WRA CH90

Seeing that there wasn’t even a single cypress branch in the house, Chu Ren figured Bai Qi was just trying to scare them. He grabbed his wife’s hand and rubbed it gently, worried that his wife might have hurt his own hands from hitting them.

“Use a broom next time.”

Bai Qi nodded. “Why did you come back?”

“My cousin saw you here, which means my mom will definitely find out I have a boyfriend. I came back to arrange a meal for us to eat together,” Chu Ren said.

“Meeting the parents?” Bai Qi asked.

According to standard idol drama plots, this was the exact moment when someone should appear and throw five million at him in exchange for leaving Chu Ren. He wondered how good Chu Ren’s parents’ acting skills were; Bai Qi was actually looking forward to it a little.

“I’ll go home first thing tomorrow morning to explain the situation,” Chu Ren said. “If all goes well, we can have lunch together.”

“And if it doesn’t go well?”

Chu Ren didn’t panic in the slightest. “Then my dad will confiscate this villa. Wife, you’ll have to move out and come to the capital with me.”

He could accept either outcome. Tomorrow was certainly highly anticipated.

The next day happened to be Saturday.

Chu Ren made breakfast for Bai Qi, deliberately didn’t wake him, and set off alone to do battle.

When he arrived at the Chu family estate, his parents weren’t even awake yet.

Chu Ren’s daily routine had been thoroughly trained by Bai Qi; it was truly rare to see a college student as disciplined as him.

He sat at the dining table, leisurely enjoying his breakfast until finally, his parents came downstairs.

“Dad, Mom, good morning.”

Mother Chu was startled by her son’s sudden appearance. Ever since Chu Ren moved out, she hadn’t seen him in the mornings at all.

“School’s on break?”

“Winter break is still a month away. I came today mainly to share some happy news with you two,” Chu Ren said.

Mother Chu guessed, “You built a robot?”

“I got a wife,” Chu Ren said.

“Cough, cough, cough—” Father Chu, who had been drinking soy milk, violently choked. He had long had his eye on a few potential families for a marriage alliance, but since Chu Ren was only eighteen, he hadn’t dared to bring it up. And now this brat had taken matters into his own hands! “Nonsense! Have you even gone through the proper traditional betrothal customs? How dare you say you’re taking a wife!”

Chu Ren corrected himself: “Dad, Mom, I have a wife I want to marry.”

“Which family’s daughter is it?” Mother Chu asked.

“It’s a young man.”

…

At 9:10 AM, Chu Ren’s eldest aunt brought his oldest cousin over for a visit.

The oldest cousin had tossed and turned all night and, in a rare turn of events, didn’t sleep until the afternoon. He woke up bright and early and, under his mother’s bewildered and uncertain gaze, haltingly revealed that Chu Ren was hiding a beauty in a golden house—keeping a male cousin-in-law.

His aunt almost fainted upon hearing this. What was going on with Chu Ren? He was the only upstanding and outstanding child among all the sisters’ kids. Heaven truly wasn’t leaving them a single way out.

She hurriedly dragged her son over to find Mother Chu. But as soon as she walked in the door, she saw Chu Ren sitting on the sofa. The floor heating in the house was sufficiently warm, so he was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt. His exposed arms were covered in red welts, looking exactly like they’d been lashed by a leather belt.

Mother Chu was applying anti-inflammatory ointment to them while Chu Ren bared his teeth in pain. He looked exactly like a delinquent teenager who had just returned home from a street fight.

Oldest cousin: Ah, Big Cousin’s perfect image has completely collapsed.

“What happened? Who hit you?” his aunt gasped. “Could it be because—”

“I ran into some hooligans on the road and got into a fight,” Chu Ren said.

The aunt glanced at her son, then at the heavily injured Chu Ren, feeling uncertain and alarmed. Could she still bring up the boyfriend issue right now?

She nudged her son. “Tell them what you saw in Chu Ren’s house yesterday.”

The oldest cousin stared fixedly at Chu Ren’s arms. Good heavens, this wasn’t from a fight with street thugs! It was obvious that Big Cousin had skipped class to come back last night and had also caught a beating from Cousin-in-law!

And Cousin-in-law had actually shown them mercy when hitting them!

He immediately shook his head like a rattle drum. “I didn’t see anything.”

Mother Chu already knew the score. “You saw Chu Ren’s partner, didn’t you?”

“Sister, you know?” the aunt asked.

“Just found out.”

The aunt lowered her voice. “Did brother-in-law resort to violence because of this?”

Mother Chu shook her head. “No.”

The aunt was completely baffled. It couldn’t actually be from getting beaten by hooligans, right?

The oldest cousin felt like he was standing from an omniscient perspective, much smarter than his mom. It was Cousin-in-law who beat him!

Mother Chu sighed. When Chu Ren first brought it up, his dad hadn’t taken it seriously. An eighteen-year-old was still unsettled; blindly intervening could easily lead to impulsive consequences.

But as a result, Chu Ren pushed his luck, declaring he was going to arrange for his wife to hold a key executive position in the company. He even revealed that all his own work duties at Changsheng Media had actually been done by his wife, and that his wife was fully capable of the job.

Only then did Father Chu get furious, demanding to know if he was planning to hand the entire company over to an outsider. Chu Ren had retorted, “If you want to retire, you can only let my wife take over. After all, I haven’t graduated yet.”

Father Chu had instantly whipped off his belt and given his son’s back and arms a solid thrashing: “Good, good, good! What position I give him will depend entirely on how much of a beating you can take!”

Chu Ren had gritted his teeth without making a single sound. This was his wife’s film and television dream. Besides, his dad wouldn’t beat his only son to death.

Beating the son pained the mother’s heart. Mother Chu had angrily yelled at Father Chu, “You talk about retiring every single day, but when your son actually finds you a professional manager, you get mad! Hit my son again and I’m divorcing you, and I’ll give my half of the assets to my daughter-in-law!”

Finally, Father Chu had gotten tired of hitting him and announced he was going upstairs to rest.

Chu Ren had remained kneeling perfectly straight on the floor the entire time. It wasn’t until his dad left that he slumped backward in exhaustion.

Hiss… it really hurt.

He had no choice. Only when he was in physical pain would his parents know he was dead serious.

“So… did brother-in-law accept it?” the aunt asked tentatively.

Mother Chu smiled bitterly. “I don’t know. He even threatened to lock Chu Ren up.”

Before the aunt could speak, the oldest cousin suddenly yelled excitedly, “No, no! You absolutely cannot lock Big Cousin up!”

Once Chu Ren was locked up, that venomous viper of a male cousin-in-law would rescue Big Cousin just like in a superhero movie! He would descend from the sky, shatter the glass, and slaughter gods if they stood in his way!

What if Cousin-in-law didn’t know the way? He might even take a cousin hostage!

The family would become a complete bloodbath.

And the cousins were entirely innocent!

Mother Chu looked at her oldest nephew in astonishment. “Why not?”

None of you know how terrifying Cousin-in-law is! He’s practically inhuman!

The oldest cousin couldn’t tell the truth, but he desperately had to stop his aunt and uncle from doing something irrational. In the past fifteen years of his life, he had never done anything with such a profound sense of responsibility: “Because Big Cousin and Cousin-in-law are true love!”

“If you lock Big Cousin up, I’ll stop eating too!”

Saying this out loud would definitely act as a get-out-of-jail-free card with Cousin-in-law.

Mother Chu: “…”

Chu Ren: “…”

Did this useless cousin undergo a personality change?

Could it be because he went to the house yesterday and was won over by Bai Qi’s personal charm?

Did Bai Qi show off their affection in front of his cousin? Is that why the cousin was spouting lines about them being true love?

Chu Ren desperately wanted to know the details. What exactly did someone as aloof as Bai Qi say to his cousins?

In any case, the hurdle with his parents was barely, but successfully, cleared.

Before he left, Mother Chu said to her son, “When there’s a vacant position at the company in a while, have Bai Qi come and try it out.”

“Only come to my wife if it’s at least a department manager position,” Chu Ren negotiated.

Mother Chu smacked his arm. “Even if it was you, you’d have to start from the bottom.”

“I am me, and Bai Qi is Bai Qi. I’ve already hired Wang Ke to teach him.”

Mother Chu was taken aback. No wonder when she tried to rehire Wang Ke, Wang Ke always claimed she had no time. It turned out she had been poached by Chu Ren!

This… Wang Ke was a grown adult, and yet she was willing to play house with Chu Ren?

Mother Chu changed her mind. “Mom will go meet him.”

Chu Ren threw on a black down jacket. He was tall, and wearing a short jacket made his legs look exceptionally long. “Then let’s go to the bank to withdraw cash first! You have to put at least twenty thousand in a red envelope!”

In her heart, Mother Chu felt her son was quite outstanding, which made her even more intensely curious about who exactly this Bai Qi was.

…

After finishing breakfast, Bai Qi zoned out by the table. The weather was cold, gloomy, and sunless; it should have been a perfect day for sleeping.

Ding-dong. A massive notification sound erupted from his phone.

Bai Qi picked it up and saw Chu Ren saying that he and his mom were on their way over.

Oh! Bai Qi quickly cleared the dishes from the table, washed a plate of fruit, and found a packet of tea leaves to brew.

Mother Chu’s visit this time wasn’t just to meet her “daughter-in-law,” but also to gauge Bai Qi’s capabilities.

She and Bai Qi discussed the company’s development direction for a long time before she said, “Bai Qi, I’ll prepare an office for you. Come to work when you have time.”

Chu Ren, who had kept his mouth shut the entire time, finally chimed in: “Bai Qi prefers working from home.”

The commute would be too cold. It was better to wait until he graduated before considering commuting together.

“That works too,” Mother Chu agreed.

After Mother Chu left, Chu Ren was uncharacteristically serious as he told Bai Qi, “You’re just taking over, so making mistakes is inevitable. If my dad tries to use it as an excuse to make a fuss, just call me. But you don’t need to worry too much; he’ll be awkward for a month at most.”

“Working for others is just like that. I’m mentally prepared,” Bai Qi said.

“It’s not working for others; it’s familiarizing yourself with your own family’s business. By the way, Bai Qi, I bought a 2 PM bullet train ticket back to school. Do you want to go out for a walk? If we want to eat at the mall, we need to hurry.”

If Chu Ren didn’t come back, Bai Qi didn’t leave the house.

Even though the snake knew he was hibernating, whenever Chu Ren thought of his wife home alone and never going out, he felt he was so pitiful.

“Chu Ren, you’re hiding something from me,” Bai Qi said.

Chu Ren actively buying a high-speed rail ticket to go back to school was as likely as the sun rising in the west. He had always been the type to drag his feet and stall for as long as possible.

Bai Qi looked at the down jacket Chu Ren hadn’t taken off even after coming inside: “Take off your jacket and let me see.”

“Why take it off? We’re heading out soon,” Chu Ren deflected.

“Take it off.”

Chu Ren: “…” His wife was too smart.

He took off the down jacket. The places on his arms where the belt had lashed him were swollen in streaks. Bai Qi lifted his short sleeves and saw that his back was covered in them too, crisscrossing all over.

A cold, sharp glint spilled from his eyes: “Who hit you?”

“My dad.”

Bai Qi forced down the urge to exact an eye for an eye. This was a hidden rule of human society. Can’t fight back, can’t fight back… that’s Chu Ren’s dad…

Chu Ren noticed Bai Qi’s breathing growing heavier, puffing against his back, feeling cool. How could he know what Bai Qi was thinking? Assuming his wife was crying out of heartache, he said, “Wife, could you use your cheeks to ice it a bit?”

“Mm.” Bai Qi gently pressed his face against Chu Ren’s back. The swollen areas were exceptionally hot, so he lowered his own body temperature a bit.

Chu Ren let out a sigh of comfort. This was way more effective than anti-inflammatory ointment.

Bai Qi lowered his eyes and gently pressed a kiss onto his back.

“Chu Ren, let’s share a lifespan.”