Chu Chang nodded his head as he looked down at his hands. ” All my life, I have heard stories about how those five mers became something out of nothing. You have no idea how famous they are in the capital despite being retired for more than ten years, even now many young mers dream of becoming like them, hoping that they will be able to become something like they did… that one day their name will be written in the history like those five mers whose names will be known to various of generations of mers.”

When he noticed that Shen Li and Ye Liu were looking at him with a confused expression, even Chen Mi got down from the top of the bunk bed and smilingly added, ” You might have not heard about their stories though, many women think of their legend as some sort of taboo. Five mers who stepped out of their house and became even more successful than them, how can the women of our empire stomach that? Only a very few families tell their stories to the mers of their family others simply hide the story from the mers in their family because they are afraid that they will get ‘weird ideas’ in their heads other than cooking and looking after their house and family.”

He placed his elbow on the window of the carriage and looked out. ” My parents on the other hand hoped that I will become something just like those five mers, they believed that I was smart enough to do that but——” his lips curled into a mocking smile as he shook his head before leaning it against the wall of the carriage. ” But I let romance and love rot my mind, and that was how I degraded to this point.” He sighed. ” A single father with three kids, If only I have taken the advice that my parents gave me.”

Shen Li heard what Chu Chang had to say and after careful deliberation, he asked, ” And you think that you can achieve that dream of yours with the help of Dong Dong?”

Chu Chang smiled as he shook his head. ” I don’t know whether or not I will be able to achieve my dream but Yu Dong is indeed the best choice for a business partner, she is not biased towards mers and is willing to listen to what I have to say, and never once she looked at me like I was a person she has to covet so that she can take advantage of my skills, instead she has been nothing but supportive of me and I have to say that I am thankful for that because she made me realise that we can be business partners without love or relationship involved in between before that I thought those gazes that I received were something normal but now that I have Yu Dong as my business partner, I realised that I was wrong, she is different… and she makes me feel like I can achieve what I want without having to depend on her.”

He caressed his belly and softly murmured, ” I didn’t have the confidence that I will be able to do it without a woman but now that I know that I have to stay the rest of my life alone and yet give the best life to my three kids, I have no choice but to move ahead and in this journey, I don’t want a lover but a supporter who will be more like a friend and critic who will tell me when I am right and at the same time help me change myself. I will like to say, that’s what made me to chose her as my business partner than the fact that she can help me achieve my dreams.”

Ye Liu exchanged a glance with Shen Li and then asked with a slight hesitation in his voice. ” What about your sisters? Won’t they help you if you ask them?”

Chu Chang raised one of his brows and nodded. ” They will most likely but they have families of their own, my brothers in law might be nice but that’s only because we have a hello and hi type of relationship, but if I were to depend on my sisters and ask them to help me raise my kids and give me a budget to buy shops and all the things required for doing a business, then I am afraid that no matter how nice my brothers in law might be nice but they won’t allow my sisters to help me without any reasons after all my eldest sister has a mer who is around the age of seventeen and they all are looking for a bride for him, if I ask my eldest sister to help me during this time, she will have unnecessary fights with my brother in law.”

” As for my second sister, her three daughters are in the academy and one of them is sick, so she needs to save a lot of money to take care of them as for the mers they are still small but they too need some saving for their groom price.”

” My third sister is the same, her husband is the strictest of all, I am afraid that if I ask for her to look after me, her husband might just pack her bags and leave.” His eyes dimmed a little as he continued to smile. ” In the long run of life, in the end, everyone is alone, Liu.”

Ye Liu didn’t know what to say regarding that, he looked at Shen Li who was just as stunned at Chu Chang’s words but he do have to admit that he was right. If he were alone then —— he shook his head, no he was lucky to have Yu Dong, at least she will never leave them alone.

” And,” suddenly Chu Chang broke the silence that fell on them. ” I think Yu Dong has the same expectations from you all as well, she is hoping that you will make a name as well that has nothing to do with her. So, it’s better to be prepared.”