By the time Xu Yanxia followed Lu Jingming to the entrance of the banquet hall, Feng Yiheng had already arrived.
Beside him, just as expected, was a middle-aged woman who appeared to be around the same age as Ms. Shen.
She wore a dark green knee-length silk dress with subtle patterns, paired with a moon-white long cardigan. Her long hair was loosely pinned into a low bun, adorned with a jade hairpin, exuding a profound oriental charm.
"Welcome, you two."
Lu Jingming led her forward to greet them. As they took a couple of steps closer, Xu Yanxia got a clearer look at the lady's face.
Her features were incredibly elegant, her makeup so exquisite it was almost imperceptible. She carried a natural aura that seemed gentle yet profoundly powerful.
To her surprise, however, the woman was much younger than she had imagined.
Logically speaking, given Feng Yiheng's age, this lady should be at least in her fifties. But looking at her firm skin, she appeared to be in her forties at most.
Furthermore, her eyes and brows...
...actually bore a striking resemblance to a certain face in her memory.
But that couldn't be right. This was Feng Yiheng's mother, the famous Mrs. Meyer, and her aura was completely different from the person in her memory.
...
"I apologize. My mother just flew in from Germany, so it took a bit of time."
While she was lost in her surprise, Feng Yiheng had already shaken hands with Lu Jingming and her, and began to introduce them.
"This is my mother."
"Mommy, this is Jingming and Xiaoxia."
Xiaoxia...
This clearly intimate form of address not only made Lu Jingming pause but also caused Xu Yanxia's heart to quietly tighten.
A completely baseless suspicion suddenly sprouted in her mind.
But she immediately told herself that it was impossible, because the timeline and ages didn't match up.
After all, Feng Yiheng was not only several years older than her, but also older than her brother, Xu Zhanpeng.
This Mrs. Meyer shouldn't have any connection to the person they had been searching for all this time.
Beside her, Lu Jingming was unaware of the turmoil in her heart. Although somewhat surprised by Feng Yiheng's familiar address, he politely took the initiative to greet the lady.
"Hello, Madam. I am Lu Jingming. My fiancée and I are deeply honored that you could attend our engagement dinner."
"Hello, Jingming."
The lady gave him a polite nod, but then shifted her gaze entirely onto Xu Yanxia.
With a complex look that seemed both joyful and sorrowful, she examined her from head to toe.
"Yaomei'er, you've grown so big!"
"???"
Hearing such a distinct southwestern dialect slip from her lips, Lu Jingming was stunned once again.
Xu Yanxia's heart clenched tightly.
Why... why was even this accent and this tone of voice exactly the same as that person from back then...
Immediately after, the woman said to her, "You are even prettier than you looked on the video! This dress truly looks beautiful on you!"
What?
Xu Yanxia frowned and immediately asked, "This dress... did you custom-order it for me?"
The lady neither confirmed nor denied it, but simply asked, "Where is your brother?"
This bizarre interaction finally made Lu Jingming, standing to the side, realize something was amiss.
Someone they were meeting for the very first time was suddenly speaking to his fiancée in a regional dialect and acting so incredibly familiar with her.
And now she was even asking about her brother?
Just then, Xu Yanxia spoke up and asked the woman, "Excuse me, Madam, I would like to ask you a question."
"Do you... know someone named Tang Biqiong?"
As soon as the words fell, the lady's brows furrowed, and her eyes quickly reddened with tears.
"Good child, do you still remember your mother?"
Mother...
Hearing this word, Lu Jingming froze, suddenly realizing a certain possibility...
And right at that moment, his parents, Chairman Lu and Ms. Shen, arrived nearby, leading Xu Yanxia's brother, Xu Zhanpeng, and her sister-in-law, Luo Jiajia.
After all, the Xu grandparents were getting on in years. Having already sat through the noon wedding banquet, they simply didn't have the energy to attend an evening party like this, so they had sent their grandson and granddaughter-in-law to act as the elders of Xu Yanxia's maiden family.
Right now, before Lu Jingming could even open his mouth to introduce them, Feng Yiheng raised his hand to point out Xu Zhanpeng's position and said to his mother, "Mommy, this is Zhanpeng."
Lu Jingming then looked over at his future brother-in-law, Xu Zhanpeng, only to see that as his gaze swept across the lady's face, he too gradually fell into a stunned daze.
Mrs. Meyer then looked Xu Zhanpeng up and down a few times, just as she had done with Xu Yanxia.
Then, with a trembling voice, she spoke to Xu Zhanpeng in that same dialect, "Yao'er, you've grown so big too? Do you still remember Mom?"
He watched as his own parents and Luo Jiajia were immediately plunged into shock, just as he had been a moment ago.
Xu Zhanpeng, however, asked her with a face full of disbelief, "What... did you say?"
With tears in her eyes, the lady said to the siblings, "I am your mother. I am Tang Biqiong."
What???
Everyone was frozen in shock. Only Xu Yanxia immediately shook her head and said, "That's impossible!"
She glanced at Feng Yiheng, then turned back to the woman claiming to be Tang Biqiong. "Aren't you his mother? He's even older than my brother. That's impossible!"
Yes, even though the features and tone of the person standing before her were increasingly overlapping with the person in her memory, it logically made no sense.
Their mother had only been twenty-two when she gave birth to her brother. It was impossible for her to have a son who was several years older than him!
However, as soon as she finished speaking, Feng Yiheng immediately told her, "Xiaoxia, I haven't had the chance to tell you yet, but Mommy married my father after she left you. She is my stepmother."
What?
This caused everyone to freeze in surprise once more.
Even Wen Jiajun, who was walking toward them, couldn't help but be startled.
To think their European colleagues had investigated for so long, yet completely failed to discover that Mrs. Meyer was Feng Yiheng's stepmother???
At the edge of their line of sight, Feng Yiheng went on to tell Xu Yanxia and her brother, Xu Zhanpeng, "Since I was little, Mommy often told me that I had a younger brother and sister in Qingcheng, and that was you two..."
Yet before he could finish his sentence, Xu Zhanpeng directly interrupted to ask Mrs. Meyer, "Excuse me, you're saying you are our mother?"
"You're still alive?"
And living... so well?
It wasn't as if he hadn't heard of her famous name.
Especially recently, with the two companies preparing to collaborate, the employees at the store had been gossiping about how glorious this Meyer was. Even if he didn't care, it was impossible for him not to know just how massive her business empire was.
With a face full of disbelief, he asked her, "Then why couldn't you come to see us even once in all these years?"
"We've been waiting for you, searching for you all this time! We... we thought you were already dead!!!"
"Yao'er,"
Mrs. Meyer immediately spoke up again, "I'm sorry. Mom had her own difficulties..."
However, before the words could be finished, Xu Zhanpeng, whose eyes were already red, turned to Lu Jingming and Chairman Lu and his wife. "I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Lu, Jingming," he said. "I need to step outside for a moment to calm down."
With that, he hurriedly walked out.
"Dapeng..."
Luo Jiajia called out to him from behind, immediately rushing out to chase after him.
