Ren Yu was frightened by her own actions; she had fled in a panic, too ashad to stand before Wang Jian. As a result, this beca yet another sleepless night for her.
Lying in her air-conditioned room, her eyes glittered as she stared at the empty ceiling, contemplating what the next day would bring.
She had co to a realization and decided to take action.
Unlike her, Wang Jian was stealthy when he returned ho, afraid of waking the two won inside. Fortunately, his physical condition was now extraordinary. His control over every part of his body had reached an astonishing level, so despite walking on a tiled floor, he didn’t make a single sound.
Wang Jian made sure to take a shower and then fell asleep, filled with satisfaction.
「The next morning」
Wang Jian was startled awake by Cai Qiong.
Before she even knocked, his eyes were already open. After last night’s experience, his senses had beco sharp to a ridiculous degree. He was awake the mont Cai Qiong reached his door. His sleep was light, and he was constantly vigilant of his surroundings, as if so primal survival instinct had awakened within him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have noticed Cai Qiong’s arrival so quickly.
"You’re awake?" Cai Qiong asked as she pushed the door open. Seeing Wang Jian already sitting up, she couldn’t help but look startled. "I thought you were still asleep..."
Wang Jian was about to say that she was the one who woke him, but Cai Qiong had already rushed to his bedside. She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him out of the room.
"Hurry up," she said, tugging at him. "Sothing’s happened."
"Don’t—"
Cai Qiong’s sudden pull caught Wang Jian completely off guard. He looked horrified the mont she pulled him to his feet. He had slept naked after his shower last night. Now, yanked upright by Cai Qiong, he only had ti to snatch at the nearby blanket, but he was a second too late.
Cai Qiong’s first reaction was to cover her face and scream, but she imdiately peeked through her fingers.
Although Cai Qiong feigned shyness, she was actually quite bold. When she peeked through her fingers and saw that Wang Jian had already covered himself with the blanket, she secretly thought, What a pity. She then lowered her hands and said with an air of relief, "I never would have guessed. You have a great physique."
Wang Jian looked down and saw that his abs were even more defined than before.
Before he could say anything, Cai Qiong had already composed herself. She wasn’t so young woman who would be srized by a man’s abs.
"Co on, it’s serious. Xiao Yu wants to sever ties with her father. The news is all over the village. They’ve been arguing over there since early this morning. Sister Qian already went to see what’s happening. You..." Cai Qiong trailed off, then suddenly laughed. "You should probably put on so clothes first."
Wang Jian’s face darkened. She made it sound as if he didn’t want to get dressed, when it was her fault for yanking him out of bed. This Cai Qiong had beco a complete rogue since studying in the United Kingdom.
"You can go out first."
Cai Qiong didn’t move. Wang Jian’s expression grew even darker. He kept his hands in front of him and simply stared her down.
The two locked eyes until Cai Qiong finally relented.
Blushing, Cai Qiong backed out of the room. "Tch. It’s not like I haven’t seen it before," she muttered before closing the door.
Hearing that, a constipated expression appeared on Wang Jian’s face. When have I ever been exposed in front of her?
As he pondered this, he grabbed a T-shirt from a stool. Unsure if it was clean, he gave it a sniff. Finding no odor, he pulled it on. But as the shirt settled on his shoulders, Wang Jian froze, his eyes widening. "FUCK!"
Cai Qiong must have seen him when he carried Xu Qian back to her room last night. If that was the case, then all the noise Xu Qian made during their intense encounter surely hadn’t escaped this female rogue’s ears.
No wonder, Wang Jian cursed inwardly. No wonder her gaze always felt a bit off. She was clearly teasing just now.
Still feeling suspicious, Wang Jian finished dressing and opened the door. He then got the gist of what had happened from Cai Qiong.
Early this morning, Ren Yu had told Ren Jiacheng that she was grown up now and wanted to make her own decisions. In response, Ren Jiacheng flew into a rage, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and slapped her across the face. According to the neighbors, they had just stepped out of their houses when they heard arguing and a sharp smack from next door, followed by a torrent of curses like "heartless," "slut," and "whore." Completely ignoring that there were outsiders present, Ren Jiacheng had even grabbed a nearby bamboo cane and swung it at Ren Yu.
When Wang Jian heard this, he almost shoved Cai Qiong aside and sprinted over, but she quickly added that Chairman Kang had stopped Ren Jiacheng.
Although Ren Yu was spared the pain of a beating, she felt no relief. After being restrained by Chairman Kang, Ren Jiacheng saw that more neighbors had gathered to watch. He completely exploded, shouting at Ren Yu to get lost and that he was disowning her.
Wang Jian hadn’t seen that coming, but what he expected even less was what Ren Yu did and said next. As Cai Qiong recounted it, her eyes shone with an odd light that Wang Jian identified as admiration and respect.
"After hearing those words, Xiao Yu didn’t cry or cause a scene. I heard she just stood there stunned for a mont. Then she knelt and kowtowed to Ren Jiacheng several tis and actually agreed to sever their father-daughter relationship.
"But you’ll never guess what that Ren Jiacheng said next.
"That inhuman bastard actually told Ren Yu to pay him back five million.
"He said it was for the expense of raising her all these years."
At this, not just Wang Jian, but even Cai Qiong let out an exasperated, angry laugh. The debt one owes their parents for raising them is ant to be imasurable. But to hear such a father put a price tag of 5,000,000 on it was simply laughable.
Cai Qiong said that was all she had heard before Xu Qian went over and she ca to find him.
Wang Jian fell silent as they walked. By the ti the story was finished, they had already arrived at the Ren family’s ho. The scene at their front gate was similar to the day Wang Xiang had returned. The house was surrounded by a crowd three layers deep; Wang Jian even spotted so elderly n and won from the next village. They had co on their bicycles, their baskets still filled with vegetables from the morning market. They were all watching the spectacle, whispering amongst themselves.
Wang Jian himself had never imagined that his reminiscing with Ren Yu last night would lead her to make such a decision. A few decades ago, a choice like this might have earned her a public denunciation. Society was more tolerant now, but the news was still baffling at first listen.
But Wang Jian understood perfectly. Only he knew the emotional toll Ren Yu had endured since childhood. Anyone else would have likely stord out of the family long ago. Instead, she had borne it all silently and without complaint, waiting until she could go to university. She thought things would finally be better once she was far away from ho and living on her own.
Who would have thought that the mont she returned, they would start trying to force her into a marriage. Keep in mind, Ren Yu was only a freshman. At twenty or twenty-one years old, she wasn’t even of legal marriageable age yet. Forget Ren Yu; even Wang Jian had been inexplicably furious when he first heard about the forced marriage. That anger only intensified when he learned Ren Jiacheng was doing it all for the bride price. How is that any different from selling his own daughter?
He probably hadn’t just co up with this idea recently. It explained why Ren Jiacheng had been so materialistic and neglectful toward her when she was a child.
His mind churning with thoughts, Wang Jian pushed his way through the crowd, quickly getting up to speed on the situation. After Ren Jiacheng had demanded 5,000,000, Ren Yu had agreed. But when the scoundrel saw her agree so easily, he must have felt he was getting short-changed, because he imdiately jacked up the price, adding another million.
In this village, 100,000 was a huge sum of money, yet Ren Jiacheng was demanding 6,000,000.
Ren Yu had already been bracing herself to agree, wanting only to escape this hell as quickly as possible. But this exorbitant new price made her vision go dark. At this mont, Ren Yu finally saw her father’s true colors. Although she found so comfort in Xu Qian’s embrace, the air felt void of oxygen, and a suffocating pressure bore down on her.
This ti, she wasn’t the only one who was shocked. The neighbors, who had just been watching the show, were now completely dumbfounded.
"My god! Six million!"
"Does he even know what six million piled up looks like?"
"That poor girl."
"I’ve lived a long ti, but I’ve never seen anything like this."
"Seriously. I thought those short videos online were ridiculous, but now I’m seeing sothing even more surreal with my own eyes."
"Six million... that’s enough to raise several more kids, isn’t it?"
The murmurs of the crowd varied, but every word felt like a blade to Ren Yu. The invisible, oppressive weight of their words made her briefly regret her decision, but in the next second, her resolve to escape hardened. Even if it ans a lifeti of debt, it has to be better than this, right? How much worse could it possibly get? For years, the only way I could release my anxiety was through pain. This has to be the lowest point, doesn’t it?
Having lived here for so long, Ren Yu shed tears for the first ti, and like an opened floodgate, they wouldn’t stop. Just as she was about to close her eyes and agree, another voice beat her to it.
A smile hung on Wang Jian’s face, but his eyes were terrifyingly cold. He erged from the crowd just in ti to witness the scene. Even now, he didn’t understand how a matter of bride price could have escalated to this point. But what did it matter if he didn’t understand? It didn’t stop him from saying what he wanted to say.
"Six million, is it? I’ll pay it for her."
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