The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 400: Chapter 400: Uncovered a Melodramatic Mess

Han Xiaorui felt a prickling on her back. She spun around, but only saw a nurse and a doctor standing in the hallway, along with two janitors cleaning.

Han Xiaorui was suspicious. ’Where did that bad feeling from just a moment ago go?’

’Was I just imagining things?’

She wanted to go back and check, but Xu Yingying pulled her away to go buy baby clothes.

Unable to spot anything immediately, Han Xiaorui had no choice but to drop it.

”Auntie, when you come to this hospital in the future, don’t come alone. You have to bring bodyguards,” Han Xiaorui said quietly once they were in the car.

Xu Yingying was taken aback. ”What’s wrong?”

”I just felt like someone was watching us, but when I turned around, I couldn’t find anyone. It was a really bad feeling,” Han Xiaorui decided to tell Xu Yingying. ”Anyway, you’re pregnant, so you need to be careful. Don’t forget, your ex-husband Wen Tao, the one who kidnapped you, still hasn’t been caught.”

Han Xiaorui wasn’t afraid of someone bearing her ill will; she had a thousand and one ways to deal with bad guys.

But Xu Yingying might not be able to handle it, so bodyguards were a must.

Hearing this, Xu Yingying’s expression turned grim. ”You’re right. We’ve spent so much money and still haven’t found any trace of Wen Tao. Could he have come back to the country?”

”It’s possible. In any case, be careful when you go out and never let your guard down,” Han Xiaorui instructed. ”I’ve had people keeping an eye on the Zhao Family. If Wen Tao comes to Jinshan Bay, I’ll definitely know.”

Xu Yingying was grateful. ”Thank you, Xiao Rui.”

”No need to thank me. We’re family,” Han Xiaorui said with a smile. Xu Yingying was very good to her.

That was the kind of person Han Xiaorui was. If someone was good to her, she would do her utmost to be good to them in return.

When Mr. Xu and Ye Feng learned that Han Xiaorui was having fraternal twins, he immediately gave an order, ”Bring out a bottle of aged liquor. Ye Feng and I will have a drink.”

Ye Feng tried to stop him. ”The doctor told you not to drink.”

”No, you misheard. The doctor told me to drink less, not to stop drinking completely,” Mr. Xu insisted. ”Today is a wonderful day. Drinking too much is bad for you, but a little drink lifts the spirits.”

The mood was already so celebratory, so Ye Feng couldn’t be a wet blanket. He poured a glass of the aged liquor and had a drink with his grandfather.

Mr. Xu sighed emotionally. ”I’m truly happy! Seeing Ye Feng mature, seeing Xiao Rui pregnant, and now Yingying having a child too... even if I don’t see tomorrow’s sun, I won’t have any regrets.”

Ye Feng looked at his white-haired grandfather and comforted him, ”Grandpa, take care of yourself. You can still live to be a hundred! You have to watch these four children of mine grow up!”

”Alright! I’ll do my best.” Mr. Xu beamed, filled with a new vigor. He felt like he could live another twenty years.

He had only planned on having one glass, but he was so overjoyed that he ended up getting tipsy. He was a bit unsteady on his feet, but he slept soundly that night and even had pleasant dreams.

Old Madam Xu knew her husband had lived a tumultuous life, picking himself up from the mud time and time again. The hardships he had endured couldn’t possibly be summed up in a sentence or two.

All the fear and anxiety, all the trials and tribulations, had given way to a peaceful and fulfilling old age.

He had not only returned to his roots but was also blessed with a house full of descendants and a successful career. He had honored his ancestors, provided for the younger generation, and served his country.

This life had been enough.

The weekend visit left the elderly couple in high spirits.

Back in Jinshan Bay, Han Xiaorui focused her attention on the Zhao Family.

Zhao Fang and her two children were still living with her parents. But without Wen Tao’s financial support, Zhao Fang and her parents all had to work to support the family.

They left early and came back late, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

However, Zhao Fang hadn’t been coming home as often recently. Instead, she only returned every two or three days.

Han Xiaorui had Xu Yingying find someone with an unfamiliar face to tail Zhao Fang.

It turned out that Zhao Fang wasn’t meeting with Wen Tao, but was having an affair with a married man.

What was even more surprising was that Zhao Fang’s two children looked remarkably like the other man.

’Could it be that Zhao Fang’s children aren’t Wen Tao’s?’

A bit more investigation confirmed it: the two children were indeed not Wen Tao’s.

Xu Yingying laughed so hard she couldn’t stand up straight. What a comeuppance!

Wen Tao thought his plans were flawless, but in the end, after all his scheming, he was the one who got played by Zhao Fang.

All that money he spent over the years, and he’d even lost his status as a son-in-law of the Xu family. Now he was a fugitive, living like a stray dog.

They had originally wanted to investigate Wen Tao, but they ended up unearthing this whole pot of dog-blood drama instead.

Soon, Han Xiaorui’s focus shifted to the World Goldfish Championship in mid-July.

”Brother Jianguo, you’ll take our goldfish to the competition this time. Each entry can include three varieties.”

Yang Jianguo laughed. ”In that case, won’t we just sweep the top three places?”

Han Xiaorui chuckled. ”Brother Jianguo, you’re too optimistic. It’s not as simple as you think. They compete within the same category.”

Yang Jianguo said smugly, ”Well, in that case, we won’t get the top three. We’ll get three first-place prizes.”

”Well...” Han Xiaorui didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ”Brother Jianguo, be a little more low-key. Don’t be so flashy.”

Yang Jianguo said proudly, ”We have every reason to be proud. Those Panda Butterfly Tails are getting more and more beautiful. And we’ve even developed several new color variations.”

”We have three research teams now. If they can develop a new variety, they do. If not, they work on creating new color patterns for existing ones.”

”That’s why I’m so confident about this competition. Of course, friendship first, competition second. We’re mainly going to showcase the ornamental fish from our farm and promote it.”

Han Xiaorui thought for a moment. ”But the ones participating in this competition are all research institutes or other farms. We can’t really turn them into our customers, can we?”

Hearing this, Yang Zhigang burst out laughing. ”Who says we can’t? If they want to import our ornamental fish, don’t they have to pay us?”

”But we only export the fish, not the technology! Sometimes even our own R&D staff aren’t entirely sure how it works!”

”The point is, the fish raised on our farm have elegant forms, they’re beautiful, and they’re resistant to diseases and pests. That’s not necessarily true once they leave. That’s our competitive edge.”

”In the future, we can even take commissions to breed specific ornamental fish for them to import from us. That’s all money in our pockets. Even though they’re competitors, we need to make as many friends as possible. That’s how you make money.”

Han Xiaorui thought Yang Jianguo’s reasoning made a lot of sense. ”Brother Jianguo, I’m counting on you for the ornamental fish side of things. You know I’ve got my hands full with so many projects, and now with the pregnancy, I just don’t have the energy. I’ll have to leave this to you.”

Yang Jianguo smiled. ”Don’t you worry. This is my own business too. I would never dare to be careless with it.”

He was now making no less money than his second uncle’s fishing boat, so Yang Jianguo was treating this as his own career.

Not only that, but he had also started expanding into smaller side businesses like aquascaping, aquatic plants, and aquarium cleaning services.

All in all, Yang Jianguo was even more dedicated to the ornamental fish farm than Han Xiaorui was.

After all, he was now the father of three daughters, and with his younger cousin being so unreliable, he had to step up.

The thought of Yao Ziqian’s fortune-telling for Yang Jianming—that he was fated to have seven daughters but wouldn’t be responsible for raising any of them—made Yang Jianguo’s scalp tingle.

If he didn’t work hard, he wouldn’t be able to provide a generous dowry for his daughters when they got married in the future.