In the end, Qiao Wenxing withdrew the case, but Bai You had to head home with disappointment. Bai Yue's parents were furious, scolding her harshly over the phone and expressing their displeasure towards Qiao Wenxing.
"What's wrong with Wenxing? As her brother-in-law, why is he squabbling with his brother-in-law over something so trivial? It's just a few computers! Was it really necessary to call the police?" They were extremely angry.
Anytime Bai Yue tried to explain that her brother was in the wrong, she would only be met with more harsh words. In the end, she could only listen in silence with tears in her eyes as her parents accused her.
Finally, her parents asked, "When are you two getting married?"
Bai Yue wiped her tears and said, "He’s still in the early stages of starting his business, and I am still young, we..."
"What? He doesn't actually want to marry you, does he? You tell him, our daughter isn’t someone to be just toyed with!"
Bai Yue stammered in her explanation, but her parents wouldn’t listen. Bai Mother became exasperated: "What were you thinking!? How could you let him sleep with you!? Since things have gone this far, you should hurry up and think of a way to get pregnant. If you have a child, let’s see how he drags his feet then!"
Bai Father and Bai Mother pressed her to ask just how much money Qiao Wenxing really had. Actually, they didn’t know his true background or family. When Bai Father was seriously ill, and their family was in chaos, they only knew from Bai Yue that Qiao Wenxing was a senior from her school who worked in a good company and came from a wealthy family.
Bai Yue instinctively held back when talking to her parents, even if she didn’t realize it herself.
However, Bai Yue seriously started considering marriage.
In the past, everything felt sweet and lovely; she lived as if in a fairy tale. Qiao Wenxing was her shining prince, and she was the rescued Cinderella. She thought they would live happily ever after. But after experiencing the troubles with her parents and brother, she began to feel the heavy weight of reality. Life wasn’t a fairy tale; it was much harsher.
This time, Qiao Wenxing got very angry with her; it was the first time he had upset her like this. Bai Yue felt scared and anxious, sensing cracks in her happiness and shadows in their future.
When she tried to discuss it with Qiao Wenxing, he frowned and said, "With us in this state, I can't give you anything, why would we even think of marriage?" After saying this, he saw Bai Yue's disappointed eyes and softened. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "Don’t worry, take it slow. Once my parents accept you…"
But would his parents truly accept her? What if they continued to reject her? Bai Yue felt lost.
Overthinking kept her awake at night, and she had trouble waking up in the morning. Qiao Wenxing called her a couple of times, and finally, he sighed and said, "Forget it, just rest at home." Then he left for the office.
In the past, Bai Yue would have whined a bit and felt justified to go back to sleep. This time, however, she sensed disappointment and discontent in his tone. After he left, she couldn’t sleep and got up to take a taxi to the company.
Once she arrived at the company, she didn’t go to the office right away; instead, she headed to the restroom. Just as she sat down, she heard someone walk in, and soon, familiar voices rang out.
"The boss's wife didn’t come again today?"
"President Qiao said she isn't feeling well."
"Hmph, isn’t that just an excuse for beauty sleep at home?"
"Hey, she’s lucky."
"Who knows? Although we call her boss's wife, she isn't the real boss's wife yet. Besides, I noticed that President Qiao’s attitude towards her isn’t as warm as when the company was first started."
"Really? I joined later, and I wasn’t aware of that. Tell me more."
"Back then, President Qiao treated her like a treasure, pampering her and being overly cautious. Now, it’s just… ordinary."
"Isn’t that how relationships go? Once the novelty wears off, the passion fades. If they’re going to marry, they should do it quickly. If they don’t tie the knot soon… If he couldn’t marry her during the height of passion, how can anyone expect him to marry her now that the passion is gone? I sense that President Qiao has a strong background. You can tell. Our boss's wife… feels quite average."
"Exactly! Every day at the office, she’s either making coffee or brewing flower tea, trying to show off some kind of flair. President Qiao doesn’t even like those things; she can’t even tell."
"Even a blind person can see that President Qiao really knows his coffee. When he drinks what she makes, he frowns."
"This girl... doesn’t grasp the situation. Doesn’t she see how tough things are for the company now? The financial support behind President Qiao has dried up, and things are getting tight. Yet she keeps running her brother’s expenses through the company. When it comes to work, she can’t do anything. President Qiao asked her to prepare some data, but she took forever just to get some charts done. You should have seen President Qiao holding back his anger to keep from saying something harsh..."
As the two female colleagues chatted, they walked away.
Bai Yue sat on the toilet, looking pale.
Qiao Wenxing might not have noticed her somewhat pretentious little emotions, but he certainly couldn’t ignore the changes in Bai Yue. She suddenly stopped being the delicate, lazy girl and became serious about her work at the company. No longer did she indulge in moodiness that troubled Qiao Wenxing; now she earnestly worked hard.
Qiao Wenxing felt relieved by this shift.
Fighting alone was really exhausting. Having another person just lying there enjoying life was wearisome. He didn’t expect her to achieve great results, but he truly hoped she could at least see the current situation and not act carefree every day.
Bai Yue soon recognized the gap between her and others once she took things seriously.
She wasn’t a lazy girl at all. Her parents had always told her, "A good girl doesn’t wear bridal attire before marriage," insisting that she was the eldest daughter and needed to be self-sufficient and take care of her brother. Growing up, she was always diligent, even earning her own tuition and living expenses through part-time work in college.
But right after graduation, she became tied to Qiao Wenxing. Every day was all about pampering, sweetness, and shopping. The girls around her all praised her and flattered her. Unknowingly, she had lost touch with the hardworking, resilient girl she used to be, thinking everything would be fine because Qiao Wenxing was there to support her.
But it turned out her prince was also just a mortal man, who could get tired and frustrated.
Being more committed now, she went to inquire about the finance side of things since she was "boss's wife," and they shared everything with her. That’s when she discovered that Qiao Wenxing had been receiving support from his mother, but now that was gone, and he had to rely on himself.
Bai Yue suddenly felt a hint of disappointment towards Qiao Wenxing. He didn’t seem as remarkable as she had once thought. The image of a prince overcoming all obstacles slowly faded.
But Bai Yue also began to understand Qiao Wenxing’s financial situation and realized his pressures. She resolved to change and focus wholeheartedly on being a supportive partner. Her performance over the past period had been good, and she noticed Qiao Wenxing’s smile became gentler when he looked at her, leading her to believe she was doing the right thing.
Recently, Qiao Wenxing had dealt with a major client and often went out for socializing. A few times he returned with an obvious scent of perfume on him. When Bai Yue asked about it, Qiao Wenxing, feeling tired from work, brushed her off with some casual explanations. Bai Yue wanted to inquire further but felt timid and ended up feeling gloomy.
As some time passed, Qiao Wenxing took someone to meet with this big client. Since Bai Yue had been actively participating in the work lately, she joined them. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but the client kept staring at Bai Yue from time to time. The client was a fat, greasy middle-aged man, and Bai Yue felt uncomfortable under his gaze, but she knew this deal was very important to Qiao Wenxing, so she held back her discomfort.
As negotiations neared completion, they invited the client to dinner. The client readily agreed and insisted that everyone from Qiao Wenxing's side join. His assistant, the business manager, and Bai Yue all went along.
During the meal, once the client learned that Bai Yue and Qiao Wenxing were a couple, his eyes lit up with a devious glimmer as he mouthfully praised her as a "virtuous wife." That made Bai Yue feel a bit better after the earlier discomfort. After dinner, still not wanting the fun to end, the client proposed they all go sing karaoke. This time, with Qiao Wenxing’s assistant and two girls like Bai Yue, they didn't hire any karaoke hostesses but ended up drinking heavily.
At the dinner table, Qiao Wenxing had already poured a lot of drinks for the fat client, and continued drinking quite a bit inside the private room. He had been a young master, drinking delicately before and had only picked up this rough drinking style after arriving in this city. Eventually, he rushed to the restroom to throw up, washed his face, and felt slightly clearer after that. Upon returning to the room, he noticed his assistant standing awkwardly outside.
"Xiao Feng, what’s wrong?" Qiao Wenxing asked.
Xiao Feng looked uneasy, struggling to find words. She was an exceptionally capable girl, and Qiao Wenxing always felt he was underpaying her, treating her with high regard. Seeing her this perplexed made him realize something was off; he suddenly burst open the door of the private room.
The fat client was too close to Bai Yue, his arm around her shoulders and another hand tightly holding Bai Yue’s delicate wrist, squeezing and fondling. Bai Yue’s smile looked forced, and she didn’t struggle. The clients laughed and teased while those on Qiao Wenxing's side looked uncomfortable.
No wonder Xiao Feng, being a girl, stood outside in discomfort!
Qiao Wenxing, who already felt nauseous, nearly vomited upon seeing this scene. His anger surged, and he walked over, yanking Bai Yue aside. The fat client still didn’t react when Qiao Wenxing's fist swung.
Chaos ensued.
After a huge ruckus, the club manager stepped in to mediate, and both sides felt embarrassed, refraining from calling the police. But as the beaten fat client left, he spat out a provocation, saying that this big deal was as good as gone, rendering all their hard work over two months a complete waste.
Bai Yue cried in despair because Qiao Wenxing snapped at her, "Xiao Feng had enough sense to hide outside; how could you not have any self-respect?!"
"He… he is a major client. I… I was just trying to help the company…" Bai Yue cried.
She felt disgusted at being groped but suffered silently for the sake of helping him and their company. In the end, it all fell apart and brought about Qiao Wenxing’s furious wrath. When he was drunk like this, he truly looked frightening.
Qiao Wenxing’s eyes went black with anger. When did he need his girlfriend to sacrifice her dignity for him!? He felt completely unable to communicate with Bai Yue.
"I was just trying to help you..." Bai Yue said, tears streaming down her face.
The others had already awkwardly retreated to outside the room, leaving just him and Bai Yue inside. But his angry voice still reached through the cracks of the door, perfectly audible.
"Helping me? Is this how you help me?" he shouted, "Look at what you’ve done!" He roared, "If you wanted to help me, learn from Xiao Feng! Don’t mess up simple data! That’s not helping me!"
Inside the room, silence fell for a moment, broken only by Bai Yue's sobs. Xiao Feng and the manager exchanged awkward glances, pretending they didn’t hear anything.
Less than half an hour after this incident, Han Yanyan found out.
When she received the call, she was having a candlelight dinner with Qiao Chengyu at a piano restaurant, with an elegant atmosphere and romantic ambiance. Both received calls at the same time—one from the fat client and one from Xiao Feng.
"I did as you requested; he couldn’t take it anymore and blew up," the fat client reported to Han Yanyan with a tone far more humble than when facing Qiao Wenxing.
"Thank you for your hard work," Han Yanyan replied.
"It’s no trouble at all, I should thank the lady for the opportunity. You can rest assured about this order; I will ensure its quality," said the fat client.
"Alright, as long as you ensure quality, I can make you our contracted supplier," Han Yanyan promised.
Qiao Chengyu received the call from Xiao Feng too. She was the girl he had placed by Qiao Wenxing’s side. There's no way to keep someone as capable as her on a meager salary from Qiao Wenxing.
After hanging up, he was already aware of the entire situation. He stayed silent, staring at Han Yanyan.
Seeing the look in his eyes, Han Yanyan asked with curiosity, "What’s wrong?" Qiao Chengyu didn’t respond, only continued looking at her silently. Han Yanyan suddenly understood and laughed softly, "Jealous?"
She laughed while gripping his hand, eyes sparkling playfully at him, "Silly boy."
Qiao Chengyu knew Han Yanyan had no real feelings for Qiao Wenxing; it was just a moment of jealousy. Her charming and mischievous smile melted away his earlier displeasure.
"Are you trying to break them apart?" he questioned.
"No," Han Yanyan replied nonchalantly, taking a sip of red wine, "It’s just for fun. Life is too dull; I want to spice things up for both of them."
Qiao Chengyu said, "Don't forget what you promised."
Han Yanyan paused, asking, "What?"
"The bottom line," said Qiao Chengyu.
Han Yanyan rolled her eyes weakly and teased, "Don’t worry, big brother. Even if they went bankrupt, they wouldn’t take desperate measures. If he really goes bankrupt, he’ll only do one thing—head home obediently."
Just then, the waiter serving dishes slipped, spilling a bowl of oxtail soup everywhere. Luckily, it didn’t scald anyone, but Han Yanyan’s bag got ruined.
The waiter, having seen numerous luxury items in this high-end restaurant, could guess the price of that bag, and the cleaning cost alone would exceed her monthly salary.
The young girl turned pale with fright.
The author has something to say: Allow me to reward with an extra chapter since the word count surpassed ten thousand!