"This woman of yours, what do you see her as?" Yang Mujian tilted his head, his face feigning a look of serenity.
Yang Feng knew that the discussion would dive straight into this topic. "My future wife." He effortlessly replied.
At his words, Yang Mujian raised a brow, highly intrigued that his grandson had thought so far into their future. The two had never discussed the topic of marriage together, though there were talks about why he had remained single for so long. The reason Yang Feng always gave was that he did not need a distraction in his life, but it seems this grandson of his was a hypocrite.
Yang Mujian's sources had reported to him that it was Yang Feng himself who did the chasing. Yang Feng declared he did not want a girlfriend, for it was too much of a distraction, but he ended up running after the very thing.
"Why?"
"The purpose of dating is to get married."
Yang Mujian loudly laughed at his direct words, the sound echoing off of the walls. "Indeed it is, but I'm sure you know that is not the answer I am looking for."
"..."
"What good do you see in that woman?"
Yang Feng's face remained nonchalant. "Everything."
Yang Mujian's smiling face twisted into a slight sneer. "You're smitten by her." What a disdainful behavior. It completely contradicted his beliefs and ideals. It went against the very foundations he had groomed Yang Feng to have.
"There is nothing wrong with that." Yang Feng lazily replied, "It has never interfered with my work before."
"I suppose all the days where you've skipped your morning meetings and changed your schedules weren't caused by her." Yang Mujian sarcastically drawled out, his brooding eyes landing upon his grandson.
"I've spent my entire life being a workaholic. Sleeping longer every now and then should not be a problem."
"Hm, I suppose so." Yang Mujian feigned understanding. "It wouldn't have been a problem if you didn't do so just to entertain a woman."
The walls have ears.
Yang Feng concluded that there was a spy amongst his men and he already had an inkling of who the mole was. It seemed he would be calling forth an exterminator in the form of Guo Sheng.
"I've taught you so many things and all of it has seemed to go to waste in just the blink of an eye." Yang Mujian's lips tilted down in disdain. His ruthless face was one that would send people to their knees begging for mercy, but it did not affect Yang Feng. Not even as the atmosphere turned deadly and the wails of the people his grandfather had slaughtered could be heard in the distance.
Yang Feng never faltered, even when staring into the eyes of hell. He stood there, broodingly tall, arrogant, nonchalant, and everything chaotically evil. "You taught me how to be a weapon, such skills have not gone to waste."
Yang Mujian had enough of the small talk. "Do you love Zhao Lifei?"
There it was.
The deciding question that would seal the fate of Zhao Lifei.
The answer was at the tip of Yang Feng's tongue. It was a definite yes.
The idea of love used to be very foreign to him, something he did not know his heart was capable of feeling. It was not until she tumbled into his life eighteen years ago that he even fathomed such a crazy idea; until she was ruefully snatched from his clutches, and from thereon, he forgot about the emotion.
But then she came back, in the same surprising manner as she had done in the past, roughly entering his life without permission. She always found herself in a comfortable spot within his heart of stone, drilling through the walls he set up and using the rubble to build herself a small house within it.
Yang Feng wanted to proclaim his love for her in every form and language possible, until her heart was his, just as his was hers.
He could not lose her again. He had done it once and a second time would truly ruin him for good.
"Never." Yang Feng decided to utter the lie that would hurt her heart, but keep her safe. It pained him to even say such a foolish thing. He felt pain within his heart like a dagger was being twisted into it, digging deeper and deeper.
Yang Mujian was silent for what seemed like an eternity. He observed Yang Feng, thunder crackling in the background as neither man broke their stares.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Have I ever lied to you?"
No.
Yang Mujian was sure of it himself. This boy, regardless of his age, even if he was nine or ninety years old, the only thing he would fear in this world would be his grandfather.
Completely unbeknownst to Yang Mujian, Yang Feng was not afraid of him. He had not been for the longest time. The only reason he even entertained the idea was because this man held a very adequate amount of shares within Yang Enterprise and still had a hefty influence in the Underworld — something Yang Feng would slowly drain from him.
"Very well then." Yang Mujian smiled, revealing the fine wrinkle by his eyes. "If you do not love her, why bother staying with her? Why risk losing a person such as Su Meixiu just so you can obtain her?"
"She is Zhao Moyao's granddaughter, is she not?" Yang Feng chuckled, a cunning smile on his face, calculative and filled with deceit. There was greed in his eyes, something he made sure his grandfather saw.
"She has the support of the military, something beneficial to us." Yang Feng took a seat, crossing his one long leg over the other. "She has the perfect qualifications to stand by my side."
"Oh? And what would that be?" Yang Mujian already knew what his grandson was going to say.
"She has been trained to become the perfect matriarch, her presence is superb, she can wield a gun and a knife just as good as she can wield a pan." Yang Feng's lip tug into a malicious smile, "Her fortunes are endless. She will benefit our family."
Yang Mujian was quiet for a while before a low rumble traveled from his chest to his throat until the room was filled with proud laughter. "That's my boy."
A sly smile lit up Yang Mujian's aging face marred with dark spots and wrinkles. "For a second, you had me fooled. I thought you were deeply in love with her." His laugh subdued to small fits of laughter. "If you had intended to use her from the start, you should've consulted me sooner."
"I would've accepted her a lot quicker." Yang Mujian added on. He was no fool when it came to seeing which fruit was the sweetest of them all.
In the field of fruit trees, there were only a few fruits that caught his eye and Zhao Lifei was one of them. From all of the reports he has received, he came to the conclusion that she would be a formidable candidate, skilled in everything that Su Meixiu excelled at and even more. This race would've ended as almost a tie if it was not for the fact that Zhao Lifei had Zhao Moyao backing her up along with her military ties.
The Sus was a loyal family that has served the Yangs for many generations and Yang Mujian wanted to preserve such traditions, but there were other ways of doing so. He had more than one grandson, more than one grandchild he cherished, and so did the Sus.
Su Meixiu does not need to marry Yang Feng, she could marry someone else from the Yangs. The only thing those senile fools desire is to have Su Meixiu be impregnated with a child whose surname would be Yang, but they have never specified which one it had to be.