Lack of Love

After spending a few days adjusting his daily routine, Zhong Qiran also started going to work.

He was now an employee of Yan Corporation, and everyone knew that he was the spouse of CEO Yan. The fact that Yan Hao married a man was not new news, and now that they had reconciled, the news quickly spread throughout the business world.

When Zhong Qiran first came to the company to see Yan Hao, he inevitably faced some questioning looks from the employees. However, recently  hardly anyone dares to look at him with such eyes. It’s not because he had become Yan Hao’s spouse, but because Zhong Qiran revived a cooperative project that was causing losses for the company. Although everyone played a part , he was the one who played the most crucial role in the decision-making process. At the time, he was in Country M,  he constantly monitored the domestic market trends and stayed up all night preparing several analytical reports, proposing improvement and adjustment plans. It turned out that those data accurately hit the key points and greatly helped.

In the modern era that values competence, while background may have an enhancing effect, true ability and knowledge are even more important. The process of gradually moving towards success may encounter various criticisms and objections along the way, but as long as one perseveres until the end, those voices slowly disappear.

Zhong Qiran’s current situation was somewhat similar to this. It further convinced him that blocking Yan’s mother’s hurtful words with his own achievements was the best way.

Although he didn’t  have the far-sightedness and ambition like Yan Hao, he could be a great support system to him.

Yan Hao was impartial in his work. Wherever Zhong Qiran was meant to be positioned, he was placed accordingly with no biasness. Yan Hao didn’t provide any special treatment or raise his salary without reason. When they were working, they interacted as boss and subordinate, and it was only after work that they had their usual interactions.

At first, Zhong Qiran was a bit uncomfortable, but he gradually adapted. He even appreciated Yan Hao’s professional and fair arrangements, which left no room for gossip. The more leverage he had, the more confident he felt when facing Yan’s mother.Although Yan’s mother was not involved in business, the upper-class society had its exclusive social circle, which was not lacking in gossip. So even if Yan’s mother was not aware of the details, she knew what major events had occurred in the business world recently.

 The most frequent thing she had heard was about her son’s achievements, turning a cooperation project that incurred a 1.3 billion loss into a profit within just six months.

When talking about her own son, she naturally wore a proud expression. However, whenever Yan Hao’s name was mentioned, it was often accompanied by Zhong Qiran’s name, and Yan’s mother’s expression would become somewhat peculiar.

Back then, when Yan Hao privately married a man, Yan’s mother became the object of sympathy for many. At that time, she had many complaints in her heart, and she took the opportunity to express them, receiving unanimous agreement and frequent criticisms of Zhong Qiran. However, now that Zhong Qiran has stepped forward, one by one, they all forgot what they said before and come to congratulate them, even saying that the Yan family had a prosperous male daughter-in-law.

Yan’s mother felt quite uncomfortable in her heart and secretly thought, “That’s because Zhang Qian didn’t come from their family, that’s why they could speak such words.” She felt that it was foolish of her to confide in them, and she also felt unlucky to have encountered a persistent and cunning male fox spirit. She was upset and after returning home, she no longer bothered to put on a good face for Zhong Qiran, actively picking faults with him.

Zhong Qiran remained silent when scolded, but Yan’s father, on the other hand, listened as Yan’s mother became more and more unreasonable and reprimanded her a few times. Yan’s mother would then angrily slam the door and give Yan’s father the silent treatment.

Zhong Qiran looked at Yan Hao with some embarrassment, then glanced at his father, not knowing what to say. He knew that initially it might have provoked Yan’s mother, but he didn’t expect it to affect Yan’s father as well.

Yan Hao held his hand, gesturing for him not to worry about it.

Yan’s father casually said, “It’s fine. Let her be angry for a while and she will eventually cool down.”

After Yan Hao and Zhong Qiran returned to their room, Yan’s father immediately put down the newspaper and went back to his own room. As soon as he entered, he saw Yan’s mother sulking, “At your age, how can you throw such a childish tantrum?”

Yan’s mother grumbled discontentedly, “You never defended that male fox spirit before what happened?.”

Yan’s father dealt with the matter at hand saying, “You’re speaking too harshly.”

Yan’s mother had been holding in this anger for a long time and wanted to vent, “I’m doing it for the sake of our son. You actually agreed to let that outsider move in.”

“What else could we have done? Are you planning to have a life-or-death battle with him, making our son heartbroken, and then leave him half-dead in bed like last time?”

At that point, Yan’s mother became even more resentful, “Our son has become like this, and it’s all because of him.”

Yan’s father sighed helplessly, “Let’s speak reasonably. Our son did it willingly; he wasn’t forced.”

“But how can two men…?” Yan’s mother couldn’t say the rest.

Yan’s father didn’t know how to offer better advice, “Ultimately, it’s up to the two of them to live their lives. Even if you help our son choose the best partner, he might not like them and might even end up resenting you.”

Yan’s mother fell silent, keeping her discontent to herself.

After returning to the room, Zhong Qiran reflected on whether he had done something wrong. He thought that even if Yan’s mother disliked him, he didn’t expect it to cause conflicts between Yan Hao’s parents. However, given Yan’s mother’s bias against him, it seemed unlikely to avoid conflict. He suddenly hesitated about whether he should continue, but if he stopped, everything would just go back to square one.

Yan Hao sat next to him for a while and, seeing that he hadn’t spoken, asked, “Are you thinking about my parents’ argument?”

“Mm.”

Yan Hao held his chin and turned his head towards him. “Why bother stressing yourself about it? Why not discuss it with me?”

Zhong Qiran looked at him blankly for a moment and couldn’t come up with an answer. He was just so used to thinking on his own that he hadn’t even considered talking to Yan Hao about it.

Yan Hao threatened him with a straight somewhat joking face, “If you don’t speak, I’ll kiss you.”

 Zhong Qiran was startled but didn’t say anything

Yan Hao looked at him for a moment and then let go of his hand. “I don’t want you to worry about these things on your own. They are my parents, and they will be your parents in the future too.”

“In the future?” Zhong Qiran was a bit puzzled. Didn’t their current situation already count as being together?

Yan Hao said, “I haven’t found a better way to put your mind at ease than marriage.”

Zhong Qiran understood that Yan Hao had taken his previous complaints to heart. In fact, marriage wasn’t a necessity for him , as the formality was superficial compared to the importance of mutual understanding. But he didn’t plan on explaining further. As a small punishment, he would let Yan Hao worry about it for a while.

Yan Hao suddenly changed the topic again, “You don’t need to worry about them, and you don’t need to worry about me. Whatever you want to do, just go ahead and do it.”

Zhong Qiran glanced at him but remained silent.

“If you want to change the current situation, conflicts are unavoidable.”

“I know.”

“And also…”

“Yes?”

” make sure you remember to consult me next time when something comes up or makes you stressful.”