Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"Why wouldn't it work?" Yang Ce finally understood what Xiao Qing was worried about. What she truly feared was the age gap between them, the difference between an older woman and a younger man—not any supposed inability to bear children. Xiao Qing probably knew in her heart that with modern medical standards, curing her condition would not be difficult.

"You... you'd allow me to have a child?" Xiao Qing looked at Yang Ce in disbelief, her eyes full of hope.

"Why wouldn't I allow it?" Yang Hengye said. "You want to bear my child—I'd be thrilled. How could I possibly stop you?"

"Aren't you afraid I'll use the child as an excuse to make demands of you later?" After hearing Yang Juehuan's words, a look of blissful joy appeared on Xiao Qing's face.

"If you wanted to make demands, you'd have done it long ago. Besides, you could have held over me the fact that you know about my powers," Yang Hengye said. "All right, enough of that. If you want a child, I'll go with you to the hospital for a checkup tomorrow, that's all."

Since gaining his powers, Yang Duo had been through a great deal of life and death, and his thinking had matured far beyond that of most people his age. So when Xiao Qing said she wanted a child, he naturally supported her with all his heart.

And most importantly, though Xiao Qing looked about his own age, age itself could never be changed. Xiao Qing was already thirty, and in a few more years, having a child would only grow harder. Out of consideration for her, Yang Ce would also want to give her a complete family—everything a woman deserved.

Chen Shutang and Lin Yanhe were another matter—they were in the prime of youth, and it would not be too late to have children even ten years from now. But Xiao Qing was different.

"Thank you, Yang Ce," Xiao Qing said happily, nestling in Yang Juehuan's arms.

"No need to thank me. The real question is, once you have the child, how will you tell Godfather?" Yang Hengye said. "I don't want to be a father in hiding."

Xiao Qing was flustered. She had not thought through how to break the news either—after all, their relationship was awkward, having gone from siblings to lovers, and that was genuinely hard for people to accept.

"We'll deal with it when the time comes. Treating the condition will take a while—it can't be cured overnight," Xiao Qing said.

"Fine, we'll deal with it then," Yang Yuting said with a laugh. "But for now, let's keep working hard at making a baby. Who knows, maybe a miracle will happen and you'll get pregnant without any treatment at all."

"You're incorrigible—impossible!" Xiao Qing scolded, though she did not refuse.

After receiving Yang Ce's affirmative reply, Fang Tian sent General Karls an email recommending that he seek out an organization called the "Black Butterfly Assassin Group," and told General Karls that the earlier Dorsk mission had also been handled on his behalf by the Black Butterfly Assassin Group—so that diamond mine would likewise be received by people from the Black Butterfly Assassin Group.

At first, General Karls had been skeptical about this so-called Black Butterfly Assassin Group—after all, he had never heard of this newly established organization. But the King of Assassins said the earlier mission had been carried out by the Black Butterfly Assassin Group, and since the King of Assassins himself held them in such high regard, there could be no mistake.

So General Karls posted a mission commission through the normal channels on the World Assassin Alliance's website, specifying that the Black Butterfly Assassin Group take the job. The payment was the indefinite usage rights to two undeveloped gold mines.

Because General Karls truly had no money. Having just taken office, even his military budget was tight—let alone hiring assassins. What's more, the money from the Huang family had not yet been collected, and now the Li family had gotten involved as well. General Karls had no choice but to give the Li family some face, reducing the contract fee from the previous five billion to two billion—which was already showing the Li family every consideration.

Even so, the Li family still needed to weigh the matter carefully. As for that two billion, the Huang family certainly would not put up another cent; the entire sum would have to be paid by the Li family. And two billion for half the shares in a gold mine hardly seemed like a good bargain, especially since in Country X in South Africa, everything depended chiefly on the Li family's connections and networks—without the Li family, the Huang family was nothing.

So the Li family needed to hold a meeting to carefully analyze the pros and cons. If the Huang family's shares were reduced, the Huang family would certainly not agree—they had already invested five billion and could not possibly put up more money.

Of course, what truly attracted Li Zhicheng was not the gold mine investment, but the fact that his son Li Tianjia had genuinely fallen for the Huang family's youngest daughter, Huang Yan.

Thus, after Li Zhicheng weighed the pros and cons, the marriage between Li Tianjia and Huang Yan became the crux of the matter. Li Zhicheng also sent word to Huang Xiaofei: as long as Huang Yan married into the Li family, he would take charge of the South African affair.

After receiving Li Zhicheng's message, Huang Xiaofei had spent the past few days trying to persuade Huang Yan to agree to the marriage, but Huang Yan was stubborn beyond words and refused outright, no matter what.

Of course, forcibly abducting Huang Yan to the wedding was not out of the question, but given Huang Yan's temperament, who knew what she might do afterward. You can watch over someone for a moment, but not for a lifetime.

If she slipped out of sight for even a moment and Huang Yan ran away from home, the relationship between the Huang and Li families would become even more strained.

"Lele, the family has reached a moment of crisis—consider this your father begging you." Huang Xiaofei gazed at his daughter, who sat staring blankly at the computer, and pleaded earnestly.

"No." Huang Yan had lost count of how many times she had said that word. She would never marry Li Tianjia.

"Little sister, I've seen this Li Tianjia myself. He's a fine-looking man, and heir to the Li family besides. Marry him and you won't come out the loser," Huang Rongtian chimed in, pressing her from the side.

"I said I won't marry him." These past few days Huang Yan had begun to feel something close to hatred for her eldest brother and her father. The father and brother who had once been so kind were now forcing her to marry a man she did not love. "If you're so eager, you marry him. I already have a boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend?" Huang Rongtian sneered. "Since when do you get to take a boyfriend without the family's approval? You're a Huang. Even a boyfriend has to match your station. Can your boyfriend help settle the business in Africa? Marrying Li Tianjia—that is a match of equals."

Huang Yan truly could not take any more. At last she could not hold back. "Fine. You lost six billion in Africa, didn't you? I'll give you the money. Just stop forcing me. Can't you do that?"

"You have that kind of money?" Huang Xiaofei was taken aback, eyeing his daughter with suspicion. Since graduating, Huang Yan had worked as a flight attendant for an airline. The pay was good, but she was a long way from the hundreds of millions—let alone six billion US dollars.

"My boyfriend gave it to me. Stop pushing me and I'll give it to you," Huang Yan said, biting her lip.

"Really?" Huang Rongtian found it hard to believe. Would his little sister's boyfriend really give her that much money?

"See for yourselves." Huang Yan opened the online banking window on her computer, checked the balance on her card, then turned the screen around.