Chapter 113 – Acknowledging a Grandson
Xiao Fang turned around, looking with surprise at the stranger he had met once before. “You came to the reception too?”
The old man nodded with a cheerful smile. “Yes, I left in a hurry last time, so we haven’t had a proper introduction. My surname is Liu.”
Liu? There were certainly many people with the surname Liu at the banquet, but Xiao Fang subconsciously thought of that one person. “Are you… Elder Liu?”
Elder Liu didn’t beat around the bush and nodded. Xiao Fang immediately prepared to adopt a different attitude, but Elder Liu successfully interrupted him. “I just saw you and came to say hello. There are no business interests between us. I also watched your variety show and was very touched. Your gentleness towards that child is very infectious.”
At this moment, Elder Liu seemed to be in the mood for a chat, so Xiao Fang dropped the formalities. “I took on this variety show hoping to draw more public attention to this group of people.”
Elder Liu nodded, his expression looking somewhat sad. Xiao Fang knew what the old man was thinking. As an outsider, saying too many comforting words would be just for show, so he simply stood in silence with the old man, allowing him a moment to compose himself.
“I remember there was a little boy on your show. I was thinking of sponsoring him, but I didn’t expect him to have been adopted already. I quite liked that child; looking at him just made my heart feel at ease,” Elder Liu said after a while, his tone filled with regret.
At this point, Xiao Fang couldn’t very well say that he had adopted the child himself. He could only say, “I’m sure this child will live a good life after being adopted. Maybe his autism will gradually get better, and he’ll be just like a normal child.” Everything Xiao Fang was saying was what was currently happening.
Elder Liu nodded in agreement, his gaze on Xiao Fang growing increasingly satisfied. This child was honest and hadn’t been tainted by the bad habits of other rich second-generation kids. He was working hard on his own.
“Your father’s company matters… perhaps I can think of a way,” Elder Liu said, dropping a bombshell.
Xiao Fang was also taken aback, but Elder Liu’s eyes didn’t look like he was joking.
“I’m a person who judges people by gut feeling. My only son and daughter-in-law died in a car accident a few years ago, so I have no direct descendants left. Guarding this family fortune, being able to help some people I want to help, I consider it accumulating good karma for myself,” Elder Liu explained. As expected, the world of the powerful was always so simple and direct. Even Xiao Fang himself didn’t know what it was about him that made this old man like him so much.
But wanting was one thing; his father no longer cared about these things. Taking it back would only be a burden for him, and his heart wasn’t in it anymore.
“Thank you for your concern, Elder Liu, but my father has already moved on from it. The money has been paid back, and he’s now wholeheartedly living his retirement life. I don’t want to see my father so tired either. This opportunity was just right. Besides, I’m not cut out for management myself. Having that money would just be a waste,” Xiao Fang politely declined.
“Don’t you have a younger brother?” Elder Liu felt that although this young man was good, he was a bit too honest. How could he refuse such a windfall from the heavens?
That brother, huh. Xiao Fang sneered inwardly, but his expression remained appropriate. “My brother isn’t cut out for it either. The two of us are fine just making a living in the entertainment industry.”
Elder Liu looked at Xiao Fang and laughed. “You child, you’re too honest. But I still want to help you with something. In the future, I’ll have one more person to care for me in my old age. You know, you look a lot like my little grandson. You have a very familiar and kind look about you.”
So, after all that, the big boss was looking for someone to care for him in his old age? Although with his wealth, there was no real need for “care,” it was more about having someone to keep him company when he got older, Xiao Fang mused. But he also understood his feelings very well.
Out of a sense of duty to care for the lonely elderly, Xiao Fang said, “If you don’t mind, when you’re old, I’ll definitely come and visit you often.”
“What if I go bankrupt?” The powerful just loved to make little jokes.
But Xiao Fang still answered truthfully. After all, when his father was in his most difficult time, besides Fei Xiangnan, only this old man had offered to help. “Then come to my house. Just for your offer of help, I’ll take good care of you in your old age.”
On one hand, he was thinking the child was too honest and had a high chance of being scammed in society. On the other hand, Elder Liu was genuinely touched. After so many years of loneliness, it was moving to suddenly have such a sincere child say these things to him.
“Then it’s a deal. You don’t want anything this time, so we’ll leave it for next time. Since you’re willing to care for me in my old age, child, then I must acknowledge you as my grandson. From now on, I’m your grandfather,” Elder Liu said with great magnanimity.
Wait, wasn’t this recognition ceremony a bit too crude? Xiao Fang had a bellyful of complaints. “Elder Liu, don’t you think this is a bit too sudden?”
Elder Liu waved his hand dismissively. “Not at all, not at all. You’re not my only little grandson. Xiao Liang acknowledged me long ago, he’s just too tsundere to admit it. I have four more abroad. I’m getting old; I need to make ample plans for the future.”
Xiao Fang was speechless. Now that’s what you call far-sighted! With this kind of distribution, his role as a picked-up little grandson would probably just be to visit for a meal during holidays.
“Or are you looking down on a lonely old man like me?” Elder Liu suddenly got angry, acting as tsundere as could be.
You call this a lonely old man! Xiao Fang’s facial muscles were trembling. What do you do when a tycoon dozens of times richer than you throws a tantrum online!
“I… I’m not.”
Only then did Elder Liu beam with joy, the triumphant expression on his face barely concealable. He patted Xiao Fang’s shoulder and said, “That’s more like it.”
Xiao Fang wondered, did this mean he had inadvertently solved the problem of the final boss from the book?
***
After chatting with Elder Liu for over ten minutes, Xiao Fang’s worldview had been shattered and rebuilt. He felt a bit like his soul had left his body.
Just then, Luo, who had been contemplating for a long time, was about to come over and apologize. He couldn’t let it affect his family’s business, or he’d be finished! But before he could get within six meters of Xiao Fang, he saw the star of tonight’s reception, Elder Liu, walking beside Xiao Fang with a cheerful smile, talking about something.
Luo’s footsteps halted, and he began to struggle internally.
Then, Fei Xiangnan came over from not far away to pick up Xiao Fang. The three of them were like two-hundred-volt light bulbs, almost blinding him.
This time, it wasn’t hesitation, but a complete lack of desire to get close. In that moment, Luo realized a foolishness he had never noticed in himself his entire life—a foolishness so profound it could ruin his whole family.
The banquet ended around eleven at night. Some left with great gains, some were disappointed, and some were in despair that pierced the earth’s core.
Fei Xiangnan drove the car to the entrance. Xiao Fang quickly hopped in. Before he could close the door himself, a spirited young man had already eagerly closed it for him.
“Take care, Brother Xiao! Take care, President Fei!” The man’s smile was uglier than a cry, but he still tried his best to show off his best professional skills. Xiao Fang couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, and then Fei Xiangnan started the car.
“A classmate of yours?” Fei Xiangnan asked.
“Mmm, probably. He wanted to show off in front of me just now, but I brainwashed him a little, and now he’s chickened out. He’s actually quite funny,” Xiao Fang said with great interest. His sensible demeanor was just like his own from before. With proper nurturing, he could definitely become someone great in the future.
“Happy tonight?” Fei Xiangnan asked.
Xiao Fang replied with delight, chattering like a little trumpet without stopping. But Fei Xiangnan was happy to listen, chatting with him sentence by sentence. Xiao Fang told him about Elder Liu and about their son being able to say “daddy.” Fei Xiangnan was a little jealous about the latter, but seeing Xiao Fang so happy, his dissatisfaction gradually faded.
The key to being a good husband was that as long as the wife was happy, everything was fine.
As they passed by streets and alleys, Xiao Fang saw a noodle shop that was still lit up and immediately told Fei Xiangnan to stop the car.
“You haven’t eaten all night, have you? It’ll take too long to cook at home. Come on, let’s get some dinner first,” Xiao Fang urged Fei Xiangnan to go.
In the car, Fei Xiangnan had already seen Xiao Fang yawn several times. “No need, it’s just one meal. Let’s go home early. You were playing games until midnight last night and refused to sleep. How can you keep this up?”
“But I can’t let you go hungry. This affects my retirement life. You have to live a long life with me, you can’t get sick!” Xiao Fang put what he had just learned into practice, throwing a tantrum just like Elder Liu. Little did he know, these words struck a chord deep in Fei Xiangnan’s heart.
He pulled his beloved into his arms and kissed him fiercely, then stared at Xiao Fang with an extremely possessive gaze. “Okay, we’ll live a long life together. I won’t leave you behind.”
Xiao Fang blushed and pushed his old husband away in disgust. Seriously, did he have to play a deep, emotional game every time he said something? But he was still a little happy inside. Just a little bit.
They got out of the car. There was no one left in the shop; it was probably about to close.
The tables and chairs in the shop were quite old. The wooden tables seemed to be gleaming with oil, and the tiles had been smoked to a waxy yellow. The light was the cheapest kind of tungsten orange lamp, hanging from above. You could vaguely see a spider web on the ceiling. Summer was approaching, and there was only one small fan spinning above, but the breeze was fine, not too hot.
Xiao Fang and Fei Xiangnan’s entrance successfully dispelled the shop owner’s drowsiness. Goodness, how did two such handsome kids show up in the shop in the middle of the night?
“Two bowls of noodles, one with fried sauce, and one with three-delicacy,” Xiao Fang skillfully recited the menu, looking like a regular. He knew Fei Xiangnan’s tastes like the back of his hand. Then he scanned the prices on the menu and paid with his phone.
“Oh, right, boss, please add a fried egg and a braised orchid-cut dried tofu to the three-delicacy bowl. For the fried sauce noodles, just add a little more chili sauce,” Xiao Fang added some more ingredients, as if afraid he couldn’t feed his old husband enough.
“Eating spicy again?” Fei Xiangnan’s soul-searching question came from behind.
Xiao Fang laughed awkwardly, trying to gloss it over. “This fried sauce noodle, it just doesn’t taste right without chili.”
Fei Xiangnan looked at Xiao Fang with extreme suspicion.
“Hey, that’s right. These fried sauce noodles need a bit of chili to have enough flavor,” the shop owner assisted from the side.
Xiao Fang also looked on pitifully.
Fei Xiangnan sighed. Fine, he’d let it slide this time.
Xiao Fang made a victory sign.
When the noodles were served, the owner didn’t really get a good look at Xiao Fang’s face. Drowsiness was setting in late at night, and she couldn’t be bothered. Otherwise, the place would have definitely exploded. Xiao Fang slurped down the noodles with his chopsticks, thoroughly enjoying himself.
Fei Xiangnan, on the other hand, had never eaten at a place like this before. He first looked at it with suspicion, but seeing Xiao Fang eat with such relish, he couldn’t resist. He started eating too and was immediately won over. He couldn’t help but marvel at the wisdom of the common people, to be able to make a bowl of noodles so delicious.
“Is it good?” Xiao Fang looked at Fei Xiangnan with anticipation. This was his world, a world he had previously hardly dared to share with Fei Xiangnan.
Fei Xiangnan saw Xiao Fang’s true motive in that one glance. He smiled. “It’s delicious. When we go public in the future, we’ll come eat here often.”
Xiao Fang’s eyes filled with an indescribable emotion. It seemed that heaven had truly let him hit the jackpot. A wife this good was impossible to find, even with a lantern.
When they got home, Fei Xiangnan opened his computer before bed and wrote in his encrypted file: Went to a small shop to eat noodles with my wife. This is the first time he brought me into his world. Very happy.