No reconciliation, no forgiveness! Mr. Pei leaves with nothing.

Same...it's the same.

It matches.

Jiang Hua's heart suddenly raced, her gaze fixed on the little boy's face. No matter how she looked at him, he didn't seem like Pei Zhan's child.

The child resembles Xu Zhoulan more in his features, and even Xu Zhoulan's carefree and nonchalant demeanor has been inherited by him.

Those past mysteries that had troubled her for so long, like a tangled mess, seemed to begin to unravel slowly at this moment.

No matter how you look at it, it's impossible for it to be the child of Song Qingran and Pei Zhan.

Pei Zhan's genes are strong, but Song Qingran could never have such strong genes to give birth to such a 'beautiful' child.

It is difficult to tell whether they are male or female.

"Cough cough cough... Woman, I know I am quite handsome, but you don't need to look at me with such infatuated eyes."

"If you'd like to go on a date with me, I wouldn't mind having dinner with a beautiful lady like you."

With his hands in his pockets and an eyebrow raised, Huo Shiqian boldly roamed over Jiang Hua's body. This woman was incredibly beautiful.

In her past life, she always believed that the child was born to Pei Zhan and Song Qingran. This realization weighed on her heart like a boulder for many years. Now that the truth has come out, the feeling of relief made her eyes slightly red.

"I know it's quite rare for someone to have dinner with me, so there's no need to be so touched."

Just then, a slap landed on Huo Shiqian's head. "Huo Shiqian, you're not allowed to be unruly."

"Mommy, please give me some face in front of this beautiful lady."

Huo Ling, whom I hadn't seen for many years, has grown even more beautiful. With her tall figure and professional short skirt, she exudes the aura of a strong woman. "Sister-in-law, it's been a long time."

Jiang Hua: "Long time no see."

"Xiaoqian, come here and greet your aunt."

"Aunt? You're actually my aunt? What a pity. It seems I can't wait until I grow up to make you my wife."

Huo Ling shook her head helplessly, "Xiao Qian, if you say something like that again, your uncle will come and settle accounts with you."

"What a pity, I have lost such a beautiful lady. Hello, my dear and beautiful aunt, please allow me to bow to you to show my respect." As he spoke, Huo Shiqian held Jiang Hua's hand and kissed the back of her hand.

"Sister-in-law, please don't mind. Xiaoqian grew up abroad, so she is indeed more outgoing. She's just like Xu Zhoulan, a bit unconventional."

Shen Qianqian: "Mom, this older sister is so strange."

"Sister? Miss, I am a man. Please look at me carefully. How could someone as handsome as me be a delicate woman?"

Shen Qianqian was so frightened that she hid behind Shen Bao'er.

Huo Shiqian put his hands in his pockets and said, "Don't worry, I won't hold it against you."

"Because I am a man."

"Huo Shiqian! Can you stop acting like your deadbeat father and be normal for once?" Huo Ling couldn't stand his father's lifeless behavior.

"Okay, Mother."

He immediately became obedient after being scolded.

Huo Shiqian received his education abroad from a young age and learned the etiquette there, which made him carefree and frivolous.

Jiang Hua smiled and said, "It's alright, it's all our own home."

"It's fine to be casual about it."

"You've been gone for so many years, it's so rare to see you come back. Please stay for lunch."

"We haven't seen each other for a long time."

Huo Ling raised her hand and glanced at the time on her wrist. "I'm sorry, sister-in-law, I'm afraid I don't have enough time."

"Can we wait until tonight?"

"I have to go to a meeting in a bit."

"I'll have to trouble you to take care of Xiaoqian for me."

"If he acts crazy towards you, you can teach him a lesson without any problem."

Jiang Hua lowered her gaze to the child beside her, who was also looking at her and was raising an eyebrow at her.

"It's nothing. You go ahead and do your work. Come back with Pei Zhan tonight."

Huo Ling nodded: "Okay, sister-in-law."

After Bao'er arrived first, the others followed.

Warm and gentle, moonlit and distant.

Most of those who came were from the Huo family.

There are quite a few children.

Four people are just enough to make a mahjong table.

Yue Simiao gave birth to twin boys who looked exactly alike, making it almost impossible to tell them apart. Even Jiang Hua sometimes got them mixed up.

The two of them are quite attached to Jiang Hua, especially Wen Man's child. When Jiang Hua went to the Huo family, he clung to him, and he still does now. They all want Jiang Hua to hold them before they are satisfied.

Each of the children had a servant looking after them.

Jiang Hua chatted with them for a while, mostly about random things.

Normally, members of the Huo family's collateral branches wouldn't come to the Huo family's ancestral home unless they were invited.

Aside from those who were on good terms with Jiang Hua, Wen Man and Yue Simiao usually didn't dare to disturb this mistress.

Yue Simiao, while playing cards and cracking melon seeds, asked, "Mistress, something interesting has happened recently, do you know?"

Jiang Hua: "What's wrong?"

Jiang Hua usually stays indoors and rarely goes out, so she doesn't know much about the news and mostly gets it from them.

Wen Man said, "It's Huo Qin."

"You'll find it laughable even if you say it out loud."

"On the day Huo Qin got engaged, he abandoned the Mu family's daughter and ran away. Although the Mu family is not as good as the Huo family, at least this Mu Sinian is from a prestigious family, a well-bred young lady, and she is well-behaved and doesn't have too many ulterior motives. She was the daughter that my father personally arranged for me to marry, so I don't think there's anything wrong with her character. Most importantly, she's not pretentious, and we get along well."

"But that blind girl got infatuated with a poor student at school. She even threatened to commit suicide, disregarding the reputation of both families, and just abandoned him and ran away."

“Originally, if Huo Qin had just talked to Dad properly, and if the two of them were truly in love, we wouldn’t have objected to them being together. But now, with this suicide attempt, it’s a bit… overly scheming.”

Yue Simiao also said, "Yes, if she is an upright person and doesn't have too many ulterior motives, her background can be ignored."

"It's so obvious that they weren't targeting Xiao Qin at all."

"Perhaps, when Huo Qin is kicked out of the Huo family, he will see the woman's true colors and finally realize the truth."

As Wen Man spoke, she felt her head spin and shook her head. "Looking at it this way, Huo Beiqing is much more adorable. Aside from being a bit simple-minded and spending every day training in the army, he even suspects a woman who gets close to him is a spy. He's so clear-headed that he won't be fooled by other women."

Yue Simiao sighed, "I don't even want to talk about my husband anymore, it makes me want to vomit. If it weren't for the children, I would have divorced him long ago."

Both of them envied the matriarch of the Huo family in front of them. The head of the family held a high position and great power, and most importantly, he was low-key and doted on his wife. They didn't know where to find such a good man.

"However, the Huo family really needs to straighten out their family traditions. They shouldn't bring all sorts of shady women home." This is what Jiang Hua hates most. It's normal for men to cheat, but if they cheat and then don't clean up their act, bringing them home is truly disgusting.

Back when Jiang Hua visited the Huo family, she couldn't forget the 'woman' who told Pei Zhan she wanted to sleep with him.

When news of Huo Qin's engagement broke, the Huo family did send an invitation to the Huo family ancestral home, but Jiang Hua wasn't in the mood to attend and didn't go. She never expected this to happen.

Shen Bao'er: "And then what happened?"

Yue Simiao: "The engagement has been cancelled."

"That brat hasn't come back yet."

Shen Bao'er also liked to gossip and was curious to find out the details. She never expected that such a big family as the Huo family would have such a dramatic incident.

Wen Man: "I heard that she's pregnant."

Yue Simiao: "Pregnant? I don't know."

"Anyway, I don't like her. She's rude. Last time she came to the Huo family, she made Dad furious, and then she just turned around and left."

Jiang Hua drew a card and said casually, "Let them be. It's best to just be an observer in these matters. Getting involved too casually might just lead to resentment. When it comes to relationships, the longer you're around someone, the more likely they are to be exposed."

"It's not that people without status or background, or those who are scheming and calculating, are bad. It's normal for people in lower positions to want to climb up."

People make mistakes and have countless chances to start over.

"All the men in the Huo family are like this; they can't judge people well."

After playing several rounds of mahjong, it was already 3:30 in the afternoon.

Jiang Hua's mind was mostly on that child; several children were playing together in the courtyard not far away.

Shen Yanli was the quietest, sitting quietly under the tree reading a book. Qianqian sat beside him, and her worthless son sat next to her playing with his toy airplane. This airplane was made by Pei Zhan, and he had carried it with him for a long time without ever letting it out of his sight.

The most popular one is still Xiao Qian, who has an androgynous face, just like when Jiang Hua first saw Xu Zhoulan, she couldn't tell if he was a man or a woman.

He was surrounded by women one after another.

The big ones are like this, and the small ones are still like this.

Just then, a car stopped in the yard, unnoticed by anyone.

Yue Simiao: "If only my husband were half as good as the head of the family, at least he would be home on time. I don't know what he's busy with all day long."

Wen Man sighed again, "I'm also living like a widow. He goes to the army and is never home for a year or two. Sometimes it's two or three years. I've almost forgotten what my husband looks like."

After Pei Zhan got out of the car, Huo Ling followed behind him, reporting on tomorrow's schedule and meeting times. "Unnecessary drinking parties have been canceled. I will follow up on the other projects later."

Pei Zhan raised his hand to signal, and Huo Ling immediately understood and stopped talking. The servants also lowered their heads when they saw the person returning.

"If I had another chance to choose, I would never marry into the Huo family. The men in the Huo family are good-looking and their children have better genes, but they are useless in other ways."

Yue Simiao's resentment is indeed very strong.

Jiang Hua played a card: "In your next life, be careful not to judge a book by its cover."

"Meeting a man like this in this life is just bad luck."

As they entered the foyer, Huo Ling overheard them. She chuckled softly and whispered to the person beside her, "Big brother, it seems your sister-in-law still has a lot of opinions about you!"

"Keep working hard in the future!"

Wen Man also noticed something was wrong. When she turned her head and saw Pei Zhan, her expression changed slightly, and her hand, which was resting on the mahjong tiles, froze instantly.

Yue Simiao also saw her, and the hand that was about to draw a card stopped abruptly, as if it had been frozen in place.

The two stood up almost simultaneously, accidentally bumping into a chair with a jarring creak that sounded particularly jarring in the quiet living room.

The relaxed smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by an awkward expression. His hands clasped together unconsciously in front of him, trembling slightly.

Jiang Hua gave them a strange look. "Why such a big reaction?"

Is there a ghost behind me?

Pei Zhan's gaze swept over everyone, finally landing on Jiang Hua, his eyes softening instantly.

Wen Man: No, it's scarier than a ghost.

Yue Simiao gave Jiang Hua a look: "After, behind."

Bao'er also turned her head away, and seeing this, gently tugged at Jiang Hua's sleeve.

Jiang Hua reached out to grab the watermelon juice from the side, but before she could get her hands on it, she saw a man's hand, slender and beautiful with distinct knuckles, holding the glass and presenting it to her. On that familiar ring finger, she wore the familiar wedding ring.

Wen Man's voice stammered, "Family, family... family head."

Oh no, they must have heard everything I said.

Pei Zhan wore a custom-made black suit, the tailored fit perfectly highlighting his tall and slender figure. His cold and handsome face exuded an innate majesty, inadvertently radiating an aura that commanded respect.

This made their hearts skip a beat.

Jiang Hua held her breath, raised her head, met Pei Zhan's gaze, and said with a hint of flattery, "You're back."

"Thank you for the watermelon juice, honey."

"My husband must be tired from work."

This contrasts sharply with the tension between Yue Simiao and Wen Man.

Pei Zhan smiled indulgently, placed his hands on Jiang Hua's shoulders, leaned down and spoke softly in her ear, "It seems that Madam still has a lot of opinions about me."

Jiang Hua's smile froze slightly. "Honey, you must have misheard me."

Why would I have a problem with you?

Jiang Hua sat in her seat, holding a watermelon juice, feeling restless. How come he always heard her every time she complained about him?

Did he install a listening device?

"I'll settle the score with you tonight."

"You guys keep playing." Pei Zhan straightened up, his voice deep and magnetic, yet still carrying an undeniable air of authority.

Simiao and Wenman didn't dare to sit down and continue playing. They just stood there awkwardly, forcing out stiff smiles and saying repeatedly, "No, no, we've played enough."

"It's getting late, we should head back."

Yue Simiao and Wen Man smiled awkwardly, not daring to make a move.

"Didn't you say you'd be back later?"

"It's only 4:30, it's not time to get off work yet."

It's rare to see the house so lively.

These people from the collateral branches of the Huo family all reacted as if they had seen a ghost when they saw Pei Zhan, just like Wen Man and Yue Simiao.

Huo Ling said with a gentle smile, "Big brother, I just want to get off work early and come back to be with my sister-in-law."

"Sisters-in-law, there's no need to be so nervous. My elder brother and I have some matters to attend to in the study."

The two nodded, "Okay, okay."

Then the two of them sat back down.

"Uncle, uncle, uncle..."

A little boy ran in from outside the entrance hall and hugged Pei Zhan's leg. Jiang Hua was startled. She looked at Huo Shiqian with his eyes closed and rubbed against him with a look of infatuation. "Uncle, I've finally met you."

"I miss you so much, Uncle."

"I love you so much."

Jiang Hua: "..." She had never done that before.