

"Are you sure what you're saying is true?" Wang Shuyi said. "Greenwater Bay, and two units?"

"Yes. I had people check three times; there's no mistake." Gu Chengzhi said. "Greenwater Bay numbers 520 and 521. The owner of number 519 next door is probably also very familiar with them."

"I knew it! The old man and old lady favor Gu Shenhan!" Wang Shuyi felt indignant just thinking about it. "Marrying Rong Yuanan made Gu Shenhan vice president of Qianhai, and now they buy them two villas—their favoritism is off the charts! And having Rong Yuanan go to the Lianshan headquarters—doesn't that clearly mean they want the second branch to take over the family business?"

"Don't jump to conclusions," Gu Mingchuan frowned. "How are you so sure that money came from the old man and old lady? What if Gu Shenhan earned it himself? That kid started playing the stock market in high school, and the stocks he holds are already very valuable."

"No matter how valuable, can he spend like that? I suspect the old and young are playing us all for fools. I'm starting to wonder—did Rong Yuanan know Gu Shenhan from the very beginning? How else could they have gotten along so quickly? Could the old lady be using this as an excuse to give Gu Shenhan benefits?"

Gu Mingchuan and Gu Chengzhi thought it over and felt it wasn't impossible.

What kind of person was Gu Shenhan? He was sharp; you couldn't fool him easily. Squeezing anything out of him was harder than climbing to the sky, yet to give away two villas in a high-end residential area—how much must he like that Rong Yuanan?

Wang Shuyi said, "No! We can't just sit back and wait. If this continues, there'll be no place for us in Lianshan in the future. Given the relationship between Gu Shenhan and us, if he really takes charge, will he tolerate us?"

Gu Mingchuan asked his son, "You said you have a plan earlier—what plan?"

Gu Chengzhi said, "Since the old lady is so eager for them to be loving and has given them so many benefits for it, let's create some discord between them."

Gu Mingchuan and Wang Shuyi didn't quite understand. Wang Shuyi asked, "How do we create discord? Those two are in the honeymoon phase right now, aren't they? Wu Ma said when they came last time, they were very affectionate. I initially thought it was just for show for the old lady, but now it seems Gu Shenhan's earlier act of refusing to marry at all was the real show for us."

Gu Chengzhi didn't answer and went straight to his bedroom.

When Wang Shuyi called after him, he didn't respond.

Wang Shuyi angrily said to Gu Mingchuan, "It's all your fault! If you hadn't said that with you at Qianhai, Gu Shenhan wouldn't stir up any trouble and wouldn't get anywhere, and he definitely wouldn't have succeeded. Now look—he's getting more and more established there, and you haven't managed to push him out!"

Gu Mingchuan's face turned grim at that.

He would love to push Gu Shenhan out, but more and more people were supporting Gu Shenhan, especially the younger generation. Since Gu Shenhan arrived, he pushed to accelerate the environmental performance of transport ships—a move that wouldn't show short-term benefits and whose long-term profitability was uncertain—yet some people still supported it.

Even some of the older generation, though not all, were starting to waver. Who knows what kind of magic potion Gu Shenhan had fed these people.

"Aren't you always out playing mahjong and shopping? Don't you know anyone who could introduce a suitable match?"

"A suitable match, you say?" Wang Shuyi said angrily, just thinking about it. "Ever since what happened with Chengzhi and that Yang family girl, his reputation for being fickle and playing the field has spread. Plus, now he's working at the grassroots level without any real power—no decent family wants him. Who do you think spread that news?"

"Who else? Either Gu Shenhan or the Yang family." Gu Mingchuan thought for a while. "Ultimately, Chengzhi was wrong to be unfaithful and to embezzle money from the family hotel. That doesn't sound good no matter how you spin it. But you're right, we can't just sit around. I'll talk to the old man about it."

"It's about time!"

Gu Mingchuan said, "How are the preparations for the Mid-Autumn Festival going? Have all the gifts been sent?"

Wang Shuyi said sarcastically, "Sent. We send plenty every year, but when do we ever get any gifts in return?"

Gu Mingchuan said, "Don't those go straight to the main house? But regardless of where they go, we still need to send ours. Especially to Third Great-Uncle and Third Great-Aunt—they're your proper relatives."

Wang Shuyi glared toward the main house. "Proper relatives? When push comes to shove, they only look out for their own interests."

Gu Mingchuan thought to himself, *Nonsense, who doesn't?*

Meanwhile, someone was troubled by worry for a friend.

Rong Yuanan thought about how Yan Yu only had Yan Que as family, and now things were so tense. And Lin Xiaotang had an older sister, but they weren't on good terms, so he couldn't go back either. In that case, the two of them would have such a lonely holiday.

He asked Gu Shenhan, "Honey, can we invite Xiaoyu and Xiaotang to spend the holiday at our place? I'll prepare things, and we can have a lively gathering here. Otherwise, Xiaoyu can't go back to Lao Yan, right? If Lao Yan spends it with him, he'd be uncomfortable, but if Lao Yan's girlfriend is there, it's even more awkward."

"You're too kind-hearted." Gu Shenhan pinched Rong Yuanan's nose. "Whatever you want, as long as you're happy. But we need to go to the old house this afternoon and have dinner there before coming back."

"I know that. Good thing you reminded me—I also need to prepare some things for Grandpa and Grandma. Are there other elders we should prepare for too? Why didn't you tell me earlier? I would have started preparing."

Since coming here, he had been using the solar calendar and wasn't quite accustomed to it.

But lately, the pregnancy had been occupying his mind, so he hadn't paid much attention to external things. Otherwise, there were signs—there were plenty of mooncake ads out there that he hadn't noticed.

Gu Shenhan said, "I never send gifts to anyone. What gifts would a single man send? At most, I'd buy some calligraphy supplies for the old lady. Besides her, no one else can give me a promotion."

Rong Yuanan chuckled. "You're too utilitarian! How about this—since time is tight this year, we'll only send gifts to those close by. Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle, Third Uncle, and Aunt's family. Uncle's family and Third Uncle's family aren't close to us, and they haven't treated you well—I dislike them. But since my husband wants a promotion from Grandma, we have to show her your magnanimity, so let's send gifts to everyone."

Gu Shenhan looked at Rong Yuanan intently for a moment, almost certain that his little wife knew something. No matter where he had heard it.

He didn't want to bring it up, but he was convinced Rong Yuanan knew.

Rong Yuanan didn't avoid his gaze, saying frankly, "And Third Great-Uncle's family and Great-Aunt's family. I'm not clear about the others. Oh, and we could send some to Qianhai and Lianshan shareholders too. I've gotten to know some people at Lianshan."

Gu Shenhan said, "There's no need to send anything. Why go to all that trouble?"

Rong Yuanan took Gu Shenhan's hand. "It's not about the gifts themselves—it's the gesture. What if the main branch sends gifts to everyone? I don't want people to think my husband is lacking in manners. If you really want to take that position, think about what Grandma wrote that day."

That day, the old lady had deliberately come to write those characters when she knew they would be there—it was no coincidence.

And the bracelet—two rings of gold, gold in two rings—meant "try your best to persuade." It had taken him a while to figure it out.

Gu Shenhan couldn't be bothered with all this. Sometimes he himself didn't know whether he truly wanted the Gu family or if he was just fighting for the sake of making the main and third branches suffer.

He had more than enough money to last three lifetimes—why did he have to fight for the Gu family?

Gu Shenhan was momentarily stunned by his own thoughts.

He had never had such a thought before.

Rong Yuan then said, "Honey, don't hold me so tight. Let me go. I need to hurry and get things ready."

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to design mooncake patterns. We only have three days, so I need to step it up. Then we'll give out some unique mooncakes so people can tell at a glance that they were specially designed by us."

"That's too much trouble. And where would we find a mold on such short notice?"

"We can just use a 3D printer," said Rong Yuan. "I saw one in the lab in Lianshan. We can borrow it or buy one ourselves. I heard it's not expensive either."

"..."

Gu Shenhan was slightly surprised. He hadn't expected that in just a few weeks, Rong Yuan would show such insight and resourcefulness.

He couldn't help but hold him tighter. "Do you really have to let go to design?"

Rong Yuan tilted his head. "What else?"

Gu Shenhan lifted him up in his arms. "Then we can go like this. And we need to eat breakfast first, or the little one will get hungry."

Rong Yuan nuzzled into Gu Shenhan's arms, smiling as if he were glowing. "The little one says thank you, Daddy, for acknowledging his existence."

Gu Shenhan felt a warmth in his chest. Suddenly, he felt that aside from him in his arms, nothing else seemed as important.