Broke
Yang Pojun was stunned to see Guo Xuehua’s anxious gaze. With a trembling voice, he asked, “Xuehua…you…you don’t hate me?”
Guo Xuehua shook her head while smiling. “I can’t confidently say that I don’t hate you now. I even wanted to poison you when you tried to kill Yang Chen. But, we have been together for many years. I kept thinking about you once the anger had pa.s.sed.”
“Xuehua…I…” Yang Pojun’s eyes reddened. “I’m sorry for letting you down. But I can’t stay with you right now.”
“Why?”
“Men are weird. Even though I don’t hate Yang Chen anymore, there’s a limit to our interactions. I’m sure he doesn’t wish to see me around him.” Yang Pojun smiled. “I’m planning to stay by my father’s side and teach in the military school. I won’t be returning to the base now that I’ve been forced to step down.”
Guo Xuehua wanted to say something but as she thought about it, it wasn’t a half-bad decision. She nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll just go back and forth then. I’ll bring Lanlan to meet you too, after all you’re her grandfather.”
“Grandfather…” Yang Pojun sighed. “It hasn’t really hit me until now that I am well into my years.”
Guo Xuehua giggled. “You look like you have dementia.”
Yang Pojun smiled bashfully in response.
The autumn breeze caressed their faces as they stood in the pavilion without uttering a single word.
After a long while, Guo Xuehua brushed her hair and said while smiling, “I’ll be going first then, I know what’s going on at the hall now.”
Yang Pojun nodded and when he saw Guo Xuehua was about to leave, he called after her, “Xuehua.”
“Hmm?” Guo Xuehua turned around.
“I…I want to apologize for suspecting you for so long.”
“I know that.” Guo Xuehua gave a knowing smile. “You’ve been suspicious of me because I used to like Ning Guangyao so you were constantly conscious of him. Do you think that I married you because I couldn’t be with Ning Guangyao?”
“You…how did you know?” Yang Pojun was stupefied.
“You’ve always gone against him in my presence. You think I wouldn’t notice?” Guo Xuehua sounded exasperated. “Don’t overthink it anymore. We’re already half a century old and we’ve been through so much. It’s not like I didn’t have any suitors at that time, why didn’t I find anyone close to me instead of someone like you who was completely unrelated to me? The Yang clan was unstable at that time. Why would I have married you then?”
Yang Pojun blushed but now that the thing that had been gnawing at his mind was resolved. He smiled sincerely at last.
Nothing remained constant in a relations.h.i.+p. Not even those forged with time.
In the early morning, everyone in China and those all around the world was prepared to mock the Yang clan but by afternoon, they realized it wasn’t as bad as they once thought.
Yang Gongming reappeared once again after his retirement and he started to explain the truth behind his past.
His tone was neither servile nor overbearing, which made it impossible for them to look down on him.
It was the nation’s first time having a descendant of one of the most prominent clans share his past.
His honest att.i.tude caused the public side with him. His views on which a hero’s origin should not be linked to his personal achievements won their hearts the most.
With that being the case, no one would dare to isolate and betray the Yang clan now.
Something even more wonderful happened later on.
In the afternoon, the oil price in China was adjusted downwards by seven percent which attracted the public’s attention as it was a rare case.
Later on, any countries that had a feud with China also admitted defeat by publis.h.i.+ng a series of doc.u.ments with such statements and they even called back their fleet!
This was more meaningful to them than Yang Gongming’s bloodline!
All of a sudden, they diverted their gazes from the Yang clan and they eventually lost interest in this matter.
Yang Chen had arranged for all of this to happen.
It was easy enough to manipulate countries if you were imposing enough. Besides, it wasn’t as if the countries were suffering any losses.
As for the oil price, Yang Chen spent a lot of money on it.
The whole nation consumed billions of liters of oil in a day and it would’ve been impossible to lower the price if he wasn’t a billionaire.
The money he had spent seemed unnecessary but it was useful to cause an impact.
Yang Gongming had just ended the conference when the oil price decreased by seven percent. Even if it didn’t seem related, people would still try and connect the dots!
The price drop continued for a few days and it looked as though a gold glow was emitting from the Yang clan.
No one cared who your father was or how disgraceful your past was. As long as they benefited from it.
Yang Chen was rather commanding when he arranged for Ron to take care of this.
However, no one would know how he cried while hugging Lin Ruoxi’s arms after spending the money, wailing that he was now ‘broke’.
As mentioned earlier, Yang Chen a.s.signed jobs to the entertainment company for the memoir and the movie. He was hoping to recoup some losses.
Just when this issue had started to simmer down, the wedding between Li Dun and Tang Xin was carried out as scheduled.
Even though the Tang clan had declined, they were still greater than a second-rate clan. As for the Li clan, their position in China had never wavered.
Therefore, although Tang Xin wasn’t a well-known figure, she still gained the media’s attention.
At the day of the wedding, the hall was decorated with a simple style, elegant but not extravagant.
Only the elders were invited to the wedding and the rest were the relatives of the Li clan. As for the second-rate clans and ordinary ministers, they weren’t given the chance.
Thunderous claps exploded in the State Guesthouse’s hall when Tang Xin walked towards Li Dun with her father. She was dressed in a white wedding gown whereas Li Dun was dressed in a white suit.
Even though they didn’t have a lot of guests, the claps were loud enough since they had to be respectful towards the Li clan.
However, something was quite out of place amidst the wedding. Tang Xin was holding onto a rainbow-colored ice cream cone instead of a bouquet which puzzled everyone.
Only those who knew about it found the gesture very touching.
Although Li Dun looked tall and strong in his white suit, he still had his black eyepatch on which made him look special yet out of place.
As they looked into each other’s eyes from afar, only both of them would understand the complex feelings they shared with one another.
The things they had been through, their past, it all seemed like a dream.
Lin Ruoxi had asked Yang Chen about their story and even from the sound of it, she knew they had gone through a lot.
Near to them was Cai Ning who had attended the wedding with her father, Cai Yuncheng. She was staring at Tang Xin who was walking towards Li Dun with an envious gaze.
In her opinion, even though Tang Xin started off on the wrong path, she still reached an ending that Cai Ning yearned for.
She was able to find a man who loved her more than she loved him, a man that could forgive all her sins because of love.
Compared to her, even though she found her true love too, it was impossible for her to have a wedding like Tang Xin.
On the other side, Tang Wan attended the wedding with Tangtang and her clan members.
Tang Wan, on the other hand, had no regrets. She was fortunate and grateful enough to have found love despite being matured.
Tang Wan was filled with joy too, witnessing her dear cousin make her way to her lover after getting off the wrong path.
Before the wedding, Yang Chen contemplated whether he should give Li Dun an appropriate gift but the more he thought about it, he figured there was nothing he could buy that Li Dun couldn’t get on his own.
At the very end, Yang Chen prepared something after being reminded by Lin Ruoxi. However, he could only give it out to him privately and he was getting eager on his seat from the long wait.