When Han Yanyan received a phone call report, her red lips curved.

"Not quite enough yet. We need a little more drama," she said as she hung up the phone. Her slender, crimson-painted toes tickled Qiao Chengyu's sturdy chest.

Qiao Chengyu shook his head, smiling, grabbed her slender ankle and dragged her over to face him.

"When will you become heir?" Han Yanyan asked, groaning.

"Soon," Qiao Chengyu promised, taking her lovely figure into his arms, dazzled.

"Soon," Qiao Wenxing promised Bai Yue. "Once we win this client, I'll set aside funds to buy us an apartment."

Bai Yue's pregnancy had smoothed over the past incident. She had married him without even a wedding banquet, without her in-laws in attendance. Only her parents and younger brother had come to have dinner with them. It was such a shabby turnout that one could have cried. Qiao Wenxing was an easygoing, soft-tempered man, and feeling like he had wronged Bai Yue, wanted to compensate her somehow.

Bai Yue had listened to her mother and conceived a child. Not only had Qiao Wenxing's heart come back to her, but she had even married him. The guilt in her heart had been crushed by sweet joy. But before Qiao Wenxing could get his client, her parents came.

"I-- I've been throwing up so much lately that I can't eat. Mom and dad came over to take care of me," Bai Yue said, a little uneasy.

Qiao Wenxing didn't like Bai Yue's parents, but upon hearing this, he relented, agreeing to Father and Mother Bai living with them to take care of Bai Yue. He didn't know that it was Han Yanyan who had had Brother Bai's 'buddy' buy off the Bai Family's relatives and friends, who had then proceeded to persuade Mother and Father Bai that Bai Yue's pregnancy was their chance, and suggested that they go over to care for her.

Compared to the last time they had met, the Bai parents' were warmer to him this time. They flattered him a little, and some expectations were in their eyes. Ever since he was a child, Qiao Wenxing had been surrounded by similar attitudes, and inevitably, he once again began feeling crowded and unhappy in his own home. But Bai Yue was pregnant, and she had always been emotional and sentimental, so he still made an effort to go home on time to spend some time with her.

Father and Mother Bai were very careful at first, but slowly they began to relax. More and more, they began urging Qiao Wenxing to go home.

"Father and son should hold grudges. You should go home and tell your father you've made a mistake. We could all be a happy family."

"You're married yet we haven't even met our in-laws, outrageous. Why don't you bring Yueyue back with you? Maybe your parents will agree once they see how happy the two of you are together."

"After all, you've got a child together and you're married. Even if they didn't like the idea at first, they'll have to agree to the marriage now."

Father and Mother Bai had simple, beautiful thoughts.

These were his father and and mother-in-law. If it had only been said once or twice, Qiao Wenxing would have endured. But when said too many times, he could no longer bear it.

He tightened his grip on his chopsticks, unable to eat any more. Mother Bai didn't notice, prattling on endlessly. Bai Yue pulled at her sleeve several times, and annoyed, she pulled herself free and smacked Bai Yue's hand.

With a loud 'clack', Qiao Wenxing put down his chopsticks. Startled, Mother Bai's garrulous rambling came to an abrupt end.

"If I return right now, not only will my parents force Bai Yue to have an abortion, but they will also make me divorce her," he said coldly. "Afterward, you probably won't ever see me again."

"No way," Mother Bai said disbelievingly. "This is their daughter-in-law and grandson!"

Qiao Wenxing gave her a look. "In elementary school, my half-brother was sent to a boarding school. In middle school he was sent abroad. He never saw his biological mother again."

Dumbfounded, Mother Bai dared say nothing more.

Qiao Wenxing once again became reluctant to go home. Several times he had come home late to find that Bai Yue had cried. When he asked her what was wrong, she would not tell him. Qiao Wenxing knew it must be her parents again, but she was very dedicated to protecting her family, so after she had refused to tell him a few times, he stopped asking.

Business had not gone smoothly lately either. Not only had Qiao Wenxing lost several customers, but the big client that he had high hopes for hadn't returned. Chinese New Year was approaching, and he wanted to win that one big client to set them up well for the year, but it seemed like storm clouds were on the horizon. Finances once again became tight at the company, and his promise of buying an apartment for Bai Yue fell through. But how could he tell her when faced with her expectant eyes?

Then came an even heavier blow, from news that his old friends in D City scrambled over each other to tell him about - Chairman Qiao had announced that he was stepping down, and that Qiao Chengyu would be taking over his post.

Qiao Wenxing turned pale. He was in utter disbelief. Father Qiao had chosen Qiao Chengyu as his successor and given him up. It took him several minutes to get over the feeling of dizziness that assaulted him, but when he did, he called his mother. However, it was his father who answered.

"Your mother fainted from high blood pressure. She's now in the hospital. If you still consider yourself my son, come back now, or never come back at all. " Father Qiao hung up.

Qiao Wenxing staggered back to the apartment in a daze. Standing outside, he heard the quarrel currently going on inside. He now knew why Bai Yue always seemed to be crying - her parents were forcing her to ask him for money and a house.

They had taught her to be independent and self-reliant ever since she was a child, for fear that a money-losing daughter¹'Money-losing goods' is a slur for a daughter. It has to do with the daughters 'marrying out' and sons 'marrying in', so your daughter in the end 'belongs' to another family and you've wasted your money raising her. would ask them for money after growing up. But who knew that this money-losing daughter would do better than they had thought? She had actually managed to trap the young master of a wealthy family.

Once they had dreamed that by being the mother of his child Bai Yue might become a rich young madam, but those hopes had been dashed. So now, her value must be realized as soon as possible. After all, compared with the illusory wealth of a rich family, money and a house were real things that could make one feel at ease once they were in one's hands. That was all they could think about now.

Qiao Wenxing listened through the door to her parents' greed and shamelessness, to Bai Yue's weak crying and faint resistance. He didn't want to go in at all. He didn't want to be the hero who would save her from fire and water and sweep her off her feet. Because the salvation Bai Yue desired was not for him to rush in, push her behind him and protect her from her parents. The salvation she hoped for was for him... to give her parents what they wanted.

Qiao Wenxing saw it all very clearly.

He turned and left.

frostcrystal

I was getting a bit tired of translating cannon fodder drama, but this chapter is finally the turning point so I'm putting out this release a week early! Let's quickly get back to the main plot :D