Chapter 23: Liu Yue's Thoughts

Perhaps because there have been too many explosive news stories lately, the internet's memory is about as good as a goldfish's.

Shen Mo, Liu Yue, and Shen Jiayun were quickly forgotten by the public.

If it weren't for Shen Jiayun, cornered and with nowhere to turn, becoming a livestreamer on her own — appraising treasures online, chatting about wealthy family life, telling stories about fake socialites — everyone would have nearly forgotten her.

If it weren't for Shen Mo still updating his account every few days, recording his happy life, everyone would have nearly forgotten this live-in son-in-law too.

In the blink of an eye, the New Year arrived. Liu Xinhua, relying on his shamelessly thick skin, came to Ms. Qin Hao's place to mooch a meal.

To show his sincerity, the old fellow transferred another five percent of his shares to Liu Yue.

Ms. Wenya mocked him, asking why he didn't just transfer all of it. Liu Xinhua, without a trace of shame on his face, said: "If I transferred it all, how would I come mooch meals next year?"

As for Liu Xinhua coming to mooch meals and transferring shares to Liu Yue, Shen Mo thought it was perfectly normal — even Ms. Qin Hao and the others thought it was perfectly normal.

After all, when a man discovers that of the dozens of illegitimate sons and daughters he's fathered outside, most of them belong to other men, and only two are actually his own, anyone would start to cherish his original wife and daughter.

Shen Mo watched Liu Xinhua trotting along behind Ms. Qin Hao and Ms. Wenya, eagerly currying favor, and couldn't help but wonder curiously to himself.

【How did Shen Jiayun find out about this? By the way, was it really just a coincidence?】

Liu Yue, working beside him, shot Shen Mo a look. Of course it was a coincidence.

A month ago, Shen Jiayun — who made a living by recording her own part-time work experiences, her hard struggles, and occasionally dishing wealthy-family gossip — suddenly brought up the topic of wealthy-family illegitimate children during a livestream.

Shen Jiayun recounted in detail an old joke about a wealthy family being carved up.

A magnificently arrogant CEO, wanting to show his fairness, had split his estate equally among dozens of illegitimate children before he died.

But to his utter shock, three-quarters of those illegitimate sons and daughters weren't his.

The unlucky CEO had toiled his whole life, only to make a wedding dress for someone else.

That livestream clip even made the trending searches, and some second-generation rich kids confirmed it, saying it was a true story.

Then a certain CEO thought of Liu Xinhua and privately asked him: "Old Liu, are yours real or fake?"

Liu Xinhua was stunned, so he went and investigated. Good lord — apart from Liu Qingqing and a little daughter his secretary had just given birth to, all the others, including Liu Bai, weren't Liu Xinhua's seed.

This result nearly drove Liu Xinhua to death with rage. First he kicked Liu Bai out, then he sued all those mistresses number three, four, and five.

Many people jumped out to scold Liu Xinhua for being a sore loser and shameless. Liu Xinhua shot back without any courtesy: "I'm already the biggest joke around — why would I still care about face?"

That unlucky kid Liu Bai, before leaving, also smuggled a lot of confidential information out of Liu Group, and was sued by Liu Xinhua and sent straight in. The main idea: if I'm going to embarrass myself, none of you are getting off easy either — equal-opportunity collateral damage for everyone.

Of course, when some people are unlucky, others are happy.

Liu Qingqing's mother and Liu Xinhua's secretary both successfully got large sums of property from Liu Xinhua because their children actually carried Liu Xinhua's blood — after all, they had been loyal.

Liu Qingqing even inherited an entertainment company and several hotels from Liu Xinhua.

After all, everyone agrees Liu Xinhua is a scumbag, but the man is genuinely capable — otherwise he couldn't have kept Liu Group running all this time.

Apart from Liu Group, Liu Xinhua personally still had plenty of real estate, shares, investments, savings, and companies.

Liu Xinhua's status with Ms. Qin Hao really is lower than Shen Mo's.

At the dinner table, when Liu Xinhua questioned Shen Mo about why he didn't find a proper job to support his family, Ms. Qin Hao gave a cold laugh and shot back, telling him not to ask the impossible. Shen Mo's education, qualifications, and résumé — none of them are anywhere near good enough to support Liu Yue. Given that, he might as well be a house husband. Shen Mo is happy, and Liu Yue is happy too.

Shen Mo couldn't help but grumble inwardly. 【Beautiful mother-in-law, I know you're sticking up for me, but actually, you really didn't have to.】

The gentle Ms. Wenya said with a smile that this is what people mean by "each to his own ambition" — not every man has to work hard at a career. Besides, Shen Mo takes excellent care of Liu Yue.

As the person who had interacted with Shen Mo and Liu Yue the most over the past half year, Wenya grew more and more satisfied with this son-in-law the more she looked at him.

Handsome, good-natured, and astonishingly good to Liu Yue — he even does Liu Yue's manicures for her.

Shen Mo gave Ms. Wenya a grateful look.

【See, that's a high-EQ answer — when you lack ability, you call it "each to his own ambition."】

Liu Yue, hearing Shen Mo's inner thoughts, smiled and picked up a piece of braised spare rib for him, saying sweetly: "Hubby, eat more meat — after all, you've worked hard too."

"Also, don't take it to heart. As long as you don't cheat, you've already beaten plenty of so-called successful men."

Liu Xinhua felt wronged, thinking that his five percent of shares hadn't been worth it — not a single bit of positive emotional value, all negative.

Liu Xinhua sighed, looking wilted, and said: "Stop piling on, I apologize, alright?"

Nobody paid him any attention.

After a while, once Liu Xinhua had self-adjusted, he turned to Liu Yue with a grin: "Daughter, when are you coming back to Liu Group?"

Liu Yue rolled her eyes, utterly speechless. She really couldn't understand how Liu Xinhua managed to be so thick-skinned and so mentally resilient. It was obvious not a single person at this table wanted him here, yet he could still brazenly sit down and chat with everyone — that was pretty impressive.

After finishing her inner grumbling, Liu Yue said with a blank expression: "I'm not going back. I'm going to start a business first. You play with Liu Group yourself — that way you can earn even more money to spend on Liu Qingqing's mom and Liu Yuwei's mom."

Her words were still full of digs, but Liu Xinhua didn't mind. Rubbing his hands together, he said with a cheerful smile: "So what kind of business are you planning to start? Need investment? Dad will invest in you."

Slap.

Qin Hao slammed her chopsticks on the table and snapped: "Liu Xinhua, my daughter doesn't need your measly little offerings."

Grandfather and Ms. Wenya both looked at Liu Xinhua with contempt. Don't think we don't know what you're trying to do with that "investment" — you just want the founder's shares and a free ride, right? Shen Mo tried to shrink his own presence. When gods fight, he had to be careful.

Liu Xinhua said aggrievedly: "Can't I just have had a conscience awakening and genuinely want to invest in my daughter?"

Heh. Nobody present bought it.

Liu Yue stared at Liu Xinhua for a moment, took a sip of soup, and sighed: "I'm planning to go into media. I've looked into the livestream e-commerce industry — it's a mess right now, but there'll definitely be a big opportunity in the future. If we grab it, we can take off directly."

Liu Yue's calm voice left Liu Xinhua stunned. Livestream e-commerce?

That industry is worth getting into?

Liu Bai's media company was already doing that, and it was totally underperforming.

To outsiders it looks very profitable, but once you factor in buying traffic, shipping costs, mass returns, giving fans perks, product selection, contracts, and many other aspects, the costs aren't small at all.

"Daughter, I don't think this line of work is going to work."

Liu Xinhua frowned.

Shen Mo was also puzzled.

【How does one even do livestream e-commerce?】

(End of chapter)