No one could see whether Qiao Lian was still crying.
Summer clothes were thin, and the damp warmth soaking into Lin Sanyuan’s chest told her just how hard she had been crying.
It didn’t feel good.
After a long while, Qiao Lian, who still had her head buried deep, shifted slightly. Her hoarse little voice sounded pitiful. “You asked why I’m crying… it’s a bit embarrassing. Can I not say?”
“Alright, alright, if you don’t want to say, then don’t.” The hand resting on her shoulder paused.
Qiao Lian twisted a little and hugged Lin Sanyuan’s waist tightly, mumbling, “Lin Sanyuan, I think I’m done for.”
She rarely acted this willful, this hard to reason with, this inexplicable.
Lin Sanyuan understood, feeling helpless, and could only continue soothing her, lightly patting her shoulder in a steady rhythm.
Qiao Lian burrowed into her arms, like a small animal sniffing around.
Lin Sanyuan could clearly feel her nosing around against her.
What was she smelling?
If she weren’t a girl…
That would feel a bit creepy.
Strange.
But since Qiao Lian was crying, Lin Sanyuan didn’t say anything.
The hot pot on the table bubbled away, and Lin Sanyuan’s stomach growled audibly.
Qiao Lian sighed and slowly let go of her.
Lin Sanyuan reached for tissues to wipe her face and nose, but when she looked, Qiao Lian’s face was spotless.
Everything had ended up on her clothes.
Qiao Lian had stopped crying, though she was still hiccuping slightly. She didn’t forget to pick up a slice of fatty beef and place it in Lin Sanyuan’s bowl. “I’m done crying. You should eat first.”
Lin Sanyuan was genuinely hungry. After comforting her, she focused on eating.
Qiao Lian didn’t seem to have much of an appetite. Resting her cheek on one hand, she tilted her head and watched Lin Sanyuan eat, sniffing softly. “You looked really nice today. It’s a pity I barely got to look before that idiot beat you into a swollen mess.”
“Hey, I helped you out and you’re making fun of me?”
“I’m not,” Qiao Lian said seriously. “You really were cool just now.”
Lin Sanyuan shot her a smug sideways glance. “Cool, right? I think so too. If I were a guy, loads of girls would want to marry me.”
Thanks to Qiao Lian, she finally experienced a fight in her life, at the age of twenty-four.
Though it would be a bit embarrassing if it got out.
She was an adult, after all, it felt like she had bullied a high school student.
Qiao Lian laughed, her body swaying. “Even if you’re not a guy, there are still people who’d want to marry you.”
“Who?”
Qiao Lian blinked her tear-bright eyes and said, against her better judgement, “Miss Tang.”
Lin Sanyuan leaned back theatrically, raising a finger and shaking it. “No, no, I think you’ve got some kind of filter on me. Between me and Miss Tang, she’s definitely the cooler one.”
Even if, in some far-off scenario, they really could end up together…
She would probably be the one marrying Tang Hengzhi.
Qiao Lian felt annoyed at how dense she was. She huffed, cheeks puffing out. “So are you about to give me a lecture on lesbian dynamics? You don’t need to. Anyone can tell Miss Tang is the top and you’re the bottom.”
Why was she suddenly angry?
Lin Sanyuan frowned. “What’s your problem? Why can’t I be a softer, more passive top? You just said I was cool.”
Strange.
When had she become so comfortable admitting she was into women?
And here she was, discussing top and bottom roles with a teenager.
Something was seriously off.
“No,” Qiao Lian said firmly, her expression serious. “You have to be the bottom. Don’t even think about being the top. You’re cuter that way.”
They couldn’t overlap roles.
Lin Sanyuan felt wronged. “Are you looking down on me? And wait… why do you care so much about whether I’m top or bottom? You’re not even into girls.”
Qiao Lian choked on her words.
This idiot!
“Don’t protect me or fight for me anymore. It puts me in a difficult position.”
Qiao Lian felt like she was playing a game, finally choosing a route to follow, only to find the character stats didn’t match.
That wouldn’t do.
Lin Sanyuan had to stay the bottom, otherwise she’d have no way to clear the game.
Lin Sanyuan clicked her tongue, picking up a piece of soft, boiled potato and blowing on it.
“Why shouldn’t I protect you? Qiao Lian, you should be honest with yourself. After all, you called me ‘mum’ today.”
Qiao Lian glared at her, face flushed, a faint pink spreading down her neck.
“Why are you glaring at me?” Lin Sanyuan placed the cooled potato into her bowl, deliberately teasing her. “Wasn’t it you calling me ‘mum’ today?”
Qiao Lian took a deep breath, turning her bright red face to the side, cheeks puffed in annoyance.
Lin Sanyuan found her amusing, crying one moment, laughing the next, now blushing.
“Say something. Why are you so quiet? If you’ve forgotten how to talk, then start by calling me ‘mum’ again.”
“Lin Sanyuan.”
Qiao Lian suddenly said her full name, turning to look at her. One hand rested lightly over the pocket holding that mysterious little pink box, her gaze carrying a hint of danger.
“Do you know, the way you’re teasing me right now is very…” inviting trouble.
She dragged out the last word slightly.
Lin Sanyuan instinctively sensed something off and leaned back a little. “What?”
Qiao Lian slowly withdrew her hand from her pocket and smiled faintly. “Nothing. Just eat your food.”
***
Lin Sanyuan never expected that the fight in the hot water room, which had turned into a full-on brawl, would be secretly recorded and uploaded online.
After a few days of circulation, the video went viral.
The captions were all over the place.
The most popular one read: “Mysterious tycoon’s young wife fights male student at parent-teacher meeting to defend her stepdaughter.”
What the hell?!
Lin Sanyuan’s eyes widened so much they nearly popped out of their sockets.
She had somehow become someone’s kept wife.
Soon, people in the comments began digging into Qiao Lian’s family background.
They even posted a photo of her father, name: Qiao Songming, chairman of Songxia Group, vice chairman of the Steel Industry Association, a well-known entrepreneur in Huacheng.
Lin Sanyuan stared in disbelief.
Was this for real?
Straight out of one of those “rich girl living in my house” stories.
The comment thread exploded.
“Are rich men’s wives really struggling this much now? She even has to attend her stepdaughter’s parent-teacher meeting?”
“Is no one curious why they started fighting? And that fighting style, just swinging a watermelon?”
“She was defending her stepdaughter, right? This is amazing! That guy must be close to six feet tall. What kind of wife is this fierce? Haha, no wonder she got hit back.”
“Wait, how can a stepmother and stepdaughter get along this well? That ‘mum’ sounded so sincere.”
“She must have been really angry, her eyes were practically bulging.”
Someone replied, “Fake, surely. People can act so well these days. For money, they’ll pretend anything to please their sponsor. She’s a stepdaughter, not her own child. Why would she care that much?”
“Come on, the stepmother could be acting, but the daughter’s reaction wasn’t fake. When that guy punched her, the girl’s tears came instantly, she was completely shattered.”
“The way the daughter looked at that guy, she wanted to kill him.”
“No one shipping this ‘stepmom’ trope? The stepmother looks so young, probably younger than the daughter. Could it be one of those stories where she’s actually after the daughter and got close through the dad?”
“Damn, that’s spicy. Honestly, they look good together. In certain circles, people call their partners ‘mum’ too.”
“Oh my god, is it that kind of ‘mum’? The daughter looks more like the dominant type, not exactly a good girl.”
“Guys, you’re in the wrong place, this isn’t a novel review section.”
Halfway through reading, Lin Sanyuan felt her brain being polluted by bizarre ideas. She flung her phone away like it was burning, pressing her fingers against her philtrum and taking deep breaths.
Before the screen could go dark, her familiar whale-call ringtone rang out.
She crawled over and picked up the phone.
It was Lin Shengsheng.
“Holy crap, sis! When did you secretly get married and become someone’s kept wife?”
Lin Sanyuan pinched the bridge of her nose again, weakly protesting. “If I say I didn’t, would you believe me?”
“You attended her parent-teacher meeting! She even called you ‘mum’!”
Right.
She would never joke around like that again.
Being confronted like this by family was too embarrassing.
Using the most fluent speech of her life, Lin Sanyuan explained everything from beginning to end.
“So you picked up a drunk woman, took her home, and after she removed her makeup, she turned out to be a high school student. She has two dads and two homes but refuses to go back, instead staying at your place for months. No one attended her parent-teacher meeting, so you went for her, heard someone insulting her, got fired up, claimed her as your daughter on the spot, and beat up the guy harassing her?”
Was his brain broken, or had the world gone mad?
His usually low-energy sister was this hot-blooded?
“That’s exactly it.”
Silence stretched on.
After a long pause, his voice came back, strained. “Sis, if you secretly got married, you don’t have to hide it from me. I get it, whether it’s for money, status, or emotional support, you got something out of it. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. No need to make up such a story. Your explanation is very logical, maybe too logical.”
Lin Sanyuan went quiet, then said, “Think about it. A rich chairman can have any woman he wants. Why would he secretly marry me? Do I look like I belong in that world?”
“When you put it that way, you’re right.”
He was completely convinced.
Lin Sanyuan wanted to strangle him.
“Alright, if it’s a misunderstanding, then fine. The video will die down soon anyway. Besides, you dressed up that day. Even if mum and dad see it, they probably won’t recognise you.”
Just after hanging up, another call came in from He Ye.
“San’er! That’s you in the video, right? I heard you’ve gotten into that ‘stepmom trope’ stuff. There are even fanfics online now. So detailed and intense. Don’t tell me you actually experienced it and wrote it yourself under a pseudonym? Weren’t you dealing with that ex you slept with? How did you switch tastes so fast? I knew something was going on between you and that student. You even tried to play it cool with me!”
