Tang Hongen was quite surprised to see Ji Ya here.

At this moment, he had no intention of showing off – he simply didn’t want to see people who would affect his mood. He’d already said before that where there were people with the surname Ji, he wouldn’t be present, so he didn’t plan to greet them.

Liu Fen gently tugged at his sleeve. Tang Hongen handed the luggage to Xia Xiaolan but still called out to his son: “Jiangyuan, come here for a moment.”

Ji Jiangyuan was somewhat startled by the attention. When Tang Hongen tried to repair their father-son relationship, Ji Jiangyuan didn’t feel much and even avoided him. Once Tang Hongen began ignoring him, Ji Jiangyuan felt uncomfortable. Since the wedding banquet, this was the first time Tang Hongen had initiated a conversation with him.

Ji Jiangyuan called out “Dad,” and Tang Hongen’s expression grew increasingly gentle: “This is your Aunt Liu. You knew her before, but I want to formally introduce her again. Aunt Liu and I are now legally married. I’m not asking you to start calling her Mom, but please show her more respect.”

Ji Jiangyuan’s first instinct was to look at his birth mother. This news was too sudden. There hadn’t been any warning – they’d quietly gotten married. Of course, he and Tang Hongen weren’t close enough to keep in regular contact, so Tang Hongen hadn’t had the chance to notify him even if he wanted to.

Ji Jiangyuan suppressed his impulse. After a brief moment of shock, he accepted this reality. While the sudden news was surprising, thinking calmly, Tang Hongen and Liu Fen had been together for some time, so marriage wasn’t strange. After all, most people’s ultimate goal in dating was marriage and building a family, not just enjoying the dating process like his mother did!

“Congratulations!” Ji Jiangyuan accepted it quickly. “I’ve always respected Aunt Liu as an elder, even if you weren’t together, she’s still Xiaolan’s mother.”

So, he and Xia Xiaolan had become step-siblings? This day had come, and Ji Jiangyuan felt somewhat strange about it.

Tang Hongen’s expression grew even warmer. Though Jiangyuan wasn’t close to him, he was a reasonable child.

“You’re going to Pengcheng? Be careful on your way.”

Tang Hongen thought for a moment and gave Ji Jiangyuan a box of wedding candy.

He was giving out wedding candy to everyone he met now – it seemed the only way to express his happiness.

As for Ji Ya? Tang Hongen hadn’t looked at her once from start to finish. Someone as clever as Tang Hongen certainly had survival instincts. The past had vanished like smoke; he needed to cherish the present. In front of Ah-Fen, there was nothing to discuss with Ji Ya.

Xia Xiaolan, pulling the luggage cart, wanted to give a thumbs-up to her newly minted stepfather after seeing Ji Ya’s expression. She laughed in the backseat, while Liu Fen turned from the passenger seat and shook her head disapprovingly.

Liu Fen had also seen Ji Ya’s expression. She was more peaceful about it than Xia Xiaolan. It wasn’t that she suddenly didn’t dislike Ji Ya – the woman had looked down on her from the start and bullied her daughter. Rather, Liu Fen wanted to win against Ji Ya in other ways, to prevent Ji Ya from remaining arrogant. She didn’t consider successfully marrying Tang Hongen as winning. Liu Fen hadn’t thought that far – after all, Ji Ya had initiated the divorce, and Ji Ya didn’t lack male attention… Liu Fen didn’t know that Ji Ya had once approached Tang Hongen about reconciliation.

“Uncle Tang, is it alright if we have hotpot at home tonight?”

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t changed to calling him Dad – she was used to calling him Uncle, and at her age, changing would be strange.

Tang Hongen didn’t mind these forms of address. He knew whether Xia Xiaolan respected him or not. His relationship with her was both that of an elder and a friend – Uncle was fine.

“Hotpot sounds perfect. What’s not to like? I brought plenty of wedding candy in my suitcase. When we get home, we’ll distribute it to the neighbors.”

They couldn’t just quietly marry Liu Fen. It wouldn’t be good if people gossiped about him occasionally staying at the Shichahai house.

Giving out wedding candy was a way of announcing their marriage, telling the neighbors they were legally married.

This would stop people from trying to introduce matches to Ah-Fen.

And they wouldn’t have to worry about people like Captain Ma showing attention to Ah-Fen.

Show more attention? As her legally registered husband, it was his right to chase away such pursuers!

He glanced at Xia Xiaolan in the rearview mirror: “I asked you not to go to Pengcheng because I want to take you and your mother to meet some people. Tomorrow, or the day after – it’ll be in these two days. Having you there will help your mother feel less nervous.”

…

After the three left, Ji Ya and Ji Jiangyuan remained at the airport waiting for their flight.

One second Ji Ya had been mentally cursing Liu Fen, the next second Tang Hongen had forcefully slapped her face with reality.

They were legally married!

He’d even given Ji Jiangyuan wedding candy!

And told Ji Jiangyuan to respect Liu Fen in the future… That village woman, what right did she have?

Ji Ya was so angry her mind went blank.

It wasn’t that she didn’t dare throw a fit in front of Tang Hongen – she just didn’t want Liu Fen and Xia Xiaolan to laugh at her. She held it in until they left before exploding.

She snatched the wedding candy box from Ji Jiangyuan’s hand and threw it on the ground, stomping on it seven or eight times without satisfaction.

“So what if they’re married? She just picked up a man I didn’t want anymore. What’s there to show off about?”

Was Liu Fen showing off?

From start to finish, Ji Jiangyuan had only sensed that woman’s embarrassment.

She had remained gentle and modest throughout.

Such a woman must be very comfortable to be around. Ji Jiangyuan could understand why his father chose Liu Fen.

In comparison, though Ji Ya was his birth mother if Ji Jiangyuan were one of her boyfriends, he couldn’t stand being with her for even a day.

“Regardless of who’s right or wrong, things have reached this point. Do you want to keep making trouble? Uncle George is a good person. If you don’t want to stay in China and want to return to America with him, it shouldn’t be a problem now.”

The travel restriction order should have been lifted long ago. Ji Jiangyuan could tell it had been his father’s angry decision.

Even if his mother returned to America now, Ji Jiangyuan wouldn’t go with her. The golf course project was underway, and he wouldn’t leave it unfinished.

After crushing all the wedding candy, Ji Ya clutched her handbag and sneered: “Why should I go back to America? Skulking back there like a beaten dog at a time like this? Your Uncle George won’t leave either – we both have our careers in China!”

Their careers?

Setting aside George, Ji Jiangyuan felt his mother’s so-called career was just about opposing Xia Xiaolan.

She had directed all her resentment toward his father and Liu Fen at Xia Xiaolan… But in the end, would the result be what his mother wanted?

Ji Jiangyuan couldn’t untangle this deadlock at all.

Mother and son didn’t speak further. Ji Jiangyuan had things on his mind, while Ji Ya’s emotions surged.

Married! Tang Hongen had married that country woman! He didn’t mind that she was from the countryside, had been married before, and had a daughter. Did he not care at all about the negative opinions this marriage would bring him?

Hah, that woman.

Did she know what to say in different situations?

Did she know which things she could agree to and which she must refuse?

What qualifications did she have to be a mayor’s wife?!