The young couple hadn't seen each other for two or three days due to work and other reasons. Was that a big deal?
It was quite normal.
But—
What if one of them had just returned from the brink of death?
Fear.
An unspeakable fear instantly overwhelmed Su Ziyu's emotions.
She jumped up from the recliner and hugged Li Qianfan tightly.
Her grip was so strong, and as her chin rested on his shoulder, tears began to flow uncontrollably.
"It's alright now, it's all over."
Li Qianfan gently stroked her hair with his left hand and patted her back with his right, comforting her in a low voice.
Secretly, however, he was quite pleased.
Su Ziyu's instinctive reaction made him realize that perhaps he wouldn't need to resort to acting to break down her damnable pride and inferiority complex.
He didn't know how long passed.
Su Ziyu's tears finally stopped, and she whispered, "Little husband."
"Hmm?"
"Our mom hit me. She hit me really hard."
"How could she do that?"
Li Qianfan exclaimed indignantly, "Even if she's our mom, she can't just hit my wife without my permission!"
Su Ziyu, however, said, "You're secretly laughing gleefully."
"I am not!"
Li Qianfan quickly suppressed his laughter and raised his hand to the sky, "If I'm secretly laughing gleefully, then may my grandfather and father both get diarrhea tonight."
(Shortly after sunset, two men began to curse and grumble, frequently running to the restroom.)
Su Ziyu suddenly asked, "Did Miss Murong turn you into a man?"
What was bound to come, had finally come!
Li Qianfan secretly sneered but remained silent.
Su Ziyu continued, "I also heard that you stayed at Lan Yunhai's mother's place last night."
Li Qianfan frowned, "Who told you?"
He hadn't told Mo Hongti where he stayed last night.
"Our mom told me."
Su Ziyu said in a low voice, "Our mom was worried about you and asked acquaintances in the provincial capital to inquire about your whereabouts. Among her acquaintances, one is a management member of Yufeng Mountain Villa, and another is a high-level executive at Lanye Beauty Club."
What a coincidence!
Li Qianfan sighed, "Alas. Wife, do you believe me when I say I didn't touch those two women?"
Su Ziyu, however, countered, "Why didn't you?"
Li Qianfan—
Su Ziyu added, "Lan Yunhai dared to snatch me and our mom. Why can't you snatch his wife and his mother?"
Li Qianfan didn't know what to say.
He genuinely couldn't tell whether Su Ziyu was supporting him or complaining that he actually did such a thing!
He could only say, "Wife, I didn't touch them anyway."
Su Ziyu then said, "And your names are tattooed on their butts and necks."
Li Qianfan's gaze darkened considerably.
Very few people knew that he had left his name on Chu Yazhi and Miss Murong.
Chu Linfeng, Murong He, Li Xingtang, Jing Ran, and the two involved parties.
So, who had leaked this information?
Li Xingtang and the others definitely wouldn't.
Jing Ran certainly wouldn't tell Su Ziyu to provoke her.
And as for Chu Yazhi and Miss Murong, the two involved parties, as long as they had any shred of dignity, they would never tell anyone.
Chu Linfeng and Murong He!
Or rather, one of them.
If it were one of them, then it could only be Chu Linfeng!
Chu Linfeng wanted to use the tattoos to tightly bind the Chu family's daughter and the young master of Longxu.
This was also why Chu Linfeng had specifically instructed Chu Yazhi before he left that if she wasn't accepted by Li Qianfan, the Chu family wouldn't accept her either.
"Actually, you don't need to deny it."
Su Ziyu released Li Qianfan, but then cupped his face with both hands, appearing very magnanimous. "Originally, this is what I hoped you would do."
Wife, you're so hypocritical.
Li Qianfan secretly sneered but didn't want to explain anymore.
Even if he were a fool, he would know that the more Su Ziyu cared about these things, the more it proved her love for him.
If she didn't love him—
Would she care who the neighbor Mr. Wang associated with!?
"Why is your neck covered in dirt?"
Su Ziyu tidied his collar, frowning, "You look like you just crawled out of the ground. Go take a bath quickly, I'll make dinner. Mom and Dad will probably be home soon."
I did crawl out of the ground, it's not just a likeness.
Li Qianfan muttered inwardly and nodded, saying, "Okay."
He knew very well that Su Ziyu wasn't asking him about his incredible prowess now because she wanted to wait until Old Su and his wife returned to ask together.
"Whether Qianfan did it or not, if he took those two women, he still loves me. Moreover, doing so was also my intention. I absolutely cannot feel upset about this. As for his background."
Thinking of this again, a question she had pondered countless times in the past few days, Su Ziyu's eyes visibly dimmed as she murmured to herself.
But she quickly cheered up.
She walked into the bedroom and picked up the clothes Li Qianfan had left on the floor when he went to shower.
Carrying the clothes to the washing machine, she habitually patted the pockets to ensure nothing inside would be washed with them.
Then—
Su Ziyu stared at the black lace two-piece set for a long time, then gently thumped her chest.
"Little husband, how could you bring this home?"
She thumped her chest again.
Wait.
It looked like there was embroidery on the two-piece set.
Many girls liked to embroider their own names or their lover's names on their intimate apparel (this was similar in nature to passionately in-love couples tattooing each other's names on their bodies).
Su Ziyu herself had once considered whether to embroider Qianfan's name on her small clothes to express her love for him.
Black lace.
Yellow characters.
Zi Yan—
The two-piece set was embroidered with the words "Zi Yan" in thread of the same color.
"This is definitely not Miss Murong's or Chu Yazhi's."
Su Ziyu bit her lip firmly and quietly placed the two-piece set next to the washbasin.
Foreign items, especially intimate apparel, certainly couldn't be put into her washing machine.
No matter how magnanimous Su Ziyu was, she would never wash this kind of thing for someone else!
As night fell, Old Su and his wife returned home, laughing and chatting.
They both knew Li Qianfan would be home today, so they had deliberately returned late.
They just wanted to give the young couple some private time.
"Mom, Dad, you're back."
Having taken a good bath and changed into loose-fitting shorts and a black T-shirt, Li Qianfan stood up enthusiastically as soon as they entered and greeted them warmly.
"Well done, son-in-law! You've hit two birds with one stone, a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Do you think you've treated my Ziyu right, and my love for you like a son?"
Old Su's gaze clearly conveyed this meaning to Li Qianfan.
That old geezer!
If it weren't for me, you would have already been wearing a green hat.
Not only are you not grateful to me, but you dare to threaten me!
Understanding Old Su's gaze, Li Qianfan immediately returned a sharp glare.
He didn't take Old Su's threat seriously, focusing only on the attitude of Mother Lan.
"Qianfan, sit."
Ning Xiaolan's affection for Li Qianfan was genuine and pure.
There was also obvious gratitude.
She had profoundly experienced the taste of helpless despair.
Upon learning of Li Qianfan's exploit with the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, Ning Xiaolan, who had a fiery temperament and clear likes and dislikes, felt no dissatisfaction whatsoever.
Instead, she felt that only by doing so could Li Qianfan avenge the shame she had suffered.
If Su Ziyu were to be unhappy with Li Qianfan because of this, Ning Xiaolan would be the first to object: "Why should we not be allowed to treat others the way they treat us?"
After confirming that Mother Lan's attitude towards him was even better than before, Li Qianfan truly felt at ease.
Dinner!
The family of four, with the exception of Su Ziyu who ate silently, chatted and ate as usual.
No one brought up topics related to the Lan family.
After eating their fill.
Ning Xiaolan and Su Ziyu carried their bowls and chopsticks into the bedroom.
"Ziyu, why are you always sulking?"
After closing the kitchen door, Ning Xiaolan said, "What did you say to Qianfan in your will? More importantly, I had already discussed the matter of Qianfan's exploit with the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law with you in detail. And you promised me that you wouldn't hold onto it and let it bother you."
"Mom, I'm his wife."
Su Ziyu lowered her head and said softly, "From a marital perspective, he and I are absolute counterparts. I will never allow a third person to interfere. Even if the circumstances are special, I would even support him doing so. But ultimately, I need some time to accept and digest this."
What truly made Su Ziyu "sulking" was the two-piece set she found in Li Qianfan's pocket.
But she couldn't tell her mother.
She wanted to wait for Li Qianfan to offer an explanation.
After all, "Zi Yan" couldn't be one of the two she had "hit."
And even if she were!
Li Qianfan shouldn't have brought the two-piece set home to provoke her.
"Then just be mindful of yourself. Sigh. I dare not manage you anymore."
Vowing never to hit her daughter again, Ning Xiaolan sighed and began to wash the dishes.
Eight o'clock in the evening.
When Su Ziyu picked up the remote control and turned off the television in the living room, it signaled that the family was about to discuss serious matters.
Ning Xiaolan put down the melon seeds she was holding, and Old Su lit a cigarette.
Li Qianfan, sitting on the sofa opposite them, cleared his throat.
"I swear to heaven."
Li Qianfan raised his hand, his expression serious, and got straight to the point. "I did not touch Miss Murong or Chu Yazhi."
Ning Xiaolan and Old Su quickly exchanged glances, then looked at Su Ziyu.
Su Ziyu's expression was serene, her eyes lowered to her feet, which were partly on her lap, showing no reaction.
"The day Ziyu had an accident, I was on my way to the provincial capital, and I did consider doing so."
Li Qianfan began to speak eloquently.
He started from the moment he made a grand entrance with two coffins.
And continued until he left the beauty club this afternoon.
The events he experienced in between—
Except for Chu Yazhi, who had a nosebleed and begged for a taste due to extreme emotional fluctuations, he basically told the truth about everything else.
Of course.
Li Qianfan didn't need to mention Bai Ziyan.
After all, Bai Ziyan's matter was not directly related to the main event.
*Phew!*
As soon as Li Qianfan finished speaking, Old Su exhaled a long breath. "I knew it, how could Qianfan do something so tasteless? Some rumors are just malicious gossip intentionally spread by busybodies."
Ning Xiaolan also nodded with a smile.
Although she genuinely didn't mind her excellent son-in-law having an encounter with the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, ensuring his own innocence and protecting the young couple's love was undoubtedly the best outcome.
"Mom, Dad, Ziyu."
Li Qianfan took out a stack of printed papers from under the coffee table and placed them on it. "This is the compensation from the Lan family. As long as Ziyu holds the equity transfer agreement, she can become the big boss of Kangjian Pharmaceutical."
Old Su's eyes immediately lit up. "Excellent son-in-law, Kangjian Pharmaceutical is valued at over a billion yuan!"
His words clearly implied, "Can I become the boss?"
Ning Xiaolan also nodded with satisfaction. "Hmm. This is the compensation the Lan family is giving our family, there's no need for us to refuse."
Su Ziyu, however, said softly, "I don't want it."
Huh!?
Old Su, Ning Xiaolan, and Li Qianfan were all taken aback.
Su Ziyu looked up and said, "I don't want Kangjian Pharmaceutical. Because if I go there, I might be reminded of the terrifying past."
Old Su blurted out, "You want to give Kangjian Pharmaceutical back to the Lan family?"
"Of course not."
Su Ziyu shook her head. "Transfer all the shares of Kangjian Pharmaceutical to Qianfan's name."
Transfer Kangjian Pharmaceutical to Qianfan's name?
That was fine too.
After all, what Qianfan had was Ziyu's, and what Ziyu had was Qianfan's.
Old Su and his wife exchanged glances and both nodded.
Li Qianfan, however, didn't think of it that way.
He could vaguely guess Su Ziyu's true intentions behind this.
"This damnable pride of yours."
Li Qianfan grumbled inwardly and casually said, "Alright. I'll go there tomorrow and pick up Kangjian Pharmaceutical."
Old Su, however, asked nervously, "If you leave, what about my Ziyu Fashion?"
Ning Xiaolan rolled her eyes. "Is your little factory more important than a company valued at over a billion yuan?"
Old Su was speechless.
"I will not leave Ziyu Fashion," Li Qianfan said with a smile. "Honestly, I don't like going to Kangjian Pharmaceutical either. And I don't think I have the ability to manage such a large company. But we can hire professional managers to run the business for us."
"Yes, yes, yes."
Old Su immediately nodded in agreement.
He wouldn't mind recommending himself to be the big boss of Kangjian Pharmaceutical.
However, he felt that with his meager business acumen, he couldn't possibly manage such a large enterprise.
Staying in a small company of a few hundred people, with the help of his excellent son-in-law, accompanied by a beautiful and gentle secretary, patrolling his territory like a king every day, was the most comfortable life.
Although Ning Xiaolan didn't understand business.
She knew what professional managers were.
She also felt that Li Qianfan's arrangement was the best.
Su Ziyu naturally had no objections.
"As for my background—"
Li Qianfan finally brought up the most concerning point for the Su family of three.
Instinctively, they all pricked up their ears and held their breath.
Li Qianfan, however, deliberately paused, looking embarrassed, and picked up his water glass.
Old Su became impatient. "Tell me, how can you be so powerful! Dawdling like this, are you even a man?"
Oh, dear.
I'm being looked down upon by an old man who used to only last three minutes?
Li Qianfan was instantly enraged.
He decided to concoct a new medicine for Old Su, to make him last only thirty seconds!
Just thinking about it.
If that were to happen, Mother Lan would probably grab her weapons directly.
"My father was actually an international master thief, with a gang of desperadoes under him. They spent their days fighting, drinking, and womanizing, doing nothing productive. My mother is a resentful woman he abandoned. Mentally stimulated, she's sometimes lucid and sometimes confused. Even though our family was very wealthy, she begged on the streets every day. Sometimes, she would even stage accidents. She was known as a menace in a certain city. I was raised by my grandmother, who was a doctor! If Ziyu hadn't had an accident, I wouldn't have contacted my father."
Li Qianfan said so much in one breath.
Then.
He held Su Ziyu's small hand very tightly.
Looking into Su Ziyu's eyes, which were filled with a deep sense of inferiority, he put on a feigned nonchalant expression and smiled, "Wife, I'm a thief's son, look down on me!"
— — —
A 4300-word chapter, thank you all for your support, have a great time!!