“Hello? Dad, how many children does the Wen family have in this generation? Does Wen Liang have a twin brother?”
Gao Shi was biting his lollipop, but his words were very clear.
“The older generation of the Wen family had two brothers, Wen Shidai and Wen Jixing. Wen Jixing was idle and never married.”
“So in the new generation of the Wen family, officially there’s only Wen Liang. I’ve never heard that Wen Liang is a twin.”
“However, Wen Liang’s father, Wen Shidai, although quite capable, he…”
There was a pause on the other end of the phone as Gao’s meticulous father tried to explain the gossip as clearly as possible, “…his private life is very disorderly. He keeps quite a few mistresses outside, and previously, one of his mistresses even came to confront his wife while pregnant.”
“Pregnant, huh…” Gao Shi’s canine teeth ground against the lollipop, making a slight “crack crack” sound. “Has anyone seen those illegitimate children of Wen Shidai? Do they look like Wen Liang?”
Gao’s father immediately understood what Gao Shi meant. After thinking carefully, he said with surprise, “Strange, I haven’t heard any news about this at all.”
Gao’s father was now a major gossip collector; it was no exaggeration to say that even paparazzi would call him “grandmaster.”
Yet regarding the illegitimate children of the Wen family, Gao’s father knew absolutely nothing.
That didn’t make sense.
Just looking at how Wen Shidai’s mistress could come to confront his wife while pregnant, she couldn’t possibly be a docile person.
Wen Shidai had more than one such mistress.
Would these mistresses with “grand ambitions” stay quietly like concubines kept in separate residences in ancient times, obediently waiting for their husband’s visit—was that possible?
Gao Shi’s hands didn’t stop; he sent a message to Ran Qiu, asking him to investigate those well-known mistresses of Wen Shidai that the entire circle knew about, and information about the children under their names.
Ran Qiu replied with an “Alright!” Gao Shi closed his laptop and instead asked, “Dad, do you know what Wen Shidai’s wife is called?”
Gao’s father was exasperated, “I’ve always told you to remember people in our circle. Where has your brain gone?!”
Gao Shi obediently accepted the scolding, “I only remember her surname is Liao.”
Seeing his son admit his mistake, Gao’s father no longer dwelled on his “unproductive” son and where his brain had gone, and instead said, “Remember this, Mrs. Wen’s full name is Liao Zitu.”
“Rabbit?” Gao Shi was stunned, “Which character?”
“The ‘tu’ in rabbit.”
What a special name.
Very few people use the character “rabbit” as a name.
“Where does Mrs. Wen come from? I don’t seem to have heard about Mrs. Wen’s family background.”
Gao’s father said, “Wen Shidai only mentioned she came from a village in the east… Feifei, you’re here.”
Gao Shi was accustomed to hearing his parents being affectionate on the other end of the phone, boredly moving the cursor around on his computer screen. After a while, Gao’s mother took the phone, “Shanshan, what’s up?”
“Mom, I want to ask about information on Wen Shidai’s wife.”
Gao’s mother thought for a moment and said, “Mrs. Wen doesn’t socialize much, no one in the circle seems to be close to her, and she doesn’t attend many events.”
“But Wen Shidai is very affectionate with his wife.”
Gao Shi took out his lollipop, “Dad said Wen Shidai’s private life isn’t very proper.”
Gao’s mother made an “Mm” sound, “Mom also finds it a bit confusing.”
“Love for someone is shown in the details. Mom once occasionally encountered them, but they didn’t see me.”
“The park was about to close at that time. Your Aunt Qian’s phone was missing, and while we were looking for it, we saw a black car parked by the roadside, the door opened, and Wen Shidai got out.”
“He went around to the passenger side to open the door for Mrs. Wen. When Mrs. Wen was getting out, Wen Shidai naturally put his hand on the door frame to prevent Mrs. Wen from bumping her head.”
“They walked against the crowd, chatting and laughing as they went deeper into the park. Wen Shidai even had Mrs. Wen’s bag over his arm.”
“The way Wen Shidai looked at Mrs. Wen was especially affectionate; I was even a bit envious watching it.”
The voice on the other end of the phone suddenly became distant, with faint sounds coming through.
“Am I not affectionate? Hmm?”
“Oh my, at this age and still being jealous.”
“Shall we go to the park tomorrow too?”
“Silly.”
“Who are you calling silly?”
“You…”
Seeing the topic drifting further and further away, Gao Shi quickly coughed twice, “Mom and Dad, mind the impact.”
Gao’s father asked dissatisfied, “You’re still there?”
Gao Shi: Sorry Dad, barring accidents, I’ll be here for the next few decades.
Gao’s mother pushed Gao’s father aside, “Alright, ignore your father, continue.”
“The last time I met them was a year ago, and their relationship seemed very good.”
“So I don’t understand either why Wen Shidai could do those things.”
…
“A reformed playboy? Absolutely impossible!”
Cheng Zeqi looked at Gao Shi who suddenly visited, asking with surprise, “Why are you suddenly interested in the Wen family’s affairs?”
Gao Shi briefly explained the situation of the Wen family to Cheng Zeqi, “…So, how did a woman with no family background, from a remote village, fight against those aggressive mistresses and make the illegitimate children disappear?”
Gao Shi said: “From the several business wars after Wen Shidai took over the Wen family, it can be seen that Wen Shidai is extremely rational, puts profit first, and is decisive and ruthless.”
“Not only that, he once decisively betrayed the Wu family, who were allies with his family, for profit, and took the opportunity to suppress them, determined to completely crush the Wu family. This man cuts the grass and removes the roots, never leaving future troubles.”
“This caused the Wu family to barely survive on their previous foundations for a long time, and only recently have they begun to slowly recover.”
Cheng Zeqi interjected, “The Wu family? I heard that the old man Wu’s pair of children born in his old age seem to have passed away.”
“Yes, they were naturally weak and didn’t even reach one month old.”
Cheng Zeqi sighed at the unpredictability of life.
“According to what you’re saying, Wen Shidai doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would change his decisions for a woman.”
“Unless this woman’s value is very high and can provide him with great assistance, or—” Cheng Zeqi blinked, making a joke, “or he’s been possessed by a ghost.”
Gao Shi chuckled, “What are you thinking?”
“But you’re right about one thing, Wen Shidai is not the type to be infatuated with love. He’s promiscuous yet extremely rational, so it’s a bit strange that he would marry Liao Zitu in the first place.”
Gao Shi fell into deep thought, “Speaking of which, the first time the Wen family rose under Wen Shidai’s leadership was because they launched a new medicine.”
Cheng Zeqi widened his eyes, “Are you saying that the prescription for that new medicine was provided by Mrs. Wen?”
Gao Shi shook his head, “Just speculation.”
But Cheng Zeqi murmured, “No, you’re right. There are indeed many remote areas in the east with their own secret formulas. Perhaps Wen Shidai married her because he wanted the secret formula in Mrs. Wen’s possession. Otherwise, with Wen Shidai’s calculations, he would have chosen to marry an only daughter of a slightly lower level, or lady of the same level.”
Gao Shi pulled the topic back to the original point, “So, could it be that Mrs. Wen came up with another formula and ordered Wen Shidai to deal with his illegitimate children?”
“But my mom also said that Wen Shidai’s feelings for Mrs. Wen are not fake.”
Cheng Zeqi was getting confused, “Isn’t this going back to the original topic? But Wen Shidai is definitely not someone who would reform from being a playboy, right? We’re all men, who doesn’t know each other’s little thoughts.”
He counted on his fingers, “Like me, actually I chase stars to find psychological comfort in idols, they bring me emotional value, and I support them.”
“Look at that Qin Shi in the circle. Although he’s just a traffic star who can’t act but insists on going the actor route—they told him to follow the teacher to learn acting properly, but the paparazzi caught him sneaking out during class to eat barbecue. He only knows how to express emotions by yelling, and has no presentable works—but his face looks good.”
“A good-looking face makes people happy when they see it. Doesn’t this provide emotional value to his fans?”
“In other words, they can provide me with value.”
“The one I initially followed, oh, She Tingxie. At first, I thought she was the gentle type, but after knowing her true face, she could no longer provide me with positive emotional value, which means she had no value to me anymore, so I stopped being her fan.”
“Do you think it’s possible for me to go back to chasing her and abandon all my other favorites?”
Cheng Zeqi spread his hands, “It’s simply impossible!”
“So Wen Shidai definitely couldn’t have reformed.”
Changing his tone, Cheng Zeqi began to dramatically lament, “There’s still no news about my baby Shishi~ Wuwuwu~ I really need the emotional value that baby Shishi provides~”
Gao Shi waved away the room full of wave symbols, “Actually, there’s another point that’s very strange.”
Cheng Zeqi said, “You’re talking about how even if illegitimate children look alike, they can’t be exactly the same, right?”
Cheng Zeqi hugged a pillow to his chest, “Yes, even if they could provide conditions for an illegitimate child to go to prison in place of Wen Liang—how would they make the switch? Let’s not even talk about how they plan to pull off such a swap, getting Wen Liang out of custody and the illegitimate child in. Just the DNA test alone would be an insurmountable hurdle.”
Of course, Gao Shi knew everything Cheng Zeqi was saying, but now it was like being in a fog, unable to see clearly what the Wen family was planning.
Gao Shi lowered his eyes and changed the subject, “Let’s not talk about this for now. There’s another thing I want to ask you.”
“What? Old Gao, why are you suddenly so serious?”
“On the day you encountered Jia Qi, did you feel anything unusual? Like headache, blurred consciousness, dizziness, or something like that?”
Cheng Zeqi laughed, “What’s going on? Why have you suddenly become so suspicious? Let me think…”
As Cheng Zeqi was thinking, he suddenly paused.
“Holy shit! Now that you mention it, I think there was something.”
“That day I felt unusually hot. From the time I left home until I got to the car, my back was soaked through. It felt like the heat was distorting the distant telephone poles.”
“I only felt cooler once I was in the car.”
“After Jia Qi’s fender bender, I had to get out of the car to check, right? Good grief, as soon as I opened the car door, I felt like a roast duck hanging in an oven. I felt like I was being roasted dry; sweat soaked through the hairstyle I had spent two hours styling before going out.”
“I was dizzy from the heat, my whole head was spinning, especially when I saw Jia Qi. I felt like my head was about to fall off from the heat, like I was having heatstroke.”
“It wasn’t until that guy opened the car door without my permission that I was hit by the cool air from the car and finally felt better.”
“Thinking about it now, it was only 29 degrees Celsius that day. I was wearing a short-sleeved casual suit, I shouldn’t have been that hot.”
In the car…
Gao Shi suddenly asked, “Do you still have the Zhu Bajie figurine that Lele gave you in your car?”
Cheng Zeqi tilted his head back, “Of course! I definitely keep anything that baby Lele gives me well.”
That Zhu Bajie figurine was carved by Lele himself. Gao Shi had the Sun Wukong one in his car. When they were carved, Lele had just started learning to carve and accidentally cut his finger.
Looking at the information already known, perhaps on the day Jia Qi met Cheng Zeqi, Jia Qi used an “item” on him through the system.
But because of Lele, the item was broken.
The key point was that Zhu Bajie figurine.
Gao Shi sighed in relief, “You’re lucky.”
“What?”
“Nothing, I mean, in a few days Lele will give you an amulet, you carry it with you at all times, got it?”
“Hey, did you need to remind me!”
While Gao Shi was bantering with Cheng Zeqi, he was also thinking.
If Lele seemed to have some ability to break “hypnosis” and “control,” then why did he still suffer those humiliations in the dream?
At this moment, his phone vibrated at his waist.
