At this moment, Murong Xu, who had just revived, sat up all of a sudden. Disregarding the pain in his body completely, he was as impatient as a restless lion. He said then, "Mom, who told you I agreed to go on a blind date? I definitely won"t do that!"
Casting a sidelong glance at Murong Xu, Zhuang Yaru then walked out of the ward with the cellphone in her hands. "Oh-oh, Qinger, kindly continue. I am all ears now! ...Everything will be fine. No worries, my son has to obey me..."
As the door of the ward was closed, Zhuang Yaru"s voice died away in the corridor.
Pulling a long face, Murong Haotian walked forward and pressed his hands on Murong Xu"s shoulder. Pushing Murong Xu, who was about to get out of the bed, back forcibly, he said, "Where are you going? Lie back on the bed obediently! Since you have ended up this miserably, why are you still torturing yourself? The way I see it, I am just too indulgent with you!"
"Dad! Why are you on Mom"s side? I definitely won"t agree to go on a blind date!"
"Your mother is doing it for your own good. The problem now is that even the Gu Family won"t consent to your marriage. It"s not our fault! Take a look at yourself and see how miserable you are now!"
"I won"t leave Xuanxuan in the ditch based on the current situation. She is pregnant with my child!" The resolution in his eyes was extremely bright and it looked like a morning star, lighting him up completely.
Murong Qingtian was taken aback. "What... what did you just say?"
"I will still insist on being with Xuanxuan even if all the other people in the world should disapprove!"
"You say that Gu Yuxuan is pregnant!"
"Yes, she is. And I just found out it today! She is sick now and suffering from a fever. I will make myself get better right away. She needs me now more than ever!"
Taken aback by the news that Gu Yuxuan was pregnant, it seemed Murong Haotian had not recovered yet. Standing tall and upright where he was, he seemed to be petrified.
At this time, Zhuang Yaru walked in with a smile after finishing her call. "Quite good... Oh, my! It is quite good actually! Qinger just told me that..."
Upon entering, Zhuang Yaru started talking. It seemed like the brake had been taken off her mouth and was out of control. Walking directly to Murong Haotian"s side, she sensed Murong Haotian"s peculiarities and then shook his arms. She asked, "Haotian, what is wrong with you?"
Coming to his senses due to Zhuang Yaru, Murong Haotian still looked a bit strange. "She is pregnant! We are going to be grandfather and grandmother!"
Confused at Murong Haotian"s brainless words, Zhuang Yaru frowned and scolded him. "Are you out of your mind? What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Though Qinger just introduced a girl to me, it is still up in the air!"
"You have misunderstood me. It is Gu Yuxuan who is pregnant. She is pregnant!"
Zhuang Yaru was also at a loss. She was as astonished at this news as Murong Haotian was. With her eyes as wide as a bra.s.s bell, she even stammered and could not talk fluently. "What did you, you, you just say?"
Pointing at Murong Xu, Murong Haotian opened his mouth and failed to say anything.
"Xuanxuan is pregnant! I won"t leave her alone. So regarding the blind date you just mentioned, just skip it. As a matter of fact, whether she is pregnant or not, I won"t abandon her and go on a blind date instead," Murong Xu said in a pretty serious way. He was so serious and so determined that he seemingly would not tolerate other people"s opposition and questioning.
"Could it be that because you do not want to go on a blind date, you are trying to trick us with the lie of Xuanxuan being pregnant? Because you know your father and I strongly wish to have a grandchild."
Zhuang Yaru suddenly realized that and made a guess—the reason Murong Xu said that Gu Yuxuan was pregnant was that he did not want to go on a blind date, so he consequently made this excuse up.
Murong Haotian also suddenly realized it. Looking pretty solemn, he said, "I think so too. You said that because you don"t want to have a blind date, right?"
Zhuang Yaru was more sure about her guessing in secret. Raising her head and staring at Murong Haotian, she said a bit plaintively, "As expected, the prediction the divinatory symbol made about our family was true. At that time, the divinatory symbol predicted that our family would not have any descendants and our children would not even get married. The predictions now have all come true. For so many years, none of the three children have found anyone to marry. Xiaoxu gets a girlfriend finally. But when they are about to get married, the girl"s family actually opposes the marriage. Now we want to set up a blind date for him and he deceives us in this way instead. If we fall into his trap, isn"t it true that he really won"t find his love..."
"Mom, don"t guess randomly. I do not deceive you at all. It is also not worthwhile to try and trick you with such an excuse. The ones who believe in what the divinatory symbol had predicted are only you and father. I never did. Brother, sister, and I are single simply because we have not found someone we truly love yet. It has nothing to do with the divinatory symbol. However, I now have someone that I really love and we definitely will get married. Even if all the people in the world opposed our marriage, we would still carry on. What"s more, we are about to have our own child now. I will never give her up. We must be together."
Murong Haotian and Zhuang Yaru both nodded. Speaking of the reason that they did not stop Murong Xu from being with Gu Yuxuan in the beginning, it was not that they really did not care about Gu Yuxuan"s ordinary family background, but that whoever was with Murong Xu, as long as she did not look ugly and she would marry their son, they would accept her all the same.
Actually, everything that happened today boiled down to an incident that took place many years ago. At the outset, Murong Haotian and Zhuang Yaru came across an old monk who stopped Murong Haotian at the time. The old monk told Murong Haotian that they were destined to have no descendants. Even their children would not find their lifetime resting places. At first, Murong Haotian did not believe in what he said and considered it to be a simple groundless statement. Pulling Zhuang Yaru into his arms, he was about to leave.
However, surprisingly, sensing that Murong Haotian did not believe him at all, the old monk called him over and whispered in his ears, "You have a big secret. Once the secret is revealed, you will lose everything you have."
Upon hearing his words, Murong Haotian was startled and immediately thought of the woman he had hidden in secret.
The old monk guessed that Murong Haotian should be convinced now. He continued, "If you want to have descendants, you can only expect miracles to befall you. As the saying goes, as a man sows, so shall he reap. Everything will be repaid eventually. And that is the price you have to pay."
As expected, Murong Haotian believed what the old monk had said. And for Zhuang Yaru, who was already superst.i.tious, she was fully convinced by the old monk"s words without any doubt.
Since that time, they had paid more attention to their children"s relationships. However, they found out that it was true that none of the three children were in a relationship. They consequently believed in the divisionary symbol more.
When Murong Xu told them he had gotten a girlfriend and he intended to get married, they approved of his decision immediately and unconditionally. The way they saw it, as long as their children got married, then miracles would start to befall them. It should not be a difficult thing to foster children in the future. As a result, with the thought of fostering their descendants in mind, they did not bother to take into consideration at all whether or not the girl"s family background was a match for them. Simply, as long as their son could get married to a woman, they would definitely say yes.
Now Murong Xu informed them that Gu Yuxuan was pregnant. They thought of it simply as the best miracle that had ever happened to them. It was not surprising at all that they would be so astonished.
"OK! As long as you are telling the truth, I will make every effort to make the Gu Family consent to your marriage."
The laughter playing around the corner of Zhuang Yaru"s lip seemed to be blooming. She completely cast the blind date out of her mind.
"Oh, my! Haotian, do you think it is necessary for me to drop by the Gu Family"s house with some gifts? Could it be that the Gu Family opposed your match-making because we did not propose marriage by paying them a visit in person?"
Murong Haotian was shocked in secret. Actually, he did know the reason that Gu Chengkang opposed this match-making. To be honest, he was hesitant secretly in the beginning, but he guessed that Gu Chengkang knew nothing about this. After all, for so many years, Gu Chengkang had been silent and had not revealed anything. So he believed more firmly that Gu Chengkang was kept in the dark.
However, this time, Gu Chengkang actually voiced his opposition. He had guessed correctly that Gu Chengkang must have opposed this match-making due to that issue! What"s more, fearing Gu Chengkang would divulge the secret, he had been anxious for several days consequently. But Gu Chengkang had kept silent in the following days. He felt at ease then. Anyway, this was a family disgrace that n.o.body would like to publicize.
Since Gu Chengkang did not approve of this match-making, he hoped that Murong Xu and Gu Yuxuan would end it there. After all, this was a bomb that could explode at any time.
However, it happened that Gu Yuxuan actually got pregnant now, which made the situation more...
Getting no response from Murong Haotian, Zhuang Yaru then pushed him again. "Well, Haotian, what are you thinking about? In your opinion, am I right or wrong?"
"Ah, what did you just say?" Since Murong Haotian did not pay any attention at all to what Zhuang Yaru had said previously, frowning, he then asked her indifferently.
"Ah, I said, could it be that the Gu Family opposed this match-making because we did not propose marriage by visiting them in person? In your opinion, should I visit them and propose another marriage with some gifts tomorrow?"
Murong Haotian was astonished. "It can"t be. I think that can"t be the reason. So it"s better if you don"t go there!"
How could it be possible that Murong Haotian would allow Zhuang Yaru to propose marriage to the Gu Family on her own? At that time, if Gu Chengkang revealed the secret in a rage, his secret would definitely be exposed. Furthermore, based on Zhuang Yaru"s temperament and disposition, she would definitely not let go of him. Then she would definitely make a scene. In that case, his wrongdoing would be known to everyone then. He definitely could not preserve his position in the Murong Family.
"I don"t think so. If not for this reason, then what else could it be? Could it be that they feel inferior and they think their daughter is not a match for our son? However, parents from families with an ordinary background all hope their daughters could be married to a good man from a rich family and enjoy the splendor, don"t they?"
Zhuang Yaru made random guesses. She did not have any experience in marriage proposals and being a mother-in-law. Ever since the old monk told her about the divisionary symbol, she had never thought about how to be a mother-in-law. At usual times, if her besties that she got along with mentioned this topic, she would find an excuse to avoid it. However, she now really did not know what to do.
Murong Haotian was hesitant. "The way I see it, I should talk with the Gu Family first. It must be more convenient for men to talk to each other. If he opposed the marriage because he felt inferior, then he would feel more self-abased if a women came to talk with him."
"Is it really suitable if we do so? When it comes to things like this, the way I see it, it is better since ancient times if the hostess shows up, isn"t it?"
"All right. Let"s settle this thing like this. Let me figure out this matter first, after that, it is suitable for you to propose marriage on your own then."
Though Murong Haotian tried everything he could to stop Zhuang Yaru from meeting with Gu Chengkang, it did not occur to him that Zhuang Yaru would run into Gu Chengkang by accident the next day.
The next day, Zhuang Yaru thought that since Gu Yuxuan was pregnant now, she should start preparing a lot of things in advance. She then went to the shopping mall to pick out some necessities for pregnant women.
Taking two servants along with her, she bought a pile of stuff in the mothers" section. She simply felt excited as well as happy.
She went on shopping till until she felt exhausted and she needed a place to have a rest. She then came to a cafe.
After she finished ordering, she sat down and looked over the things she had bought to check if there was anything she had missed. Then she saw Gu Chengkang and a boss walking out of the inner private room.
"Boss Fang, we are pretty sincere about the cooperation this time. So we hope you can take us into consideration." Talking with his counterpart with a smile, Gu Chengkang headed outside.
"OK. I have seen the sincerity Boss Gu has shown. We will have a meeting to discuss it after we go back. After all, to get this cooperation done, instead of focusing solely on sincerity, we will pay more attention to whether bigger value can be created or not!"
"Yes, yes, yes. What Boss Fang has said is right. Then I will wait for your great news."
Upon hearing the voice, Zhuang Yaru found it pretty familiar. She then took a closer look and found it was Gu Chengkang exactly. Standing up and smiling, she walked forward.
"Mr. Gu... "
Gu Chengkang and Fang Tianhua both looked over. Upon finding that it was actually Zhuang Yaru, Gu Chengkang frowned a bit, obviously unhappy.
Staring at the man by Gu Chengkang"s side, Zhuang Yaru found that it turned out to be Fang Tianhua. She smiled and made a greeting to him. "Yo, it is actually you, Lao Fang! We have not seen each other in many years."
"Yes, we haven"t. My former deskmate, it never occurred to me that I could meet you here." Fang Tianhua obviously was very pleasantly surprised.
Staring at them and realizing that they seemed to be pretty familiar with each other, Gu Chengkang then cast a glance at Fang Tianhua and asked him, "Boss Fang, do you know each other?"
"Yes, we do, and we are actually very familiar with each other. We are former cla.s.smates and we got along well with each other at school!"
While at school, Fang Tianhua and Zhuang Yaru were deskmates. He even had a secret crush on Zhuang Yaru. At first, he intended to hit on Zhuang Yaru after graduation; however, he was sent overseas by his father immediately, which he never expected. After he returned from overseas and went back to the domestic headquarters, he found out that Zhuang Yaru had gotten married to Murong Haotian. Surprisingly, Zhuang Yaru actually could climb the Murong Family"s social ladder. Knowing no hope was left for him, he then accepted his family"s arrangement and married a woman from an influential family.
Zhuang Yaru did not know Fang Tianhua"s feelings for her at all. Fang Tianhua impressed her as a former cla.s.smate and a former deskmate. There was no gap between them.
"Well, based on what I have heard just now, it seems that you two are cooperating with each other, right?"
Nodding, Fang Tianhua then shook his head. He explained with a smile, "The cooperation is not yet done. So far, we have just reached a preliminary intention. After I go back, I still have to do a comprehensive evaluation. There are two other companies competing with Boss Gu"s company simultaneously."
"Oh, here it is!"
Zhuang Yaru then pondered secretly whether or not she needed to speak in favor of Gu Chengkang. After all, Fang Tianhua and she had got along with each other pretty well at school. Maybe Fang Tianhua would specifically give Gu Chengkang a chance for the sake of their old friendship. However, if it was true that Gu Chengkang opposed the marriage due to the inferiority created by the wide gap between their family backgrounds, she would make him feel more self-abased by doing so. Then she would be more of a hindrance than a help.
While Zhuang Yaru was pondering, Fang Tianhua stared both of them up and down. "Yaru, how do you and Mr. Gu know each other...?"
"Oh, my son is dating Mr. Gu"s daughter. Perhaps we will be relatives by marriage."
Zhuang Yaru was not overconfident in her words. For both Gu Chengkang"s family and her family, it had to be unsuitable to draw a final conclusion now. Because news of the things that went on between influential families traveled fast. If she was overconfident in her words and it did not work out in the end, she would definitely become a joke. However, if she did not reveal this connection, once Gu Chengkang took it as a sign showing that the Murong Family looked down upon them, he would feel more inferior and he would not consent to the match-making between their children. It would definitely be much worse. So instead of being overconfident in her words, Zhuang Yaru left some leeway.
Hearing what Zhuang Yaru had said, Gu Chengkang was unhappy secretly. However, in front of Fang Tianhua, it was not suitable for him to say anything. So he concealed all of his emotions and smiled, pretending to be relaxed. It seemed that he didn"t make his position known, nor did he deny anything. Observing his reaction, Zhuang Yaru felt secretly excited because if Gu Chengkang did not deny her saying it, then he consented to it. She definitely needed to seize this chance.
"Oh, that"s why. It did not occur to me that there is such a connection between Boss Gu and Yaru"s family."
"Yes. Mr. Gu"s daughter is a good girl and we are all very much satisfied with her!" Zhuang Yaru thought secretly that it would not be wrong of her to clarify her att.i.tude at first anyway.
"Oh? Then Boss Gu must have brought up your daughter properly. To be Yaru"s favorable daughter-in-law, she must be a pretty nice girl."
Though having complicated feelings inwardly, Gu Chengkang did not find it suitable to reveal his true feelings. All he could do was to smile awkwardly.
"I have some business to attend to and I have to rush back to the company to attend a meeting in a hurry. I will leave now. I will specifically take Boss Gu"s company into consideration. Kindly await my news!"
Staring at his watch, Fang Tianhua then looked at Gu Kangcheng and Fang Yaru.
"OK, Lao Fang, then we"ll contact each other some other day. It so happens that I can talk with Mr. Gu about the children again."
"OK. Then enjoy your conversation. I will leave first."
"Boss Fang, I will walk you out!" Gu Chengkang did not want to talk further with Zhuang Yaru, so he spoke in a hurry.
"It"s OK. You don"t need to do that. Since you have such a connection with Yaru, then you are sort of not an outsider. I will see myself out since you have something to discuss. I will leave right away!"
Upon finishing his words, Fang Tianhua said goodbye to Zhuang Yaru, turned around and then left.
Pulling a long face all of a sudden, Gu Chengkang said, "Well, Mrs. Murong, I think we don"t need to talk further. After all, I have made my position clear!"
"Oh, my! Mr. Gu, let"s sit down at first, then we can talk further. It is also not suitable to be talking while standing up, is it?"
Gu Chengkang did not want to sit down. He did not want to talk further with Zhuang Yaru either. However, thinking back about how Zhuang Yaru had helped him intentionally just now, it was not proper of him to go too far. So he sat on the opposite side of Zhuang Yaru in the end.
Zhuang Yaru sat down and said with a light smile on her face, "Well, Mr. Gu, would you like something to drink?"
"No, I have drunk a lot a moment ago!"
"Oh, then I won"t force you. Kindly help yourself if you would like something to drink."
"Um, Mrs. Murong, what are you trying to say? I think I have made my position known."
"However, your previous att.i.tude won"t decide the final result. After all, the situation now has changed!"
"Oh?"
"I hear from Xiaoxu that Xuanxuan is already pregnant. In this case, we should talk about it at length. After all, we can not let a child not yet born suffer from any wrongdoing!"
"Child?"
All of a sudden, the thunder seemed to be exploding in Gu Chengkang"s brain. He was completely ignorant of this news because he had been secluding himself in his study room the night before yesterday, so he simply did not have a chance to hear of this news! When he saw Gu Yuxuan, whose fever had dropped, the next day, he took the initiative to avoid her because he was anxious that his presence would irritate her again. However, it did not occur to him that he had consequently missed such important news!
"Yes. Xiaoxu went into the hospital due to gastric hemorrhage yesterday. Xiaoxu announced it on his own!"
"Well? Mr. Gu, you still haven"t heard this news, have you?"
Suspicion rose in Zhuang Yaru"s heart immediately. Could it be that Murong Xu really had made this excuse up to trick them in order to skip the blind date?