Fu Chengyan glanced at him but gave him the cold shoulder. Instead, he turned to nod slightly at Su Yunwan. “Good evening, Mrs. Su!”
“Good evening!” Su Yunwan nodded, her eyes darting back and forth between Fu Chengyan and Shi Nuan. “Why didn’t you tell me that you’ve gotten married?”
Fu Chengyan chuckled. “My marriage with Nuan is very low-key. Only my good friends know about it. I plan to let you know when I have a wedding reception!”
Su Yunwan gave a slight nod. “You’re so lucky. Ms. Shi is a gentle and graceful girl. It’s Bancheng’s loss for not being able to be with her,” said Su Yunwan with a smile. Fu Chengyan and Su Bancheng looked at each other and smiled simultaneously.
“Mom, Mr. Fu and Ms. Shi were married long before she knew me.”
“Oh, really?”
Su Yunwan was a little surprised and looked at Shi Nuan in suspicion. “But the Shi family seems to…”
Shi Nuan smiled awkwardly. “Only my two grandfathers know about my marriage.”
Su Yunwan now understood. “It’s up to you young people to decide for yourselves. Like these two brats, despite their age and no matter how many times I’ve nagged at them, they still don’t have a girlfriend. They’re no match for you, Mr. Fu!” Su Yunwan knew that it was the family matters of the Shi family so she didn’t dwell on it. Instead, she changed the subject and complained about Su Bancheng and Su Shaoqing.
Su Shaoqing raised his eyebrows slightly. Obviously not wanting to continue with this subject, he said, “Aunt Su, it’s getting late now. Besides, we have been standing at the gate of the Shi residence, which isn’t very appropriate!” He then shot Su Bancheng a look and the latter also seconded, “I think Mr. Fu and Mrs. Fu still have something to do.”
“Well, don’t forget to invite us to your wedding reception!”
“Of course!”
After saying goodbye to the Su family, Fu Chengyan left with Shi Nuan. Sitting in the car, the latter’s depressed mood—due to Fu Chengyan’s absence earlier—was now completely gone. Shi Nuan kept chatting happily with Fu Chengyan. “By the way, Yan, why did you go to Fu residence today? What happened there?”
Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, Fu Chengyan shook his head with a frown and said, “It’s nothing!” He paused. “The old man is just pulling a new trick.”
Sensing that Fu Chengyan didn’t want to bring it up, Shi Nuan reckoned that Old Master Fu must have asked him to divorce her. Hence, Shi Nuan lost the mood to continue with the subject. ““Have you had dinner, Yan?”
Fu Chengyan turned his head and said with a slight frown, “You didn’t eat?” His voice rose slightly in pitch but it carried an affirmative tone.
Shi Nuan was stunned for a moment before she hurriedly cooked up some excuses with a silly smile. “Umm… It’s all because there were too many guests today, and…”
“And you were pestered by the Shi family members?” Fu Chengyan sounded displeased. “You don’t need to entertain them.”
Shi Nuan heaved a sigh. “Do you think I want to?” In fact, she did avoid the Shi family members, but Jiang Yu just would not leave her alone. She had already fled to the yard but Jiang Yu still managed to find her. “Forget it. Let’s not talk about these unpleasant things. You must be hungry, too. I’m craving hot pot now. Why don’t you go with me?”
Shi Nuan reached out and shook Fu Chengyan’s arm as her head turned coquettishly with her movement. Fu Chengyan narrowed his eyes and finally shook his head to yield to her request. “Okay. Where do you want to go?”
“Just the one we usually go to. There should not be so many people now.” Shi Nuan let go of Fu Chengyan’s arm in excitement. “I’m in a good mood now, so it’s my treat!”
Fu Chengyan shook his head once again and stretched out his hand to stroke the tip of Shi Nuan’s nose. “Don’t worry. I still have the money for this; I won’t let you go hungry!”
The mood in the Fu family home changed because of Fu Chengyan’s attitude.
Although Fu Zhengyun had brought Shen Qianan back, the former was actually dissatisfied with her as well. Fu Zhengyun was particularly displeased after seeing Shen Qianan’s son. But he had no other choice now. In order to make Fu Chengyan divorce Shi Nuan, the substitute, he could only use Shen Qianan.
Once Fu Chengyan and Shi Nuan divorced, Fu Zhengyun figured he still had ways to deal with Shen Qianan.
Fu Zhengyun was of the opinion that neither Shi Nuan nor Shen Qianan was worthy of Fu Chengyan.
The mood in the Fu family was tense, to say the least. Fu Heng was obviously on Fu Chengyan’s side. Meanwhile, Ning Xin was not in good health. Although she had become a lot better after the operation, Fu Heng still did not want her to overexert herself, so he brought her upstairs to rest early.
Fu Zhengyun took Shen Qianan upstairs to have a talk, leaving Fu Sheng and Song Zhenyan sitting downstairs in silence.
Fu Sheng couldn’t describe his feelings at this moment. After all, he was the one who matchmade Fu Chengyan with Shen Qianan in the first place. But after Shen Qianan had done what she did, Fu Sheng also found it hard to continue supporting her. Coincidentally, Fu Chengyan sent her abroad at that time. Nothing happened in the past few years, so the recent turn of events caught them off guard.
“Hmph! Let me tell you, Fu Sheng. I don’t like Shi Nuan, but this Shen Qianan is even more annoying.” Song Zhenyan was irritated whenever she saw Shen Qianan and especially Yu. She was, in fact, on the same page with Fu Zhengyun in this regard.
Fu Sheng shot Song Zhenyan a puzzled look. “Are you saying that you’re taking the side of Yan and Shi Nuan?”
Song Zhenyan sneered. “Do you think I’m stupid? I won’t even bother myself with this mess of your family.”
The hatred Fu Chengyan had for her had now grown stronger. Due to what Song Jingyu and her brother did the last time, Fu Chengyan’s attitude toward Song Zhenyan became worse. Upon Shen Qianan’s return this time, Song Zhenyan was able to observe the way Fu Chengyan treated the Shen Qianan——which was far from how one would usually treat one’s ex-lover. Song Zhenyan knew that there was no possibility of them getting back together.
Fu Sheng was at a loss for words for a while before he finally nodded. “It’s good, too, that you stay out of it. Father is determined to get Yan to divorce Shi Nuan this time. The fact that he went so far as to get Qianan to come back shows just how dissatisfied he is with Shi Nuan.” But Old Master Fu was equally dissatisfied with Shen Qianan, so it appeared that neither could marry into the Fu family.
It was just that Fu Sheng didn’t quite understand one thing. Shen Qianan is not a fool, so she couldn’t have overlooked this. Why did she still choose to come back? Why did she choose to listen to Father?
Fu Sheng stared at the stairs with a solemn expression.
Looking at Fu Sheng, Song Zhenyan snorted coldly and then rose to her feet. “Whatever. It has nothing to do with me either way. It’s getting late. I’m going to bed.”
After Song Zhenyan finished speaking, she went straight upstairs to sleep, but she knew in her heart that the Fu family would soon be plagued by restlessness.
Meanwhile, Fu Zhengyun looked at the child in Shen Qianan’s arms inside his study on the second floor. After a moment of silence, he said, “Starting tomorrow, Song Zhenyan and Ning Xin will look after Yu while you will work at Shengyuan!”
Shen Qianan immediately looked up. “But Grandpa, Yu is…” Shen Qianan knitted her brows slightly. “Yu is still young. He can’t do without me!”
“Is that so?” Fu Zhengyun shot Shen Qianan an indifferent glance. “You should know that if it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be able to enter Z Nation. Ms. Shen, I hope you can understand that although you’re from the Shen family, you’ve been abandoned by them.”
Shen Qianan went pale and clenched her fists slightly. “What do you want me to do?”
Feeling pleased with her response, Fu Zhengyun raised his hand and passed a pile of documents to her. “This woman’s name is Shi Nuan, Yan’s wife!”
Shen Qianan was shocked. Carrying Yu in one hand, she took the documents from Fu Zhengyun over with her other hand. She trembled. Fu Zhengyun’s words put her on tenterhooks. “What did you say? Yan’s married?”
She knew that as a normal man, Fu Chengyan would have started seeing someone after the incident three years ago which made him loathe her. However, she never expected he would be married.
“Yes, Yan is indeed married. The purpose of me bringing you back is very simple—find a way to break them up.”
Fu Zhengyun fixed his dark eyes on Shen Qianan. “As long as you can separate them, I can set you up for life, and you can even return to the Shen family!”
Shen Qianan’s lips trembled slightly. She looked up with her shimmering dark eyes. “When did he get married? Does he…” Does he not love me anymore?
“Six months ago. Go through these documents tonight. I will take you to the office tomorrow. Remember this: do whatever you can to separate them!”
Shen Qianan returned to her room after coming out of Fu Zhengyun’s study. She opened the file after settling Yu down, but the moment she opened the file, a plain face came into view, striking her like a bolt of thunder.
Shen Qianan reached out her hand to touch her face in disbelief, and then looked at the young and tender face on the file.
She looks so much like me!
Shen Qianan’s hands trembled slightly. She wanted to touch the photo but didn’t have the courage to do so.
With her head down, her eyes never left the photo. After a long time, she looked up, brimming with tears.
Yan, Yan!
So you haven’t forgotten me? That’s why you even married a woman who looks exactly like me?
But if you still love me, why marry someone else? Even if we have the same face, we’re not the same person, are we?
Gripping the thin sheet of paper, Shen Qianan was imagining countless possibilities in her mind.
During the three years of exile by Fu Chengyan, she had been wanting to come back. She did not do so, however, because she knew what Fu Chengyan was capable of doing. She had known Fu Chengyan for many years since she was young. He was a merciless, stony-hearted man no matter whom he dealt with.
He crushed the only hope she had after she made a mistake three years ago. He even made the Shen family stay out of the matter. On the day she was sent away by him, she wished that he could visit her and tell her he regretted his decision.
But he did not visit her at all, not even once.
For three years, she had been looking for a way to return, but it was absolutely impossible! Initially, she thought that Fu Chengyan didn’t love her anymore. But now she found out that this woman with the exact same face as hers was his wife!
