To Xia Xiaolan’s surprise, Song Minglan reported that Zhu Suizhou had almost immediately accepted the invitation to return to Asia Department Store.
Xia Xiaolan found it strange, and Song Minglan sighed: “My aunt abandoned her daughter and went to Japan. Zhu Suizhou wants to provide a more stable living environment for his child.”
Society had taught him lessons about impulsiveness and arrogance; Zhu Suizhou had indeed matured.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t find work elsewhere—after all his ventures, he still had emotional ties to Asia Department Store. Thinking about the career he had originally left his government position for, it felt like returning to his original aspirations… Though it was somewhat awkward—previously he was “President Zhu,” with seasoned veterans like Huang Guoqiang being his sycophants. Now returning to Asia, Huang Guoqiang had become “President Xia’s” sycophant and would surely be hypercritical of Zhu Suizhou.
Xia Xiaolan almost laughed thinking about that scene—old foxes had their uses, and Guoqiang was quite a character.
Thinking of Huang Guoqiang reminded her of another person she had put to good use—Luo Yaozong.
Over these two years, Qihang Real Estate had expanded from Pengcheng to Qiong Island, and now from Qiong Island to Shanghai. The security team had been upgraded to a Security Department, with Luo Yaozong becoming the department head, realizing his dream of becoming a “manager”—because he had risked his life to protect Liu Fen, Xia Xiaolan had rewarded and encouraged such behavior by sending him for a year of full-time study before promoting him to manager.
The former coward had transformed completely, looking quite elite in a suit.
The polished Manager Luo could now intimidate people. Backed by the large Qihang company, during the training period Xia Xiaolan sent him to, he began dating the daughter of a Hong Kong watch shop owner. They married successfully last year, with the shop owner gifting them an apartment and a car, quite valuing Luo Yaozong as a son-in-law.
It seemed the father-in-law wanted to groom Luo Yaozong as his successor, but Luo Yaozong, driving the car his father-in-law gave him, complained that the watch shop was too small and declined… Young man, watch shop owners in Hong Kong were either wealthy or at least well-off—your ambitions were too wild to think their business too small!
Luo Yaozong even used this to show his loyalty to Xia Xiaolan:
“President Xia, in life I belong to Qihang, in death I’ll be Qihang’s ghost!”
This gave Xia Xiaolan goosebumps. Get lost—what would she do with a ghost, have it float around inspecting construction sites?!
But Xia Xiaolan was quite proud.
She was truly contributing to society—another wastrel had been reformed!
This proved that regardless of gender, as long as one strived on the right path, they would get what they deserved. With career success came the confidence to walk with head held high, and a confident person always had a better chance of finding the right love.
Six months after Zhou Cheng finished his advanced studies, Xia Xiaolan also completed her further education at Huaqing and could take the twins to reunite with Zhou Cheng in Qiong Island.
However, she still needed to travel frequently for work.
In late 1993, Hong Kong media broke big news—Shengring Group’s Chairman Du Zhaohui had become a father, with twins—a boy and a girl—whose birth was only revealed at their one-month celebration.
So the question arose: if Du Zhaohui was the father, who was the mother?
When had Chairman Du secretly married?
Hong Kong media constantly stalked Ye Jiawen, who had been rumored to be Du Zhaohui’s girlfriend for several years.
Ye Jiawen didn’t dare claim to be the children’s mother. After getting Du Zhaohui’s permission, she publicly clarified their rumored relationship:
“Chairman Du and I are just friends.”
“We never dated, absolutely never!”
“Want to marry into a wealthy family? I think career is more important; romance will come naturally.”
“I don’t think Chairman Du needs a secret marriage. As for who the children’s mother is, you’d need to ask Chairman Du…”
Ye Jiawen was TVB’s hottest leading actress, focusing solely on acting these years. Being labeled as Du Zhaohui’s rumored girlfriend had helped her avoid many troublesome situations.
But now this label had to go—Du Zhaohui didn’t want the media mistaking her for the children’s mother.
Within days, Du Zhaohui issued a statement saying he had dated the children’s mother but they weren’t suitable for marriage. After discussion, she gave birth to the children and they amicably separated, with him raising both children.
This matched Du Zhaohui’s character perfectly—the former playboy wouldn’t easily step into marriage!
Du Zhaohui wasn’t particularly secretive; while one story was told publicly, the truth about his IVF journey circulated in small circles. Even Tang Yuanyue didn’t know what to say when he heard the news.
After marrying He Zhitong, Tang Yuanyue took several years to adjust. This year, with He Zhitong not getting any younger and repeated pressure to have children, Tang Yuanyue finally decided to have a child.
Tang Yuanyue had previously advised Du Zhaohui to compromise for an “heir” by choosing a woman of equal social status for marriage. Who knew Du Zhaohui would make such an outrageous move—while He Zhitong was only five months pregnant, Du Zhaohui’s IVF twins were already celebrating their first month… Well, this was very Du Zhaohui indeed.
Tang Yuanyue rather envied Du Zhaohui for living so freely!
Xia Xiaolan hadn’t expected Du Zhaohui to be so trendy either.
She had learned about it earlier than the media, getting the news when Du Zhaohui brought the children back to Hong Kong from abroad.
The story about dating, personality differences, amicable separation, and single parenting was too far-fetched—Xia Xiaolan didn’t believe a word. Du Zhaohui didn’t try to fool her either, even promoting the benefits of IVF to her:
“If you want more children in the future, do it this way. It won’t interfere with anything else!”
“…Thank you very much.”
Why have so many children? Xia Xiaolan was already worried about how to educate her two sons.
But Du the dog was truly trendy. At least in this matter, she was more traditional, while Du Zhaohui seemed like a reincarnated soul without taboos.
Du Zhaohui also had a heart-to-heart with Xia Xiaolan, saying that now that he had heirs, he could continue living freely, and asked when she would make another big business move.
Xia Xiaolan couldn’t help but laugh:
“Shanghai! Shanghai has investment value. I don’t believe Shengring Group hasn’t made any moves there.”
Du Zhaohui truly didn’t need her guidance anymore.
Of course, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t opposed to future collaboration… or rather, her cooperation with Du Zhaohui had never really stopped—they were still the largest and second-largest shareholders of Qihang Capital.
Du Zhaohui hung up the phone to check on his children.
While Xia Xiaolan insisted on caring for her children personally to spend more time with them, Du Zhaohui had a completely different parenting style. He hired several nannies to provide meticulous care for the children, ensuring they would appear clean and fresh whenever he came to see them.
Preparing formula, changing diapers?
Du Zhaohui would never do such things, and he believed Tang Yuanyue wouldn’t do them in the future either!
In the luxurious room with luxurious cribs, Du Zhaohui observed for a while, sent all the nannies away, ignored his son, and carefully poked his daughter’s cheek:
“Your mother was a natural beauty who never had plastic surgery. You’ll be beautiful when you grow up, right?”
“You must be beautiful, study well, and be smart. If you’re too ugly, I’ll throw you away!”
Must not become useless like He Zhitong or Lu Yunshi.
Must become a capable woman.
He would raise both his son and daughter the same way—whoever showed capability would inherit the Du family!
If neither proved capable, it wouldn’t be his fault but the egg donor’s poor genes… No matter, if he could do IVF once, he could do it a second time, a third time.