What Am I
Chapter 10/14
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When Yang Chen returned to the private room, the female members of the party were partying so hard that they had invited Mo Qianni to sing on the mic, by shoving the mic in her face.
Mo Qianni seemed to be fine with such a rude behavior. These employees were rather drunk after consuming so much alcohol, and were so excited that they had completely forgotten their positions in the company.
Liu Mingyu forced a smile, while Lin Ruoxi was seated on the sofa as she silently pondered over something. When Yang Chen entered the room, the two ladies looked over together.
Yang Chen smiled and nodded, to signal the issue had already been dealt with.
Liu Mingyu first looked relieved, but soon revealed a sense of guilt on her face.
Yang Chen approached Liu Mingyu quietly and patted her shoulder. He didn’t hide his concern for the woman just because Lin Ruoxi was there. Instead of covering up everything, Yang Chen felt it was better to honestly express his thoughts.
Indifferent, Lin Ruoxi looked at Yang Chen’s action and ignored the nervous gaze she received from Liu Mingyu.
“Let’s go,” Lin Ruoxi suddenly said.
Yang Chen only sat down for a few seconds. Stunned, he asked, “Go?”
“I don’t feel to well,” Lin Ruoxi said expressionlessly.
Yang Chen smiled bitterly. There’s clearly nothing wrong with her body, it most likely had to do with her heart, he thought.
“Are you unwilling to leave?” Lin Ruoxi asked coldly. She appeared to be rather mad.
Yang Chen was not sure of how he managed to piss this madam off again. Although quite a few things had taken place tonight, there was no way he could afford not to follow her request. Otherwise he would be clearly telling her that he didn’t want to be with her anymore.
“Alright. Since you’re not feeling well, let’s go back then,” Yang Chen said before standing up. He then said to Liu Mingyu, “We have to leave now to deal with something urgent. Please don’t overthink.”
Worried. Liu Mingyu glanced at Lin Ruoxi, only to find that Lin Ruoxi was looking at her as well while shaking her head.
Based on her years of experience in Yu Lei, she naturally knew what Lin Ruoxi meant—it was none of her business.
“Then you shall send Boss Lin home. Drive safe,” Liu Mingyu said softly. Her voice almost couldn’t be heard in the room filled with loud music.
Yang Chen nodded and turned around before leaving with Lin Ruoxi.
A few of the workers who were still sober were really curious when the two left together. However, when they asked Liu Mingyu, they only got the answer that Director Yang wanted to convene with Boss Lin to deal with something urgent, but even Liu Mingyu didn’t know what had happened specifically.
On the other hand, Yang Chen who had left the nightclub Zi Yue Xuan followed behind Lin Ruoxi. The two hadn’t spoken a word during their journey to the parking area, not even when they entered the car.
The car exit the parking area and drove to the city highway.
It was currently night time. Different colors of lights filled the city, causing it to look magnificent.
The radio in the car was playing an American song in the background. Lin Ruoxi who had remained silent all this time stared outside the window for quite a while before suddenly switching off the radio in the car.
“You still refused to listen to me,” Lin Ruoxi said, dejected.
Yang Chen frowned. “What happened?”
“I heard something while I was standing by the door earlier. The man who called you ‘Brother-In-Law’ must be Tang Wan’s brother, isn’t he?” Lin Ruoxi gazed upon Yang Chen calmly.
Yang Chen smiled awkwardly. “It’s just the ramblings of a boy who talks too much. Don’t listen to his nonsense.”
Lin Ruoxi lightly shook her head. “I told you not to involve yourself with Tang Wan, but as expected, you only care about yourself and won’t listen to me… Can’t you refrain yourself? Do you have to mess with every beautiful woman?”
“Ruoxi, I really didn’t approach Tang Wan. She took the initiative to look for me instead. She has feelings for me. I can’t just kick her away, can I? I’ve also never asked her out before. We recently had to meet due to a work related partnership, so I coincidentally got to know her younger brother Tang Jue in Zhonghai,” Yang Chen said helplessly. What he had said was all the truth. He wasn’t trying to push the responsibility away to Tang Wan, but merely described the fact.
Lin Ruoxi seemed to be rather shocked, but didn’t get too happy. “Even if Tang Wan finds you, if you really have nothing going on with her, I heard Tang Jue call you brother-in-law. Moreover, I have long reminded you to stay away from Tang Wan, and I shall not stop you from looking for other women. Did you really have to go behind my back and break the one rule I set out for you? Do you know how powerful the Tang clan in Beijing is, and how complicated Tang Wan’s background is?”
Yang Chen smiled. “So you’re aware that Tang Wan is from the Tang clan in Beijing. I only found out two days ago. It looks like my wife has quietly grasped a lot of information.”
Lin Ruoxi ignored Yang Chen’s joke. “Why do you think Tang Wan managed to control Maple Group and become their CEO as a woman? Do you think Secretary Fang doesn’t dare to touch her just because he is deeply in love with her? If it isn’t for the Tang clan’s support, it’s likely that Secretary Fang would’ve taken her by now . Why else would he wait for Tang Wan for more than 20 years, without taking any actions?”
Yang Chen hadn’t thought about it before. He only understood the cause after being enlightened by Lin Ruoxi.
It was no wonder that Fang Zhongping had endured Tang Wan’s cold treatment all this time, and insisted on waiting for her for so long. Being the closest man to Tang Wan, why would he give up such an opportunity? After all, he had a child with Tang Wan—Tang Tang.
“So this means that Fang Zhongping hates me a lot now? I seem to have snatched the position that he so desperately wanted,” Yang Chen said as he giggled.
“Why are you still smiling? Not only did you offend the Fang clan, you might’ve provoked others from the Tang clan as well. You… you… you’re…”
“What am I?” Yang Chen looked at Lin Ruoxi’s reddened face. He found it amusing to look at her speechles face.
“You’re a jerk!” Lin Ruoxi exclaimed angrily.
“Aye. You should be saying ‘You’re my great husband. I don’t want anyone to take you away from me’ instead. How cute would that be,” Yang Chen said.
Lin Ruoxi had the urge to cover her head. It would even be fine if she could shrink away her head into her collar. Why is this man so shameless to say something so cheesy? she thought.
Although she had indeed wanted to say ‘you’re my husband’, she wouldn’t put it so frankly.
“Don’t worry,” Yang Chen said as he touched Lin Ruoxi’s cheek when she wasn’t paying attention. “I know why you were mad just now. But your worries are nothing. Although I don’t like to be troubled, I’m not afraid of trouble as well. I’ll take care of everything regarding Tang Wan, Fang Zhongping and the Tang clan. Everything will be fine.”
Lin Ruoxi shrank her body away and basically crouched against the door to dodge Yang Chen’s perverted hand. Shyness filled her watery eyes. The intimacy between them had significantly increased nowadays, which made her heart beat so fast that she felt that she had changed.
“I don’t have time to babysit you. As long as Aunt Guo doesn’t think it’s because of me again that you’re messing around outside all day. I have tried to stop you from doing so before,” Lin Ruoxi said as she felt wronged. What kind of a wife am I? Which wife on earth would help her husband pick lovers? she thought.
Although I didn’t fully carry out my roles as a wife, doesn’t this fellow have too many lovers?
Yang Chen fell into some kind of contemplation. He hadn’t spoken a single word during the journey to home, causing Lin Ruoxi to feel rather strange.
When they returned to the villa, the lights of the living hall were still on. The television was showing a replay of the news, but Guo Xuehua was the only one watching it. Wang Ma and Hui Lin should’ve gone to bed already.
Guo Xuehua was dressed in a pyjamas and wrapped in a blanket while her hair was let loose. Exhaustion was written all over her charming face.
Guo Xuehua turned her head around when she heard a noise, and immediately let out a pleasant smile when she saw that Yang Chen and Lin Ruoxi came home together. “You’re back. Did you guys have fun?”
“Mhm,” Lin Ruoxi hummed in acknowledgement. “Aunt Guo, you don’t have to wait of us to come back. We’re not children anymore.”
“You will always be children in my eyes. No mother in the world isn’t worried about her child. You’ll soon understand when you become a mother in the future,” Guo Xuehua said with a smile.
Lin Ruoxi had her head lowered as she didn’t dare to reply. She was afraid to be told to bear a child again. Although she was prepared to live the rest of her life with Yang Chen, she felt that having a child was still something that required more thought.
Although the two had had the experience of a married couple before, the one time had caused Lin Ruoxi alot of consequences. It should be mentioned that, in the two decades of her life before getting to know Yang Chen, she hadn’t even held hands with a guy before. Furthermore, the feelings shared between men and women were alien to her. However, she somehow gave her chastity to a hawker selling mutton skewers by the road, not to mention she had zero memory of that night. At that time, Lin Ruoxi had even wanted to jump off a building in contemplation of suicide.
Even if Yang Chen became a completely different person now, to Lin Ruoxi, she still had too many unforgettable scars, so it was only natural to feel fearful.
Yang Chen looked at Guo Xuehua with a complicated gaze.
Guo Xuehua had no clue what had happened to her son. Concerned, she asked, “Yang Chen, did something happen?”
Yang Chen took a deep breath before holding Lin Ruoxi’s relatively small hand with one of his hands, which caused her to feel shocked. Is this shameless fellow trying to force me into doing something difficult in front of Aunt Guo? she thought.
“Ruoxi, don’t call her Aunt Guo anymore. Call her Mom,” Yang Chen said.
Lin Ruoxi was dumbstruck, while Guo Xuehua was astonished as well.
Yang Chen said before kneeling down, causing Lin Ruoxi’s body to subconsciously kneel down as well.
“Mom, we didn’t get to kneel down during Chinese New Year. Now, as your children, we’ll kneel down and kowtow before you. Grandpa is right. In this world, no parents in the world owe their children anything. There’s no reason for me to hold back from calling you Mom. That’s because the person who has pointed a gun at me isn’t you, but that person instead.”
[TL note: Kowtow: kneel and touch the ground with the forehead in worship or submission as part of Chinese custom.]
As soon as Yang Chen finished speaking, he leaned toward the ground and touched his forehead to the ground.
Dumbstruck, Lin Ruoxi witnessed Yang Chen finish every step. At last, she involuntarily followed Yang Chen and kowtowed as well. As her ears and cheek turned pinkish, using a voice as soft as a flying mosquito, she said, “Mom.”
Tears flowed down Guo Xuehua’s face like pouring water. She had so much to say but was held back by the uncontrollable tears streaming down her face.