Ying Rongrong didn't understand why she had this feeling. Her mother-in-law had long since passed away, and the person in front of her, by age, could at most be her daughter.
Prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, peace, rule of law...
Ying Rongrong couldn't help but repeat the twenty-four-character mantra in her mind again before walking over and looking at Xing Zhaozhao, her expression still somewhat stiff: "You called me?"
"Sit down." Xing Zhaozhao pointed to the seat opposite her.
Ying Rongrong hesitated for a moment before sitting down and asking, "What is it?"
"Was the show just now quite good?" Xing Zhaozhao asked with a smile.
Ying Rongrong was about to nod subconsciously, but fortunately she quickly realized what she was talking about, coughed lightly to cover up her embarrassment, and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Xing Zhaozhao laughed nonchalantly, "It's alright, we're all family, there's nothing wrong with watching the excitement."
"Hongfei should have already told you about me, right?" Xing Zhaozhao asked.
Ying Rongrong remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.
Sure enough. Xing Zhaozhao probably now understood why Ying Rongrong always felt so awkward around her.
That's true. Everyone's ability to accept things is different, and she doesn't force it. If she hadn't experienced it herself, she wouldn't easily believe such bizarre things.
Xing Zhaozhao looked at Ying Rongrong and smiled kindly: "It's okay, it doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. Even if you continue to pretend I don't exist, it's fine. I have my own life and won't interfere too much in yours. Just pretend it's the same as before."
Ying Rongrong looked at Xing Zhaozhao with a serious expression: "But now there's no way to go back to the way things were before. Hongfei has stubbornly believed that his long-deceased mother has come back."
"So, for Hongfei's sake, if you ever encounter a situation like today where we secretly meet outside, just pretend you don't know anything and don't tell him," Gao Mingcheng said calmly.
Ying Rongrong: "..."
Xing Zhaozhao: "..."
Not to mention Ying Rongrong, even Xing Zhaozhao couldn't help but turn to look at Gao Mingcheng, her expression identically indescribable. Was he really doing this for Hongfei's sake? Or did he simply want to rid himself of a third wheel trying to steal Hongfei's man?
Gao Mingcheng continued to feed Xing Zhaozhao another bite of cake without changing his expression.
Xing Zhaozhao's mouth was successfully covered, and she continued to speak unclearly to Ying Rongrong: "Well, how about this, if I want to see Hongfei again in the future, I will try my best to keep it from you, and I will also ask Hongfei to try not to mention me in front of you, so that you can completely pretend that I don't exist, okay?"
Ying Rongrong: "..." Isn't this just deceiving yourself?
"However, there is still something I would like to trouble you with," Xing Zhaozhao said, looking at Ying Rongrong seriously.
Ying Rongrong's expression also turned serious: "What is it?"
“Your father-in-law is not young anymore, and his health is not as good as it used to be. I hope you can help me stop things like what just happened when I'm not around, at least when we're at home, so that those irrelevant people don't harass him,” Xing Zhaozhao said.
Ying Rongrong's face flushed slightly: "I'm sorry, I didn't know they had such thoughts at first. It won't happen again. Besides, after this incident, they won't have the face to come here again."
"The young girl is shy, perhaps, but that in-law's aunt..." Xing Zhaozhao shook her head in disagreement. That person's skin is not as thick as an ordinary person's.
"I will be careful, and I will also ask the nanny at home to keep an eye on it," Ying Rongrong said.
"Thank you for your hard work," Xing Zhaozhao said to Ying Rongrong with a smile.
After finishing the cake on his plate, Gao Mingcheng glanced at the remaining cakes on the table and asked, "We can't finish all this cake. Should we pack it up?"
Xing Zhaozhao nodded: "Pack it up, I'll take it back for the kids to try."
However, looking at the many different kinds of small cakes still left on the table, Xing Zhaozhao couldn't help but feel a headache coming on: "Oh no, I'm afraid I won't be able to get the two little ones to eat properly for the next few days. Hongfei is fine, but Hongyu..." That brat doesn't know anything about self-control.
Gao Mingcheng smiled and comforted her, "It's nothing, it only happens once in a while."
Xing Zhaozhao shook her head in disagreement: "Children shouldn't be spoiled. When we get back, I'll send some to my godparents and ask them to help us out."
Gao Mingcheng nodded seriously, "Okay, I'll listen to you."
Ying Rongrong sat opposite him, dumbfounded, staring at Gao Mingcheng with disbelief. It was the first time she had ever seen her usually uncompromising father-in-law change his principles so easily.
However, upon further reflection, Ying Rongrong's heart skipped a beat when she thought about how Xing Zhaozhao had casually mentioned Hongfei and Hongyu right in front of her. The way she spoke made it sound so real that she couldn't help but want to change her mind.
While the waiter was taking the small cakes away to pack them up, Xing Zhaozhao remembered something and asked Gao Mingcheng, "By the way, didn't I ask you to look into Ling Yongde before? Did you find anything?"
Gao Mingcheng nodded and said, "Most of what my aunt-in-law said is pretty much the same, including the matter of that Ling Xiao. Of course, these are all things that can be found on the surface. Whether there is anything unknown behind the scenes, I don't know."
Xing Zhaozhao frowned and asked, "What about Ling Yongde's second son? I inquired over there, and he does indeed only have one son."
Ying Rongrong's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this, and she looked at Xing Zhaozhao and Gao Mingcheng in surprise. Wasn't Ling Yongde's second son their Ling Shuang's biological father? Was there something they didn't know?
Gao Mingcheng noticed Ying Rongrong's gaze, glanced at her, but did not avoid it. He turned to Xing Zhaozhao and said directly, "The Ling Yongde over there does indeed only have one son on the surface. His second son is actually his illegitimate child. He should still be raised outside and no one knows about it. He only started raising him after the movement was over."
Ying Rongrong was surprised: "There's such a thing? How come I've never heard Ling Shuang mention it before?"
“Ling Shuang herself probably doesn’t know either, after all, it happened many years ago,” Gao Mingcheng said. “Moreover, after Ling Yongde took that child with him, he lived in the town and never took him back to the village. No one was gossiping about him, so he might not even know his own background. When I sent people to Lingjiazhuang to investigate, many of the elderly people in the village said they had never seen what that child looked like.”
Xing Zhaozhao couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "They're protected this well?"
Ying Rongrong frowned: "But that's not right. When I heard Ling Shuang mention her family's past, she was very secretive. From what she said, her family didn't have a good life in the Ling family."
Xing Zhaozhao and Gao Mingcheng exchanged a surprised glance.
Indeed, even Xing Zhaozhao knew that Ling Shuang hadn't had a good life at home before. Ling Yongde was still alive, so if she really cared about this son, she shouldn't have let the eldest son's family torment the second son's family.
Something feels off.
"Does Ling Shuang have a photo of her father?" Xing Zhaozhao asked Ying Rongrong. "I'm a little curious about what Ling Yongde's son, whom he's protecting so closely, actually looks like."
"I think so..." Ying Rongrong said, then took out her phone and called Ling Shuang.
Ling Shuang did not answer.
"She went on a round-the-world trip with Xiaohan. I don't know where she is now. Maybe the signal is bad," Ying Rongrong said helplessly to Xing Zhaozhao.
"Then forget it, we'll talk about it when they get back," Xing Zhaozhao said nonchalantly, she wasn't in a hurry.
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