“I remember.” Zhai Sheng stopped his eldest son who was running toward Lin Yuankang. He pinched his chubby arms. His palms were thick and his fingers were plump.
Zhai Sheng was lean, while Nan Nan was way too slim. He wished that Nan Nan would put on some weight. Since both of them were slim, why was it that the triplets turned out to be so chubby?
Da Bao and Er Bao were sons. He could put them through training in the army. He was certain they would be as fit and athletic as he was within three months.
However, San Bao was a girl. What should he do with her?
“If so, where are the presents?” Lin Yuankang stretched out his hands toward Zhai Sheng, asking for the triplets’ presents on their behalf, making Zhai Sheng stare askance at him.
Da Bao was about to run toward Lin Yuankang, yet Zhai Sheng took him away. He had to teach him a lesson.
Among the triplets, apart from San Bao who was delicate, they did not really like it when people carried them in their arms ever since they started to walk by themselves. They would rather take small steps with their short legs.
As there were too many ‘strangers’ in his house today, Da Bao, who saw the familiar grandpa who had been keeping him company every day, ran toward him without much thought, abandoning his father and grandpa.
Now that Lin Yuankang mentioned the presents, Miao Jing directed her cold and hard gaze at Zhai Yaohui. She shot accusing glares at him. It seemed that she was asking him about the presents as well.
Since Zhai Sheng had to prepare presents for the triplets, as their grandpa, there was no way that Old Zhai would be exempted.
Zhai Yaohui stiffened. “Of course, I will give them presents. But since it is their birthday presents, I will have to wait until their actual birthday to give them.” In this way, he would have a few more days to prepare presents for his grandchildren.
It was not that Zhai Yaohui did not love his three grandchildren or that he had forgotten about it. It was because he was too busy.
Zhai Yaohui was so busy that when he jolted awake after dozing off at times, he could not remember where he was. Zhai Yaohui did not ask his assistants to choose the birthday gifts for the three children. He felt that this would be letting them down.
As a result, time passed by and Zhai Yaohui had yet to prepare presents for their birthday.
Zhai Yaohui quickly changed the topic as he felt embarrassed under his wife’s hard stare. He did not want to lose to Elder Lin, an outsider, in front of his wife, his son, and his grandchildren. “The Shi family has moved from Mo Du to the capital. The Shi family and the Peng family might attend the one-year-old birthday celebration of the triplets.”
Shi Peng had been transferred back to the central government for a year. Actually, the Shi family should have moved to the capital last year with Shi Peng, their only son.
The problem was that Shi Kun was afraid of losing face.
Shi Peng competed with him for the position of the chief back then. After losing to him, he pushed himself to the extreme for several years and resulted in having poor health. In the end, he joined the Ping Cheng army from nowhere and settled down there.
Shi Kun had thoughts of moving from Mo Du to the capital with the help of his son, Shi Peng. For this reason, when Shi Peng went to Ping Cheng, Shi Kun would rather stay with his wife in the prosperous Mo Du instead of moving with his only son to Ping Cheng.
Everyone knew about this matter back then.
Shi Kun gave the excuse that he was advanced in years. He was still suffering from the old wounds that he sustained when he fought in the battles when he was young. Moreover, his wife was in poor health as well.
Mo Du was a prosperous city. There was a large population and there were many hospitals and doctors. It would be more convenient for him and his wife to stay in Mo Du and nurse their health. If they were in good health, their children did not need to worry for them and they could focus on their career. What they did was, in fact, supporting and helping their children.
Since Shi Kun gave such a high-sounding and dignified reason, even though many people despised Shi Kun for it, they also pitied Shi Peng for having such a father who brought nothing but trouble to him.
Although Shi Peng was Shi Kun’s only son, he did not get to benefit from it or enjoy any privileges.
Now, Shi Peng had a successful career. He left his military career but worked as a government official and was doing very well. He was being transferred to the capital.
Shi Kun’s former acquaintances had been waiting to see Shi Kun’s next move. They wondered when he would be shameless as to move to the capital to join his son. He waited for a year before he could no longer wait and decided to ‘reunite’ with his son in the capital.
Zhai Yaohui did not care that Shi Kun would be coming to the capital. Shi Kun was not the reason why he brought up this topic at the dining table. In fact, he was more concerned for Qi Minlan, who divorced a few years ago. She brought her daughter with her and went to stay with her parents.
Qi Minlan was no longer young and she was used to living in comfort. It was impossible for her to be up to anything.
However, the delicate and willful Qiu Chenxi had changed a lot after the difficulties these past few years. Although she did not change wholly, she had undergone a huge transformation.
Qiu Qin failed in his career, but Qiu Chenxi did very well in that aspect. She was the uprising star in the political scene in Mo Du.
Zhai Sheng was already the father of three. As for Qiu Chenxi, after she failed to be engaged to Zhai Sheng, she sought refuge with her maternal grandfather and had been doing very well. But even though she was already more than twenty-five years old, she did not marry nor have children. She did not even have a boyfriend.
Zhai Yaohui could not help but be concerned about this.
He had to protect Qiao Nan, his daughter-in-law, as well as his three grandchildren. He had to keep a tight watch on Qi Minlan and Qiu Chenxi.
Since Zhai Yaohui had been keeping a watch on these two women, it was the same case for Peng Yu, who saw his son as his opponent.
Zhai Yaohui found out that ever since the Peng family came back to the capital a few years ago, Peng Yu was still very stubborn about competing with Zhai Sheng. He would get hold of all the information regarding Zhai Sheng, in particular his performance in the army. He would be able to land his hand on first-hand reports.
After Zhai Sheng came back to the capital and went back to the army, Peng Yu had caused serious trouble for Zhai Sheng such that he almost committed a grave mistake and be punished for it.
Zhai Yaohui had to keep a tight watch on Peng Yu. “The Peng family seems to be arranging blind dates for Peng Yu.”
Zhai Sheng did not have much reaction at his father’s words. It was Lin Yuankang who arched his eyebrows at his words. “What do you mean? Why would you bring this up for no reason?” Peng Yu was two years younger than Zhai Hua. It was normal for him to go for blind dates and find a wife.
Since Zhai Yaohui brought this topic up, could it be that there were some underlying issues?
“The Peng family is looking for young ladies who have a family history of multiple births.” Zhai Yaohui sounded nonchalant, but it was an important piece of news. It came as a shock to everyone. They could not help but wonder whether Zhai Yaohui was referring to…
