Free Web NovelChapter 663: Chapter 661: The Spoiled Dandy
"I’m only fifty-two, and that geezer is already seventy-one! Who the hell is blind enough to mix us up!"
Wang Heming muttered under his breath, his expression complicated. He tried to build up his mental defenses. ’If I just pretend I didn’t hear anything, that should be fine, right?’
He quickly turned and walked in the other direction, but Uncle Xia still chased after him.
"Great-uncle, why are you walking so fast! Great-uncle, I just saw you over at the head table..."
"What in the world is Xia Laosan yelling about? You don’t get out much, do you? Let me introduce you. This is my in-law, Wang Heming, the son-in-law of the Mu Family. He’s not your ’Great-uncle.’"
This was Second Xiao, Xiao Jiyan’s father. Because his daughter had married Mu Ziquan, he always called Wang Heming his in-law.
"Your in-law? Impossible! We just went to see Old Gu and saw the Great-uncle. This man is clearly the Great-uncle!"
Wang Heming now had the urge to strangle his in-law, Second Xiao. If he hadn’t chimed in and made a fuss, none of this would be happening!
Thanks to his shouting, everyone in the hall turned to look at them. It was so humiliating.
Humiliation was a small matter. The real trouble would be attracting the attention of his good-for-nothing dad!
’I haven’t even decided if I want to acknowledge him yet!’
His good-for-nothing dad had supposedly been a beggar for decades. He had assumed the man would be old and decrepit by now, but Third Brother Xia had just mistaken him for his father!
’He must not be in as miserable a state as I imagined!’
At this moment, a crowd gathered. Those who had never seen the Great-uncle were just there for the spectacle, but the expressions of those who had seen the Gu Family’s Great-uncle changed in an instant.
They thought their eyes were playing tricks on them, so they quickly rubbed them and looked again.
But they still saw that familiar face. Everyone who had met the Great-uncle was now staring intently at Wang Heming.
"Great-uncle? Why are you walking so fast?"
"Yeah, Great-uncle, you were just at the head table."
"Impossible. The Great-uncle couldn’t have moved this fast. Absolutely impossible."
"My god! Could there be two Great-uncles?" The crowd started whispering amongst themselves, a buzz of discussion filling the air.
Gu Jiaojiao had astonishingly sharp hearing. She had long since heard someone in a corner of the hall shouting for the Great-uncle.
At first, she hadn’t paid it much mind. But now she heard many people shouting the same thing, and she even heard her grand-nephew’s voice calling for the Great-uncle.
She suddenly understood. Someone must look very similar to her Great-uncle. Gu Jiaojiao was curious as well.
’Could her Great-uncle have a living brother?’
So, Gu Jiaojiao took Wenwen’s hand with one hand and held Grandpa Gu’s arm with the other. Mr. Gu supported Ye Qingzhou, and they all walked toward the source of the commotion.
Su Shuochi followed behind, carrying Susu and holding Xuanxuan’s hand.
When they got closer to the crowd, Gu Jiaojiao got a clear look at Wang Heming’s face. He really did look remarkably similar to her Great-uncle.
He just looked about ten years younger. He stood tall and straight, with a heroic and distinguished air, which was somewhat different from her Great-uncle.
But for anyone unfamiliar with the two of them, it wasn’t strange that they would mistake Wang Heming for Ye Qingzhou.
Originally, Gu Jiaojiao had been wondering why Wang Heming, who usually disliked attending banquets, had brought his entire family today.
’Could it be that Wang Heming himself knows something?’ Gu Jiaojiao said nothing, just quietly watched Ye Qingzhou.
Seeing his dad get closer and closer, Wang Heming was struck speechless.
’Can you all please stop shouting?’ he thought. ’We don’t know each other. Who the hell is your Great-uncle!’
"Father~" Ye Qingzhou dashed forward in a single bound, grabbed Wang Heming’s hands, and cried out with tears welling in his eyes.
It was for no other reason than this: the father in his memory looked exactly like the man before him.
Ye Qingzhou looked at Wang Heming and suddenly smiled like a child. "To think I’d be able to see my father alive in my lifetime."
"..."
Wang Heming was stunned!
’Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?’
’This good-for-nothing dad really is one of a kind, calling his own son ’Father’!’
He certainly didn’t dare to respond. So he just stood there, frozen on the spot, not knowing how to react.
Mu Qingtong was utterly shocked. She immediately rushed over, grabbed her husband’s arm, and roared.
"So, Wang Heming, you’ve been putting on a good act! You have a son who’s even older than you?"
Everyone in the hall: "..."
Wang Heming had no time to explain. He stared in astonishment at the person gripping his hands. This was no shabbily dressed old man.
Instead, it was an elder who looked only a few years older than him. His hair was meticulously combed.
Not a single strand was out of place; even the silver threads were impeccably styled.
Only the slight hollowness of his eye sockets quietly spoke of the vicissitudes of time, yet he showed no sign of being in his twilight years.
His spirits were excellent, and he exuded an air of both kindness and fortitude.
’I wonder what gave this good-for-nothing, lonely old man such support and courage.’
Wang Heming stood rooted to the spot, silently gazing at his father, not daring to move.
Seeing this, Gu Jiaojiao hurried forward and took Ye Qingzhou’s arm. "Great-uncle, he clearly looks younger than you! Why are you calling him ’Father’?"
"Ah! If you’re not my father, then who are you? I only have five older sisters, no brothers." Ye Qingzhou was bewildered too!
Recently, he’d been eating and drinking well every day, wearing comfortable clothes, sleeping in a soft bed, and had many younger family members to spend time with during the day.
But in the dead of night, he always felt he had let down the ancestors of the Ye Family, which made him lose his appetite.
"Excuse me, are you a descendant of the Ye family? Why do you look so much like one of us?"
"My name is Wang Heming. When I was a child, my surname was Ye..." Before Wang Heming could finish, Ye Qingzhou cut him off.
"I knew it! You’re a descendant of our Ye family who later changed your surname when your mother remarried."
Wang Heming stared blankly at his good-for-nothing dad, listening to his presumptuous interruptions. For a moment, his brain couldn’t keep up.
’No wonder they say you should never argue with an idiot, or people won’t be able to tell which one of you is the idiot.’
Although Grandpa Gu didn’t fully understand the situation, he was genuinely happy for his brother-in-law.
He chuckled and said, "Haha, this is wonderful news today! Qingzhou, you’ve found your own brother."
That had to be it, right? After all, the two of them looked so similar!
Wenwen, acting like a little adult, put her hands behind her back and asked, "Why is Grandpa so sure he’s Great-uncle’s brother? Couldn’t he be Great-uncle’s son?"
Hearing this, Grandpa Gu froze, dumbfounded. He looked at Wang Heming with confusion. "Huh, that’s also a possibility."
Ye Qingzhou was even more stunned. He did have a son once, but he had truly forgotten his son’s name.
It was all so long ago. Especially during his days of wandering, he had deliberately tried to forget his family.
Wang Heming looked at the stunned old man, and in that instant, he felt a sense of release. His mother was right; his good-for-nothing dad was just a spoiled fop.
Without this good-for-nothing father, he wouldn’t be alive today.
