Wen Yao closed her eyes in pain. What kind of luck was this?
Was it because she was cannon fodder that the World Consciousness had to target her from every angle?
Every time she tried to stir up some trouble, karma arrived faster than the smile of triumph could even form on her face.
She forced the corners of her mouth upward and turned to face her parents—one furious, the other stunned. “What brings you two here?”
“You’re annoyed that I came? In broad daylight, in public—have you no sense of decency!” Father Wen’s face had turned the color of pork liver in his rage. He wanted nothing more than to flick his unfilial daughter on the forehead.
Of course, what he really wanted was to pull off his shoe and beat that worthless son-in-law of his with it.
“What’s the matter? Newlyweds sharing a few private words—what business is it of yours to criticize!” Mother Wen had snapped out of her shock and instinctively moved to defend her daughter.
“Didn’t we come to see Yao Yao about something important? Mind your tone. Let’s talk properly.”
The old man clearly regretted how poorly he’d treated his daughter before—he’d spent several sleepless nights worrying about it, pretending nothing was wrong. Yet now that he saw her today, he’d fallen right back into his old habits.
Fu Jinzhi, meanwhile, had curved his brows into a smile, his handsome face brimming with amusement. Every time his bargain-bin wife got caught with her pants down, it never failed to lift his spirits.
Father Wen currently harbored equal animosity toward everyone except his wife. Seeing Fu Jinzhi still daring to smile, he glared at him fiercely through his nostrils.
Afraid that more commotion would make them a laughingstock, Mother Wen tugged at the fuming Father Wen and gestured for the young couple to head to the study.
“Slap!”
No sooner had they entered the study than the displeased Father Wen grabbed a stack of documents from the desk and hurled them in front of Wen Yao. “For you!”
Wen Yao picked them up, puzzled. It was a share transfer contract—and the transferee was her.
“This is 10% of the group’s shares. Sign it, and they’re yours.” Father Wen’s expression remained sour, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“No matter how angry I am, you’re still my daughter. It wouldn’t be right to give you nothing.”
“Unlike some people—who go a whole month after marriage without contacting us, then go find themselves a new daddy.”
Wen Yao looked up, pretending not to hear Father Wen’s jab. Her bright, dark eyes blinked innocently, making her look utterly well-behaved.
“Thank you, Mom and Dad. Love you~”
Mother Wen’s heart nearly melted. How long had it been since her daughter had acted this coy? She wanted nothing more than to pull her into her arms and smother her with kisses.
But Father Wen moved faster than she did. The old man was surprisingly spry, crossing the room in a few quick strides to stand before Wen Yao. His large hand pressed directly against her forehead.
“She doesn’t have a fever either!”
No one knew his daughter better than he did. She was a tough nut—cold-hearted, proud, and aloof. Today, she’d shown weakness multiple times without shooting him those icy, contemptuous glares. He truly didn’t know what to make of it.
He patted Wen Yao’s head a few more times, like someone testing whether a watermelon was ripe. “What’s gotten into you today?”
Wen Yao actually wanted to respect her original body’s parents. Though the original owner had abandoned her father and mother—a real filial “piety” to laugh at—Wen Yao herself was a true orphan who had always harbored a longing for parents.
It was just that this father kept provoking her, and Wen Yao simply couldn’t keep up the act any longer.
“You seem a bit off today too.” Wen Yao forced a smile as she used her fingers to smooth down her hair, which he’d mussed.
“What’s off about me?” Father Wen was baffled.
“Off-putting.” With that, Wen Yao quickly shoved Fu Jinzhi in front of her as a human shield, peeking out only half her head.
Well, there it was—still his insufferable daughter, just in a different way. Before, she’d looked down her nose at everyone. Now, she was just a flake.
Hah. So what if his son-in-law was standing in the way? The son-in-law was even more insufferable.
A cold snort escaped him. Father Wen began to settle personal scores, raising his cane as if to strike Wen Yao, but every blow actually landed on Fu Jinzhi.
No father-in-law would like a son-in-law who got his daughter pregnant before marriage, even if his daughter was also at fault.
Fu Jinzhi’s head was spinning, but he couldn’t fight back. His handsome face was dark and gloomy. What did this have to do with him? The Wen family was practically his nemesis!
Just yesterday, he’d been wondering what kind of monster could have given birth to Wen Yao. Now he knew.
In the end, it was Mother Wen who put an end to this farce. She shooed Father Wen back to the banquet and let out a helpless sigh.
They’d agreed that Father Wen would have a proper talk, but it had turned into a chaotic mess. The burden fell on her shoulders after all.
“Jinzhi, are you alright?” Mother Wen looked at the two children with gentle eyes.
“Auntie, I’m fine. Uncle didn’t use much force.” Fu Jinzhi smoothed out his wrinkled suit, his expression calm and composed.
That was true—Father Wen had shown restraint.
“Your uncle just has some resentment. After all, your marriage wasn’t exactly respectable.”
That was putting it mildly. Being caught in bed had become a joke in high society, then Wen Yao had refused the Fu family’s offer to take responsibility and gone into a cold war with her family, and finally, after all that fuss, they’d married because of a pregnancy.
Not just for wealthy families—even ordinary households would find it hard to accept.
“I know.” Fu Jinzhi maintained his smile, his butterfly-wing-like lashes casting delicate shadows on his face.
He sneered inwardly. There was something even less respectable—your daughter wasn’t pregnant at all.
“To be honest, I wasn’t optimistic about your marriage either. It was too rushed, and there was no foundation of feelings.” Mother Wen suddenly smiled, her well-maintained fingers covering her mouth. “But seeing how you two interact today, I feel much more at ease.”
Whether it was the earlier playful banter or the natural way Wen Yao pulled Fu Jinzhi in as a shield, it was clear the two got along well.
If Wen Yao knew what she was thinking, she’d be frantically saying no: there was no peaceful, quiet life—she was the one carrying all the weight—keeping Fu Jinzhi, this ticking time bomb, tethered to the world, starting by raising his emotional threshold.
Let him get used to being annoyed. Better that than him resorting to gun battles, kidnappings, imprisonment at the drop of a hat…
“From now on, the Wen and Fu families can expand our cooperation, turning your marriage into a true alliance and washing away the previous bad rumors.” Mother Wen changed the subject, her gaze gentle yet firm. “I hope you two can get along well, but if it truly doesn’t work out, part ways amicably.”
“Not a single piece of the Wen family’s assets that belongs to Yaoyao will be missing.”
On the way home, Wen Yao was somewhat quiet, but in reality, she was secretly communicating with 8848.
“8848, I feel like this world is way too different from your outline.”
Fu Jinzhi wasn’t that sinister and crazy, and the Wen family didn’t seem like the kind of ruthless wealthy clan that would easily abandon their daughter. Not to mention her parents—when she left, her brother Wen Yuan had even slipped her a card with ten million on it.
[That’s normal. After all, all the information we can get comes from the World Consciousness, which has a strong bias. The plot can serve as a reference, but it’s not absolute.]
[However, every time you complete a task and shift the World Line, we unlock some real plot details. One day, we’ll get to the truth.]
“Right, and there’s still one plot reward that hasn’t been unlocked yet.” Wen Yao was thrilled.
“Ow!” Just as she was about to unlock the next plot point, an ice-cold juice was pressed against Wen Yao’s face. She snatched the juice away and glared at Fu Jinzhi. “What are you doing?!”
Fu Jinzhi lounged lazily against his seat, casting a sidelong glance at Wen Yao with his glistening, watery eyes.
“You looked so somber—what, about to be moved to tears?”
Everything the Wen family had done today had only one purpose: to make Fu Jinzhi take Wen Yao seriously.
From giving Wen Yao shares to strengthening cooperation with the Fu family, they were all adding to Wen Yao’s value, afraid she’d be mistreated in her husband’s household.
Any woman would surely be thrilled by all this, so why had she been so glum the whole ride—sitting up straight, eyes lowered, her soft, moist lips pressed tightly together?
Moved? Once she realized what Fu Jinzhi was referring to, Wen Yao’s eyes curved into a smile. “Of course! A real father really is different—so much more generous~”
The dim light fell across her jade-white face, her eyes glistening, flickering with a bewitching allure.
The sight stunned Fu Jinzhi for a moment, his heart beginning to race.
Until Wen Yao pulled an ice pack from the car’s refrigerator and slapped it squarely onto his face.
Smack. It stung like hell.
Watching her laugh in triumph while contorting herself backward against the car door to keep her distance, Fu Jinzhi expressionlessly tossed the ice pack aside.
Stupid heart, why are you racing?
You must be starving.