NOVPUBPolitely, Caishen approached the table and greeted chairman Tai and his wife, the two people that were now considered his parents in-law.
They responded politely as well with auntie Mo adding an extra smile to show the great mood she was in.
"This is such a wonderful event, it has been a success. Congratulations to your family for celebrating three great events this year. Your marriage, your father’s return and your brother becoming the chairman." She told him.
He smiled politely and nodded once.
"I hear that you will be leaving soon for the Shanghai building expo. Will you be taking our daughter along?" Chairman Tai asked him.
"No, father, I am quite certain that I will be participating in the finals of the violin competition around that time so i can’t go with him." Alix answered for him.
Auntie Mo touched Alix’s hands and said, "Not just participating but winning. She will be the national violinist this year, mark my words."
Alix giggled lightly and nodded. It was incredible having someone other than her friends just believe in her so much that she was sure she was going to win. She should have felt some pressure from the big expectations but she didn’t. She was just excited and looking forward to it.
"If the judges don’t declare you the winner then their ears are messed up. Nobody in the country plays the violin better than you." Auntie Mo further inserted.
"I respectfully disagree." Chairman Tai said.
All of their eyes turned to him and he nodded, standing firm in his opinion.
"It’s the cello." he said with certainty in his voice. "Nobody in the world plays the cello better than our daughter. Did you see the people at the Ko-Qian benefit? They were so drawn in by her playing that a few cried. I am certain they raised more money this year more than any other year before. Do not be surprised if you are invited to play at the benefit again next year."
"I too respectfully disagree and declare that it’s the violin. Did you...aah, you were not there the time when she recorded her entry for the violin competition. It was heavenly, beautiful and i saw one of the monks in the temple across the pond stop to meditate. It’s the violin for sure." Auntie Mo insisted.
"Cello." Her husband too insisted. "Son-in-law, what do you think?"
He had to turn to Caishen because whenever he and his wife disagreed on something, they rarely changed their minds. Such situations usually required them to seek the opinion of a neutral third party and it just happened to be Caishen in this case.
It couldn’t be Alix because she was the player.
Caishen looked from chairman Tai to his wife, wondering whose side to pick. On one hand, he agreed with his father-in-law about the cello but on the other hand, it was always best for one to be on the good side of the mother-in-law.
He was also certain that Mo Qilu was exaggerating. There was a distance between the actual temple and the school. There was no way she had seen a meditating monk. He doubted that she had the vision of an eagle to see things from a far.
Realistically speaking, Alix was the best at the piano but Holea’s words still reverberated in his mind strongly. The right answer here was piano.
As a wise man, he decided to be neutral. He looked at his wife with gentle eyes and a small smile formed on his face.
"Everything, she is the best at everything."
Mo Qilu and her husband shared a secretive knowing look and they laughed. The son-in-law was a clever man that knew how to save his skin.
They also noticed the gentleness in his eyes when he looked at Alix, the way his hand automatically reached for hers over the table when he arrived and the softness in his voice when he talked to her.
He had even frowned when he didn’t get to hold Alix’s hand because she was sitting between them and they each had one of her hands in one of theirs.
He liked her and he didn’t even know it himself. Or maybe he did but he was hesitant to dig up that mountain of emotions.
Auntie Mo laughed and nodded her head at Caishen. Then she said to him, "Son-in-law, I am rooting for you."
"Thank you Mother-in-law." He replied.
He had no idea why she was rooting for him but he accepted it anyway.
Throughout this interaction, Alix just remained still with a silly smile on her face. n𝚘vp𝚞𝚋.com
The nature of the conversation at the table suddenly changed as chairman Tai asked Caishen a business related question.
Auntie Mo turned her head completely to Alix and whispered, "Mmm, pretty baby, who tamed that woman? She has stayed quiet in the corner all through the event. We were expecting her to cause some kind of ruckus during the speech or at some point during the event?"
She was looking in the direction of one of the tables in the corner. NaNa was one of the guests occupying that table. Jenny and Zhang An’s assistants were also sitting there.
Grandpa Zhang’s personal bodyguard was also there, watching NaNa like a hawk. All through the event, if she so much as moved, he followed.
"I don’t know." Alix replied in a hushed voice. "Maybe she is scared of grandpa Zhang’s bodyguard."
He was a scary guy indeed, much more scary than Mo Sen or Bi Cang and the other bodyguards around Caishen.
"I also thought that she would make a ruckus. Mr. Zhang Xian...." she twisted her lips and amended her words, "My father-in-law I mean. He is sitting at the front with mother-in-law. As far as everyone here is concerned, she is the main and only wife. People keep walking up to them and congratulating them. Nana is not the type to stay calm under such circumstances."
Nana didn’t want Zhang Xian to so much as breathe the same air with Yura. It had to be killing her to watch the sitting so close, almost shoulder to shoulder.
"Has your mother-in-law really decided to divorce?" Auntie Mo asked her.
She asked Alix this question every once in a while because she still found it unbelievable. Zhang Xian and Yura were the it couple at one point in time.
Alix nodded. "They will announce it when it’s finalised I guess. Nana really won this battle, mother-in-law didn’t even try to fight."
Mo Qilu frowned, drawing her eyebrows together as she wondered if Nana had really won the battle.
At the end of the day, Yura’s son Zhang Bo was the chairman of the Zhang group. Zhang Caishen was the CEO of Zhang construction. Yura had done her duty in raising her children and placing them in all the high positions.
She was also a well respected CEO of her own successful entertainment company. She could date any man she desired now and remarry if she wished. She didn’t have to serve the Zhang elders anymore.
It wasn’t talked about much in public but these wealthy traditional families expected a lot from the daughter-in-law.
Mo Qilu was lucky that the Tai’s were not like that. They didn’t have restrictive traditions like the Zhang’s.
To her, Yura had seen an opportunity to escape and she took it. She had freedom now, she had won.
"That new wife..." Mo Qilu started.
"Mother, she is not a wife but a mistress." Alix corrected.
