Fu Shen was blissfully unaware that he had exposed himself. While cooking noodles, the picture of Tang Zhou’s expression from a moment ago kept replaying in his mind.
He considered himself not someone who prioritizes appearance, having grown up without developing feelings for anyone. Before this, he never even entertained the thought of being in a relationship.
However, he found himself unwittingly caught in a vortex named “Tang Zhou.”
He was like a candy, making you peel off a tough outer layer of hard sugar coating to taste the sweetness. Even though he hadn’t tasted it yet, he could already catch a whiff of the sweet smell through a thin layer.
The boiling water in the pot snapped him out of his thoughts, and Fu Shen quickly added the right amount of instant noodles.
By the time he came out with the noodles, Tang Zhou was already sitting at the table, waiting.
“Thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
Tang Zhou seemed a little confused.
He remembered that in his dreams, during the time Fu Shen worked as his assistant, the interactions between them were always cold and distant. There was never much communication. Now, it felt different somehow.
“I might move out in a few days.”
“Isn’t graduation still pending?” Fu Shen blurted out.
Tang Zhou lowered his gaze, “It’s about time. At that time, I’ll just go to school to defend my thesis and attend the graduation ceremony.”
Fu Shen pinched his fingertips, feigning calmness as he sat across from Tang Zhou, “Where are you moving to?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” Tang Zhou bit off a piece of the noodles, vaguely saying, “If you need anything, please contact me by phone.”
The man’s eyes darkened, “Alright.”
Fu Shen usually slept well, but tonight, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Just when he finally fell asleep in the early morning, he was awakened by a vivid dream.
His hand moved down, collapsed on the bed helplessly, and sighed.
The next day, Fu Shen was clearly listless in class.
Liang Chen, perceptive as ever, noticed his off mood and asked, “Didn’t sleep well?”
Fu Shen nodded, unwilling to say more.
Pi Xiu teased from the side, “You didn’t really do something unspeakable with Tang Shen, did you?”
It was meant as a joke, and usually, Fu Shen would brush it off with a laugh and a retort. However, thinking about the dream from the previous night, the delicate and flexible legs in the dream, he coughed lightly with a guilty conscience.
“The teacher is here.”
Pi Xiu quickly sat up straight, oblivious to Fu Shen’s abnormal demeanor. But Liang Chen furrowed his brows slightly, giving Fu Shen several thoughtful glances.
Fu Shen was absent-minded throughout the entire class, even looking blank when the teacher called on him to answer a question. If it weren’t for Li Fengyu’s reminder on the side, he might have turned himself into a joke.
After all, he had just come of age, and no matter how deep his thoughts were, when it came to matters of the heart, he wasn’t much different from a young and inexperienced boy.
After class, as the four of them exited the building, they were stopped by someone.
The person blocking their way was a middle-aged man, dressed in a plain white shirt and black trousers, indistinguishable from the university’s teachers, attracting no attention.
“Are you Mr. Fu Shen?” the man politely asked.
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.
The other three hesitated, looking at the man, while Fu Shen remained calm and collected, “No.”
“……”
Vfflcu atf sbecu wjc aegc ab ifjnf, atf wjc tegglfvis rjlv, “Uifjrf obiibk wf.”
Dfobgf Me Vtfc mbeiv rqfjx, Ul Wle yiegafv bea, “Cgf sbe j mbq? Vjslcu ‘obiibk wf’ ilxf atja?”
Ol Mfcuse kjr jirb rqffmtifrr, “Qtb’r atlr qfgrbc?”
Me Vtfc mbeivc’a yf ybatfgfv ys atlr. Lf tjv lcnfralujafv Kjcu Itbe’r rbmlji mbccfmalbcr yfobgf. Lf wluta cba xcbk fnfgsbcf jgbecv Kjcu Itbe, yea ja ifjra tf mbeiv gfmbuclhf atfw.
He remembered this man; he knew who had sent him.
The middle-aged man got anxious, not caring about the people passing by and saying, “It’s Mr. Tang Zhou’s mother who’s looking for you.”
The name Tang Zhou was well-known at Jiang University.
People turned to look upon hearing these words.
Fu Shen didn’t have a hobby of being a monkey for others to watch. He narrowed his eyes and said, “Liang Chen, you guys go ahead and eat first.”
Liang Chen hesitated for a second but still nodded.
After Fu Shen left with the man, Pi Xiu frowned tightly, “Why would Tang Zhou’s mom look for Shen Ge?”
“I don’t know. Let’s go eat first,” Liang Chen had some vague ideas in his mind but felt it wasn’t realistic to dwell on them.
Li Fengyu’s imagination was quite big, “Could it be to have Tang Shen withdraw his investment?”
“Are you stupid? If they want Tang Shen to withdraw his investment, they’d go and find Tang Shen to talk, what’s the use of finding Brother Shen?” Pi Xiu retorted.
“Maybe they couldn’t get it through Tang Shen, so now they want to threaten Shen Ge to give up on his own?” Li Fengyu speculated, “Isn’t that how it’s always done in TV dramas?”
Pi Xiu rolled his eyes, “That’s for making Cinderella leave her own son, what does it have to do with investments? Watch less idol dramas!”
Liang Chen felt that art was sometimes based on reality, and reality was perhaps even more exaggerated.
In a high-class café, a delicately featured woman sat by the window. After instructing the waiter in a soft voice, her gaze fell on the young man across from her.
There were no other people in the cafe; it had been reserved.
The woman’s gaze wasn’t sharp, but it seemed like a dull knife trying to slowly cut the mask of composure off Fu Shen’s face bit by bit.
Holding a spoon, she stirred the coffee in her cup slowly and said softly, “You’re good-looking.”
Fu Shen remained silent.
“Demeanor is also acceptable.”
Fu Shen was getting a bit impatient.
“You have a bright future ahead of you. Why can’t you understand that you shouldn’t do those things?” Zheng Qiuyi continued to pressure Fu Shen in her slow, deliberate tone. “For money?”
Fu Shen leaned back, not replying with a single word.
Zheng Qiuyi frowned, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Ms. Zheng, if all you want to say is that, I don’t think I have an obligation to listen carefully.” Fu Shen had no favorable impression of her; if it weren’t for Tang Zhou’s name being mentioned, he wouldn’t have come.
Zheng Qiuyi said, “If you really like him, please stay away from him.”
During this time, she had heard a lot of rumors and knew that Tang Zhou’s liking for men had affected his position as the heir, which made her extremely depressed.
After having someone find out that the man living with Tang Zhou was Fu Shen, she couldn’t hold back and came to confront him.
Fu Shen sneered, “And what about you?”
“What?”
“From what position are you telling me these things?” Fu Shen really didn’t understand what this woman in front of him was thinking. Since she had never cared about Tang Zhou from childhood to adulthood, why bother making such a move now?
Zheng Qiuyi’s face turned cold, “I’m his mother.”
Fu Shen couldn’t help but scoff.
“What does he like to eat?”
“……”
“What does he like to wear?”
“……”
“What are his hobbies?”
“……”
“What does he want, and what doesn’t he want?”
“……”
Fu Shen stood up, his hands on the table, and spoke condescendingly, “You don’t know anything. What gives you the right to say that?”
“Because I gave birth to him!” Zheng Qiuyi’s voice was sharp.
Fu Shen neither confirmed nor denied. He didn’t see the point in arguing with such a twisted and paranoid person.
Zheng Qiuyi suddenly stood up, speaking with a deep voice, “Because of you, his position as heir will be in jeopardy…”
“Ms. Zheng,” Fu Shen, with an expressionless face, looked down at her, “What does this have to do with you?”
Zheng Qiuyi stared at him intently.
How could it not be important for her! How could it not be important for her! If her child couldn’t inherit the Tang family because of him, then what was the point of her enduring everything all these years? What’s the point of her past sacrifices and efforts?
Fu Shen understood her expression, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
“In your heart, is your only value giving birth to an heir for the Tang family?”
Fu Shen’s voice was low, carrying a compelling pressure.
“You underestimate yourself.”
Zheng Qiuyi felt her blood freeze in an instant. It was as if she had been hit by a spell, which made her stand there frozen, watching Fu Shen leave without being able to utter a single word.
Indeed, she had been appraised for her value since birth. She needed to form political alliances in the form of marriage, give birth to an heir; beyond that, it seemed like there was nothing else.
She couldn’t be as promiscuous as Tang Zhen because the world was always more demanding on women than men. She also couldn’t be indifferent to Tang Zhou’s inheritance status like Tang Zhen because only with Tang Zhou inheriting the Tang family, she’d be considered to have fulfilled her value.
If she no longer has value, what can support her to live on?
It’s not that she didn’t like Tang Zhou.
How could she be willing to leave such a small child sleeping in a swaddling cloth? But Old Master Tang didn’t allow her to raise him, fearing that Tang Zhou wouldn’t be successful if he grew up in the hands of a woman.
Every time she saw Tang Zhou, she wanted to get close to him. Yet, when she saw the calm and indifferent expression on his face, she withdrew.
She felt that her child had been taught badly by the Tang family.
Since the child was destined not to stay by her side, what reason did she have to linger?
Her husband’s betrayal, her father-in-law’s indifference, her son’s lack of affection— all those things were enough to crush a weak woman.
So Zheng Qiuyi chose to admit defeat.
After so many years, she and the Tangs were like strangers. Feeling lonely, she adopted a girl and named her Zheng Xue.
She found other values in life. She generously donated money to charity and could smile warmly at the children in the orphanage.
But in the quiet of the night, the emptiness in her heart remained terrifying.
It wasn’t until the news came that Elder Tang was going to promote Tang Tianyang that she panicked.
No matter how many years had passed, she was still unwilling.
If Tang Zhou wasn’t allowed to inherit the Tang family, then why did she have to bother maintaining this disgusting marriage for so many years?
Everything she had done would be meaningless.
But just now, that young man tore off her falsely composed calm facade without hesitation, exposing her rotten wounds. Though it was brutally painful, it also brought a glimmer of hope.
You underestimate yourself.
These words forcefully exposed her glamorous facade, tore through her twenty-year-old emotional defense, and finally made her realize.
She had been too weak and incompetent! In the first two decades of her life she was like a puppet on a string, and the next twenty years she was like a puddle of mudd. She looked down on herself, let alone others!
She held her breath and endured over twenty years of torment in the position of Mrs. Tang just to prevent Tang Zhen and another woman from succeeding. In the end, when she saw this outcome, of course she couldn’t accept it!
So she came to find Fu Shen simply because he seemed like an easy target, a soft persimmon to squeeze.
But then, what was the difference between her and those who manipulated her?
Zheng Qiuyi regained her composure, wiped away the tears that kept falling, and her expression gradually became determined.
When he received Zheng Qiuyi’s call, Tang Zhou had just finished his meeting with Fu Shen and the others and answered coldly, “What’s the matter?”
It had been a long time since he heard Zheng Qiuyi’s voice, to the point that when she spoke, it felt a bit surreal for a few moments.
“I met Fu Shen today.”
Tang Zhou was startled, his eyebrows suddenly furrowed, and his voice was cold with hidden hostility. “Why did you meet him?”
Getting straight to the point, Zheng Qiuyi said, “If you want to know why, come to see me.”
Before Tang Zhou could open his mouth, she hung up.
He glanced at Fu Shen, who was discussing technical matters with Liang Chen and the others, and a thought flashed in his mind.
Could it be that she heard rumors and wanted to warn Fu Shen to stay away from him?!
That’d be too melodramatic!
It’s exactly that melodramatic hahahahaha
Yes, very melodramatic 🤭But seriously, isn’t there anyone in Tang Zhou’s family who is at least a little “normal” and not totally screwed up or a total scum?!
Eh… she is quite pitiful, but in the same time selfish woman
Thank You for the new chapter (⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡