Chapter 32: Clues

Only now did Wen Lan Sheng realize how crazy his parents were. What made them think that Fan Xia could easily give them a million to squander? Was it so easy for her to make money? After all, they were only Fan Xia’s in-laws and had no right to plan her assets. Yet the way they talked made it seem as if they already considered this house their own.

Wen Lan Sheng felt like there was a lump in his throat, stuck uncomfortably neither up nor down.

His own parents showing such a calculating and mean-spirited face in front of Fan Xia – how could he face her now?

“Impossible! This house is what Fan Xia worked hard for. It has nothing to do with me, and even less to do with you. You can’t make her sell the house to fix the trouble Wen Jing caused,” Wen Lan Sheng flatly refused, completely dashing Wen Ming Yue and Xie Cen’s hopes.

“Wen Lan Sheng! Do you have no conscience?” Xie Cen gritted his teeth in anger and slapped him across the face.

How did he raise such an ungrateful creature? Other people’s sons often help support their families after marriage. He had initially agreed to Wen Lan Sheng marrying Fan Xia because she was successful in her career. He thought Wen Lan Sheng would have a good life after marrying her and could also help pave the way for Wen Jing.

But look at him now – not even married to Fan Xia yet, and his whole heart was already devoted to her, completely disregarding his family’s well-being. If he had known it would be like this, he would never have agreed to this marriage.

Wen Lan Sheng’s head turned to the side, his left cheek immediately swelling up. His ears were ringing, and he couldn’t even hear Fan Xia’s concerned call of his name. It took him a while to recover – his own father had actually hit him.

“Uncle, let’s talk this through calmly. Wen Jing is your daughter, and Lan Sheng is your own son. How could you hit him?” Fan Xia sheltered Wen Lan Sheng behind her, her voice slightly cold.

Xie Cen snorted: “A son like this – raising him is worse than not raising him at all.”

Pointing at Wen Lan Sheng’s face, he said, “Today, you must find a way to get Jing Jing out. Otherwise, consider yourself no longer a son of the Wen family.”

“Uncle, don’t say such things in anger,” Fan Xia tried to persuade him gently.

“I’m not speaking in anger. If he really is so cold-hearted as to let Jing Jing go to jail, I won’t recognize him as my son,” Xie Cen said, tilting his chin up. He was certain Wen Lan Sheng wouldn’t dare.

“Fine,” Wen Lan Sheng’s voice came from behind Fan Xia.

It caught Xie Cen off guard. He looked at Wen Lan Sheng in disbelief, thinking his ears must be playing tricks on him. “What did you say?”

“I said fine,” Wen Lan Sheng’s voice trembled, weak but determined. “Dad, Mom, from now on, just consider that you don’t have me as a son.”

“You—” Xie Cen stumbled back a step, shaking. He hadn’t expected Wen Lan Sheng to actually dare to sever ties with them.

“Alright, let’s all say a bit less,” Wen Ming Yue spoke up.

Her timing for interjecting was always so precise. She would first send Xie Cen to lead the charge, making a big fuss. If they compromised and were willing to pay the million, all would be well. If things became tense, she would step in to mediate and ease the atmosphere. Xie Cen had already played the villain, so Wen Ming Yue could now be the reasonable peacemaker.

Having lived together for so many years, how could Wen Lan Sheng not see through his parents’ usual tactics?

In the past, he didn’t speak up out of consideration for his parents’ face. But this time, he wouldn’t give in anymore. He absolutely would not stand by and watch as the happiness that was almost within his grasp slipped away.

“Mom, you don’t need to smooth things over,” Wen Lan Sheng said, his tone calm yet unfeeling as he held his stinging cheek. “I’ll say this now – we absolutely won’t sell the house. I can only give you these 20,000 yuan. For the rest, you’ll have to figure out how to raise it yourselves. Whether you sell your house or take out a loan, I don’t care.”

Xie Cen completely lost control and reached out to hit him again. “How could I have raised such an ungrateful wretch? You won’t even help your own sister, and you’d watch us old folks sell everything we have and end up on the streets.”

Fan Xia hugged Wen Lan Sheng, not letting Xie Cen hit him. She finally spoke up, asking them to leave: “Uncle, since you’re so emotionally unstable, you should move back to the old house for now.”

Xie Cen refused to leave. Right now, their only hope of saving Wen Jing was Fan Xia’s money. If they moved back, they would really have to sell their house. He cried and made a scene, even throwing himself on the floor in the hallway to force Fan Xia to give in, completely lacking the dignity an elder should have.

But his commotion attracted the neighbors to come watch the excitement.

Someone took a video and posted it in the residents’ group chat, embellishing by saying these were the parents of the owner of unit 1101, that the ungrateful child wouldn’t let the parents live there and was making them sell their old house to buy a new one for them. The residents discussed it heatedly.

Wen Lan Sheng, whose emotions were already at rock bottom, became even more devastated seeing the comments in the residents’ group.

Xie Cen’s wailing continued outside the door, each cry stimulating Wen Lan Sheng’s almost collapsing nerves. He hugged Fan Xia painfully, sobbing helplessly, “Fan Xia, I only have you now.”

Fan Xia hugged Wen Lan Sheng, gently patting his back to comfort him: “It’s alright, I’m here. There’s no overnight grudge between father and son. Uncle just doesn’t understand our difficulties right now. When he calms down later, he’ll understand us.”

Impossible. Wen Lan Sheng buried his face in Fan Xia’s shoulder, tears flowing like a broken dam.

He knew his parents too well – they always sought profit and avoided harm, and Jing Jing was their pride and joy. By not giving them money at this critical moment, even if this family relationship could be repaired in the future, it would only be on the surface.

For countless years to come, Xie Cen and Wen Ming Yue would resent him in their hearts, wondering why he didn’t give them money, causing them to have to sell their house. This was a hurdle they could never truly get over.

From the moment he made up his mind to stand by Fan Xia’s side, he was destined to sever his family ties.

Xie Cen threw tantrums in the hallway all day, and the residents’ group chat was in an uproar. Fan Xia posted a statement, causing two reversals of opinion. The residents all sympathized with Fan Xia, and some even praised Wen Lan Sheng for his courage in breaking away from his original family. Of course, the voices criticizing Xie Cen and Wen Ming Yue were even louder.

Seeing the situation turn against them, Xie Cen and Wen Ming Yue finally couldn’t sit still.

They could wait, but Wen Jing in the detention center couldn’t. There was no choice; for the sake of their pride and joy, the Wen family’s only heir, even though Xie Cen and Wen Ming Yue were reluctant, they had to go back and consider selling their house.

As they left the community, Wen Ming Yue’s steps were very slow. During the time they had been living with Fan Xia, she had made a hundred thousand yuan through insider information and was still gloating. Who knew they would suddenly encounter this situation?

If she had known this would happen, she shouldn’t have been so reluctant to invest more capital. If she had borrowed more money to speculate in stocks, she would have earned back the million by now. How did it end up with them being chased away like street rats?

“Workaholic, still working overtime?” Chen Yu Ze leaned lazily against the doorframe, knocking on the door.

Zhuang Nian stood behind him, saying helplessly, “CEO, I couldn’t stop Young Master Chen.”

“It’s fine, you can go home now,” Rong Xiu said to Zhuang Nian.

Zhuang Nian’s eyes immediately lit up with a vitality not belonging to a wage worker, and he quickly packed up his things and left.

“Why are you here?” Rong Xiu was somewhat surprised to see Chen Yu Ze, but his fingers didn’t stop typing on the keyboard.

“To see you, of course. I heard you’re back from your business trip. How was it? Were your honeymoon days with Fan Xia fulfilling? You must have been beside yourself with excitement,” Chen Yu Ze said, leaning against his desk.

Rong Xiu’s expression was calm: “What exactly do you want to say?”

“Alright, I’ll get straight to the point then.” Chen Yu Ze tossed a stack of papers in front of him. “Remember what I told you before you got on the plane?”

Rong Xiu closed his laptop, a sharp glint flashing through his cold, narrow eyes. “Didn’t I tell you not to investigate her anymore?”

Chen Yu Ze said helplessly, “I’m just worried you’re being deceived. If it were anyone else, I couldn’t care less. I’d just watch coldly as they got conned out of their money and body.”

“Fan Xia is not that kind of person.”

“You’re in love now, and men in love have zero IQ. I understand you, but I must tell you, Fan Xia is too ruthless. Do you know that Wen Lan Sheng’s sister is about to go to jail for assaulting someone?”

Rong Xiu narrowed his eyes, looking cold and sharp behind his thin gold-rimmed glasses.

“Wen Lan Sheng’s sister Wen Jing is now in detention. The victim is demanding one million yuan to settle privately, otherwise they’ll let her go to jail. The Wen family can’t come up with the money, so they thought since Fan Xia has a high salary, she could advance it. But she’d rather use that money to buy a new house than save Wen Jing. Such a person is too self-serving. If you really end up with her, I guarantee you’ll be eaten down to the bones.”

Rong Xiu’s knuckles lightly tapped the desk as he said coldly, “Wen Jing assaulted someone, why should Fan Xia pay? She’s not her mother. Don’t the Wens have money themselves?”

Chen Yu Ze rolled his eyes. “Fan Xia is still her sister-in-law, they’re family. Besides, where would the Wens get that kind of money?”

“Over a decade ago, they could afford to buy a Santana, which shows their family condition wasn’t bad. How come they can’t even come up with a million now?” Rong Xiu’s eyes were as cold as ice, without a hint of emotion when mentioning the Wen family.

“My dear CEO Rong, for you, a million is just the price of a suit. But for ordinary working-class people, they can’t earn a million in half a lifetime, okay? Besides, the Wen family’s Santana was scrapped not long after they bought it. Later, when Wen Jing wanted to study abroad, they emptied their savings,” Chen Yu Ze said, recalling the information from the private investigator.

Rong Xiu’s brows furrowed slightly. “Why would they scrap a car they had just bought?”

“How would I know? I’m not a private investigator. Why would I investigate the reason for scrapping?” Chen Yu Ze complained.

Long, jade-like fingers lightly tapped on the dark desk. A cold, dim light fell on him from behind. Rong Xiu looked up. “When exactly was that car scrapped?”

“Huh?” Chen Yu Ze hadn’t expected Rong Xiu to suddenly ask this. He hurriedly searched through the information the private investigator had sent him. “…It was thirteen years ago. The car slid into the pond at their old home because the handbrake wasn’t pulled, so it was sent for scrapping.”