Weimin excused and departed from the place when someone greeted him, leaving Xiulan with Delun.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr..." Xiulan politely made a handshake with him.
"Tang Delun. Weimin and I share the same age. Please address me by my name." He said while parting their hands.
Xiulan and Weimin first met in the name of a marriage arrangement. So they compromised to be informal with each other although she was younger than him by four years. According to him, Delun was also older than her. So she respectfully spoke to him before. Since Delun insisted, she would gladly comply.
"Then when I greet you outside, you can't ignore me." She beamed and frantically played a joke.
He chuckled and replied with a wink teasingly. "I don't give a cold shoulder to a beautiful girl."
His smile dissipated all of a sudden when he saw someone approaching their conversation.
She inquisitively glanced in the direction he was looking and she abruptly called out, "Quan, only now can I see you. Where are you lurking around?"
"I have a tournament to participate in. I came here right after it."
"How was it? Did you win hands down?" Xiulan put her palm up in the air.
"Exactly!" Quan high-fived her palm lightly. "My late-night gaming time isn't a waste."
Delun welcomed him by leaving there with a sarcastic smile on his face. He didn't even say goodbye to her.
Xiulan and Quan chattered about this and that for a while before the party wrapped up.
On their way home, Xiulan suddenly recalled the business deals. Her father hadn't informed her about how it concluded. "Dad, how are the deals? Does it work out well?"
Guangxi in the front passenger seat was resting with his eyes closed. "The negotiation went quite smoothly. It is just that a yard in Easter Road is left out of the deal."
Xiulan furrowed her brow a little because she felt confused, "Haven't we prepared every material necessary to build a new restaurant there?"
Her father opened his eyes to concentrate on talking to his daughter, "Yeah. We need to find another place now. I can't imagine why Chairman Tang got it off the deal. It is profitable to both of us."
"Quan spilled the beans that his oldest brother demanded land in exchange for the information regarding Hualing's incident. Perhaps it is that yard." She drew out some facts from Quan earlier regarding Weimin's distraction.
Guangxi nodded in agreement, "It is possible. Seems like Chairman Tang doesn't have a say in this trade."
Xiulan's eyes became wide. She had always regarded Grandpa Tang as the epitome of being powerful and authoritative. It bewildered her to view him as a helpless old man.
"But why would their so-called brother make a deal like that? Innocent people like Hualing and Weimin are involved and he doesn't even blink an eye. What a greedy businessman! Only care about the benefits he'll get." Xiulan frustratedly slipped out of her thoughts.
In the driver's seat was Zhang Shaiming. He shouted at his big sister in disdain. "Don't spout nonsense! You don't even know the whole truth."
Xiulan retorted back quickly. "Please, shut up and focus on driving. I haven't even had a boyfriend yet. I don't wish to die too young and innocent."
Hate to give her brother the time to respond, she muttered without taking a breath in between, "Dad, do you know their oldest brother?"
The parents were accustomed to the two younger siblings' bickering and busy relaxing in their own seats.
Zhang Guangxi was dozing off before he came around and answered, "I don't know much about him. All I know is his past."
"What is it? Is that concerned with Grandpa Tang's son?" Xiulan had long been curious about Tang Boqin and what happened in the past.
Her father elaborated bit by bit. "About twelve years ago, there was an alleged r*pe case of Tang Boqin. He was beaten up violently by the family of the victim and urgently admitted to the hospital. He underwent a living-donor kidney transplant and there the oldest son came into the picture. Apparently, he was the only donor compatible and available in a short amount of time. He is an illegitimate son of Tang Boqin and the rumor has it that his mother is a barmaid. After she was impregnated, both mother and an unborn baby were forcefully driven out of the country. They disappeared together with the incident that happened to them. Back then, the Tang family concealed the truth and had Tang Boqin married to a daughter of a prestigious family who was Weimin's mother. But they all are public opinions, nothing is officially verified."
Guangxi added in detail,
"There are also unconfirmed facts about the oldest son. The words spread rapidly after Tang Boqin had reportedly engaged in the corruption with the two women, i.e. the r**e victim, and the barmaid. And as a consequence, Weimin's parents got divorced and they lost his mother's family's backing. All in all, it led to the collapse of the Tang enterprise. A progressive deterioration was halted out of the blue after about a year of plummeting down. The cessation was reputedly caused by the intervention of the oldest son."
Xiulan ingested all the new information attentively. No wonder Grandpa Tang hated his own son so much. He made a barmaid pregnant, then he married another woman. He wasn't still satisfied and raped a girl. She recalled how disgusted Grandpa Tang got when he mentioned his own son. Particularly when he cherished and was so proud of his own establishment.
"According to Quan's disclosure, he found out something that even Weimin couldn't. It seems like he is taking part in making decisions for the Tang enterprise too. Indeed there's always some reason for a rumor to spread." Zhang Guangxi remarked at last.
"It was indeed unfortunate of him. But if he is that impressive, why doesn't he help Weimin in the first place? He is his half-brother and he didn't do anything wrong to his mother and him. Now what, tit for tat? Two wrongs don't make a right!" Xiulan was speechless upon the unreasonable man. All she could think about was her friend's case to settle as soon as possible and find out about the perpetrators.
Shaiming couldn't help but howl back, "How many times do I have to remind you? Stop poking your nose in other people's business. Instead, look in the mirror first and do something that could improve your indolent life."
"Don't throw stones at me. The jury isn't out yet! You are so protective of him. Perhaps is he your lover?" She folded her arms with one side of her mouth raised.
"You are right. I love him so much. So don't slander my lover!" He yelled with an annoying fish-eating grin.
"Are you acquainted with him in some way?" Cai Roumei spoke out cautiously. She was obviously uncomfortable with the topic regarding the past. However, the others were so absorbed in the conversation that they failed to notice the change in her expression.
Her son unhurriedly answered, "Of course not! I am just kidding her."
Cai Roumei sighed in relief and softly said, "Shaiming, focus on what you're doing."
Xiulan didn't let a chance slip away, "Did you hear it? Stop sticking your ugly nose around. You are a nuisance!"
"You hold your tongue too!" Cai Roumei felt suffocated and put down a car window on her side and let the air in.
When they got back home, Xiulan checked her phone to see if Hualing had replied. She saw her acceptance and the time of their appointment. It was in the afternoon because Hualing had something to attend to in the evening.
While reminiscing the moment with Jianyu, she printed out the picture of a maple leave she found on the internet. Then, she had an empty piece of paper superimposed on it to outline the drawing and painted it red, orange, and yellow randomly on the leaves before having a brown block on the left side of the paper, which she denoted as a tree trunk. The photo she took with her phone when he left her at the riverbank, which captured his back, was printed out on the film to stick in a corner of the painting. She cheekily smiled while putting her hands out to see it from afar. This looked perfect!