Chapter 19: Chapter Nineteen: Inform

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“Yun Nan, what were you thinking?! Isn’t that jumping out of the frying pan into the fire? Why did you think that marrying Shi Nian was a good idea? You don’t even know him! Is he reliable? How many days have you two been sleeping in the same room together? Did he behave and keep his hands to himself? What? Did he bully you?” Fang Xi frowned and grabbed Yun Nan’s wrist as she anxiously fired questions at her.

Yun Nan smiled, broke free from Fang Xi’s grip, and patted her friend’s hand. “Relax, Fang Xi. Don’t worry! I’m fine, aren’t I?”

She poured herself a glass of water and drank it in one go. She then filled two more glasses. She handed one to Fang Xi and held the other in her hands.

“My relationship with the Yun family is difficult and complicated. They will absolutely hold me back if I try to move forward. The only person who can keep them in line and whom I can negotiate with is Shi Nian.”

“Shi Nian and I were betrothed to each other when we were young. The story goes that, back in the day, my grandfather saved Grandpa Shi’s life. That’s probably an exaggeration, but it’s true that the Shi family takes this affair seriously.”

“They didn’t cancel the betrothal even after I went missing. The Yun family planned to have Yun Liu marry Shi Nian. I think the elders of the Shi family weren’t very satisfied with her, so they postponed the marriage.”

“However, the Shi family’s elderly master—Shi Nian’s grandfather—was getting old, and I heard he was urging Shi Nian to choose between Yun Liu and me. That’s why I dared to use the marriage agreement as a condition to negotiate with Shi Nian.”

“Then, what about Yun Liu? They’ve known each other for so many years; how can you be sure he doesn’t have any feelings for her at all?” Fang Xi asked.

Then, something occurred to her. “Oh, now that you mentioned it, I remember now. Yun Liu played up her identity as the daughter of a rich family when she first debuted, and it is rumored that she is the future daughter-in-law of a super-wealthy family.”

“However, an actress like her doesn’t qualify to be a wife to such distinguished families, so I didn’t take it to heart,” Fang Xi sniffed disdainfully. “So, that super-wealthy family in question was the Shi family! Are you sure there’s nothing going on between those two?”

Yun Nan nodded. “I’m sure. Yun Liu has been one-sidedly pursuing Shi Nian, but he doesn’t return her feelings. Shi Nian—he’s 29 years old, but he hasn’t even had a rumored girlfriend. He took over the Shi family’s businesses a long time ago and is a workaholic. I’ve been perfectly fine sharing a room with him, so relax. We’re just partners; our relationship is strictly business.”

Fang Xi took a deep breath, but she still wasn’t convinced. “What will you two do after the five years are up? Then what?”

Yun Nan smiled and playfully tugged at Fang Xi’s hair, “Fang Xi, don’t you think that by then, our business will have expanded to the point that we can stand against the Yun family? The Yun family can’t hound me anymore when I’m a strong and independent woman!”

She went on to say, “I’ll just treat it as working for Shi Nian for five years, playing the role of his wife and humoring his relatives. Five years later, I’ll leave with nothing and say I cheated on him. At worst, I’ll have one of our actors pretend to be my illicit lover and create a scandal. It’s easy!”

Fang Xi blinked and asked, “And Shi Nian agreed to this?”

Yun Nan raised an eyebrow. “Why would he disagree? He has nothing to lose financially. As the ‘guilty party’ in the marriage, I’m leaving with nothing. I won’t take a single cent from him. He won’t find anyone more suitable than me to satisfy his grandfather’s wishes. Shi Nian is very filial; that’s his Achilles’ heel, so I grabbed at it.”

“I mean, he doesn’t mind that you’ll ‘cheat on him‘ five years later?” Fang Xi gulped at the thought.

Yun Nan paused before slowly answering, “He… didn’t disagree. Look, we’re both adults, and he handles a business empire. This teensy-weensy matter won’t trip him up. Besides, a scandal like that is nothing new. Anyway, with his status, no one would dare to gossip about him. I’ll be the bad woman; he just has to sit there and look pretty.”

“It’s exactly because he has a business empire to handle that he wouldn’t be able to accept being cuckolded!” Fang Xi muttered.

Yun Nan scratched her head.

She figured that Fang Xi and her were looking at the issue from different perspectives. To Yun Nan, nothing came before her career; she felt that Shi Nian was similar to her in this regard.

Fang Xi’s mind, on the other hand, was still occupied by love and romance, so her thoughts were a little too much of an idol drama.

Besides, many things would happen in the five years’ time; she would deal with them when the time comes. The most important thing now was to make herself stronger, more powerful. With enough wealth and a firm foothold in the industry, she would fear no one!

Shi Nian sent a message stating that he had something on tonight and wouldn’t be home for dinner.

Yun Nan was overjoyed at the news. She could now cook with Fang Xi to celebrate Fang Xi’s move to her new home. She would also have time to start painting.

Fang Xi was also a talented chef. She didn’t allow Yun Nan to help out and told her to focus on her painting before shutting her in the art studio.