Almost an hour later, the car arrived at the Han mansion. Due to the event doubling as a surprise, it wasn't parked in the garage where the cars of the guests were but by the lawn.
Chen Meili was confused by this but remained silent. Looking at the flowers and freshly groomed trees in the compound, she smiled. There were a lot of red roses amongst them. It was her favourite flower.
She was carefully assisted out of the car by Han Tao but to her disappointment, he let go of her hands as soon as she was steady on her feet. All of a sudden, the happiness she'd gotten from looking at her favourite flower dampened a lot. She bit her lips and lowered her head.
Han Tao immediately picked up on the slight change in her mood and a look of confliction crossed his features. He lifted his hand and then lowered it. He'd really made Meili suffer. If only what had happened that year did not happen...
The two of them proceeded to enter the mansion but right before they crossed the threshold, Chen Meili suddenly slipped.
"Meili!" Han Tao's eyes widened and he quickly reached out to gently catch her by the waist and pull her to himself. Looking down at the woman in his arms, he gently admonished, "You have to be careful."
Chen Meili's heart skipped happily but two seconds later, she blinked up at Han Tao with a wronged expression. "I was being careful, it was the floor that was slippery!"
Han Tao's eyes lowered to her red lips and lingered on her adorable pout for a few seconds before he chuckled helplessly. "I'll have the servants cover it up with rugs later."
Chen Meili nodded firmly and Han Tao loosened his hold on her but this time, he kept one hand on her waist and the other on her arm to gently lead her.
Feeling Han Tao's strong hands on her skin and being covered by his masculine scent, Chen Meili was on the moon.
The atmosphere was so warm until Han Tao felt his hands being dislodged from Chen Meili's body in one swift motion. He immediately looked to the source and as soon as he set eyes on his wife, impatience crossed his features. "Xu Lifen."
He Yuan matched his energy. "Han Tao." He'd been watching these two since the moment they stepped out of the car and he was just about ready to give up this task and hang himself. Who treated their surrogate even better than their own wife? Only Han Tao.
Chen Meili looked from Han Tao to Xu Lifen and surprise flashed in her eyes. Were they... Fighting? Excitement filled her but she quickly stepped forward. "Sister-in-law, don't get angry. Elder brother Tao was just helping me. You see I almost fell just now and we both got a scare for the babies."
He Yuan broke the stare down with Han Tao and slowly looked to Chen Meili. After giving her a once over, he nodded. "You seem fine now." Then he turned back to Han Tao. "The banquet is already in full swing, let's go."
Chen Meili's brain finally registered Xu Lifen's hair, make up and dress. She looked to Han Tao in confusion, "Banquet?"
Han Tao gave Chen Meili a small smile before looking to He Yuan. "Lifen, you go ahead. Meili needs some assistance." Seeing that his wife wasn't budging, he added, "...With the babies."
To the surprise of both the special one and Han Tao, He Yuan burst into laughter. Han Tao was already beginning to use the babies as excuses?
"Meili needs some assistance with the babies." He mocked with a wave of his hands before locking eyes with Han Tao. "What do you plan to do?
-Take the pregnancy from her and carry it yourself? She's not even up to a month pregnant yet. There isn't the tinniest bit of bulge. She's in the early stages of pregnancy not handicapped!"
Han Tao's eyes blazed in fury. "Xu Lifen, how could you be so ungrateful?!" Chen Meili tried to step in and calm him down but he gently held her hand and placed her behind him as he faced his heartless wife. "Meili is going through all this for our sake and this is how you repay her?
He Yuan felt a headache. Chen Meili had insisted on carrying the babies even against Xu Lifen's wishes. No one had forced her and although surrogacy wasn't easy at all, Chen Meili was clearly using it to head dive into Xu Lifen's and Han Tao's relationship!
Just imagine if Chen Meili walked into that room full of elites whilst being assisted by Han Tao himself. What everyone would see was a completely normal looking lady being delicately held by another woman's husband. The worse part was, with the way things were going, Han Tao clearly planned to 'assist' her for the rest of the evening! What sort of nonsense was this?
It was a huge slap to Xu Lifen's face!
At that moment, Min Yanyu and Gu Longwei walked out of the hall. "What's going on?"
"Mother!" Chen Meili called out happily and stepped out from behind Han Tao to greet her. Then she looked to Gu Longwei with a bright smile. "Uncle Gu."
The newcomers smiled warmly at her. Min Yanyu eyed her son's stern expression and then Xu Lifen's casual one a step away. "What's going on?"
Chen Meili's eyes widened and she quickly waved. "Mother, I'm sorry. I had slipped just now and elder brother Tao had helped me. Sister-in-law is angry because she's worried about the babies." She lowered her head in regret. "It's my fault for not being careful."
Han Tao frowned. "It's not your fault."
He Yuan raised a brow. "Then whose fault is it?" Were these people crazy? They blamed Xu Lifen for an accident that almost killed her and caused her the life of her child but when Chen Meili deliberately slips, she is not to be blamed?
Han Tao's eyes blazed. What was wrong with this woman?!
Min Yanyu grit her teeth. She'd gotten the general gist of things now. How could anything involving Xu Lifen be the fault of a different person? She eyed He Yuan. "Xu Lifen, Chen Meili clearly needs some help. Do you think pregnancy is easy? Even if it's in the early stages it's still a little difficult.
-You already lost my first grandchild because of your lack of understanding when it comes to what to do and what not to do when pregnant. I don't want to lose these ones."
Xu Lifen's soul thread throbbed and He Yuan let out a humourless chuckle. He was about to speak up when his eyes inadvertently moved to Gu Longwei and then he was taken aback.
Whilst everyone else was focused on the argument at hand, Gu Longwei was staring right at Chen Meili with so much lust that He Yuan felt the heat.
888 slowly cocked his head to the side. Gu Longwei had six daughters, three of them were already married. The first two were older than Chen Meili and the third was Chen Meili's age mate. What was with this situation?
Gu Longwei looked away from Chen Meili's intriguing figure then only to lock eyes with He Yuan. He flinched in shock at getting caught and quickly moved his eyes like nothing had happened.
He Yuan narrowed his eyes. He'd originally planned to use Gu Longwei to cause trouble at this banquet but now... He had a much better idea. He turned to Han Tao. "You want to assist her? Go ahead then."
And then he walked away to the bewilderment of everyone. He was very much aware that nothing he said would be 'reasonable' enough to stop Han Tao from sticking to Chen Meili like white on rice throughout the banquet. Even if he pointed out that a different person or even the servants could do it.
Rather than attend the banquet and cause Xu Lifen to be laughed at, it was better to skip it altogether and preserve the dignity of his leaser.
Chen Meili slowly walked up to Han Tao and looked at him in distress after Xu Lifen disappeared up the stairs. "Brother Tao, how about you go after sister-in-law? I don't want to cause a rift between you two."
Min Yanyu sneered. "What problem could you possibly cause between them? Even before you arrived, Xu Lifen was already doing a good job causing enough problems on her own. Don't let her act fool you."
Han Tao looked at Chen Meili's worried expression and his heart surged. When last did he receive the genuine care and worry of a woman that wasn't his family member? He smiled softly at her and lifted his hand to dotingly pat her head. "Don't overthink."
Chen Meili nodded obediently and all four people joined the lively banquet.
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In the room, He Yuan stared at Xu Lifen's reflection in the mirror with a little regret. He felt sad on behalf of the guests that they were unable to behold such beauty.
He quickly changed out of the dress and decided to check on the companies that were going IPO once more. He was especially excited for this because he'd found out in the afternoon that Xu Lifen had kept a savings of ￥50,000 seperately.
His selection was narrowed down to three companies. He invested ￥20,000 in the most promising one for a one year period and then the remaining ￥30,000 was split equally between the other two for a duration of six months each.
What was left in Xu Lifen's account was the initial ￥10,000 that was now remaining ￥8,000. He looked up different high definition cameras online after that and ordered a quality one within an acceptable price range.
He'd been thinking of a way to cleanly divorce Han Tao with Xu Lifen getting all the rights to the twins and Gu Longwei had given him a wonderful inspiration.
After sorting everything out, He Yuan freshened up and spent the rest of the night diligently practicing the [Strongest Martial Arts].
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WARNING! ERROR BELOW!
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