Shi Xuanzhu stood in the center of the living room, the light dim and yellow, casting his shadow long and slanted. In front of Song Yun, he had always been gentle but commanding, yet at this moment, facing Father Shi, all his authority vanished instantly.

Song Yun, standing to the side, felt a bit uneasy watching him.

…Although ten minutes later, Song Yun realized his sympathy had gone to waste.

Father Shi didn’t know what his son-in-law was thinking, he just looked at Shi Xuanzhu with a serious expression.

He was tall, his back straight like an old tree weathered by storms, looking aged yet still radiating an unassailable authority. His face was thin, cheekbones slightly protruding, giving him a stern appearance.

“Hmph, look at you now, so pathetic!” Father Shi frowned as he spoke, his voice booming through the room. “You went on a variety show and created a bunch of scandals, ruined your relationship with your brother-in-law, and there are rumors of infidelity. Are you trying to ruin the little reputation our Shi family still has?”

Father Shi grew more agitated as he spoke, and the cane in his hand slammed heavily against the floor. The dull “bang” made Shi Xuanzhu flinch.

His normally tall frame trembled slightly. He buried his head deep in his chest, the veins on his neck standing out as if he were trying to carry an invisible mountain. His hands hung limply at his sides, fingers curled like shriveled worms, gripping his pants tightly, knuckles white from exertion, completely colorless.

The honor the man desired most in life was his father’s recognition. For Shi Xuanzhu, that was far from empty words, but…

Shi Xuanzhu stared at the floor, avoiding his father’s gaze. His eyes were full of despair, like a wild animal trapped in a snare, helpless and confused.

By normal logic, seeing this, Song Yun should have felt pity, but…

“?”

Song Yun looked at Shi Xuanzhu, soaked by the metaphorical storm, and slowly typed a question mark.

—Wasn’t it a bit strange for Shi Xuanzhu to look like a fragile, bullied little flower in front of his own father?

Who would act like a helpless little flower in front of their own dad?

Song Yun’s mind immediately went to lawsuits, but at this moment, Mother Shi spoke from behind the sofa.

She was slim, wearing a neatly tailored but slightly outdated cheongsam, hair combed back to reveal a smooth forehead.

Her face carried a faint smile, but it was like a thin layer of ice, her gaze conveyed an unapproachable coldness.

In a gentle voice, she said: “Xuanzhu, it’s not that Mom wants to scold you, but look at what you’ve done—how much worry you’ve caused your father.”

Shi Xuanzhu felt bitter as he listened. He knew how much his father had carried this family, while he smoked more expensive cigarettes than his father and still could not uphold the family’s honor.

He bit his lips tightly, his lower lip bluish-white like frostbitten fruit. His waist bent slightly, his back like an overstretched old bow, ready to snap with a “crack” at any moment. His body trembled like a lone boat struggling in stormy waves, isolated and without escape.

He knew his father’s approval was invaluable, yet now, it seemed he was drifting further away from it.

Watching the entire scene, Song Yun thought: “…”

A doubt slowly emerged in his mind—was something wrong between Shi Xuanzhu and the Shi family?

It puzzled Song Yun why he hadn’t noticed it before.

Then he realized that he hadn’t interacted much with the Shi family previously.

Father Shi was old-fashioned, naturally, he wouldn’t speak much with his son-in-law. In his eyes, Song Yun was just Shi Xuanzhu’s wife.

—There’s no interaction between a father-in-law and daughter-in-law, after all.

Mother Shi was even easier to understand. Song Yun was male, Mother Shi was as old-fashioned as Father Shi, so she wouldn’t interact with him much either.

‘No wonder after seven years, I noticed something was off…’ Song Yun thought, twitching the corner of his mouth.

Meanwhile, the three people immersed in the family drama hadn’t noticed him, continuing their own private performance.

“Don’t put on airs in front of us!” Father Shi frowned, his face twisted in disgust.

“Right now, you fix this mess immediately. Don’t tarnish the Shi family’s name! If you can’t handle it, don’t think you can continue in the entertainment industry, and don’t come back to this house! And your relationship with Song Yun—handle it yourself. If you can’t teach your partner properly, that’s your incompetence!”

After finishing, Father Shi slammed his cane on the ground again, the sound like a death knell echoing in Shi Xuanzhu’s heart. For a moment, he felt like a forsaken crown prince, flattering the king but only earning his contempt.

He stood frozen, feet rooted to the floor. His eyes were hollow and dazed, as if his soul had been removed, leaving only a numb shell.

He instinctively looked at Song Yun, but the once gentle Song Yun, the perfect matriarchal presence, was lost in thought and offered no strength.

Father Shi grew impatient at Shi Xuanzhu’s silence. “Enough standing there. Hurry up and fix this. If there’s another problem, just wait and see!”

He glared at Shi Xuanzhu, then walked away, cane in hand. Each step’s sound struck Shi Xuanzhu’s heart like a hammer.

“I hope that next time I see you, all of this will be resolved. Don’t disappoint me again.” After speaking, Father Shi strode toward the stairs, Mother Shi following.

Shi Xuanzhu remained in place, like a statue forgotten in the corner. His face was colorless, lips trembling like leaves blown by the cold wind.

After a long while, he slowly lifted his hand to wipe the tears that had silently fallen. The movement was slow and mechanical, like a puppet controlled by strings, devoid of self-awareness.

He knew he had to be like a warrior and clean up this mess. Otherwise, he would never earn his father’s approval and would lose his place in the family forever.

Yet… Shi Xuanzhu glanced at Song Yun, opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say. He lowered his head again, continuing to bear the immense weight.

Song Yun watched silently, seeing Shi Xuanzhu hesitate and struggle to speak in front of his father, tears threatening to fall. “…”

It made him feel a little nauseous.

Then Song Yun saw Shi Xuanzhu slowly turn his head toward him with that expression in his eyes.

Song Yun once again: “…”

—Don’t look at me!

That day, Song Yun almost gagged but forced himself not to make a sound in front of Shi Xuanzhu.

Song Yun respected anyone’s emotions—but the prerequisite was that the person showing a sorrowful expression, like a character trapped in a grand palace in some historical drama, was not his husband of seven years.

They said middle-aged couples could kiss and have nightmares for several nights. Song Yun hadn’t reached that extreme, but having lost the rose-colored lens of early romance, he really couldn’t, in good conscience, think Shi Xuanzhu’s expression wasn’t disgusting.

‘If I did something wrong, could you just report it to the police? Please don’t torture me like this…’

Song Yun prayed internally. But then he realized he was wrong.

—Because at this moment, Shi Xuanzhu hadn’t even used his full strength.

“…Wangxing, you can’t imagine what I went through last night.”

Looking at the despairing expression in front of him, Ye Wangxing, in the office, was completely confused. He really didn’t know what Song Yun had experienced, that he would call him so early in the morning and come to his office looking utterly desperate.

After all, in the original story, Song Yun had always suffered slow, constant suppression. Shi Xuanzhu was a master in this regard, never letting Song Yun be pushed to the extreme.

But now…

Dark circles ringed Song Yun’s eyes, his skin looked haggard, and his gaze was full of despair.

He kept his face calm but raised his brows in confusion, while internally, he hurriedly asked 19 what had happened last night.

However, after checking last night’s events…

【…The host’s situation is too complicated, I cannot generate an analysis report at this time.】

19’s voice carried confusion and puzzlement—a sensation rarely expressed by a normal system.

But 19 genuinely felt perplexed.

【You can’t even produce an analysis report? Was the situation really that tricky?】

Hearing 19, Ye Wangxing furrowed his brows. His tension tightened, and the gaze he cast on Song Yun became serious.

So… what had happened to the protagonist last night to make him act like this now?

Half an hour later.

Song Yun looked as if dumping all his mental garbage finally made him feel better.

Ye Wangxing, however, looked extremely confused, like a corporate drone realizing he had to work overtime during Chinese New Year without receiving overtime pay.

“…You mean last night, your husband vented to you about his family’s situation?”

Song Yun nodded seriously.

“While that seems normal, those adjectives… Are you sure he wasn’t joking when he said those things?”

Ye Wangxing wanted to repeat what had been said, but he really couldn’t bring himself to.

He had encountered people like this while participating in community work with his father, but those situations had been fleeting and superficial, quickly resolved on their own.

But Shi Xuanzhu’s case—this was a first.

Listen to what he said!

“…I would accept anyone else’s cigarette, but I dare not accept my father’s.”

“…My relationship with my father is like liquor: outwardly it looks like water, but only I know how intense the emotions truly are.”

“…We are father and son, sovereign and minister, enemies, rivals, brothers, friends, roommates. Only when lying on the sickbed are we simply father and son.”

When Ye Wangxing heard this, his eyes went wide.

No, you are just father and son! Why does it have to be so… complicated?

Ye Wangxing thought for a long time but couldn’t find a suitable description.

【Entangled, unpredictable, full of mixed emotions, impossible to untangle…】

After receiving his host’s emotions, 19 immediately reported hundreds of idioms.

Ye Wangxing: 【…】

【It feels about right, but doesn’t 19’s description seem a little off?】

19 said calmly: “It was probably because most of the words I searched for described complex feelings mixed with love and hate?”

Ye Wangxing fell silent again.

“…Why did this come up when you searched for their relationship?”

After a long while, Ye Wangxing regained his composure and asked in shock.

“That’s probably a question for Shi Xuanzhu—the main system’s searches had never been wrong before.”

Ye Wangxing listened to 19 calm voice and at first didn’t react. When he realized what 19 was hinting at, he almost jumped off the sofa.

“That can’t be true, right? Shi Xuanzhu might have been a bit resentful, his words a little awkward, but it should still be within the normal range!”

Ye Wangxing said in astonishment.

19 remained silent. Ye Wangxing took his silence as tacit agreement. Although it still seemed strange why 19 would say that, Ye Wangxing didn’t dwell on it.

But soon enough, he almost regretted it bitterly.

At that time, Ye Wangxing was still inquiring about the situation between Song Yun and Shi Xuanzhu. Later, he confirmed that Shi Xuanzhu had major problems with the Shi family.

“…Then you should temporarily stay at my place. Shi Xuanzhu has already suppressed the trending topic online, so most likely no one will notice you.”

Ye Wangxing said this calmly, which gradually eased Song Yun’s mind. The disbelief in his heart temporarily faded.

“Thanks, Wangxing. I really don’t dare to see Shi Xuanzhu right now.”

Song Yun sighed.

He was genuinely afraid of coming home and seeing Shi Xuanzhu’s resentful expression.

It made him feel as if he had stumbled into another dimension—or rather, time had reversed.

Because returning to that villa felt almost like going back to the Qing dynasty—even more feudal.

“…Honestly, his parents were really incomprehensible. Your relationship with Shi Xuanzhu wasn’t particularly close, and that shouldn’t have been a big deal, yet his parents still scolded him for it.”

Song Yun waved his hand tiredly.

“Now I understand why Shi Xuanzhu feared his parents so much. Such parents really made one feel suffocated.”

‘But Shi Xuanzhu seemed to enjoy it a bit.’

Ye Wangxing silently commented in his mind.

After venting all his frustrations, Song Yun changed the topic.

“Forget about them. By the way, your younger uncle hasn’t been seen for a while. Has he returned to the country?”

Song Yun asked casually.

“Yes, he had nothing to handle here, so I let him go back to deal with some business matters.”

Ye Wangxing said: “The company recently planned to shift its focus to the domestic market. After Kaizer’s death, some overseas connections were cut off. Returning the center to the domestic market is the best choice.”

Song Yun nodded, half understanding, and asked: “So you plan to develop domestically? You won’t leave?”

The handsome young man nodded, as if joking, and said: “Don’t talk about leaving—I don’t even plan to leave the country.”

Song Yun smiled politely twice.

Seeing that time was nearly up, the handsome young man got up to inspect the mall downstairs.

Technically, such small matters didn’t require his presence, but recently, Ye Wangxing had been trending too frequently online. His triangular romance with those three was also widely known. Although the newly opened project company gained recognition, Ye Wangxing’s own reputation had suffered.

Domestic stocks were stable, with others offsetting losses, but overseas stocks were risky.

So Ye Wangxing needed to appear publicly to demonstrate his situation.

Consequently, several management staff in suits and shirts appeared in the mall. The only one in a formal three-piece suit—the young man—inspected the mall, followed by a photographer taking occasional pictures.

Walking among the crowd, the little cousin watched her second cousin stand out like a crane among chickens. She admired her cousin’s star-like looks but didn’t dare speak, fearing she might cause some embarrassing moment.

However, the little cousin didn’t remain entirely quiet. She was curious about Song Yun, who followed Ye Wangxing, wondering why her elder cousin had come today—he looked slightly haggard.

‘Could it be something happened with the brother-in-law last night?’

The little cousin frowned, planning to ask her elder cousin. Unexpectedly, she quickly learned what had happened the previous night.

—but in a highly unwilling way.

Song Yun also felt he had bad luck today.

He awkwardly looked at the Shi family parents across the table, pouring wine for them.

He hadn’t expected that merely accompanying his brother to inspect the mall would make them run into the Shi parents, with Shi Xuanzhu also nearby.

But thinking about it, they had no livestream tasks today, so naturally they had time.

Still, Song Yun felt embarrassed.

—the Shi parents held themselves with high posture.

Though they didn’t want to appear flattering, their elevated stance made things subtly awkward.

Fortunately, it wasn’t excessive and could be brushed over.

What Song Yun didn’t expect was that the Shi parents tried to interrogate them and started pushing alcohol.

This was a classic behavior at Shi family gatherings. Song Yun usually avoided their family gatherings because of this.

But he didn’t expect them to use this tactic today. Moreover…

“…Song Yun is a good kid. Our Xuanzhu was lucky to meet him, but the matter between the young couple is public. If it’s discovered to be a misunderstanding, it would be bad.”

Shi mother said softly to the handsome young man sitting nearby.

Meanwhile, Shi father, emboldened by wine, scolded Shi Xuanzhu.

“…Look at you, and then look at Wangxing. He’s young, successful abroad, already has achievements at such a young age. Back home, his career is going well too. You need to learn from him.”

Song Yun watched Shi Xuanzhu, whose face mixed anger and sadness, and lowered his head silently.

…He hoped his brother wouldn’t think his taste was too unusual.

Ye Wangxing certainly didn’t think Song Yun had unusual taste.

—He was just shocked by Shi Xuanzhu’s expression and the complex emotion in his eyes.

Ye Wangxing finally understood everything.

While 19 was building a personality model, he heard his host weakly say: “…19, I knew avoiding mental oppression from parents this time was Shi Xuanzhu’s parents’ doing, but I really didn’t know I would face such a situation.”

Ye Wangxing said in an almost desperate tone.

“They just casually abstracted it, already beyond my reach.”

The next second, a sharp explosive sound rang out.

“How could a human express feelings toward their father like this!”

While Ye Wangxing and 19 spoke, the atmosphere on-site became tense.

It wasn’t that the Shi parents targeted Ye Wangxing—they didn’t have that thought.

Offending this kind of “fortune god”? That would be insane.

Most of the time, the Shi parents lavished attention on Ye Wangxing and tried to build a good relationship.

Unfortunately, the handsome young man didn’t give them a chance. Whether for toasts or questions, he skillfully pushed them away.

The Shi parents didn’t get angry but became even more attentive. Though not flattering, from Shi Xuanzhu’s perspective, it was a heartbreaking scene.

—He still couldn’t become his father’s reliance.

Shi Xuanzhu thought sadly, looking at Ye Wangxing with a hint of resentment.

How could he treat his father like that? By seniority, he was still an elder!

Shi Xuanzhu unconsciously clenched his chopsticks, his knuckles whitening. He narrowed his eyes, his gaze was full of dissatisfaction mixed with jealousy. He looked at Ye Wangxing, feeling a pang of bitterness.

Once, he had been highly regarded in this family, but now Ye Wangxing’s presence made him seem insignificant in his father’s eyes.

His father’s attention to Ye Wangxing made Shi Xuanzhu feel like an abandoned child. He constantly questioned himself—what did he do wrong?

To gain his father’s attention, he acted tirelessly, even through injuries, yet it seemed worthless to his father. He bitterly thought that all his efforts in the entertainment industry were in vain.

He pressed his lips, the corners slightly downturned, a bitter smile on his face. He glanced at his father, noticing his gaze remained fixed on Ye Wangxing.

That eager look—his father had never looked at him like that.

Shi Xuanzhu’s resentment deepened, manifesting in his eyes.

The affectionate gaze made Song Yun and Ye Wangxing shiver, their skin crawling.

Even the little cousin seemed to notice something wrong, eyes wide, scanning Shi Xuanzhu and his father, nearly jumping from her chair.

The next second, she immediately opened her phone to message her friends. However, the news on her screen made her scream instinctively.

“—Second brother! Your younger uncle confessed to you in the media!”

Her voice shattered the already tense atmosphere, and everyone’s attention instantly focused on her.

The little cousin held her phone, swallowing nervously, eyes wide in shock.

Even more shocked than her was Ye Wangxing.

The previously calm handsome young man tossed the Shi parents aside and quickly checked the news on his phone.

Others followed, and they saw a headline: “The last descendant of the Gore family announces that their inheritance will be inherited by their brother’s partner!”

Three seconds after seeing the headline, a gritted-teeth voice sounded beside them.

“Excuse my rudeness.”

Everyone saw the handsome young man say briefly and dash toward the door.

“Will Gore! You’re insane!”

 

 

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