Xia Lei did his best to clear his mind of everything before meeting Shentu Tianyin, not just of the matters concerning Gu Kewen, but also of the matters concerning Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi. He felt he was already well-practiced in this aspect, and that he could face Shentu Tianyin calmly, but when he saw Tianyin at the Leiyin Home, a sense of guilt still sprang forth, making him uneasy.
“It’s good that you’re back. I was worried about you during this period of time and my calls to you couldn’t get through. I asked some people in Japan to inquire about you but they came up with nothing. Did you know that I couldn’t even sleep on those nights? I was afraid that you met with some kind of accident.” Shentu Tianyin gave Xia Lei a hug and said these words into his ear the moment they met.
Xia Lei hugged her slender waist lightly. “It’s all in the past. You don’t need to worry anymore.” He moved closer and spoke softly in Shentu Tianyin’s ear, “Gu Kewen is dead, and the evidence that could pose a threat to you has all been destroyed. No one will cause trouble for you anymore. However, in the future…”
Shentu Tianyin suddenly moved closer and kissed Xia Lei’s lips.
Xia Lei originally wanted to caution her against doing things like this in the future, but Shentu Tianyin’s kiss made it such that he could not speak, even if he had more to say.
A business person must have ambition, and business intuition. Shentu Tianyin was well-versed in both of these aspects. As the saying goes, ‘when things reach an extreme, they can only move in the opposite direction’. Sometimes, being too ambitious or smart wasn’t necessarily a good thing. However, Xia Lei also knew from Shentu Tianyin’s personality, that he wouldn’t be able to persuade her against it at all.
“Ahem…” Fu Mingmei suddenly appeared and said rather insincerely, “Oh, you...I didn’t see anything.”
Shentu Tianyin let go of Xia Lei then, and shot a glare at Fu Mingmei.
Fu Mingmei laughed as she said, “Son-in-law, you went to Japan. Did you bring any gifts back?”
Xia Lei suddenly remembered something and said, “I almost forgot. I really did bring some gifts back from this trip to Japan — they’re in my car. Wait a moment, and I’ll go get them.”
Shentu Tianyin held on to Xia Lei. “Just let Mingmei go for them. Stay with me.”
“It’s better if I go. Those things are very precious, and quite fragile.”
“What is it?” asked Fu Mingmei curiously.
Xia Lei didn’t explain, and went out the door, towards the garage.
Shentu Ren came out of the study room a moment after Xia Lei left. He looked around the living room. “Didn’t Lei come back? Where is he? The airplane I ordered already came back. I want to show it to him.”
“Dad, isn’t that the dowry you bought for me? Since it's my dowry, you should only take it out when I’m getting married. Let’s not go see it now,” said Shentu Tianyin.
The old Shentu Ren remarked unhappily, “Am I not even allowed to take up some of Lei’s time now? Seriously! All right, all right, I’ll take it out when you guys hold your marriage ceremony. That should be fine, right?”
Father and daughter chatted a little, and Xia Lei walked in, hugging a big cardboard box. When he saw Shentu Ren, he greeted Shentu Ren before putting the box down. “Father, I brought you some gifts. You’ll surely like them.”
“Why are you still being so polite with me? What gifts? Let me see them.” Shentu Ren had already moved closer to see although he responded with the same conventional courtesies.
Fu Mingmei also moved closer and tried to fawn over him. “Son-in-law, you bought me some gifts too, surely? Haha, I’ll have to thank you in advance.”
Xia Lei opened the cardboard box to reveal more than ten pieces of porcelain. There was a big flower vase for decorative purposes, a teapot and teacups for drinking tea, bowls and plates for eating, and so on.
After he saw the porcelain items in the box, Shentu Ren drew a blank for a second before crying out in surprise, “Ah? These things wouldn’t happen to be authentic, would they?”
Xia Lei laughed. “Father, won’t you know if its real or not if you look at it yourself? Take a look.”
Only then did Shentu Ren gingerly pick up a teacup. He turned it left and right, then flipped it over to look at the bottom of the cup, and paused. Only after a really long time did he say, “Oh my goodness, isn’t this a Chicken Cup from the Ming Dynasty? There was even someone showing it off on the internet recently. The quality of his cup hadn’t even been determined but he bid almost 200 million just to own it. If the cup you have is real, it could get a 200 million bid easily!”
“Two hundred million? A cup? What has the world come to?” Fu Mingmei laughed as she said, “Son-in-law, these must be fake, right?”
Xia Lei didn’t say a word.
Shentu Ren picked up a teapot and examined it, then sucked in air through his teeth. “Isn’t this the blue and white porcelain from the Yongle period? Its value isn’t much less than the Chicken Cup!” Afterwards, he looked at the other ten or so pieces of porcelain and then looked at Xia Lei, at a loss for words. “Lei, these are all authentic. How did you get so many antiques from the Ming Dynasty? You didn’t rob the tombs of the monarchs of the Ming Dynasty, did you?”
Xia Lei still didn’t speak but Fu Mingmei couldn’t stop herself. She blurted, “Master, these are all real? They aren’t fakes?”
Shentu Ren said, “Of course they’re real. I’d estimate that they are worth around seven or eight hundred million!”
For a moment, Fu Mingmei was speechless. She’d wanted one flower vase, but after hearing Shentu Ren’s words, she didn’t dare ask for it now. All of these pieces of porcelain from the Ming dynasty were easily worth several millions to hundreds of millions. How could she still be so bold as to ask for one as a present?
Xia Lei then added, “Father, I found all of these things outside the country in a shipwreck. I did not find these things by digging in a tomb in China. Thus, according to our laws, they belong to me. Right now, they are my betrothal gifts, and they’re all for you.”
“Ah?” This time, even the extremely rich and imposing Shentu Ren was shocked. “I only gave you a Boeing 747. It isn’t even worth four hundred million yuan, but you went and gave me a betrothal gift worth seven to eight hundred thousand million. This… I cannot accept it. I definitely can’t accept it.”
Shentu Tianyin listened and was secretly happy. Xia Lei had given so many valuable things as betrothal gifts, and they were worth seven to eight hundred million or more. As a woman, how could she not be happy?
Xia Lei said, “Dad, just accept it. If you don’t like it then I will call the auction house and let the auctioneers deal with it. I’ll change my betrothal gift to something else.”
Shentu Ren still hesitated.
“Master, just accept it. Who’s your son in law? He’s the chairman of the Thunder Horse Group and the father of Chinese rifles. Someone who creates weapons and ammunition definitely isn’t lacking money. Plus, your son-in-law gave you a betrothal gift worth eight hundred million. Our young lady’s face is filled with joy, so your face should also be joyful,” said Fu Mingmei.
Shentu Tianyin rolled her eyes at Fu Mingmei but she was secretly very happy.
Shentu Ren glanced at Shentu Tianyin, as if asking for her opinion. It was clear that he did not agree with Fu Mingmei’s opinions.
Shentu Tianyin nodded. “Father, you’ve always really liked antiques, and you know a lot of auctioneers. What about this? You can accept these betrothal gifts and contact those friends. Exchange these things for cash. Then, you can exchange the cash for real gold and on the day of my marriage with Lei, I’ll pile all that gold in the marriage hall.”
If he were to exchange these antiques for money, and then exchange those antiques for gold, Xia Lei could buy three tons worth of gold. If these three tons of gold were exchanged for golden bricks, he would be able to pile them up into a golden wall in the marriage hall!
It was easy to imagine what sort of expressions the guests attending the wedding would have if they saw a wall of golden bricks.
“This…” Shentu Ren clearly did not understand why Shentu Tianyin would want to do this.
However, Xia Lei was knew well what Shentu Tianyin was thinking. The woman he was going to marry was the Vientiane Group’s queen, with a net worth of hundreds of billions. Right now, although he was almost worth ten billion. If he deducted the loans, he actually only had a few billion dollars to his name. Furthermore, he did not have the same societal status as Shentu Tianyin. He was marrying Shentu Tianyin, so it would be inevitable that outsiders would say that he was taking advantage of her, relying on a woman to get rich, and other gossip like that. However, if she did this, who would be able to claim that he was living off a woman when they saw the shiny and glittering golden wall? ‘If you have the skills, go try making a golden wall first before living off a woman!’ was what the wall would be telling them.
“Dad, just do as I’ve said,” said Shentu Tianyin.
Only then did Shentu Ren nod. “Alright, let’s just have it handled as you’ve said. These antiques are all valuable items. People will definitely rush to purchase them. We could even auction them off for a better price. No matter how much money we get, I’ll exchange it all for real gold and build a golden wall for your wedding.”
Xia Lei laughed and said, “Then I’ll have to trouble you, Father.”
Shentu Ren laughed, “Look at you, still being polite to me. Go, go. Let’s go see the aeroplane I bought for you.”
Shentu Tianyin was unhappy. “Dad, didn’t we come to an agreement? Why are you still going to see the aeroplane?”
Shentu Ren glared at Shentu Tianyin. “What, we can’t see it on the computer? Someone made me a video and I’m bringing Lei over to see it. Don’t worry, if he dares leave today I’ll grab a rope and tie him down.”
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Lei took the cardboard box and carried it very carefully in his arms as he followed Shentu Ren into his study room.
Fu Mingmei sighed. “Oh, when can I marry a man like that? I really want a golden wall at my wedding too. Hehe, just thinking about it makes me feel blessed.”
Shentu Tianyin laughed as she said, “In the ancient times when the young lady had to get married, she had to choose a servant girl to accompany her. What about you? Would you like to be that servant girl? If you agree, a part of that golden wall could also go to you…”
“Half?” Fu Mingmei’s eyes sparkled as she said, “If it’s half, I’ll do it.”
“In your dreams!” Shentu Tianyin put a finger up. “One golden brick.”
“I’ll go cook now.” Fu Mingmei pursed her little mouth. As she walked, she grumbled, “I just have the life of a servant girl who lights fires for cooking. Hmph.”
Shentu Tianyin chuckled. “Don’t forget the bag of ingredients in the kitchen. Make it into some soup for Xia Lei.”
Fu Mingmei glanced back at Shentu Tianyin. “There’s a disgusting part of a Bengal tiger mixed in with those ingredients. Will son-in-law eat it?”
“If you don’t tell him, then how would he know what it is?”
“All right, all right, I’ll go make it, but I don’t know if you’ll last after he eats it!”
“You little rascal!” Shentu Tianyin swung her hand for a smack.
However, Fu Mingmei deftly avoided it, then she fled to the kitchen.
For some reason that night, Xia Lei’s prowess was extraordinary, and he was extremely impressive in bed. Shentu Tianyin, on the other hand, was in trouble, but since she had personally created this situation, she endured it no matter how much it hurt her.
“Honey, what’s wrong? I want to do you more.”
“You still want to go at it? I’ve already fallen asleep.”
“You’ve fallen asleep?”
“Zzz zzz…”
“Then you can sleep. I’ll help myself.”
“Ah…”