“How is it impossible?” Ren Mingchao asked.
“She and I belong to two different worlds. After we divorce, she’ll find someone suitable.”
“Big Brother Jing, you’re certainly generous, pushing your own wife out like that.”
“In our circle, marrying someone of equal social standing and suitable background to live as mutual guests—isn’t that normal?”
“And Yan Hao isn’t suitable?”
“Not suitable. She yearns for love, and I can’t give it to her.”
He had once caught sight of a look of disappointment in Yan Hao’s eyes; she was someone who longed for romance. Yet that was precisely the one thing he could not provide. Rather than dragging it out, parting ways later on was for the best.
Ren Mingchao fell silent as well. In their social circle, if you couldn’t find someone you genuinely loved, you simply married a woman from a matching background, and after marriage, neither interfered with the other. A loveless marriage made things much easier for them. Unless it was a mutual affection, the moment one person developed unrealistic fantasies about the other, the relationship would begin to fracture. They had seen plenty of couples who lived separate lives after tying the knot. It was either mutual respect as guests, or true love.
“Then as for Yan Hao…”
“I don’t love her,” Lou Jingyi said, “but I don’t dislike her either.”
Meanwhile, Yan Hao—who had been under the impression that Lou Jingyi somewhat disliked her—was currently back at the Yan residence, planning to stay there for a few days.
Ever since his elder sister passed away, Tang Hao and his wife had moved into the Yan residence to live.
Seeing Yan Hao return, he stepped forward in surprise. “Yan Yan, you’re back?”
“Uncle, what’s wrong?”
Tang Hao no longer possessed the vibrant, high-spirited demeanor he had when he first moved into the Yan house. His face was deeply haggard, and a lot of his hair had turned white.
Even though, after her parents passed away, this uncle of hers had seemed to harbor certain intentions upon entering the Yan household, he was still her biological uncle at the end of the day. Deep down, she still cared. As long as he hadn’t truly betrayed her, she could pretend nothing had happened. He had treated her very well since she was a child, and her aunt had been the same—she had no idea why things had changed.
A servant had once passed along a rumor that her aunt wanted to get her hands on a portion of her assets. Yan Hao hadn’t believed it, yet the seed of doubt had already been planted in her heart.
It wasn’t until that day that she heard her aunt’s own words to her uncle with her own ears…
“Nothing…” Tang Hao evasively replied. “Just haven’t been sleeping well lately. I’m just so glad to see you back. Your aunt is actually cooking right now, I’ll have her whip up a few of your favorite dishes!”
“Yeah, okay.”
As soon as she reached her own room, a message popped up from Lou Jingyi: [This month’s living expenses have been transferred to your card.]
Yan Hao tapped into her banking app to check the newly transferred sum of ten million.
In truth, she didn’t really have many places to spend money; new handbags and the latest seasonal clothing lines were already regularly arranged by Lou Jingyi to be delivered straight to Jingyuan. Gifts went without saying—ever since her marriage to Lou Jingyi was made public at the old residence, the number of gifts sent over by various collateral relatives was countless. It was nothing more than using the pretext of wedding gifts to curry favor with her, fantasizing that she might put in a good word for them by Lou Jingyi’s bedside.
However, they had thought wrong; Yan Hao was not the kind of woman who could whisper pillow talk into Lou Jingyi’s ear.
After lingering in her room for a little while, a servant came upstairs to call her down for dinner.
Seeing over a dozen dishes prepared by Zhuang Li, Yan Hao was still quite startled.
“Auntie, why did you cook so many dishes?”
In a somewhat dazed tone, Zhuang Li answered, “Oh… you haven’t been back in a long time, so I cooked a bit extra for you.”
Yet she had heard the servants say that her aunt had been the one cooking every single meal lately.
“Auntie, there are servants at home; you don’t need to tire yourself out cooking every day.”
“Ah, right…” Struggling to hold back her distress, Zhuang Li nodded.
Sensing that the atmosphere felt entirely wrong, Yan Hao didn’t press further.
That night, unable to fall asleep, Yan Hao decided to head downstairs to grab a glass of juice.
Instead, she caught sight of Zhuang Li alone in the living room, quietly weeping to herself.
Hearing footsteps, Zhuang Li hastily wiped away her tears. “Yan Yan, why are you up? What do you want to drink? Auntie will make it for you.”
“I just want a glass of juice.”
“Alright, I’ll go get it for you.”
Yan Hao stared at her retreating back. In her memory, her uncle and aunt had never been the greedy sort. Why would they suddenly want the assets her parents had left behind? Besides, back when her parents were alive, they had given plenty of assistance to her uncle’s family.
Was there something happening here that she didn’t know about?
“Auntie, are you short on money?”
“Huh?” Zhuang Li froze in her tracks. “Why would you ask that?”
Yan Hao cut straight to the point. “Auntie, you can tell me if you’re struggling financially.”
“I… this…”
Seeing Zhuang Li’s stammering hesitation, Yan Hao knew immediately that the situation was far from simple.
“Auntie, you are short on money, aren’t you?”
“I…” Zhuang Li suddenly dropped to her knees with a thud. “Shanshan… Shanshan, she…”
“What happened to her?”
Ever since her parents passed away, Yan Hao hadn’t interacted much with her cousin because she was drowning in her own grief. Tang Shanshan had come to comfort her at first, but after Shanshan went back to school, the two of had drifted apart.
“She was in a car accident…” Zhuang Li covered her face and sobbed uncontrollably. “Yan Yan, can you lend Auntie some money? We really have no money left. Shanshan’s accident was too severe, she still hasn’t woken up…”
Yan Hao found the information impossibly difficult to process. “What about the driver who hit her?”
“They haven’t found them…”
Yan Hao helped Zhuang Li back to her feet. “Auntie, something this major happened—why didn’t you say anything?”
“I… your uncle wouldn’t let me tell you. I originally wanted to ask you to borrow some money…”
“We had some savings at first, but over these past few days, there’s hardly anything left, and Shanshan’s hospital bills still need to be covered…”
“You… sigh! Why did you go and tell Yan Hao?” Tang Hao appeared behind them, collapsing onto a chair with a defeated look.
Breaking down entirely, Zhuang Li cried, “If I don’t say anything, what other choice do I have?! There isn’t even any money left to pay for Shanshan’s hospital treatment…”
Years ago, when Tang Hao ran into financial trouble starting his business, Yan Hao’s parents had chipped in heavily to bail him out. Later, when Zhuang Li’s maiden family ran into trouble, it was also Yan Hao’s father who stepped in to smooth things over. Beyond that, her aunt and uncle’s little household had received no end of help from her elder sister and brother-in-law.
Tang Hao simply couldn’t bring himself to ask for money from a niece whose parents had passed away only a short while ago. That was why he would rather borrow money from everywhere else to treat his daughter than let his niece find out.
“Uncle,” Yan Hao’s voice trembled slightly. “Do you want my cousin to leave me because of a car accident too? I don’t have mom and dad anymore…”
Tang Hao froze instantly. “I… Yan Yan… it’s just that your uncle is useless…”
“I’ll help handle this. We’re going to the hospital right now.” Summoning the driver, Yan Hao helped Zhuang Li out the door.
In this moment, she had to be her own pillar of strength, stepping up to protect her uncle’s family just as her parents would have wanted.
Upon arriving at the hospital, Yan Hao finally caught sight of Tang Shanshan inside the intensive care unit.
The person who had been bouncing around lively in front of her just a few months ago was now lying motionlessly and quietly on a hospital bed.
The sharp smell of the hospital filled Yan Hao with a suffocating sense of dread. It dragged her memory right back to the days following her parents’ car accident—when she, too, had spent endless hours trapped in hospital corridors, guarding them from day to night until she physically couldn’t stand anymore, forcing Tang Hao to practically drag her home to rest.
After lingering for just a moment, Yan Hao stepped out into a quiet, empty corridor and dialed a number. “Hello, Uncle Li, good evening…”
Once the doctors were properly arranged, Yan Hao made another phone call, dispatching people to track down the perpetrator of the hit-and-run.