Chapter 328: Urban Card-Drawing System (Main Story Concluded)

Feeling smug, she specifically styled herself and chose an expensive gown, then attended Xie Yang's sixtieth birthday banquet on her husband's arm.

She had expected to see a little old lady with a build similar to her own, skin stiff from years of lacking a man's nourishment.

Until the spotlight hit the stage—

Within the dazzling circle of light stood a woman with a graceful figure and a warm smile.

Her skin was like jade, and her long, jet-black hair was casually coiled into a bun, held in place at the back of her head by a simple imperial green hairpin.

On her left wrist was a consort bangle made of the same material as the hairpin, which perfectly complemented her skin tone; on her right, she wore a custom-made classic wristwatch with a strap of lustrous natural pearls and a dial as exquisite as jade, its luster natural and antique. One could not tell that it was actually a smartwatch featuring the world's top technology.

A traditional hand-embroidered cheongsam outlined her waist, making it look all the more exquisite.

Feng Xuanxuan was so shocked she could hardly believe her eyes:

This is Xie Yang? How is that possible! How is she still so young?

The surrounding guests were also whispering:

"Is this Xiao Xie's mother? She's kept herself so well! I'm fifty-one this year, and if I stood next to her, I'd probably be mistaken for her mother-in-law or mother, wouldn't I?"

"I heard she just returned to the country. Ever since the elder Mr. Xie passed away, she went abroad and has been living there all these years. Could it be that the feng shui abroad is better for one's health?"

"In my opinion, it's because she has no man to worry about; with a good mindset, one stays young."

"Isn't that the truth! Who among us is like that? We spend all day guarding against our husbands cheating, while also managing the old and the young—how could we not age?"

"That's true, too. Look at that one... she's given birth to three daughters in a row, and she's so desperate for a son to compete with her stepson for the family fortune that she's still on the front lines of childbirth at her age! Even a brood sow isn't as diligent as her! Compared to her, we're all still young."

"Hahaha! Your tongue is so sharp, you've snatched all the bamboo shoots on the mountain..."

Feng Xuanxuan went to the restroom and returned to hear this group gossiping about her behind her back; her expression collapsed, and her expensive handbag fell to the floor with a "clatter."

These stinking hags are truly detestable!

If you want to talk about Xie Yang, talk about Xie Yang—why drag her into it! No wonder they can't hold onto their own men's hearts! They deserve to have their walls dismantled by mistresses.

No matter how much she cursed and vented in her heart, she was ultimately unwilling to be outdone by Xie Yang.

After returning home, Feng Xuanxuan began to lose weight desperately, going to beauty salons three times a week for skin care and hair darkening, wanting to return to her peak period of beauty and figure.

She stopped having children too...

Or rather, she didn't intend to give birth herself anymore.

She went to purchase an Artificial Womb Instrument, adopted the in-vitro fertilization method, and spent money and pulled strings to have a boy implanted.

She wanted a son! And she wanted her figure and beauty too!

She absolutely could not be outdone by Xie Yang!

However, an Artificial Womb Instrument is a machine after all, and machines inevitably make mistakes.

Moreover, she had specifically avoided the company Xie Yang invested in, and the institution she chose already had a lower success rate.

In order to prove a point, she stubbornly refused to use products invested in by Xie Yang, thereby ignoring the success rate, which ultimately led to the failure of the pregnancy.

At her age, she could no longer extract high-quality eggs, and after using up her frozen eggs, the possibility of giving birth to another child of her own was near zero.

This terrible news hit her so hard she was bedridden for a full half-month.

The good complexion she had spent money and energy to regain just a while ago vanished into thin air.

It's over!

There's no hope!

Without a son, the family fortune would sooner or later be swallowed up by her stepson.

At her age, she would still have to live under someone else's thumb.

She lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling and wallowing in self-pity.

She completely forgot that she actually had three daughters; if she had put more effort into raising them, they wouldn't necessarily be worse than a son.

But she always believed that the one to inherit the family business should be a son.

Just like herself—no matter how pampered she was in her maiden home before marriage, she never saw the old man give her any shares as a dowry when she married.

If she could have had share dividends to rely on like Xie Yang, she wouldn't have been so obsessed with wanting a son.

Seeing that she could no longer bear a son, her husband stopped pretending; he gave the company to his eldest son and began to enjoy his retirement.

At over seventy years old, he actually required twenty-year-old girls to accompany him when playing golf, and he frequently went to nightclubs, full of tricks and having a wild time. It was as if he wanted to completely release the wildness that had been restrained by marriage for the past few decades.

When Feng Xuanxuan found out, she almost went insane.

She considered herself skilled at controlling her husband, and this had once been her most impressive marital achievement.

Every time she did beauty treatments and drank afternoon tea with those wealthy wives whose husbands were out carousing and not coming home for ten days or half a month, she would feel that she was the happiest person in this circle.

Never did she imagine that in her early sixties, she would have to endure the blow of her husband's infidelity.

Now, she fell completely ill.

Her three married daughters, although they didn't care for her, still hired a live-in nanny for her.

Seeing that she was ill, her husband found her bad luck and simply stopped coming home altogether, setting up a home elsewhere and living with a young girl who was young enough to be his granddaughter.

The stepson logically inherited the family company, bought a luxury villa, and moved in with his wife and children, leaving Feng Xuanxuan alone to guard the old ancestral mansion of her husband's family.

She used to think this mansion was antique and low-key luxury, but now, after just two or three years without maintenance, it was as desolate and dilapidated as a tomb.

How did it end up like this?

She looked at the cold, empty courtyard, muttering to herself.

She always felt that her life shouldn't be like this!

She should have been bright and beautiful, loved and pampered by everyone; she should have had children and a happy life, not like this now... which part exactly went wrong?

Three years later, Xie Yang returned to the country to attend her eldest daughter's wedding.

She also took the opportunity to sort through her assets and draw up a will while she was back.

The Task for this plane had already been completed; just a month ago, while she was watching the aurora in Northern Europe, the Main System suddenly went "Ding."

Although the new world has not yet opened, there is no guarantee when it might.

So, taking advantage of this trip back to the country, she drew up her will.

After finalizing the will, she also arranged a small gathering with an old best friend.

Chen Jiani is currently busy enjoying her retirement with her grandchildren, but since it is rare for Xie Yang to return to the country, she would make time to attend the meeting no matter how busy she was.

The two best friends, both nearing seventy, drank tea and chatted at the Lake View Tea House under the Xie family's banner; although they had been separated for a long time, there was no distance between them at all.

It was also through Chen Jiani mentioning it that Xie Yang learned Feng Xuanxuan had passed away last month.

The cause of death was that she had dragged her sickly body to confront her husband at the home he kept outside, fell while brawling with a young mistress, hit the back of her head on the ground, and breathed her last before the ambulance could arrive.

This made Xie Yang recall that while she was living in Northern Europe last month, the Task progress suddenly hit one hundred percent.

The Main System did not say why, so she had been quite puzzled. So it was because Feng Xuanxuan had passed away?

The Task for this plane, it turns out, had been related to Feng Xuanxuan from beginning to end.

【Ding! A new Task world has opened, please prepare yourself, Host!】

{End of this volume}