Marry by Relying on Favor: Chapter 75 - Want to Spend Some Money?
Chapter 75: Want to Spend Some Money?
From then on, He Qingchi stayed in the He family villa without stepping outside. She locked herself in the upstairs room where she designed cheongsams, spending her free time sewing flowers onto smooth silk fabric.
Usually, she would sit by the window all afternoon. Occasionally, her grandmother would bring a vase with a budding rose to place on the windowsill, filling the room with a faint fragrance.
He Qingchi spent four days sewing a cheongsam, using thicker fabric as a gift for her grandmother.
Because she was raised by her maternal grandmother, the granddaughter dearest to Grandma He was not actually her—but her cousin, He Li, whose parents had both passed away.
Still, He Qingchi never fought with her cousin for affection. She still fulfilled her duty of filial piety sincerely.
When it came to intimacy, however, there was inevitably a difference. For example, now, even with a heart full of worries, she didn’t know how to bring it up with the kind elder before her.
For days, He Qingchi kept her troubles bottled inside. Her grandfather, however, hinted twice: “Your filming is over, winter is here. Don’t go back to Jiangcheng, just stay home for New Year.”
It was still a month or two before the New Year—too early to say.
He Qingchi drifted off in thought. She hadn’t contacted Wen Shuchen these past days. If he knew she planned to stay with the He family for New Year, would he still act as if nothing mattered and just say it was up to her?
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help pulling up those WeChat messages again.
If she chose to continue with Wen Shuchen, it meant choosing to face the past—
To face the terrifying memories she had forgotten, and to plunge herself into the Wen family’s internal strife.
As her grandfather had said, if Wen Shuchen were even a little more ruthless, one day she might become the sacrifice.
Before marriage, He Qingchi would absolutely have chosen to stay single to save her own life.
—What’s love compared to life itself?
But now, things had changed. She and Wen Shuchen had become the closest people to each other in this world. After just a few months of married life, sharing day and night, being more intimate than anyone else could be, even her first kiss had been with him.
The feelings that had quietly accumulated over time couldn’t be denied. She couldn’t lie to herself—she had truly fallen in love.
Only, Wen Yue and the Wen family’s existence made everything unbearably complicated.
Looking back now, she could pretty much confirm that the people at the old Wen residence knew about that incident. They had taken advantage of her probing to reveal hints, so that Wen Shuchen could no longer hide the truth.
While turning this over in her mind, she suddenly thought of something else.
Could it be that Wen Yue’s mother had been so warm to her not just out of politeness—but because she once thought she might become her daughter-in-law?
At first, when Wen Shuchen explained his family relations, He Qingchi assumed Qiu Jin was just trying to curry favor for the sake of the Wen shares in her hand—hoping one day to sow discord in her marriage and pull her over to the old residence’s side.
But now, reconsidering everything, she realized that if Qiu Jin knew about the kidnapping, she must also have known about Wen Yue impersonating him to get close to her. So perhaps it wasn’t impossible.
But at five years old, could that even count as real affection?
Now, everyone seemed to know of it—everyone except her, the very person involved, who had forgotten it all.
He Qingchi pressed her hand to her forehead and shut her long lashes.
She stayed in the He household for another three days. Just when people thought she had taken root upstairs, she suddenly came down one morning with a suitcase—clearly preparing to leave.
This sight ruined Father He’s breakfast mood. He muttered gloomily, “It’s not even half a month yet, and you’re already running back to reconcile?”
Calmly sitting at the dining table, He Qingchi replied, “I never broke up with him.”
Father He slammed down his chopsticks, fuming.
Then He Qingchi slowly added, “My ticket is to Japan…”
“My daughter, you’re going abroad for vacation?” Seeing it wasn’t back to Jiangcheng, Father He was instantly relieved, his eyes lighting up. Cheerfully, he handed her a credit card: “I heard the Qu family’s daughter is in Japan too. Perfect timing! Go find her, exchange divorce tips. And don’t save money on your old man—I made money all my life for you and your cousin to enjoy a wealthy life.”
He Qingchi accepted the card, saying, “Qu Bixin’s divorce tip is to go get her face redone. She’s the one who called me over.”
“…” Father He instantly wanted the credit card back.
But He Qingchi would never return it. With a faint smile, she reassured him: “Don’t worry, I’m afraid of pain.”
She had always feared pain—couldn’t bear even a tiny bit. A mere cut on her finger and she’d cry for painkillers.
As for cosmetic surgery, going under the knife on her face—she’d rather be ugly forever than go through with it.
Father He was reassured at once. “Still, the Qu family girl may not be as pretty as my daughter, but she’s delicate and refined. Why should she think herself ugly just because of a divorce?”
He Qingchi couldn’t figure out what had gotten into Qu Bixin. Why, out of nowhere, was she in Japan getting her almond-shaped eyes redone?
Last night, Qu Bixin had called her in tears, saying her eyes weren’t healing well, no one was around to take care of her, and she still had more than half a month left in recovery. She begged He Qingchi to come be her nurse.
He Qingchi had already grown restless staying at home, so going abroad for a change of pace sounded perfect.
After breakfast, she took the morning flight to Japan.
Qu Bixin had already completed her eye surgery and rented the top-floor suite of a luxury hotel for a month. Every day, meals were delivered morning, noon, and night, with service available on call.
When He Qingchi arrived, it was noon—just in time for lunch.
The door was opened by Qu Bixin herself. She wore traditional Japanese clothing, a big bow tied at her waist, her footsteps clacking crisply as she walked. But her face was not so lovely—bare without makeup, her eyes still swollen, covered in white gauze.
“You can see me like that?”
Dragging her suitcase inside, He Qingchi waved her fair fingers in front of her face.
“I’m not blind.”
Qu Bixin irritably slapped her hand away, turned back along the same path without missing a step, and returned to the dining area to continue the lunch she hadn’t finished.
Seeing how well she seemed to be managing, He Qingchi thought she didn’t really need anyone to take care of her.
Qu Bixin said, “Order your own lunch from the hotel.”
He Qingchi went over and sat down. She didn’t have much appetite, so she casually took a plate of foie gras sushi from Qu Bixin’s side and opened a bottle of peach wine. “You can drink during recovery?”
“No. I just like having it around to look at.” Qu Bixin’s meals were very light these days. The surgery had given her eyes a much more seductive look, with the corners slightly elongated. Once she was fully healed the effect would show, but for now she had to hide away in the hotel.
She had asked He Qingchi to come for two reasons: first, because she was too bored alone in Japan and needed company; second, because she didn’t want anyone else knowing about the surgery and gossiping about it, so she hadn’t called her old group of girlfriends.
The two of them sat in the dining area eating slowly. He Qingchi noticed every floor-to-ceiling window was covered with white gauze curtains that softened the harsh sunlight. It must have been to protect Qu Bixin’s eyes.
When the meal was almost done, Qu Bixin wiped her mouth and asked, “So what have you been doing these past few days at the He residence?”
He Qingchi lowered her gaze, slowly finished the bottle of peach wine, and said evenly, “Keeping my dad company.”
Qu Bixin didn’t doubt her. “That old man of yours trying to step into the entertainment industry would be an absolute veteran actor—better at it than me. Last time, when he heard I was divorced, he actually congratulated my dad?!”
He Qingchi: “…”
“He even told my dad he was jealous—jealous!”
His daughter married the top socialite of Jiangcheng, inherited a stake in Wen Corp, and is living the high life at the peak of society—yet he goes to my dad and pretends he envies my divorce?
That night, her father had nearly exploded with anger and dragged Qu Bixin out to lecture her all over again.
If she hadn’t insisted on marrying Shen Fu back then, she wouldn’t have ended up in the situation of a second marriage.
He Qingchi felt she owed her father a bit of defense: “Maybe my dad really was envious.”
Qu Bixin snorted lightly. “Even so, he didn’t have to rip open my dad’s wound. Now everyone congratulates him. ‘Your daughter was married off and now she’s back again, and it even saved the company. You really had foresight—if you hadn’t agreed to let her marry Shen Fu, Qu Corporation would be history by now.’”
Comments like that carried real malice. For her parents, no ten billion could ever outweigh their daughter’s happiness.
He Qingchi frowned, pausing to think how to comfort her.
But Qu Bixin had already turned the conversation, clearly not needing it: “Those people are blind in the eyes and in the heart. Even if my dad were broke and desperate for funds, he could have my brother divorce and marry some rich heiress, or send me off for a marriage alliance. Why would he ever need Shen Fu’s petty money?”
“Does your sister-in-law know you think like this?”
“Doesn’t matter. In her eyes I’m already the scheming little sister-in-law eyeing the family fortune.” Qu Bixin’s lips curled in a smile—the same familiar venom.
Sometimes He Qingchi even envied her for being so heartless. The moment her interests were touched, she would flip on someone instantly, no matter how close they’d just been.
By comparison, He Qingchi felt like such a failure.
Dropping her own messy troubles, Qu Bixin propped her chin on one hand, smiling sweetly. “You know, host clubs in Japan are really famous. Want to go and have a little fun?”
“Thanks, but I’m not interested in men right now.”
“Don’t be so dismissive! Host clubs are actually a legitimate part of Japanese culture. We should respect local traditions, right?”
As she spoke, she pulled out her phone and opened up several sets of artistic photos of handsome men for her to admire.
Ever since her divorce, the first thing she had learned was how to appreciate men other than Shen Fu.
He Qingchi lowered her eyes and swiped through the pictures, one after another. Too skinny, too short, or their faces just rubbed her the wrong way.
In short—
None of them could compare to Wen Shuchen’s looks, which fit her taste exactly.
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