In the lounge, there was a set of soft low sofas in alternating beige and dark gray, along with a matching reception table and chairs equipped with a tea set.
Shen Liang sat in one of the solid wooden armchairs, facing the long sofa directly, his line of sight slightly higher than those seated on the sofa.
Shen Muxi leaned back against the glass window as she sat in a single-seater sofa, avoiding Shen Liang’s scrutiny.
Shi Youwan had done nothing wrong and thus feared neither heaven nor Old Master Shen. She sat boldly on the four-person sofa and patted the spot beside her, lifting her gaze to gesture for Chi Yumo to sit next to her.
Glancing at Shen Muxi, who seemed utterly uninvolved, Chi Yumo inwardly sighed that she had “met the wrong sort of people” and had been terribly pitted by this unscrupulous bad woman, Shen Muxi.
After quarreling with her father and taking some anger, Shen Muxi had dragged her here as a live target? And to think she had once praised her for being kind-hearted and a good boss. How infuriating.
Faced with this sudden calamity for which she was utterly unprepared, Chi Yumo thought for a moment before obediently sitting beside Shi Youwan, who gave her a sense of security, keeping half an arm’s length between them.
“You’re Mo Yu, right?”
The moment Chi Yumo sat down, Shen Liang spoke up. “Before coming here, did you know what day it was or what kind of occasion this was?”
“It was I who asked her to come. Why are you snapping at her?” Shen Muxi had long been fed up with her family elder pulling the patriarch act. “She’s attended plenty of cocktail parties and banquets with me. She doesn’t need to know what day it is or what the occasion is.”
Shen Liang’s eyes bulged in fury as he slammed his palm heavily on the table. “I wasn’t talking to you!”
Shi Youwan pressed forward undaunted. “Uncle Shen, you should know that Mo Yu… can’t speak.”
With a low “hmph,” Shen Liang turned to Chi Yumo. “Just shake or nod your head. Answer my previous question.”
Chi Yumo shook her head.
She had received Shen Muxi’s call saying there was an urgent banquet at noon that required her company. Without asking further, she had waited in her room for Shen Muxi’s assistant, changed into the clothes Shen Muxi picked for her, and come straight over.
Perhaps because Old Master Shen was the elder of the two women she trusted most right now, she felt an inexplicable panic and unease in his presence.
“Has her… company forced you to do anything that compromises your dignity?”
The three on the sofa were all stunned.
Chi Yumo shook her head.
She hadn’t expected Old Master Shen to ask such a blunt question, which was tantamount to publicly executing Shen Muxi.
As a father, to doubt his own daughter’s character and “slander” her for pimping out her employees— no wonder Shen Muxi and he weren’t on father-daughter terms.
Shen Muxi’s face turned utterly grim.
Meanwhile, Shi Youwan observed Shen Muxi impassively while raising her guard, fearing that Shen Muxi might impulsively say or do something unfilial.
“With her,” Shen Liang paused, as if carefully weighing his words, “have you had any intimate relations?”
Chi Yumo shook her head. Then nodded.
Then shook her head again.
She wasn’t sure what boundary he meant by “intimate relations.”
Shi Youwan and Old Master Shen were momentarily baffled by Chi Yumo’s nodding and shaking, while Shen Muxi teetered on the edge of exploding and sneered coldly, “Why not just outright ask if I’ve slept with her?”
Slept?!!
Chi Yumo anxiously stood and hurried to Shen Muxi’s side, gesturing frantically: [What are you saying? We only shared a dorm room at the Deaf-Mute School for one night, on bunk beds. The most intimate thing otherwise was you throwing your arm around my shoulders at events. Explain it clearly to them.]
The discord between Shen Muxi and Old Master Shen was their family matter; she had been dragged into it without reason and felt deeply wronged.
She didn’t care about the online rumors painting her relationship with Shen Muxi in an ugly light, but right now, in front of Shen Muxi’s father and Shi Youwan, she did care.
“Yeah, we slept in the same room one night—isn’t that sleeping?” Shen Muxi stirred the pot without restraint.
[Shen Muxi! If you keep being so unreasonable, I’ll get mad! ]
She had figured it out: Old Master Shen and Shen Muxi were just hurting each other, neither willing to yield. And the mutual harm between closest kin would always rebound.
Just like… her and Shi Youwan.
Shi Youwan trusted Chi Yumo and saw how agitated and furious she was, truly angered by Shen Muxi. She softly advised, “Mu Xi, don’t say things in anger.”
Chi Yumo dropped her hands and stood at Shen Muxi’s right side, waiting for her explanation. But the woman refused to speak, plunging the room into dead silence.
After a long silence, Old Master Shen dropped another bombshell: “Mo Yu, I’ll give you ten million to leave Shen Muxi and her company. Ten million isn’t a small sum—enough for you to open a little shop anywhere and live decently doing small business. If business isn’t your thing, just invest in a franchise chain. Easy money, way better than exposing yourself now, following Shen Muxi everywhere, groveling and reading faces.”
Ten million?
Chi Yumo’s back stiffened, as if frozen by some spell, her mind suddenly shifting gears wildly.
Not that she felt insulted.
She was just incredulous at her suddenly skyrocketing “market value.” Back when Li Longfeng had talked about keeping her, it was only 200,000 a month—2.4 million a year. Ten million could buy… four years and two months.
Ten million sounded astronomical at first, but broken down, it wasn’t that much. And hadn’t Shi Youwan mentioned giving her ten billion?
Ten billion—that was the real uncountable zeros astronomical figure.
“Following me groveling and reading faces?”
Hearing Old Master Shen’s words, Shen Muxi completely lost it. She shoved aside Chi Yumo, who was blocking her path, strode to the table, planted both hands on it, and leaned forward into full battle stance.
“Old Master, listen to what you’re saying. Is that how a father should view his daughter?”
Shen Muxi glared furiously, launching her attack. “You businesspeople and your money—how much cleaner are they than entertainers and their money? I, Shen Muxi, act upright and sit straight. I film honestly and earn my pay. Why does it become lowly in your eyes?”
Chi Yumo staggered from Shen Muxi’s push before snapping back to reality, inwardly annoyed at how money had poisoned her thoughts.
The place was on fire, and she was still calculating cash.
She pinched her palm hard, pulled out her phone to type an explanation for Old Master Shen. Shen Muxi was right now a frenzied fighting cock, utterly irrational—no use relying on her.
But someone was faster: “Uncle Shen, you’ve misunderstood.”
Before Chi Yumo could type a few words, Shi Youwan spoke up and stood.
Under three pairs of watching eyes, the woman gracefully walked to Chi Yumo and took her right hand, which hovered over the screen mid-typing.
Chi Yumo forgot to struggle, staring dazedly and puzzled at the woman smiling tenderly at her.
The woman blinked, led Chi Yumo to the table, and clarified the misunderstanding for Old Master Shen: “As you can see, Xiao Mo has always been mine. Mu Xi was just helping me look after her out of kindness.”
Shi Youwan’s few interjected words successfully defused the tense standoff between Shen Muxi and Old Master Shen.
She didn’t do it entirely to help mend their father-daughter rift. When it came to Chi Yumo, she had far too many selfish motives.
Old Master Shen eyed their clasped hands, then glanced at Shen Muxi, who stood straight and “hmph”ed sidelong at Shi Youwan. He repeated skeptically, “Your person?”
“Yes, mine.” Shi Youwan affirmed again. Those brief words revealed the deepest obsession in her heart.
This was the first time she had openly declared her love for Xiao Mo and her possessiveness over her—in front of others and Xiao Mo herself.
She didn’t want to hide anymore.
She didn’t want to hide Xiao Mo, nor her own heart.
Some things could wait; others couldn’t. So she seized the moment and followed her heart. What was meant to be said would be said sooner or later—better today than another day.
Only with effort came reward. She would give Xiao Mo enough security, enough favoritism; in time, Xiao Mo would melt for her again.
Persistence could carve through metal or stone.
Even if Xiao Mo had sealed her heart like bedrock, she had the perseverance and endurance to sculpt stone.
Shen Liang mulled over those three words from Shi Youwan, questioning, “Your person’ can mean many things.”
“Xiao Mo means only one thing to me.” Shi Youwan turned to Chi Yumo with a radiant smile.
The elegant beauty’s brows, eyes, and lips all curved into lovely arcs, like rounds of bright moons spilling silvery light, showering endless tenderness on Chi Yumo. It disrupted her heartbeat, made the whole world pure and beautiful, utterly captivating.
Chi Yumo gazed as those red lips parted softly: “If she nods right now, I could take her this afternoon to register and get our certificate, becoming legal partners.”
Shi Youwan’s heartfelt declaration left Chi Yumo forgetting to breathe. She stood there dazed, brain stalled, unable to think.
Yet her barren heartscape suddenly welcomed spring rain, ushering in growth and new life, everything reviving.
Register and get the certificate.
Legal partners.
This was more than a confession—it was a proposal.
Shi Youwan had proposed to her. At a time and place she never could have imagined, this earth-shattering event she never anticipated occurred.
She must be daydreaming.
Compared to the shock of Chi Yumo and Shen Muxi, Shen Liang was far calmer. After a brief thought, he asked, “Does your mother know about this?”
Shi Youwan gently pressed Chi Yumo’s tiger’s mouth a few times until her eyes flickered back to reality, then turned to answer Old Master Shen.
“Uncle Shen, my own affairs are mine to decide. But Xiao Mo is still young, in the heat of her youth—she shouldn’t be trapped by love. She has her ideals and beliefs, her path to walk, her things to do. I respect and support that. No profession is high or low; I’m at ease with Xiao Mo following Mu Xi. I ask that you too offer more understanding and tolerance, Uncle Shen.”
“Hmph, you’re at ease?” Old Master Shen snorted through his nose, glowering at Shen Muxi with a stern face.
“If she had even half your or Youran’s bookish propriety and filial piety, she wouldn’t treat this home like a den of tigers and wolves, doing whatever she pleases without regard for… her mother’s feelings. You want me to understand and tolerate her—have you asked if she’s ever understood her own family?”
He held some biases and preconceptions about the acting world, with its vulgar scandals and sex scandals flying daily. How could parents rest easy with a daughter immersed in that?
What wrong was there in parents wanting their daughter away from such a hotbed of trouble, back home to idle and enjoy life?
Shen Liang stood, his patrolling gaze sweeping over the three women one by one. “You lot, take good care of yourselves. Stay clean and don’t tarnish the Shen or Shi families.”
As the door closed behind him, Shen Muxi’s highly tensed body and nerves finally relaxed.
There was one thing Old Master had hit right on her sore spot.
Had she ever understood her family?
Before she left home to chase her dreams in entertainment, in those dozen-plus years, had her father, mother, or brother ever done anything to hurt her or disregard her feelings?
No.
They had always indulged her, accommodated her—even after paying medical bills time and again, they never scolded her once.
But precisely because of that, she felt their love was pity.
