Chapter 12: First Time Hearing Gu Yang
The Ying family’s old residence was actually quite close to where Gu Yang lived, but Liu Chaoyin and his wife had moved out long ago to start their own household.
They claimed it was for the convenience of their “private world,” but that was clearly Liu Chaoyin’s excuse. Unlike a simple-minded lover he could easily control, Ying Xueying’s parents were seasoned veterans of countless business battles. They were not easy to fool.
For someone like Liu Chaoyin, who was always scheming, living under their watchful eyes would make everything inconvenient.
Yet today, the place Ying Jiayi invited Gu Yang to was precisely the Ying family’s old residence.
“Been a long time since I’ve been here,” Gu Yang said, glancing around at the exterior. “Last time was your grandpa’s sixtieth birthday.”
“That was eight years ago,” Ying Jiayi replied with a mocking smile. “Would you believe the last time I came here was the same time as you?”
“Huh? Why?” Gu Yang tilted his head.
Ying Jiayi took a deep breath. “Because of my dad… forget it. Let’s go inside first.”
In just a few days, she had changed drastically. No longer the transparent, pampered rich girl she once was, her aura had settled into something heavier.
“Isn’t this little Yang? You’re here as a guest today?” Ying Xueying had been standing on the terrace in a daze. Her face was pale, her eyes still swollen and red, but when she saw her daughter bringing a classmate over, she hurriedly forced a smile.
“Hello, Auntie,” Gu Yang greeted. “Jiayi invited me over to sit for a while.”
Even someone as bad at reading the room as he was could sense how stiff the atmosphere had become.
Wasn’t it said that family scandals shouldn’t be aired in public? Why had Ying Jiayi called him here?
Ying Jiayi met her mother’s confused gaze and gave a slight shake of her head.
“It’s windy outside. Come in before you catch a cold,” Liu Chaoyin called warmly from the half-open door.
No one responded. Ying Jiayi, expression cold, supported her mother and walked inside.
“Xueying, I want to talk to you. Your health…” Liu Chaoyin lowered his voice pleadingly as she passed.
Ying Xueying hesitated, glanced at her daughter’s indifferent face, then lowered her head and said nothing.
Neither mother nor daughter paused for him.
Only Gu Yang, entering last, stopped in front of him for a few seconds.
His gaze traveled openly from head to toe. These past few days, Liu Chaoyin had been overwhelmed—barely sleeping, looking haggard, not even shaving that morning.
A flicker of disgust flashed in his eyes.
Liu Chaoyin had always despised rich young masters like Gu Yang—born with silver spoons, never worrying about money. Other than luck at birth, what did they have over him?
Back in high school, he’d fallen for the prettiest girl in class. She’d ended up with a rich boy instead. He was convinced the only reason that rich boy won was because he had money.
Later, perhaps due to early romance, both the rich boy and the goddess flunked the college entrance exam, while Liu Chaoyin performed exceptionally well.
But before he could savor his victory, he saw news that the rich boy was going abroad to study.
It almost made him grind his teeth to dust. Even receiving his own admission letter brought little joy. Like a shadowy rat, he stalked the rich boy’s social media, watching posts about overseas life, slowly realizing that a bad exam result hadn’t affected him at all.
Sometimes the goddess appeared in those posts. That stung even more.
On impulse, Liu Chaoyin applied for a one-year exchange program to that country he had never set foot in but felt so familiar with.
Tuition was waived, but rent and living expenses nearly crushed him. He worked constantly, shuttling between part-time jobs and school, with no time to enjoy “studying abroad.”
Yet not long after, he realized he had made the most important decision of his life.
The Ying Group was a titan in the hotel industry—five-star chains down to budget inns, with roots in many countries.
Even Liu Chaoyin, who hadn’t grown up in a business family, could see that compared to its scale, that rich boy’s background was nothing.
Later, after he rose to power and easily swallowed the rich boy’s family company, he understood that even more clearly.
From the moment he first saw Ying Xueying, he knew—
She was his Tower of Babel. His only lifeline to cross class boundaries.
—
In the living room, Old Master Ying and his wife sat on the central sofa. He tossed a stack of documents onto the coffee table.
The moment Liu Chaoyin saw them, his eyes darkened, though his expression remained composed.
Gu Yang was mildly nearsighted and disliked wearing glasses. He couldn’t see clearly and leaned in slightly, but Ying Jiayi stood up and handed the documents directly to him.
“Is that appropriate?” the two elders looked over sharply. Gu Yang made a token gesture of refusal.
“Look,” Ying Jiayi said calmly. “You’re here to eat the melon live.”
Beneath that calm was a faint edge of madness. Gu Yang glanced around—the solemn grandparents, the haggard father, the dazed mother—and suddenly laughed.
At least right now, he felt he and Ying Jiayi resonated.
He lowered his head and scanned the papers.
They were transfer records of scattered shares. Some had changed hands multiple times, but in the end, the name written was always Liu Chaoyin.
Liu Chaoyin quietly let out a breath.
Too much had happened lately—his daughter’s attitude had plummeted, his wife had silently returned to her parents’ home, the board had begun questioning him.
So it was all because of this.
As he gathered more shares, discovery was inevitable. But he had wanted to gamble.
No matter how much he earned now, once someone tasted power, they wanted more. Being stuck in a middling position was unbearable.
“Dad, Mom, these were originally gifts I planned for Xueying,” Liu Chaoyin said smoothly, his charming demeanor returning. “Scattered shares wouldn’t show my sincerity, so I’ve been collecting them quietly all these years.”
Ying Xueying looked moved.
[ Ying Jiayi actually saw through her dad before the college entrance exam? Why is this different from the original plot? ]
[ But that’s good. Fewer miserable events later. I wonder if she’s discovered that her mom’s cancer wasn’t accidental at all—Liu Chaoyin’s been adding things to her supplements for years. ]
[ And he’s been secretly replacing her annual health reports. He knew about the cancer long ago but never told her, waiting for it to worsen. A live-in son-in-law to this extent—utterly heartless. ]
“Enough.” Ying Jiayi cut him off.
Her head throbbed. The truth was too cruel.
She remembered clearly—no matter how busy he was, her father always personally stewed tonic soup for her mother. It had once symbolized marital devotion.
Now it was a joke.
She forced herself to look at her grandparents.
Old Master Ying nodded, issuing the ultimatum they had agreed upon.
“Enough talk. I’ve made my judgment.”
“In a few days, the group will convene a board meeting. It’s time for a change in presidency.”
“Wait, Dad! What have I done wrong?” Liu Chaoyin panicked.
Security guards stepped in.
“As for your marriage to Xueying,” Old Master Ying continued evenly, “we should revisit it.”
“Dad—” both Liu Chaoyin and Ying Xueying cried out.
“We drafted a detailed prenuptial agreement. You’ll leave with nothing. The group will also sue you for embezzlement. I suggest you hire a lawyer.”
Sentence after sentence fell like hammers.
Liu Chaoyin’s eyes were bloodshot. He looked at Ying Xueying, who avoided his gaze.
“Send him out,” Old Master Ying ordered.
The guards dragged him away.
Silence filled the room.
Ying Jiayi nudged Gu Yang under the table, signaling him to step outside.
—
On the terrace, Gu Yang leaned on the railing, fingers interlocked, gazing at the wind.
“Finished?” he asked as Ying Jiayi joined him.
“Finished? This is just the beginning,” she said softly. “Gu Yang.”
“Mm?”
She whispered a thank-you in her heart.
“Quite the melon today, huh?” she managed to joke.
“Not bad.”
She continued, “Guess we shouldn’t believe in fairy tales about poor boys and rich girls.”
“If my mom hadn’t been stressed abroad in France, she wouldn’t have opened her heart so easily to a fellow countryman.”
“Your parents met in France too?” Gu Yang’s expression turned subtle. “Does that place have some kind of magic?”
“What do you mean ‘too’?”
“My parents met while studying abroad. Love at first sight, quick marriage.”
Ying Jiayi froze. It was the first time she’d heard him mention his parents.
“I’ve hardly ever heard about your mom.”
“She died too early. Didn’t know many people here. That’s normal.” His tone was casual, as if talking about someone else.
She recalled old gossip—that the Gu brothers once publicly fell out over a woman. Later the elder brother died in an accident, and the woman followed not long after.
“They said it was suicide… but there were rumors.”
“Nothing that complicated.” Gu Yang smiled at her. “It was suicide.”
“I saw it with my own eyes.”
