Impossible, Your Grandfather Doesn't Like Children

A week later, the Huo Household held a gathering. The moment Shen Can arrived, he spotted Su Nanxing sitting beside Elder Su. Shen Can went over, greeted Elder Su first, then sat beside Su Nanxing and chatted with him.

After a while, once nearly everyone had arrived, a woman came downstairs.

The instant Shen Can saw her, he guessed that she was Huo Xi's mother, Han Yanhu.

As soon as Han Yanhu came down, she greeted everyone. After chatting with them for a while, she asked Huo Xi, "He's not here yet?"

"He's here. Assistant He said he's at the entrance." As Huo Xi finished speaking, a middle-aged man walked in. His hair reached his shoulders, he had a beard, and he carried a somewhat melancholic air.

Looking at the Han family, the White Household, the Su Household, and the Shen Household seated in the room, the man asked in confusion, "Why are there so many people?"

Huo Zhang then asked, "Did something happen to the company?" Otherwise, why had they specifically called him back and invited other families to a gathering?

Surely this was not to welcome him. He did not have that much standing with Huo Xi. His son was too smart—smart enough that Huo Zhang felt he was difficult to approach. Besides, their father-son relationship was not particularly close. Huo Xi had no reason to throw him a welcome party.

Looking at the people present: the Han Household, his mother's family; the White Household, also his mother's family; the Su Household, with Elder Su being his teacher; and the Shen Household, whose eldest son seemed to be his son's classmate. On his way back, Huo Xi's assistant had also mentioned that they were collaborating on a major project.

He had not done anything wrong. There was no need for a crowd to interrogate him. Other than something happening to the company, he could not think of any other possibility.

"Son, you said you had something to announce, so say it now. Everyone here is working together. We're all tied to the same rope," Han Yanhu said to Huo Xi after finding a seat.

Seeing this, Huo Zhang found a seat as well. After Huo Xi sat down to one side, he said to Huo Zhang, "Grandfather has an illegitimate child. More precisely, an illegitimate offspring. The gender is unknown."

"Impossible! Your grandfather doesn't like children at all. Why would he make an illegitimate child just to cause trouble for himself? Besides, your grandfather has always conducted himself properly. I've never heard of him having any confidante."

"The possibility of someone tricking him into leaving behind a child is even less likely. If it had happened when your grandfather was young, with his ruthless methods, he would have made that woman get an abortion. And now that he's old, he isn't some shameless old lecher who would go looking for young women."

"Have you been set up? Maybe some old man in the family wants to fight for a position for his son or grandson again, so he deliberately fed you false information to drive a wedge between you and your grandfather."

"Even if there really is one, he wouldn't be an obstacle to you. You're already firmly seated as the head of the family. Your grandfather doesn't like children, so he might not even acknowledge him. And if he did, it would damage his reputation."

"Besides, it's simply impossible. It must be some old man from another family trying to stir things up. You've always been calm and collected before, so how did you fall for it this time? You even specifically called me back. I'd just picked out another place to paint from life. I'm leaving."

Huo Zhang was the first to raise doubts, and after speaking, he prepared to leave. Han Yanhu stopped him. "Can't you listen to your son finish?"

When the Han Household, White Household, and Su Household first heard the news, they were indeed puzzled. After listening to Huo Zhang, they also felt that Huo Xi might have been set up. Only the Shen family knew it was real.

"It's real. It's the child of Grandfather's first love. He and Grandmother had a powerful business marriage, but before that, he had a first love."

"After marrying Grandmother, he met that woman again during a business trip. He rented a house with her, and they stayed there for three months."

"That woman became pregnant, and Grandfather knew. He saw her prenatal examination report. He always knew that child existed; he simply never said anything."

"This is the examination report. That child is only a few months younger than you, Father." After speaking, Huo Xi took the report from his assistant and placed it on the table.

Huo Zhang immediately snatched up the report to examine it. It was a report from many years ago. Though newly printed, it still looked like an antique.

"But it could still be someone deliberately leading you to investigate. What if it's fake—" Before Huo Zhang could finish, Huo Xi interrupted him.

"My people found the son of the former landlord. They showed him photos of Grandfather from his youth, and he said he remembered him because that man was very generous. Whenever he was in a good mood, he often gave him large tips. He was the most generous tenant he had ever met."

"Also, my people found the original in a small box Grandfather treasured in his study. Father should remember the look in Grandfather's eyes whenever he looked at that box. When the lock expert opened it, my people were right there. There was absolutely no possibility of it being switched."

"And Grandfather's most loyal subordinate has been looking for someone all these years. This is what my people coaxed out of his son."

After Huo Xi spoke, he placed photos taken by his subordinates on the table. Huo Zhang stared at one of them in silence for a long time. It bore signs of wear from being frequently stroked.

"If that woman truly did not want Grandfather to know he had a child, she would never have carelessly dropped something so important. She would have kept it safe."

"If it appeared before Grandfather, then it could not have been a coincidence. I don't believe she had no ulterior motive. Would someone who knowingly got involved with a married man truly be asking for nothing?"

Huo Zhang clenched his fists tightly and cursed, "Don't call him Grandfather again! Huo Zhenyun, how dare you treat my mother like this!"

No matter what, Huo Zhang had never imagined that his father had cheated and even had a child with someone else. At last, he understood why his father had been so cold.

It turned out that he had never been the child his father expected or hoped for. All this time, he had thought his father simply did not like children and only cared about power, so treating him with cold indifference was normal.

When Huo Xi had been born, he had secretly watched his father's reaction. He had wondered whether his father might like Huo Xi.

If he liked Huo Xi, that would prove he simply did not like Huo Zhang. But afterward, he had treated Huo Xi just as coldly. At that time, Huo Zhang had concluded that his father simply did not like children.

When Huo Xi displayed intelligence far beyond ordinary people, Huo Zhang became curious once more whether his father would react differently. This was a genius, after all. How could anyone not take notice?

Yet his father had remained utterly indifferent. Back then, Huo Zhang had even wondered whether he suffered from some kind of emotional detachment. It turned out that Huo Zhang simply had not been the child his father longed for, and likewise, Huo Xi had not been the grandson he had hoped for.

No wonder. No wonder his father had always acted as though he did not exist when he was young. Being ignored was even more terrifying than being hated, especially when the person being ignored was his biological son.

Perhaps his mother had sensed something too. She had sensed that, in his father's eyes, her son was nothing and was not cherished at all. So she had treated him twice as well. Even when he said he wanted to study art, his mother had agreed.

As an only son, studying art meant that without an outstanding son like Huo Xi, the family's power would fall into someone else's hands. Yet his mother had still supported him.

Unlike his father, who might have been eager for him to stay away from family affairs, his mother had supported every one of his decisions because she truly loved him and felt sorry for him.