Lack of Love

 

When the two of them returned home, it was already midnight.

Before entering the house, Yan Hao noticed that the lights inside were off and he breathed a sigh of relief, indicating that his strict father and mother had already gone to bed. However, as soon as they entered, the living room light suddenly turned on with a click, and his mother stood at the entrance, looking at the two who came back late.

Zhong Qiran didn’t have time to think and his immediate reaction upon seeing Yan’s mother was to put his hand on his neck. This action was too obvious and awkward, which only drew more attention from Yan’s mother. She asked, “What happened to your neck?”

Yan Hao had left a visible hickey below his ear, a place where neither his hair nor clothes could cover it. Yan’s Mother had a strong intuition that something was wrong from Zhong Qiran’s reaction. Right then, she wished she could catch Zhong Qiran red-handed. “Let me see.”

Zhong Qiran hesitated for a moment. “It’s not necessary, it’s nothing…”

He was able to boldly kiss Yan Hao in front of his mother before because it was just a simple kiss. But this time it was different. As soon as she saw the hickey, it became clear why they had returned home late. They had been fooling around in the office, and he couldn’t imagine how this conservative woman would react if she found out.

The more Zhong Qiran refused, the more suspicious Yan’s Mother became. However, her sharp eyes still caught a glimpse of some swollen bruises through the gaps between Zhong Qiran’s fingers.

Yan’s Mother was not an ignorant young girl, so she naturally knew what it was. However, contrary to Zhong Qiran’s expectations, she didn’t immediately confront him as usual. Instead, she let out a startled low exclamation, as if she had been shocked. After all, she still had some manners and couldn’t bring herself to speak explicit words. She could only mutter in her mind about how shameless Zhong Qiran was. Yan Hao understood his mother well and was genuinely angered by this reaction.

Yan’s mother glanced at the two of them and didn’t say anything in the end. She angrily returned to her room.

Zhang Qiran also knew that Yan’s mother had known that it was a hickey so he stopped hiding it and even lightly hit Yan Hao next to him.

Yan Hao grabbed Zhang Qiran’s hand, soothingly patted it twice, and led him back to the room.

The more Yan’s mother thought about it, the angrier she became. It was even more frustrating to suppress her anger without expressing it. Yan Hao used to call and inform her whenever he returned late, but today he didn’t even bother to call. When she saw the obvious kiss mark under Zhang Qiran’s ear and thought about the possibility of them engaging in those activities while she was making the phone call, she felt angry and embarrassed, not knowing what to say.

When Yan’s father saw his wife sulking, he couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”

Yan’s mother glared at her husband, wanting to hit him in anger. “Look at the two of them, your good son… fooling around outside, completely unacceptable…”

Yan’s father listened to the whole story and just uttered a faint “Oh,” without much reaction. Although the office was a workplace, fantasizing about doing it there was a dream that every man had, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Yan’s mother exploded when she saw Yan’s father’s indifferent attitude. “Why are you so unbothered… tell me, did you also do it before marrying me?”

Yan’s father couldn’t stand her behavior and shouted, “Nonsense, why are you bringing me into this?”

Yan’s mother persisted, “Otherwise, how could you tolerate their misconduct and let that person move into our house? Did our son say something to you? Or did that little fox offer you some benefits?”

Yan’s father became annoyed by her, and he shouted, “No, why are you making baseless accusations against me?”

That night, the couple slept back-to-back, ignoring each other.

Yan’s mother couldn’t sleep well and became even more unhappy, intensifying her resentment towards Zhang Qiran. Especially when she saw the band-aid under Zhang Qiran’s ear the next morning, covering up those marks, she became even more furious.

Women tend to be more talkative, and when they’re unhappy, they want to talk to someone. She went to a few sisters who often gathered together to drink tea and vented about the matter.

People say that family matters should not be aired in public, but she never considered Zhang Qiran as part of the family and wished to drive him out.

Although the sisters gathered to chat about gossip, they didn’t have deep bonds with each other and the affairs of other people’s families were just entertainment for them and not something they cared about.

Yan’s mother knew this, but she really  wanted  to share her grievances. She didn’t care whether others genuinely cared or not.

However, the fact that she had a son-in-law in the house was quite new to these wealthy women. One of them came up with a wicked idea, “Since women are not Yan’s type, why not find a man? find a man to get in between Yan and Zhang. After all, marriages in this country are not binding, and no one will say anything.”

Yan’s mother was worried and said, “I’ve thought about that too, but that’s not the issue. I want to address the fundamental problem, to change my son’s taste. What if things get worse?”

“This matter needs to be approached gradually. You can’t be too forceful at the beginning.”

“Yes, and didn’t you say that that person with the surname Zhang is relentless? Dealing with such a person requires this kind of approach to be effective.”

“I have a distant relative who used this method. They found a stand-in and drove away those fox spirits who wanted to marry into a wealthy family. As long as you offer more money, you can get what you want.”

“Then, make that person dump your son later. Your son might return to the right path.”

“But don’t let your emotions soften just because of your son’s sadness…”

The sisters discussed the matter as if it were serious.

Yan’s mother had some doubts initially, but she was deceived by their words. Previously, she could rely on Yan’s father, but now even her own husband was indifferent. She could only rely on herself.

According to their discussed plan, she was to find a boy who resembled Zhang Qiran in appearance or personality and make him get close to Yan Hao. This way, Yan Hao would develop feelings towards him, create opportunities for them to interact, drive Zhang Qiran out of the house first, and then pay the boy to leave. Yan’s Mother was originally at a loss and thought about finding someone to vent her frustrations to and be done with it. But the more she thought about it, the more she felt that this plan was feasible.

Although it meant sacrificing her own son, she was very selective when it came to candidates. They had to be clean and pure boys, preferably with a legitimate reason to get close to Yan Hao, so as not to arouse suspicion from both of them.

Yan Mu didn’t have such connections, so she asked the sisters present, “Do any of you have any recommended candidates?”

 

1

Yan Mu is causing trouble again.

Let’s briefly go through the plot. We’ll get into the details later.

 

1

Yan Mu is causing trouble again.

Let’s briefly go through the plot. We’ll get into the details later.