Chapter 8: Education

Just as Shen Mo and Liu Yue were eating hotpot, drinking, bragging with the people around them, and cheerfully enjoying life, the entire upper circle of Jinghai City was in an uproar.

The real bigwigs were all guessing whether Liu Yue would take revenge on the Liu Group after withdrawing from it.

The car-crash vegetative state looked like violent murder no matter how the wealthy families viewed it.

Some were also wondering whether Shen Mo would ride Liu Yue's coattails to go back and fight for the family inheritance.

Although Liu Yue had withdrawn from the Liu Group, the real bigwigs all knew she must have some businesses of her own.

After all, unless someone was a complete idiot, they wouldn't run just one company when they had spare cash and the power to do more.

Liu Yue had been CEO of the Liu Group for six years; setting up even a single raw-materials supply plant would have let her rake in huge profits within the Liu Group.

Moreover, Liu Yue had graduated from Wudaokou Business School, and her classmates were all impressive—who knew whether she secretly held controlling stakes in some companies.

So the bigwigs in the circle were all curious what Liu Yue and Shen Mo would do next.

Some even considered whether to jump in and get a piece of the action.

Meanwhile, the second-generation heirs in the circle were all mocking Shen Jiayun.

Liu Yue's Moments post that morning was a naked announcement to everyone that she had woken up and had slept with Shen Mo, and that Shen Jiayun—the pure-love warrior who had courted her for ten years without ever winning her—was now cuckolded.

That's right, in everyone's eyes, Shen Jiayun had been cuckolded.

Shen Family.

Smack.

Shen Jiayun, sitting on the sofa, hurled his phone straight onto the floor, his eyes bloodshot, and let out an angry roar: "That bastard Shen Mo—how dare he…"

Creak.

Shen Yilong and Zhu Kailan, who had just opened the door and walked in, frowned at the furious Shen Jiayun.

Zhu Kailan glanced at the phone on the floor and said coldly, "What are you throwing?"

Shen Jiayun looked at his father and mother with a wronged expression and said miserably, "Dad, Mom, Shen Mo and Liu Yue… slept together."

Shen Yilong frowned and sat down to one side.

Zhu Kailan said unhappily, "So what? They're husband and wife, and they don't even care about their own bodies—why should you?"

Shen Jiayun panicked and hurriedly said, "But everyone in the circle is saying I've been cuckolded."

Shen Jiayun didn't care about Liu Yue; what he cared about was his own face.

Going to Liu Yue's place last night to seek reconciliation was only to recoup the losses from losing her.

After all, if he married Liu Yue, he could get half of the money Liu Yue's grandfather had left her, and gain the upper hand in the fight for the family inheritance.

One had to remember, he still had two competitors: his younger sister Shen Jiajia and his younger brother Shen Jiafeng.

Zhu Kailan gave her son a disappointed look.

"Cuckolded?"

"Haven't you long since hooked up with the illegitimate daughter Liu Xinhua keeps outside and cuckolded Liu Yue yourself?"

At this, Zhu Kailan's fury exploded, and she burst out cursing, "Your father and I are decent people—whether in love or in business, we've never done anything out of line. I think the atmosphere in our home is fine too, so how did we end up with a scumbag like you?"

"If you weren't my own son, I'd slap you across the face twice."

As a woman, Zhu Kailan had only one assessment of Shen Jiayun's behavior: absolute bastard.

Shen Jiayun was cowed by Zhu Kailan's presence and said pitifully, "But now your son is being laughed at."

"Pah." After a fierce look of contempt, Zhu Kailan said coldly, "Serves you right. Who told you to bring this on yourself?"

"But…" Shen Jiayun felt his mother didn't love him.

Shen Yilong, beside him, didn't wait for Shen Jiayun to finish; rubbing his temple, he said wearily, "Back when Yueyue had her accident and was diagnosed vegetative, I asked you whether you still wanted to marry her."

"If you did, our family would put up the money and the people to treat Yueyue's illness."

"But you chose not to."

"When Liu Xinhua came to our family about the fund matter and asked for a marriage alliance, I asked you again whether you wanted to marry."

"You said you didn't want to marry a vegetative person for money and become a laughingstock."

Shen Yilong sighed, his eyes full of disappointment as he looked at Shen Jiayun.

"Son, I gave you the chance, and you made your choice. Now all you have to do is bear the consequences."

Shen Jiayun was dumbfounded; he hadn't expected his father to take this line.

Anger rising, Shen Jiayun said resentfully, "Aren't you afraid my bad reputation will tank the stock price?"

Bang.

A vicious glint flashed in Zhu Kailan's eyes; she slammed the coffee table hard and said hatefully, "Shen Jiayun, if I find out you dare to do anything extra, I'll beat you to death."

Shen Jiayun was dumbfounded—shouldn't you be suspecting Liu Yue and Shen Mo? "Tch." At the staircase on the second floor of the villa, Shen Jiajia sauntered down. Shen Jiayun turned his head and glared at her: "What are you laughing at."

Coming into the living room and casually finding a seat, Shen Jiajia said calmly, "I'm laughing at how stupid you are."

Shen Jiayun glared.

Zhu Kailan had already run out of patience; she got up and went straight upstairs, warning before she left, "Shen Jiayun, you'd better behave yourself, go to work, come home from work, and if you want to get married, go marry Liu Xinhua's illegitimate daughter."

"If you dare to make any move against Liu Yue and Shen Mo, I'll beat you to death."

Shen Yilong glanced at Shen Jiayun and went upstairs as well.

Shen Jiayun slumped on the sofa; he had lost his nerve.

His mother Zhu Kailan really would hit him.

The day he gave up on saving Liu Yue, Zhu Kailan had beaten him up, snapping a mop handle as thick as a stick clean in half.

Shen Jiajia cast a contemptuous glance at her older brother and went upstairs too.

Sometimes she wondered—could this useless brother really be her brother?

In the bedroom, Zhu Kailan punched and kicked Shen Yilong, who took every blow.

Finally, Zhu Kailan sat on the sofa in the room and said huffily, "Shen Yilong, they're both your flesh and blood—how come Shen Mo is so smart, while Shen Jiayun and Shen Jiafeng are so stupid?"

During the month Shen Mo came to stay at the Shen Family before the wedding, Zhu Kailan could clearly sense that "simple, honest cleverness" about him.

No great talent, no world-shaking brilliance, just honest and simple enough.

For example, once she asked Shen Mo if he held a grudge. His answer was simple—no. The Shen Family had let him get the several-million inheritance left by his grandmother, plus the house in the old hometown and the one in the county seat. He was already content.

Shen Yilong sighed. What could he say?

Thinking of something else, Zhu Kailan warned, "Shen Yilong, you absolutely must not help Shen Jiayun go against Shen Mo and Liu Yue."

Shen Yilong nodded. He wasn't that low as to make a move against two children.

Seeing him agree, Zhu Kailan finally relaxed and said to herself, "Shen Mo's background isn't good, but that's not his fault. And putting him in the countryside isn't our fault either, because you and I don't love him, and I'm not his real mother."

"But he's still a child of the Shen Family, so we gave him the old lady's inheritance, gave him one chance to leap across class."

"So we can say we've done right by Shen Mo."

Zhu Kailan indicated that they didn't really care about the engagement with the Liu Family. The moment Shen Jiayun didn't want it, it could have been over.

As for Liu Xinhua's threats, the Shen Family wasn't afraid of them. The reason they kept going was truly just to give Shen Mo a chance. Otherwise, without Shen Yilong pulling strings behind the scenes, would Liu Xinhua, on Shen Mo's own, have given him five percent of Liu Group's shares plus three hundred million in assets? What a joke.

The moment Shen Jiayun got his new phone, he immediately joined a second-generation group chat.

It was full of Jinghai City's second-generation rich kids.

His sworn enemy, the Wang Family's young master—a famously nouveau-riche second-generation rich kid in Jinghai City—was in there mocking him up and down.

Wang Fugui: "Where's Big Young Master Shen? Our embarrassing Big Young Master Shen who threw away his wife and then lost his money and face—where is he?"

Wang Fugui: "Big Young Master Shen, if I were you, I'd have to beat up Shen Mo, let him know that my woman isn't someone you can touch."

Wang Fugui: "Big Young Master Shen, you wouldn't be too scared to do it, would you?"

Wang Fugui: "Big Young Master Shen, you're such a coward."

………

Shen Jiayun was furious and immediately replied, "Who says I don't dare? Just you wait. I'll definitely make Shen Mo pay."

In the hotpot restaurant, Shen Mo and Liu Yue were still bragging with the big brother and big sisters at the next table.

Only now, the big brother and big sisters had taken over bragging about their own love stories.

After all, people are all competitive.

Once they finished bragging, the next table started bragging too.

Though everyone's stories were fake, the joy at that moment was real.

Liu Yue listened with squinted eyes, her heart truly at ease—this was a kind of happiness she'd never felt before.

Looking at Shen Mo, who was already happily drunk, had stripped off his shirt, and was flexing his muscles against a bunch of big guys, Liu Yue seemed to understand why the rich young ladies in novels always liked the blond bad boys.

Dear big brothers and big sisters, if you have recommendation tickets, please toss some over.

Also, my previous books were all pretty good too—big brothers and big sisters can go check them out.

Thank you.

(End of this chapter)