Chapter 10 Give me back my wife and everything will be fine

A long copper-gilt chandelier with elegant patterns hung down from the dome. The He family was large and attached great importance to family discipline. Everyone sat around the round table in the middle hall according to the family's direct and side branches, with only the main seat left empty.

As the footsteps from the entrance corridor approached, almost everyone seated there, except for Madam He and a few ignorant youngsters, held their breath and looked at the new head of the He family who held the power of life and death.

No wonder they were afraid of He Cong.

Those who had the greatest potential to take the reins of the He family never considered He Cong, who had been locked up in a mental hospital since childhood, as a rival for power. However, the final result was that those people met with accidents one after another and fell into decline.

To this day, no one knows what they went through.

Those who can still sit at this main table are just those who survived the bloody power struggle back then.

What is most puzzling to the outside world is that this new leader of the He family, who is violent, ruthless and murderous, actually began to believe in gods and Buddhas after his wife passed away. On special occasions, he would personally go to Changci Temple to meditate and worship Buddha.

That slender wrist also began to coil a string of pure and abstinent ebony Buddhist beads, and the media had captured such a scene earlier -

It is said that at that time, the young master He was still in the infant stage, crying for food and needed someone to accompany him. He Cong had just left a charity dinner and got into the car. When the car door closed, he was photographed with his soft little son tearfully holding the Buddhist beads on He Cong's wrist, biting and pulling them and crying non-stop. The cold-hearted He Cong was not annoyed at all. He put his hand on the little guy's back and patted him gently, indulging his little son in making a fuss in his arms.

Of course, the last photo was never released.

At this moment, everyone watched as He Cong walked in dressed in a suit and tie, stained with the faint scent of incense, holding the child in one hand and letting the sleeping child hug his neck.

The aura he exuded was invisible and oppressive, causing most people on both sides of the table to stand up respectfully from their seats, waiting for He Cong to take the main seat.

But He Cong only paused slightly when he approached the central hall. His eyes swept over with a cold look, finally landing on Mrs. He, who was closest to the main seat, and he explained calmly.

"You eat first. I'll take Momo back to the room and come down later."

Madam He naturally noticed that her little great-grandson had fallen asleep on He Cong. He must have fallen asleep in the car due to the fatigue of the journey. She nodded slowly, and lowered her voice for fear of disturbing the child, "Go."

Watching He Cong go upstairs from the elevator, Madam He retracted her gaze and turned to the people at the table with dignity, "Everyone, start eating."

The younger generations sitting at the back of the table had never been involved in the grudges and interests of those years. After holding it in for a long time, they finally couldn't help but grumble secretly.

"Did you see that? Fourth Uncle, who always loves to lecture us, was so frightened when he saw Cousin He Cong come in. Is he really that scary?"

"I actually think that cousin He Cong is quite kind. He takes care of everything for his children himself and even goes to the temple to burn incense and worship Buddha every year. He's not as scary as the rumors say."

"Tsk, you still know too little. Do you know how He Cong's father--"

She was gossiping when He Cunyue, who was standing nearby, glared at her and threatened her in a low voice, "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll tell grandma!"

After He Cunyue said this, the younger generations fell silent.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom upstairs.

He Cong had just put He Zhimo in his crib when the sleeping little fellow seemed to sense something. His two little hands timidly reached up again, clasping He Cong's bony hands. Subconsciously, he touched the Buddhist beads on his wrist. His little fingers tightly grasped a few round, cold ebony beads, and he muttered with his eyes closed, "Mommy, no, don't go."

He Cong sat quietly beside the bed with his eyes downcast. His fingertips, covered with thin calluses, gently wiped away the traces of tears on the little guy's snow-white face. He waited until the little guy's clenched brows slowly relaxed before he gently pulled his hand back.

When He Cong went downstairs, several uncles had been waiting in the spacious tea room in the west hall for a long time.

They all took advantage of the fact that He Cong brought his son back to visit Old Madam He to come and promote several new investment projects of the He family's industrial empire to He Cong in person.

He Cong sat down in the tea room, flipping through the documents presented to him while listening and nodding. During the process, he asked a question or two and made an evaluation on certain content. After listening, he did not give an immediate answer, but just picked out two or three feasible projects and asked them to submit more detailed plans to Yu Zhu for approval in a businesslike manner.

After the discussion, everyone dispersed. The housekeeper came over to remind them that Old Madam He was taking a walk in the garden of the old house to digest her food.

He Cong didn't ask any questions and just went over.

Under the flower pavilion in the forest garden, Madam He was admiring the clusters of flowers in full bloom. Seeing him coming, she narrowed her eyes and smiled faintly: "He Cong, look, how majestically the black orchids are blooming this year."

He Cong took a look and said, "Yeah."

"Is Momo doing well recently? I heard that there were heavy rains on Bindao Island for several days in a row."

"It's okay, nothing serious."

Madam He turned around and took a steady look at her eldest grandson, whose temperament was becoming increasingly cold. She sighed softly and stopped talking about other topics. She sat back in the pavilion and said, "Inspector Lin said that his condition over there is getting worse and worse."

He Cong stood quietly under the pavilion, without saying a word.

Madam He did not give up and said, "He Cong, he is your father after all."

After hearing the last two words, He Cong's handsome and cold face seemed to finally change.

He lowered his eyes lazily, and slowly straightened the Buddhist beads on his wrist that had been knocked askew by the child, and put them back into order. His tone was calm and clear: "Sure. Give my wife back to me, and everything will be fine."

Madam He was startled and tried to persuade him, "He Cong, the fire that year——"

He Cong's eyes turned cold: "Grandma asked me to come back to talk about the past with me?"

Madam He hesitated to speak, but finally swallowed her words and just shook her head and murmured, "It's grandma's fault. It's all grandma's fault..."

He Cong turned his gaze away, and after a moment he lowered his voice and said, "When Mo Mo wakes up later, I'll ask him to come down and keep you company for a while."

He turned and walked back.

He Cunyue waited for a long time at the forest garden path. When he saw He Cong coming over with a cold look on his face, he thought he was angry because Mo Mo almost disappeared, so he hurried forward to apologize.

"Brother, I'm really sorry. It's all my fault that I didn't take Momo over in time. Momo almost disappeared this time!"

"It has nothing to do with you." He Zhimo insisted on going to find Shang Youqing, and even he, as a father, couldn't bear to refuse. He Cong glanced at her, "Are you okay?"

"Ah? Me, I'm fine!" Hearing that He Cong still cared about her, He Cunyue was very happy and couldn't help but tell her brother, "It was thanks to a child that I was saved that day!"

"Child?"

He Cunyue scratched his head when this was mentioned, and expressed his distress. "Well, you may not believe this, but I was really saved by a child who looked about the same age as Mo Mo that day. But... everyone in my detachment said that it didn't happen. Anyway, I've been investigating for the past two days! I don't believe I can't find her!"

He Cong didn't react much to this, he just said "hmm" lightly and said: "If you need anything, you can tell me."

He Cong guessed that the little guy was about to wake up, so he asked the kitchen to prepare He Zhimo's favorite dinner first, then went upstairs to the bedroom and took out his computer to handle some things.

Not long after, there was a rustling noise coming from the small bed in the inner room. He Cong put down his computer and walked in to see He Zhimo scrambling around in the quilt. After a while, he finally popped his head out, his big, swollen eyes looking at him anxiously and asking, "Dad, have you seen my little bird doll?"

He Cong frowned and took off the quilt covering his head, "What is that?"

"It's a little bird doll. It's a gift Shang Youqing gave me! Dad, you didn't lose it, did you?"

As He Zhimo spoke, his eyes began to turn red again.

He Cong paused for half a second and called Yu Zhu.

Within ten minutes, Yu Zhufeng drove over in a hurry, took the old doll left in the car to the He family's old house, and handed it to President He personally.

He Cong took the bird doll and looked at it, but didn't think it was anything special.

"By the way, Mr. He, Miss Shang didn't accept the small gift you asked me to prepare. She said she only took in the young master for a day or two, and that he was easy to take care of—"

Yu Zhu suddenly stopped talking because he saw President He checking the bird doll, then rubbing and playing with the doll in his hand with his head down and an expressionless face.

Yu Zhu looked at this scene strangely: "..."

Didn’t you say that Young Master He was crying because he couldn’t find his bird doll? Why did you, Mr. He, start playing with it first?

It was not until he went upstairs that He Cong slowly restored the bird doll that had been crumpled almost to its original appearance, and took it back to his room without changing his expression and returned it to He Zhimo.

He Zhimo held the bird doll he had lost and found, and his mood cleared up. As he changed his clothes and prepared to go downstairs, he told He Cong about what had happened to him with Shang Youqing in the past two days. He was very excited at first, until he mentioned that he had secretly seen Shang Youqing coaxing her own baby to sleep...

He Zhimo lowered his head and tugged at the little wings of the bird doll, and began to feel a little depressed again.

"It would be great if Shang Youqing was also my mother."

He Cong's cold expression shattered the child's thoughts: "She is not."

He Zhimo snorted, indicating that he would not bother with his father. He took the bird doll that Shang Youqing gave him back to the bed and covered it with the quilt.

Just as he put on his shoes, he thought of something and looked up to touch He Cong's pocket, "Dad, where's your phone?"

"What's up."

"Don't you have Shang Youqing's phone number? I want to call Shang Youqing."

He Cong was about to refuse, but when he met his youngest son's big, clear, black eyes, he was silent for a moment. He had no choice but to take out his cell phone, find the number that Shang Youqing had called before, dial it, and hand it to He Zhimo.

He Cong was standing nearby, looking down to see He Zhimo waiting expectantly until the call was connected.

"...Shang Youqing, I'm not Dad, I'm He Zhimo!...Um, Dad called for me. Dad has your number."

As He Zhimo spoke, he shook his father's very broad hand hanging by his side. Perhaps when Shang Youqing asked him the reason for making this call, He Zhimo's childish voice softened and he apologized while holding the phone.

"I'm sorry, Shang Youqing. It's my fault. I shouldn't have been so mean to you today."