Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  “They probably have the gene that makes you a mistress. There’s no other explanation for it!”


  The doors to the cafe pushed open once again.

  The three friends that followed Chu Jiaoyang quickly called out, “Auntie Chu…”


  Chu Jiaoyang turned back to see her mother. Aggrieved tears welled up in her eyes as she ran towards her mother. She cried and stomped her foot. “Mother… look at Lin Nuan and Bai Xiaonian. I just want to be with Brother Huai’an, but they’re driving me into a corner! I’m already trying to compromise with them, and I’m not even making a fuss over my status…”


  The whole cafe was watching the show. Chu Jiaoyang’s mother’s eyes darkened upon seeing that some people were already filming the entire thing on their phones.

  “Shut up!” Chu Jiaoyang’s mother’s face was extremely dark. She grabbed onto Chu Jiaoyang’s wrist and dragged her in the direction of the doors. “Come with me! Don’t make a fool of yourself here!”


  The moment she heard “make a fool of yourself”, Chu Jiaoyang panicked and grabbed onto the back of a booth. “I’m not leaving! How am I making a fool of myself? Lin Nuan’s the one making a fool of herself by not seeing the big picture!”


  “Chu Jiaoyang! This is my last warning! Shut up and come with me!” Chu Jiaoyang’s mother had never looked at her with such a harsh expression. It made Chu Jiaoyang shiver inside.

  Chu Jiaoyang pried her mother’s fingers off of her. Her wrist had been grabbed so forcefully that it hurt.

  “Mother… why are you like this?” Chu Jiaoyang cried, “Is your daughter me or Lin Nuan? Why are you siding with her? Brother Huai’an isn’t helping me, and you don’t want to help me either…”


  “Yo, she already considers herself to be Mr. Fu’s mistress! She’s just hyping herself up!”


  “Didn’t you hear what Lin Nuan’s friend just said? This young lady is sick… in the head!”


  Chu Jiaoyang’s mother pulled Chu Jiaoyang in front of her. Her nails dug so hard into Chu Jiaoyang’s slender arm that it made her shout in pain.

  “I’m making you come with me precisely because I’m your mother! Don’t make a scene here!” Chu Jiaoyang’s mother lowered her voice. “The Chu family already has one Chu Xun. If you go on like this, which wealthy man will want to marry you? Come with me!”


  “I don’t want other people to marry me! I only want Brother Huai’an to marry me! I only want to be with Brother Huai’an!” Chu Jiaoyang cried as she pried her mom’s hand off of her arm. She rudely bent backward and talked back to her mother. “You can’t do this to me, Mother…”


  “Chu Jiaoyang!” Chu Jiaoyang’s mother’s body shook with anger. “Your father and I didn’t raise you just so you could degrade yourself and become someone’s concubine! You’re a daughter of the Chu family… you can’t decide who you want to marry in the future! Do you understand?”


  “I don’t! How am I degrading myself? Aunt Xia is Father’s woman as well, and you’ve always told me to respect her…” Chu Jiaoyang had cried until her makeup was smudged. “Why can’t I be the second Aunt Xia?”


  The minute Chu Jiaoyang said that, her mother slapped her across the face.

  Chu Jiaoyang screamed and held her face with her right hand. She looked at her mother in disbelief. “Mother… you hit me? You’ve never hit me before!”


  “Shut up! Becoming Aunt Xia in the future… I want you to take back everything you said about her! Hong Xia is a cheap slut! Do you want to become a cheap slut like her?”


  Chu Jiaoyang’s mother’s voice was sharp.

  She didn’t know how to tell her daughter that she previously said that to maintain her strained and pitiful marriage…


  She didn’t know how to tell her daughter that she hated this Aunt Xia to the core but had no choice but to make everyone around her accept her!

  If not, her husband would give Hong Xia an official title—Mrs. Chu!

  She already didn’t have the support of her family. What should she do then?

  Was she really going to leave the Chu family with their daughter? Not forgetting that… that man probably wouldn’t even let her take their daughter away!

  Her worries and hesitation made her teach her daughter to respect a mistress that tore her family apart and corrupted her daughter’s morals. She wanted to become someone’s mistress and even thought that it was normal!

  Chu Jiaoyang’s mother was filled with regret.

  Chu Jiaoyang was her only daughter, the apple of her eye. Look at how she educated her daughter for the sake of maintaining a marriage that was only in name!

  “Mother…” Tears rolled down Chu Jiaoyang’s cheeks. “Mother, how can you say that Aunt Xia is a slut? You clearly said…”


  “That’s what she is in other people’s eyes! Do you want to become like that? Tell me, Chu Jiaoyang!” Chu Jiaoyang’s mother asked her sternly.

  Chu Jiaoyang’s mother made up her mind. Even if she sacrificed her marriage, even if she got kicked out of the Chu family…


  She didn’t want to ruin her daughter’s life for the sake of a ridiculous marriage.

  Chu Jiaoyang held her face in her hands and shook her head. “But…”


  “Didn’t you hear what the other people in this cafe said?” Chu Jiaoyang’s mother’s voice grew even sterner, and it seemed like she was risking it all.

  “But they’re all spouting nonsense…”


  “Chu Jiaoyang! When it comes to morals, if one person says you’re wrong, you may be right! If two or three people, or even four or five people, say you’re wrong, you may still be right! But when everyone says you’re wrong, you’re definitely wrong! It’s already illegal by national law for a man to have more than one wife, and you still want to degrade yourself by becoming someone’s concubine?”


  Chu Jiaoyang bit her lip and brought up her father’s mistress in a low voice. “But you and Aunt Xia…”


  Chu Jiaoyang’s mother closed her reddened eyes and made up her mind before opening her mouth to speak. “Your maternal grandfather’s company closed down. Your father said that if I didn’t accept Hong Xia or he found out that you were disrespectful to her, he would divorce me! He would make me leave the Chu family! And I wouldn’t be able to see you for the rest of my life!”


  Chu Jiaoyang’s mother choked up. “Tell me, what else could I do other than accept her?”


  Chu Jiaoyang’s mother tightly gripped her shirt where her chest was. “But inside, I hated your father. I hated that slut, Hong Xia. I wished they would be run over by a car to the point where their bodies wouldn’t be intact!”


  Chu Jiaoyang couldn’t take the blow and was on the verge of collapsing.

  Her whole view of the world… was destroyed entirely.

  All this time, she had thought her mother treated Aunt Xia like her own sister!

  Every night, when her father came back from meeting with clients, her mother would smile and let her father rest in Aunt Xia’s room. She thought her mother genuinely wanted to help Aunt Xia!

  She never thought… her mother actually hated Aunt Xia and her father so much.

  “Honestly, I’m not afraid of divorcing your father. You’re already all grown up, so I’m not worried about your father marrying a stepmother and treating you badly! I can’t destroy my only daughter for the sake of a disgusting marriage!” Chu Jiaoyang’s mother reached out to hold Chu Jiaoyang’s smiling face. Tears rolled down her cheeks like pearls from a broken necklace as she choked up and said, “Jiaoyang… Mother gave you this name. Don’t ruin it!”


  “Let’s go!” Lin Nuan put on her coat, grabbed her bag, and said to Fu Huai’an and Bai Xiaonian.

  She hoped Chu Jiaoyang would listen to her mother.

  Bai Xiaonian still had words of anger to say to Chu Jiaoyang, but she swallowed them back after hearing what Chu Jiaoyang’s mother said.

  At the end of the day, Chu Jiaoyang’s father was a jerk!

  As a woman, Bai Xiaonian pitied Chu Jiaoyang’s mother. At the same time, she was angry that she didn’t do anything. So what if she had to go through a divorce? So what if her family’s company closed down?

  Why did she have to suffer and compromise in her marriage?

  “Let’s go!” Bai Xiaonian sighed as well.

  As they walked out of the cafe, Lin Nuan turned back and glanced at Chu Jiaoyang, who was in the cafe crying with her mother. She had mixed emotions.

  What parents taught their children had too huge an impact on their children’s lives…


  Lin Nuan looked down at the little Tuan Tuan, who was holding her hand. She saw Tuan Tuan looking up at her with his big, bright eyes and an adorable expression on his face. Lin Nuan crouched down and helped Tuan Tuan fix the hood of his down jacket and the scarf around his neck so that his little face was covered.

  She asked, “Is it cold, Tuan Tuan?”


  Tuan Tuan shook his head.

  “Do you two still want to continue on your bestie date?” Fu Huai’an asked.

  “Let’s go together!” Bai Xiaonian wiggled her brows as she looked at Lin Nuan. “So that the two of you don’t miss each other after separating from each other. Tuan Tuan, you’ll hang out with Sister Xiaonian today, okay? Sister Xiaonian will hold your hand, and Papa can hold Mama’s!”


  Tuan Tuan thought about it and nodded, his gloved hand reaching out to Bai Xiaonian.

  “What nonsense are you saying to the child!” Lin Nuan’s ears flushed as she got up and chided Bai Xiaonian.

  Lin Nuan’s hand was grabbed by Fu Huai’an’s dry and strong hand. Lin Nuan turned to see Fu Huai’an holding his glove in one hand and holding her hand in the other. Her ears involuntarily flushed even more.

  Bai Xiaonian held Tuan Tuan’s hand and bent down to say something to him before they walked forward.

  Fu Huai’an said softly, “Let’s go…”


  “Xiaonian and I want to go to that hotpot place we used to visit when we were students. Do you want to go?” Lin Nuan asked.

  Fu Huai’an nodded and glanced at Bai Xiaonian’s back. “Lu Jinnan has nothing going on today either.”


  She immediately understood what Fu Huai’an meant. She looked at Bai Xiaonian’s side profile as she chatted with Tuan Tuan and said, “I’ll send Lu Jinnan a message and see if he wants to come…”


  In her message, Lin Nuan simply said that she was going to the hotpot place near the school with Fu Huai’an, Bai Xiaonian, and Tuan Tuan. She also linked the address to the restaurant.

  When Lin Nuan and the others had reached the entrance to the restaurant, Lu Jinnan still hadn’t replied.

  Bai Xiaonian carried Tuan Tuan and stepped out of the car. Lin Nuan glanced at her phone and shook her head at Fu Huai’an disappointedly.

  Fu Huai’an held onto Lin Nuan’s hand. “We can only do our best to help our friends! Whatever the consequences may be, they chose that for themselves. None of us can control that!”


  Lin Nuan nodded before putting on her coat and stepping out of the car. Bai Xiaonian and Tuan Tuan were crouching down in front of the hotpot restaurant and looking at the row of palm-sized snowmen that lined the streets.

  Heavy snow was falling outside, while it was steaming hot inside the hotpot restaurant. The sight made one feel warm.

  Hung on the full-length window was a neon sign which stated that there would be a $20 discount for every snowman built by a table of people.

  On the side, a couple couldn’t help but begin to find snow at the entrance to build into a snowman. They finished building the snowman very quickly and took it to the waiter to exchange it for a voucher.

  Bai Xiaonian excitedly took off her gloves and asked Tuan Tuan, “Tuan Tuan, shall we build a little snowman? We’ll get $20 off!”