Chapter 22
Hong Kong truly is small!
Overwhelmed with emotion, Lu Mingzhu stopped in her tracks, gripping the railing as she stared at Father Lu.
Though past sixty, he still dressed with meticulous care.
In a white shirt, black trousers, tie neatly knotted, and a Western watch on his wrist, he looked impeccably polished as he stood face-to-face speaking with Minghui.
In terms of handsomeness and dashing charm, the two were quite evenly matched; yet Lu’s father had graying temples, wrinkles creeping toward the corners of his eyes, a slightly downturned mouth, and skin that had begun to loosen, making him appear less youthful than Minghui.
Of course, youth is relative; had Minghui stood before Xie Junyao, he too would have seemed quite aged.
Xie Junyao’s greatest asset is his youth!
In other aspects, he still falls short compared to the two seasoned veterans who have battled in the business world for many years.
Looking more closely, Wang Bohui and Liao Wanru, the couple standing in the distance chatting with others, seemingly hadn’t had the chance to speak with Lu’s father; otherwise, Lu’s father wouldn’t appear so calm right now.
If he knew that Lu Mingzhu and Lu Ping’an were in Hong Kong, there’s no way he could remain this calm!
Also appearing, quite unsurprisingly, were Wang Zhongzhao and his daughter Wang Xiuyi. Wang Xiuyi was still dressed as she had been during the day, trailing closely behind her father, step for step. Wang Zhongzhao, meanwhile, looked eager to greet Lu’s father; his eyes kept drifting toward him, as if a thousand words waited on his lips. Yet he was detained by an acquaintance who wouldn’t let him go, leaving him no choice but to suppress his mounting anxiety.
Xie Junyao noticed Lu Mingzhu come to a halt and stopped as well. “Mingzhu, what’s wrong?”
He Yun also paused, turning back to ask, “What’s happened?”
“Look!” Lu Mingzhu lifted her chin, gesturing in the direction of Lu’s father.
Xie Junyao glanced over, hesitated for a moment, and asked Lu Mingzhu, “Has your father arrived?”
The face seemed vaguely familiar.
He had left Shanghai with his family more than a decade ago; his impression of Lu’s father remained confined to his own childhood.
“It is him, it is him, it really is him!” Lu Mingzhu hadn’t expected the Ming family’s evening banquet to extend an invitation to him. “My old man, Lu Yanzhi—how did Sister Xuan think to invite him? Had I known he would be coming, I would have made some preparations.”
He Xuan shook her head. “It wasn’t me who invited him. Most likely Minghui sent the invitation; he has collaborated with the Lu family before.”
Mr. Lu was shrewd and highly skilled in handling affairs. Together with Mrs. Lu, they built an enormous business empire. Shortly after arriving in Hong Kong, he visited several old friends, among them Minghui.
However, He Xuan was not present during their meeting.
He Yun suddenly spoke up: “Mingzhu, if you do not wish to see your father, I can have someone ask him to leave.”
“No, I’m actually looking forward to seeing him.” Lu Mingzhu, thinking of the silver in his pocket, rubbed her hands together with a mischievous grin: “When I appear before him shortly, I’m sure to give him quite a shock.”
I’m completely out of money; it’s the perfect time to fleece that scoundrel of a father!
He Yun, his daughter, and Xie Junyao all exchanged subtle smiles simultaneously.
Lu Mingzhu never procrastinated: “Uncle He, Sister Xuan, Junyao, please carry on with your matters; I’ll be right back.”
She strode aggressively toward Lu’s father, and all the guests in the hall stepped aside to make way for her.
Everyone noticed that she had come downstairs together with Xie Junyao and He Yun.
This woman possessed breathtaking beauty and wore exquisite attire; coupled with the treatment she received at the Ming family banquet, it was clear she came from an extraordinary background.
Sensing the sudden silence that fell over the hall, Lu’s father felt puzzled. Just as he turned around, he found Lu Mingzhu standing before him and exclaimed in shock, “Mingzhu, how are you here?”
Minghui smiled and said, “Mr. Lu, I was just about to tell you that your daughter is also here, but somehow I never got the chance.”
Lu’s father couldn’t believe it. “What on earth is going on? Lu Mingzhu, explain yourself!”
He had clearly left her and Lu Ping’an behind when he went abroad.
Yet now, she stood right before him.
She stood tall and graceful, radiant with an elegance that had deepened over time, all traces of her former innocence gone.
“What are you talking about? Everything follows the rule of first come, first served. I arrived first; you came later.” Lu Mingzhu circled him twice, her manner far from respectful. “Old man, it’s been over half a month since we last met. Have you been well?”
Well my foot!
The moment he saw her, Lu Father’s mood soured.
His face was grim, his gaze sharp. “Weren’t you in Shanghai?”
“How strange,” Lu Mingzhu replied without a trace of fear. “Since you, honored elder, departed abroad with your entire family, why should I have remained in Shanghai? Since you didn’t take Ping’an and me along, we had no choice but to fend for ourselves. Thanks to our godfather purchasing our boat tickets, Ping’an and I arrived safely in Hong Kong. Alas, we possessed nothing and have been staying as guests in Brother Bohui’s home.”
Lu’s father flew into a rage. “Nonsense! Didn’t I leave you a substantial sum of money? And the Lu Family Garden?”
Lu Mingzhu feigned ignorance. “What money? What Lu Family Garden? You’re so stingy that you wouldn’t even let me travel with the main group; do you expect me to believe you left me a fortune? I find that utterly unbelievable!”
No one could force her to admit it.
Aside from herself and Lu Ping’an, the only person who knew about the money left by Father Lu was Wang Xingcai, who remained in Shanghai, not in Hong Kong.
Father Lu’s face was filled with suspicion: “You didn’t find it?”
He refused to believe it.
The children born to his concubines had no idea of the specific locations of the hidden chamber and secret compartments in his room, yet Lu Mingzhu knew them all too well; as a child, she had even crawled into the hidden chamber and broken many of his prized collectibles.
Lu Mingzhu’s gaze was exceptionally sincere: “What should I find?”
Lu Father snorted.
This matter was not suitable for public disclosure; he could not speak of it.
Lu Mingzhu felt a surge of triumph and deliberately said, “Father, you are my own flesh and blood; surely you ought to show some token of appreciation? My niece Ping’an and I, living under another’s roof, may soon be unable to even afford our school fees.”
Minghui hastily replied, “Miss Lu, how could it possibly come to that? With my father-in-law and my wife present, such a situation is unthinkable.”
She had saved her father-in-law’s life; the gifts prepared by his wife, He Xuan, alone were already astonishingly generous, let alone those from her father-in-law himself.
Although Minghui did not know exactly how many gifts Lu Mingzhu had received, her attire and demeanor made it clear she lacked nothing financially; if she truly were in need, she would be no different from the daughter born to Wang Zhongzhao’s mistress.
At several banquets, she was seen wearing the same few pieces of jewelry in rotation, nothing particularly rare or valuable.
Lu Mingzhu sighed, “We can’t rely on others’ support forever.”
She sounded so pitiful, yet her father remained unmoved.
Only a fool would believe her!
Even if she failed to find the gold and silver he had left for her, she still possessed the inheritance from her mother, along with the gifts and pocket money she had received throughout her life, ensuring she would never be reduced to begging on the streets.
Among the more than ten children, Lu Mingzhu was by far the wealthiest; even combined, the children of the several concubines could not match her fortune.
Since childhood, she had been as shrewd as a ghost, possessing extraordinarily discerning judgment.
She was more devoted to her studies than the children born to the concubines, spending tens of thousands solely on hiring renowned tutors.
She owned several pieces of imperial Qing green jadeite, each purchased for tens of thousands of silver dollars; dozens of gemstones and diamonds, bought by the bar at a time, numbering in the tens; as a child, she had spent tens of thousands of silver dollars on a raw stone that yielded a piece of glassy emerald; and just a few years ago, she had acquired a batch of precious calligraphy and paintings from the Qing imperial collection for hundreds of thousands of silver dollars. All these treasures were hidden away, never shown to anyone, and every single payment had been made by Father Lu.
Roughly calculated, her wealth amounted to at least several million silver dollars, yet she still had the audacity to plead poverty before him!
Father Lu refused to be fooled: “I will pay your tuition fees when you enroll in school; beyond that, there is nothing more to discuss!”
Lu Mingzhu was utterly displeased. “How can you be so stingy!”
“Am I stingy?” Lu’s father asked with a faint, ambiguous smile. “Ask your own heart: have I truly been stingy toward you? Compared to your siblings, tell me honestly—who has received more, you or them?”
Lu Mingzhu feigned indignation and sorrowfully declared, “All I ever received was cold, hard money, while they were blessed with warm, heartfelt paternal love!”
Having just carefully reviewed the memories of her predecessor, she realized that although Lu’s father had indeed been somewhat distant toward her former self, he had never been吝啬 when it came to money. Among all the siblings, only her predecessor could withdraw funds freely from the family treasury—without limits on frequency or amount, taking thousands or even ten thousand at a time—whereas the others were restricted to a maximum monthly withdrawal of one thousand silver dollars.
Lu’s father was nearly driven to fury by her words. “Then give me back that cold, hard money, and I’ll give you paternal love instead! Having left my homeland behind and now forced to start anew, I’m already feeling short of funds.”
“No way!” Lu Mingzhu replied swiftly.
Once something falls into her hands, no one can take it away—not even its original owner.
Her father, however, refused to let her off the hook: “I’m attending Mr. Ming’s banquet today and have no time to settle accounts with you. Just you wait; tomorrow I’ll come to Bohui’s house to find you.”
“I’m busy, so don’t bother coming!” Lu Mingzhu cut him off before he could say another word. “Someone’s looking for me. I’m leaving. Bye!”
Grease the soles of your feet and slip away to safety.
The money that is rightfully ours must not be forgone; there will be plenty of opportunities, so for now, let him go.
Lu’s father watched helplessly as she walked over to He Yun, then suddenly turned to Minghui. “Mr. Ming, does she know Mr. He?”
During their early collaborations, he had never dared to act recklessly in front of He Yun, whose outwardly gentle and refined demeanor masked a ruthlessness far beyond the ordinary, coupled with an exceptional tendency to hold grudges.
What about his daughter?
Chatting animatedly and behaving with grace and composure.
Minghui smiled lightly and said, “Mr. Lu, there is no need for worry. Your esteemed daughter once saved my father-in-law’s life. He now treats her exceedingly well—so much so that even his own biological children would have to step back a full pace in comparison.”
What happened next left Mr. Lu with no choice but to believe.
At the beginning of the banquet, Minghui and He Xuan spoke, their words merely extending a welcome to He Yun in their capacity as his daughter and son-in-law. When it was He Yun’s turn to thank the guests, he offered only a few brief remarks, yet they exuded remarkable poise and dignity.
However, he proceeded with great solemnity to introduce Lu Mingzhu.
He said, “Miss Lu Mingzhu once saved my life at a critical moment; no amount of gold or silver could ever repay such a debt of gratitude. As Miss Lu settles here in Hong Kong, should there be any matters I fail to attend to on her behalf, I earnestly request that all distinguished guests present extend your assistance should you encounter her need. For this, I offer my deepest thanks.”
This amounted to a direct declaration to everyone that Lu Mingzhu was under his protection, and anyone contemplating causing her trouble would do well to think twice.
Wang Xiuyi was so consumed by jealousy she felt she was going mad.
“How can she be so blessed!” Once in Shanghai, she was the proud young lady of a wealthy family, outshining all her peers and hailed by a group of foreigners as the “Pearl of the Orient.” Whenever fine gifts arrived at the Lu household, she always got first pick. Even after arriving in Hong Kong, she remained dignified and prestigious, backed by Mr. He and supported by Father Lu.
She and Wang Zhongzhao had noticed Father Lu’s arrival long ago.
Wang Zhongzhao, unlike his daughter, harbored no such thoughts. Once Minghui and He Xuan led the way onto the dance floor, many others followed suit. He then approached Father Lu to greet him.
Lu’s father had not brought any of his concubines, so naturally, he had no dance partner.
He was staring at Xie Junyao, who was dancing with Lu Mingzhu, his eyes blazing with fire.