Because her son and his wife were abroad for Paris Fas.h.i.+on Week, the house was quieter these days.
But for Guo Xuehua, being able to take walks, buy groceries, occasionally chat with the neighbors about the latest gossip in the neighbourhood—it was this ordinary, common life that she enjoyed very much.
No burden of being the daughter-in-law of the Yang’s clan head, or a senior madam with personal bodyguards everywhere she went. Those days might have seemed a very grand, but it made her feel tired all the time.
Today, she had pa.s.sed over the operations of the charity orphanages to the foundation, and wholeheartedly began a stay-at-home life.
Although the internal problems of the Yang clan weren’t solved, as her twenty-plus years marriage to Yang Pojun had fallen apart, through this, she had managed to rediscover her eldest son who was lost for twenty years. She still felt that the heavens treated her well, even if this son was a constant worry.
Besides other things, a lover of her son was staying next door. Plus truthfully she rather liked this Rose girl; after all Rose was more thoughtful and likable compared to the icy Lin Ruoxi.
Even if she knew that Rose was from a gangster family, and was the underground queen of the Red Thorns Society of Zhonghai, that didn’t mean she had to be a bad person, right? Guo Xuehua was no short-sighted, conservative woman.
Moreover, could Guo Xuehua still meddle in her son’s love life as a long-missing mother? Even if she could, she couldn’t bear to, so she just turned a blind eye. If Yang Chen wanted to have two women in the future, she would accept it quietly as his mother. Even if she felt averse to it, in the upper cla.s.s it was common for a man to have two lovers.
As for the daughter-in-law and the son’s lover, their position in his heart would be determined by how they went about treating him. Of course, as the mother-in-law she had the right to have her favourite.
With this way of thinking, Guo Xuehua would sometimes bring some tasty food for Rose to try. She was more familiar with Rose than she was with the main wife Lin Ruoxi.
These days, Guo Xuehua had discovered that in Rose’s house was another young girl who had a similar appearance and manner to Rose—Mo Qianni.
After introductions, only did she know that Mo Qianni was her daughter-in-law’s best friend and the vice president of Yu Lei International, one of Lin Ruoxi’s most trusted people. She couldn’t help but lament that it’s true, birds of the same feather flock together. In this case, very pretty birds.
The more she knew Mo Qianni, who was more mature and informed than Rose, the more she liked her. Compared to Rose, Mo Qianni was a proud metropolitan female executive, the best choice for a loving mother and wife!
The headache was: Out of all the pretty women which surrounded her son, why did he pick Ruoxi as his wife, the coldest woman who was the hardest to get along with?
Conversely, for a mother, whether the daughter-in-law’s looks were the most outstanding was not really a major consideration.
All this might just be a prank by fate. Guo Xuehua would have never thought that the marriage between Yang Chen and Lin Ruoxi started with a contract. But soon, their affections today had become blurred, and as each day pa.s.sed, neither of them no longer brought up that past.
Today, Guo Xuehua and w.a.n.g Ma had brought groceries home. Even if Lin Ruoxi wasn’t around, there was still the young Zhenxiu preparing for an entrance exam. As adults, the two treated her like a young daughter, preparing delicious meals for her whenever they can.
This girl had lived a pitiful life, and was more often lost in thought ever since Park Jonghyun from the Starmoon Group had come, making everyone at home feel sorry for her.
Just as she had placed the meat and vegetables in the kitchen, the phone rang outside.
The phone seldom rang. Yang Chen and Lin Ruoxi didn’t have many friends, so half of the calls they got were not for them.
As Guo Xuehua was closer to the door, she went to pick up the phone, asking who they were looking for, thinking that it must be a wrong number again.
The other side was quiet for a moment, and then came a soft, shy female voice...
“Please… please is this Yang Chen’s home?” Of course, it was An Xin. Her mind was in such a muddle that her voice trembled.
Guo Xuehua was slightly surprised, judging from the voice she knew it was a young lady, and she was looking for Yang Chen? She became alert instantly, saying seriously, “Yes, this is his home, I’m his mother. Miss, can I help you with anything?”
An Xin’s breath became quick—it was Yang Chen’s mother indeed. She forced herself to be calm. “Madam, h.e.l.lo, I… I’m afraid I have some bad news for you, Yang Chen… he was brought to the police station in the western district…”
“What?!” Guo Xuehua suspected that she heard wrongly, and said doubtfully, “Miss, is there a mistake? My son is called Yang Chen, but he is now in Paris, how could he be arrested by the police in Zhonghai?”
“It’s true, Madam! Yang Chen had returned earlier this morning, and something happened at the office… and then… then the police came to arrest him…”
Near the end, An Xin’s voice became low. She wanted to crawl into a hole. If Guo Xuehua asked why Yang Chen was arrested, could she really say directly ‘your son was captured because of me’? If Guo Xuehua knew this, surely she would think that An Xin was no decent woman, as not only did she seduce him but also bring trouble into his life.
An Xin became gloomy, but to save Yang Chen she had to continue communicating with Guo Xuehua.
By now, Guo Xuehua had calmed down. She was no ordinary housewife, and had many years of outside experience, alongside being born from a prestigious family. Quickly she got the main issue—it wasn’t time to investigate why Yang Chen would return suddenly and was arrested. What she had to do now was to find a solution to the problem and not let her son suffer at the hands of the police!
Of course, Guo Xuehua knew that Yang Chen’s skills were not common, difficult for even national secret forces to handle. But if he really took matters into his own hands, trouble would only s...o...b..ll.
“I got it,” Guo Xuehua said firmly. “I’ll handle this matter. But I would like to know what happened in detail later on. May I please know your name?”
“I’m… I’m An Xin.”
Guo Xuehua thought, This name sounds good, her voice is sweet as well—this must be another pretty woman. Frankly, as a mother she could only say objectively that her own son wasn’t very handsome, yet there were many beauties by his side.
“Miss An Xin, I’ll head down to the police station later. Will it be convenient for you to be there too? I’d like to see you and sort things out face-to-face.” Guo Xuehua’s mind was clear. Something happened to her son and this woman had called—their relations.h.i.+p wasn’t an ordinary one, so she had her own reasons for wanting to meet this woman. The talk about sorting things out was just an excuse; if she wanted to, she could have found it out from Yang Chen at the police station.
At once An Xin was apprehensive, excited, and fearful. She was glad for the chance to meet Yang Chen’s mother, but fearful for what if his mother didn’t like her? As a mistress, it was likely that she wouldn’t be in his mother’s good graces, and maybe even criticized as a trouble-causing vixen...
But An Xin was overthinking here. With Guo Xuehua’s upbringing, even if this was what she thought, she wouldn’t possibly make such heavy comments to a young girl.
“Alright, Madam, I’ll surely be there…” Even if An Xin was afraid, she didn’t dare to turn her down. Honestly, she hoped to see Yang Chen released in the police station, otherwise there was no way she could rest easy for the rest of the day.
Hanging up the phone, Guo Xuehua said to w.a.n.g Ma, “Yulan, I’ll be heading out for some matters, just cook something simple and don’t wait for me to return. We’ll wait for Zhenxiu to come back before making something good for dinner.”
Yulan was naturally w.a.n.g Ma’s original name. w.a.n.g Ma also knew that Guo Xuehua had work to deal with on normal days, and didn’t suspect too much, replying with a grunt.
[TL note: ‘w.a.n.g Ma’ actually means ‘Mother/Madam w.a.n.g’, which shouldn’t have been put in Pinyin.]
Of course, Guo Xuehua would never let w.a.n.g Yulan and Zhenxiu know about Yang Chen’s arrest. Once she brought him out then they would tell them.
After walking out, Guo Xuehua took out her phone. Although she felt, as the mistress of the Yang clan, bringing back Yang Chen from the police station was no big problem, to be safe she had to find out the root cause of the problem.
The most powerful person she knew in Zhonghai was of course her husband Yang Pojun, but she wouldn’t initiate a call to him. Ever since Yang Pojun acted indifferent when Yan Buxue insulted Yang Chen, Guo Xuehua had hated him to the depths of her heart. How could she ask for his help so easily?
So Guo Xuehua called her sister-in-law Yang Jieyu. After all, Yuan Hewei and Yang Jieyu were in control of the Yuan clan, the largest clan in Zhonghai. They were basically the bosses in town, which anyone had to respect in one way or another.
Of course, Guo Xuehua’s decision had another hidden agenda—Yang Jieyu had a proud temperament, and was much friendlier than Yang Pojun. If she knew that her nephew was arrested, even if she and her husband couldn’t rescue Yang Chen immediately, Yang Jieyu would contact her father in Beijing—Yang Gongming!
Guo Xuehua knew that as a daughter-in-law, she hadn’t done enough for this old man, so she didn’t dare to ask for Yang Gongming’s help. So she thought of indirectly informing him through Yang Jieyu.
Yang Gongming had acknowledged this grandson and likewise felt guilty. If he took action, Guo Xuehua didn’t believe that anyone would dare to touch Yang Chen. Although she wasn’t sure of that grandfather’s capability, but based on how the Yang family had risen in Beijing as one of the four major clans despite their low numbers, she knew that Yang Gongming had influence beyond that of normal people.