“My brothers and sisters?” Pei Jiayi snorted coldly. “Our family isn’t as simple as yours.”
Pei Jiayi’s father had mistresses and illegitimate children—he’d even brought those illegitimate children into the Pei family, acting like he was raising a nest of vipers. Pei Jiayi was his legitimate daughter—so what? Those illegitimate daughters still dared to challenge her, and she wasn’t about to put up with them. If she did, they’d dare to walk all over her.
“All those people ever do is fight.” ” Pei Jiayi said, “My dad even let his illegitimate son join the company.”
“Your dad really isn’t much of a man.” Qiao Yitong wholeheartedly agreed with this. An illegitimate child is an illegitimate child—they shouldn’t be allowed into the company, nor should they be allowed into the family home. Mixing illegitimate children with legitimate ones, claiming they all have the same father, is nothing but selfishness on the man’s part.
As for Qiao Yitong’s desire to set up a small office space within the Qiao Group building, neither Old Master Qiao nor Uncle Qiao had any objections. They both felt it wasn’t appropriate for a young woman like Qiao Yitong to be out in the world on her own; having her work in the Qiao Group building was the better option.
Qiao Yitong wasn’t involved in the day-to-day operations of the Qiao Group; instead, she opened her own studio, which wasn’t a problem.
In the eyes of the Qiao family elders, Qiao Yitong was just dabbling in a hobby. Who knows—maybe in a little while, she’d start dating and give up on the studio altogether. Even if Qiao Yitong were to continue running this studio in the future, that wouldn’t be a problem either. Once she gets married, whether she chooses to keep her studio in the Qiao Group building or move to a different location, either option is fine.
When Qiao’s mother learned of Qiao Yitong’s plans, she thought her daughter was doing the right thing. They should definitely set up a space in the Qiao Group building—after all, Uncle Qiao and the others wouldn’t make Qiao Yitong pay rent.
“Just do your best. If it doesn’t work out, then don’t do it,” Qiao’s mother said. “Since there’s no rent, you’ll save some money.”
“Yeah, it’ll cost a bit in advertising, but it’s not expensive, and I won’t have to run ads all the time,” Qiao Yitong said.
Qiao Yitong had thought it through: ideally, she’d provide emotional counseling to the main characters or supporting characters from her novels, though she could also work with ordinary people. She’d run the studio for as long as it lasted; she wouldn’t need to spend much, nor would she have to worry about recouping her investment.
The Qiao Group’s cleaning staff could handle the studio’s upkeep; at most, she’d need to hire a receptionist who could also serve as an assistant.
Pei Jiayi could help refer some clients, and Qiao Yitong could find others on her own. Qiao Yitong said she was partnering with Pei Jiayi, but the main reason was to have Pei Jiayi recommend suitable candidates.
Just as Qiao Yitong was talking with her mother, her older brother, Qiao Xubei, returned looking rather glum.
“It’s over. It’s over again,” Qiao Xubei said as he sat down and started drinking tea.
“What’s over?” Qiao Yitong asked.
“I got rejected,” Qiao Xubei replied. “I was just looking for a powerful connection—I even thought becoming a son-in-law would work. After all, my uncle has so many sons; it wouldn’t matter if I became a son-in-law.”
“But Daddy only has you as a son,” Qiao Yitong said.
“So that’s one of the reasons I got turned down. The other reason is because of you,” Qiao Xubei said, gulping down a mouthful of tea so quickly that he nearly choked on it and coughed a few times.
“Drink slower,” Qiao’s mother said, patting Qiao Xubei gently on the back.
“Little sister, are you and Murong Ya’s younger brother going to be together?” Qiao Xubei asked.
“What does that have to do with you being rejected?” Qiao Yitong retorted.
“Haven’t I been asking Murong Ya about this lately?” Qiao Xubei said. “She’s that old and still hasn’t married—is she thinking of taking a son-in-law? I told her I’d be happy to marry into her family. I’ve been pursuing her for quite a while now, and today—instead of telling me to get lost right away—she actually spoke to me.”
At the time, Qiao Xubei thought he was about to succeed—that Murong Ya was going to accept his confession—but instead, she said that respectable families like theirs don’t practice “exchange marriages.”
Exchange marriages?
Qiao Xubei was a bit confused, so he asked, “What do you mean by ‘exchange marriages’?”
Murong Ya explained: “Exchanging siblings—a sister for a brother, or a brother for a sister.”
Fearing that Qiao Xubei, with his thick skull, might not understand, Murong Ya emphasized: “Your sister and my brother. Don’t you want your sister to become the matriarch of the Murong family? Isn’t that better than you marrying into our Murong family?”
“Actually, what she said isn’t without merit. If you marry her brother and he inherits the Murong family, you’d become the matriarch of the Murong household.” Qiao Xubei thought it over carefully—Murong Ya was absolutely right. “I can’t marry into the Murong family—I absolutely cannot do that. Sis, it’s better if you marry into the Murong family. How great would that be? The Murong family is in no way inferior to our Qiao family. They have a lot of businesses. If you marry into the family, your husband will be on equal footing with my older brother—no, wait, with my uncle.”
Qiao Xubei imagined that scenario; it would be absolutely fantastic. After all, Qiao Xubei didn’t really like Murong Ya—he just wanted to find a powerful wife. Qiao Xubei had no intention of marrying someone who would only hold everyone back. His branch of the family was content to just coast along on their shares; they had no way of competing.
Qiao Xubei was afraid of ending up with someone who would force him to fight for his place—that wouldn’t work. He’d be crushed by the people from the main branch.
“I said it back then: if their family came to ours to propose, I’d definitely be in favor—I’d support it wholeheartedly,” Qiao Xubei said.
“Then why didn’t you seem very happy just now?” Qiao Yitong asked; she’d thought Qiao Xubei had been picked on by someone outside.
“I just couldn’t wrap my head around it right away—it felt a little awkward.” ” Qiao Xubei said, “Little sis, you landing Murong Yuchen is way more impressive than me landing Murong Ya. I’m a grown man—men always have it easier. This world is much harsher on women. I could marry just any woman, but you can’t. Men out there are really bad. If you’re going to find a man, you absolutely have to find a good one, and this Murong Yuchen isn’t bad at all.”
“Bro, didn’t you used to join me in bashing him? Have you forgotten?!” Qiao Yitong was speechless.
“That was back then,” Qiao Xubei said. “Don’t they say a mother-in-law’s approval of her son-in-law grows the more she gets to know him?”
“Are you a mother-in-law?” Qiao Yitong glared at Qiao Xubei.
“Well, I’m not, but Mom is. Ask Mom,” Qiao Xubei said. “Mom, what do you think? Isn’t Murong Yuchen a great match for my little sister?”
“I think he’s quite a good match,” Mrs. Qiao nodded. “Yitong, if you can win Murong Yuchen over, that would be absolutely wonderful.”
“……” Qiao Yitong knew these people would think this way. She also thought marrying Murong Yuchen would be a good thing—he wasn’t abusive, and he was wealthy. Most importantly, Murong Yuchen liked her. Of course, Qiao Yitong wanted to find someone who loved her, rather than someone she had to love.
The person Qiao Yitong loved might not necessarily treat her well, but the person who loved her would—and that was what really mattered.
“Little sis, I really wouldn’t have guessed that Murong Yuchen would want to marry you,” Qiao Xubei said. “If Murong Yuchen didn’t like you, Murong Ya probably wouldn’t have said those things.”
Qiao Xubei wasn’t completely brainless; he considered himself quite level-headed. Within the Qiao family, Qiao Xubei had no way to compete for those kinds of things, and he was also afraid he wouldn’t be good at business—like his father had been when he was young, losing a lot of money.
Qiao Xubei wanted to find a capable woman; if she had a successful career of her own, that would be the best possible scenario. If she didn’t have a career of her own, that was fine too—they could just stay at home together, as long as she didn’t expect him to fight for her.
Qiao Yitong watched Qiao Xubei’s eyes darting back and forth and said, “Stop guessing!”
“You just kissed Murong Yuchen at the party, didn’t you? He’s a grown man—he didn’t lose out on anything,” Qiao Xubei said. “He’s so strong; there’s no way he couldn’t push you away, and there’s no way you could’ve caught him off guard. So many women have tried to fall into his arms, but none of them succeeded.”
“Okay, bro, stop talking.” Qiao Yitong said, counting on her fingers, “Mom said it once, you said it once, and if Dad says it again, how many times is that? Oh, and if my friends keep bringing it up, that’ll be even more times. If a novel is just full of this kind of nonsense, who’s going to read it?”
“Life is full of nonsense,” Qiao Xubei said. “It’s just everyone taking turns saying it. ”
“……” Qiao Yitong glanced at her older brother, “You guys just go ahead and talk. Big Brother’s still in a coma.”
“He can stay in a coma all he wants. It’s not like we can all stop dating just because he’s in a coma, right?” Qiao Xubei said. “Don’t Second Brother and Third Brother both have girlfriends? They’re all dating! It’s just us—we haven’t started dating anyone yet.”
Qiao Xubei thought: If Qiao Xudong stayed in a coma forever, would that mean he and his sister would never be allowed to date? That just doesn’t make any sense!
“If you think it’s inappropriate to date while our eldest brother is still in a coma, then just wait a while—don’t bring anyone home for now,” Qiao Xubei said. “Just do it on the down-low, keep it quiet.”
In the original story, Qiao Xubei and the others didn’t find out about Qiao Yitong and Murong Yuchen’s relationship so quickly; at least at this point, they didn’t think Qiao Yitong stood a chance with Murong Yuchen. Since Qiao Yitong had regained her memories from her past life, some of her behaviors were indeed different from when she hadn’t yet recovered them.
The butterfly effect—even the smallest action can create ripples and cause things to change.
“We aren’t officially together yet,” Qiao Yitong said.
“If it comes too easily, it’s definitely not good.” ” Qiao Xubei pondered for a moment. “Little sis, you still need to give him a hard time, but don’t be too hard on him. If you push it too far, he might just find someone else.”
“Do you think Murong Yuchen is just like you? Can he just swap me out for anyone?” Qiao Yitong rolled her eyes. “If he can just swap me out for anyone, then that’s not love.”
“Oh my gosh, little sister, you still believe in love?” Qiao Xubei feigned shock.
“Stop fooling around,” said Mrs. Qiao. “Both of you, keep it down. After all, your eldest brother is still in a coma. Be careful and don’t act too happy in front of your grandfather, your eldest uncle, and your eldest aunt.”
“We haven’t done anything. If anything…” Qiao Yitong pouted, “Second and Third Brothers—they’re way worse than us. They’re either dating or thinking about switching girlfriends.”
That night, after Qiao Xunan had slept with the stand-in, he told Jiang Wan’er, “It’s over. We’re breaking up. I’m giving you this apartment. Tomorrow, once I’m gone from here, it’ll be as if we were never together.”