Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As soon as she said this, the other three people looked at Zhan Haoze, especially Mother Shi and Father Shi, their gazes changed.
“Mengru, what are you talking about?” Shi Mengwan looked at her sister. Even if Zhan Haoze had a fiancée, he didn’t say that.
Shi Mengru pouted and turned her phone to face her parents. “I’m not wrong. It’s written on the news.”
Shi Mengwan wouldn’t have known about this. However, their classmate was playing a game that was released by XM Company.
One had to know that the game released by XM Company was very popular. Every time it was released, it would become popular. The Cosmic Gamer that was released recently had many classmates who were playing it in their school.
Although Shi Mengru didn’t play games, because her classmates were all playing it, she had played a few times.
After that, she felt that it was a waste of time and didn’t play anymore. However, it was on the day that she unloaded the game that she happened to see the news.
Even though Zhan Haoze and Chen Feifei’s news wasn’t celebrities, XM’s results were too eye-catching, especially the cosmic gamer, it had been the number one downloaded game for several months in a row.
Therefore, players naturally paid attention to it.
For ordinary players, so what even if they knew that Zhan Haoze had abandoned his fiancée because he had a mistress? Nothing mattered as long as the game was fun.
Because of this, Shi Mengru had many arguments with her classmates. She felt that she didn’t want to use a product developed by a company run by a person with bad character.
She had no choice. A child raised by Father Shi and Mother Shi was just like that.
Therefore, when she heard the familiar name Zhan Haoze and thought of XM, she immediately took out her phone to look for news.
This matter was indeed a little too big. One had to know that XM was different from the big groups that operated traditional industries like the Tianyu Group and the Li Corporation. XM mainly focused on games and was very well-known among the young people.
Zhan Haoze used to be very mysterious. However, ever since he got engaged to Chen Feifei, he was considered a celebrity in Lin City because of his good looks.
However, the way Shi Mengru looked at Zhan Haoze now wasn’t very appreciative.
Although she was young, her sense of right and wrong was very strong. She was afraid that Mother Shi couldn’t see clearly, so she deliberately enlarged her phone for her parents to see.
“Dad, Mom, look. It’s not what I said, it’s what the news said.”
Zhan Haoze and Chen Feifei broke off their engagement less than a week ago, and it was still a hot topic. Looking online, they saw that there were a lot of reports.
Of course, many of these reports were not true. But no one cared whether they were true or not.
Chen Feifei wanted to say it that day, but she was shy. Her implicative attitude seemed to explain it clearly. In fact, it made all the reporters in Lin City imagine a big drama.
Every media outlet even wrote a different story. Yet, there were people who believed it.
For example, the news on a certain website was: Zhan Haoze liked the new and disliked the old. He abandoned his childhood sweetheart. He left his childhood sweetheart to support the Chen Corporation.
Another example was a well-known magazine that wrote: Why did XM Company abandon his childhood sweetheart? The identity of the mistress was mysterious, and her background was a mystery, but one thing was certain, she was definitely better than Chen Feifei.
There were also other kinds of news. The general content was like this.
These few days, Shi Mengwan and Zhan Haoze only cared about each other. As for this news, because Zhan Haoze had promised Chen Feifei that she could say whatever she wanted, Tang Hua and the others found out about it, but no one actually came to tell Zhan Haoze.
More importantly, Tang Hua and the others didn’t treat this matter as a big deal. Compared to the Zhan family’s matter, a small piece of news would naturally be suppressed in two days.
So it wasn’t just Shi Mengwan who didn’t know. More importantly, Zhan Haoze also didn’t know that he had become a news figure.
While Shi Mengru was talking, Shi Mengwan also picked up her phone and started scrolling through the news.
With this scrolling, her expression became a little strange. The moment she finished reading the news, Father Shi and Mother Shi finished reading as well.
The four members of the Shi family didn’t say anything and looked at Zhan Haoze in unison.
Zhan Haoze: ..
“Aunty, uncle, this matter actually –”
“Mr. Zhan, I’m sorry,” Mother Shi spoke first. In this family, she definitely had a high status.
“Because of our lowly status, our Wanwan isn’t compatible with Mr. Zhan, so Mr. Zhan, please.”
It wasn’t right for a country person to chase someone away halfway through a meal. This was too shameful. However, Mother Shi actually did such a disrespectful thing.
“That’s right.”
Father Shi glared at Zhan Haoze coldly. He was already dissatisfied with the man who was going to marry his daughter, so he was even more dissatisfied now.
“Mr. Zhan, please leave.”
Shi Mengru blinked and suddenly stopped talking.
Shi Mengwan looked at her family and finally looked at Zhan Haoze. “I’m a mistress?”
Was it because she was a mistress that caused him to break off the engagement with Chen Feifei? That’s what the news said, right?
“Wanwan, you know you’re not.”
“I don’t know.” Shi Mengwan hated herself for not seeing the news earlier. If she had seen it earlier, she definitely wouldn’t have brought Zhan Haoze back.
“I only found out now.”
“Wanwan…”
“You know that Chen Feifei announced the annulment, right?”
“Yes.” Zhan Haoze couldn’t deny that he did know.
“She said that you broke off the engagement with her because there was a third party. You know that too, right?”
“I didn’t know.” Zhan Haoze shook his head. “I only said that she could find any excuse she wanted.”
However, Zhan Haoze didn’t expect that Chen Feifei would actually find such an excuse.
Zhan Haoze met the Shi family’s two elders’ eyes and felt a little awkward for a moment. However, what was more important now was Shi Mengwan. He had absolutely no intention of turning her into a mistress.
“Wanwan?”
Shi Mengwan turned around and didn’t listen to Zhan Haoze’s explanation.
She looked at Father Shi and Mother Shi. “Dad, Mom, this isn’t what you think.”
The press conference and Chen Feifei saying that she was a mistress could all be slowly explained. But right now, she needed her parents’ support.
“Wanwan.” Mother Shi didn’t expect that Shi Mengwan would still speak up for Zhan Haoze at this time.
Father Shi’s face turned green. “Enough, stop talking. I won’t allow the two of you to be together. Mr. Zhan, you can leave.”
“Dad.” Shi Mengwan wanted to say something, but Father Shi raised his hand and didn’t listen to her. “Don’t call me. I’ll say it again. I won’t allow the two of you to be together. Let him go.”
“It’s not Haoze’s fault.” Shi Mengwan stood up. She didn’t believe her parents were so unreasonable. “Besides, I knew about this.”
“You knew?” Father Shi stood up and looked at her angrily. “What did you know? You knew? Huh?”
“It’s true that this man had a fiancée, right? Did you get together with him when he had a fiancée? Is that right? Tell me.”
“Dad, it’s not what you think.”
“Then what is it?” Father Shi had always been straightforward. Although he couldn’t say that he was rich and powerful, he was very strict in educating his daughter.
Especially after Shi Mengwan ran away from home for more than a year, Father Shi and Mother Shi’s attitude towards child-rearing changed after she returned.
“Let me ask you, did he get together with you when he had a fiancée?”
Shi Mengwan was speechless and Zhan Haoze stood up as well. “Uncle, it’s not Wanwan’s fault. It’s my fault. I didn’t manage my own problems in time. Wanwan can’t be blamed for this.”
“Of course it’s your fault,” Father Shi said bluntly. “But you’re no one to me. I don’t want to see you now. I’m just educating my daughter.”
“You –” He pointed at Shi Mengwan. “If you still acknowledge me as your father, you can break up with him.”
“Dad.” Shi Mengwan was speechless. She had waited so long for Zhan Haoze to break off the engagement. She could be together with him openly.
The process was indeed not very smooth, and it wasn’t a good one either. But wouldn’t it be fine if the result was good?
“Father-in-law.”
“Don’t call me that, I can’t afford it.” Father Shi’s temper flared up as he pointed in the direction of the door. “Go Away, don’t force me to make a move.”
Zhan Haoze stood there with an unusually awkward expression on his face. Other than the Zhan family, it had been a long time since anyone gave him a hard time.
“Uncle, Wanwan and I are truly in love, we –”
“You’re truly in love? Since you’re truly in love with Wanwan, why are you getting engaged to another woman?”
“Dad.” When had Shi Mengwan ever seen Zhan Haoze like this? She couldn’t help but want to say something on his behalf. “Haoze and Chen Feifei were engaged because they –”
“Shut up. I’ll settle your problem with you later.”
Father Shi only glared at Zhan Haoze. “Now, get the hell out of my house.”
“Dad.”
“If you speak again, even you will be chased out.”
Father Shi’s words made Shi Mengwan dare not to speak anymore. She, not intending to let it go just like that, stood there. She still wanted to say more.
Zhan Haoze saw that she wanted to argue with Father Shi, so he patted her shoulder and glanced at her. He signaled her to stop talking.
“Uncle, Auntie, it’s okay if you don’t want to see me now. I can leave first. But there’s one thing I want you to understand. I’m sincere about Wanwan.”
Zhan Haoze didn’t say anything more and left just like that.
Shi Mengwan moved her toes and almost chased after him. This action made Father Shi’s expression turn even uglier.
“Sis.” Shi Mengru didn’t say anything until now. When she saw how things had turned out, she quickly tugged at Shi Mengwan’s sleeve.
Her parents were currently in a fit of anger, so it was better for her not to provoke them.
Mother Shi couldn’t bear it and wanted to say something, but seeing her daughter like this, she didn’t say anything.
Father Shi looked at Shi Mengwan, who was still standing there, and slapped the table hard. “Why are you still standing there? You’re not eating, huh?”
Shi Mengwan knew that her father was in a fit of anger, so she didn’t intend to go against him. She obediently sat down.
In the countryside house, the dining hall was the main hall. Shi Mengwan and Zhan Haoze were sitting with their backs facing the door. When she stood up, her line of sight was blocked.
The moment she sat down, Shi Mengru saw it. Zhan Haoze hadn’t left yet.
She quickly winked at her sister. Shi Mengwan wanted to turn around, but Father Shi slapped the table again. “Can’t eat properly, huh?”
Shi Mengwan didn’t turn around. She had probably guessed it.
Mother Shi also saw it, but she didn’t say anything. Father Shi didn’t like Zhan Haoze now. Seeing that he wasn’t leaving, he shouted at the outside.
“Don’t try to play the pity card. It’s useless for you to stand there. Leave my house. We don’t welcome you in our house.”
Zhan Haoze stood there, but he didn’t have any intention of leaving. Father Shi almost couldn’t control himself and wanted to get up to chase Zhan Haoze out of the courtyard. However, his sleeve was pulled by Mother Shi, so he could only sit back down.
Shi Mengwan let out a sigh of relief, but she didn’t turn around to look. This side was close to Lin City, but it was in the south of Lin City. It was noon. Although it wasn’t midsummer yet, the sun was very scorching.
Zhan Haoze, showing no signs of leaving, just stood under the sun.
Shi Mengwan didn’t have much of an appetite. She casually ate two mouthfuls of rice, but in the end, she turned to look at Zhan Haoze.
As if sensing her gaze, Zhan Haoze also looked at her and smiled at her.
Father Shi slapped the table again. Shi Mengwan could only look away and lower her head to focus on eating.
“Child’s father –”
Although it was noon and there weren’t many people passing by, in the countryside, the doors of houses weren’t closed during the day when there were people around.
This Zhan Haoze was just standing in their yard like a thorn. In case someone saw —
“You don’t want to eat peacefully either, huh?” Father Shi rarely spoke to his wife in a bad tone.
As a result, no one in the family spoke. After eating, Shi Mengru took the initiative to stand up to clean the dishes and went to wash the dishes. She gave Shi Mengwan a look and then quickly ran into the kitchen.
“Dad. Mom.”
Shi Mengwan didn’t turn around to look outside. She only looked at her parents. “Zhan Haoze isn’t what you think. Me and him aren’t what you think either.”
Father Shi didn’t want to hear it. He wanted to chase Zhan Haoze out right now. Out of sight, out of mind.
He stood up and was about to walk out when Shi Mengwan called out.
“Dad. Zhan Haoze is Dear Brother.”
Father Shi’s footsteps stopped, and Mother Shi turned around to look at Shi Mengwan.
“Dad, Mom, Zhan Haoze is the Dear Brother from back then.”
Father Shi and mother Shi knew about the Dear Brother Incident. When Shi Mengwan was brought back, she had nightmares for a long time at night.
She kept calling him Dear Brother in her dreams.
For a while, Father Shi thought she was mentally ill and wanted to take her to see a psychiatrist.
But one day, Shi Mengwan stopped dreaming and stopped screaming at night. They thought that the matter was over.
Father Shi even thought that the so-called Dear Brother was a character that Shi Mengwan had imagined herself.
Otherwise, how could there be no news at all? But Mother Shi didn’t think that this matter was fake.
When she heard her daughter mention this name in the past, she knew that her daughter hadn’t forgotten Zhan Haoze.
“Zhan Haoze is Dear Brother.”
Shi Mengwan added on. She had never told her parents about the past year or so. She only briefly mentioned that she had been saved by a big brother and had lived together for a year.
However, many details and interactions between two people were the most precious and precious memories to her. She didn’t want to tell anyone, not even her parents.
“If feelings come first, I’m not the third party.”
Shi Mengwan told Mother Shi about what happened back then in a very low voice. After that, she talked about the nightmare that caused her to completely separate from her big brother.
“Big Brother offended some people back then, so we met some bad people. When you found me, Big Brother was gone. In fact, he was saved by Chen Feifei, the young madam of the Chen family, his ex-fiancée.”
Zhan Haoze didn’t tell Shi Mengwan about this part, it was her deduction.
“The Chen family saved Dear Brother’s life. He is a person who knows how to repay kindness, especially because of Chen Feifei’s health. She has heart disease. So when the family wanted to let the two of them be together, Dear Brother agreed.”
“But then we met again.” Of course, Shi Mengwan wouldn’t say that she never gave up, it was also her own initiative to find Zhan Haoze.
“Dear Brother owes the Chen family a favor, so he agreed to let the woman propose to break off the engagement. I can understand Chen Feifei thinking that way. After all, she needs a good reputation.”
These were only Shi Mengwan’s speculations, but these were basically the facts.
“Chen Feifei is a woman. She has to say this now. Do you want Dear Brother to confront her and refute her?”
She believed that even if Zhan Haoze knew, he wouldn’t do it. First, the Chen family had done him a favor after all. Second, Zhan Haoze looked cold, but he was not stingy to people who had no conflict of interest with him.
Shi Mengwan looked up at her parents and said, “This is how it is. It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not. I have never been a third party, and I believe that no one will mention this matter again in a while.”
People were forgetful. They weren’t celebrities. More importantly, she was about to go to Qing City with Zhan Haoze. Under such circumstances, why would she care about those rumors?
Father Shi and Mother Shi were silent. After hearing Shi Mengwan’s words, they looked at each other, and then at Shi Mengwan.
“You said that Zhan Haoze is the youth who saved you back then?” Mother Shi’s expression changed. Her thinking was different from a man’s.
To her, whoever saved her daughter would also be her savior.
“Yes.” Shi Mengwan nodded. “Dad, didn’t you tell me to be grateful? Big Brother saved me, so he’s my savior. Now that you’ve chased my savior out, you don’t usually teach us like this, right?”
Father Shi was stumped by Shi Mengwan, and he almost couldn’t speak, but it was only for a moment.
“Don’t go so far.” Father Shi sneered. “You said he saved you? Then do you know how many injuries you had when we brought you back from the police? Do these injuries count as because of him?”
“…”Shi Mengwan was speechless for a moment.
Father Shi said again, “Yes, he saved you. But you just said that when you lived together, you helped him clean up, cook, and wash clothes. Does that count as you helping him too?”
Shi Mengwan was speechless. Her lips moved. She wanted to say something, but Father Shi spoke again.
“Okay, even if it was in the past, you said that he saved you, but you took care of his life. Is this considered a clean slate? You said that he took care of you, arranged a school for you, and took care of you. Then it’s also true that you almost died because of him, right? Does this count as a clean slate?”
“But…” How could a relationship be counted in such a way?
“The past is clean. I’ll say what happened after you two reunited. After you two reunited, he was still with that Miss Chen, right?”
“That’s because –”
“I don’t care about the reason. I’m only asking you, isn’t it? When you two were together, was he still connected to that Miss Chen?”
Shi Mengwan’s mouth opened and closed again and again. When she met Father Shi’s eyes, she froze and couldn’t give a negative answer.
“Let’s take a step back and say it’s fine. Even if he wants to repay the favor, it’s his business to repay the favor. What does it have to do with you? He dragged you into the water and made you bear the accusation of being a third party. Is this his reason? Are you going to be criticized because of him?”
“We can –”
“Just tell me, is it so?”
Shi Mengwan couldn’t refute. Father Shi sneered, “That’s why you’ve said so much now. You want me to agree to the two of you being together. I’ll tell you. It’s impossible.”
As long as he was there, it was absolutely impossible. He would never agree to Zhan Haoze and Shi Mengwan being together.
“But dad, I really like him. I –”
“You really like him and really want to be with him. And then?” Father Shi’s gaze was sharp. “Haven’t you ever thought about what you’ll face if you’re really together?”
He knocked on the table and his voice was much colder than before. “Others won’t care about his difficulties and won’t think about what happened to him. Others will only know that he had a marriage contract and it was annulled later. And the reason for the annulment is because of you.”
“No –”
“And you want to be with him under the name of a third party. Do you think that this matter will fade after a long time? You’re making a big mistake.”
In fact, Father Shi didn’t believe that Shi Mengwan didn’t think of these things.
But even if she had thought of it, she probably wouldn’t have cared. Because in Father Shi’s opinion, she had already been blinded by feelings.
“Let me tell you, if you really want to be with him, these things won’t go away. Do you know that?”
Shi Mengwan sat there without moving. Of course she knew, but she really didn’t care.
After more than ten years of waiting, she had been angry and desperate. Compared to then, the disappointment now was much lighter.
She could finally be with her Dear Brother. She was more grateful. Moreover, she didn’t think that this matter couldn’t be changed.
“In short, I won’t agree.”
As he spoke, Father Shi stood up and walked out. He glared at Zhan Haoze, who was still standing in the courtyard. “Mr. Zhan, our house is too shabby, and can’t accommodate a Buddha like you. Mr. Zhan, please move.”
“Father-in-law.”
“I said, don’t call me father-in-law. I can’t afford it. Please.”
As he spoke, he directly pushed Zhan Haoze. Zhan Haoze was in great shape. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have been pushed out by Father Shi.
However, this person was his future father-in-law, so he naturally couldn’t make a move on him. Therefore, he actually easily let Father Shi push him out. Then, Father Shi slammed the gate of the yard. He directly locked Zhan Haoze out.
