Chapter 128 - Man to man

When they were in the car, Xiao Lei introduced her son to Han Ye and Tian Le. 

"This is Han Ye, and this is Zhen Tian Le," Xiao Lei said as she pointed at the two that were sitting in front.

"Hi, Zhihao. I believe this is our first meeting," Han Ye said with a smile. He then extended a hand to shake Xiao Zhihao's hand.   

"Erm, hi." Xiao Zhihao said as he shook Han Ye's hand. He then shook Tian Le's hand as well.

Once Han Ye started drying, Xiao Zhihao then looked at his mother and asked in a hushed tone, "I thought you said that they are brothers? They don't have the same surname." 

Tian Le overheard him and chuckled.

"That's because I'm Han Ye's foster brother," he said with a smile. "And I'm also the best-looking one among us three. Oh, you'll see my second older brother later. His name is Lu Ziyan."  

Xiao Zhihao blushed because Tian Le overheard him.

He thought that Tian Le looked quite familiar. After wrecking his brain for a few seconds, he snapped his fingers. He looked at the rearview mirror where Tian Le was looking at and said, "I know you! You're the president of the gaming club. Your club won last year's National League of Legends Championship, teen division!" 

"Guilty as charged." Tian Le smiled and winked at him. "Do you like to play games?" 

"Not really. I only like to play occasionally." Xiao Zhihao sighed. He was too busy studying that he did not really play games, which was another thing his classmates used to make fun of him. 

"Well, if you like, you can come to the club and play with us. My club is open to all who likes to play, but if you want to join us, you need to be at a certain level."

Xiao Zhihao nodded. He then turned to his mother and asked, "Are we going home now?"

Xiao Lei grinned as she looked at the back of Han Ye's head. "No, my dear son. Mr. Han is taking us out for dinner. He promised me a Michelin star meal and he said I can eat as much as I want." 

"Why?" Xiao Zhihao looked at his mother curiously before he looked at Han Ye, who appeared to have a defeated look.

Xiao Lei thought for a moment before she said, "He lost in rock, paper, scissors." 

"What?" Han Ye rolled his eyes. 

Xiao Lei looked at rearview mirror and wriggled her eyebrows as she used "eye-language" to communicate with him, "You want to tell him that you 'molested' his mother?"

Han Ye frowned and shook his head as he continued to focus on his driving. He was not sure what she was trying to tell him, but he figured that it would be better not to ask. Somehow, he felt that it would be his fault again. 

"President Du is my boss and he bullies me. I'm Xiao Lei's boss, but how come I'm still one being bullied?" he thought with a sad sigh.

Before they went to the restaurant, Han Ye drove to the house of Kai Xin's father, Mr. Zhen, to pick up Lu Ziyan.

After staying at their house for a few days, An Xin managed to calm herself down and she decided to return home to face her parents. After all, she could not hide forever.

Lu Ziyan had sent her back earlier today, and according to his last text, he would be waiting for Han Ye to pick him up at Mr. Zhen's place.

...

At Mr. Zhen's house,

"How dare he!" Mr. Zhen snapped as he stood up angrily and paced around the living room. This morning, as they were around the area where An Xin was living in previously, they decided to visit An Xin's in-laws out of courtesy.

That was when they found out about the divorce. Their in-laws claimed that An Xin was cheated on their son. 

"My daughter would never do that!" 

"With a father like you, why not?" An Xin's ex-mother-in-law sneered through the closed gate.

"You!" Mr. Zhen was angry, but he could not say anything. In the end, he merely turned around and went home. 

When he got back home, he told his wife to call An Xin, but when he heard his daughter's steady voice through the phone, he decided not to say anything first. His daughter... Both his daughters were so strong that they refused to tell him any of their problems. 

He felt that he should reflect on his own behavior. It was because he was weak that he created two strong daughters. In the end, he decided to wait for An Xin to tell him instead of asking her for an explanation.

He pretended that he was only calling to ask how she was doing and after a small talk, he hung up. 

Perhaps An Xin could tell from his call earlier, she suddenly applied for emergency leave. She went back to Lu Ziyan's place and packed her stuff. She then returned home. Despite her insistence to go back and face her parents alone, Lu Ziyan refused to let her go by herself. 

He insisted on following her, so that if her parents were unreasonable, she would "have someone to protect you".

Even though Mr. Zhen was surprised to see Lu Ziyan coming home with her, he did not say anything about it, especially when he saw how gentle Lu Ziyan was when he was with his daughter.

Despite his anger toward Lu Ziyan, Mr. Zhen had learned how to hold his temper. His experience with Kai Xin the past few years had taught him a lot. Like An Xin, he knew that there was some other reason for Kai Xin to forgive this man. 

An Xin did not delay any longer. She could tell from the way her mother kept looking at her father that they already knew about the divorce. So, the moment she sat down with her parents, she told them the truth. She did not cry even once, not even when she told them about how she knew that her ex-husband was cheating on her and how they claimed that she was barren. 

She told them everything, but she left out the fact that they hit her. It was not to protect her ex-husband and her ex-in-laws. It was to protect her parents' hearts. Who would want to know that someone else raised their hands on their children?  

"My poor daughter." Mrs. Zhen sighed as she patted her daughter's head. 

"I'll go and talk to that b*stard!" Mr. Zhen said angrily. His face was flushed with anger as he thought about how much injustice An Xin had suffered in that man's hand. "How dare he treat my baby like this!"

"Dad... It's fine. I signed the paper willingly." She smiled as she looked at her father who was still pacing around the couch.

Mr. Zhen looked at her. There was no sign of sadness in her eyes. Instead, she seemed relieved, as if she was fine with being a divorced woman. Mr. Zhen sighed and sat down next to her. "Dad is too weak. Whether it's your sister or you, I can never do anything right." 

An Xin smiled and patted his knee as she said, "Really, I'm fine. I'm not a weak woman. If a man doesn't want me, there's no point in me trying to be with him."

"You silly girl! You shouldn't have signed it! Now you won't even be able to get anything out of it!" Mrs. Zhen chided her daughter softly. "You are not at fault here! You should have gotten 50% out of him! What a waste now!" 

An Xin sighed. She had expected this from her mother. With a smile, she patted her mother's hand as she said, "I don't need his money. I can earn my own money. I'm very capable, remember?" 

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhen," Lu Ziyan said with a smile. "A man like him is bound to have his retribution." 

Mr. Zhen glanced at Lu Ziyan and nodded curtly. "Thanks for taking care of my daughter for the past few days." 

"It's my honor."

An Xin looked at him and nodded. "Thanks, Ziyan. Sorry for bothering you for so long." 

"I hope you can bother me for the rest of my life," Lu Ziyan said with a smile, completely ignoring the two elders there. 

Mrs. Zhen gasped and she looked as if she was about to say something. However, Mr. Zhen stopped her before she could.

The older man looked at Lu Ziyan from top to bottom. He could see the desire in the young man's eyes, and he was not too happy about it. Mr. Zhen stood up and walked to Lu Ziyan.

He glanced at his daughter before he looked back at the younger man. With a calm voice, Mr. Zhen asked, "Mr. Lu, can we have a talk? Man to man." 

Lu Ziyan looked up at the older man and nodded. 

"Let's talk outside."