Chapter 535 - How High a Standard Do You Expect?
Fu Tianci swallowed a mouthful of water, suddenly feeling like God had given him a tricky question. The uneasiness he was experiencing made him feel like sitting up straight, but he was afraid that might reveal his cowardice, so he forced his stiff body to remain still.
“Later, I had my doubts. Since you were willing to get engaged to me, why didn’t you call me even once! Then I saw the online video of you taking part in the talent contest, so I thought you were perhaps busy with that, hence you didn’t have the time to call me!”
At that time, when Mu Mantong saw the passionately singing Fu Tianci, her heart felt like it was going to leap out of her mouth!
That pretty boy who seemed to have walked straight out of a comic book turned out to be someone who also possessed such stunning talent and had such a moving voice. Mu Mantong’s body and soul trembled to that!
She dared to say that she was Fu Tianci’s most, most loyal fan.
“I hope you can give me this chance! Let me try! If you still don’t fall for me, then… then… we can call off the engagement. Do you think this will work?”
Hearing the tremble in Mu Mantong’s voice, Fu Tianci felt even more at a loss of what to do.
He finally sat up in bed and awkwardly scratched his head, then looked up to see Mu Mantong’s large eyes staring at him in anticipation.
Fu Tianci paused for a moment, his ears reddened.
“We can set the deadline for one year! One year later… if you still don’t like me, we’ll call off the engagement!”
Fu Tianci frowned, then scratched at his hair.
“Then, ten months!” Mu Mantong gritted her teeth. “No! Six months! Six months later… if you tell me that I’m not the girl you like, or if you meet a girl you like during these six months, I’ll take the initiative to call off the engagement, I won’t cause you any trouble at all! I mean what I say! I hope you can believe me!”
Fu Tianci didn’t reply for a long while. After a long time, he finally said, “Why are you so irritating?”
Mu Mantong didn’t understand Fu Tianci’s meaning. Her eyes turned watery, and it looked like she was about to cry.
“Six months! If I still haven’t fallen for you, you need to take the initiative to call off the engagement—this was what you promised! Anyway, an engagement isn’t a wedding! If you insist on pestering me… I’m not afraid either! If I meet a girl I like, I’ll go register my marriage with her directly and make her my proper wife! I’ll see what you can do about that!”
Fu Tianci’s brain was a blurry mess, blurting out a string of words that he hadn’t even processed.
After saying that, Fu Tianci said with an annoyed look on his face, “Hurry and ask your auntie to push you out of here, lest I regret it! Faster! I’m already starting to regret it!”
Then, Fu Tianci laid down and turned around, annoyed, back facing Mu Mantong and not looking at her.
Mu Mantong bit her lip, then couldn’t resist smiling… her dimples appearing sweet.
“En! Then I’ll go out now!”
He heard Mu Mantong call the auntie to push her out of there, as well as the door closing behind them.
Fu Tianci’s hand was placed on his heart, which was pounding especially fast.
He didn’t believe it; he wasn’t fond of Mu Mantong, so surely that woman wouldn’t find a way to stuff herself into his heart in the span of six months, right?
Fu Tianci had always felt that the girl he liked would surely be as passionate about music as he was! With an excellent singing voice! Someone who could compose songs and sing with him! Only someone like that would be his soulmate!
After letting out a long exhale, Fu Tianci consoled himself; after all, it was only six months, and he was still very young!
If he met a girl he liked during these six months, he would at most ask that Mu Mantong to scram…
That was what she said herself, so he didn’t have to feel guilty about it.
Hugging his own arm, Fu Tianci mused internally about what a kind person he was. He then thought again of Lu Qingmei and felt vexed.
After a long while, Fu Tianci secretly made up his mind…
In short, he shouldn’t make things ugly at the engagement party like his previous intentions, which were to put Mu Mantong on the spot and embarrass her.
After all, Mu Mantong herself was considered a victim; she herself had said it, that she didn’t know that he didn’t consent to getting engaged. He shouldn’t implicate the innocent.
…
Fu Qingquan made a grand affair of Fu Tianci’s engagement. He had invited almost the entire business circle in Haicheng, both in order to build up publicity for him and to lay the foundation for Fu Tianci’s eventual taking over of the Kaide Corporation.
In the past, Fu Qingquan was still concerned about his reputation and dared not act too brazenly before getting divorced from Old Madam Fu.
Now, Old Madam Fu was adamant about not divorcing him, obviously to prevent Fu Tianci from having a proper name.
For the sake of his son, Fu Qingquan had disregarded his face and reputation. He wanted the whole of Haicheng to know that he and Fu Tianci’s mother were already living together and that Fu Tianci was their son!
The Fu manor appeared crowded. Because there were all sorts of people coming in, there would inevitably be ingratiating people—the kind of behavior most despised by those in the upper society—who went around sucking up to people, wanting to butter their bread on both sides.
The large and prominent families in Haicheng were inevitably displeased at that. The people who met all the time at functions big and small were huddled together and mocking how Fu Qingquan’s engagement party was poorly planned. It was as if any Tom, Dick, or Harry could come, and they were saying that there were no standards at all.
Someone then replied to that in a hushed tone, “An illegitimate son’s engagement party, how high a standard do you expect?”
The group of ten-odd people held their wine glasses and smiled in tacit understanding before drinking their wine in silence. Looking around at the nouveau riche who were handing their name cards around at the banquet, they silently regarded this engagement party as a circus show.
“For this engagement party, Old Master Fu seems to have poured in some money—he even installed an elevator in the manor. I heard people who came earlier… the installation of the elevator was for the benefit of that immobile Missy of the Mu family!”
“If it weren’t for the fact that the daughter of the Mu family couldn’t walk, they likely wouldn’t have married their daughter to an illegitimate son. I don’t know what Old Master Mu was thinking, he might as well have looked for a son-in-law who was willing to marry into his daughter’s family!”
“I bet you don’t know this!” someone said in a mysterious tone, setting down his wine glass as he continued in a lowered voice, “I heard that the reason the Mu family of Pengcheng agreed to this was that Old Master Fu and Old Master Mu signed an unfair agreement!”
Only after that soft explanation did everyone know…
The agreement stipulated that if Mu Mantong requested a divorce one day, regardless of the reason, that the Mus wouldn’t get involved in the separation of assets. Mu Mantong could take away half of Fu Tianci’s other assets, not including his shares in the Kaide Corporation!
“If Mu Mantong falls for someone else and cheats on him, she can still take those assets?” Someone raised a question.
“According to the contract, that should be the case!”
After hearing this, the group of people marveled at how Fu Qingquan was willing to risk everything for the sake of his illegitimate son!
The contract also stipulated that if Fu Tianci was the one who requested a divorce, Mu Mantong could additionally take away half of Fu Tianci’s shares in the Kaide Corporation.