"Welcome, welcome! Please come in and have a seat."
"This child is clearly a fine young man; you have truly done a good job raising him."
“No, no.”
Zhao Qinglan and her husband and son kept responding to all kinds of compliments and praises.
Li Huai's usually cold and hard features softened at this moment.
The leaders and colleagues in the military region had always known that his children were promising, but it wasn't until they actually received an acceptance letter from a prestigious military academy that they truly realized how outstanding his son was.
Many people from the military region praised Li Huaihu, saying that like father, like son, he has a worthy successor.
Li Huai's smile never faded today; he was genuinely proud of his son's success.
Actually, Zhao Qinglan was just celebrating her son's college admission by holding a big banquet. When she sent out the invitations, she specifically said that everyone could come and have a meal, but no gifts were required.
However, none of the guests arrived empty-handed, so Zhao Qinglan had to quickly grab the company's accountant to help with the bookkeeping, so she could repay these favors later.
Most of the guests today are people the older kids have never met before, so they just keep calling them "uncle" and "aunt" along with their parents. Anyway, he is the undisputed star of the show today.
Inside the restaurant, Wu Mei and her husband helped greet the people from the military region, while Zhang Yu and Sun Guangming, Sun's uncle, helped greet their relatives and friends.
Zhang Wenjing and a few others will help entertain the guests from Lanxin Company.
However, Zhang Wenjing is currently pregnant, so everyone is keeping her from moving around too much, and the restaurant remains bustling with activity.
Zhu Kexin stood at a distance for quite a while, and seeing that no one else was coming to the door, she mustered up her courage and walked over.
"I reckon most of the guests have arrived. Shall we go inside?" Zhao Qinglan suggested.
“Okay, the sun is getting stronger and stronger outside,” Li Huai agreed.
Just as the family of three was about to turn around, the eldest child's eyes suddenly turned cold.
Zhao Qinglan and her husband followed their son's gaze and saw Zhu Kexin slowly approaching.
For a moment, the couple's expressions turned sour.
They didn't want to be unhappy on their son's joyous occasion, but someone always seems to spoil the fun at the wrong time.
"What are you doing here?" Li Huai asked coldly.
Even if his ex-wife was terrible, she still gave birth to his eldest son. It's not easy for him to criticize his eldest son, and his wife is caught in the middle, so he can't step forward. He'd better do it himself.
Zhu Kexin bit her lip and said, "I know my eldest son got into military academy. I'm here today just to congratulate him." After saying that, she looked at her son, whom she hadn't seen for a long time, with hopeful eyes.
Unfortunately, her "maternal tenderness" remained unmoved by her eldest child.
"We received your congratulations. You can leave now," Li Huai said coldly.
Zhu Kexin immediately felt wronged. "I'm Yan Sen's biological mother, don't I even have the right to attend my son's college entrance celebration?"
Li Huai took a deep breath and said, "Da Wa's achievements today have nothing to do with you. If you really care about him, don't go in and upset him."
"Dad, Mom, Uncle asked when you're having the banquet," Erwa said as he came out.
He had barely finished speaking when he saw his biological mother standing opposite his parents and brother.
He only paused for a moment before recognizing the woman.
The usually cheerful Erwa's smile vanished instantly, and he frowned, pretending not to recognize her. "Dad, Mom, it's time to go in," he reminded her again.
“That’s true, it’s not good to keep the guests waiting,” Zhao Qinglan said.
The eldest child, who had been silent all along, finally spoke up. "What's the point of you going in, other than reminding others of your identity and making fun of our family? Didn't you abandon us a long time ago? What are you trying to do now? We don't welcome you."
After saying that, the eldest son turned around and went inside.
Erwa glared at Zhu Kexin, whose eyes had turned red, and then followed his brother away.
“The children don’t want to see you, you should leave.” Zhao Qinglan said and turned around.
Outside, only Li Huai and Zhu Kexin, whose eyes were brimming with tears, remained.
"I know I was wrong, that's why I want to make amends. Why won't you give me this chance?"
"When the children needed you, you weren't there. Now you want to make up for it, but it's a pity they don't need you anymore. Zhu Kexin, I'll say it again: please don't bother our family's life anymore."
Having said that, he ignored the weeping woman and strode away.
Tears streamed down Zhu Kexin's face as she clutched her chest, feeling an intense tightness in her chest. Her feet felt like they were encased in cement, and she no longer had the courage to take another step.
"Brother, are you alright?" Erwa asked softly as he caught up with his brother.
The older child rubbed his face and smiled, "I'm fine, let's go."
Erwa finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was also disappointed in Zhu Kexin, his biological mother, and didn't want to see her, he was too young to feel it deeply. His older brother didn't say anything, but the hurt he suffered back then was much greater than what he experienced.
As Zhao Qinglan and Li Huai entered one after another, the family members concealed their true identities well, and those inside had no idea what was happening outside.
As the leader, acting as the host, began to speak, everyone's attention shifted to the family of three from the central government.
There was no lengthy prelude; it was just a brief mention of Da Wa's grades, and Zhao Qinglan and Li Huai each said a few words.
When Li Huai said, "My son has finally made something of himself, and I am very pleased," Da Wa's face lit up with a bright smile after being affirmed by his father.
Cheng Tao and Erwa immediately started cheering and shouting below.
Everyone gave a kind smile.
When the host asked the eldest child to say a few words,
Da Wa took the microphone, looked at the guests below the stage, and said emotionally, "I am especially grateful to my parents for making me who I am today. They provided me with excellent living conditions, raised and taught me to become an adult, and they also taught me how to be a useful person to the country and society."
"Dad, Mom, you've worked so hard." He said, bowing deeply to his parents.
This one sentence alone brought tears to the eyes of both Zhao Qinglan and Li Huai.
Li Huai patted his son's shoulder twice and then comforted his wife who was standing beside him.
Those in the audience who were easily moved to tears cried at the sight.
"Brother, why are you being so sentimental?" Erwa pouted, almost crying.
"Brother did such a good job today that he moved Mom and Dad to tears. We'll have a hard time surpassing him in the future." Sanwa rarely joked.
"That's right," Xiao Duo immediately felt fortunate that she was the next one.
Seemingly realizing that he wasn't the youngest, Erwa immediately patted his younger brother with a smug grin. "Sanwa, why don't you start thinking about how you'll behave in the future?"
Well, he'd entertained everyone but made himself miserable, Sanwa thought, glancing at his brother expressionlessly. "Thank you then."
The other elders at the table, surnamed Sun, were all overjoyed to see them like this.
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