Looking at the place that had carried him through decades of growth, Tang Yifeng sat in the now-empty and desolate main hall. The former glory of the Tang family was long gone, and those priceless antiques and famous paintings had already been sold off for money. From the very beginning, when things started to go south and the Lu brothers showed an extremely aggressive attitude, Tang Yifeng had quietly sold off all the shares he held in secret. Even the portion in Madam Tang’s hands had been forcibly transferred over by him. Now, all those assets had been converted into cash and stored in a Swiss bank.
Tang Yifeng had already prepared his way out a long time ago. His outward defiance against the Lu family was merely a smokescreen, a tactic to divert attention. He never had the slightest attachment to the Tang Corporation. In fact, because of all that had happened during his childhood, he had long lost any sense of belonging to the Tang family. Though it had all stemmed from Madam Tang’s cold neglect, it was true that Father Tang had never really done anything to wrong him. Now, Father Tang had suffered a stroke and was paralyzed in bed. Tang Yifeng wasn’t so heartless as to take everything and leave him with nothing. He had already prepaid a sum at a convalescent home to ensure that Father Tang would have enough to live in comfort for the next twenty years. But judging from Father Tang’s current condition, he probably wouldn’t last that long anyway.
After sitting alone in the living room for a while, Tang Yifeng went upstairs and unlocked a door with a lock on it. The once dignified and graceful Madam Tang now looked like a madwoman, locked in the room by him. As soon as she saw Tang Yifeng, Madam Tang’s eyes were filled with seething hatred. “Tang Yifeng, even if I die and become a ghost, I won’t let you go!”
Tang Yifeng gave a slight smile and reached out to rattle the iron chain. It clinked heavily with a dull sound. “Relax. You won’t get to become a ghost—at least not yet. I’m leaving. The Tang family has already been ruined by me. There’s no point continuing any of this. I really did overestimate myself, thinking it would be that easy to have Tang Xin die in the Lu family without getting found out. After that, I started getting cocky, so much so that I almost lost sight of who I really am. Old-established powers are still old-established powers. They might seem dormant, but once they strike hard, someone like me from a small-time family can’t play that game at all.”
He paused, then couldn’t help but smile at Madam Tang again. “But to be fair, holding out against them for this long does mean I’ve got a little skill, right? Even though the Tang Corporation is nearly swallowed up now, I still gave them plenty of trouble. Besides, I didn’t have any help from my mother’s side. Just imagine, if you were really my biological mother, and I had your family backing me, maybe we could’ve gone one more round, and it wouldn’t have been impossible to fight back. What a pity.”
Madam Tang wanted to spit in his face, but a lifetime of strict upbringing wouldn’t let her do such a thing. Now that she was completely under house arrest by him, she could only lash out with words: “Someone like you, do you really think you’re worthy of being my son? Keep dreaming!”
Tang Yifeng wasn’t angry at all. Instead, he laughed and said, “Good thing I’m not. From what I can see, you were destined to have no sons or daughters. I still want to live a long life, you know. I’ve got a lot of life left to enjoy. The entire Tang Corporation, which Father spent his whole life painstakingly building, is more than enough for me to live carefree abroad for the rest of my life.”
Madam Tang had no idea what was going on outside. Ever since Tang Yifeng had placed her under house arrest, her mind had only been on fulfilling her daughter’s last wish. Now, upon hearing what Tang Yifeng just said, she stared at him in disbelief and exclaimed, “You sold your father’s company? That was your father’s lifeblood! He never once showed favoritism between you and your sister. How could you do this? Can you really face your father with what you’ve done?!”
Tang Yifeng chuckled, “Don’t worry. Dad’s in the best nursing home in the country now. He’ll never have to worry about food or clothing again, and there are people taking care of him. Sure, his mind’s a bit muddled, but he’s still doing better than you. You’ll spend your whole life drowning in the grief of losing a daughter!”
After he finished speaking, he glanced at Madam Tang, who was glaring at him viciously and looked as if she wanted to pounce. He tilted his body slightly to avoid her and let out a light laugh. “I’m leaving now. Before I go, I just wanted to tell you, once I get on the plane, I’ll send a message to your family and let them know to come rescue you. I’m a law-abiding citizen, after all. How could I possibly commit murder? I only locked you up to scare you a bit. So, unless you, like your daughter, choose to take your own life, I’m afraid you won’t be turning into a ghost any time soon.”
No matter how much Madam Tang screamed behind him, once Tang Yifeng closed the door, their paths had completely diverged. From that moment on, they belonged to two different worlds.
Tang Yifeng didn’t bring much luggage with him. Everything overseas had already been arranged. As long as he made it there, he would be free of the quagmire back home once and for all. He had no intention of starting another business. He had more than enough money to enjoy the rest of his life. Besides, he had a big gift prepared for the Lu family. Glancing at the time, Tang Yifeng thought that by the time he left Chinese airspace, the Lu family should have received his “gift”.
However, just as everything seemed to be going smoothly, he had cleared security and was about to board, a group of people stopped him. “Mr. Tang, we suspect you’re involved in a murder case. Please come with us to assist in the investigation.”
As for the Lu family, at the time Tang Yifeng was arrested, they were already handling a few vehicles, along with several drivers and bodyguards. The entire Lu Corporation also quietly laid off a batch of personnel, and in the process, cleaned out quite a few planted spies from other families as well. Everything was done discreetly, without drawing much attention.
Not long after that, another sum of money was added to the Little Pudding Charity Fund. And for quite a long time afterward, similar amounts continued to be deposited at regular intervals, all put into charitable causes. Everything was under Lu Chenghe’s control. How could he possibly allow Tang Yifeng to so easily transfer those funds overseas? Still, that amount of money wasn’t much to him anyway, so he simply let Little Pudding use it for charity to accumulate some merit.
Completely unaware that a sum of money—an astronomical figure by his standards—had been added under his name, Little Pudding was still struggling bitterly with physical training on set. Although the new drama he had taken on was a television series, the director came from a film background and was known for being exceptionally strict. Since it was a story set in the warlord era, full of entangled love and hate, it wasn’t enough to just look the part. One had to truly embody the commanding, unyielding spirit of a military man.
But the biggest gain for Zuo Ning was that his image as a young marshal was becoming more and more convincing. Hmm… even when playing around with Lu Chenghe, he was getting more into character. Their props had progressed from a simple costume to even waving little leather whips around.
Unfortunately, though, out of ten times he tried to tease, Lu Chenghe would only be willing to cooperate once or twice. Because of this, whenever he saw the little strawberry marks under his sister-in-law’s clothes, his eyes would be full of resentment. Truly, comparison is the thief of joy. Clearly, they were brothers, so why did it feel like they weren’t even the same species?
Chu Hang had already seen plenty of how clingy he and the second brother were with each other, so he merely smiled wordlessly at the complaints. Until that shameless little thing pressed him with endless questions, and finally, unable to endure anymore, he replied, “Try holding back from him for ten days to half a month—then you’ll see.”
Hearing this, Zuo Ning stared at Chu Hang for a good while before he couldn’t help sighing, “Big Brother is so pitiful.”
The corner of Chu Hang’s mouth twitched. What else could he do? This drama was no easy shoot. Whether he could even go ten days to half a month depended on how demanding the scenes scheduled for the next day were. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work either.
When he saw the assistant carrying in food containers of all sizes, Zuo Ning rolled up his sleeves and started eating. Chu Hang, sitting to the side, first poured him a bowl of soup, then set some tissues beside him and moved a few of his favorite dishes in front of him before finally picking up his own meal.
On set, they usually ate together. If their filming schedules didn’t align, they would leave half the food for the other. After all, this Lu family eldest brother ran a restaurant, and his wife was, for once, filming in the same city, so of course, he had to take good care of his meals. As for the younger brother’s wife, well, that was just a bonus.
However, ever since Zuo Ning had previously exposed himself, hinting at a possible revealing of his background, there had been no shortage of undercurrents on set since the drama started filming. Aside from a few main cast members who had real status, many lesser-known, third-tier and below actors were constantly pulling little tricks, trying to climb their way up. Of course, those with some fame, though not exactly top-tier, likely had their own thoughts too, though they hid them better and weren’t as blatant as the others.
The production team did provide boxed meals, but the food was pretty average. Some celebrities usually went along with the flow, though they would occasionally have their assistants buy something they liked. But having lavish meals every day like Zuo Ning and Chu Hang? That wasn’t common at all. Still, it was always Zuo Ning’s assistant who went to pick up the food, and then Chu Hang would come right over and sit with him to eat together, especially since Chu Hang had the habit of always tending to Zuo Ning first before eating himself.
To outsiders, this behavior was… hard to explain. Especially since some people knew that Chu Hang had seemingly latched onto the Lu family’s eldest young master’s golden thigh. So now, wasn’t this just him shamelessly trying to curry favor with the Lu family’s second young master?
Zuo Ning had sharp ears and good hearing. When he picked up on someone in the back making sarcastic remarks, he thought for a moment, then simply picked up his phone, grabbed Chu Hang, and took a selfie of them eating. He uploaded it to Weibo with the caption: “My big brother!” and tagged Chu Hang.
Zuo Ning nudged Chu Hang. “Hurry, go repost my Weibo and give it a like.”
Chu Hang opened it, smiled, then immediately reposted it and added a comment: Mn, little brother.
【Ahhh, my big male god and little male god seem to be filming together!】
【They’re eating so well. I saw a lobster, now I’m hungry.】
【Is this “big brother” and “little brother” a reference to their roles in the drama, or is it their real-life relationship? These two didn’t have any interaction before… but two handsome guys like this, what a feast for the eyes.】
【Even this military-style overcoat can’t hide my male god’s charms—still so stunning, 233333.】
【Looking forward to the new drama! Brother Chu, take good care of our little fairy boy!】
Lu Chenghan restrained the hand that was itching to give the post a like. After saving that photo to his phone, he cropped out that annoying little guy, leaving only the half where his own wife was smiling sweetly at the camera. Only then did he feel satisfied enough to return to his work.
Back home, Zuo Ning vented to Lu Chenghe about the gossip in the film crew: “Those people, all they know is talking behind others’ backs. It was obviously Big Brother who prepared the food, and I was just eating meat along with my sister-in-law, but they ended up saying that my sister-in-law was clinging to my thigh. Look at my skinny arms and legs—where do I look sturdy enough for someone to cling to! Tell me, big brother and sister-in-law’s relationship is already so solid, why not just make it public? At least make it official within the industry. With big brother backing her, who would still dare gossip about sister-in-law?”
Lu Chenghe glanced at him and said, “Sister-in-law wants to win Best Actor with his own effort. He genuinely loves acting.”
Zuo Ning immediately looked at Lu Chenghe with a blank face: “Oh, so you mean I don’t really love acting?”
Lu Chenghe shot back, “Well, do you?”
Zuo Ning chuckled and dove straight into Lu Chenghe’s arms, rubbing against him: “Aiya, why so serious? If I got serious, you’d end up like Big Brother—wouldn’t see me for months at a time. How pitiful would that be?”
Lu Chenghe held him with one arm to keep him from falling over from all the rubbing, while with the other hand, he picked up a booklet from the table and handed it to him: “Pick out a few outfits you like. Someone will come to take your measurements and have them tailored.”
Zuo Ning took the booklet: “What’s this for? I still have so many clothes I haven’t even worn yet, and you want to make more? What a waste.”
“It’s for Old Fourth’s wedding. By the time your current drama wraps up, it should be just about time for the wedding.”
Zuo Ning’s eyes immediately widened: “The date is set already? I thought they said it would take ages to prepare, didn’t they say it was going to be the wedding of the century? I’m wrapping up filming around next month!”
Lu Chenghe replied, “Ren Shishi is pregnant.”
Zuo Ning: “!!”
Old Fourth’s wedding was held in a castle in France. The enormous castle was packed with guests. After checking with Lu Chenghe and making sure it was fine, Zuo Ning took out his phone and filmed every corner of the castle, inside and out. After confirming that none of the photos revealed any guest information, he picked a few and uploaded them to Weibo.
The entire entertainment industry exploded with the news. It turned out that today was Fourth Young Master Lu’s wedding. With such an extravagant setup, people were left utterly speechless.
Especially when the crowd waiting for the livestream saw the newly updated Weibo posts: in the photo, only the bride’s back was visible. A total of twelve flower children were evenly split on both sides, lifting the long trailing veil for the bride. The scene was so breathtaking, it made people want to scream, like something straight out of a fairy tale. Even a prince and princess couldn’t top this.
Zuo Ning stood with Lu Chenghe in the family area. When the bride and groom made their entrance, thunderous applause echoed through the ancient castle for a long time. Pressed tightly against Lu Chenghe’s side, Zuo Ning felt that being able to witness such a wedding meant he could live without regrets.
When the couple arrived before a French priest, the elderly clergyman began the vows in a solemn, antique-accented French. The entire castle fell silent. The priest’s voice reverberated through the hall. Though Zuo Ning couldn’t understand the words, the solemn posture of making vows for the future moved him into a quiet reverence.
The hand Zuo Ning had kept in his pocket twitched slightly. He couldn’t understand French, but he could still recognize people’s names. When the priest called out the groom’s name, Zuo Ning quietly took out a ring from his pocket, grabbed Lu Chenghe’s hand, and placed the ring into it, then pulled that hand over and slid the ring onto his own finger.
As the official groom loudly answered “Yes, I do,” Zuo Ning rose slightly on tiptoe and whispered into Lu Chenghe’s ear, “I do.”
After speaking, he pulled out another ring from his pocket. When the priest called out the bride’s name, he slid the ring onto Lu Chenghe’s ring finger, then looked up at him with hopeful eyes.
Lu Chenghe stared at the little pudding for a moment—stared until he blinked anxiously, nearly opening his mouth to say the words for him—before finally lowering his head slightly and saying, “I do.”
While the official bride and groom exchanged rings and kissed, as flowers burst into the air and cheers erupted among the guests, Lu Chenghe leaned down and kissed Little Pudding’s lips.
~End of main text~
Author’s Note:
The main storyline has officially concluded, but there will still be occasional updates with extra chapters. The extras will lean more toward the entertainment industry, so feel free to choose whether or not to read them. Some unresolved matters from the main story will be addressed in the extras. Instead of squeezing in lengthy explanations that might make the main plot feel dragged out, I figured it’d be better to wrap things up more completely through the extras.
The extras will be updated irregularly—yes, irregularly! Since the Lunar New Year is coming up, a lot is going on, and I’ll be quite busy, so I can’t guarantee when I’ll be able to get a new chapter written. As a result, the update schedule will be unpredictable. However, the entire story will be marked as “completed” before the end of the month. If you’re interested in reading the extras, you can wait until everything is fully finished and read them all together.
Moonlit: I finally got to read ’til the end of the main story o(⸝⸝o̴̶̷᷄ ᎔ o̴̶̷̥᷅⸝⸝)o I’m so happy for them. Only 8 extra chapters left wuwuwuwu .·°՞(˃ ᗝ ˂)՞°·. I am soooo gonna miss Ning Baby 。°(°¯᷄◠¯᷅°)°。