Billionaire's Long Journey of Chasing His Love-Chapter 653 - 555: Rousing Strategy (Three More)

"Smack!" Tong Airui slapped Tong Aino’s hand away.

Tong Aino winced and rubbed his reddened hand. "I take back what I said earlier! You’re definitely not my real brother—our family only has one person who truly treats me well, and that’s my sister-in-law!"

Yi Luowa chuckled, "From now on, when you talk, just talk, but don’t stand too close to me. Otherwise, your brother will keep hitting you. You know he grew up drinking vinegar, don’t you?"

Tong Aino shook his head helplessly. "Ugh, I got so mad at that wicked woman, I completely forgot about the family vinegar jar."

Tong Airui raised his eyebrows slightly. "Wife, don’t let him fool you. I bet there’s another car race coming up soon. If not, he wouldn’t be acting so chummy with you."

"You’re wrong! No race this time!" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Then you must be broke again!"

"I, the grand CEO of Zhuoyuan, would be broke? Ugh! Forget it. I shouldn’t brag. My position as CEO has been completely undermined. My money, along with Zhuoyuan’s money, is all controlled by the great overseer Connie... Wait a minute! Hey, wife, you manage billions, who says you lack status? You’re miles above all of us!"

Yi Luowa laughed, "Exactly! All of us rely on Connie’s mood to eat!"

"Haven’t you mentioned this to your parents?" Tong Aino scooted closer.

Connie pushed his face away. "No, I haven’t said a word. And don’t tell my parents—especially my two brothers. What if they try to borrow money from me? Would I lend it or not?"

Long Che burst into laughter.

Tong Yao laughed too. "You know the saying—marrying a wife mirrors the mother-in-law. Connie being this stingy feels just like me!"

Yi Luowa grinned. "Let’s flip the page on this topic quickly!"

Connie assumed a serious expression and said, "Sister-in-law, don’t flip the page! This is a serious matter. Everyone trusts me to manage the money, so I have to take responsibility."

Yi Luowa nodded with a laugh. "You’re right, completely right! Pfft—sorry, I couldn’t help myself... hahaha..."

Tong Airui ruffled her hair affectionately, "Connie is a dependable steward. If the money landed in your hands, our whole family would be drinking bitter water in no time."

Yi Luowa chuckled and nodded. "Exactly!"

Tong Airui tilted his head to look at Connie. "Connie, now I have to talk to you about a rather serious matter. Your father hasn’t appointed a crown prince yet, mainly because your elder brother has repeatedly clashed with your father’s opinions on certain issues. They have minor quarrels from time to time. To put it plainly, he doesn’t soften your father up like your second brother does. Your father wants to pass the throne to your second brother. This is your family matter, so I shouldn’t interfere. Still, based on what your second sister-in-law said, I plan to step in. If it ends up hurting someone in the future, please don’t hold it against me."

"Brother, you can go ahead," Tong Aino replied while patting Connie on the head. "Wife, my brother is doing this for the sake of Raman’s people. You know as well as I do that your second sister-in-law doesn’t have her act together. If your second brother becomes king of Raman, she’ll act like she owns the sky."

Connie glanced at Tong Airui. "Brother, honestly, even if you don’t intervene, my second sister-in-law’s antics have already made my parents come to some conclusions."

Yi Luowa quickly grabbed Tong Airui’s hand. "Connie already said this, so stay out of it, okay?"

Tong Airui raised his eyebrows slightly.

Long Che, noticing the waiter entering, coughed lightly, "Let’s eat first. Don’t worry about this for now."

Tong Airui looked toward his father.

Long Che also glanced at his son.

Tong Airui caught a hint of something unusual in his father’s gaze and curled his lip slightly.

Tong Airui chose to stay out of the matter, but Long Che decided to act. With just one phone call, he managed to settle Qiao Xi King’s wavering thoughts.

Within half a month of Qiao Xi King’s return, he officially appointed his eldest son as the crown prince. Lucian and Celia were dumbfounded. But by then, regret was already too late.

...

Yi Luowa had been busy for over ten days and finally approached the final exams for two subjects.

Tong Airui held her exam papers with a smile. "Well, at least you passed these two subjects."

"How’s it?" Yi Luowa leaned against the table, blinking at him.

"Not bad," Tong Airui said with a smile as he set the papers down. "But I think you can do even better."

Yi Luowa puffed out her cheeks. "I’ve already tried my best!"

Tong Airui laughed and pinched her nose lightly. "I know you’ve done your best. What kind of reward do you want?"

"Save them all up and give them to me together later," Yi Luowa said, standing up and wandering around the room with her hands clasped behind her back. "I’m going back to my own office now."

"Dinner’s coming up soon. What’s the rush in going back?"

"I want to call my mom."

Tong Airui gazed deeply at her. "Miss her already? Thinking of heading back to Haotian?"

"Not at all!" Yi Luowa smiled lightly. "Didn’t we agree? Whenever you say it’s okay to go back, we’ll go back together."

Tong Airui smiled, "Things are fairly stable over there, but it’s still quite cold. Let’s wait for the weather to warm up a bit; then I’ll go with you and the kid to stay for a few days."

Yi Luowa giggled, "Did you tell my mom about this?"

"No, why don’t you bring it up when you call her later?" Tong Airui gestured for her to come closer. "Come here. I’ll show you something."

Yi Luowa clasped her hands behind her back and walked over.

Tong Airui opened a folder and pointed to a map within it. "This is Haotian’s capital’s underground cross-section. Look at these red lines."

Yi Luowa frowned slightly. "What are these? Underground tunnels? What about the blue ones?"

"You guessed right, the red and blue lines are underground tunnels. The capital’s underground is entirely hollowed out. Such a massive project, it must’ve started at least ten years ago."

Yi Luowa pouted. "Have they been blocked off yet?"

"Yes, they’re sealed. The red sections are earth, and the blue ones are water."

"So only the capital was hollowed out? What about other cities?"

"Still inspecting one by one; no underground tunnels were found elsewhere for now. Nancy escaped through one of these tunnels." Tong Airui clenched his fingers. "It’s been troubling me, like a thorn in my side. Unless I catch her, I won’t have peace of mind."

Yi Luowa fluttered her curled lashes. "Don’t worry. As long as she’s alive, she’ll leave some traces behind."

"You seem so carefree about it!"

"How would fretting help?" Yi Luowa laughed and tugged his ear. "Don’t overthink it."

Tong Airui nodded. "Alright, I won’t think about it anymore. Go to the resting room and call your mom. I promise not to eavesdrop."

Yi Luowa laughed and headed into the resting room.

"Mom, Tong Airui said that when the weather warms up, he’ll take me and our kid to Haotian to stay for a few days." As soon as the call connected, Yi Luowa shared the good news with her mother.

The Haotian Queen laughed, "That’s perfect! Airui picked a good time, too. The sleeping palace has already been tidied up—it’ll have aired out by then, and you can move in right away."

"Hehehe..." Yi Luowa giggled repeatedly. "Mom, how are Dad and Danton? Are they doing alright?"

"Your dad’s in great shape—he’s even more energetic than I am now. Danton... Luowa, find time to give him a call. That kid’s been cooped up in his room playing on his computer every day. Whenever I go in, he shuts it down. Sometimes he even laughs while eating."

"Huh? How long has he been like that?"

"Seven or eight days now. He’s close to you; if anything’s up, he’d tell you about it."

"I don’t think so. If something was up, he would’ve already told me. We just talked on the phone last night, and he didn’t mention anything... Wait, he kind of did. He asked me about the situation in Country B."

"Country B? What’s his sudden interest in that for?"

"He said he was just curious. Mom, don’t worry. I’ll ask him in detail tonight when I go home."

"Alright. By the way, Luowa, once you set a specific date for coming, let me know."

"Alright, I’ll tell you in advance."

After chatting with her mom for a while, Yi Luowa noticed it was almost lunchtime and hung up the phone.

On the way back after lunch, Yi Luowa recounted her mom’s concerns about Danton to Tong Airui.

Tong Airui chuckled. "Could he have a girlfriend?"

Yi Luowa pouted. "What makes you think that?"

Tong Airui laughed, "When I used to think about you, I’d start giggling uncontrollably."

Yi Luowa rolled her eyes at him. "Danton definitely doesn’t have a girlfriend. If he did, he’d tell me first."

"Who do you think you are? When a guy gets married, he can forget his mom, let alone his sister!"

"You’ve got me, but you haven’t forgotten your mom." Seeing his face darken slightly, Yi Luowa laughed and grabbed his hand playfully. "Husband, I’m joking—don’t be mad. Can I ask you something?"

"No!"

"You don’t even know what I’m going to ask, but you’re already saying no."

"I bet you’re gonna ask me to hack into Danton’s computer to spy on what he’s up to."

"Haha, you’re too smart! But I’ve changed my mind. I just remembered—you’re no match for Danton. Asking you would be pointless."

Tong Airui shot her a sinister glare and dragged her into the office building.