Chapter 48 Relationship: "Our Sister-in-Law"
48
Meng Yao was momentarily stunned by the sheer amount of information in Zhou Yi's words: "What do you mean? So Fang Yanxiu and Fang Huaijin from the Fang family are not related to Fang Hongsheng by blood?"
“Anyway, Fang Yanxiu is definitely not,” Zhou Yi said, his tone gradually becoming excited about revealing the secret: “After Fang Hongsheng’s first wife passed away, he remained a bachelor for a while and did not remarry for several years. Later, I don’t know if he wanted to find someone to rely on or to stop the gossip that he had no descendants, but he adopted a boy from the orphanage, namely Fang Yanxiu, and raised him as his own son.”
Meng Yao asked curiously, "What's the deal with Fang Huaijin?"
Zhou Yi continued, "Originally, Fang Huaijin wouldn't have been involved, but the old man suddenly fell seriously ill and almost died. Fang Yanxiu took the opportunity to take over the Fang family's business for a period of time, but unexpectedly, the old man actually pulled through. It was only then that the old man realized that Fang Yanxiu was no good, and if he really died, the entire family fortune would fall into the hands of this 'outsider.' The old man was extremely unwilling, and whether it was a coincidence or not, he suddenly said that he actually had an illegitimate daughter who had been living away from home. He had been secretly gathering information about her before, and now he openly said that he wanted to find her and bring her home."
At this point, Zhou Yi paused mysteriously, then chuckled knowingly, "Guess how you found it?"
Meng Yao quickly followed up by asking, "Did you come back by yourself?"
“No, it was Fang Yanxiu who found her,” Zhou Yi scoffed. “Just a month after the old man said he was looking for his daughter, he suddenly brought this sister of his back to the Fang family from who-knows-where.”
Meng Yao frowned: "He brought this back? Wasn't he trying to fight for the family fortune?"
"Who knows?"
Zhou Yi said with a disdainful tone: "It was quite a hassle back then. We did paternity tests, checked birthmarks and everything. The results came out saying that she was Old Fang's daughter, but who knows if they tampered with it?"
“How strange…” Meng Yao held her breath and thought, also feeling that this “older sister” was suspicious.
"You also feel something's not right, right?" Zhou Yi chimed in, "Old Man Fang also felt something was off, so although he allowed her to return to the Fang family's registered residence over the years, he never believed it and wasn't very close to her. Not long after, he married a second wife and had a second son, Fang Hexun."
Meng Yao couldn't help but ask first, "This one should be their biological child, right?"
“That’s true,” Zhou Yi laughed on the other end of the phone, his voice rising a little higher. “But this is even more interesting. The old man’s second wife was discovered to be cheating on him just a few months after giving birth to Fang Hexun, giving him a huge cuckold’s horns. Before he found out, she had been up to a lot of tricks behind his back, but after he discovered it, she showed no mercy and sent him to jail. The charges aren’t minor either; he probably won’t be getting out…”
Zhou Yi sighed with regret: "Even now, the old man gets angry whenever he sees someone who looks even slightly like that woman, let alone Fang Hexun. Besides, compared to his children, Fang Hexun is indeed not very smart or talented. He has a gloomy personality and his words and actions are not likable. Old Man Fang has always adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards him... I think he only came back from abroad a few years ago? He started his own business and has basically broken away from the Fang family."
Meng Yao listened intently; this relationship was far more dramatic than any prime-time soap opera.
Zhou Yi's tone relaxed slightly: "And then there's your husband."
Meng Yao blushed involuntarily upon hearing this address, coughed lightly, and pretended not to care: "What about him?"
"He was born to Old Fang's third wife, and he was also his favorite and most beloved child."
Zhou Yi clicked his tongue over the phone: "Having a son late in life, Old Man Fang cherishes him very much. But Fang Huaixu's mother is really a very good person. Fang Huaixu is not only a legitimate son born in wedlock, but also one of the few normal people in that family. It's normal for the old man to be a little biased. If the two of them hadn't had a falling out, the Fang family's assets would probably have been transferred to Fang Huaixu long ago."
Meng Yao remembered that Fang Huaixu had told her something like this: "I think I know this. Was it because of his mother that he argued with his father?"
Zhou Yi chuckled: "What arguing? Your wording is too vivid. Just look at Fang Huaixu's personality, who could he possibly argue with? It's just a one-sided cold war. Old Man Fang has always doted on him, and Fang Huaixu has always been the outstanding child everyone admires. The old man has gotten older and developed a conscience, and he's always been eager for him to go back and take over the family business. If it weren't for his pride, I bet he would have kowtowed twice at the entrance of Tianmu Group."
Zhou Yi described it so vividly that Meng Yao also imagined that scene, which was really embarrassing.
"My God, this is so confusing..." Meng Yao rubbed her temples, feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information: "My brain isn't quite processing this..."
"Chaos is the way to go."
Zhou Yi was extremely smug, as if he had finally found a kindred spirit to share gossip with: "These rich people, with nothing better to do than mess around with relationships. Now that Fang Yanxiu is clearly not going to inherit the family business, he's just given up and openly abandoned everything; Old Man Fang has been unable to manage the company's affairs for the past few years, and Fang Huaijin has taken over most of the work, clearly wanting a piece of the pie too, and they're sabotaging each other both openly and secretly. As for Fang Hexun... I reckon he's brewing something big too."
Meng Yao asked in confusion, "Didn't you say he had already left the Fang family?"
"You believe that?" Zhou Yi seemed to be laughing at her naivety: "His own son was taken away by two imposters, do you think he would be willing to accept that? He definitely... oh, I can't explain it to you, you'll know once you see him. He looks like a sinister bad guy, his eyes are full of calculation, he's definitely not someone to be trifled with."
Meng Yao felt a headache coming on, so she returned to Fang Huaixu: "But it seems Fang Huaixu has no intention of returning to the Fang family. Their fight over the family property shouldn't affect him, right?"
Zhou Yi sighed several times, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back: "My dear sister, you're about to face these lunatics head-on, how can you still think of them as so normal? Fang Huaixu hasn't really broken up with the old man. As long as Fang Huaixu still has the surname Fang, he could go back to the Fang family at any time. They'll have worked for nothing, so how could they possibly let Fang Huaixu go?"
Zhou Yi stopped beating around the bush and told her directly, "Leaving aside Fang Hexun, you must be very careful about Fang Yanxiu and Fang Huaijin. Think about it carefully, why did Old Man Fang fail to find his daughter after secretly searching for more than ten years, but after just a little hint to Fang Yanxiu, his daughter was found not long after? Why was Fang Hongsheng's second wife suddenly discovered to be having an affair right after giving birth to Fang Hexun, when her position was so secure? And why was she sent to jail with solid evidence?"
As Zhou Yi spoke, he suddenly became sarcastic: "Oh dear, do you think Fang Huaijin was actually a scapegoat hired by Fang Yanxiu? Did Fang Hexun's mother have these two people working together to set things up? Why did Fang Hexun suddenly become unpopular... Suddenly there are two fewer people to divide the inheritance? It's so hard to guess..."
Meng Yao has lost her ability to speak; it's hard to imagine that someone could actually do so many terrible things.
As if hearing her thoughts, Zhou Yi lowered his voice and reminded her one last time: "If you don't believe me, you can check again. In the year Fang Huaixu left home, Fang Huaijin attempted to kill Fang Yanxiu several times. Although the two of them suddenly reconciled for some reason, guess what her motive was for suddenly making a move when Fang Huaixu was away... What if she was an imposter hired by Fang Yanxiu? Doesn't that seem like she was trying to silence him?"
Meng Yao listened, stunned, a chill running down her spine: this was no longer just a simple grudge; these people really sounded very strange...
She suddenly remembered Fang Huaixu's delirium before he fell into a coma due to a high fever. At the time, she thought he was just having nightmares because he was sick, but now it seems hard not to think that he was recalling the unpleasant shadows of his family.
Suddenly, the other end of the phone became noisy. Zhou Yi responded loudly and hurriedly said, "I have work coming up, so I have to go now. Anyway, be careful, I'm not kidding, you really can come to me."
Meng Yao couldn't help but smile: "You're so kind, thank you."
Zhou Yi snapped his fingers with a smile: "No need to be so polite, I'm hanging up now."
After the two hung up the phone, Meng Yao held her phone, unable to come back to her senses for a long time, finding it hard to imagine how Fang Huaixu had grown up in such an environment.
There was a knock on the door of the lounge, and Zhao Mingxuan's voice came through: "President Meng, President Fang has finished his meeting. Is it convenient for you to go over now?"
Meng Yao snapped out of her daze, took a deep breath, and forcibly suppressed the chaotic information in her mind for the time being: "Okay."
Assistant Zhao quickly led her out, and the conference room door opened just then, with Fang Huaixu and Fang Yanxiu walking out side by side.
Unlike the time backstage, Meng Yao saw Fang Yanxiu in person this time. To be fair, he did look somewhat similar to Fang Huaixu. If she hadn't learned the inside story from Zhou Yi, Meng Yao wouldn't have found it strange that the two were biological brothers.
However, the two do have completely different temperaments.
Fang Huaixu had a more aloof and cool demeanor, and a more composed temperament. He always exuded the elegance and detachment of an academic elite.
Fang Yanxiu was even more arrogant and wicked, with a smile that seemed to always be playing on his lips, and his eyes occasionally flashed with a hint of aggression. Yet, his face was still unforgettable.
Having just finished the meeting, Fang Huaixu's face remained calm, his expression as indifferent as ever.
But when his gaze met Meng Yao's from afar, his expression softened almost instantly. His eyes widened slightly, and he looked even more youthful. He walked straight towards her without stopping, speaking gently as he asked, "What are you doing here..."
He completely ignored the fact that Fang Yanxiu behind him was also looking over, and when his gaze fell on Meng Yao, his smile disappeared, replaced by a look of scrutiny and curiosity, clearly unaware of Meng Yao's identity.
Just then, the door to the smoking room next door opened, and Chen Jiegang led Fang Huaijin out. Fang Huaijin was putting his cigarette pack back into his bag, looking annoyed, and complaining, "This meeting has been dragging on for ages, I've already smoked half a pack..."
She stopped halfway through her sentence, and Fang Huaixu also stopped in his tracks, his expression instantly turning serious as he quietly awaited their next move.
The four men stared at each other, exchanging bewildered glances. Fang Huaijin broke the silence with a wicked grin, put his hands in his pockets, and said to Fang Yanxiu in a flippant tone, "You're not well-informed either. Didn't he introduce her to you? This is our sister-in-law."
Author's Note: [Dog head with rose in hand] Here I am, bringing with me the super chaotic people!
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