editor: Storm
Father and Mother Qiao didn’t leave their room until lunch. Seeing them approaching, Qiao Yichen, who was waiting in the living room, stood up and called out plainly, “Dad, Mom.”
There seemed to be an invisible barrier in between them. Their familial affection should have been thicker than water, but this way of calling out sounded rusty and unfamiliar.
“You’re back. I have something to tell you today.” said Ye Lin as she and Qiao Yongfeng sat down together.
As one of the board members of Qiao’s company, Ye Lin’s actual age was already 42, but on the surface she looked like she had just turned 30. Although she had taken off her more capable and stable looking lady’s suit today and replaced it with a casual home outfit, she still couldn’t hide the overbearing aura that had been cemented in her over the years.
The meal was brought out and Auntie Chen’s skills were unquestionable. The family of four had long been accustomed to eating her food. Seeing so many dishes, Ye Lin said comfortingly. “Sister Chen doesn’t have to go to so much trouble next time, I and Yongfeng both eat casually when we are at the company.”
Although Auntie Chen was hired by the Qiao family, she had been together with the Qiao family for more than ten years now and they had developed a strong relationship with each other. Ye Lin was also younger than she was, so she called her Sister Chen every day. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been comfortable leaving her children with her for so many years.
Although Auntie Chen had suffered when she was young, the kindness the Qiao family showed to her softened the resentment she had towards the world. Now, she even regarded herself as a member of the Qiao family, doing her best without complaining.
At this time, Auntie Chen brought out the last dish, pork rib soup, and said, “You two work hard at the company every day, and it’s not easy for you to find time to come home. Of course, you have to make up for it.” Finally, she added, “This tomato with scrambled eggs is made by Chenchen.”
“Ge made it?!” Qiao Weiwei was surprised. The siblings lived under the same roof, how did she not know that her brother could actually cook?!
Auntie Chen smiled with relief, but Qiao Yichen looked away unnaturally, avoiding the probing gazes of his parents.
Auntie Chen knew her place. It wasn’t easy for this family of four to gather at the same table, so she didn’t disturb them too much. After serving the food, she went out to call Jiang Xiaoyong in for lunch.
Ye Lin was the first to pick up the dish that Qiao Yichen had cooked, followed by Qiao Weiwei, who was looking forward to tasting her brother’s craftsmanship.
“Ge, when did you learn to cook? I don’t even know how to.” Qiao Weiwei said with a face full of adoration.
Qiao Yichen warned her with his eyes and replied in a deep voice, “Eat.”
Qiao Weiwei pouted, aggrieved. She disliked this kind of atmosphere the most. Every time her brother and parents were so quiet and a good meal became so depressing.
Ye Lin put down her chopsticks after tasting the dish and said, “Chenchen, I discussed with your father and we decided we want to send you to the UK to study.”
Qiao Yichen’s movement froze, his line of sight wandering back and forth between his parents, confirming that they were being serious before he gave them a wry smile, “Making decisions for me without asking my opinion again.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Qiao Yongfeng had always been strict in the company, but at home he was impatient and quick-tempered. Hearing Qiao Yichen’s sarcastic words, he was the first to become hostile and shout, “It’s not your decision to make!”
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Ye Lin sighed gloomily, “Consider it again.”
Qiao Yichen insisted, “No need to consider. I won’t leave the country, don’t force me.”
Ye Lin: “I know that you resent us, but I hope you can understand us too. I just hope that my son and daughter will both be giants among people. The family business that we have struggled to build over so many years will be yours in the future.”
Even though she was strong enough to manage all the company’s employees from top to bottom, and could face all kinds of unfavorable factors with ease, she was still a mother, and she felt a deep sense of powerlessness when it came to her own children complaining about her.
“I’m not just a pawn in your hand. I didn’t like this major in the first place but you guys had decided for me, and now you’re making me study abroad without asking me once if I want to, or if I’m willing to,” Qiao Yichen had lost all of his appetite at this point, he put his chopsticks down and continued, “You told me to try to understand you guys, but it’s because I understand you guys that I have compromised so much.”
His so-called stubbornness always failed to resist his parents’ demands, and he was led again and again down the path he didn’t like.
The spiritual restraints the Qiao family put on him were far greater than the material wealth he had.
Ye Lin didn’t know what to say for a moment. She was like all parents who wanted their sons to become dragons and daughters to become phoenixes, pushing their own ideas onto their children, but ignoring their own children’s wishes. In fact, it would be more appropriate to say that they didn’t want to listen to their wishes at all.
She was just a strong-willed person.
Qiao Yongfeng was fuming angrily as he ate, with his wife’s appearance he had no place to interject. Not to mention that as soon as he spoke, he wanted to blow up. So, he just shut up and ate. Qiao Weiwei’s eyes were red, and she bit her lips to hold back her tears, as if she was a frightened little white rabbit. She watched the development of things as her innocent eyes filled with fear, but she was unable to do anything about it.
Just when he could no longer breathe in this choking oppression, Qiao Yichen’s mobile phone rang, as if his salvation had come, allowing him to find an excuse to leave.
“I’m done eating.” Qiao Yichen got up and went to the second floor. The bowl of rice in front of him hadn’t even been touched.
As Qiao Weiwei watched Qiao Yichen leave, she could no longer hold back her tears, crying as she asked, “Why does my ge have to go abroad?”
Ye Lin spoke seriously, “Your father and I both want your brother to go out and see the outside world. After honing his skills he can come back and take over the company. He is still too willful.”
Qiao Yongfeng fumed and scowled, “I’m not dead yet, I don’t need him!”
“But my ge doesn’t want to ah.”
“Life isn’t about doing whatever you want, unless you have the power to control it.”
Qiao Yichen went back to his room and locked the door. A few seconds after his phone had stopped ringing it started again.
He threw himself on his bed and took out his mobile phone to look at it. His heavy heart was suddenly relieved, he had thought it was An Qi calling, he didn’t expect it to be Lin Dongyang, who he had just parted with not long ago.
He coughed lightly to fix his somewhat hoarse voice before answering the phone.
“What is it?” He tried to make his voice sound the same as normal.
“Nothing, it’s just that your clothes are with me. I’m going to wash them and return them to you tomorrow, is that okay?” Lin Dongyang explained. He had come back wearing Qiao Yichen’s clothes today. Luckily he was used to wearing loose clothes, so they didn’t look out of place even though they were a bit too big.
“I’m not at school.” Qiao Yichen said that as he lay on his bed staring at the ceiling and listening to the sound of Lin Dongyang’s voice.
“On Monday then. Are you at home now?” Lin Dongyang had visited the Provence Hotel once for Qiao Weiwei’s birthday party, which happened to be not far from Rongjing Bay.
“En.”
“Are you… not happy?” Lin Dongyang inquired carefully. Although Qiao Yichen would usually speak to him in a cold and unemotional manner, this time his tone sounded as if it was deliberately suppressed, and it sounded dull.
“A little bit.” Qiao Yichen admitted.
There was no sound from the other side, and after a moment of silence, Lin Dongyang didn’t comfort him, but instead asked, “When are you going to come back?”
“Probably tomorrow night.”
“Okay, let me know when you arrive.” Then he sneakily added, “I miss you.”
Qiao Yichen was stunned slightly, but after hearing the hang up tone he couldn’t help but relax and laugh. He could imagine Lin Dongyang’s silly little appearance of covering the mobile phone while his roommates were behind him.
Lin Dongyang hung up the phone and covered his face with both hands. Even the tips of his ears were red like a ripe shrimp. He heard Qiao Yichen say he was unhappy and wanted to coax him, but as a result, he didn’t guard his mouth properly and said, ‘I miss you’. These words were so shameful, they hadn’t even been apart for a long time.
“He’s coming back tomorrow night, then I’ll go buy it tomorrow afternoon.” He muttered to himself, making a decision.
Qiao Yichen laid back down on his bed and exhaled. It wasn’t just the issue of his parents wanting him to go abroad that was bothering him right now, it was more that he couldn’t bear to leave. He couldn’t let go of this person who had said that ‘he missed him’.
There was a knock on the door so Qiao Yichen got up to open it. Standing outside was his mother, Ye Lin.
Qiao Yichen stepped to the side to let her enter and sit down.
Ye Lin looked at her son, she hadn’t realised how tall he’d gotten. She stood in the doorway without moving, but opened her mouth to ask a sensitive question, “Chenchen, tell mom, you don’t want to leave because there is a person you like here, right?”
Her vicious eyes which she had honed in the workplace read Qiao Yichen’s every move carefully.
Qiao Yichen suddenly looked up, meeting Ye Lin’s sharp gaze, which stripped him to the bone in an instant.
Ye Lin already had a certain idea in her heart, so she walked gracefully into Qiao Yichen’s room and sat at the edge of the bed.
“With our Qiao family industry, mom feels that no girl in the whole of Anling City can be worthy of you,” Ye Lin’s tone was so domineering that it was impossible for people to ignore. This was her real demeanor in the workplace. Her arrogance had been injected into her bone marrow. She faintly continued, “If you had the ability, I wouldn’t even ask if you found a country girl, but do you have that ability right now?”
Qiao Yichen gritted his teeth rigidly. This sentence poked him in his most vital points, like a knife cutting seven inches below a snake's head, leaving him speechless and unable to retort.
The fact that everything he had was given to him by his parents was undeniable. He complained and was unwilling to enter the company and learn how to manage it, but in Ye Lin’s eyes, this was just like a child causing trouble, a childish tantrum.
In front of his parents, he really didn’t have the ability to do what he liked.
The confusion in his head was so great that the only thing that was clear was that reason, that firm reason.
“I don’t want to go.” He didn’t want to leave.
Ye Lin, however, spoke to him as if she hadn’t heard him. “The time is set for the end of your junior year. I’ll give you another year, and if you can share the responsibility of the business with us, you’ll be allowed to stay.”
Qiao Yichen’s heart heart was really like his mother’s, and their attitude of ignoring people was exactly the same, regardless of what the other party was saying.
Both of them made compromises, and it was as if a kind of spiritual contract had been made between mother and son. They knew each other by heart.
Whatever happened in a year’s time, Qiao Yichen thought that the outcome would be in his own hands.
After the phone call, Lin Dongyang went out the next afternoon to buy something. After returning to the dormitory, he checked his mobile phone every few minutes, afraid that he wouldn’t see the message sent by Qiao Yichen in time. But there was still no message at five o’clock in the afternoon. He cursed himself for his stupidity. Qiao Yichen had clearly said that he would arrive at night, so why was he expecting him to arrive so early.
But when he saw the message ‘I’m downstairs’, his heart was like boiling water, bubbling with eagerness. He hurriedly grabbed the thing he had bought from the table and went downstairs to meet his lover.
Aww my heart melts for them 🥺💙 thank you so much for this chapter!
They are getting much more sweeter
Ah this two idiots. Finally got together! But still a long way to go QQ
Thank you for the chapter ❤️
Oh! The real storm is coming! I believe in you two!
Thank you for the chapter~
Thanks for the chapter ❤️
These horrible parents…it’s a wonder Qiao Yichen is so good under that cold facade with such parents!
I am kinda afraid of what would they face if their relationship is exposed
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️