Chapter 233 - The Old Man Who Could Read Fate
Chapter 233: The Old Man Who Could Read Fate
Mo Lan had been blaming herself for many years. She didn’t know what had possessed her all those years ago to want to keep Zhang Rong’s pregnancy intact.
Everything had started to get out of hand because of it. The warm and lovely atmosphere at home was destroyed overnight. Her noble daughter-in-law died and her son’s in-laws cut off relationship with her completely. Her legendary son changed overnight and refused to exchange a word with her or call her “mother”. Even her husband stayed away from her for a very long time, saying that she might bring disaster for Family Jing.
As time went by, her husband’s words turned out to be true. The grandchildren of Family Jing were never on good terms with each other and even wanted to kill each other on various occasions. Jing Yiran was unsatisfied with the properties which he had been given and always tried to extract more from Jing Yichen’s share of inheritance. Due to rumours about the family, stock price of Jingsheng Enterprise kept fluctuating all the time. Luckily, Jing Yichen was capable enough to keep the situation in control so that the enterprise didn’t run into any crisis.
With her hands on Shangguan Ning’s shoulder, Mo Lan tried to raise herself up and spoke in undertones, “It was my mistake all those years ago…”
Zhang Rong’s funeral was held the following day but was not publicised.
Her identity had never been announced in the society. Most people only knew the deceased Zhao Qing as Mrs. Jing. Jing Zhongxiu had never accepted Zhang Rong as his wife. For him, she was nothing more than the mother of Second Master of Family Jing.
The funeral proceedings were extremely simple. She was not eligible to be buried in the Family Jing’s graveyard so her ashes ended up in a public graveyard in A City.
No one from Family Jing except for Mo Lan and Jing Yiran attended her funeral.
Jing Tianyuan always thought that she was the scourge of Family Jing and had never accepted her as his daughter-in-law. He was the eldest member of Family Jing and was not willing to compromise on the family’s prestige for her, even if she was the mother of his grandson.
Jing Zhongxiu didn’t attend the funeral either. He felt nothing except hatred towards Zhang Rong. Instead, he went to Zhao Qing’s grave and let out a sigh of relief – the woman who had caused his wife’s death was finally dead, although he hadn’t been her killer.
Jing Yichen certainly wouldn’t have gone, same with Shangguan Ning who followed her husband’s suit. She didn’t want to create trouble for herself.
When Jing Zhongxiu came back from Family Jing’s graveyard, he asked Jing Yichen to come to the study and spoke with him all the way till midnight. Even the old lord Jing Tianyuan joined them. They held an intense discussion in the study.
The Butler understood that something serious was going on. So he asked all of the servants and bodyguards to wait outside the villa.
Usually, Jing Yichen would be the only one to handle the problems no matter how huge the issue might be, and he was capable enough to deal with majority of the crisis.
Jing Zhongxiu would offer supplementary help every now and then, or help him to handle some business when he was too busy to deal with everything. Jing Yiran was, on the other hand, a free man who wasn’t involved with the Family business. For example, when he heard about Jing Yichen getting injured, he didn’t interfere in it at all. Instead, he left everything to Jing Zhongxiu.
Jing Zhongxiu brought up Jing Yichen, and Jing Tianyuan had brought up Jing Zhongxiu. So he was completely assured when his son and his grandson were in charge.
But this time it was an extremely serious matter, because even the old lord interfered.
Shangguan Ning, who was seated in the living room, could also sense the intensity in the air. But she was not able to guess what was the reason despite her current understanding of Family Jing.
What she did know was that Zhang Rong’s death couldn’t have been an accident.
Although the police office and the hospital confirmed the car accident as a normal accident caused by the violent crash after the brakes broke, yet it happened way too suddenly and too unreasonably to be an accident.
After the discussion, the three men of Family Jing walked out of the study, only to find Shangguan Ning fast asleep, having waited for them for so long.
Not willing to wake her up, the Butler had asked the servant to get her a blanket.
Jing Yichen’s heart hurt a little when he saw her sleeping uncomfortably on the sofa. Ignoring his father and grandfather, he picked up his wife and walked out.
Shangguan Ning was a light sleeper. She woke up instantly when he took her into his arms.
She was about to say something when she found herself in Jing Yichen’s arms with Jing Tianyuan and Jing Zhongxiu looking at them with a smile on their faces.
Embarrassed, Shangguan Ning said anxiously, “Put me down!”
Jing Yichen ignored her words and continued to walk.
Seeing his grandson caring so much about his wife, Jing Tianyuan smiled. “He is indeed a lucky man to find such a good wife. Ning has a good personality and a good fate, a perfect match for Yichen!”
Jing Zhongxiu agreed with his father and said, “Ning is very nice. Yichen has changed so much because of her. But since when did you start believing in fate? What do you know about it?”
Jing Tianyuan didn’t mind his son’s disbelieving tone. Instead, he said proudly, “I know everything that is going on in this world. I have been studying Yi Ching for decades. You won’t understand now, but you will when you are at my age!”
Hearing him praise himself, Jing Zhongxiu couldn’t help but laugh. “Then tell me how will our Family Jing fare? You might save trouble for all of us by enlightening us about our future.”
The old lord glared at him and said unhappily, “Do I need to check about our family? We will definitely be top-notch. The old ancestors had said long ago that Family Jing was going to be prosperous for generations, and we are one of the most promising generation of all! What we are facing now is nothing. I had succeeded in the siege of dozens of families years ago and now we have only got four or five families around us. Don’t worry! You can leave it to Yichen. He can handle everything. If not, then he better go back home to father several more children and we can cultivate younger ones as the new successor!”
Having said the words, he started to walk outside before Jing Zhongxiu could say anything.
He walked as he mumbled. “Jesus, so bad that I have to go to bed late tonight again! I will not exceed Mu Wensheng in lifespan. That demon wants to live till 150 years old and I will only ask for 149, alright? Yeah, I will move to his place tomorrow, and all my grey hair may turn into black like his.”
Jing Zhongxiu helplessly watched his 80-year-old father spring out of the living room. He shook his head and started to turn towards his own bedroom.
The old lord was right. Jing Yichen was 34 years old and he should be a father. Why has nothing happened when they were already married for half a year? Should he give them some reminders?