How intense did it have to be to leave scratches like that?
After Old Liang came downstairs, he asked him a few questions about work.
After Liang Chaoluo finished his report, he was just working up on how to bring up Shu Run’s matter.
Seeing his hesitant expression, Liang Huaixu said, “Is there something else?”
“I…” Liang Chaoluo finally gathered his courage, but as his gaze swept across the fingernail marks at Old Liang’s collar, he blurted out, “Damn.”
He blinked hard, then blinked again. He was not mistaken. At Old Liang’s collar, there was a red mark clearly scratched by a woman’s fingernails.
As a young man in his twenties, he naturally knew what that meant. But just how intense did it have to be to leave scratches like that?
Old Liang really was something. At his age, he ought to take better care of his body and not mess around like this.
Liang Huaixu narrowed his eyes slightly. “What did you just say?”
“Nothing. I just think you’re almost forty, so you should usually pay more attention to your health.” Liang Chaoluo scratched his head awkwardly.
He glanced around. Fortunately, Old Liang’s new romantic partner was not at home. Otherwise, he truly would not know what kind of attitude to take. If he were warm, it would feel like betraying Madam Zhuang. If he were cold, it would feel disrespectful to Old Liang.
He let out a long breath. After chatting about irrelevant things for a while, he asked casually, “Dad, when are you planning to meet Shu Run’s family?”
Liang Huaixu replied, “It’s not time yet.”
Liang Chaoluo said, “Then at least give a time.”
Liang Huaixu did not answer. He looked at the newspaper indifferently, like distant mountains shrouded in mist, impossible to read.
Liang Chaoluo grew anxious. “We’ve already graduated from university. Everyone says graduation season is breakup season. If we don’t get married now, it’ll only get harder later.”
Liang Huaixu lifted his eyes and replied coolly, “Are you lacking confidence in your relationship?”
Liang Chaoluo paused. After a moment, he shot back, “I heard that as soon as you graduated, you rushed to propose to Madam Zhuang. So, were you lacking confidence in your relationship?”
Silence suddenly fell around them.
Liang Huaixu’s brows knit together. He set the newspaper down, as if a reverse scale had been touched, and said sternly, “The matters between your mother and me are not for you to judge.”
Liang Chaoluo protested, “Why not?”
“You’re already twenty-two. When I was your age, I was already able to contribute to the family. Since you want love, then use your ability to prove it. Become a deputy general manager of a branch company within three years, and I’ll agree to your matter.”
“How is that possible!” Liang Chaoluo stared wide-eyed, feeling this was deliberate obstruction. Even if he worked diligently, there was no such fast promotion path for grassroots employees at Changting. He was furious. “I know what you’re trying to do. You want me to back down when I see the difficulty. But let me be clear too. I won’t marry Yi Han.”
Liang Huaixu’s expression turned cold. Before going upstairs, he threw out a sentence, “Since you’ve enjoyed the Liang family’s resources and preferential treatment, there are obligations you must fulfill. Think carefully about how to weigh them.”
After Liang Chaoluo left, Assistant Zhou came down from the stairwell. He had overheard part of it and said helplessly to President Liang, “You clearly don’t mean it that way, but every time you talk to Chaoluo, it’s like your mouth is full of knives.”
Liang Huaixu’s lips tightened into a straight line. “I’m very disappointed in him.”
Although he had no intention of forcing Liang Chaoluo into a business marriage, he could not tolerate Liang Chaoluo’s determination to stand against the family for the sake of love.
Especially when Liang Chaoluo used the matter between Zhuang Fuyao and himself as a comparison.
If he did not give him a hard wake-up call, how could someone with such an impatient temperament shoulder Changting’s future burdens?
After leaving home, Liang Chaoluo was in an extremely low mood.
These days, Shu Run had been very cold toward him, barely replying to messages.
He knew she was still angry with him over what happened on Valentine’s Day.
In fact, when Old Liang asked him to go pick up Yi Han, he had been prepared to refuse. Later, he learned that Madam Yi would also be there.
When he was little, Madam Yi had treated him very well. Thinking that it would not delay him for long anyway, he took the time to go.
Who would have thought that a minor car accident would happen midway? He suffered some superficial injuries, and his phone was smashed as well.
When she could not contact him, Shu Run saw his synced WeChat messages on her tablet. After finding out that he had gone to pick up Yi Han, she had a big argument with him.
In this matter, Liang Chaoluo was clearly in the wrong. He tried many ways to coax Shu Run, but none of them had much effect. That night, the more he thought about it, the more irritated he became. Unable to sleep, he saw Shu Run post a screenshot of her game results in her Moments.
An idea stirred in his mind. He opened a game he had not logged into for a long time, thinking he would help her rank up and cheer her up. As it turned out, Shu Run was constantly duo-queuing and did not even respond to his game invitations.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and, driven by an inexplicable impulse, opened her match history to see who she was playing with.
The other party’s gender was male. The ID was [A Private Coach Xiao Z], and the avatar was a simple line drawing of abs. Recently, Shu Run had been sweetly duo-queuing with this person.
With unreadable emotions, Liang Chaoluo clicked “report.” Perhaps the saying that graduation season is breakup season was too ominous, making him feel deeply insecure as well. He went to check Shu Run’s social media platforms, only to discover that she had recently gained a very close friend. She frequently posted chat screenshots with the other party’s avatar cropped out on Weibo to “show affection,” and in their chats, they even called each other “baby.”
The further he scrolled, the paler his face became.
When she was not replying to his messages, Shu Run had been chatting and gaming with this person.
On one side, she perfunctorily replied to his messages. On the other, she bombarded someone else with messages, calling him “baby.”
He suspected that the one calling his girlfriend “baby” was that dog of a man named Private Coach Xiao Z. Just from the name, he did not sound like a decent person.
On the other side, Zhuang Fuyao had terrible luck in her new match and was eliminated the moment she landed.
Just as she was about to redeem herself and recover the points she had lost, the system suddenly notified her that she was banned from playing for one day.
The reason was involvement in pornography.
Zhuang Fuyao was so angry that she wanted to slam the keyboard. “Which bastard reported me?”
What made it worse was that this game system was also ridiculous. When you reported other issues, it dragged on forever without any result.
But as soon as someone reported pornography, it was almost instant processing.
°.✩┈┈∘*┈˃̶୨୧˂̶┈*∘┈┈✩.°
Ayalee: Sorry for the short update. As the translation is still ongoing, I will only unlock 1 chapter every week. Once the translation is completed, I will unlock 1/2 chapters every week then. Thank you for reading!