The next morning, Ling Ruoke accompanied Huo Zhenbang to climb the wall. Thinking that her grandfather called such a magnificent historical site a "wall," she couldn't help but chuckle to herself.
The old man only brought one bodyguard who acted as both driver and laborer.
Because it was too early, there weren't many people climbing the mountain yet.
At the ticket booth, I encountered a beggar, dressed in rags and smelling of rancidity.
Ling Ruoke didn't look at it carefully before giving him five yuan.
Upon entering, Ling Ruoke and Huo Zhenbang walked ahead, with the guards following not far behind, but not too close.
"Ruo Ke, do you think that person just now was real or fake?" Huo Zhenbang asked her with a smile.
Ling Ruoke paused for a moment before realizing he was referring to the beggar. "I don't know either. There are so many beggars these days, it's impossible to tell the real from the fake. But from what I see in the news, it seems there are far more fakes than real ones. I remember when I was little, people would give money to beggars. But later, as more people started scamming, some people stopped giving money because they couldn't tell the difference."
Haven't there been news reports of beggars with missing legs or arms transforming into guests of high-end hotels and clubs at night? If those who give alms saw this, wouldn't they feel disheartened?
Originally, those who are willing to give alms are mostly ordinary people, some of whom may be struggling themselves. But when they themselves are tightening their belts to give alms, living in tiny rented rooms in urban villages while beggars frequent high-end places, who would want to give alms anymore?
Wealthy people rarely give alms because they lack the experience and cannot understand the bitterness of poverty. Some people even put on an air of superiority when giving alms, making others feel extremely embarrassed.
Huo Zhenbang smiled. "Then why did you give it back to him just now? Weren't you afraid he was just pretending?"
Ling Ruoke scratched her head, unsure how to answer. "I didn't think much of it. If it's fake, it's fake." It wasn't much money anyway.
"Don't you think it's not a lot of money anyway, so it doesn't matter?" Huo Zhenbang seemed to see through her thoughts and guessed it immediately.
Ling Ruoke felt embarrassed and just smiled at him without saying anything.
Huo Zhenbang nodded, and after a while said, "Your thinking is wrong. In my opinion, whether you are genuinely in need or not, begging on the street is wrong. Unearned income is unearned income, and it won't change its nature just because you are truly pitiful. If you really need help, you can seek help from relevant departments and people in society. But after receiving help from others, it's best to keep a record. Even if you can't repay the money in the future, you should find a way to give it to those in need. Only when everyone has this awareness can society become better and better."
Ling Ruoke listened silently, agreeing with the sentiment. However, with over a billion people, there are always a few bad apples who, like rat droppings in a pot of porridge, will spoil the whole thing. As soon as they see someone gain something through improper means, others will rush to do the same. "Grandpa, I think the idea is good, but it's too difficult to put into practice."
“That’s true. But I think this trend shouldn’t be encouraged. It’s like people kneeling in the street saying their loved ones have leukemia. If it’s true, can they really raise such a large sum of money for surgery with the pennies they beg for?”
"Even if it's just enough to cover one day's hospital fees, that would be good." Although it's not a viable path, it's still a path, giving people a glimmer of hope.
Huo Zhenbang looked at her, then burst into laughter after a while. "How can I explain this to you? You're too kind, that's why you can't understand."
Ling Ruoke pursed her lips but didn't say anything.
"But Ruoke, being too kind isn't always a good thing. It's not uncommon for kind people to be taken advantage of. To put it bluntly, most of the time you can be kind and gentle; but when necessary, you must be authoritative enough to make people wary, understand?"
Ling Ruoke thought about it seriously for a moment, then shook her head.
"Simply put, it means being a kind person who is evil. Does this sound familiar?" Huo Zhenbang's expression was serious, as if he really wanted her to understand.
Ling Ruoke nodded. "I saw it on TV."
Huo Zhenbang chuckled. "Most soldiers understand this principle. In this life, you can be a great philanthropist, but you also have to be a bad person when necessary. As for when to be a bad person, that's up to you to decide. But you have to understand that if you do good when you should be a bad person, you or your family will suffer."
Ling Ruoke bit her lip. She understood what her grandfather meant, but she couldn't understand why he was telling her all this. "Grandpa, is there something I haven't handled well?"
"I guess so," Huo Zhenbang gave a vague answer and walked forward with his hands behind his back.
Ling Ruoke stood there blankly for a while, thinking that he might be referring to the guzheng.
"Girl, hurry up and follow me."
"Oh." Ling Ruoke came to her senses and hurriedly ran after him.
An elderly person and a child went up one end and down the other, taking a whole morning to complete the journey, drenched in sweat. However, they felt refreshed and in good spirits.
Upon returning to Ziyun Capital, Huo Zhixun had already left.
Yang Ziyun was at home watching a Korean drama. She was watching a sad part of it when tears streamed down her face.
When Ling Ruoke first saw it, she was stunned for a long time. In her memory, Yang Ziyun had always been a strong and assertive person. Now, seeing her face covered in tears, she didn't know what to think.
"What? I'm not a crocodile, what's so strange about me shedding tears?" Yang Ziyun said, both amused and exasperated by her astonished expression.
Ling Ruoke quickly shook her head and waved her hands. "I didn't mean that, Mom, don't misunderstand." She was just a little surprised.
Yang Ziyun smiled and said, "I was just teasing you. By the way, come with me to the hospital this afternoon."
"Mom, are you feeling unwell?" Ling Ruoke rushed over, her face full of worry.
Yang Ziyun pulled her to sit down beside her. "It's not me who needs to see a doctor, it's you."
“Me?” Ling Ruoke pointed at herself in astonishment. “But I’m perfectly healthy, I don’t feel unwell.”
Yang Ziyun looked at her blank expression with a hint of helplessness. "It's not a doctor's visit, but a check-up. Aren't you planning to have a child? It's best to get a check-up, and if you need to take care of yourself, you should do so as soon as possible. Although the bond between a child and its parents is said to be from a past life, taking good care of your health will make it easier to conceive, and the baby will be smarter."
Ling Ruoke's face flushed red, and she didn't know where to look. Why did everyone keep bringing up having children? Although marriage and childbirth are inevitable, it was still quite embarrassing to have people constantly talking about it like this.
Yang Ziyun chuckled. She reached out and pinched her cheek. "What a silly child, blushing so easily. I'd like to see just how thin-skinned you are."
"Mom, is it really necessary to go? Maybe I can go back to Z City for a checkup myself. It'll be more convenient for me to recuperate there." Ling Ruoke was worried that the checkup might reveal that her body was temporarily unsuitable for having children, and then the old lady would have other ideas.
Yang Ziyun thought about it and agreed. "The most important thing now is to give birth to a big, healthy son for the Huo family. Let's put work aside for now."
"Mom, I know," Ling Ruoke replied, blushing. She wasn't offended by her words; she herself genuinely wanted a child. Her colonel was already in his thirties; it was time for him to become a father.
Yang Ziyun smiled when she saw how well-behaved she was. "It doesn't matter whether it's a boy or a girl. Things are different now than before, so there's no need to feel pressured."
Ling Ruoke was embarrassed; she hadn't thought about the gender of her child. However, she personally preferred a boy, and she wanted a miniature version of the colonel. Perhaps most women are like this, hoping for a smaller version of their husband. And men, on the other hand, prefer a smaller version of their wife. All of this is the magic of love.
Yang Ziyun seemed to have endless things to say about this topic. "When you really get pregnant, Mom will come to Z City to be with you. I'll also bring Ahui along, and we'll give you a good boost of nutrition."
Ling Ruoke was utterly speechless. Was this what they meant by a mother gaining status through her son? She picked up the tea that Aunt Hui had poured for her, wishing she could hide her face completely behind the teacup.
Yang Ziyun became more and more excited as she talked, and finally asked Ahui to bring out the photo album to show Ling Ruoke pictures of Huo Qingfeng when he was a child. "That kid was so much cuter when he was a child than he is now. He's just gotten less and less cute as he grows up!" she complained, pouting, clearly reminiscing about the time when he was a tiny little boy and she held him in her arms.
Ling Ruoke smiled; she was also very interested in the colonel's private photos. Or rather, she was curious whether the colonel was this cool when he was a child.
A short while later, Ahui appeared with a photo album, which seemed to contain quite a few photos. She placed the album in front of Yang Ziyun.
Yang Ziyun picked up a photo album, pressed her head against Ling Ruoke's, and flipped through it to recreate the scenes from the shoot for her. Her tone was playful, as if she had become more than ten years younger.
"This photo was taken during his first birthday celebration. Everyone was urging him to pick something, but he looked left and right, and finally lay down and played with his toes without moving. I said, he was born with this stubborn temper."
Ling Ruoke imagined the scene with her, and couldn't help but laugh. The colonel was chubby-cheeked as a child, with a round, chubby face; he was very cute. As he grew older, he gradually lost weight and started to look cool.
The photos only went up to when he was about fifteen or sixteen; there weren't any after that. Yang Ziyun said that kid was stubborn and refused to have his picture taken no matter what. If someone else took a picture, he would try to sabotage it. Later, he joined the special forces, and then he couldn't have his picture taken anymore.
The two of them laughed and chatted as they watched until Ah Hui called out that it was lunchtime, at which point they stopped.
At the dinner table, Yang Ziyun recounted stories from the colonel's childhood, and then her grandfather joined in. Laughter erupted everywhere; the person being laughed at would surely be furious if he knew.
After lunch, Ling Ruoke played a game of chess with her grandfather. Later, after her grandfather and Yang Ziyun went to sleep, she returned to the colonel's room to write. As she wrote, she became sleepy.
When I woke up, it was already evening.
As soon as she came downstairs, Yang Ziyun instructed Ahui to bring her a bowl of chicken soup, saying it would help her recover.
Ling Ruoke touched her nose, thinking that Yang Ziyun was almost bewitched. Luckily, she lived in Z City; otherwise, her anxious mother-in-law would definitely try all sorts of ways to nourish her, and she might end up becoming a big fat girl. Just thinking about that scene made her shudder.
Yang Ziyun seemed to hear her little grumbling and looked at her, saying, "Don't worry about your figure going out of shape. It will recover after you have a baby. Those women who don't want to have children in order to maintain their figure are really stupid. When they want to have children, they may not be able to, and they will regret it for the rest of their lives."
Ling Ruoke quickly smiled. She was just muttering to herself and didn't really care that much about her figure. "Mom, don't worry about it. It's not that I don't want to have children. Once I'm pregnant, I'll still take care of myself." The baby is much more important than her figure. As for her figure, as long as she's willing to exercise, she can naturally maintain it.
"Hmm, that's more like it." Yang Ziyun was finally satisfied and nodded.
At the dinner table, Ling Ruoke suggested that she would fly back to Z City the next morning, and that she had already bought the tickets.
The three elders of the Huo family all disagreed, but when they heard Ling Ruoke say that there were things to do at the company, they had no choice but to let her go. However, they did not forget to remind her of the important matter of having a child, as if they were afraid that she would forget about it as soon as she turned around.
After dinner, Grandpa pulled her aside to play chess. He said that since she rarely came to visit, he should quickly get her to play a few games with him.
Ling Ruoke readily kept the old man company, letting him play chess to his heart's content. Surprisingly, he even planned to play all night. Finally, it was Yang Ziyun who brought up the matter of the child, and only then did the old man let her go back to sleep.
Before leaving the house the next day, Yang Ziyun slipped a savings book into Ruoke's hand. "If you don't have enough money, use what's in here. This money was originally saved up so Qingfeng could get married."
Ling Ruoke quickly pushed the money back; she dared not actually take it. Even if they really needed money, it would be the colonel who would come to collect it. "Mom, we have money. You keep it, and we'll ask you for it when we need it, okay?"
"Alright then." Yang Ziyun thought for a moment and didn't force her. This huge family business all belonged to Qingfeng, and in the end, it would all go to the couple.
Ling Ruoke breathed a huge sigh of relief.
...
Back in Z City, Ling Ruoke went to the hospital for a checkup the very next day. The result was that her health was not good enough, making it difficult for her to conceive, and she needed to undergo treatment.
After leaving the hospital, Ling Ruoke considered whether to keep it a secret from Yang Ziyun and the others. She worried that they would be very disappointed if they knew. She knew they really wanted a grandchild.
After much deliberation, I nervously made the call and relayed the doctor's message. Thankfully, Yang Ziyun didn't say anything, only telling me to listen to the doctor, get my body in good condition quickly, and not to put too much pressure on myself. Pregnancy should be allowed to happen naturally.
"Mom, I'm sorry." The old lady longed for a grandson so much, and Ling Ruoke felt really sorry for them.
Yang Ziyun laughed and said, "What a silly child. This child will come sooner or later. Even if you are healthy, you still can't get pregnant if he doesn't want to. So, it really is fate, and you can't force it. They say children are angels. He knows how much we are looking forward to his coming, so he will come eventually. We just need to wait patiently."
After hanging up the phone, Ling Ruoke breathed a sigh of relief. However, she also felt a little disappointed. Since their wedding day, the colonel hadn't used any protection, and she wondered if she was already pregnant.
From that day on, Ling Ruoke was on a diet of traditional Chinese medicine for quite some time. She still needed to take measures to recover before her body was fully healed.
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