Wang Cheng soon received another call from Yuan Xia. His voice carried a kind of youthful energy and vitality, making it obvious he had already worked through much of what had been troubling him. Wang Cheng had no idea what Jiang Xuan had said to him, but Yuan Xia actually told him he no longer planned to adopt a child. The reason for that was soon revealed. “I-IVF?”
Wang Cheng was no stranger to the term. Technology had advanced far beyond where it had been more than a decade ago, and scientists researching in vitro fertilization had made even greater progress in the field. He vaguely remembered seeing a television special about it two or three years earlier.
Yuan Xia sounded extremely excited. “Jiang Xuan said that instead of adopting a child, we might as well try IVF. That way, we could have a child who’s related to us by blood.”
“But can two men do IVF too?” Wang Cheng might not have gone very far in school, but even he knew a baby required sperm and an egg to develop. Two men’s sperm… did technology like that exist now?!
“I’m not very clear on it either, but Jiang Xuan said there might be a chance. He has to look into the specifics before he can tell me.”
It sounded rather far-fetched, but seeing that Yuan Xia had already untied the knot in his heart, Wang Cheng was happy for him too. Hopefully he would get what he wished for.
David had gone out on an errand, so Chu Yifeng had to answer the door himself when the security guard delivered a package. When he came back, he found Wang Cheng propping up his chin with an expression that made it look as though his soul was about to drift beyond the atmosphere.
Only when he heard the sound of the package being opened did Wang Cheng notice Chu Yifeng. He sat up cross-legged. “Let me ask you something.”
“Go ahead.”
“Is IVF technology pretty mature now?”
Chu Yifeng paused and looked him up and down. “You want one?”
Wang Cheng rolled his eyes. “It’s Yuan Xia. He’s always wanted a child, and just now he was talking to me about IVF. I’ve only ever heard about it involving a man and a woman. I’ve never heard of two men doing it. I don’t know much about this stuff, so I’m asking you.”
“As far as IVF itself goes, it should be pretty mature by now. Plenty of wealthy people who can’t have children naturally choose IVF, and even people without money have at least heard of it. As for two men, I haven’t heard about that. Even if it’s possible, it would still sound pretty shocking to most people, so it probably wouldn’t be something done openly.”
In other words, there was still a possibility!
Chu Yifeng calmly added, “If you ever want to try it, you can tell me.”
Wang Cheng nearly choked on his own saliva. He might be worrying about descendants now too, but he had not reached the point of being that desperate. The image of Second Cousin’s son bawling his head off was still vivid in his mind. But then… Wang Cheng’s eyes shifted, and he swept Chu Yifeng up and down with an ill-intentioned look. “Boss Chu, if you ever want to do it, you can tell me too.”
If men could both do it, then there was no reason to care which of them did, right?
Chu Yifeng smiled faintly and said nothing. Somehow, that smile carried the confidence of someone who already knew he would win. It annoyed Wang Cheng so much that he simply stopped paying attention to him.
Mother Zheng had personally gone to the Zhou estate that day to tell Zhou Shichang that Wang Cheng had agreed to take the Zhou surname. After discussing it, father and daughter decided to hold a birthday banquet for Wang Cheng on his birthday and invite the capital’s most prominent families.
Wang Cheng had always celebrated his birthday during the first lunar month. Because Papa Wang and Mama Wang had not known his actual date of birth, they had used the day they found him as his birthday. His real birthday, however, was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which was also the Laba Festival.
When Mother Zheng told him about it, Wang Cheng was a little surprised. Wasn’t this moving too quickly? He had thought he would simply acknowledge his relatives first. Were they really going to announce him publicly so soon?
“It’s not too soon. You’ve already been back with the Zheng family for several days. Announcing it earlier is better for you.” Chu Yifeng saw what he was thinking.
“But from the way Mom and Grandpa are talking, it sounds like they also want me to work at Zhou Group.” Wang Cheng had not returned to acknowledge his birth family because he wanted their property. He did think money could solve almost anything, but as long as he had enough to spend, having more or less did not matter much to him.
Chu Yifeng said leisurely, “The moment you decided to become Zhou Cheng, you were destined to become involved with Zhou Group. Its position in the business world is much higher than you imagine, and there are only more people coveting it than fewer. Your grandfather would never watch it fall into an outsider’s hands. Don’t be fooled by how calm he looks. He’s more anxious about it than anyone.”
“From the way you’re talking, you seem to know Grandpa won’t hand Zhou Group over to my younger aunt and her family either. Why?” Wang Cheng still did not understand these complicated matters very well. If he had never appeared, then if his grandfather wanted to keep outsiders from controlling Zhou Group, he would have had no choice but to choose from his younger aunt’s family. No matter how poor a choice his aunt and Zhao Chenlin might be, Zhou family blood still ran through their veins.
“Zhou Group may have been built up by your grandfather single-handedly, but after developing to where it is today, the forces inside it have long since become tangled and complicated. Your aunt isn’t the only person who wants Zhou Group.”
“You mean Aunt might join forces with other shareholders?”
Chu Yifeng pulled a file from beneath the coffee table and handed it to him. “Not might. She definitely will. Your grandfather was ruthless when he was young and was used to keeping everything under his own control. Now that he’s old, he’s even less likely to give up power easily. This is information on Zhou Group. Take a look.”
Zhou Group’s main business was the hotel industry. It owned hotels throughout the country, including several five-star hotels, and its market value had long since exceeded ten billion yuan.
Zhou Group’s rise to its current position was inseparable from Zhou Shichang’s methods. As long as he refused to relinquish power, the people beneath him could only remain suppressed, let alone overthrow him, because he controlled fifty-one percent of the group’s shares. Even if all the other shareholders joined forces, they still could not surpass him. Some shareholders held stock but never attended shareholder meetings, and no one even knew who they were, so the amount of stock that could truly be gathered together would definitely not exceed twenty percent. The material Chu Yifeng had given him was quite comprehensive. After flipping through a few pages, Wang Cheng saw not only a list of the industries Zhou Group was involved in, but also all of its important shareholders, brief notes on their interpersonal connections, and explanations of employees holding key positions within the group.
As Wang Cheng flipped through the file, he sighed in admiration. “When did you start putting all this together?”
“When you returned to the Zheng family.”
So before Wang Cheng had even gone to the Zhou family to meet his grandfather, Chu Yifeng had already predicted that he might return there and had gathered all this information for him in advance?
Wang Cheng could not quite tell whether he felt touched or something else, though he figured being moved made up most of it. Just as he was about to say a few sentimental words to make Chu Yifeng squirm, David’s resentful face suddenly drifted past his field of vision. Every so often, David’s gaze floated toward the file in his hands as though accusing him of something. The corner of Wang Cheng’s mouth twitched. For some reason, he thought he might understand what David meant.
Seeing his strange expression, Chu Yifeng turned and spotted David standing in the courtyard, separated from them by a transparent glass wall and peering inside. His eyes immediately narrowed.
David jolted and vanished at once.
All of Wang Cheng’s emotion disappeared. He sat down cross-legged and prepared to cram the contents of the file into his head.
Mother Zheng took full responsibility for the birthday banquet. She wanted to personally handle the venue, invitations, and everything else. It had been a long time since she had been this happily busy. Father Zheng and the others knew how delighted she was and let her fuss over everything. Gradually, word began circulating through the capital’s elite circles that the Zhou family was going to hold a birthday banquet.
Although the Zheng and Zhou families had already acknowledged Wang Cheng, they had not announced it publicly, so only a small number of people knew. Once the news spread, most people began guessing who the guest of honor at the Zhou family’s birthday banquet might be. Everyone knew Old Master Zhou’s birthday had already passed. As for the others, the situation surrounding Zhou Group was hardly a secret. Even if the banquet was for a younger member of the family, it had never been this grand in previous years.
Mother Zheng then gave the proposed guest list to Old Master Zhou. Everyone on it was a prominent figure in the capital. Because of the Zheng family’s connections, there were also quite a few guests from political circles. Anyone with real standing in the capital was included.
Old Master Zhou was very satisfied after looking it over and told Mother Zheng to handle it as she saw fit. He had always thought his daughter had shut herself away in a world of despair after Wang Cheng disappeared as a child and no longer interacted with outsiders. After seeing this guest list today, he finally felt reassured. She was, after all, the daughter he doted on most.
After receiving his approval, Mother Zheng showed the list to Father Zheng and Zheng Jingen as well. The two added several names, and overall they were very satisfied.
“No problem, then. I’ll go take care of it now.”
Zheng Jingen quickly stopped her. “Mom, remember to tell Chengcheng about it too.”
“Do you really need to remind me about something like that?” Mother Zheng gave him an elegant smile, the smugness in it impossible to miss.
Father Zheng laughed and patted his eldest son on the shoulder. “Your mother’s attention is completely centered on your younger brother now. If it has anything to do with him, there’s no way she’ll forget.”
Zheng Jingen shrugged, though his eyes were smiling. “Ever since Chengcheng came back, Mom doesn’t even see the rest of us anymore.”
“I think you’ve been secretly celebrating.” If Father Zheng did not understand this eldest son of his, he would have wasted all these years as his father.
Before Wang Cheng was found, Mother Zheng’s world had revolved around Zheng Jingen. That had been manageable when he was a child, but once he grew up he naturally needed space of his own. Zheng Jingen had often felt helpless about it, but he could hardly complain. Now that Wang Cheng was back, he could finally relax. Even Zheng Jingxue had teased him before, saying that the reason he had searched so energetically for Second Brother was actually to escape their mother’s constant supervision.