Qiao Hailou sneakily posted a photo of his marriage certificate with Shen Yuan on his Moments to show off—but he covered up Shen Yuan’s face and name.
Shen Yuan was extremely unhappy about it. “Why post it at all? Do you want me to live or not? Can’t you keep a low profile?”
Qiao Hailou replied, “What’s wrong with that? Posting a marriage certificate isn’t illegal. I managed to trick a young, handsome guy into marrying me—shouldn’t I show it off? It’s not like our marriage is something shameful.”
Shen Yuan’s face turned red. After hesitating, he said, “I’m just afraid my little brother will find out and it’ll affect his college entrance exam…” Honestly, he kind of wanted to show it off too. “Fine, then cover my face and name with stickers before you post it. That way people know you’re married but don’t know who I am. Let’s keep it secret for now and tell them later.”
Qiao Hailou said happily, “All right, all right. Uncle Qiao will hide our A-Ben away like a treasure, keep him tucked safely indoors so no one knows. Otherwise they’d all be jealous of me.”
So Qiao Hailou quietly posted the photo of the marriage certificate just as Shen Yuan instructed.
It immediately popped up on Shen Yuan’s phone. He stared at it for a while, then said disdainfully, “You look so stupid smiling like that in this photo.”
In reality, Qiao Hailou was only smiling lightly in the picture, nothing exaggerated at all. But he looked radiant, his eyes bright, happiness written all over his face without the slightest attempt to hide it.
In an instant, Qiao Hailou’s Moments exploded with likes and comments—
“Congratulations, President Qiao” was the most common one, mostly from employees who had no idea what was going on. Saying something auspicious never hurt.
“Qiao San, you really went and got registered? Who on earth is your other half? You’re keeping it so secretive—bring your little spouse out so we can see!” This came from friends who had seen him wearing a wedding ring earlier and knew he was planning to get married.
“Damn it! You got married just like that?! Traitor!” This was from friends who used to eat, drink, and party with him, swearing they’d all stay single forever and be carefree rogues.
“Congrats, that wasn’t easy. You finally coaxed your man back, huh?” This was Cen Chuan’s reply, full of a kind of comrades-in-arms vibe.
Anyway, overnight, everyone in K City’s circle of rich old men knew that Qiao Hailou was married. Even though the face in the photo was covered, it was obvious the spouse was a man. People started guessing what kind of man could possibly have conquered Qiao Hailou.
After getting married, the two of them returned to Country Z.
Shen Yuan asked, “You really didn’t need to ask your family’s opinion before marrying me?”
Qiao Hailou shook his head. “No need. Haven’t I already cut ties with the old man in my family? I’ll just take you to meet my big brother so he can know who you are.”
“Huh?” Shen Yuan hesitated immediately. He wasn’t familiar with Qiao Hailou’s older brother, but he knew his son, Qiao Jun. Qiao Jun still didn’t know anything yet, and Shen Yuan couldn’t imagine the look on his face when he found out—I treated you like a junior, and now you’ve become my little aunt?
That would be way too awkward.
Qiao Hailou grabbed his hand and didn’t let him run. “What do you mean, ‘huh’? You’re going to meet him sooner or later. This status has to be made official. We got married—I went to see your family. How can you not see mine?”
Shen Yuan had no choice but to say, “Then… after the New Year, okay? And tell your brother not to spread the news yet.”
After the initial excitement of the first few days following their marriage registration, life went on much the same as before.
As the year-end approached, Qiao Hailou’s company was extremely busy. It was peak season, with all kinds of promotions layered on top of each other, and revenue kept climbing. Shen Yuan was busy too—he was still handling matters related to studying abroad, going through all kinds of procedures. His academic review had passed, and next he had to prepare for interviews. During the New Year, he also had to visit relatives everywhere and maintain his network of connections. He bought gifts and prepared to mail them out household by household to keep up relationships. He even wanted to renovate his maternal grandfather’s gravestone… because marrying an old man made him feel especially guilty toward his grandfather, so he wanted to make it up to him a little.
On top of that, he wanted to take advantage of the break to go abroad and see a doctor, to see whether surgery was possible.
Shen Yuan had already discussed the surgery with Qiao Hailou. When he brought it up, he was still a little uncomfortable. “…Back when my mom was still alive, she said she’d take me to have the surgery at the latest during the summer after I graduated high school. After her accident, there was no follow-up. Now, besides you, probably only my uncle and aunt know about this. Even my other uncle doesn’t know. You’re already married to me—if you go with me for the surgery and I recover, then I won’t have to worry that one day when we argue, you’ll mock me for being deformed.”
He was referring to their argument that day. Qiao Hailou froze for a moment. He hadn’t expected Shen Yuan to still remember it so clearly—obviously, he hadn’t let it go.
Qiao Hailou said sincerely, “Baby, you misunderstood me. That day I was angry and spoke without thinking… but I wasn’t mocking your body. I was angry because you always hide things from me. I noticed it a long time ago. I just saw that you didn’t want me to know, so I pretended not to know. But honestly, it still hurt a little—you being so guarded against me… At the time, I felt like you didn’t really like me that much yet. Uncle hurt you. Uncle apologizes.”
“And I didn’t say you were deformed that day,” he added quickly. “Don’t talk about yourself like that.” Qiao Hailou truly felt heartache for him. “If you want the surgery, we’ll arrange it. I’ll go with you.”
He asked worriedly, “Is the surgery risky?”
Shen Yuan nodded. “Very risky. I could die.”
Qiao Hailou: “…”
He immediately objected. “Isn’t that way too dangerous? Can you not do it? If you don’t do it, will it endanger your life in the future? If it won’t, then there’s really no need to insist on it.”
Shen Yuan said stubbornly, “I want to do it! Ever since I was little, because of this, my dad didn’t want me, my grandparents didn’t want me, my mom didn’t want me either—my grandfather only took me in because he had no choice. They all looked at me like I was some disgusting monster. In the middle of summer, everyone else wore shorts and short sleeves, but I didn’t dare. I didn’t even dare let people touch me. Do you know how miserable that was? No matter how outstanding I became, I still felt inferior to everyone else… I just want to be an ordinary man. Is that really too much to ask?”
As Shen Yuan spoke, his eyes turned red. Only in front of Qiao Hailou could he finally vent all the resentment and grievance he’d bottled up for years.
Seeing him bristle like that, Qiao Hailou hurried to soothe him, pulling him into his arms. “Okay, okay. If you want the surgery, then we’ll do it. I’m not saying you can’t—I’m just worried. What if something happens to you? Wouldn’t I become a widower? I just got married. It took me thirty-seven years to meet you. If you were gone, I wouldn’t want to live either. Don’t rush, okay? We’re not short on a few days. I’ll find the most experienced doctor to operate on you, all right?”
Shen Yuan sniffed and murmured, “Mm.”
Qiao Hailou kissed his eyes, still wet on the lashes, and sighed, “You’re getting more and more delicate. A-Ben, I just want you to know—no matter what you’re like, Uncle loves you. Don’t ever call yourself deformed in front of me. I’ve never seen you that way. To me, it’s just an illness, maybe a rare one, but nothing strange. You’re not a monster. When have you ever seen me look at you like that? If I hadn’t blurted it out in anger later, did you even realize I knew? You didn’t, right?”
Shen Yuan nodded. He really had been comforted. Before that, Qiao Hailou had always treated him naturally, without surprise or disgust… and maybe that was exactly why Shen Yuan felt he was different.
Qiao Hailou said gently, “Don’t be afraid. Uncle will always stay with you.”
The New Year was approaching.
The rehab center released a group of people, and Shen Xuanwen was among them.
He’d been locked up for more than five months. He should’ve stayed longer, but he behaved very well inside—actively cooperating with rehab, working diligently, rarely slacking off, speaking with great sincerity. Eventually, people began to believe him a little, and his detention was ended early.
Those months had been brutal. He’d endured them by gritting his teeth, thinking that the sooner he got out, the sooner he could enjoy himself again.
Shen Xuanwen was quite grateful he’d studied acting before. He’d acted more convincingly than most of the others—and now he was finally released.
Before leaving, he even tearfully bade farewell to the staff. “Thank you for taking care of me. I’ll live properly from now on and turn over a new leaf.”
A staff member asked, “Where are you planning to go?” His parents hadn’t visited him during this time, though they’d been annoyingly persistent about one thing—sending him some living expenses.
Shen Xuanwen said shamefacedly, “I’m planning to go rely on my son. He’s the child I had with my ex-wife. He’s a good kid, a student at a top university now, very promising.”
He’d been keeping track of Shen Yuan’s news all along. Some buddies he met in rehab had been watching things for him on the outside. They told him Shen Yuan had won some big competition award.
Shen Xuanwen remembered it clearly—it was a jewelry design award. His ex-wife, Ye Xueyao, had won that very same award back then, and afterward she abandoned husband and child and left him. That vain, selfish woman!
Thinking about it made his teeth itch with hatred. If Ye Xueyao hadn’t insisted on divorcing him and running off, how would he have fallen to this state? Maybe he’d still have a family now, somewhere to go home to.
Now Shen Yuan had won the same award. He’d probably follow his mother’s path and go abroad to study.
That was a headache. Shen Xuanwen had never expected Shen Yuan to go overseas. He’d planned to slowly squeeze money out of him little by little. But if Shen Yuan went abroad, separated by an entire ocean, how was he supposed to chase him down for cash?
Then maybe it was better to go all out—get one big haul from Shen Yuan. A piece of trash like him didn’t have long to live anyway. If he could splurge and enjoy himself for a while before dying, that would still count as dying without regrets.