DLRAS Chapter 97

Chapter 97: I actually don’t doubt that there is love between you.

The whole city was in an uproar. The most anticipated event for everyone was the distribution of Huo Kaishan’s will, but the lawyers did not immediately make it public.

Huo Kaishan’s passing became the top headline of late.

Stock market investors focused on the fluctuating graphs, while the general public relished in the grievances and feuds of the wealthy family. Amidst this nationwide wave of gossip, ironically, few paid attention to the financial news section reporting that the Zheng Group had received a massive administrative penalty for tax evasion.

The roster of the funeral committee was filled entirely with top figures from both political and business circles, as well as entertainment tycoons—people who could make Jincheng tremble with a single stomp of their feet. They were busy for a whole week. As for a nobody like Chen Wengang, just to be safe, he even declined an invitation from his high school alma mater.

Although he wasn’t entirely an insider, he was considered someone with close ties to members of the Huo family. Showing his face in public at a time like this might attract opportunistic paparazzi who would trail him to the school and harass him. Rather than face such an awkward situation, it was better to proactively lay low.

He even moved his residence back to the Yunding Building, which had much stricter property management and security.

For the same reason, Jiang Cai was passively forced to take a leave of absence from school; the Huo family didn’t want her out there running her mouth.

Rather than being cooped up in the deep courtyards of the family mansion, she requested to stay with Chen Wengang, letting him continue to keep an eye on her.

Huo Zhenfei’s secretary filed a report and, upon receiving permission, delivered her right to his door.

Chen Wengang and Jiang Cai laid low in Huo Niansheng’s apartment for two days. They avoided going out unless absolutely necessary, relying on takeout for their meals.

The obituary did not include Jiang Cai, which essentially meant the family tree refused to acknowledge her. However, she herself didn’t care much about it, living quite leisurely. But she soon met her Waterloo; she never expected that, even at a time like this, Chen Wengang would still have the mind to manage her studies.

Chen Wengang felt perfectly justified: “Just because you aren’t going to class doesn’t mean you don’t have to review your lessons, does it?”

Jiang Cai regretted bringing a whole backpack full of textbooks. “Can’t you just let me relax for two days?”

Having nothing better to do, Chen Wengang paced around the room with his hands in his pockets, possessing all the time in the world to wear her down. “Too much relaxation and a person becomes useless. In my opinion, you’ve been entirely too relaxed in the past. Take out whatever homework you have now and do it; I’ll tutor you.”

Making Jiang Cai write on paper was as agonizing as the Little Mermaid walking on land with her two legs; her wails were endless.

Chen Wengang stood behind her, looking down at her chicken-scratch handwriting. Come evening, he ordered takeout again. The delivery person left the food at the door and departed. Hearing the doorbell, Jiang Cai acted as if she had received a royal pardon, scampering off in a flash to open the door and fetch it.

Chen Wengang cleared off the coffee table and casually turned on the TV.

Jiang Cai sat on the sofa, sucking on her chopsticks. “Seriously, how about you let me off the hook with the homework? I’ll be grateful to you for the rest of my life.”

Huo Kaishan was cremated today, and the female anchor was reporting the related news.

Footage of the scene outside the crematorium appeared on the screen. Chen Wengang stared at the television; for the past two days, he had only been able to see Huo Niansheng through the internet and newspapers. The camera cut to footage from the day before yesterday, showing the Huo family descendants dressed in mourning attire standing outside the mourning hall. Huo Niansheng’s figure flashed by in a split second.

He was dressed entirely in black, a black armband around his arm, but he didn’t wear the heavy traditional mourning garb. Nor did he look sorrowful; he was nonchalantly lighting a cigarette in his mouth as if nothing had happened.

Chen Wengang remembered some less-than-serious independent media accounts online teasing him, saying that this young Master Huo was so dashing and suave that he didn’t forget to flaunt his charms even while in mourning.

But the reporters didn’t know how he sounded when calling Chen Wengang in private—his voice so tender it could practically wring out water:

“How have you been eating these past few days? Just leave the trash by the door, the property management will send someone to take it away.”

“It’s fine, Jiang Cai and I also need to go out for a stroll anyway. It’s not like we’re too shameful to be seen in public.”

“If you want to go out, that’s fine too. Wherever you want to go, have Baldy drive you.”

“I know, you don’t need to worry about me. Are they going to read the will soon?”

“Yeah,” Huo Niansheng simply said. “It’s not like I’m the eldest grandson; I won’t have too much to do. Wait for me at home.”

Before he could wait for his return, early in the morning, Chen Wengang received a phone call from Huo Zhenfei. But upon answering, it was a crisp, clear child’s voice.

“Uncle! Uncle Chen!” Huo Yuxiang shouted on the other end. “Can I come over to your house to play?”

“What’s the matter?” Chen Wengang was puzzled, but still replied gently, “You’re welcome to come. Do you know where it is?”

An hour later, Huo Zhenfei personally brought his son to the door.

Huo Yuxiang gave a greeting and pattered into the house. Jiang Cai immediately took the opportunity to put all her homework away.

Chen Wengang pretended not to notice. He smiled and welcomed Huo Zhenfei into the living room.

Huo Zhenfei was also wearing a black mourning armband. He calmly appraised him; Chen Wengang was in loose loungewear, clearly living comfortably and leisurely here.

He then raised his eyes to look around the apartment and that exaggeratedly large floor-to-ceiling window. “I rarely visit Niansheng’s place in the city.”

Chen Wengang could tell he had something to say.

He poured Huo Zhenfei a cup of coffee, and the two sat politely across from each other on the sofa.

“Although Huo Yingfei has a foul mouth, some of the information he gave you wasn’t fake,” Huo Zhenfei began carefully. “In fact, I came here to talk about this as well. Grandfather did indeed hope that Huo Niansheng would have a suitable marriage. It’s not surprising; there were already rumors about this earlier.”

Chen Wengang propped his arm on the armrest, patiently waiting for him to explain the details.

Huo Zhenfei looked at him. “To make a long story short, while Grandfather was alive, he held a portion of shares that was placed in an overseas trust. This means these shares will remain there forever—they can yield benefits but cannot be transferred. I managed to get some reliable inside information: he might have decided to designate the dividends of 2% of those shares to Huo Niansheng, on the condition that he gets married. Do you know what 2% means for a listed company like the Huo Group?”

Chen Wengang nodded, his expression placid. “I’m afraid it’s enough for anyone to sit back and live off it worry-free for a lifetime.”

Huo Zhenfei said, “Yes, not to mention he already holds quite a few shares himself, so his voice carries a lot of weight. Over the years, he’s been in the same boat as us. Back then, my father supported him in obtaining all the shares that originally belonged to our eldest uncle, and in exchange, he fully supported my father on the board of directors. As you know, the board is a place where votes matter. Now, with this extra 2%, what’s tempting isn’t just the dividend rights, but also the corresponding voting rights Huo Niansheng would acquire.”

He had reached the main point.

Chen Wengang understood. “So the voting rights brought by this 2% stake are something you absolutely must secure.”

Huo Zhenfei looked at his face and sighed. “From what I’ve observed up until now, I actually don’t doubt that there’s love between the two of you, genuinely. I have never seen Niansheng cherish someone this much. It sounds funny to say, but I feel like he wishes he could just tuck you in his pocket and carry you around. If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t be telling you these details so frankly. Now what we have to face is how to solve the trouble that comes with it. Huo Niansheng needs to get married to enjoy the rights of these shares. Or, looking at it from another angle, as long as he gets married, he can enjoy these rights.”

Chen Wengang looked thoughtful.

He asked for guidance: “I actually have a question that I need you to answer. Your father has long served as the chairman of the group, and I believe his position is already very stable, his word is final. Would gaining or losing this 2% be a decisive factor in your control of the company?”

Huo Zhenfei admitted, “Perhaps it’s not the ultimate deciding factor, but I can only say it’s extremely important. I can tell you this: adding up our shares with those of a few major shareholders, we can secure relative control of the company. But Second Uncle’s side won’t give up easily. They’ve been privately raising funds, buying back stocks from the secondary market, and increasing their stakes. Once their votes exceed one-third on the board, they will have veto power over major matters. He could use that to challenge the chairman, or just stir up trouble.”

Chen Wengang held his cup, remaining silent.

After a five-second pause, Huo Zhenfei lowered his voice to persuade him. “In short, if this clause is in the will, even if I turn a blind eye and pretend I don’t know about it, I’m afraid my father and the other shareholders in our allied front will put a lot of pressure on Huo Niansheng. To be honest, it wasn’t just my grandfather who was obstinate and self-willed; out of all these old men, which one of them isn’t stubborn?”

Chen Wengang even smiled slightly, not yet losing his temper. “So when all is said and done, the only way is for Huo Niansheng to enter a sham marriage?”

Huo Zhenfei only said, “Don’t jump the gun. The will hasn’t been announced yet, so everything is just speculation. We haven’t reached that point yet.”

He took a sip of his coffee; it had already gone a bit cold.

Huo Zhenfei pushed the cup back, and the two fell into silence.

Huo Zhenfei was the first to speak again. “If you have any other questions, or things that are hard to bring up with Huo Niansheng, you can ask them now.”

Chen Wengang thought about it, his voice still gentle. “This might be a bit offensive—if you were faced with a situation like this, where you had to divorce your wife and fake a marriage with someone else, would you agree to it? Would she agree to it?”

Huo Zhenfei stared blankly for a moment, then avoided answering directly. “She would understand.”

Huo Yuxiang ran over hugging an unopened wooden model, looking at his father with pleading eyes.

Understanding his intention, the father said, “Yuxiang doesn’t have school today, and he keeps going on about wanting to play with you again. You don’t mind, do you?”

Chen Wengang patted his head. “You’re welcome to be my guest. It’s just Jiang Cai and me at home, and we were just getting bored.”

Huo Zhenfei offered a couple of pleasant compliments. “Ever since you left, it’s been ‘Uncle Chen said this’ and ‘Uncle Chen said that.’ He’s talked his mother’s ear off. Kids this age really look up to older brothers and sisters, thinking they’re even more amazing than their own parents.”

Chen Wengang smiled politely and first walked Huo Zhenfei to the door.

At the entryway, Chen Wengang stopped Huo Zhenfei again—

“Huo Jingsheng and Jiang Cai are also Mr. Huo Fenglai’s children. Why does Huo Niansheng receive the most favor? Is there something special about him?”

“It’s hard to say. The human heart is unpredictable, after all.” Huo Zhenfei picked up his car keys. One of his legs had already crossed the threshold, but he pulled it back. “Maybe it’s because he looks the most like my eldest uncle, so Grandfather subconsciously treated him like him. Or maybe he felt he had mistreated him when he was younger, or for some other reason… I think people possess something called natural talent, and Huo Niansheng is the kind of person the heavens practically chase after to bestow talent upon. If he had been properly nurtured back then, he might be very different from how he is now. But there’s no point in talking about that anymore.”

Chen Wengang accompanied Huo Yuxiang on the living room rug as they unpacked the model, putting together the wooden music box.

Jiang Cai also enthusiastically joined in, and for a while, they were so immersed that they almost forgot the time.

Meanwhile, in front of everyone, the lawyer read out Huo Kaishan’s will.

At a little past six in the evening, just as Chen Wengang was considering whether to order takeout again or cook himself, given there was a child around, the doorbell rang.

Huo Niansheng walked through the door looking travel-worn but affectionate. He stroked Chen Wengang’s hair and planted a deeply romantic kiss on his lips. “Baby, did you miss me?”

Chen Wengang smiled. “Just a reminder, your younger generation is right here.”

Speak of the devil, and the devil came running. “Uncle!”

Huo Niansheng let Huo Yuxiang hug his waist and curled the corner of his lips. “Oh? What are you doing in my house?”

“I…”

“Alright,” he said. “Hurry downstairs. Your dad is waiting for you at the bottom.”

Huo Yuxiang was reluctant to leave, turning his head to look at the pile of parts on the carpet. “Can I come again tomorrow?”

Huo Niansheng uttered an ambiguous sentence: “That depends on whether your dad will let you.”

Chen Wengang took him down in the elevator. Huo Zhenfei was waiting for his son in the underground garage.

This was the second time the two men had met in one day.

Chen Wengang remained calm and gentle: “How did it go?”

Huo Zhenfei opened his car door, stepped out, and right in front of him, roughly rubbed his hands over his face.

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Author’s Note:

A funeral committee is something only high-status individuals possess; the procedures here loosely reference the passing of the Casino King.

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