Qian Chengfeng used sweet talk and flattery to persuade Ye Lan to become his girlfriend, promising her all sorts of benefits, with the ultimate goal of making her willingly do things for him.
However, according to the original storyline, Ye Lan was supposed to betray and leave Qian Chengfeng later on. Yet now, the situation was completely different.
And all of this change stemmed from the appearance of one key figure — Wei Jinning.
It was precisely because of her involvement that Zhao Qiuying and Huo Jinxin’s attitudes shifted, which in turn led to the encounter between Qian Chengfeng and Ye Lan.
Sometimes, fate is just so mysterious — what is meant to come will come, sooner or later.
The Qian family, one of the Four Great Families of the capital, was extremely prestigious and wielded considerable influence. Alongside them stood the Huo family, the Zhao family, and the Sun family — all of equal renown.
Originally, the Qian and Huo families were just old acquaintances, mainly business partners. But by Qian Chengfeng’s generation, their relationship had deepened even further.
Qian Chengfeng and Huo Nanchu grew up together and were very close, something their elders were happy to see.
…
“Ningning, do you want to change your name, or…?” Huo Shan asked.
“Dad, I’ll keep this name!”
“You and Mom gave it to me, and I really like it.” In her past life, Wei Jinning was also called Wei Jinning — the only difference was the family name.
“Alright, we’ll go with what you want.” Huo Shan sounded a little disappointed — he had hoped his daughter would take the Huo surname — but he respected her decision.
Huo Shan sighed inwardly: His daughter didn’t want to take the Huo surname, sigh…
Zhao Qiuying sighed inwardly: Her daughter didn’t want to take the Huo surname, sigh…
Huo Jinxin sighed inwardly: His sister didn’t want to take the Huo surname, sigh…
Maybe their reactions were too obvious, because Wei Jinning quickly sensed that the atmosphere was off.
[Huh? What’s up with these three? They look like wilted eggplants.]
[It’s just a name, right?]
[Maybe I should ask them what they want me to be called?]
[Huo Jinning sounds pretty nice, doesn’t it?]
[Didn’t they give me the name Jinning?]
[Now they’re regretting it?]
[For the sake of my future lazy lifestyle, I guess I’ll just listen to them!]
“Dad, how about…” Wei Jinning had just started to speak when Huo Shan quickly cut her off.
“Ningning! Daddy also thinks Huo Jinning is a really wonderful name. Look, your sister is called Huo Jinxin, and your names together clearly show you’re real sisters! Isn’t that great?” Huo Shan realized he had misunderstood his daughter’s intentions earlier.
He had thought Wei Jinning still wanted to keep her Wei surname, but now, seeing that she had no such thought, he breathed a sigh of relief. A small, almost imperceptible smile appeared on his face, clearly showing his much improved mood.
“Yeah! Your dad makes a lot of sense. Let’s call her Huo Jinning — it really sounds nice,” Zhao Qiuying chimed in, agreeing with her husband’s suggestion.
“Mm, let’s name my little sister Huo Jinning then! That way, when we go out together, people will know right away that we’re sisters just by hearing our names!” Huo Jinxin’s eyes sparkled, and she beamed with happiness.
[Are they performing Sichuan opera face-changing or something?]
[Why are they so happy all of a sudden?]
[I don’t get it, I really don’t get it.]
[Well, it’s fine. I do like the name Jinning — it’s easy to say. It doesn’t matter if the surname changes.]
[As long as they’re happy.]
“Ningning, I’ll take you to the relevant offices in a bit to get your name officially changed and transfer your household registration into our family,” Huo Shan said seriously.
“Okay,” Wei Jinning replied obediently with a nod.
Then, Huo Shan suggested, “How about we also plan a grand family recognition banquet? It’ll be a good way to let everyone know that we’ve finally found our precious daughter.”
“That’s a great idea!” Zhao Qiuying agreed enthusiastically. “And the banquet must be lively and grand!”
“Yeah! That way everyone will know that I have a little sister now!” Huo Jinxin said excitedly.
“Exactly, we have to let everyone know that the treasured daughter of the Huo family has finally come home.”
Just then, someone brought up the two other family members who were still away:
“Too bad the second and third sons aren’t back yet. Who knows when they’ll come home? I guess we’ll just have to wait a bit longer…”
At that moment, Huo Zimo, the one being talked about, let out a huge sneeze:
“Ah-choo… Someone must be secretly thinking about me. I guess I’m just this lovable wherever I go.”
Meanwhile, far away, Huo Chengyu also sneezed unexpectedly and muttered:
“Ah-choo… Damn, I think I underdressed today. Am I catching a cold? I better hurry back and take some medicine.”
…
Back at home, the three were still excitedly discussing all the details of the banquet, completely forgetting about Wei Jinning, who had been left sitting off to the side.
[Does this have nothing to do with me?]
[Why aren’t they asking for my opinion?]
[Oh well, less thinking for me.]
[Another carefree day, I guess.]
Only then did the three finally realize and pause their conversation.
“Oh right, I forgot to ask — Ningning, what do you want to do?” Zhao Qiuying pulled Wei Jinning’s hand gently.
“I’m fine with anything. But… when you adopted my sister back then, did a lot of people know about it?” Wei Jinning asked, looking at Huo Jinxin.
In the original book, Wei Jinning didn’t see much detail about this event. Since her return wasn’t part of the original story, it also didn’t mention anything about Huo Jinxin being adopted.
“Uh, well…” Zhao Qiuying hesitated, not sure how to explain.
“Is it hard to answer?” Wei Jinning asked, confused.
“Quite a few people knew. When you went missing, a lot of people in our circle helped us look for you. Even in the past few years, some people came pretending to be you,” Huo Shan explained.
“Oh, that’s a pity. Otherwise, I was thinking we could just announce to the public that the two of us are twins,” Wei Jinning said thoughtfully. She figured this way Huo Jinxin wouldn’t face exclusion from certain people in their social circle.
“Sis, you’re so kind!” Huo Jinxin’s eyes turned red, overwhelmed with emotion.
“Ningning, are you really okay with announcing that you and Xinxin are twins?”
Huo Shan had originally intended to do this too, but he had worried it might be unfair to Wei Jinning.
“Dad, why wouldn’t I agree?” Wei Jinning looked puzzled.
“Well, then you wouldn’t be the only daughter of the Huo family anymore. Wouldn’t you feel wronged?” Huo Shan asked.
“Dad, I was never the only daughter to begin with. Isn’t my sister already here?”
[Is my dad a little silly or what?]
[My sister’s already part of the family. How could I be the only daughter?]
[She grew up in the Huo family — that makes her family too.]
[Wait, could it be that her biological parents want to take her back?]
[But that wasn’t mentioned in the original story…]
[I really hope my wonderful sister doesn’t get taken away.]
[If they didn’t want her before, they have no right to now, just because she’s doing well!]
[I must make sure my parents don’t get tricked. I have to stop this!]
Wei Jinning had already mentally played out an entire dramatic soap opera.
The three people next to her couldn’t help but chuckle. Huo Jinxin decided that from now on, she must treat her little sister even better.
“Ningning is right. Xinxin and Ningning are both treasures of the Huo family. We’ll just tell everyone they’re twins. Ningning was in poor health before and was recovering away from home, and now she’s finally back,” Zhao Qiuying decided.
Zhao Qiuying truly loved this daughter. Even though they had been apart for twenty years, Ningning was still so kind-hearted.
In many wealthy families, biological siblings would fight and turn against each other over money and favoritism, but Ningning genuinely treated Xinxin as her real sister and never even thought about the money.
And Wei Jinning truly hadn’t thought about it — she never considered the money hers in the first place.
“Is that really okay?” Wei Jinning asked uncertainly.
“Of course it is! Who cares what others think? As long as we’re happy,” Huo Shan said with confidence.
“Exactly. In our Huo family, we don’t need to care about anyone else’s opinions,” Zhao Qiuying added.
“Then shall we go get Ningning’s last name changed?” Huo Shan urged.
“Yes, let’s all go together,” Zhao Qiuying said, standing up.
“Yay, I’m officially the big sister now!” Huo Jinxin said, eyes welling up with tears of joy.
The name change and household registration process went very smoothly.
The four of them happily went out to eat together afterward.
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