Chapter 69: Tell me, does he have someone by his side?
Huo Jingsheng felt a rising contempt but concealed it behind a neutral expression.
After their last encounter, he once again scrutinized Chen Wengang closely, adopting an unfathomable demeanor before him.
Chen Wengang smiled faintly, remaining completely unflappable as he lifted his teacup to his lips. From this, Huo Jingsheng read a subtle, implicit flattery.
He believed this excellent physical appearance was definitely qualified to bewitch Huo Niansheng, but he hadn’t expected the man to be so ambitious, actually hoping to keep him firmly in his grasp. Two men—how long could they possibly hold on to each other at most? When youth faded and love waned, did they still think they could spend a lifetime together?
Yet, amidst this disdainful imagination, Huo Jingsheng seemed to experience an indescribable thrill—
Weren’t you supposed to be so high and mighty? So this is all the treasure Huo Niansheng is holding onto amounts to.
In this world, people mocked the poor, not the prostitutes; there was no such thing as a truly noble and aloof person!
So he stayed firmly seated in his chair, no longer in a hurry to leave. Huo Jingsheng also took a sip of his tea, quietly falling into thought.
If he said he was willing to see Huo Niansheng live an exceptionally good life, it would undoubtedly be a lie. There was no need to hide this fact. Whether Second Uncle instructed him to persuade Huo Niansheng to accept a marriage alliance, or told him to find a way to make Chen Wengang back off and remove the obstacle, what was it he had said?
He had said, there are only eternal interests, no eternal enemies. If we can win over your older brother, it’s better than him forming a solid alliance with the Third Uncle. Huo Jingsheng hadn’t rebutted this, habitually following along because he and Second Uncle were ultimately grasshoppers tied to the same string.
But you can only do something once or twice, not a third time. Once things cross that line, it’s impossible not to start overthinking.
Yes, everyone was thinking about their own benefits. Who was considering him, Huo Jingsheng?
Over the years, Huo Jingsheng had come to see clearly that, to Second Uncle, he was perhaps like chicken ribs—tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away. Letting him go seemed unnecessary, but he would never be entrusted with anything important either. Second Uncle was always stingy, forever dangling a few carrots in front of him.
If Second Uncle truly got his wish and formed an alliance with Huo Niansheng, where would that leave him?
Even putting all that aside, did he really want to see Huo Niansheng with a virtuous wife and filial children, enjoying a harmonious family life?
Chen Wengang took in Huo Jingsheng’s shifting expressions.
Then, however, he smiled. “Can you guess why I can understand how you feel? In a way, I am just like you. It’s like this: when there’s someone beside you in a situation similar to yours, the two of you are destined to become competitors. Of course, saying it outright sounds unpleasant. Let me give an analogy, though it might not be entirely appropriate—a placenta delivers nutrients to an embryo, but the mother’s nutrition is limited. If she’s pregnant with twins and there are two fetuses crammed inside simultaneously, neither is born knowing how to politely yield to the other. From the moment they start surviving, they have to snatch resources from each other. Survival of the fittest. In fact, if one is too strong, it will directly absorb the other, treating it as its own nutrients.”
Chen Wengang pushed his cup back onto the table, his slender fingertips tapping the surface.
Huo Jingsheng was a little startled but feigned composure. “Oh, and so what?”
Chen Wengang said, “Nothing. I just wanted to point out that it’s perfectly natural for you to hate seeing the other person do well. It’s a law of nature.”
Huo Jingsheng maintained a dark expression, but it wasn’t as if he hadn’t been touched by the words, nor was he devoid of feeling. Life was full of misfortune, abandonment, loneliness, and hardship; every place was a battlefield, and every place required fighting. This bloody analogy, upon closer consideration, was actually quite accurate. From the time he was brought into the deep, sprawling compound of the Huo family as a child, he and Huo Niansheng might truly have been like two embryos sharing one placenta.
Suddenly, even some of the things he had done in the past found a reasonable explanation.
He wasn’t as strong as Huo Niansheng. But he just didn’t want to be absorbed.
Huo Jingsheng still maintained a superior expression. “Even if you say all this, don’t expect me to help you with anything.”
Chen Wengang smiled. “You misunderstand. I actually didn’t want you to do anything.” Meeting his bewildered and uncertain gaze, he refilled Huo Jingsheng’s teacup once more. “Besides, what could I expect from you—helping me arrange a ‘chance encounter’? It’s not like I haven’t witnessed your skill level before.”
He fell just short of saying he deserved a Razzie Award. Huo Jingsheng felt displeased. “Then what exactly are you getting at with all this talk?”
Chen Wengang encouraged him, “Don’t worry, it’s not that complicated. I just hope you can casually let the family know of my existence. If the opportunity arises in the future, just show an attitude of acknowledging me in front of everyone. That’s all.”
“And then?”
“I’ll handle the rest myself.”
“Tell me, you don’t seriously think that if you manage to win my family’s approval, you can just smoothly marry in, do you?”
“What does it matter? Whether I succeed or not is my own business,” Chen Wengang said indifferently. “When it comes down to it, it’s still what I said before—you don’t want to see Huo Niansheng have a happy marriage, do you? You and I don’t need to like each other; we just need to be on the same side regarding this matter.”
Huo Jingsheng pondered silently. He raised the teacup to his lips and took a sip, only to find it was empty.
He set the cup down.
Chen Wengang watched him with a smile. “Of course, I still need to remind you to be tactful. Even I know the current situation in the Huo family, and you should be even more aware of it than I am. This cannot withstand reporters blowing it out of proportion. Just mentioning it privately will suffice; don’t broadcast it.”
“I am not that stupid,” Huo Jingsheng interrupted him with arrogant tone. “But I won’t guarantee I’ll do anything for you.”
“Just let nature take its course.” Chen Wengang’s gaze was deep as he raised his teacup to him in a toast-like gesture. “Don’t treat my request today as pressure, either. I’m bound to deal with many people from the Huo family in the future anyway, right? Just consider this meeting my way of getting closer to you ahead of time.”
After leaving the teahouse, Huo Jingsheng headed to the hospital.
They took regular turns visiting Huo Kaishan; today was the day he and Second Uncle had agreed upon.
At the bottom of the hospital building, he ran into Huo Yingfei, who was dressed slickly with his hair combed perfectly neat. From behind, his silhouette looked exactly like Huo Niansheng standing there casually. As he got closer, Huo Yingfei turned around, revealing a completely different face.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t handsome—the genetic advantage was still there. It’s just that people fear comparisons with their former selves. Even to Huo Jingsheng, he really seemed a bit greasy now, having lost that lively, heroic spirit of a dashing youth from his past.
Reporters had no mercy, often calling him a “salty and wet old man” (a lecherous pervert). He didn’t know if repeating it enough made it come true, but it had indeed become reality.
Mentioning his past image as a principled, gentle gentleman as elegant as jade, Huo Jingsheng ironically found himself thinking of the person he had just met.
Chen Wengang had at least successfully built a persona as a good person. Before leaving, Huo Jingsheng had mocked him: “Today was actually fruitful. I hadn’t realized before that you’re just putting on a calculated act like a pure white lotus. Have you been eyeing your target and planning for this day all along?”
Chen Wengang, however, had simply curled the corner of his lips and told him, “That is a misunderstanding and a prejudice against me. When I do good deeds, it comes from the heart. You can’t deny that everyone is multifaceted. What’s the contradiction between wanting to use Huo Niansheng for a better life and me genuinely being a good person?”
His self-righteousness had left Huo Jingsheng momentarily speechless.
Seeing him arrive, Huo Yingfei slung an arm over his shoulder and walked inside with him. “What took you so long? Dad and I have been waiting for you for ages.”
Huo Jingsheng clicked his tongue internally and twitched his lips. “I met up with a friend and got held up a bit.”
He had brought a few items for the visit. Huo Yingfei naturally took a fruit basket from him and carried it. Huo Jingsheng moved his lips but said nothing, watching him reach out and press the “up” button for the elevator. After they got out, they met up with Second Uncle at the nurses’ station.
“Dad.”
“How is Grandpa’s condition lately?”
“Isn’t it the same old story?” Second Uncle sighed. “It all depends on how much longer he can hold on.”
But his holding on was making his children and grandchildren exceedingly restless.
Huo Kaishan was half-comatose and half-awake, and his will had already been revised five or six times. Only he and his trusted lawyer knew the final version. It might even be changed again; it seemed he still hadn’t properly settled every single longing of his life.
The closer he got to his final days, the more hesitation and indecision he felt, which paradoxically stirred up unrest within the family.
If someone visited for half an hour longer, or chatted with him alone for a bit, it was enough to incite a slew of suspicions.
Huo Jingsheng entered the ward at the end of the line and saw Huo Kaishan place a photo frame face down on the nightstand.
Here we go again, he thought. Whose photo frame is that now?
Second Uncle and Huo Yingfei stepped forward, bending over to chat with the old man for a few moments, like performing their daily filial greetings.
Covered in tubes, Huo Kaishan struggled to wave his hand, but today, he asked for Huo Jingsheng to stay behind alone.
Huo Jingsheng froze. Huo Kaishan asked the nurse to raise the head of the bed a bit. Before leaving, Second Uncle and Huo Yingfei’s gazes stabbed into his back.
He stepped forward and called out, “Grandpa.”
Huo Kaishan gasped for a long moment, gesturing for him to pick up the photo frame.
What Huo Jingsheng saw was his father’s face.
To be precise, it was a photo of his father and the grandmother he had never met. Their biological father had been a serial philanderer, but he truly possessed an impeccable physical appearance. Huo Jingsheng actually rarely looked at the images he left behind, but looking now, he suddenly realized his older brother resembled him more.
The person in the photo had brilliant, expressive peach-blossom eyes and was practically cut from the exact same mold as Huo Niansheng.
Huo Kaishan had phlegm in his throat, his voice rattling hoarsely. “Jingsheng.”
Speaking was arduous for him, so Huo Jingsheng leaned his ear close to his mouth.
“I’ve been thinking a lot lately. I wonder when I’ll see your grandmother and your dad. Going down there, it’ll finally be a family reunion…”
“Don’t say that. We’re still counting on you to live to a hundred.”
“No need to coax me, you all wish I’d go sooner. Fenglai still left too early… back then, a white-haired person sending off a black-haired person…”
Huo Jingsheng remembered that Huo Fenglai was his father’s name.
Huo Kaishan asked, “The second boy has been arranging things for so long… Tell me honestly, has your brother actually taken a fancy to anyone?”
“He…” Huo Jingsheng’s lips hesitated. “You’ve been ill, so it’s just been delayed, hasn’t it?”
“Don’t think I don’t know. Is it that he doesn’t want to get married, or is it that the second boy hasn’t been putting in the effort?”
“Grandpa, you can’t say that. It’s not the first day you’ve known that Big Brother can’t settle his heart.”
“This routine again. Letting things get to this point… Forget it, I won’t talk about the past. I asked you to stay behind because there’s one other thing, and don’t try to hide this from me either. Tell me, is he keeping someone by his side?”
Night fell. Returning to Yushuiwan, Huo Niansheng once again saw his cousin, Huo Zhenfei, lecturing his son.
This scene was a common occurrence. “Taking horseback riding lessons—wasn’t that your own request? Who taught you to give up halfway now?”
It wasn’t until his cousin’s wife came out to the rescue, the mother muttering, “He fell and hurt his leg, and he’s scared. You know this perfectly well, do you really have to force him until he’s traumatized?” that Huo Yuxiang was finally saved. Huo Zhenfei reluctantly let him off the hook, his gaze shifting to Huo Niansheng.
The two cousins sat down at the bar counter again.
This time, Huo Zhenfei poured two glasses of wine, sliding one in front of Huo Niansheng.
Resting both elbows on the counter, Huo Niansheng swirled the wine in his glass and smiled faintly. “What do you want to talk to me about this time?”
Huo Zhenfei said, “It’s still Grandpa worrying about you. Lately, whoever goes to visit him has to hear him mention it. He says he can’t close his eyes in peace without seeing you settled down.”
Huo Niansheng raised an eyebrow slightly. “To put it bluntly, we don’t even know if he’s senile right now, so why take it seriously?”
