Severing the Parent-Child Relationship

Xian Jue had Ji Xi on his mind.

He planned to go home and ask his parents about the Ji Household.

He remembered them mentioning yesterday that the Ji Household was a mess.

[Could it be messier than the Lin Household?]

Xian Jue looked disdainful.

He was no longer the same person he had once been.

He was now Yan—the one holding the complete script—Xian Jue.

That sleep at the base had left him refreshed and clear-headed.

Shen Fangli pricked up her little gossip-hungry ears.

The Ji Household?

No way. Ji Xi was the school's famously poor Top Student, and now she was being told that the poor Top Student she knew was connected to the Ji Household, one of Shenzhen's wealthy families? She felt utterly deceived!

But she had run into Ji Xi's mother before. She had looked like a woman deeply worn down by poverty.

Shen Fangli shook her head and prepared to listen to Xian Jue continue.

But Xian Jue had no more to say!

So annoying.

Finish what you were saying!

Shen Fangli stretched out an Erkang hand behind Xian Jue.

Completely unaware, Xian Jue headed back to his classroom without even turning around.

For the entire afternoon, Shen Fangli was practically clawing at her heart.

Then she discovered something else.

Based on the arrangement of their classrooms,

she could hear Xian Jue's thoughts even during class.

She just had not expected this young master to actually pay attention in class.

Other than during physics, when the odds of him complaining shot straight up,

he was fully focused in every other class.

Shen Fangli silently circled physics on her timetable.

Xian Jue had suffered enough from working part-time while studying in his previous life.

Most of his energy had gone toward figuring out how to make money.

In this life, he wanted to see just how far he could go.

There were still two months until the Gaokao. He would study seriously and leave himself no regrets.

Running into Ji Xi had only left the faintest trace in his heart.

"Uncle Lu?" Xian Jue looked at the driver who had come to pick him up, both surprised and delighted.

"Didn't you take leave?"

Uncle Lu was a veteran. When Xian Jue was younger, he had learned some combat skills from him.

After leaving the military, Uncle Lu had been introduced to work for the Yan Household, and he had served them for many years.

He knew this young master well, too.

He smiled. "The eldest young master said you weren't used to the new driver, so he called me back."

Xian Jue was somewhat worried. "But didn't Big Brother say Grandma Lu was sick?"

"Thanks to you, Young Master, the eldest young master helped transfer my mother to a hospital here."

Not only was it more specialized, but it was also more convenient for him to care for her.

He had spent the day handling the transfer procedures.

He had rushed as fast as he could and only just managed to finish before the young master got out of school.

As he spoke, he naturally and familiarly took Xian Jue's backpack from his hand.

"Why is it a little heavy today?" He weighed it in his hand. It was twice as heavy as usual.

"It has the material I want to review today."

Xian Jue sat in the familiar back seat.

He immediately felt much more at ease.

Heaven knew how panicked he had been when he saw that lunatic Uncle Liu driving for Big Brother.

"What about Big Brother? Did someone else get assigned to him?"

Uncle Lu reminded him to fasten his seat belt.

Without turning around, he said, "Yes. The eldest young master's plan is to stop hiring drivers separately and select several bodyguards with good driving skills instead."

Xian Jue nodded in agreement. "They should have done that long ago."

It was indeed much safer this way.

"We hadn't considered things thoroughly enough before." Uncle Lu sounded somewhat guilty.

The Yan Household, as employers, could not have been better, but as bodyguards, they had failed to consider everything thoroughly.

Xian Jue shook his head, but he did not say anything like it was fine.

That subtle sense of guilt would make Uncle Lu even more attentive when protecting his family in the future.

Still, Big Brother's ability to act really was impeccable.

No wonder people said capitalists were especially energetic.

Xian Jue got home around the same time as usual.

He had been about to share the rest of what Shen Fangli had told him with his parents.

But the moment he walked in, he discovered that his workaholic big brother was actually home.

He could not help taking two steps back and looking up.

[I came to the right house.]

Then he raised his wrist to check the time. Mm, he had not come home late today either.

[Why did Big Brother get off work so early? He left early!]

Yan Yi'an: "..."

Yan Yi'an's face darkened. "Stop fooling around at the door. Get in here."

[Who upset Big Brother? Why does he look so awful?]

Xian Jue became anxious.

[Could Big Brother have found out that the technology was already stolen?]

[I haven't even had a chance to find an excuse to visit Big Brother's company yet!]

Seeing how Xian Jue had spun an entire chain of events in his head just from seeing his eldest brother's dark expression, Mother Yan felt helpless.

She rubbed her forehead.

Then she signaled for Yan Yi'an to rein in the gloom on his face.

She beckoned to Xian Jue. "What are you standing at the door for? Come in already."

Father Yan gave his eldest son a sympathetic look.

Gossip was fun for a moment, but being surrounded by Xian Jue's thoughts every day was far too exhausting!

In just two days, he and his wife had been conditioned by Xian Jue into keeping a senior-year schedule.

Even though Yan Yi'an had decided on his own to spend more time living at home from now on,

a hint of regret still inevitably appeared on his face.

Xian Jue did not notice the silent exchange between them.

After changing into his slippers at the door, he trotted over and sat beside Mother Yan.

Mother Yan handed him a small bowl of still-warm bird's nest soup.

She had specifically told the kitchen to keep it warm, waiting for Xian Jue to come home and soothe his throat.

Used to this, Xian Jue took it and gulped it down like a cow chewing peonies.

Then he learned another version of the Shen Household's aftermath from Big Brother.

It could not entirely be called another version.

It was simply more detailed. Xian Jue guessed that Father Shen had not wanted such filthy matters to dirty his daughter's ears.

Yan Yi'an had no such concerns.

Not only had the Yan Household never had a tradition of raising any child to be delicate and sheltered,

but Xian Jue himself probably knew even more than Yan Yi'an imagined.

Father Shen had managed to build such a large family business from nothing, so he naturally had some means.

Combined with what Shen Fangli had learned through Xian Jue's thoughts,

it was already enough for Father Shen to infer a great deal.

With Father Shen's intervention, along with the recordings involving more than a dozen girls on Second Aunt Shen's recorder,

Second Aunt Shen had spent last night at the police station.

One night had already been enough for Father Shen to investigate many things.

Whether it was working with gambling-addicted parents to introduce their daughters to wealthy men as mistresses,

or running training classes for aspiring rich wives, packaging girls from ordinary families and marrying them into wealthy households,

she took huge commissions in the middle to fill the hole created by her son's gambling.

As for Shen Fangli's cousin, by the time Father Shen and the police found her,

she was barely alive, lying on the floor of the warehouse at home.

When Second Aunt Shen saw the evidence placed before her, she wept and begged Father Shen for mercy.

She kept saying that her son could not live without her.

Yet she did not mention a single word about the daughter lying in the hospital room.

Father Shen treasured his own daughter most dearly. Even when it was a stranger's daughter, he would feel some pity.

After hearing her tearfully plead her case, he could not help cursing her out directly in front of the police. "That gambling-addicted son of yours would be better off having his legs broken and lying at home, never able to gamble again!"

"Fang Qin already told the police that you tricked her into coming home from school!"

"Just because her birth characters didn't match the Lin Household's young master's! You locked her in the storage room for days without even giving her food!"

"Is that how a mother treats her child?!"

Only after he had cursed enough did the police pretend to stop him.

They also felt that this woman deserved every word.

A perfectly healthy female college student had been tortured into that state by her own mother.

Second Aunt Shen explained, "It was because Fang Qin was too fat. I only wanted her to lose some weight."

"Bullshit!" When the police sent Fang Qin into the ambulance, her entire body had felt weightless.

She was nothing but skin and bones.

Once the ambulance arrived, the doctors gave her a nutrient injection without another word.

A young police officer beside them could not help saying, "Even if it was for weight loss, no one goes days and nights without food."

"You were trying to starve her to death."

"Besides, the doctor said that girl had quite a few injuries on her body, both old and new."

Second Aunt Shen repeatedly shook her head in denial. "I'm her mother. I was doing it for her own good. How could I possibly harm her?"

Seeing that she remained unrepentant, Father Shen had nothing more to say to her.

Fortunately, Fang Qin was not like her.

He said coldly, "Fang Qin underwent an injury assessment today. I'll sponsor her through university."

"As for you, wait for Fang Qin's declaration to sever the parent-child relationship."

"No!" Second Aunt Shen screamed hysterically. "I'm her mother! I raised her. How could she dare sever the parent-child relationship with me? She can't sever it! I'm her biological mother! My blood runs through her veins. I gave her life!"

Xian Jue: "Huh?"

Yan Yi'an nodded at his incredulous expression.

He really had heard correctly.

"Even at this point, she still thinks she's in the right?" Xian Jue wrinkled his nose.

"She was still this arrogant in front of the police?"

"Mm."

Mother Yan accepted it even faster than Xian Jue did. "She saw her daughter as property, one of the resources that could bring her money, but never as an independent person."

Father Yan also shook his head. "President Shen did the right thing. As long as that girl wants it herself, helping her out can be considered earning blessings for his own daughter."