"You didn't know? That's normal, given your current relationship with Xia Ran, she really wouldn't tell you. It's actually quite simple: Grandpa Xia and Lin Ziming get along very well, and they've decided to become godparents to each other. They'll be having a banquet tomorrow to officially acknowledge their kinship."
Gu Zheng finally understood. He didn't even answer He Xiu, or say a word, before hanging up the phone.
He Xiu looked at the phone that had been hung up and lost his anger. He simply sat down in the living room again and started drinking.
Actually, the reason he was drinking was because of Dazhuang. So much time had passed and he thought he could slowly let go, but now there was no sign of letting go at all; on the contrary, he missed him even more.
He Xiu felt a little contempt for himself, but that was all he could do. He couldn't do anything about it and could only let this longing creep over him every day.
As for Gu Zheng, he didn't plan to do anything after hanging up the phone. He saw that Lin Ziming really came for the old man's ex-girlfriend, and there seemed to be some other things involved.
Gu Zheng pondered, Xia Ran hadn't told him, so he definitely couldn't attend the family reunion banquet.
However, he didn't pay much attention to the family reunion banquet, and he felt calmer after it ended.
This way, he wouldn't have to worry about whether Lin Ziming had feelings for Xia Ran. As for Lin Ziming and his group's true identities and purposes, Gu Zheng planned to tell Xia Ran about them slowly after the family reunion.
The next day, Xia Ran still needed to get up very early because Gu Chen needed to go to kindergarten. The family reunion was held at noon, so he could take a nap after dropping off the child before taking his grandfather to the hotel.
Xia Ran and her child had just stepped out the door when they saw Gu Zheng coming out from across the street.
Their eyes met, and Xia Ran looked away first.
"Aran, I'll take the child there. I'll go to the company anyway. You can stay home with Grandpa."
Xia Ran didn't know whether to agree or not, because after all, this was the child's biological father, and he didn't seem to have the right to say no. So he could only look down at Gu Chen and ask for Gu Chen's opinion.
He thought Gu Chen would insist on him taking the child home as before, but to his surprise, the child immediately let go of his hand and said...
"Little Daddy, Big Daddy can take me there. You can go back and get some more sleep. Just remember to pick me up this afternoon."
Hearing Gu Chen's words, Xia Ran was still somewhat surprised, and at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little sour.
But since the child had said so, he could only nod in agreement.
"Okay, then you must listen to your teacher at kindergarten. If anything happens, you can tell the teacher, and your dad will pick you up in the afternoon."
"Mmm!" Gu Chen nodded vigorously, and then he and Gu Zheng walked into the elevator.
As Gu Zheng was leaving, he couldn't help but look back at Xia Ran, but Xia Ran ignored him and turned to close the door.
When Grandpa Xia saw Xia Ran return alone, he asked her a question in confusion.
"Why did you come back so soon after you left? Where's the child?"
“His great-father took him there.”
"Oh, as long as someone can take you. You should go and catch up on some sleep so you don't feel sleepy at noon."
"Okay, I'm going to take a nap now. Remember to call me if anything happens."
"Alright, alright, I'm so old, what don't I know? Go to sleep, I'll definitely call you if I need anything."
The old man urged Xia Ran to go to sleep, and Xia Ran had no choice but to return to her room.
They ate a late-night snack and went to bed quite late yesterday, but after the child fell asleep, he chatted with Dazhuang for almost an hour. He also got up early this morning to make breakfast, so he is indeed quite sleepy now.
Xia Ran slept until after ten o'clock. When he woke up, Lin Ziming and his father had already arrived and were watching TV with the old man.
Xia Ran was a little embarrassed, and walked over to say,
"Uncle Lin, Brother Ziming, I'm sorry, I just went to sleep for a bit and overslept."
Lin Ziming and his group didn't care at all. "It's normal to take a nap. Anyway, it's still early, and we're not in a hurry. We just thought it was still early, so we came over."
They booked a time of 11:30 at the hotel, so they could go there at 11:00 if they wanted to.
Xia Ran checked his phone and found that many people had sent him messages. Yu Wu, He Xiu, and Feng Ming had all asked him about it.
Xia Ran replied to each message, checked the time, and then prepared to go out.
It takes half an hour to get to the hotel from here because of traffic lights and such. As the hosts, they need to get there first, because they can't be there before the guests arrive.
Chapter 397 Confirming Identity
Since Xia Ran and the others had agreed to meet at the hotel, everyone just waited at the hotel entrance and didn't need to come over here.
Lin Ziming was still driving. Lin's father sat in the back seat with Grandpa Xia, while Xia Ran sat in the passenger seat.
"Xia Ran, do you need us to find a car to pick up Yu Wu?" Lin Ziming asked from the driver's seat.
Xia Ran: "No need, he just told me that he can take a taxi with Grandpa Li. Let's go and wait first."
"Okay." Lin Ziming responded. Xia Ran wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt that there was a hint of regret in Lin Ziming's "okay."
However, Xia Ran quickly put the matter out of his mind. He must have been overthinking it. Why would Brother Ziming be filled with regret?
Xia Ran thought they had arrived early enough, but to her surprise, they saw Feng Ming and He Hao, along with their parents, as soon as they arrived at the hotel entrance.
Xia Ran was somewhat surprised and quickly went over to say,
"Uncle and Aunt, why are you here so early?"
Mrs. Feng was very happy to see Xia Ran and said,
"We also had nothing to do at home, so we came over a bit earlier, so..."
Feng's mother seemed unsure of what to say, and simply kept smiling at Xia Ran.
He Hao: "It's okay, Xia Ran. We were just at home and had nothing to do. We just arrived. By the way, which one is your grandfather? Introduce us to him."
He was afraid that his mother might say something if she got too excited, so he quickly changed the subject.
He Hao was actually quite helpless about this. Their paternity test results were still pending, and he didn't expect that even after a night, his mother's feelings for Xia Ran hadn't diminished; on the contrary, they had deepened.
Upon hearing this, Xia Ran ignored everything else and simply introduced the situation to Grandpa Xia and the others.
Just now, while he was talking to He Hao, Lin Ziming and his father helped his grandfather over.
“Grandpa, these are the fathers of Xiaochen’s kindergarten classmates, and their grandparents, whom I told you about yesterday.”
"Uncle and Aunt, He Hao, Feng Ming, this is my grandfather, and this is my uncle, and this is my older brother."
Grandpa Xia nodded and smiled at the group, and Lin Ziming and He Lin's father also greeted them.
Feng's mother responded briefly, but her main focus remained on Grandpa Xia.
When she saw Grandpa Xia, she was even more certain that Xia Ran must be her child, because Grandpa Xia and Xia Ran had no resemblance whatsoever.
Xia Ran finally felt that Feng's mother's attitude was a bit strange.
However, he only dared to have doubts in his heart and didn't dare to ask too much. After all, the relationship wasn't very good, and if he suddenly asked, the other person might get angry.
Since that's the case, he could only pretend he knew nothing, and after saying hello, they walked together to the private room they had booked at the hotel.
It was only at this moment that Xia Ran noticed that He Hao and the others had brought over a lot of things from the side.
The packaging of these items didn't look cheap, Xia Ran quickly said to He Hao.
"It's already very kind of you to come, why did you bring so much stuff?"
He Hao smiled nonchalantly and said, "It's okay, we have all these things at home, they didn't cost any money."
Actually, he said these things just to prevent Xia Ran from overthinking, because these things weren't originally from his home; his parents had picked them out and had them delivered overnight.
“That’s right, it’s just some cheap stuff, it’s nothing to worry about,” Feng’s mother added, and Xia Ran could only smile.
The group was led by a waiter to the private room they had booked in advance.
Xia Ran booked a large private room with two tables inside, just enough to seat two tables of people.
Xia Ran asked everyone to sit down, and then began to pour tea for them. Xia Ran also noticed that when he poured tea for Madam Feng, Madam Feng's eyes actually reddened.
Xia Ran couldn't help but think of what Gu Zheng had told him yesterday. Could it be that something really was going on with the Feng family?
He thought about it a lot and decided it was best to pretend he knew nothing about this day, so he smiled and went to pour tea for the others.
However, Xia Ran wasn't the only one who noticed something was wrong; Grandpa Xia also did.
Grandpa Xia noticed that Madam Feng kept following Xia Ran's gaze, and he suddenly felt a pang of anxiety. After taking a closer look at the faces of the group, his heart sank even further.
No, he must be overthinking it. It's been so many years, how could that be?
Yes, he must be overthinking it.
Feng Ming had been paying attention to Grandpa Xia the whole time, so he noticed that Grandpa Xia's expression seemed a little off. He tugged at his mother's clothes and whispered something in her ear.
Mrs. Feng was startled, but quickly regained her composure and chatted with Mr. Feng and Grandpa Xia. She also learned from Grandpa Xia what the so-called happy event was today.
Mr. and Mrs. Feng were both business people, so they were very good at communicating with people. They quickly started chatting with Grandpa Xia and Mr. Lin. Only Xia Ran and the other young people stayed by their side, occasionally saying a word.
Xia Ran checked the time and said to Lin Ziming,
"Brother Ziming, I'll go to the entrance to meet Yu Wu. They should be here by now. You stay here with them."
"I'll go pick him up." Lin Ziming placed his hand on Xia Ran's shoulder. "You stay here with them."
After speaking, Lin Ziming left the private room without waiting for Xia Ran's reply. Xia Ran gradually realized that something was wrong. Was Brother Ziming paying too much attention to Yu Wu? He seemed particularly enthusiastic.
Xia Ran was still thinking, but He Hao had already started talking to him, so he could only put the matter out of his mind for the time being.
"Xia Ran, why isn't President Gu here? Why aren't his family members here either?"
He Hao was genuinely curious because he really didn't understand why Gu Zheng hadn't come on a day like this. Even if the company was busy, he should have come on such a day.
Xia Ran was at a loss for words upon hearing this. He hadn't let Gu Zheng know about this at all, so Gu Zheng couldn't come even if he wanted to.
"He... is probably busy." Xia Ran took a sip of water to hide her emotions.
He Hao and Feng Ming exchanged a glance and sensed something was wrong. They had already felt that there was something wrong with Xia Ran and Gu Zheng's relationship, but they didn't expect that he wouldn't come to this occasion. So, there must be a big problem in their relationship.
“That’s true, someone like President Gu must be busy,” He Hao said with a smile.
Just as Feng Ming was about to speak, his phone vibrated in his pocket, and he immediately took it out to check the message.
He's not usually in such a hurry to check messages, but because he went to get a paternity test yesterday, he's been keeping a close eye on his phone, afraid of missing anything.
When he went to the hospital last night, everyone had already left work. He didn't want anyone to work overtime, so he could only ask an acquaintance to do it for him as soon as they started work today, and then send him the results via WeChat.
Feng Ming opened the image on his phone, and when he saw the result in the image, he froze.
The image shows that the parent-child relationship is established.
Feng Ming took a deep breath, but he still couldn't control his emotions, and even his hands began to tremble.
At the time, he only felt that Xia Ran was somewhat familiar, and never thought that Xia Ran would actually be his younger brother.