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nCHAPTER 205: POST-WEDDING REALIZATIONS

nAs he returned indoors, Yan Jin saw Xiao Yu looking at something with his head lowered.

nWalking over, Yan Jin wrapped Xiao Yu into a hug, resting his chin on Xiao Yu’s head.

n“What are you looking at?”

nXiao Yu made no effort to hide it. “Aunty Fang sent me some post-marriage cautionary advice. It contains recommendations on how to prevent a very desirable man from cheating.”

nXiao Yu tugged on Yan Jin’s ear threateningly.

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nYan Jin obediently lowered his head. “Any concrete examples?”

n“Um… the Ten Great Tortures?” Xiao Yu hadn’t actually gotten to any of the actual suggestions, so he just made one up in response. TLN: Refers to Ten Great Tortures of Qing Dynasty. First three are skinning, chopping the body in half at the waist, and tying each limb head to five horse-drawn carts so the horses rip your limbs head off. They get progressively more graphic and creative. I had to look this up, so y’all will learn something new today too. You’re welcome ?

n“Whaaat?” Yan Jin gave a shocked look. “I was thinking that she would say ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’.”

n“Probably because she knows that’s not realistic,” Xiao Yu said calmly.

nXiao Yu’s cooking wasn’t abysmal to the point of producing burnt coal, but it wasn’t good either. As a result, before he had met Yan Jin, he could recite from memory the phone numbers of all the restaurants within three blocks of his company.

nAs for whether he could do it anymore… it was hard to say.

nFor example, two days ago, Xiao Yu had suddenly thought of ordering the same steamed chicken rice bowl he’d often ordered before. After the food arrived, the delivery man had asked to borrow Xiao Yu’s employee badge to swipe in for a meal at YL’s cafeteria.

nFor a moment, Xiao Yu had felt like a moron.

nAside from YL’s renowned chefs, Xiao Yu enjoyed Yan Jin’s polished dishes on the weekends too.

nXiao Yu wasn’t a trained chef, but he was an avid foodie. In his eyes, Yan Jin could easily find a job at a hotel’s restaurant.

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nWhat was more, Yan Jin could even make desserts. His desserts were the same as those sold in stores, and their quality wasn’t inferior at all.

nYan Jin’s kitchen was even bigger than their master bedroom. There were all sorts of cutting-edge appliances, each more intimidating than the next. Xiao Yu never dared to go into the kitchen; he felt dizzy just looking at the setup.

n“Read it to your heart’s content, but you won’t need it.” Yan Jin laughed haughtily.

nXiao Yu: “…”

nAlthough Xiao Yu quite liked these kinds of promises of fidelity, how come Yan Jin’s tone seemed so anger-inducing?

n“I really never would have expected your Aunty Fang to send you this sort of stuff though. People don’t even do this when marrying off their daughters…” Yan Jin glanced at the screen and jumped at the number of pages. “Two hundred and two pages?”

n“Haha, I had the same reaction. Pretty scary, isn’t it?” Xiao Yu moved the mouse and the pages scrolled downwards quickly. But, even after some time, they didn’t reach the end.

nYan Jin nodded.

n“It’s a lot, but I’ll read it all. It’s from Aunty Fang’s heart, after all.” Xiao Yu’s gaze softened.

nThis two hundred page document was Aunty Fang’s wedding gift. Out of all the wedding gifts, this one moved Xiao Yu the most.

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nIt wasn’t only Yan Jin. Xiao Yu had never heard of anything like this either.

nAlthough it seemed a little strange, this was the same as any other mother giving her sons and daughters all the final parting advice she could before silently watching them leave home. This document was the equivalent of her blessing and unwillingness to part.

nAt the very least, while she had been working on this document, Fang Wanqing was definitely playing the role of a mother.

nThe thought of it made Xiao Yu feel extremely fortunate.

n“Alright then, good luck finishing it. I won’t bother you anymore.”

n“Speaking of which, isn’t it about time to introduce your family to me?” Xiao Yu suddenly asked.

n“Where did this come from all of a sudden?”

nXiao Yu looked up at Yan Jin while fiddling with Yan Jin’s necktie. He lightly said, “Of course, Aunty Fang reminded me. Look at this: ‘Don’t neglect your relationship with your mother-in-law.’”

n“Wait, hold up.” Yan Jin looked horrified. “Your mother-in-law?”

nXiao Yu blinked. “Is your brain still working?”

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n“Yes.” Yan Jin nodded.

n“Then, do you have any explanation about your family?”

nXiao Yu randomly gathered all the documents on his desk, no matter their importance. Then, he rolled them up and held the roll next to Yan Jin’s mouth as if it were a microphone.

n“There’s not much to explain. I hope Boss can let me go just this once.” Yan Jin raised his hands in surrender.

n“Stop messing around. We’re talking about serious things here!”

nTo cover his laughter at Yan Jin’s awkwardness, Xiao Yu wrenched Yan Jin’s necktie down, pulling Yan Jin’s upper body down.

nYan Jin took this opportunity to steal a kiss from the nearby lips.

n“Oi, you…” Xiao Yu unhappily used his “microphone” to protect his lips. “We’re talking about serious issues here!”

n“You looked so cute. I couldn’t help myself.”

nYan Jin had wanted to steal another kiss, but Xiao Yu’s movement was too fast. Yan Jin noted the rising color and anger on Xiao Yu’s face from embarrassment and decided to quit while he was ahead. He obediently said, “It’s still the same as I mentioned to you before the wedding. Things still aren’t settled yet with my family.”

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nAt the reminder of the wedding, Xiao Yu’s thoughts became a lot more complicated.

nHe’d found out about the wedding so late that he hadn’t had a hand in any of the preparations. Thus, when Yan Jin had said that the wedding would just be a low-key formality, Xiao Yu had believed him.

nIn reality, this lying snake had started preparing for the wedding a month ago while hiding everything from him. Yan Jin had booked the entire five-star hotel, invited a famous international chef, and ensured all of the raw ingredients were flown in the day of the wedding. All drinks were either custom-made on the spot or from ultra-expensive well-known brands. Even the tea was brewed from tea leaves Xiao Yu had only seen in documentaries before. Wedding guests had been invited in batches to sign in and pick up iFruit X phones, which were lined up in the hundreds like cabbages. There was also the customary wedding raffle, except that the chances of winning were one hundred percent. Among the prizes was a limited-worldwide edition Rolls-Royce.

nIt was worth mentioning that Xiao Yu had found a car key identical to the raffled Rolls-Royce key. At that moment, Xiao Yu had felt deeply intimidated by Yan Jin’s circle of friends.

nAlthough Xiao Yu felt very gratified that Yan Jin took this “low-key formality that he shouldn’t worry about” to such lengths, after thinking more about it, Xiao Yu found it hard to come to terms with the fact that he hadn’t done anything for the wedding.

nAshamed and touched, Xiao Yu allowed Yan Jin to have everything his way that wedding night…

nWait, things were getting off-topic.

nIf there was one thing that wasn’t perfect about the wedding, it was that there were only relatives from one of the newlyweds.

nRight, only Xiao Yu had had family present at the wedding.

nInitially, Xiao Yu had always brooded that Madam Fang wouldn’t attend his wedding. Then, Yan Jin had easily resolved all of Xiao Yu’s decades-long concerns with Madam Fang. But, on the other hand, Yan Jin had decisively given up on his own family’s attendance to the wedding.

nActually, it was quite easy to explain the Yan Family situation in a single sentence:

nThe Yan Family needed a future successor.

nThe only reason Yan Jin could marry Xiao Yu despite all the objections was that he had already seized full control of the family. Yan Jin had the final say in whether the Yan Family needed a successor. The Yan Family couldn’t do anything about it.

nStill, even if they couldn’t do anything about it, they still persevered. Hardly any of the Yan Family attended the wedding.

nYan Jin’s friendly grandfather was the only person from the Yan Family who had attended the wedding. He had flown in from overseas just for the wedding and happily conversed for a long time with Xiao Yu. Yan Jin hadn’t even been able to get a word in.

nXiao Yu didn’t know that he had already coincidentally won over his greatest obstacle. From his limited experience as a sheltered city dweller, the absence of Yan Jin’s parents was definitely a wedding deficiency. Grandparents were already one generation removed and didn’t count.

n“Then, it’ll be settled in the future, right?” Xiao Yu pouted. “Otherwise, maybe I won’t even be able to step foot in your family home.”

n“What have you been stepping in and out of day in and day out then?” Yan Jin retorted.

n“That’s not the same. What if one day you get mad and go to your parents’ home? I won’t even be able to bring you back.”

nYan Jin was speechless.

n“…That won’t ever happen.”

n“Who knows? Look at this.” Xiao Yu pointed at his computer screen. “Don’t believe men’s promises.”

nYan Jin gloomily said, “I grew up with my grandfather overseas. Isn’t his acceptance enough?”

n“But, even you said that he’s overseas. We’re in China right now,” Xiao Yu pointed out.

nYan Jin racked his brains for a response. “Then, I’ll hand the Yan ancestral home to you. If there ever is a day I’m deluded enough to go there, not only will you be able to go inside, you can even report me to the police for trespassing on private property. How does that sound?”

n“Rejected. What nonsense is that?” Xiao Yu rolled his eyes.

nYan Jin’s expression clearly indicated “I tried my best”.

n“You really…” Xiao Yu couldn’t understand what Yan Jin was thinking and didn’t really want to either. Instead, he directly expressed his own opinion. “It might not be that convincing coming from me, but the situation with Aunty Fang made me understand this a little better… Running away from the issue doesn’t help. I think we should have a good heart to heart chat with your parents. If the first time doesn’t work, we’ll try a second time. One day…”

n“That day will never come,” Yan Jin confidently declared. “The process to determine who should be the head of the Yan Family is complicated. Let me spell it out for you: My father has always wanted to seize control of the family away from me. If he suddenly agrees to our marriage now, it’ll be because he has some other motive.”

n“Hey, can’t you be a little reasonable…?”

n“That’s really the way it is.” Yan Jin ran a hand through Xiao Yu’s hair. “The successor they want isn’t one born from some random mother and me. The mother would need to be one of their choosing, so acceptance is impossible.”

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