Yesterday afternoon, Gu Huaizheng had called the Gu family and told them news no less shocking than a bolt from the blue—
He was married.
To Lü Rong.
Old Madam Gu, Gu Shuanghua, was so furious on the spot that her heart condition flared up. Only after taking several fast-acting heart pills did she barely manage to bring her wildly racing pulse down.
Listening to Gu Huaizheng's voice over the phone, she closed her eyes, her tone resolute and icy.
“I will never acknowledge this male daughter-in-law. Give up on that idea! Even if the sky falls, I will never agree to let Lü Rong's name enter our Gu family genealogy!”
Gu Shuanghua hung up and pressed a hand to her aching temple, her chest rising and falling violently.
She was beside herself with rage, her head hurting so badly that she had no choice but to rest and recover for a while.
By the time Gu Shuanghua woke up, she discovered that Lü Rong had already entered the Gu household.
Gu Shuanghua was meticulous in everything she did. Angry though she was, she still made herself neat and tidy, coiled her hair into a bun, and went to find Lü Rong with a stern expression.
She sat upright in the pavilion with an imposing bearing and repeated the same argument as always.
“Our Gu family has a hundred years of heritage, and never once has a male daughter-in-law appeared in our genealogy. I advise you to make a clean break with Huaizheng as soon as possible. Otherwise, don't blame me for being merciless toward you!”
Gu Shuanghua had been raised by her grandmother from childhood, so naturally she had inherited the older generation's stubborn, feudal-minded temperament.
Her grandmother had been a young lady from an eminent family during the Republican era. When her grandmother first began her schooling as a child, the tutor hired for her had even been a locally renowned scholar who had passed the imperial civil-service examination.
Later, as the political situation became chaotic, the Gu family line was almost wiped out. After all the twists of fate, only the infant Gu Shuanghua and her grandmother remained.
When Gu Shuanghua grew up, her grandmother arranged for a man to marry into the Gu family and told her that she absolutely had to preserve the Gu bloodline and protect the Gu family's holdings.
Gu Shuanghua kept her grandmother's dying instructions firmly in mind. All her life, she took the revival of the Gu family as her duty. She fought forward against the currents of changing times and, through her own strength, gathered shares in countless businesses large and small.
Today, the Gu family's holdings had grown so vast that professional agents and consultants had to be hired to manage them, while the categories of businesses under the group were too numerous to count.
All of this was inseparable from Gu Shuanghua's decisive and forceful methods.
In recent years, as Gu Shuanghua grew older and felt her energy failing, she gradually loosened her grip, withdrew behind the scenes, and focused on recuperation.
But Gu Shuanghua never imagined that not long after her son Gu Huaizheng entered the company, he would come home with a boyfriend!
A homosexual had actually appeared in her Gu family!
Gu Shuanghua did not even dare imagine how, after she died, she would have the face to meet the Gu ancestors!
She, Gu Shuanghua, had worked diligently all her life, managing everything for the Gu family and conscientiously tending the family business, all so that when she went underground one day, she could stand straight-backed before the Gu elders.
Although she had once been the only member of the Gu family left, she had not allowed the family to decline. She had still upheld the household and its name!
But her son was gay, and her daughter was a career-obsessed believer in never marrying. Wouldn't the Gu family line end with this generation?!
Gu Shuanghua was so furious that she felt mentally and physically exhausted, so naturally she had no pleasant expression to spare for Lü Rong.
“What the two of you are doing goes against the natural order. A relationship between two men will never end well.”
Lü Rong had heard Gu Shuanghua say the same thing several years ago. Back then he had been young and hot-blooded, passionately in love with Gu Huaizheng and hopelessly immersed in it, so he had immediately argued back.
Only a few years had passed. Hearing the words again, Lü Rong still disagreed, but he could no longer be bothered to refute them.
As the two confronted each other in silence, Chacha wandered in. He tipped his little head up, looked left and right, and asked softly,
“What are you talking about?”
Chacha was beautiful, inheriting Daddy's fair skin and pale tea-colored eyes. Standing there obediently with fluffy hair, he looked like a little tea-colored cake that had somehow gained life.
He had a soft temperament and wasn't particularly afraid of strangers. His voice always carried a sweet little smile.
At a glance, anyone could tell he was a very good and thoughtful little cub.
Chacha had never met the old lady in front of him, so he politely greeted her.
“Hello, Grandma.”
Gu Shuanghua lowered her head to look at Chacha and frowned.
How had Lü Rong taught this child? Why did he call someone “Grandma” the instant he met her?
Still, the child did look quite well-behaved.
Gu Shuanghua felt as though a lump of anger were lodged in her chest, impossible to spit out or swallow, making her unbearably uncomfortable.
She truly could not bring herself to respond to that “Grandma.” Unable to get past the barrier in her own heart, Gu Shuanghua could only turn her head away and pretend she hadn't heard.
Maintaining her cold expression, Gu Shuanghua stood and left behind the words, “Think it over carefully yourself,” then returned upstairs to the villa in a troubled mood to rest.
Seeing the grandmother leave, Chacha scratched his little cheek in puzzlement for a moment. Then his stomach rumbled again, leaving him no attention for anything else.
Chacha shook Daddy's hand, eyes curved in a smile.
“Daddy, it's time to eat.”
Lü Rong also couldn't understand why Gu Shuanghua had left so easily. He had thought she would be like she was in the past, refusing to stop making trouble until he left.
Utterly confused, Lü Rong temporarily threw aside the mess of thoughts and took hungry Chacha to the dining room for breakfast.
***
Breakfast at the Gu household was exquisite and abundant. They could even order on the spot and have the chef make something fresh.
Although Lü Rong and Gu Shuanghua had quarreled unpleasantly, the Gu family's chef was only an employee who kept out of matters that didn't concern him. He still conscientiously prepared a nutritious breakfast.
Chacha ate translucent soup dumplings he had never seen before, drank red-date porridge meant to nourish qi and blood, and was then caught by Daddy by the little bib over his chest and forcibly fed nearly half a bowl of milk.
Chacha not only disliked drinking water; he also disliked drinks such as milk, cola, and orange juice.
He was a little tea seedling. If you poured too many beverages into him, he would definitely die.
Chacha might have been young, but he had his own internally airtight logic.
Once he was full, Chacha slumped in his high chair and let Daddy's big hand gently rub his rounded belly, making pleased little purring noises.
“Daddy, rub the cub's left side.” Chacha was so comfortable from the rubbing that he couldn't even move a finger.
Amused, Lü Rong tapped Chacha lightly on the head, laughter filling his eyes.
“Let's rub our Chacha's tummy so you digest faster and grow up early into an outstanding, healthy little baby.”
Chacha nodded drowsily. Daddy's rubbing was so comfortable that he nearly closed his eyes and fell asleep again.
Suddenly remembering something, Chacha fought off his drowsiness, opened his eyes, and asked,
“Daddy, when are you bringing the other daddy to keep Chacha company?”
Daddy was very busy and had to go out to work and earn money to support Chacha, so he couldn't take care of Chacha every minute of every day.
Sometimes when Chacha was home alone and missed Daddy, he couldn't help dropping little pearl-like tears. He would bury his head on the sofa and pretend he was a stubborn little tea seedling growing on a mountaintop, facing wind and rain without fearing the cold.
A little tea plant was very strong and didn't need Daddy's company at all!
But once Lü Rong came home, Chacha would burrow into Daddy's arms all aggrieved and clingy, becoming a cub who didn't keep his own word.
Sometimes a little tea plant still needed Daddy's company.
That was why Chacha very much looked forward to Daddy hurrying up and cloning and cultivating another “Daddy.”
Hearing Chacha ask this, Lü Rong lowered his eyes, fell silent for a moment, then sighed.
“Tonight, I suppose.”
Gu Huaizheng had not yet finished discussing his business cooperation in Z City. The earliest he could return to the Gu family home would be tonight.
Chacha expressed his understanding, patted Daddy on the shoulder, and said considerately,
“Daddy, don't tire yourself out too much either.”
Propagating another “tea plant” from a cutting wasn't an easy thing to do, and a second Daddy copied from a branch was not as important as the real Daddy anyway.
Those words moved old father Lü Rong beyond measure.
He couldn't resist kissing Chacha's soft little cheeks and rubbing his fluffy hair. In an instant, more than half his health bar seemed restored.
After breakfast, Chacha changed into a pale green shirt and shorts, slipped on little sandals, and walked circles outside the villa to help digest his meal.
The Gu family had three live-in nannies, but the villa was spacious and the aunties each had their own areas to clean, so father and son rarely ran into anyone else.
Following the bluestone path outside the villa, Chacha explored and investigated his new home's surroundings.
Holding Daddy's hand, he asked many questions like a curious little baby.
“Daddy, are we going to live here from now on?”
“There's such a big garden here! Can Chacha be planted here and raised in it later?”
Chacha crouched beside the garden and touched the reddish-brown soil, tinged with black, with his little hand. His small eyes glittered brightly.
The soil here was so good. Chacha could tell just by touching it that it was very suitable for planting little tea plants.
Lü Rong thought Chacha wanted to grow some flowers or plants here. After hesitating, he said uncertainly,
“I think Mrs. Gu takes care of this garden. Mrs. Gu doesn't like me, so Chacha probably won't be able to plant anything here.”
Hearing this, even the strands of hair sticking up on Chacha's head seemed to wilt. He pressed his lips tightly together and only after a long while said,
“How could anyone not like Daddy?”
Chacha's little head couldn't understand it at all.
In Chacha's eyes, although Daddy didn't have slender green branches and leaves, couldn't give off a delicate tea fragrance, and didn't like planting Chacha in the soil to raise him,
Daddy still smelled wonderfully warm, was tall and gentle, and was simply the most, most beautiful person in the entire world!
Although Chacha wanted very, very much to grow tea leaves, if he could look as beautiful as Daddy when he grew up, then being human didn't seem quite so hard to accept either.
That was why Chacha couldn't understand how anyone in the world could dislike Daddy.
It was just like some time ago, when Chacha first learned that there were actually people in the world who didn't like tea leaves. That had shocked the tea out of him too.
A trace of bitterness entered Lü Rong's smile. He rubbed Chacha's head.
“It's all right. If Chacha wants to grow some plants, Daddy can buy Chacha another little flowerpot.”
The last flowerpot had been too heavy, and because this move was so far away, they hadn't brought it with them.
Chacha gave a tiny sigh and obediently nodded.
“Okay.”
Lü Rong received a work call and temporarily left to answer it somewhere a little farther away.
Chacha continued crouching beside the little garden, cupping his face and tilting his small head as he looked at the plants growing there.
He was staring into space, who knew what his little mind was thinking, when he suddenly heard a voice. Startled back to himself, he accidentally fell backward onto his bottom.
“Hey, brat, how old are you? You can't even stand steady.”
There was a trace of arrogance in the words; just from the sound, it was obvious the speaker had a difficult temper.
Chacha lifted his head. His tea-crystal eyes went round as he stared without blinking at the teenager who had walked into the villa garden—