Chapter 39 A Poor Wife ~

Tang Man was silent for a while, feeling the slight trembling of the hand gripping her wrist. She felt that this time it would be difficult to gloss over, but in fact, she didn’t intend to gloss over it either.

Since Xie Li had asked, she had nothing to hide.

It’s just that, “I thought you wouldn’t agree to this.”

After all, what Old Tang said was just short of explicitly asking Xie Li to marry into their Tang family as a live-in son-in-law.

Xie Li didn’t say anything. When Tang Man was about to leave, he tightly grasped her hand, unwilling to let go, as if clinging to a life-saving straw, cherishing it dearly.

“You don’t want the ten percent stake anymore?” Xie Li looked straight at Tang Man, seeming even more insistent than her.

He said ten percent, not five percent.

Tang Man smiled, “You want to be a live-in son-in-law?”

“Being a live-in son-in-law isn’t easy, Xie Li. While I still have a bit of goodwill towards you, don’t get entangled in the mess of our Tang family.”

“And even if you marry me, you won’t get shares in the company. Old Tang isn’t that foolish. Xie Li, you’d still agree to something so disadvantageous?”

Tang Man practically spelled it out for Xie Li. She wanted benefits, wanted to get that five percent stake, but if at the end of this engagement Xie Li suddenly felt aggrieved and blamed her, Tang Man would find it off-putting. That’s why she made things so clear from the start.

Xie Li also understood Tang Man’s meaning. He was actually a bit heartbroken now, feeling more distressed than before, as if the relationship between them had become a purely transactional one.

But he still wouldn’t let go of Tang Man’s hand.

“Then if not me, who do you plan to choose?”

Xie Li felt that Tang Man was hardhearted enough that it wasn’t impossible for her to find someone she could tolerate marrying for that ten percent stake, because in her eyes, marriage was just signing a contract that could be torn up later.

Tang Man didn’t say anything.

Hearing sounds from the hospital room, Xie Li was afraid someone would come out and interfere, so he directly said, “Tang Man, I agree. I’ll get engaged to you, and can even marry you. I don’t care if I have to move in with your family, and I’m not afraid of being mocked as a live-in son-in-law.”

Having said this, he was waiting for Tang Man’s reaction, but unexpectedly, before she could respond, the door to the hospital room suddenly opened from the inside, and someone walked out.

Startled by the sound, Tang Man instinctively turned her head to look, and Xie Li looked over as well. The person from the hospital room also saw the two people tugging at each other here, stopped in their tracks and looked over with some confusion.

Tang Man moved her hand, wanting Xie Li to let go of her arm, but he immediately brought his gaze back to look straight at her, his attitude firm, with a persistence that he wouldn’t give up until she answered.

Tang Man glanced at the hospital room, feeling that it wasn’t good to remain in a stalemate here, so she nodded, “I understand.”

Xie Li still looked at her without letting go, his handsome brows darkening a little, just looking at her like that. After a while, it gave off an entrancing charm.

Tang Man looked at him for a good while, and couldn’t help slightly lowering her eyelids, saying earnestly, “I understand what you mean.”

“It’s not very convenient to discuss this matter now. We can talk about it later.” Tang Man lowered her head and glanced at the watch on the wrist that Xie Li was holding with the corner of her eye, her gaze sweeping over his distinct knuckles at the same time. She pressed her lips together and suggested, “Let’s go out for dinner tonight.”

After a few more seconds like this, Xie Li stared at Tang Man, who had lowered her eyes and wasn’t looking at him, for a good while before releasing her arm. His eyelashes fluttered a few times as he let out a low “Mm”, “Then I’ll wait for you outside.”

“You’re free this afternoon?” Tang Man asked with some puzzlement upon hearing this.

She didn’t think Xie Li would have such leisure time. The fact that he waited here this afternoon was most likely because she was coming over, probably afraid something would happen, so he had been waiting.

Otherwise, with his tendency to work overtime, there was no way he would have accompanied her to the hospital room today. He only needed to send her the room number.

“I can push it back, nothing too urgent.” Xie Li’s expression was serious as he looked at Tang Man, but he spoke as if it were very ordinary.

Tang Man couldn’t help glancing at him, suddenly smiling and meeting his somewhat baffled gaze, teasing, “Xie Li, I didn’t expect you to actually be quite a smooth talker.”

Xie Li was stunned for a moment. Only after she left did he react to what Tang Man meant just now, and also realized the abruptness of his own words. His behavior was like forcing marriage. It was clearly something brought up by Tang Man’s father, yet he acted more eager than anyone else, his inner thoughts apparent at a glance.

Tang Man gave a slight nod to the person at the door. When they met Tang Man’s eyes, they immediately realized and asked if she was Madam Yang’s relative.

This person was probably from the Gu family. Tang Man nodded and briefly explained her identity to avoid awkwardness, then mentioned that she would enter the ward first.

This identity of hers was indeed awkward to hear, especially since most of Madam Yang’s boyfriends were quite young, sometimes even young enough to be Tang Man’s boyfriend. Standing together, they looked to be of the same generation.

The ward was crowded with quite a few people, making the originally rather large single room seem small.

Madam Yang was lying on the bed, and Gu Yuanke was sitting beside her.

As soon as Tang Man entered, she swept her gaze around, then landed on Madam Yang and Gu Yuanke. She first mainly looked at Madam Yang’s complexion. Seeing no major issues, she then turned to look at Gu Yuanke sitting by the bed. There were also some wounds on the man’s face, especially a large bruise at the corner of his mouth, looking extremely disheveled, not much better than Old Tang.

It seemed these two people both aimed for the face when they fought.

Tang Man somehow thought of Du Henian and Si Jiahe from last time. When they fought, they also targeted each other’s faces, landing blow after blow.

But Gu Yuanke looked to have no major problems and probably had no fractures.

Tang Man subconsciously let out a sigh of relief, feeling that she could enter now and should be relatively safe, with no need to pay for her father’s actions.

Almost the instant Tang Man entered the ward, the people inside also stopped talking and looked at her. At first glance, seeing an unfamiliar face, their brows furrowed. But after a moment, noticing Tang Man’s somewhat familiar features, they naturally made some guesses.