CH 18

Mu Qingyan raised his glass to his parents and casually asked, “Dad, Mom, do you still have bodyguards with you when you go out?”

“Of course,” Mu Yuchen put the peeled shrimp meat into his wife’s bowl and smiled, “But your mom doesn’t like too many people following her, so she often goes out alone without bodyguards.”

Shen Xiaoxiao didn’t care at all and said, “Whenever I go out, I either go shopping or have tea with my sisters. There’s no need for bodyguards.”

She then complained, “As soon as I married your father, I was forced to go out with a dozen bodyguards, all of them strong and burly men. It’s so stressful even to just go shopping.”

Mu Yuchen laughed, “You’re so clever. You manage to slip away a few times while out shopping. I think it’s the bodyguards who are under the most pressure following you. If they lose you, I’ll scold them.”

“What happened later? Did you just get rid of the bodyguards?” Mu Qingyan asked.

“Yes, it was originally for your mother’s safety that we provided bodyguards, but since she really didn’t like them, we stopped,” Mu Yuchen said.

He looked indulgently at Shen Xiaoxiao, with a smile in his eyes, and added, “I thought since she always goes out with her group of sisters, and they all have bodyguards with them, then they could also take care of her without us needing to assign bodyguards.”

Unexpectedly, their son spoke up, “That won’t do.”

Mu Qingyan opened his phone and directly called Shen Huai, the third son of the top bodyguard company in China.

“Hey! Old Yan, you rarely take the initiative to call me! Let me see, this is the first time you’ve called me in a month! Is it because you didn’t drink enough last night and want to continue tonight?” Shen Huai’s tone of voice was as flamboyant as his dress style.

Mu Qingyan knew that he couldn’t stop once he started talking, so she interrupted, “I’m calling you for a serious matter.”

As soon as Shen Huai heard this, he asked, “What’s the matter?”

“I want to find two female bodyguards for my mother,” Mu Qingyan said.

“No problem, I’ll send our company’s best five female bodyguards, two top-level personal bodyguards and three rotating bodyguards. Is your stepmother at home? I’ll bring them over, and if she doesn’t like these female bodyguards, I’ll send other ones over.”

“I trust your judgement. Just pick two and send them over. You don’t have to come over yourself. It saves you the trouble,” Mu Qingyan said.

Shen Huai hurriedly said, “What’s the trouble? It’s only 6:30 now. I’ll be there at 8 o’clock.”

Mu Qingyan knew that Shen Huai was a warm-hearted person, so he didn’t refuse again and said, “Okay.”

Mu Yuchen and Shen Xiaoxiao looked at each other. Their son used to only care about himself and rarely cared about his parents, let alone whether they had bodyguards or not.

Maybe the divorce made him grow up?

But regardless of the reason for their son’s change, they still felt grateful and moved.

“Mom,” after hanging up the phone, Mu Qingyan continued to persuade Shen Xiaoxiao, “Although it’s inconvenient to go out with a bodyguard, you are still the wife of a wealthy family. It’s not appropriate to have no bodyguards around you. I asked Shen Huai to find two female bodyguards for you. I believe they are very professional.”

“If Mom still doesn’t like it, just treat them as invisible.” He added.

Seeing her son being so considerate, Shen Xiaoxiao naturally wouldn’t refuse and smiled and said, “Okay.”

After dinner, Mu Yuchen and Mu Qingyan sat on the sofa chatting.

“We father and son haven’t sat down and talked like this for a long time,” Mu Yuchen took a puff of his cigar and patted his son’s shoulder, “Actually, your mother and I hope you can come home more often, sit together and have a meal, and talk.”

Mu Yuchen was already in his fifties. Due to his wealthy background and extremely disciplined lifestyle, his skin and figure had been well maintained, making him look no more than forty.

However, in the memories of the previous owner’s dream the night before, this father had turned gray overnight because of his wife’s death and had become an old man in his sixties or seventies.

In the end, he died of a heart attack because he couldn’t bear the pain of losing his wife.

Mu Qingyan clenched his fists and made up his mind: this kind of ending must not happen.

Seeing that his son didn’t answer and seemed to be in deep thought, Mu Yuchen lowered his voice and spoke to him so that Shen Xiaoxiao, who was arranging for the maid to cut fruits in the kitchen, couldn’t hear: “Are you blaming your mother for arranging this marriage for you? In fact, she was angry and regretful after learning about Xing Hao’s affair and couldn’t sleep well for a few days.”

“How could I blame Mom? No one could have expected Xing Hao to be such a person. He hid it too well before we got married.”

Mu Qingyan paused and added, “Actually, the divorce has no impact on me. After all, I don’t have any feelings for him. Moreover, going through this has been a kind of growth for me, helping me understand what is truly important.”

Mu Yuchen saw that his son’s expression was sincere and didn’t seem to be comforting his parents on purpose, so he nodded in relief.

“I found that you have indeed changed a lot compared to before after the divorce,” Mu Yuchen took another puff of his cigar and felt relieved that his son had finally matured, “Before, you only loved to indulge in pleasure, but now you finally focus on your career.”

“I believe Dad agreed to the marriage with the Xing family largely because of Xing Hao’s strong business acumen and higher ability. I hope he can help me manage the Mu Corporation in the future.”

“Um,” Mu Yuchen did not deny it. He did not expect his son to guess his intentions and frankly said, “Actually, I prefer someone else. He is four years older than you and is the President of one of the top three conglomerates in the country. But, he himself is busy with affairs and may not have time for you.”

Four years older than me and the President of one of the top three conglomerates in the country, isn’t that…

He laughed and took another puff of his cigar, “But now it seems that my son can handle it himself…”

When it comes to the recent situation of MU Company, Mu Yuchen praised his son again and felt that the autumn launch was even more outstanding and successful than he expected.

“You know, my intention in letting you manage MU Company was to let you practice, even if it loses money, Mu’s Group can afford it. I didn’t expect MU Company to firmly hold the position of the top domestic luxury brand, and this month’s profit is ten times that of last year.”

He put down his cigar and said seriously: “I hope you can maintain this career mindset, and I also hope you can continue to participate in the management of Mu’s Group.”

In fact, Mu Yuchen had always wanted his son to take over Mu’s Group, but the original reason was that he was often suppressed by several vice-chairmen and shareholders led by Guo Rong, who often ridiculed him.

Therefore, the original owner refused his father’s proposal after exiting the management of Mu’s Group.

The original owner knew that he was incompetent and afraid of making a fool of himself, willing to be an ostrich that only buried his head in the ground and evaded.

Because he knew that he could act arrogantly as the young master of the Mu family, but he couldn’t act recklessly and ruin Mu’s Group, which was the family business.

But Mu Qingyan was different.

He always had absolute confidence in himself, and he was a true black lotus. If someone dared to provoke him, he would return twice as much.

Just like when he rebutted Guo Rong, who had been talking behind his back.

As the young master of Mu’s Group, he also understood his father’s thoughts in front of him – he didn’t want Mu’s Group to fall into the hands of others and change its name.

Sure enough, Mu Yuchen said again: “You are my only son, and I don’t want Mu’s Group to be handed over to someone else in my hands.”

“Don’t worry, Dad,” Mu Qingyan picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for his father. He said confidently, “I will continue to participate in the board of directors and shareholders’ meetings of Mu’s Group, and I will also spend half of my time managing Mu’s Group’s affairs.”

Only then did Mu Yuchen laugh comfortably: “Haha, that’s good.”

As one of the three major groups in the country, outsiders always thought that Mu Yuchen, the chairman and President of Mu’s Group, would have several concubines and at least four or five children like other wealthy families.

But Mu Yuchen only loved Shen Xiaoxiao, who came from an academic family. Not to mention concubines, there was not even a single gossip about him in the news.

Shen Xiaoxiao fell ill when she gave birth to Mu Qingyan and could no longer have children. Despite this, Mu Yuchen did not change his mind or look for other women for the sake of having more children. He devoted all his love to his wife and only son.

The wives and young ladies in the wealthy circle, and even the entire country of C, envied Shen Xiaoxiao for having such a fairy-tale love.

They also envied Mu Qingyan for being so lucky.

“What are you two talking about? So happy,” Shen Xiaoxiao walked over with a large plate of sliced fruit.

After placing the fruits on the coffee table, she sat next to Mu Qingyan and touched his arm, feeling sorry for him, “Yanyan has lost so much weight during this time. I heard Qi Qi say that you often get too busy with work to eat properly. That won’t do.”

“I know, I will eat on time,” Mu Qingyan said as he used his fork to pick up a piece of kiwi and praised it, “Mm, it’s delicious!”

No matter how old their children are, they are still babies in their parents’ eyes.

Shen Xiaoxiao fondly rubbed Mu Qingyan’s head and said with a smile, “Eat more if you like it. Boys need to be strong.”

“Yeah, at least like me, I still have eight-pack abs,” Mu Yuchen winked at him.

“Stop being sarcastic,” Shen Xiaoxiao picked up a piece of mango and put it into her husband’s mouth.

Mu Yuchen chewed and, imitating his son’s tone, said, “It’s delicious,” and then gestured to Zhao, the butler, to go to the study on the third floor and bring back the blue-covered document on the table.

“Yes,” Zhao immediately went upstairs and brought the document to Mu Yuchen.

However, Mu Yuchen directly handed the document to Mu Qingyan and said, “Since you said you’re willing to continue participating in Mu’s Group’s business affairs, this is your project.”

“A real estate project?” Mu Qingyan asked, looking at the words on the folder cover.

Mu Yuchen said, “Not bad. Because you obtained the land in the new development zone, the establishment process of Mu’s real estate company has been accelerated. According to the current progress, the Mu’s real estate company can be established and begin operation by the end of November. I want you to be the general manager of the real estate company, and this is the first project of the company.”

Mu Qingyan looked through the documents and murmured, “It’s a cooperation with Ye Yun Real Estate Company… Ye Yun Real Estate… it seems familiar.”

As soon as Shen Xiaoxiao heard the name of the company, she immediately replied, “I remember, this real estate company is owned by the Ji’s Group.”

Author’s note:

Ji Liyun: That’s right, I’m four years older than you, and I’m the President of one of the three major groups in China, the Ji’s Group.

(I didn’t expect to gain the recognition of my future father-in-law. I’m happy!)