In October, through Xu Tingsheng’s arrangements, in a relatively discreet process, Lu Zhixin underwent a DNA test. Whoever Zhou Yuandai was in soul, however she had had plastic surgery, she was still originally that mother of Lu Zhixin’s from the standpoint of DNA.
Next, after the debt calculation and compensations, Lu Zhixin inherited the small portion of Zhou Yuandai’s shares that remained. While it might be a small portion, it actually included more than thirty percent of shares in Alibaba that Zhou Yuandai had come to possess through Ruanjin.
There were also a small amount of shares of some other companies within and outside of China which presently did not have high value.
Zhou Yuandai’s foreknowledge period had ended in 2003. In 2003, Alibaba was still far from that Alibaba of the future. Zhou Yuandai had not viewed it in very high regard, merely treating this as an ordinary investment to broaden one’s net.
Right now, in 2008, Alibaba’s market price was merely around 30 billion. It was also in the midst of a figurative cold winter.
Besides Xu Tingsheng, no one, including the late Zhou Yuandai, could know just how supreme a vessel it would be in the future.
This was Xu Tingsheng feeling apologetic and wanting to make it up to Lu Zhixin with her not fully in the know. That day, Lu Zhixin walked past Xu Tingsheng, not speaking, not looking back...to her right now, at least, this was not something that she should feel happy about.
Not long after, Hucheng Tongcheng was successfully listed on Nasdaq, rising mightily against the storm of the financial crisis.
At the moment the bell rang, Little Jinshan and Old Jin were present, Li Linlin and Old Wai were present...Xu Tingsheng was not there.
Lu Zhixin stood in the centre in her crisp professional suit, knocking the bell to signify the start...how dazzling she was. This young, beautiful woman was destined to be different from others her entire life. She who belonged to the battlefield would ascend to the peak, winning over countless people.
Many years later, she would be surrounded by endless glory and receive countless evaluatory words of praise. Yet, no one would know that in her heart, there would forever only be a single most important evaluation: Lu Zhixin, the one and only.
Even though she was already no longer willing and no longer dared to think about the person who had said this.
……
Similarly in October, Huang Yaming’s matchmaking program <> that had been set aside for a long time was officially broadcasted on satellite TV. At the same time, he worked together with Xingchen Weibo for it to be broadcast live on the internet with a selection taking place there too.
After decisively selling his remaining mines in Bingzhou at their highest point, he had already acc.u.mulated sufficient funds. Afterwards, he finally officially left Tianyi and began to independently establish his own entertainment empire, management agency, movies, dramas, variety shows, even cinema chain...
Just like that, amidst repeated entanglements with one female celebrity after another, a future mega entertainment magnate was slowly rising up with his unbridled, extraordinary charm.
At the same time, more and more branches of Bright Brilliance appeared, encompa.s.sing various prosperous cities within the country including Hong Kong...only those closest to Huang Yaming knew that these bars were actually the most precious to this Magnate Huang.
Only because of the word Brilliance (Yao) in Bright Brilliance (Ming Yao).
At the same time, it was also because of this Yao that the Qingchen fund, with an incomparably dazzling committee list and personally managed by Ye Qing, quickly became the largest charity scholars.h.i.+p fund within the country.
Zhang Xingke, Huang Yaming, Hu Shengming-one after another, ultra golden bachelors who were extremely newsworthy took to the stage for matchmaking. The contentions about the program were neverending. Still, it indisputably swept through the entire country as well.
It even gave rise to a large-scale debate on sense of values.
Still, even as countless girls gave up hiding their desires and fought desperately to be on this ‘problematic program’, another marriage led to much greater discussion-China’s model who had the greatest reputation overseas, the world cla.s.s model You Qinglan who countless people sought after, officially married an ordinary programming employee at Xingchen, Li Mo.
Once, at Xingchen’s annual gathering, Li Mo who had received a commendation had been fortunate enough to get You Qinglan’s number...who would have thought at the time that things would turn out like this.
It was true that Li Mo who possessed Xingchen’s shares could actually also be considered a wealthy person. Still, even as a millionaire, it was still far inferior as compared to those compet.i.tors around You Qinglan. In front of You Qinglan herself who was the spokesperson for various major brands, it was also nothing to talk about.
Much less his societal status.
So, countless people found it to be inconceivable. Countless people felt that this was something which only happened in fairy tales.
Only You Qinglan herself understood her actual state of mind. Li Mo was very good and left her feeling very at ease. This was foremost. If this had not been enough for her to steel her resolve originally, after seeing what had happened to the person closest to her, she understood...just what happiness was.
The simplest form of happiness was having a man who viewed you as a treasure, reliably and stably accompanying you, meticulously protecting you.
If he would not accompany and protect you, feeling sorry for was useless, someone however dazzling was useless, however deep an infatuation was useless, however much entanglement was useless, however many promises were even more useless...
Thus, You Qinglan knew that Li Mo was her happiness.
Meanwhile, it was destined that Xu Tingsheng was not Li Wan’er’s happiness. Even if she was willing to put everything aside, making multiple concessions, the one Xu Tingsheng viewed as a treasure, accompanied and protected would still not be her.
You Qinglan still remembered Li Wan’er’s joy and tears on the day she had heard about Xu Tingsheng’s reappearance.
Afterwards, she had accompanied her on a trip to Yanzhou, standing at a corner of the park opposite Ning Garden. They had watched that man who clearly should be very busy carrying his little girl on his back as they frolicked on the gra.s.s under the setting sun for two hours at once...while they were tired, they smiled with incomparable ease, ever so brilliantly.
Li Wan’er had not appeared in front of him in the end that day.
After going back, she had changed her number and returned to Italy. There, she became a teacher at a clothing design inst.i.tute...returning to routine and her originally peaceful life, doing what she had once loved to do most. Once in a while, she would also release some works.
“Even though it’s very difficult, I’ve already managed it once and for very long, after all...there was a time when I believed he was dead,” Li Wan’er said, “So, I should go on pretending that he’s already completely departed.”
“If not interrupting him is the best I can give in return, well then, we’re even...this life’s Xu Tingsheng. You said that you might have brushed by me in our previous life yet never stopped. In that case, in our next life, I’ll definitely find you precisely in the crowd. I hope that at the time, I’ll still be the most beautiful woman in your eyes as you said while you are still young, wild and mischievous, not yet having fallen in love with anyone.”
“Even if it’s for an ordinary life, I will still go off with you...I don’t eat much, anyway.”
……
Actually, Xu Tingsheng was not as busy as others imagined.
Hucheng was Lu Zhixin’s Hucheng; Zhicheng Real Estate was managed by Ye Qing and Fang Yuqing; At home, there was the ambitious, mightily capable Mr Xu; Xingchen Technologies continued to be managed under its current system.
Other than grasping the general direction and partic.i.p.ating in necessary meetings, activities and decisions, Xu Tingsheng’s life could still be considered relaxed.
As for 2015, it gradually ceased to seem so frightening, Liang Qin included. After all, this was already another life.
With Huang Yaming, the two who possessed immeasurable wealth would still celebrate happily over Fu Cheng’s promotion at his company, drinking till they were stumbling before putting their arms around one another’s shoulders and traversing the empty streets in the early hours of the morning.
Then, they sent Fu Cheng home, watching him with his head lowered as he was scolded by his ‘teacher’.
As for Xu Tingsheng himself, when talking to Xiang Ning about the future, he said, “If possible, I’d like to accompany you in walking the entire world and seeing all the scenery there is before quietly reaching old age together in this life.”
Miss Xiang discovered that Uncle who no longer ‘abstained’ was so clingy. Fortunately, she liked him a lot.
Xiang Ning had once said that if Xu Tingsheng wanted to propose, it definitely had to be more romantic than everything he had done before.
Xiang Ning proposed to the stumped Xu Tingsheng that he propose as they bungee-jumped together on Macau Tower. How was this romantic? Right after going onto the bungee-jumping platform, Xu Tingsheng who had an incomparable fear of heights fainted dead away.
During the holidays that year, Xu Tingsheng drove and directly picked Xiang Ning up from school, heading to Shenghai International Airport.
They flew to Greece.
They saw countless beautiful sceneries. Finally, the two sat in a helicopter, overlooking the entire Aegean Sea.
“Look at that island,” Xu Tingsheng said to Xiang Ning as he pointed at a small island on the clear blue sea.
Xiang Ning looked in the direction he was pointing...
On the circular island on the Aegean Sea was beautiful architecture hidden amongst a forest and gra.s.sy plains. There was also a ma.s.sive blue lake at the centre of the island. It was like there was a circle at the island’s centre. On the outer side of this island, there was a spot at which a gigantic reef jutted out.
“So beautiful! It looks just like a super big diamond ring,” Xiang Ning opened her mouth wide, exclaiming from the very bottom of her heart.
Looking at her, Xu Tingsheng smiled, saying, “Miss Xiang, this island...is yours.”
“Huh?”
The helicopter landed on the small island.
“Will you marry me?” Xu Tingsheng got down on one knee and asked.
“Hee, alright,” A smiling Xiang Ning said.
There was a butler, workers and gardeners on the island. Xu Tingsheng had actually already prepared for very long.
They stayed at the island that night. The two strolled along the beach, listening to the waves slowly beating against the sh.o.r.e.
“There’s something I have to ask you,” Xiang Ning suddenly said.
“What?”
“Say, what if Big Sis Yuewei never marries?”
“...”
“Say something.”
“How would I know?”
“Men…” Mis Xiang sighed emotionally, “She’s another person I’ve seen who loves you most. In the year you weren’t here, Big Sis Du Jin aside, she’s the one who accompanied me most. Like me, she was always waiting for you to return. It’s just that to comfort me, she never let her sorrow show on the surface.”
“I listened to your story from junior and senior high...her every step has been because of you. Her major when she went to university was also because of you. And because you weren’t there, she gave up on going overseas, staying behind to work at Xingchen and help me.”
“She’s actually always been by our side, isn’t it? She’s actually gotten the least, isn’t it? So, I don’t know what to do if she always stays silent like this and never falls in love with anybody else.”
“Big Sis Apple has her own career. From what you say, her Dad’s very awesome too. As for that Big Sis Lu, she’s even more awesome. I don’t understand the situation of Big Sis Designer, but I think she’s very awesome too. So, they all have their own careers and lives...but what about Big Sis Yuewei? She’s just like me. You’re all we’ve got in our lives.”
“...”
That night, Miss Xiang said, “I want to get pregnant and have a baby.”
Xu Tingsheng helplessly forced a smile, “You’re still attending university.”
“I can take a year off.”
“Hmm. That’s true. Still, what are you in such a rush for?”
“I’m not telling you. Anyway, it’s because of you, and also because of a little selfishness…” Xiang Ning flipped over so that her back was to Xu Tingsheng, “You must promise me. I’ll always be a rose...Bai Yueguang, not a grain of rice...Zhu Shazhi, not mosquito’s blood.”
*This is from Zhang Ailing’s works. Maybe every man has had at least two such women before, a red rose and a white rose. If they marry the red rose, over time, the red becomes a drop of mosquito’s blood on the wall. The white(Bai) is still moonlight (Yueguang). If they marry the white rose, the white becomes a grain of rice on their clothes. The red is a cinnabar mole (Zhu Shazhi) on their chest. It basically means that men will grow tired of their wives and reminisce on their old girlfriends. Wu Yuewei referred to this same a.n.a.logy in Chapter 647. Xiang Ning’s meaning here is open to interpretation.