After another passionate interlude, Leng Zhiwen lay on Huang He's chest and said, "I have something to tell you, Zhi Ting is already married!"
"Hmm... What did you say?" Huang He was stunned. "Wasn't she always at the flight base? Haven't seen her for years, how did she suddenly get married?"
"Yes, we were also shocked. We flew directly to the base to find her, but we were blocked at the door. Fortunately, the matter reached the leaders. The leaders knew my mother's identity, so they let her meet Zhi Ting outside."
"That girl is really capable, getting married without us knowing. Who is my brother-in-law?" Huang He asked curiously.
"It seems to be her elementary school classmate. When they were assigned, they were assigned to the same flight team. As time went by, they developed feelings for each other, and then they got married directly in the military. They didn't have any wedding, just got a marriage certificate, which infuriated my mother. Now she insists they hold a wedding ceremony!"
"Elementary school classmate!" Huang He smacked his lips. This was truly a childhood sweetheart.
"But Zhi Ting is almost 38 this year. Actually, I thought she would never want to get married in this life. Now she has gotten married without us knowing. Isn't this a surprise for our mother?"
"Yes, so my mother didn't oppose them. She just asked them to hold a wedding ceremony outside. But they refused to do so. If their leaders hadn't forcibly granted them a half-month leave to go out and hold a wedding, and even said they couldn't return to the team without wedding photos, they wouldn't have been forced to hold the wedding!" Leng Zhiwen said.
"Then their wedding is about to be held soon? Why are you only telling me this now? If I had known, I would have prepared the wedding for them long ago!" Huang He said.
"No need. Mom said she will handle this wedding by herself, and we don't need to worry about anything!" Leng Zhiwen said. "Anyway, you just need to attend the wedding. Also, don't bring any of your friends. My mother said she has already booked all the guests, and there isn't an extra seat!"
"Alright!" Huang He nodded. A week passed, and it was soon the day of the wedding.
Since it was the mother-in-law who insisted on holding the wedding, and the groom's side agreed to follow the mother-in-law's wishes, the wedding location was set in Wenzhou.
Huang He thought his mother-in-law would choose the most luxurious hotel in Wenzhou for the wedding, but he never expected that the wedding would be held in a somewhat dilapidated hotel.
It was said that this hotel was once very famous, and it was a state-owned enterprise, a hotel that could start with the name Wenzhou.
However, with the continuous advancement of marketization, this hotel naturally fell into decline due to various problems. In the end, the entire hotel was left with less than 10 employees, and only the accommodation department was still working normally. The hotel's catering department had even ceased operations for more than a decade.
It was said that when his mother-in-law learned of this situation, she was so angry that she cried.
At the critical moment, Mr. Huang stepped in. He used his connections to directly dispatch a renovation team to urgently enter the banquet hall, which had been sealed for more than 10 years, and renovated the entire banquet hall from top to bottom. All the old tables and chairs inside were replaced with the latest models.
At the same time, he found a complete team of chefs from a close friend and had the renovation team redecorate the kitchen, equipping it with a complete set of new kitchen equipment. In just less than 5 days, the banquet hall, which had been sealed for decades, was restored to its normal function.
Of course, this restoration was only superficial. And because it was a wedding banquet, no paint or anything similar was used during the renovation. Only the original colors of the materials were used to cover it, or wallpaper was applied.
So, if you looked closely, you could still see the dilapidated nature of the banquet hall. Huang He couldn't understand why his mother-in-law insisted on holding the banquet here, but since his mother-in-law had made the request, Huang He naturally spared no effort to fulfill it.
Fortunately, when the wedding was officially held, as the entire banquet hall turned red, many details that were difficult to conceal were no longer noticed.
When Mr. Huang arrived at the banquet hall, guests were arriving one after another, but there weren't many people, and many reserved seats were empty.
Moreover, most of the people who appeared here were Huang He's mother-in-law's age, or even older. Because the Leng family didn't have many relatives, at her most stubborn moment, her mother-in-law had broken off contact with almost all relatives from the Leng family and her maiden family.
Although later, upon learning that they had a relative who was the world's richest man, all sorts of distant relatives who had disappeared for decades suddenly appeared, her mother-in-law had directly gone into hiding in the imperial capital and refused to see any of them, forcing these relatives to return grumbling.
So the guests attending the wedding at this time were probably not her mother-in-law's relatives, but Huang He didn't recognize them at all.
Even more miraculously, most of the guests did not recognize Huang He.
Even though Huang He's appearance was well-known throughout China, very few people took the initiative to greet him. At most, they would smile.
"These are my mother's former neighbors and colleagues!" Leng Zhiruo, who had rushed back from Shanghai, explained next to Huang He. She was perhaps the only one who remembered some of the past. "After my father died, no relative was willing to lend us money to get through the difficult times. At that time, we didn't even have enough money to buy a new pair of shoes. We could only drink a little congee every day."
"It was the neighbors and colleagues who helped us a little bit. I remember that every few days, neighbors would invite us to their homes for dinner, or ask me to tutor their children, and then let me bring my sisters to their homes to play, and we would have dinner there."
"It was the 1990s. Although the economy was gradually developing, most working-class families were still struggling. Everyone was having a hard time, and they helped each other to raise us sisters. So my mother has always been very grateful to them!"
"Do you know why Mom insisted on holding the wedding in this hotel?" Huang He asked, nodding, and then very confusedly.
"I don't know about that!" Leng Zhiruo shook her head. "My mother never told me anything about it, and I don't know. But I know my mother often talks about this hotel, I don't know why!"
After learning that these guests were the neighbors and colleagues who had helped the sisters in the past, Huang He became even more enthusiastic towards them. He even actively served them tea and offered cigarettes, gradually mingling with these neighbors.
Some of them recognized Huang He's identity and knew that he was the legendary world's richest man, and became excited, shaking his hands vigorously.
At this time, most of these guests were over 70 years old. It was rare for them to gather, so they started chatting in small groups.
Then Huang He gradually learned that the reason why half of the tables were empty was that the invited people were no longer in this world. His mother-in-law hadn't had much contact with them over the years, but based on her memories, she sent invitations to everyone. However, only half of them actually received the invitations and came.
"Then do you know why my mother insisted on holding the wedding in this hotel?" Huang He asked curiously.
"This..." Most of the neighbors shook their heads, but an old neighbor with white hair said, "Perhaps only I know about this."
"When Yingzi was dating her man back then, her man was quite capable. He was a Level 6 worker in the factory, so he promised her that he would hold a grandest wedding for her at the best hotel in the city!"
"But halfway through their relationship, her man was diagnosed with an illness, which required long-term expensive treatment. Old Leng didn't want to get married anymore, not wanting to ruin Yingzi's happiness. But Yingzi refused. So they still got married. The hotel for the wedding was already booked, but Yingzi forcefully canceled it. They held a few tables on the factory grounds and invited us to a meal, and that was the wedding."
"Later, at the wedding, Old Leng promised in front of Yingzi that he would hold weddings for all his children at this hotel, giving them the grandest moments in this world!"
"Yingzi later gave birth to six daughters, but Old Leng was laid off and constantly wanted to work to earn money. He couldn't even take care of his illness, and then he was gone. Yingzi raised them all by herself. So I guess Yingzi's biggest dream in this life was probably to have her children get married here! That's why she's so stubborn!"