Chapter 468 - The Calm Period
Chapter 468 – The Calm Period
Lihua never thought that Jiang Zhen was married.
How could she when he just shamelessly claimed that Lihua would be his woman now?
A man like that was already married and had a child? And yet he dared to eye Lihua as his mistress?
Lihua's heart burned with fury, and if Jiang Zhen had been here, she would have strangled him on the spot.
But when she looked at the boy's big, watery eyes, her heart melted like ice cream would in sunlight.
Zhao Weisheng said, "Yes."
He looked at Ruru. "The pretty sister introduced herself. Now, it's your turn."
Jiang Ru aka Ruru curled into a ball and looked away.
Lihua grinned. "Don't worry. I won't eat your chubby cheeks. Yet. I am very friendly!"
Lu Bojing nodded hard.
Ruru widened his eyes and stared at her in disbelief. He immediately held his cheeks in his small palms as if wanting to protect them from her.
"…You are…"
Lihua brightened. "Oh, oh! You are talking to me! Yes, yes, tell me!"
"A witch…" he softly spoke.
"…"
"Witches…bad…eat children…"
Her mouth twitched.
"H-Hey! Look at me. Am I not so pretty? How can I be a witch?"
He glanced at her. He pressed his cheeks further, pointing that she was just talking about eating his cheeks. So, she was a witch.
She coughed. "I-I was just kidding. Of course, I won't eat your cheeks."
Lihua stared at his face.
But I definitely want to squish them
"It was just a way of saying that you are so cute."
Lu Bojing wondered.
I think that compliment was a little violent for the kid.
Lihua tried her best to cajole him to her side, but he remained stuck to Zhao Weisheng. She scratched her head.
I thought I was good with children. Bobo likes me so much!
Zhao Weisheng smiled. "Give him some time. He will warm up to you soon enough."
He lowered his gaze and asked Ruru, "Does your mother know you are here?"
He stiffened and didn't respond.
"You know your father doesn't like you coming here, right? If he saw you sneaking out again…"
Ruru slightly paled.
Lihua frowned. "So what? What will he do? Ruru can go anywhere he wants!"
Zhao Weisheng shook his head. "It's not so simple. Especially not now when I ruined Jiang Shan's plans almost twenty years back."
"What plan?"
"Jiang Zhen's father, Jiang Chao. Do you know why things were so calm in his generation? I suppose Weizhe would be the Mafia King twenty years back before Wei took his position. Ideally, this situation should have exploded at that time only. But because of my interference, it didn't."
He took Ruru in his lap and gently ruffled his head. It was the first time that his lips curved into a smile.
"After Jiang Shan took me away, it took a long time for him to recuperate after his accident that Jiang Zemin had planned. His wife and son had died. But he somehow survived."
Lu Bojing was confused. "His son had died? Then who is Jiang Chao?"
"His son from second marriage. He escaped abroad and married a local Chinese woman. No matter how hard the doctors tried, Jiang Shan couldn't completely get better. His legs couldn't properly heal. He was bedridden almost all the time and other times, he needed someone's help to walk around. Then a few years later, Chao was born. Jiang Shan's heart was ablaze with fury. He wanted revenge from Jiang Zemin as soon as possible. But he needed time to create an Underworld from scratch abroad and gain influence so that he could fight him. Getting that power alone took time."
At that time, Ruru was curiously staring at Qingqing.
Qingqing turned her head and looked back at him.
*Meow?*
Zhao Weisheng said, "As he kept gaining influence in New York, he also started to train his son. Jiang Shan wasn't physically fit, so in future, he definitely needed someone in-charge. But his wife was against all this. She didn't like how Jiang Shan operated. Naturally, she didn't want her son to be included in this mess. I took advantage of this and slowly brought Chao to my side. I told him everything about the Jiang family and all the horrible things they did. I convinced him that the ideologies they held about women or society were utterly preposterous and unjust. He should stand against his father, not support him."
Lihua widened her eyes. "Y-You did all that?"
"Yes. I wanted to protect my family the way I could, even if I was away from Xiuying and my children."
She cried. "Grandpa, you are so cool!"
"Cool?" He tilted his head. "I guess I am behind the times."
"Cool means that you are super awesome!"
Zhao Weisheng blinked his eyes and seemed to look embarrassed. "I see."
It wasn't too visible, but one could feel the flowers blooming around him in happiness. Lihua felt her heart skip beat. He looked just like Wei and Jiang Weizhe whenever they would be praised.
Oh God. Thank you so much for blessing this mortal world with such heavenly genes!
He coughed and continued. "In the end I won, and Chao refused to walk the path that Jiang Shan had laid for him. Their relationship had soured and became too tense. All his efforts went to waste, and then there was nobody to fight for him. Jiang Shan was absolutely enraged by my influence. But he didn't kill me because I was still a useful pawn for him. Chao ran away from home. He wanted to escape with his mother and me, but it couldn't happen. Then a few years later, Jiang Shan brought a four-year-old boy home."
"Jiang Zhen," she guessed.
"Yes. It was clear that Chao hid himself from hai father's control and had gotten married to a woman. Jiang Shan eventually discovered them and forcibly brought his son home to carry on with his revenge. And then, he never let me meet Jiang Zhan even once."
Lihua then understood. "I see. That's why they don't want Ruru to meet you. So that you don't influence him like you did to Jiang Chao."
"Yes. But Ruru sometimes sneaks away and if Jiang Zhen found out…" his gaze turned cold, "he would beat Ruru."
Lihua gnashed his jaw. "That monster! How dare he?"
"How dare I what, Song Lihua?"
They saw Jiang Zhen leaning near the door, his lips smiling an evil laughter.