The Art of Teasing - Chapter 78

Chapter 78

In Wen Zhengyu's view, Ye Ling and those people from the Ye family were merely relatives, not family.

When Old Master Ye was alive, the family hadn't divided the household, and everyone lived under one roof, so it was still plausible to call them one family. After Old Master Ye passed away, they divided the family assets right at the funeral. From that moment on, they became two households with a faint tie of kinship.

Kinship ties are not the same as family. If Ye Ling's household didn't get along with any particular relatives, it hardly meant Ye Ling's household was a mess.

Wen Zhengyu had heard a few things from her Second Aunt, and she found that branch of relatives truly disgusting. The doings of that step-grandmother were not only malicious and ruthless—they were also stupid. The two siblings had lost their parents. If the step-grandmother had looked after them a little, even if the siblings didn't feel grateful, no one could have faulted her. Once the siblings reached adulthood, if she found them an eyesore, she could have given them a settlement allowance and let them go out to establish their own homes and careers. By preserving a surface show of goodwill, it wouldn't have come to this.

The Ye family had vast wealth. Her own grandsons could casually throw millions at keeping minor celebrities. The price of buying a house and setting up a home for these two siblings was nothing they couldn't afford. Even if she had bought Ye Ling a modest apartment, anyone mentioning it would say, "For a step-grandmother, not related by blood, to buy a house—that's decent enough." But the things she actually did were so outrageous that if Ye Ling and her brother decided to make a scene, they'd make it with unassailable righteousness. Even if the spectacle turned ugly, no one would say they were wrong to kick up a fuss. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to call upon senior relatives to take up their cause.

Wen Zhengyu sent a text message to Wen Shishu: "Second Aunt, Ye Ling and her step-grandmother's side can't really be considered one family now, right?"

Two minutes later, Wen Shishu called.

Wen Zhengyu asked, "You're still not asleep?"

Wen Shishu said, "Just finished putting on a face mask. You're still mulling this over?"

Wen Zhengyu gave a soft "Mm" and said, "I can't sleep."

Wen Shishu sighed. "The Ye family did divide the household, but the bulk of the assets still sits in a single group company, with both sides holding equal shares. Take you and Wen Li—you're paternal cousins. Once you step outside, people will still say you're one family. If the two of you ever got into a fight over the studio shares, it would be called an internal Wen family feud, a squabble within the nest."

Wen Zhengyu fell silent at once, unsure what to say.

Wen Shishu decided to spell it all out for her. "The Ye family is a mess right now. Never mind how the main branch and the second branch are endlessly fighting… Let me put it this way: when the assets were divided, all of the main branch's property was placed with Ye Zhan. Ye Ling, as a daughter who'll be married out, didn't get a single penny. The Ye family calls this 'family rules'—daughters don't get a share of the household assets. As for whether to prepare a dowry for Ye Ling, that's Ye Zhan's concern. Ye Zhan is a public official and isn't allowed to run businesses, but this property came from an inheritance, which is legal and aboveboard. His right to inherit can't be taken away just because he holds public office. So he reported and registered it with his work unit, then entrusted it entirely to his sister to manage."

She paused, then continued, "What kind of agreement or arrangement the two siblings have between them is hard for outsiders to know, but the fact that Ye Zhan's money is with Ye Ling is common knowledge. If something ever goes wrong on his end, Ye Ling won't escape being implicated. Money is useful, but it also gets you into trouble the easiest. Right now, Ye Zhan only has his father-in-law and a few brothers-in-law who can help him a bit, and then there's Ye Ling on this side. Ye Ling's situation is even more precarious—only Ye Zhan can help her."

Wen Shishu let out another heavy sigh. "Don't look at how well Ye Ling's business seems to be flourishing now. She has no foundation, no support. If something goes wrong, there's not a single person to pull her up. She could collapse just like that."

Listening to Wen Shishu, Wen Zhengyu felt an inexplicable ache in her heart.

Not hearing Wen Zhengyu's voice, Wen Shishu asked, "Fell asleep?"

Wen Zhengyu muttered quietly, "Ye Ling has helped me a lot, and she's been very good to me." She quickly added, "Leaving aside whether she likes me or not—just in terms of her conduct and how she handles things, I think she's quite good."

Wen Shishu let out a sigh. "She's not a bad person. Judging by character and conduct, both siblings are fairly decent." Her tone shifted. "You aren't really starting to like her, are you?"

Wen Zhengyu's gaze wandered. "No."

Wen Shishu made a couple of "hmph" sounds. "No, yet in the dead of night you can't sleep and keep asking about Ye Ling's affairs. Oh, dear Young Miss, we've known each other over twenty years, haven't we? How come I've never seen you care this much about anyone else?"

Wen Zhengyu let out an "Uh" and didn't know how to answer. "Second Aunt, I'm sleepy."

The phone went quiet for a few seconds before Wen Shishu's weary voice came through: "Go to sleep, then."

Wen Zhengyu said goodnight to Wen Shishu and hung up.

Sleeping on the couch was very uncomfortable. Wen Zhengyu tossed and turned until two or three in the morning before she finally dozed off, but her sleep was restless, plagued by one nightmare after another.

First she dreamed that Ye Ling went bankrupt and fled. Then she dreamed that men jumped out of a van and kidnapped her, injected her with something, locked her in a dark room—and so she banged her head against the wall and killed herself.

Then she dreamed of Wen Shiyi. Wen Shiyi came running toward her, carrying her mother's severed head. Blood was dripping from her mother's head, running down her face and hair, and she kept shouting, "Yu'er, run! Your father wants to kill you—Yu'er, run…"

Wen Shiyi raised his hand and slapped her mother's face several times, then kicked the head away like a ball.

Wen Zhengyu screamed in terror, "Mom—!" The shout escaped her lips, and with it she woke.

Wen Zhengyu was drenched in sweat, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Rapid footsteps approached the door, then the study door swung open and the light came on.

Wen Zhengyu sat up clutching her small blanket and saw Old Master Lian and Grandmother, looking hurried. She realized her scream had woken them. She quickly shook her head to show she was all right, saying, "I'm fine, just a nightmare." Then, as if to reassure them, she added, "Really, nothing's wrong."

Grandmother saw how pale she was, her hair soaked with sweat, and sat down beside her, gently stroking her back.

Wen Zhengyu took a tissue from Old Master Lian and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Old Master Lian said, "Don't sleep in the study anymore later. Go back to your room."

Wen Zhengyu answered with an "Mm."

Grandmother said, "Watching you act as if nothing's wrong, I really thought you were fine. You had a fright, didn't you?"

Wen Zhengyu said, "No, I just dream a lot. Every time I fall asleep, I dream. I can't always have nice dreams—sometimes I get a nightmare. I have all sorts of bizarre and fantastical dreams. Sometimes after waking up scared, I even paint the dream."

Grandmother took Wen Zhengyu's hand. Her fingers were icy, her palm clammy with sweat.

Seeing that Grandmother had touched her sweaty palm, Wen Zhengyu leaned over and pulled two tissues from the coffee table to wipe it dry.

She rose to help Grandmother up, saying, "It's not daylight yet. You two go back to bed." Then she asked Grandmother, "I'll go back to my room to sleep in a little while, all right?"

Grandmother patted her hand and sighed. "Go back to your room to sleep." Then, "Not frightened anymore?"

Wen Zhengyu shook her head. "No, I'm not scared." She hugged the old lady's arm and pulled her up, escorting both elderly people back to their bedroom. She sat in their room for a few minutes until she saw that they had relaxed a little, then returned to her own room to wash up.

After washing up, she still couldn't sleep. She went and pulled her mother's photo album from the drawer, flipped to an old photo from thirty years ago, then lay on the bed propping her chin on her hands to look at it.

Wen Zhengyu's heart felt terribly heavy.

Ye Ling's family might have a heap of messy troubles, but those people were only relatives. Her own situation—she and Wen Shiyi were flesh and blood, parent and child. After all the time she'd spent with the Lian family, some things she didn't need anyone to tell her; she could see them clearly herself.

To say that Wen Shiyi had been jointly taken down by Ye Ling, her youngest uncle, Lian Xin, and the others—that was true, but they hadn't reduced him to absolute ruin. They'd held back for over twenty years for her sake; they wouldn't leave her destitute and homeless. The fact that Wen Shiyi could go abroad, keep a woman, and still be confident he could rise again meant he had fled with a large amount of capital. He ran off with the money, leaving a pile of debts for her and Grandpa. The one who truly bankrupted her family was Wen Shiyi.

If Wen Shiyi hadn't done that, if he hadn't brought people like Zheng Dongsheng into their home, Zheng Dongsheng would never have had the opportunity to set his crooked heart on her, and this whole matter wouldn't have happened.

That step-grandmother of Ye Ling's did things that were morally bankrupt and vicious, but at least her heart leaned toward her own flesh and blood grandchildren.

Wen Shiyi, on the other hand, lived it up in comfort and ease outside, and when he came home, he brought calamity upon his own biological father and his own flesh-and-blood child. Now that Wen Shiyi was abroad and she had cut off all contact with him, things looked calm on the surface, but if he ever returned, she feared she and Wen Shiyi would find it impossible to even maintain a civil front—they would likely turn directly against each other.

Having that kind of father, Wen Zhengyu felt truly upset and stifled. She could only take out her mother's photos to cleanse her mood.

Her father was very bad, but her mother was very good. Even after so many years since her passing, her mother still protected her. Because of her mother, her maternal grandparents, her uncles, and her older male cousins all treated her well, doted on her, shielded her, and never let anyone bully her. If so many people hadn't been protecting her, she might truly have ended up like in that dream—banging her head and dying, just to avoid enduring that humiliation and torment.

She looked through the photos for a long while before her heart gradually calmed down, and then drifted off into a hazy sleep.

---

The elderly don't need much sleep; even though they'd gone to bed late the night before, they still rose early in the morning.

Grandmother couldn't set aside her worry for Wen Zhengyu. After getting up, she gently opened the door to her bedroom and saw Wen Zhengyu lying on the bed, fast asleep, with Lian Huaijin's photo album tucked under her arm again.

Quietly, she slipped the album from beneath Wen Zhengyu's arm and put it back in the drawer, then covered her properly with the blanket before leaving the room.

Lian Huaijin's room held many valuable items, yet Wen Zhengyu hadn't touched a single one. The safe in the corner—she knew the combination but had never tried to open it. Yet she treasured this photo album beyond measure.

Grandmother was also troubled.

If it had been any of those wild boys from the family, not only the safe and the precious things in the room—they would have even chiseled open the roof beams to see if anything was hidden inside. And here this girl was, living so frugally, yet she never once opened the safe to see what was inside, let alone take anything to use.

Wen Zhengyu had slept late, but Grandmother didn't indulge her in sleeping in. When mealtime came, she went and woke her up.

After breakfast, Grandmother assigned Wen Zhengyu a driver and bodyguards and told her to go do whatever she needed to do.

Having been given a thorough dressing-down by Grandmother and her Second Aunt the day before, and then scared half to death by a nightmare, Wen Zhengyu no longer dared refuse the driver and bodyguards. She obediently accepted the driver, the car, and the bodyguards Grandmother provided, and went to the studio to work.

Grandmother also said, "You missed yesterday's lessons. You'll make them up along with today's."

Wen Zhengyu didn't dare object.

Her current vehicle was a sedan, with six bodyguards riding in the seven-seat SUV following behind.

Wen Jing had arrived while she was eating breakfast. As before, Wen Jing drove for her.

After getting into the car, she opened her internet connection. The chat app notified her of a group message. She clicked into the group. Several of her older male cousins had been exchanging updates earlier. She first scrolled through the chat history.

Lian Zhao had been up all night without sleep, staying on site to audit the concrete company's account books and internal documents, and he still wasn't finished.

A little past eleven the night before, Zheng Dongsheng's son had gotten into a conflict on his way home with a few drunk hooligans, and a fight broke out. Both sides had been taken to the local police station. Then at around two in the morning, the police station received a report that the residence of Zheng Dongsheng's wife and daughter had been burglarized. Nothing had been taken, but they were badly frightened.

Wen Zhengyu didn't know who had arranged this; it hadn't been mentioned during yesterday's meeting. But she understood the implication. Everyone has a family. If he could target someone else's family, then others could target his.

She hadn't slept well the night before and was a bit drowsy. After reading the chat history, she reported her itinerary for the day in the group to her cousins, then closed her eyes to catch up on sleep.

She wasn't woken until the car pulled up in front of the studio, roused by Wen Jing.

As she stepped out of the car, she happened to run into Ye Ling at the entrance as well. She offered a brief "Morning."

Ye Ling gave a slight nod and returned the greeting. "Morning." Then she asked, "Did you sleep well last night?"

Wen Zhengyu said, "The first half of the night wasn't good. Later, Grandmother had me go back to my room to sleep, and I slept quite well." She looked at Ye Ling, who was wearing makeup, a very refined look, and couldn't see any dark circles.

Ye Ling remarked, "You look as if you didn't get enough sleep."

Wen Zhengyu admitted, "A little. I'll catch a nap later." She walked shoulder to shoulder with Ye Ling into the studio.

Ye Ling asked, with a hint of hesitation, "I'm still keeping a few fish at my place. When will you have time to come for dinner?"

Wen Zhengyu said, "If it's dinner, any evening works—whatever is convenient for you." As she spoke, she saw Ye Ling smile so broadly her eyes curved up, as if she'd just found a piece of gold. She gave Ye Ling a suspicious once-over; something about her seemed distinctly odd.

When they reached her office door, Ye Ling said, somewhat uneasily, "My family is quite a mess."

Wen Zhengyu, using her own situation to comfort Ye Ling, replied, "Having a branch of rotten relatives is still better than having a rotten biological father." As she said this, a thought suddenly crossed her mind: If Wen Shiyi ever returns, I'll have to ask Ye Ling to deal with him again.

She thought for a moment and added, "Your—I mean, that side of your relatives—if anything more troublesome comes up, and there's something I can help with, you… just let me know." Remembering what her Second Aunt had said about Ye Ling having no one to support her when things got tough, she felt awful. Ye Ling had helped her so much; if she could return the favor, that would be good.

Seeing that Wen Zhengyu, who could barely manage her own affairs, was worrying about her, Ye Ling couldn't hide her smile. Laughing, she agreed, "All right."

Wen Zhengyu, afraid Ye Ling might misunderstand, hastily added, "Uh, don't get the wrong idea. I'm just… just repaying a debt of gratitude." The moment she said it, she saw Ye Ling's smile grow even wider—clearly, she had misunderstood. Feeling a little awkward, she thought to herself, Let her misunderstand if she wants. She went straight into her own office. Immediately after, she received a text from Ye Ling: "Understood. A classic case of 'The silver buried here is not three hundred taels.'"

Wen Zhengyu: "…"

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