Chapter 6: Wen Baichuan

Chapter 6: Wen Baichuan

"The Wen family needs you, Wen Yu," Wen Hanzhou said patiently. "Father has no intention of making you a lover. This is a marriage alliance."

"The Shen family's eldest young master is your fiancé."

At that moment, Wen Qingshi was stunned. Not a lover? The Wen family had originally planned to marry him off to the Shen family, but it turned out Wen Yu got the lucky break.

It's just that Wen Yu's fiancé had changed from the Shen family's second young master to the eldest. So he wasn't going to be the eldest young master's lover, but his fiancé.

Wen Qingshi felt a pang of jealousy at first, then thought: a phoenix that wandered outside can only survive by marrying well.

He still harbored a grudge against Wen Yu.

Wen Yu curled his fingers, thinking that if he hadn't been kidnapped by traffickers, he would have had a fiancé too.

The Eastern Continent had progressive marriage laws—the word "homosexual" wasn't even an insult, and same-sex couples could legally marry.

Wen Yu could only tell himself that. Besides, with his timid personality, no woman would like him anyway.

"I understand." Wen Yu was forced to sit down and eat.

Wen Qingshi was annoyed and sat as far from Wen Yu as possible.

The butler, Wang Shoucheng, returned. "Young masters, and eldest young madam, the master has a remote meeting and won't be joining you for dinner."

Wen Hanzhou was quite calm. He leisurely served food to Yang Miaomiao. At this one table sat four kinds of people: the silent ones with their heads down, the arrogant sulkers, the gentle and attentive ones, and those who pretended nothing had happened.

As Wen Yu finished eating and headed upstairs, Wang Shoucheng stopped him. "Young master, the master wants you to go to the study on the third floor once you're done eating."

Wen Qingshi froze beside him, his eyes fixed on Wen Yu's shocked expression at the news.

What's he putting on an act for? If Father wanted to see you, why let you eat first before going...

Wait, eat first before going?

Wen Qingshi clenched his fists, wrinkling the tablecloth under his grip. He remembered how, when he was young, he had to memorize vocabulary words on an empty stomach, and Father never cared.

His father, Wen Baichuan, had always valued profit above all—a cold-hearted man who'd been through several wives.

The study.

Wen Baichuan sat in a fine chair. A man in his fifties who kept himself looking like he was nearly thirty, with a finger-wide streak of white hair on the left side of his head.

"President Fu, young and accomplished. I hope this project meets your expectations." Wen Baichuan spoke politely, even with a hint of flattery in his tone.

The man on the other end of the screen sat on a sofa in a casual posture, a faint teardrop mole at the corner of his eye. A heavy presence emanated from the screen.

"Mr. Wen, let's cut the pleasantries." Fu Xi's eyes in the video were cold and proud.

Wen Baichuan smiled gently. "President Fu, everyone in the Eastern Continent wants to work with you. With your pull in both the legitimate and underground worlds, who wouldn't want a piece of that?"

Fu Xi didn't say much. He crossed his legs, a cigarette held between his fingers. "I heard the Wen family is forming a marriage alliance with the Shen family?"

Wen Baichuan clasped his hands together in a show of respect. "The Shen family alliance was settled ten years ago."

"Oh?" Fu Xi blew out a stream of smoke. "Is it your adopted son, Wen Qingshi?"

Wen Baichuan let out a long breath. "The Shen family wouldn't take a liking to him. Now that my youngest son Wen Yu has returned, naturally he's the one for the marriage alliance."

Fu Xi picked up a glass of wine from the side table. The wine was a pure, clear color. He pushed it forward slightly, then brought it to his lips and took a sip. "I think, Mr. Wen, you wouldn't let your precious youngest son enter a marriage alliance."

"What's President Fu getting at?" Wen Baichuan was puzzled.

"Wen Yu—what a fine jade." Fu Xi tilted his head, stubbing out the cigarette in the ashtray while pouring another glass of wine. A chilling voice came through the screen. "Jade is so fine—would Mr. Wen really bear to give away such a treasure?"

"Jade and a blade are different. Jade can be gifted, but a blade can kill." Wen Baichuan spoke with veiled meaning. "Does President Fu want the jade or the blade?"

"Hahaha." Fu Xi let out a steady laugh. "What if I want both, Mr. Wen?"

"What can you do to me?"

Fu Xi's words were like a snake, coiling around Wen Baichuan's neck. The lighting on the other end was poor, the lamp flickering like it hadn't been maintained in years.

Wen Baichuan had always known there was no such thing as a free lunch. To become the top elite family in S Country, you inevitably had to lose something.

"President Fu, what would you use the jade for? And the blade?"

Fu Xi raised his hand and snapped his fingers. A screen appeared behind him, with a red-marked island displayed on it.

"The blade stays with me day and night, and the jade—I give away."

Wen Baichuan was reluctant, but that map appeared—the power and wealth he'd dreamed of. He hesitated for a moment.

"I can give you the blade, but the jade—I owe him too much to give him away." Wen Baichuan only relented halfway.

Either way, Fu Xi had gotten what he wanted.

"I won't force the issue."

Wen Yu wasn't the one he had his eye on.

Consider it... giving Gu Junhan something to toy with.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

A young voice came through, followed by the long creak of the door hinge.

Wen Yu looked around. The study had bookshelves on three walls, stretching from floor to ceiling, packed densely with books.

For the first time, the young man saw his biological father. He didn't look like a father—his eyebrows were thick and straight, neither too high nor too low, and his eyes were dark brown, exactly like Wen Hanzhou's.

A cold white light spilled out, washing over Wen Yu's feet. "F-Father?"

"You look like your grandfather." Wen Baichuan glanced at him.

Soon, Wen Baichuan's conversation with Fu Xi ended.

The thin skin on Wen Yu's face flushed pink, and his eyes reddened against his will.

He had a father. He wasn't a wild child.

Wen Baichuan's desk was covered in documents, along with a half-drunk glass of wine that glinted under the light.

Wen Yu felt out of place in this family. He couldn't drink, but his eldest brother could, his second brother could, and even his father could.

Wen Baichuan didn't speak to him about father-son affection. He only asked one question: "Do you want to see your mother?"

"Mom?" Wen Yu mumbled, stiff as a board. "Isn't Mom your wife?"

Wen Baichuan's head was pounding. Wen Yu's mother was his third wife. "We're divorced."

The man was blunt and a terrible liar. "Wen Yu, your mother is in the hospital now."

"Hospital?" Wen Yu didn't understand why Wen Baichuan could say it so matter-of-factly. "Is she sick?"

"She's got a mental illness, but she's staying at a villa on the edge of town." Wen Baichuan said coldly, without a hint of sympathy. "If you want to visit, you can head there yourself."

Wen Baichuan placed the address card from the drawer in front of him.

Wen Yu had no clue what had gone down over the years.

"Why did she get sick?"

Wen Yu suddenly asked. The boy, who usually never spoke up, completely changed when it came to his mom.

Even though he didn't remember his childhood, he knew his mom couldn't be sick—she'd always been in perfect health.

Wen Baichuan said nothing, then gave him a deal. "Once you marry into the Shen family, I'll tell you."