Yi Anguo was someone who listened to advice. He felt that what Hu Jing said wasn't unreasonable—rather than face endless trouble later, it was better to take care of this problem early.

Sooner or later, Guo Aihua would find out about all this. Sooner or later she would have to face a choice and go through intense inner struggle.

Either she would leave in anger, make a complete break with him, and never have anything to do with him again for the rest of their lives.

Or she would eventually choose to face reality, choose to forgive, accept the fact, get along well with everyone, and be one family together.

No matter which choice she made, whether the result came a bit earlier or a bit later, it was bound to come sooner or later; there was no way to avoid it.

He couldn't possibly hide it from her for a lifetime. In fact, even if he wanted to, it would be very hard to pull off—almost impossible.

Since either way he was sticking his neck out for the chop, he might as well be open and let things take their course.

If fate had already decided that he and Guo Aihua couldn't grow old together and stay by each other's side for life, then there was no need to lie to her—getting married only to divorce later would just add to both their troubles.

Yi Anguo immediately called Guo Aihua and told her to arrange her time, fly to Shenzhen first, and then he'd take her back to his hometown for the New Year.

When Guo Aihua heard that Yi Anguo was going to take her back to his hometown for the New Year, she was instantly thrilled and overjoyed. She felt that only by going with Yi Anguo to his hometown, paying respects to her father-in-law and mother-in-law, and worshipping the Yi family ancestors, could she truly count as the Yi family's daughter-in-law, a real member of the Yi family.

"Anguo, how about we hold a wedding in your hometown while we're at it? We'll register our marriage there in your hometown, and later on in Singapore we can make up for it with a grand wedding and invite all the big shots here. What do you think?" Guo Aihua quickly suggested.

Yi Anguo was stunned. He really hadn't expected Guo Aihua to throw him such a curveball.

Under normal circumstances, this would indeed be a very good proposal—but they weren't an ordinary couple getting married normally.

If they registered the marriage in his hometown, there was no way that could be faked. Guo Aihua definitely wouldn't agree to a fake marriage certificate.

"Here's how I see it: if we register our marriage in your hometown, it will be a huge advantage for you. That way, the relevant departments back home will feel more at ease about you, and won't worry about you transferring assets and emigrating to Singapore. It'll also be very good for your corporation and business group."

Guo Aihua explained to Yi Anguo the benefits of doing things this way.

Of course Yi Anguo knew the benefits—but he hadn't had time to discuss it with his other women yet!

How could he not discuss something like this with the other women? It would be very easy for trouble to blow up later.

But if he didn't agree and turned down Guo Aihua's suggestion, he didn't seem to have any reason to refuse.

If he rejected her too bluntly, it would inevitably arouse Guo Aihua's suspicion and displeasure.

"Anguo! What's wrong with you? Are you even listening to me? Is it okay or not?" Guo Aihua urged on the phone.

"I'm doing this completely for your sake. What are you still hesitating about? What is there to think over?"

"Don't tell me you're still unwilling? Registering our marriage in your hometown, holding the wedding there—that's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Mm, you're right. We'll do it your way then. But things in my hometown aren't like Singapore, so when we register the marriage back home, I hope we can keep it as low-key as possible." After hesitating for a moment, Yi Anguo finally spoke.

"If we make too big a scene, my hometown can't accommodate that many people coming to our wedding. If too many people come, they simply can't all be received properly."

"And then a whole bunch of reporters will show up too. You know I'm the type who hates the limelight. I've always been low-key about the way I do things and I don't want it to be too ostentatious."

"That's no problem. You handle the arrangements however you see fit. I mainly just want to treat the villagers in your village and some of your relatives and friends to a banquet," Guo Aihua said straightforwardly.

"After all, once we're married, I'll be a real member of the Yi family. I'll definitely have to deal with people in Yi Family Village. If we don't put on a wedding banquet and invite them, it wouldn't sit right."

"People in the countryside back home are generally more traditional—they care about a proper, formal marriage. Since we're husband and wife, treating the villagers to a wedding feast is the right thing to do."

With Guo Aihua putting it like that, what else could Yi Anguo say?

After finishing the call with Guo Aihua, Yi Anguo pulled a bitter face and told Hu Jing what had happened on the phone.

Hu Jing also hadn't expected things to take such a drastic turn. Not only was Guo Aihua going back to his hometown with him for the New Year, she also wanted to hold a wedding there with him, and even formally register their marriage.

For a moment, Hu Jing didn't quite know what to do.

This was a major matter that concerned all of them! Once Yi Anguo and Guo Aihua registered their marriage back home, what were the rest of the women supposed to do? Things would really get troublesome then.

If Yi Anguo wasn't married, them being with him was at least somewhat better—they wouldn't count as mistresses, since he was still single and not another woman's husband.

But once Yi Anguo actually got married, if they continued to be with him, it would be hard for them to justify it.

Before, the idea was that everyone would register their marriages abroad, and then there would be no problem.

But now that Guo Aihua wanted to register the marriage with Yi Anguo domestically, that was a different matter altogether!

What was most infuriating was that Yi Anguo had already agreed to her. Even if he wanted to back out now, it would be hard to come up with a decent excuse.

Although Hu Jing had always had a rather exalted status among all of Yi Anguo's women, when it came to something that touched everyone's vital interests, she didn't dare make a decision on her own. She could only suggest a family meeting so they could all discuss what to do.

Yi Anguo also felt that he'd really been asking for trouble—if he'd known things would turn out like this, he wouldn't have gone looking for all this hassle.

Only it was too late to regret anything now; once the arrow was loosed, it couldn't be called back.

Besides, this really was something that had to be dealt with sooner or later, so he said at the family meeting:

"At this point, it's impossible not to let Guo Aihua and her son return, and impossible not to take them back to my hometown for the New Year."

"Since that's the case, we might as well come clean with her then. It's time for you all to meet her too."

"Whether she can accept it or not will be up to her. Whatever choice Guo Aihua makes, I can only respect it."

"Anyway, you don't need to worry—I'm not going to throw all of you away just for the sake of Guo Aihua alone."

The women thought it over and felt that laying everything out early really was better. Otherwise everyone would keep feeling uneasy, always worrying about what would happen when the time came.

"Even though what we're doing might be a bit cruel to Guo Aihua, things have reached this point and there's nothing else we can do. This is the only solution we can think of," Li Sisi said in strong agreement.

"I think this is pretty good too. As the saying goes, better to cut the knot with a sharp knife. Once this is settled early, everyone can feel at ease sooner," Li Shanshan agreed.

"It's good if we can settle it this way, but while we're at it, the head of the household might as well come clean early too—just how many women do you actually have out there?" Chen Ting nodded and said.

"Let's make this clear: this is your last chance. However many women you have now, we can accept that. But from now on, you are not allowed to add any more."

"You already have plenty of women. You're barely able to keep up as it is. If you add any more, it really won't make sense."

When the others heard what Chen Ting said, they all laughed, but they fully supported her opinion. Leaving aside whether they themselves could accept Yi Anguo having even more women, with too many women, even Yi Anguo's body wouldn't be able to take it.

He was still young now, so it didn't matter so much—after all, he had energy to spare!

But he couldn't stay this young and energetic forever.

As he got older, his energy would gradually decline. With so many women then, how could he possibly satisfy them all?

Setting down these three ground rules with Yi Anguo now was both for his own good and for theirs.

"Exactly. Count how many women you have now—if you spend a day with each one, you can't even get through them all in a week."

Hearing that, Yi Anguo felt a little embarrassed and couldn't lift his head.

He realized that he really had gone a bit too far. He hadn't considered how the women around him felt; he'd only cared about his own enjoyment.