Xie Yanxun watched his wife and children’s little antics, and the smile at the corners of his mouth deepened several shades. Then he deliberately put on a wounded expression and cleared his throat twice.
“Everyone knows Mom is incredibly charming, but are the three of you really not even going to spare a glance for your dear old dad?”
“How heartbreaking~”
Xie Tangning immediately transformed into black-hearted cotton. “Dad, you already know the answer, so stop trying to compete for attention~”
Xie Changyu joined in, his loyalty slipping away. “Mm-hm! Dad, you’re very self-aware. Great job!”
Life was dull, so naturally they had to poke their dad right in the sore spot to liven things up!
Xie Yanxun: “…”
What kind of little brats were these? They were no longer wanted!
The old father’s heart was shattered. Then he turned toward Lu Huaiyu, who was also preparing to deliver a devastating remark, and, without giving him the chance, pulled him into a huge hug.
“The eldest is still the best~ Just look at this adorable little face—it clearly missed me terribly. Unlike those two unfilial brats!”
Lu Huaiyu: “…”
His father was being stubbornly prideful, but somehow a little adorable.
After thinking it over, Lu Huaiyu raised his arms and hugged him back, casually offering a couple of words of “comfort.”
“All right, all right. It’s a little embarrassing to do this in public. How about we go home first?”
Only then did Xie Yanxun let go. He casually ruffled Lu Huaiyu’s already slightly messy hair, his eyes and heart filled with affection.
There was nothing he could do about it. No matter how old their children grew, in their parents’ eyes, they would always be the tiny little kids they had once been.
One could only say that this father was wearing a filter 10,086 layers thick!
Lu Huaiyu lightly smacked his hand away in apparent disdain, then pulled out his phone and used it as a mirror while fixing his mussed-up hair.
His head could be chopped off, but his hairstyle could not be ruined!
Xie Yanxun’s teeth ached just looking at him. “Look at you, you little narcissist!”
Then, in the blink of an eye, he saw two other fuzzy little heads poking up in front of him, along with a pair of sparkling, starry eyes.
Xie Yanxun gave an arrogant snort. “Weren’t you two just rejecting your dad? Why are you suddenly coming over here now?”
“You came crawling back on your own, but now I don’t even want you anymore!”
Even so, his large hands had already landed on both their heads. He ruffled their hair while herding them toward the car.
The two younger children were instantly satisfied. Lu Huaiyu also pushed his mother toward the car.
…
When the family of five returned home, they discovered that all the elders except Grandma and Grandpa were there.
Chen Linmei and Xie Heng’an were still in Huacheng. The matter there had not yet been resolved, and someone still needed to remain in charge.
The company’s founders, Chen Linmei and Xie Heng’an, were both over seventy.
They were the most suitable candidates. After all, their seventies were the perfect age for adventure.
The three siblings greeted the three elders in a spectacular three-minute burst of enthusiasm before curling up on the sofa, eating ice cream bars, and enjoying the air-conditioning.
The three of them looked so languid that they were irritating no matter how one looked at them!
Especially Lu Wenhua. The moment he saw the culprits who had forced the elderly to keep working, his blood pressure shot up.
“Our Chairman Lu still has the leisure to sit around enjoying himself? Aren’t you planning to deal with all the wild rumors that have been circulating online for days?”
Lu Huaiyu lazily glanced at him. With a strawberry-flavored ice cream bar in his mouth, he answered indistinctly, “Exactly! How do you have the nerve to say that?”
“Everything is in your favor now—the timing, the circumstances, the people. Why aren’t you handling it? What are you waiting for?”
Lu Wenhua: “…”
“You really are the most filial grandson ever. Which one of us is the chairman, anyway?”
Lu Huaiyu had always been an expert at infuriating his grandfather. He remained completely calm. “Me, of course! But if you want to be chairman, that works too!”
“Or you can let Xie Xiaoning take over! She has plenty of shares in her hands anyway. With me backing her, I guarantee that once she graduates, she’ll win the board’s unanimous approval and successfully take the position!”
Xie Tangning rolled her eyes and rejected the idea outright. “No way~ I’m going to become the greatest biochemical scientist in the world!”
“I don’t want to be the chief wage slave of some company!”
She possessed astonishing talent and a deep interest in biology and chemistry. Otherwise, she would never have had her own laboratory at such a young age.
Not that there was anything unusual about it—she simply enjoyed researching strange and unusual things.
She had already achieved results, too. Although most of the time she was the one who proposed the theories, it was her elder brother who found teams to help her complete the projects.
Those were still genuine achievements, and after the profits from her research were divided through multiple rounds of distribution, the money had already been deposited into her personal account.
However, Lu Qiwu knew all too well how chuunibyou his daughter could be. He was afraid that she might get carried away and impulsively pour money into buying schools or research institutions.
So he had simply established a separate trust company for Xie Tangning. All the child’s personal assets were managed by professionals.
The trust company would not be handed over to Xie Tangning until she graduated from high school.
Hearing his sister’s refusal, Lu Huaiyu flopped backward onto the sofa like a salted fish without even lifting his eyelids.
“Then Grandpa can do it!”
Lu Wenhua was practically laughing from anger. That brat was truly willing to do anything to avoid work.
Qi Rou sat beside Xie Tangning, letting the girl play with her hand. Watching her husband get the worst of it, she could not help smiling.
“I told you ages ago that this boy would use the opportunity to slack off, but you refused to believe me! He’s been an unfilial son and grandson for years. How could you still not see through him?”
Lu Wenhua tried to make one last desperate struggle. He turned his gaze toward Xie Changyu, thinking that if the eldest refused to do anything, there was still a second son who could be made into the scapegoat.
Xie Changyu sensed the old man’s gaze and did not even raise his eyelids.
“Grandpa, I suggest you give up on that idea!”
“If you don’t want our family’s company to end up like Louis XVI, then hurry up and go to work!”
“Your seventies are the perfect age for adventure. Go on, my handsome grandpa!”
Xie Changyu had a very clear understanding of himself. He did not possess the talent to manage a company. He was more interested in aerospace physics.
After spending a little more time fooling around in show business, he would join his mentor’s research team and begin working on projects.
The corner of Lu Wenhua’s mouth twitched. He glared at him in annoyance.
“Hmph! You’re pretty self-aware, aren’t you?”
Xie Changyu replied at lightning speed, “Thank you! I know I’m very outstanding!”
Lu Wenhua was speechless.
He had no idea what to do with them anymore. Was that supposed to be praise? He was insulting the boy for having no brains!
How could someone so old still not tell whether people were speaking kindly or sarcastically?
Qi Rou watched the Old Demon Pill get driven to the point of hopping mad by the three little devils, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously lifted.
A man like her husband, an Old Demon Pill himself, deserved to be properly dealt with by the three little devils at home. It was called karma.
It definitely wasn’t because she enjoyed watching the drama!
Lu Wenhua did not miss the amusement in his wife’s eyes. His flair for drama immediately took over.
“Oh~ How truly—mmph!”
Before the Little Old Man could finish his dramatic lament, his good eldest grandson stuffed a piece of apple into his mouth. He began chewing automatically.
His entire speech of bitter grievances was blocked off. Lu Huaiyu tossed the finished ice cream stick into the trash can and wore an increasingly pixelated grin.
“Grandpa, accept your fate! The time has come. Release all the evidence proving that Yisen manipulated public opinion through domestic entertainment companies and hired thugs to deliberately cause harm!”
Those rumors, which have been spread with such convincing detail, should finally come to an end.
“But I just got back from recording the show. I’ve been working more than ten hours a day for five days straight—Grandpa, don’t you feel sorry for me?”
