Xuande thought for a moment and nodded. "Alright!"
The nearby McDonald's is located in a commercial office building area and is not far from Changyuan Hospital.
Siwa had an extraordinary intuition; she had a premonition that... no matter how Shan'er tried to prevent it, the father and son would definitely meet again.
There were many people having lunch, but not many children. Siwa and Xuande chose a window seat where they could clearly see the bustling crowds on the street.
As fate would have it, that noon, Zhang Boxuan didn't have lunch with his colleagues. Instead, he went out for a walk alone to relieve his depressed mood.
He had just finished a meeting that morning, and the plan to form an alliance with the Kim family was still stalled. He couldn't deliver a satisfactory report card, couldn't explain himself to his father and shareholders, and couldn't win the hearts and minds of his employees. Furthermore, the thought of the icy aura on Kim Sun-ah's beautiful face made him furious and uncomfortable.
He stood on the sidewalk, frowning as he pondered how to persuade Kim Sun-ah to agree to the collaboration plan, ignoring the admiring and inquiring glances from the passing office workers.
Just then—
"Uncle!" Xuande saw him and waved to him happily.
Zhang Boxuan couldn't believe he'd run into Xuande again. He quickly strode into the fast-food restaurant. "Xuande!" His bad mood, which had been building up all day, instantly vanished. "This is unbelievable! We've met again!" Should he buy a lottery ticket?
"Yes!" Siwa said calmly, "Xuande didn't have class today, and I was too lazy to cook lunch, so I brought him here to kill time."
"Yes, yes, it's good to bring the kids out to play occasionally." Zhang Boxuan no longer knew what he was saying.
Xuanling was fussing in Siwa's arms, so Siwa got up. "Mr. Zhang, could you please watch over Xuande for me? I'm taking Xuanling to play on the slide."
"No problem!" It was just a small favor for him.
Before long, the two, one big and one small, sat down at the narrow table and began to feast.
A couple next door were whispering among themselves. "That father and son have such a good relationship; the dad even took his son out for lunch during his lunch break..."
They also heard the conversation at the next table, but Zhang Boxuan didn't think much of it. Instead, Xuande showed a meaningful smile.
"Uncle, can I call you Dad?" Xuande suddenly asked unexpectedly.
Zhang Boxuan paused for a moment, looked up, thought for a while, and replied, "I don't mind, but your mother will be unhappy..."
"No!" Xuande stared at him for a long time, as if he had discovered a major secret, and whispered to him, "Uncle, I believe you really are my father!"
"Why?" He found Xuande's imagination astonishing. "Is it because we look alike?"
"I'm telling you this secretly, but you can't tell anyone else, especially not my mom."
Seeing Xuande's serious expression, he replied solemnly, "Of course."
Xuande lowered his voice and said, "Mom has a photo of you and her together."
"What? Kim Sun-ah has my photos?" Zhang Boxuan's mind went blank.
He and Kim Sun-ah had never met before, so why does she have a photo of them together? Hyun-deok isn't a child who lies, so what's going on?
Could it be that Xuande has mistaken someone for someone else?
"That photo has you and my mother in it, and in the background is the Sydney Opera House that I saw at the art museum..." Xuan De continued excitedly, "When I first saw you at the art museum, I recognized you because you were the person in the photo."
Sydney?
Zhang Boxuan sprang up as if stung by a bee, and his hidden memories poured out—
For seven years, although he had achieved remarkable success at work and was a bachelor admired by women, a face would occasionally occupy his thoughts and haunt him in the quiet of the night. He could neither see it clearly nor grasp it. He had never forgotten that night in Sydney when he was lost in passion.
"I'll tell you another secret: Mom has never taken a photo with any man except you, so I believe you are my father!" Xuande said, his words flowing freely.
"Tell me, where is that photo?" Zhang Boxuan was determined to find out the answer.
"Mom hid it very well. She put it away separately and placed it in..." Xuande even remembered the location clearly.
Afterwards, Zhang Boxuan forgot when he said goodbye to Xuande, Siwa, and Xuanling. With a tangled fog of confusion, he walked dejectedly on the red brick sidewalk.
On a sweltering Taipei afternoon, much like the scorching summer in Sydney, his thoughts drifted back to his trip to Sydney seven years ago.
Kim Sun-ah and him were like two parallel lines that could never be connected, so why would she have a photo with him?
But if what Xuande said is true, then it makes sense.
No wonder Kim Sun-ah looked terrified as if she had seen a ghost when she saw him, and kept him away from Xuan De.
Suddenly, he revealed an extremely dangerous smile.
Yes! It's time to pursue the truth. He will definitely get to the bottom of this and clear up the mystery!
As night falls, the city's colorful lights are dazzling and mesmerizing, and one can easily be drawn into a world of dazzling extravagance by the neon lights.
After get off work, Zhang Boxuan did not go straight home as usual, but instead drove to a large car wash, one of the companies under the Hongbang Group.
When the brothers saw their revered elder brother appear, they immediately went up to greet him repeatedly, and a group of burly men even vied to help him wash his car.
"No need, I'll just drive to the automatic car wash later." Zhang Boxuan clearly distinguishes between public and private matters and is unwilling to take advantage of even such a small thing.
After taking over, Zhang Wenbao withdrew from worldly affairs and went to the United States to live out his retirement. Zhang Boxuan immediately set about improving the various chaotic conditions of the Red Gang. He gradually and systematically transformed the Red Gang, engaging them in legitimate industries that could be seen in the light, such as car washes, bubble tea shops, restaurants, gyms, etc., so that every brother could at least have food, drink, and work, and escape the precarious life they had in the past.
The Red Gang is now officially called "Dinghui International Consulting Investment Company." The nominal head of this consulting firm is a foreigner named Leo, who is actually Zhang Boxuan himself. He uses this consulting firm to make other investments using all the profits of the Red Gang's companies, making the Red Gang's business bigger and bigger, and he even plans to let the brothers hold shares and receive dividends in the future.
"Brother, what are your orders?" a burly brother asked in a rough voice.
"You guys..." Zhang Boxuan pondered how to phrase it clearly. "Has anyone ever done this before..." He made a gesture.
"A thief?" a young man with acne on his face guessed loudly.