Volume One, Chapter 117: I Will Make Ye Sheng Pay the Price

Ye Sheng and Mrs. Qin had grown inexplicably close.

Their first meeting at the Qin residence had been marred by some unpleasantness, but in the days that followed, Ye Sheng had crossed paths with Zheng Xueyao again at a chess salon and a charity gala. It turned out that Zheng Xueyao was not only a Go player but a remarkably skilled one.

At the charity gala, Ye Sheng had placed the winning bid on a jade bracelet for Zheng Xueyao; in return, Zheng Xueyao bought a pair of pearl earrings for Ye Sheng. The values were comparable, and when two women want to build a friendship, it happens quickly. Especially when both possess high emotional intelligence and minds more layered than a pineapple’s skin.

Chairman Qin was quite pleased to see his wife growing close to the daughter of the Ye family, and as a reward, he gifted her a new qipao. It was a pink, pearl-encrusted style—perhaps a bit too youthful for Zheng Xueyao’s age—but she donned it nonetheless. She even applied a "peach blossom" makeup look to cater to her husband’s preferences. Sure enough, when she emerged from the dressing room, the delicate waist cinched in the silk, she looked enchanting enough to steal a soul.

In an instant, she was swept up by her husband and pressed against the wardrobe, the slit of the qipao bunched up at her waist like a surging tide.

Chairman Qin departed into the night, summoned away by his ex-wife. Zheng Xueyao showed not a hint of displeasure; instead, she urged him to leave with practiced understanding. She had buttoned his shirt for him, one by one, just as she knew those buttons would soon be undone by other hands.

When Qin Minshu, clutching her waist, entered her mother’s room, she found the pink qipao lying in a crumpled heap and saw the faint red marks across her mother’s back. Her gaze flickered, and she bit her lip. "You just let him go like that?"

Zheng Xueyao changed into a silk nightgown and replied expressionlessly, "What else? I can't stop him, so I might as well send him on his way."

Qin Minshu let out a scoff. "You really are generous. So merciful to your husband and your rival, yet so ruthless to me." She fixed her gaze on the jade bracelet on her mother’s slender wrist. "Is this the one Ye Sheng bought you?"

Zheng Xueyao flicked her wrist and said coolly, "Don't be jealous. When I die, all of this will be yours."

"Mom." Qin Minshu’s tone finally softened. "How can you say that?"

Zheng Xueyao, busy with her skincare routine, kept her almond eyes clear and calm. "You are truly no match for Ye Sheng. The gap in your standing is too wide. In the future, try to avoid her. Do not clash with her head-on."

Qin Minshu was unconvinced. "And are you her match, then?"

At this, Zheng Xueyao smiled faintly through her face mask. "We are, in fact, well-matched opponents."

Zheng Xueyao looked up at her daughter. "That punishment I gave you—it was for your father to see, and for Ye Sheng to see. Without it, we wouldn't have cleared that hurdle. You don't need to hate me. At the end of the day, we are mother and daughter, bound by blood. Anyone else might harm you, but I never will."

"I have always asked you what you wanted. If you only wanted a life of luxury and idleness, to be a pampered canary, things would be easy." She pulled a stack of photos from a drawer and tossed them in front of Qin Minshu. "Pick one of these, and your father and I will make the arrangements."

Qin Minshu walked over, clutching her waist, and took a look at the photos. Her face darkened. "A buffoon, an old man, and a violent brute. I won't be with any of them!"

"These are the easiest to manage." Zheng Xueyao looked at her daughter flatly. "You have no brains. Huo Mingting was the best choice of your life, but you were always looking for something better, obsessed with that Baron. Fine, I paved the way, but did you manage to secure him? You couldn't even defeat a royal maid and ended up crawling back home. You couldn't land the Baron, and you couldn't hold onto the Young Master Huo. Minshu, you are like me—born a lady, but cursed with the fate of a servant."

Qin Minshu’s face flushed red. She stared at her mother and stubbornly insisted, "You refuse to accept your fate, so why should I?"

Zheng Xueyao looked at her coldly. "But can you bear the price I paid for it?"

Qin Minshu froze. "I..."

"If people want to obtain something, they must pay the price. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Destiny... destiny is a cruel bitch." Zheng Xueyao kneaded her hand mask. "Your father and I have raised you in luxury for so many years; it is time for you to pay us back. One’s life and one’s path are things one must carve out for oneself."

She looked up, her gaze piercing. "Stop expecting your brother to clean up your messes. He owes you nothing."

Qin Minshu shuddered under her mother’s gaze.

"Go see him," Zheng Xueyao lowered her eyes. "He is still coughing up blood." She stared at her hands, stained red with the mask, as if she had just pulled them from a pool of blood. "Don't worry. I will make Ye Sheng pay for those two punches."

The child was born of her body; no one, besides herself, was allowed to touch her.