The handsome guy next door loves to flirt.

When they arrived at the old house, Gu Jianguo was playing chess with his servants, looking quite relaxed. Now retired, the old man wasn't in very good health and didn't go anywhere much, just taking walks nearby. When bored, he would ask his servants to play chess or cards with him to pass the time. Seeing Gu Cheng was somewhat unexpected.

"What brings you here at this hour?" It's already evening, why isn't he home and instead comes here? And it's not even the weekend, why is he here to visit him? It's a bit strange for his usually very busy eldest son.

"Uncle Gen, you go ahead and do your work! I'll play chess with my dad for a while." Gu Cheng was also quite good at chess, and he would often play a game with Gu Cheng whenever he came over. After Uncle Gen left, he took over his place and continued playing.

"You must have something on your mind. Your moves today were very chaotic, unlike your usual style." Gu Jianguo noticed his son's tense expression. Although he was playing chess, he seemed to be thinking about something else. The chance that Uncle Gen had a slight advantage over him had suddenly turned into a losing streak for Gu Cheng.

“Yes, I am somewhat...worried about Yun Shu’s marriage!” Gu Cheng said, placing a chess piece down.

"What happened to Yunshu? The Sheng family boy is back! Just pick a good day for them to get engaged, or even skip the engagement and go straight to marriage, wouldn't that be great?" Gu Jianguo was probably surprised. The two children's marriages were already arranged, so what was there to worry about now?

"Dad, Yun Shu doesn't like Huai Nan and doesn't want to marry into the Sheng family!"

"She has no choice but to marry. Although most of the younger generation of the Sheng family aren't in the military anymore, Old Master Sheng is still alive, and he could easily live another ten years. He's much younger than me, and the businesses of the next two generations are much bigger than our Gu family's. Achi is an official, but his business ventures aren't worth looking forward to. As for the Li family, we can't count on them at all. Besides, their family is a mess, connected to the underworld. So, if our Gu family wants to maintain this status as a prominent family, we have to rely on the next generation. But look at your and Achi's children, apart from Yunshu, none of them are reliable. So..."

Gu Jianguo glanced at Gu Cheng before continuing, "You need to keep an eye on Yun Shu. If she marries another man, will she still listen to you? Besides, she'll have to give birth to another child for the Gu family. Which in-laws would agree to her marrying into another family? Yun Shu might even be disliked by that family."

"As for the child, that person doesn't mind. What I mind is that his family is too poor; they can't help the Gu family, and they're not as good as the Sheng family. Besides, Huainan is a Sheng family child, and we know that. For the sake of the Gu family, and because Huainan's mother, Xie Huixin, is an old friend of Yunshu's mother, she will definitely treat Yunshu well, so there's no need to worry about mother-in-law/daughter-in-law issues. It's just that I feel a little sorry for that man..."

"You mean the boyfriend who got married to Yun Shu? No matter how good he is, he can't be better than the Sheng family and Sheng Huainan." Gu Jianguo scoffed, quite surprised by his son's unusual behavior today.

"No, it's just that he saved Yun Shu, and treating him like this is ultimately wrong of our family and unbecoming of our status."

"Hmph! Your status is not worthy, and there will be many problems in the future. Ah Cheng, are you... thinking about your past? If you hadn't married Li Meng back then, but had been with Yun Shu's mother, would you have such a status now?" Gu Jianguo didn't care much about human feelings. He would only do things based on what he could achieve, regardless of other people's feelings.

"This……"

“Ah Cheng! Let go of your obsession! No matter how good Yun Shu’s mother is, she’s not right for you. It wasn’t easy for you to get to where you are today. Stop thinking about the past. What can you do but regret it?”

"Dad, did you and Mom go through the same thing before?" Gu Cheng didn't know why, but ever since he saw Xiao Mingkun today, he kept thinking about the past. It was probably because seeing Xiao Mingkun reminded him of what he had gone through, which made him waver about Yun Shu marrying into the Sheng family. He came to Gu Jianguo to chat and relieve his worries.

When Gu Jianguo heard him ask this, his eyes darted away, not daring to look Gu Cheng in the eye. He said against his will, "Your mother...we were all raised by the adults in our family, and we've lived our whole lives like this."

"But Mom wasn't very happy in her life..." When Gu Cheng was little, he often saw his mother staring blankly at things. Once, he saw her holding a photograph, but the person in the photo wasn't his father. That's when he realized why his mother rarely smiled; she always seemed to carry a faint sadness. He had never told anyone about that. It must have been someone his mother used to like. Since marrying his father, they couldn't be together, and his mother... probably didn't like his father. So, even years after their marriage, she still held onto old things, reminiscing about the past.

Gu Jianguo sighed and said, "Does it really matter whether I'm happy or not? I'll still live my life the same way. Before I know it, I'll be old. Your mother passed away before me, and I probably don't have many years left to live."

"Dad, you're doing well. You haven't even seen Yunshu's child yet, your grandson."

"Yes! So you absolutely can't be soft-hearted. The Gu family is now relying on the two of us, father and son. If we fall, there will be no one to help us up. As for Yun Shu... we can only ask that child to suffer!"

If his son had given him a grandson, he wouldn't have interfered with Yun Shu's decision as long as the person she chose was acceptable. But now he couldn't let her make her own decisions anymore, because the Gu family was too weak in this generation, with only a handful of members.

“Dad, I understand, so before coming here I advised that young man to break up with Yun Shu. It would be better for both of them!” Gu Cheng sighed after he finished speaking.

“That’s right! Ah Cheng, if people don’t fight for themselves, even dogs will look down on them. Which family with a good background would let their daughter marry into an ordinary, unremarkable family? If that were the case, our Gu family would be ridiculed in that compound.”

After listening, Gu Cheng remained silent for a while before saying, "Dad, I've had people handle Yun Shu's divorce these past few days. Once things are settled, I'll immediately arrange her engagement to Huai Nan. Once they're engaged, Yun Shu will give up and be able to marry into the Sheng family without worry."

“Okay, it’s better to deal with this sooner rather than later. Fortunately, the two of them just got their certificates and haven’t lived together yet, so they can break up quickly. After a year or two, even the strongest feelings will fade and they will slowly forget…” Just like his wife, Gu Cheng’s mother, Gu Jianguo knew that his wife already had someone she liked before they got married. It’s just that life is full of vicissitudes, and decades pass by in a flash. In the end, life still passes by just like that.

After listening, Gu Cheng nodded. Seeing that it was getting dark, he got up and helped Gu Jianguo inside to have dinner together.