Now that things had come to a head, Fu Tingyu decided to come clean with his mother.

  He had planned to tell his parents the news for some time now but procrastinated.

  “Mother, I made two pendants. They might look the same but are, in fact, quite different. I gave the other one to my wife.”


  “Your wife?” The beautiful woman exclaimed, turning to her husband in both shock and delight. “My son has a wife!”


  The man’s expression remained unchanged. “Could he have snatched her?”


  The beautiful woman snorted. “Do you think your son is like you?”


  The man replied, “He’s a chip off the old block. As they say, like father, like son.”


  “…” the beautiful woman pretended to ignore her husband’s nonchalant response. Softly, she asked, “Son, be honest with me. Did you snatch your wife from someone else?”


  The beautiful woman could not help but ask, considering her son’s history. When he was only eight years old, he kidnapped a young girl that caught his eye.

  Her son’s response then was, “I picked her up on the road.”


  The girl was a porcelain doll with skin as white as freshly fallen snow, a precious pearl of the orient. Her cheeks were peach-like, possessing a soft and sweet quality.

  Honestly, the beautiful woman found the girl much to her liking and wanted to adopt the hapless child, there and then. Unfortunately, when she asked the little girl whether she would like to follow them, the beautiful woman learned how her son had tempted the girl from her father’s side using a piece of candy as a bargaining chip. While the girl’s father was distracted, her son led the unwitting child away, spiriting her off.

  At that time, she merely thought her son’s ability to deceive young girls was top-notch despite being self-taught.

  She still recalled how her Vinegar Bun scolded their son for doing what a human trafficker did at such a young age.

  Fu Tingyu pinched the bridge of his nose and changed the topic. “Mother, was the person who bumped into you carrying a black cat?”


  Since he did not know whether Qin Shu was masquerading as a man again, Fu Tingyu decided to play it safe and ask a vague question.

  “Are you saying that the young mother-to-be, whom I met earlier, is your wife? The one bearing a pendant you made? The one carrying that handsome black cat?” The beautiful woman fired off questions, with each one causing her tone to drop icily.

  Fu Tingyu felt as if an arctic wind was blowing into his ears. Carefully, he said, “Yes, she is. Congratulations on becoming a grandmother.”


  The beautiful woman sneered, “I’ll ask you one more time. Did. You. Snatch. Her?”


  Fu Tingyu’s head pounded, a throbbing ache settling over his dark eyes. He could feel a storm brewing from the tone of his mother’s voice. Perhaps it was his way of dissolving the escalating conflict, or maybe it was out of a mounting sense of embarrassment, but he did something he rarely ever did. “… Well, I did snatch her away from someone else before, but that’s not important. We’re a loving couple now!”


  “A loving couple, you say? A loving couple, indeed. Why would she run away with a baby in her belly if the two of you were a loving couple as you claim to be?” The beautiful woman did not believe her son’s words. The young woman must have been greatly wronged for her to run away alone.

  “Mother, I will explain everything later. Please, just tell me, where is she?”


  Fu Tingyu did not have time to explain to his mother. Nothing was more important to him than reuniting with Qin Shu as soon as possible.

  The beautiful woman did not immediately answer. Instead, she asked a question of her own, “Where are you now?”


  “Lucaya.”


  Lucaya was a relatively large suburb of Freeport. Finding a particular person was not an easy feat to accomplish.

  “Very well. I’ll see you at the hotel your father and I are staying. It’s the only five-star hotel in Lucaya. I trust you know how to get there. You and I are going to have a few words!”


  The beautiful woman gritted her teeth and hung up without so much as a goodbye. She had a few choice words for her son, words she would rather say to him in person than on the phone. It seemed a good dressing down was in order.

  Sighing, the beautiful turned to her husband, feeling helpless. “Vinegar Bun, you were right. Your son snatched a woman away and made her our daughter-in-law. It was that girl just now.”


  Her husband’s eyes darkened in displeasure.

  The beautiful woman tugged on his sleeve. Although she was angry with her son for snatching someone else’s woman, she was still happy to know that she would be a grandmother soon.

  “Vinegar Bun, we’re going to become grandparents!”


  The man lowered his eyes to meet his wife’s, staring unblinkingly for a long time. In a heartbeat, he pulled his wife into his arms, hugging her.

  The beautiful woman could tell that he must have recalled the past and felt guilty from his expression.

  She returned the hug, wrapping her arms around his slim waist. Playfully, she said, “Hubby, I’m hungry.”


  “I’ll take you to eat.” The man let go of his wife and escorted her out of the lavender field.

  Fu Tingyu was about to respond when the line cut off. His mother had hung up on him before he could refute her overbearing demand.

  What could not he talk about after he found his wife?

  At some point during his conversation with his mother, Qin Feng had walked over. With a sneer and a curled lip, he hissed angrily, “Well, well. So the truth has finally come to light. Who would have thought the high and mighty Fu Tingyu would stoop so low as to snatch Ling Bao from someone else? Tsk tsk, I really couldn’t tell. You may look like a gentleman, but that is a lie. You’re no better than a bandit.”


  Eavesdropping on Fu Tingyu’s conversation with his mother, Qin Feng had heard everything.

  Fu Tingyu glanced at Qin Feng, smirking. “Did I ever say I was a gentleman?”


  Fu Tingyu walked away with those parting words.

  Had his self-control been any worse, Qin Feng would have beaten up the smug hypocrite before him, demanding the truth. Was Ling Bao really his wife?

  I…


  He took a deep breath and reigned in his temper. Anger had its time and place, and that time was not now.

  …


  Nightfall. The streetlamps flanking the roads winked into existence.

  Fu Tingyu drove to The Grand Kaya, the five-star hotel his parents favoured.

  He had not seen his parents in more than two years, but he did not expect to meet them in this way.

  He walked into the hotel and took the elevator to the floor his mother had mentioned.

  When he found the room number, Fu Tingyu paused, feeling a crushing weight pressing down against him. He had not felt so pressured in a long time. Gently, he knocked on the door.

  When he was young, he met a young girl who resembled a pink plushie. She was so cute that he could not resist the urge to bring her home with him.

  Yet, against his wishes, the adorable girl was sent away by his mother.

  Back then, his mother reprimanded him sternly, saying he could not just pick up someone like that.

  Even his father, a man of few words, regarded his action with disapproval. As punishment, he was denied any food for a whole day and was made to recite the family’s code of conduct a thousand times.

  The experience he had led in his youth persuaded him against mentioning anything when he brought Qin Shu home with him.

  Looking at the tightly shut guest room door, Fu Tingyu raised his hand and knocked a few times.

  Not long after, the door swung open.

  A tall man stood at the threshold, blocking the way. He carried himself like a man who meant business. Cold, taciturn and unforgiving were words that best described him. Anyone who met him subconsciously put their best foot forward for fear of coming across as incompetent. No one dared to act rashly before his steely gaze.

  Just as he expected, the one who opened the door was his father, Fu Beichen. Although he was already fifty years old, he did not look a day over forty.

  If the man standing in front of him were not his father but someone else, he would have ridiculed him for abandoning the family enterprise; spending his days sightseeing with his wife.

  Despite his mocking attitude towards his father, Fu Tingyu greeted him respectfully, “Father.”


  “Get in.”


  Fu Beichen’s clipped response was harsh and to the point; some might have called it brusque.

  “…” Fu Tingyu followed his father into the room, closing the door behind him.

  When he walked into the living room, he saw his mother, Mu Shengwan, sitting on the sofa. Her lithe figure sported a conspicuous bulge around her abdomen.

  He could not help but wonder if Qin Shu’s belly was as big as his mother’s. It was probably somewhere close, wasn’t it?

  Fu Beichen sat beside his wife and picked up a pomegranate, peeling its skin.

  Fu Tingyu walked up to his parents and looked his mother in the eye. “Mother, you’re as beautiful as ever.”


  “Oh hush, you. Don’t spout such nonsense.” Mu Shengwan snorted and gestured to the chair opposite her. “Sit, and we’ll talk.”


  “Alright.” Fu Tingyu obediently sat down, waiting for the interrogation to come.

  He was in a hurry to find his wife; he would do anything to reach her side as quickly as he could. “Mother, where is she now?”


  “None of that, please. I think you ought to start by telling me what happened between the two of you. Let’s start from there.”


  … It seemed his mother would not let him off so easily. His mother probably wanted to know how he had managed to snatch this wife of his.

  Fu Tingyu gave Fu Beichen a side-long glance. His father was seated opposite him, and he wanted to gauge his father’s reaction. Their eyes met, and he quickly looked away.

  If he could not convince his parents today, there was a good chance he would never learn of Qin Shu’s whereabouts. If that happened, she would slip from his grasp once again.

  “I first met her during our time spent on Mount Qi learning martial arts. Three years ago, I met her in Jiangcheng. I realized after several enquiries that she didn’t remember her time on Mount Qi, so I brought her back to Bright Garden with me.”