26 2.13

Ren Anjing had thought he'd finally secured the things that Ren Daquan had lost because of his death, but when he opened his eyes, he found that everything had been an illusion. The company he'd sacrificed so much to seize turned out to be a shell full of debt, his assets were all mortgaged away, his son was barely alive.

It wasn't that he hadn't searched for alternatives. Because Ren Development Group's reputation was still impressive, theoretically, he could raise some money by selling his shares. The problem was that in reality, there wasn't a viable market for it. His closest allies had long ago used up their funds to purchase the poisoned stocks Ren Yijun had offered, while the other investors wouldn't blindly trust his words. Once they examined the financial statements, they would find out how worthless the company had become.

Staring at Ren Xiang's half-alive body that was lying in the hospital bed, he let out a deranged laugh. Although he'd been the one to put Xiang'er here, in the end, this was his child. He couldn't bring himself to continue selling off parts of the boy to keep his façade of power. Giving his life up wouldn't guarantee that Ren Yijun would let Xiang'er go, but it was the best he could do.

Time trickled away and evening came. Patting his son's ruined face one last time, Ren Anjing left.

That night, Chen Yu was lounging in Feng Kuo's arms when Yang Shu called. Putting his mug of hot chocolate down, he listened to her sobbing for a few minutes before understanding that Ren Anjing had died in a gas explosion at his house. The heat had been so high that it had been difficult to identify him. In the end, the forensics team had been forced to use his dental records.

Chen Yu's face remained indifferent. It seemed that old man had followed through, but he was so tenacious, he couldn't let his property belong to someone else even in death.

Well, since he'd held up his part, Chen Yu wouldn't touch Ren Xiang. To begin with, that man had been a mere pawn. He'd held malicious intentions, but he completely lacked the brains to carry out any schemes alone. It was his misfortune to meet Ren Anjing as a mastermind and Chen Yu as an opponent. To a character like that, Chen Yu wouldn't be too harsh. He hadn't even assigned any of the shares loaded with liabilities to him when he'd been selling the 40% to Ren Anjing. Ren Xiang's current situation was fitting enough. Although...it wasn't clear who would pay for his hospital bills in the future.

Feng Kuo overheard the news and sneered. That eyesore should be grateful he'd been able to die that painlessly.

Despite the fact that Yang Shu hadn't been very close to her brother-in-law, she nevertheless grieved at losing another family member so soon after her husband had passed. Recently, she'd been very liberal about how much time her son was spending outside, but now she couldn't bear not having him where she could make sure he was alright. Crying, she pleaded, "Darling, please come home. Your aunt's also here, I'm sure she needs all the support she can get right now."

Chen Yu agreed, packing up quickly. He'd never interacted with this aunt before, but since he had manipulated her family's ruin, he felt he should at least take a look.

Turning to say goodbye to Feng Kuo, he found that the other man had already dressed in a black suit. To his inquiring glance, Feng Kuo remarked, "As your lover, I should of course be with you when you're going through such a hard time."

Chen Yu rubbed his temples. This wasn't an appropriate situation to introduce his relationship with 'Uncle Kuo.' Obviously, his lover knew that. He was about to reject the appeal, but when Feng Kuo bent over and kissed his chin in a smooth, experienced motion, Chen Yu startled so much that he unconsciously nodded his permission. As Ren Yijun, he'd deliberately limited that habit of his, why would Feng Kuo use this particular trick?

Whatever the reason, the two figures, followed by a group of bodyguards, thus entered Ren Jia's house holding hands.

At the sight, the crowd of women gathered around Ren Anjing's wife paused in their attempts to console her. All of them couldn't wait to dig up what the story was, but they were reluctant to appear nosy. Yang Shu, however, didn't care about such things. She hurried over with Ren Qiu and Ren Chun.

Standing in front of the couple who remained holding hands, Yang Shu stared, shocked speechless at this unexpected guest. Feng Kuo had almost no relation to Ren Jia now. Ren Anjing's death definitely didn't merit his visit, so why was he here?

Ren Qiu, who wasn't sure who this was, uncertainly greeted, "Welcome home, Didi. This is your friend?"

But before Chen Yu could answer, Ren Chun directly stepped forward and pulled her younger brother behind her back, as if to protect him from a beast. Unlike Ren Qiu, she was active in business circles so she recognized who Feng Kuo was and had heard plenty of stories about his affairs. In a cold tone, she refuted, "Mr. Feng Kuo is the owner of so many shops in the red-light district. How could he stoop to being our younger brother's friend? He must be dropping him off as a favor."

Chen Yu was somewhat impressed by how many words Ren Chun had spoken in addition to their sharpness. Looking at Feng Kuo's awkward expression, he barely kept his smirk off his face. He might have been disoriented into allowing the introduction to his family, but he wouldn't smooth things over for him.

Nevertheless, Feng Kuo promptly covered up his dismay at his wife being stolen away and showed a faultless smile. "Hello, we didn't have a chance to meet before, but Mr. Ren Daquan helped me very much when I was younger. Jun and I met at the funeral some time ago. Over time, seeing Jun's kindness, brilliance, and elegance, I couldn't help falling in love with him. We are now dating with marriage in mind."

The three who had been anxiously awaiting a clarification on what kind of relationship they had to justify holding hands were struck by this direct confession. Their baby boy...had been snatched from under their noses? Still, the man's befittingly complimentary attitude toward Yijun, as well as his formal proposal, assuaged a sliver of their animosity.

Chen Yu observed this snake immediately placate these vigilant women with a few sentences, and black lines covered his face. What 'kindness, brilliance, and elegance'? He'd clearly thought he was a cheap plaything ah. Furthermore, what marriage? Didn't anyone realize that they were both men?

Out of the corner of his eyes, Feng Kuo noticed Jun's unhappy expression and laughed. Naturally he understood that he needed to win over his pet's family to prevent any escape.

Motioning to one of his guards, he casually gifted a brand name pair of heels tailor-made for Yang Shu, an internationally renowned chef's set of cooking knives for Ren Qiu, and a book on property management autographed by the real estate tycoon Ren Chun idolized. Not only were these presents expensive and hard to obtain, but they were also perfectly tailored to each recipient. While the three women were pleased at the gifts, they were even happier that their baby had clearly spent so much time talking about his family.

In fact, they were giving Chen Yu too much credit. Their preferences had been investigated by Feng Kuo's secretaries...

Chen Yu simply gave up. His lover had apparently planned this far in advance and in any case, Chen Yu hadn't intended to hide their relationship for long, so he wouldn't interfere.

Right as the atmosphere was relaxing, a group of women approached, led by a teary, well-maintained older lady.

The woman dabbed at her eyes and weakly questioned, "Sister-in-law, has Yijun come?" Beneath the concerned tone, however, was a layer of blame for abandoning her to meet some stranger Ren Yijun had brought.

Yang Shu was sympathetic for her loss, but neither she nor her daughters felt that this relative they rarely met was more important than inspecting Yijun's partner. Irked by the barely concealed complaint, they didn't reply, creating a tense silence.

Amused at the minor power struggle, Chen Yu stepped in. "Aunt, I'm sorry I came so late. We can arrange the funeral service for your husband, you should get some rest." With his gentle consideration, everyone felt they'd overreacted and admired his mindfulness.

Ren Anjing's wife was similarly touched at his care. Actually, her marriage had been arranged for business purposes, and she and her husband had only grown further apart over the years. She rarely saw Ren Anjing or her son, instead spending most of her time with her paternal family. Inevitably, she wasn't really sad at Ren Anjing's death, but she had been squeezing some tears out for appearance's sake. Now that she had an excuse to leave, she quickly seized it and followed a maid to a guest room.

Du Guang came back from washing off tracks left from crying as Ren Anjing's wife was retiring. Seeing her uncle, she rushed to his arms, mourning both for her great-uncle and her grandfather. Chen Yu was rather surprised, since they didn't usually get so close to each other, but she was just a teenager after all. So he was patting her back, consoling her patiently, when a hand abruptly reached out to pull him into a hard chest and push the girl away toward her mother.

Chen Yu peered up to find Feng Kuo smiling like nothing had happened, while Du Guang stared in confusion. Gripping the exasperating man's arm, he quietly demanded, "Feng Kuo, what do you think you're doing?"

Hearing his pet call his full name, Feng Kuo pinched his bottom and murmured, "Did you think I would stand by and watch my wife hugging someone else?"

Chen Yu narrowed his bright eyes.

Who was his wife? If anything, he should be his husband, okay? Oh, there seemed to be something off with that as well...

"I'm Du Guang's uncle, I wouldn't do anything to her!"

Feng Kuo calmly rebutted, "I'm your uncle, I've done plenty of things to you."

Chen Yu had nothing to say to this vinegar jar. Shouldn't the meeting between the protagonist and the male lead hint at mutual attraction, not competition?

In fact, Feng Kuo understood that there was nothing between the two. It was just that he couldn't stand seeing the handsome young man and the beautiful girl standing together like a painting. Besides, the pure feeling of youth they gave off made him uncomfortably aware of what a generation gap was.

On the other side, Du Guang had recovered from her shock and was grumbling about the interloper.

The three older women looked unwilling, but in the end, Yang Shu acknowledged, "Mr. Feng Kuo isn't an outsider, he's your uncle's boyfriend."

Not only Du Guang, everyone who heard this was astonished.

Ren Jia's young master was gay? And he even brought his lover to meet his family! The matrons clicked their tongues. This heir might be kindhearted, but he was so incompetent that he had lost ownership of his father's company and was even forsaking his duty to continue the family line.

Discerning the scornful gazes directed at Jun, Feng Kuo embraced his pet and shot a malevolent glare. He knew Jun didn't care, but he marked down in his mind the people who'd spoken. Those mouths would be begging to praise Jun within the night.

Ren Yijun's family were also incensed. They hadn't expected the gossipmongers to be so vicious in front of Yijun. What if their darling boy's feelings were hurt? Distressed, they rushed to shoo the pack away.

Once the house was cleared, they peeked at Yijun but found that his boyfriend had carried him away to sit on the living room couch. Seeing this, their estimation of Feng Kuo rose a bit. At least he wasn't completely useless.