Chapter 3

Pale to the point of being unsightly.

In Ye Zhi’s eyes, which had always held calmness and gentleness, there was now a deep sense of pain.

While everyone’s gaze was fixed on the dazzling female celebrity, his eyes remained glued to the man whose legs were spread open, occasionally caught by the camera.

Even though they didn’t capture his full face, even though they hadn’t spent much time together in the past five years, Ye Zhi could still recognize him, the man on the screen was his husband—Huo Youcheng.

Tang Xue’er, the popular female celebrity, had caused quite a stir with this news. The entire office was immersed in gossip in the afternoon, openly slacking off, but because the company’s affairs weren’t too busy, even the supervisors turned a blind eye.

Ye Zhi had already closed the webpage, intending to immerse himself in the numbers on the report, but his heart was in turmoil, making it impossible to focus.

In truth, this wasn’t the first time.

Since getting married, Ye Zhi knew his husband didn’t like him, agreeing to marry him was merely an act of revenge. And over the years, he had taken his revenge quite thoroughly, not only avoiding coming home but also intentionally causing many scandalous incidents. Apart from not bringing lovers home for fun, he had probably done everything else inappropriate.

But to have it blown up like this, it was the first time.

He finally took out the muted communicator from the drawer when it was time to leave work. Technology had advanced rapidly, with the latest communicators now using light screens, but Ye Zhi’s communicator was still a model from five or six years ago, a small rectangular device that lit up when unlocked with a fingerprint.

As expected, Ye Zhi saw missed calls on the screen, along with a message from his mother—come home.

Ye Zhi felt a bit helpless. He didn’t need to go back; he already knew what his parents would say.

They would undoubtedly scold him.

Scold him for being inadequate, for being unable to capture his husband’s heart, for not obtaining anything. And not only that, but also for bringing shame upon the family.

His mother’s most frequent words were: “It’s all because you lack charm. Although our family was at fault in that matter, since he’s willing to marry you, it means there’s still room for change. You need to be submissive, you need to be cautious, you need to learn from your brother’s methods, and properly please your husband, soothe his temper, and then our family’s life will be better!”

She always wore bright red lipstick, her words weren’t particularly sharp or bitter, but she was extremely arrogant.

“And most importantly, you need to give him a child! With a child, your position will be secure. Otherwise, he can divorce you anytime, and then you’ll get nothing. By that time, you’ll be too old to remarry even if you want to!”

His mother’s disdainful gaze didn’t make Ye Zhi feel cold, only a sense of powerlessness.

He was used to enduring, to being degraded to the extreme, always feeling it was because he wasn’t good enough, not because his parents’ expectations were too high. But hearing these words, he couldn’t help but quietly retort, “Mom, as a male, I can’t get pregnant.”

His mother would get even angrier, raising her voice by eight degrees. “Do you think I don’t know you’re a beta? Let me tell you, it’s because of your differentiation that our family has been ridiculed by the neighbors for over a decade! Me, because of you, I can’t even hold my head up when passing by the neighbors’ house! It was only after your brother was born that I could hold my head high!”

Even in the central city, with the highest existence rate, the surrounding areas weren’t all of these two types of attributes, let alone being discriminated against by neighbors for not differentiating into these two attributes.

Ye Zhi understood this reasoning, but he didn’t argue.

Arguing would only lead to his mother scolding him louder, until he dared not speak.

Seeing him silent, his mother’s tone became stronger. “Who said betas can’t get pregnant? It must be a problem with your body! I’ll go see a doctor tomorrow and get some medicine for you to drink. You must drink it on time, and have a baby soon!” She added, “And I’ve told you before, after doing that kind of thing, don’t go to the bathroom. It’s best to prepare a plug to seal it off, seal it for two hours, and the little tadpoles will naturally swim into the reproductive cavity. It’s easy to get pregnant like that. As long as you get pregnant and give birth to the Huo family’s child, even if you divorce, you can still get a large sum of money. By then, you won’t have to worry about your life anymore. Do you understand?”

Ye Zhi tasted bitterness in his mouth, but could only nod gently.

Of course, he couldn’t explain to his family the other reasons why he couldn’t get pregnant.