Chapter 109

January 1st, New Year's Day, was a sunny day.

Today is the day Xu Qingyan and Jiang Yan hold their wedding. The golden light shines on the flower-filled courtyard.

Before dawn, the entire Xu family began to bustle about, everyone on high alert, warm even in the cold wind.

Xu Qingyan and Jiang Yan did not announce the date of their wedding to the public. They only invited family and close friends to the wedding, which was held at the best hotel in Beijing, which happened to be owned by the Xu family.

In recent years, Western-style weddings have fallen out of fashion, and Chinese-style weddings have become the choice of more and more newlyweds.

Jiang Yan prefers a traditional Chinese wedding, so the entire wedding was a Tang Dynasty-style ceremony, with the venue decorated in an antique style, reaching a level comparable to some big-budget film productions.

Grand and majestic music slowly began to play. The bride, Jiang Yan, dressed in a gorgeous and exquisite phoenix coronet and wedding gown, held a wedding fan to cover her face. She moved gracefully with lotus-like steps, and a cylindrical beam of light followed closely above her head.

With each step, the four little children acting as the golden boy and jade girl behind him wave their little hands and scatter grains symbolizing good fortune.

At the other end of the stage, the groom waited with his hands behind his back.

The wide, bright red wedding dress was dazzling, a stark contrast to Xu Qingyan's usual image of appearing in black and cold gray tones.

His skin was extremely fair, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, red lips and white teeth. The fiery color softened his imposing and dignified aura, but made him appear even taller and more elegant, full of vigor and spirit.

His expression remained cold and stern, but only Jiang Yan could see the burning passion hidden beneath his dark eyes.

Jiang Yan felt a flush rise to her cheeks. She looked away and continued forward.

"Ahhh, my sister-in-law is so beautiful!"

"Help, I suddenly want to be in a relationship, waaaaah!" Xu Niancheng snapped photos while enviously squealing, trying to steal the spotlight from the photographer.

He Nianzhu: →_→

"Don't say I didn't warn you, our family rule is that girls are not allowed to date before the age of thirty."

Xu Niancheng choked, quickly turned her head away, bewildered and speechless: "Although I don't have any specific thoughts about dating right now, when did our family start having this rule? How come I didn't know?"

He Nianzhu, without blushing or her heart skipping a beat, replied: "Oh, those extra rules just now."

"...You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

She's over twenty and can't even date? Do you think she's a child?

He Nianzhu raised an eyebrow as if it were a matter of course: "How many good men do you think there are? The few good ones are all in our family. Dating is like navigating minefields, it's too dangerous."

"After I've screened all the men out there for you, you can choose from the good ones."

Xu Niancheng's comprehension is perfect: "Aren't you just telling me to go on blind dates, or rather, to go on blind dates after I turn thirty?"

"What blind date? That's called merit-based selection." He Nianzhu raised his arm and ruffled his sister's hair. "Just tell me which one you like, and I'll definitely get her for you."

Xu Niancheng was speechless. People often laugh when they feel confused.

"What, you think you can just knock someone down and send them to my Phoenix Spring Grace car?"

"It's not impossible."

Xu Niancheng was too lazy to play along with her stupid second brother's madness: "Forcing innocent young men is illegal. Move aside, I want to continue filming."

He stepped on He Nianzhu's new shoes.

"!!!"

He Nianzhu cried out in pain, her face turning green. She clutched her foot and angrily punched it, thinking, "Hey, you brat, you don't even appreciate my help."

The audience was packed with guests, the stage was brightly lit, and everywhere you looked there were red ribbons like waves, or like ten miles of blooming flowers, with a rich floral fragrance in the air.

This was the day Xu Qingyan and Jiang Yan received the most blessings, and it was also the most special day in Xu Yirou's life.

—She officially unlocked a new identity in her life: mother-in-law and grandmother.

She sat openly in the seat representing the groom's mother, drinking the tea offered by her daughter-in-law under the bright spotlight.

"Mother."

"Mother."

The son and daughter-in-law called out softly.

"Grandma," Bubble, her short arms bent, respectfully offered a cup of tea, "Please have some tea~"

Xu Yirou blinked her big, bright eyes, sipping her lightly flavored tea, feeling incredibly happy and content.

She pulled out two large red envelopes she had prepared that morning from her fluffy cartoon handbag, her face beaming with excitement:

"Goose wife, Bubble, from now on we are family. If Da Bao is disobedient and bullies you, tell me and I'll go and spank his big butt."

Her tough words, delivered in a childlike tone, made the guests burst into laughter.

Even in public, Qiao Wen, who is usually serious and indifferent, couldn't help but smile.

Xu Qingyan's expression was both helpless and gentle, while Jiang Yan, her face radiant with happiness, nodded with a smile: "Thank you, Mom. I'm relieved to hear you say that."

The wedding lasted from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., a full twelve hours. Jiang Yan changed into five different outfits, and her face was beaming with joy.

After the wedding banquet ended in the evening, Jiang Yan was so tired that she could hardly straighten her back. She removed her makeup and went to bed early.

Despite their best efforts to keep it a secret, the news still managed to get out, and the day after the wedding, several blurry, secretly taken videos and photos were leaked.

A top-tier heir from a wealthy Beijing family and a stunningly beautiful actress who has worked in all three fields—just the couple's name alone is enough to get your blood pumping.

Specifically, they almost never publicly display affection for each other, yet this doesn't stop their fanbase from growing at an unstoppable pace.

As soon as wedding-related materials were released, Xu Qingyan and Jiang Yan unsurprisingly topped the trending charts. The following trending topics included He Nianzhu, Xu Yirou, and other business tycoons who attended the wedding.

Because it was filmed from a hidden angle, the footage shakes occasionally, and with the noisy background music in the video, viewers can only vaguely make out a few words.

As the hype grew, some tech gurus wanted to join in the fun, so they spent a little time fixing the image quality, removing noise, and amplifying the original sound.

The restored video caused a huge uproar as soon as it was released.

Netizens discovered that Rou Rou was not following the bride as a flower girl, but rather as an elder of the groom's family, sitting at the head of the table with Qiao Wen and drinking the tea served by the bride.

The guests' surprised exclamations can be clearly heard in the video.

The most unbelievable thing was yet to come: Jiang Yan on stage actually called four-year-old Rou Rou "Mom"!

They are 26 years apart in age!

How can an adult call a baby "Mom"? It's just too strange, no matter what the custom is.

To everyone's astonishment, Xu Qingyan also shouted the same thing, remaining calm and composed throughout, as if he had shouted it thousands of times before.

What's going on? No matter how senior Rou Rou is, she shouldn't overstep her bounds and directly take over the role of the matriarch of the Xu family at such an important wedding.

Netizens were shocked and bewildered.

Does the He family have no elders? Rou Rou is still just a child; it seems very strange to have a small child represent the family at a formal occasion.

[Aren't wealthy families supposed to be all about rules and pomp...? I really don't understand.]

[Doesn't anyone find this strange? He Nianzhu and Rou Rou have filmed so many episodes of the variety show, and even the most senior elder, Qiao Wen, has appeared on screen, but He Nianzhu's mother hasn't been seen at all. Is it inconvenient for her to appear on screen, or is she deliberately hiding something...?]

With the deliberate guidance of a group of online trolls, marginal figures who had been ignored by them have surfaced. Where did the mistress of the Xu family go?

He Ting and Xu Yirou are a well-known model couple in the wealthy circle. They have been married for more than 20 years and their love is as strong as ever. Whenever He Ting goes on a business trip, he takes Xu Yirou with him, and they are always affectionate with each other.

Back then, news of He Ting's car accident dominated all news platforms, and reporters even took photos of Xu Yirou visiting her husband in the hospital.

At the time, she even trended on social media because she was over forty but looked as beautiful as a young girl, and many sarcastic comments below said that He Tingyan was very lucky.

We can still find news articles from that time.

That was the last time Xu Yirou appeared in the public eye. After He Ting died despite all efforts to save him, this woman, like her husband, disappeared completely.

The couple's wedding reminded netizens of the mysterious hostess once again.

#JiangYanXuQingyanWedding

#Jiang Yan and Xu Qingyan call Rou Rou "Mom"

#The Disappearance of Mrs. He

#Youngest "Mom"

#The Missing Mistress of the He Family

#He Ting Xu Yirou

Trending topics kept popping up one after another, but the Xu family maintained their usual style of ignoring and not responding.

It wasn't until a doctor claiming to be a hematologist stepped forward and posted a cryptic yet pointed Weibo post that netizens quickly understood the truth by analyzing the content.

#Mrs. He is suspected to have passed away

#Mrs. He is suspected of having cancer

#Leukemia cure rate

If it really is late-stage leukemia, then it's not surprising at all; this disease is extremely dangerous.

[I'm just a lowly worker in the entertainment industry. Actually, Mrs. He's illness isn't a secret in the circle. Didn't everyone notice how many stories about He Nianzhu having a sour face last year? It was because his mother was sick.]

[When He Ting passed away, an obituary was issued, so why wasn't there one for Mrs. He? Don't tell me she's still alive.]

In just over six months, a woman with terminal cancer vanished without a trace, while her three children remained unresponsive, continuing their routine lives.

Most netizens are rational and objective. Whether someone is sick or not is their privacy, and there is absolutely no need to explain it to the public.

However, as more and more people started discussing it, a group of conspiracy theorists gradually emerged.

[I need to see her alive or dead. I've used my connections to investigate. Mrs. He is indeed in the late stages of cancer and her condition is very serious. However, after being suddenly discharged from the hospital in March of this year, she has shown no signs of social activity, and the He family has remained completely silent. This makes one suspicious.]

One by one, insiders came forward to corroborate the news that Madam He was seriously ill.

As the incident escalated, suppressing the trending topics at this point would only increase suspicion and amplify the impact.

Anyone with eyes can see that those conspiracy theories are nonsense, just hype to grab attention.

Xu Qingyan silently handed the matter over to a professional legal team, who collected evidence against all the distorted rumors and sent them out in a unified manner.

I thought the incident would soon come to an end with a stack of lawyer's letters, but little did I know the drama was yet to come.

Some busybodies even reported it to the police, claiming with certainty that Mrs. He had disappeared and was likely murdered, and presented some evidence.

The Xu family never expected that a wedding would lead to these problems, leaving them utterly speechless.

The commotion was too great, and the Xu family's behavior was indeed abnormal, so the police quickly went to their home to investigate and collect evidence.

The police fell silent upon investigation.

A week later, the police issued a statement overnight, stating that the investigation results were very clear: Mrs. He was still alive, without illness, and exhibiting normal life activities.

The result left everyone dumbfounded.

Among them was Xu Yirou's former attending physician. He knew his patients well, and there was no possibility of curing Xu Yirou's condition at that time!

How could someone who's halfway to the underworld possibly come back to life? It would be like he'd wasted over a decade of his life.