Just as Nan Zhengde was having fun with the children, the silvery-haired Ouyang Duo approached them.
Ouyang Duo was actually quite young, as he was in his fifties, but his grey hair made him look older than he actually was.
That being said, his grey hair didn’t affect how sophisticated and confident he looked. After all, he was a successful person as well.
“Old Master, I invited two friends over today just to wish you a happy birthday. They also prepared some special gifts for you,” Ouyang Duo said.
As Ouyang Duo was mentioning that, the two friends he was talking about had already stepped inside.
Their presence signified that Nan Zhengde didn’t have the time to reject Ou Yangduo.
The handsome Nan Zhiyuan led the way while the elegant Bai Hua tagged behind him.
Both of them were holding onto a red box as they suddenly knelt in front of Nan Zhengde.
However, Nan Zhengde had already expected something like this to happen, so he wasn’t surprised.
“Dad, we’re sorry. We offer our deepest apologies. We wish you a happy birthday and good health…”
As they said that, they started kowtowing, and that shocked Dabao and Erbao who had no idea what was going on.
Erbao was so spooked she ran back to Ning Ran. “Mommy, I’m scared.”
Ning Ran picked Erbao up and whispered to her, “Do you know who they are?”
“No.” Erbao lowered her voice as well.
“They are Grandpa and Grandma!”
“Huh? Not only do we have Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma, but we also have Grandpa and Grandma too?” Erbao gaped in shock.
Ning Ran was amused by her question. “Of course you do. They are kowtowing because it’s a tradition in birthday banquets, so don’t be afraid.”
“I see. But why are they the only ones doing that?” Erbao wondered out loud.
Ning Ran almost let the truth slip. She hesitated a little before saying, “Because they are somewhat special people.”
“If so, do Daddy and you need to kneel? Do Dabao and I need to do that too?”
“Nope.”
On the other side, Nan Zhengde asked Ouyang Duo, “What’s the meaning of this, Mr. Ouyang?”
“Zhiyuan came to me and asked me to be the mediator, so I thought that you would want a family reunion in your birthday banquet. I hope you don’t mind…”
Nan Zhengde waved his hands and exclaimed, “Forget about it. Sorry to get you involved in our family affairs. I feel so ashamed.”
He then commanded the two people on the ground. “Get up. Stop embarrassing yourselves.”
Bai Hua and Nan Zhiyuan only stood up when they heard Nan Zhengde’s command.
As they exchanged a glance, all they could see in each other’s eyes was glee.
The birthday gift that Bai Hua and Nan Zhiyuan prepared was a very traditional and expensive huge ginseng root.
As the birthday banquet officially commenced, the guests came to give Nan Zhengde a toast.
When it was Ning Ran’s turn to present her gift, she realized that it was gone.
She placed the long box containing a calligraphic painting on the table while she was consoling Erbao, but it wasn’t there anymore.
“What happened?” Nan Chen noticed that something was wrong.
“The gift disappeared!”
“Disappeared?” Nan Chen’s expression darkened.
“Yeah. It was just there, but now it’s gone! Don’t tell me there’s a thief lurking around here?” Ning Ran was confused as well.
“It’s fine. Just let it be.” Nan Chen consoled her.
“But everyone brought a gift! I can’t go there empty-handed, right? It’s so embarrassing!” Ning Ran started to panic.
“It’s not embarrassing. Just forget about it.”
“No, no, I need to try to find it,” Ning Ran exclaimed in indignance.
“Just forget about it. Where are you gonna search for it? Let’s go.”
Nan Chen held Ning Ran’s hands and prepared to give Nan Zhengde a toast.
On the other side, when Ouyang Qing saw that Nan Chen was holding Ning Ran’s hands, fury licked her gaze.
In fact, Ning Ran was surprised too because it was Nan Chen’s first time holding her hand. However, she couldn’t do anything about it because of the nature of the event.
The fact that they didn’t have a gift was actually pretty embarrassing.
“Grandpa, this is Dabao’s and Erbao’s mother, Ning Ran. Her stage name is Ding Mi.”
Nan Zhengde nodded in acknowledgment and sized Ning Ran up.
He had a good first impression of her.
Ning Ran was undeniably a beautiful woman, but she wasn’t flashy or ostentatious. She was akin to a lily in the valley; enthralling and likeable.
Besides that, the countless hardships she faced gave her a more mature aura that made her seem thoughtful and wise.
Over the past few decades, Nan Zhengde had seen his fair share of good-looking women.
That was why he was experienced enough to judge someone’s character based on their appearance and behavior.
Nan Zhengde was satisfied with Ning Ran.
She’s from the entertainment industry, but she doesn’t seem materialistic at all. She’s a rare and unique woman.
“Nice to meet you,” Nan Zhengde said while nodding his head in approval.
Nan Zhengde had never met Ning Ran before, so he shouldn’t be so quick to judge her character in public. However, the fact that he nodded was a testament to how pleased he was at Ning Ran.
“Where are your gifts?” someone in the crowd asked suddenly.
There were a lot of guests around, so no one knew who that was, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.
Unfortunately for Ning Ran, that was the thing she was most worried about.
Ning Ran took a look at Nan Chen and hoped that he could help them out of this sticky situation.
“The gift… is here!” A child’s voice came from behind, and the owner of the voice was none other than Dabao.
He was waddling towards them with a box in hand.
To Ning Ran’s surprise, the box that he was carrying was the exact box containing the calligraphic painting.
She noticed that Dabao went missing for a while, but she didn’t pay too much attention to it because the security was tight here.
Don’t tell me he played with the painting somewhere else and came back just now?
But Dabao is quite well-behaved, so he probably wouldn’t do anything like that.
“Mommy, here’s Great-Grandpa’s gift.” Dabao passed the box to her.
Even though it was a paper box containing just a painting, it was definitely quite heavy for a five-year-old.
The first thing Ning Ran did when she received the box was to check its contents.
Thank God the painting’s still there.
She opened up the painting with Nan Chen and it was clearly stated on its corner that it was specially prepared for Nan Zhengde.
Nan Zhengde received the painting and perused it carefully. A while later, he praised it incessantly out of joy.
He adored calligraphy, so it was only natural that he was thrilled that someone prepared a calligraphic painting specially for him.
“Ning Ran went to Mr. Chen and asked him to prepare the painting on the spot. We hope you like it,” Nan Chen explained.
“Yes, I do. I love it. Thank you so much.”
Nan Zhengde then smiled and nodded at Ning Ran.
However, Ning Ran felt guilty because the painting was actually prepared by Nan Chen, and it had nothing to do with her.
She felt embarrassed because he gave her all the credit even though she didn’t deserve any.
