Marry by Relying on Favor: Chapter 128 - You Lost Our Bet
After making the bet with Wen Shuchen, He Qingchi still stayed in Wushan Town. Every day, the two of them spoke on the phone punctually at nine o’clock for an hour. During that time, he would also have his secretary deliver nutritional supplements for the elderly woman. As for the child, considering that she needed to care for her grandmother’s health, Wen Shuchen did not send him over to avoid adding to her burden.
Most of what He Qingchi knew about the child’s daily life came from Wen Shuchen, and she would also video-call the little one.
Gradually, her grandmother’s injuries improved, and she was even able to get out of bed and walk. A month later, one evening when He Qingchi was absentmindedly following the news from Jiangcheng, she moved a chair into the courtyard, washed some cherry tomatoes to snack on, and waited for the time on her phone to tick over to nine o’clock—only to come across a piece of news.
She stared at the glowing screen for a moment, her fingers pausing.
Scrolling down, she saw a report from a media outlet about the Wen family. Reading it word by word, there were only two messages between the lines: Wen Yue’s engagement to Shen Tingji had been canceled, and his current fiancée was Miss Fei Ying—one of the main figures who had previously drawn Wen Yue into repeated public controversies.
The second point was that Wen Yue was in poor health and had announced that he would be relocating abroad to recuperate.
This meant that in the internal struggle within the Wen family, Wen Yue was out. Even if he was preparing to retire overseas, he would still be subject to a full investigation by the relevant authorities.
In just a few brief lines, the outside world had already sealed Wen Yue’s fate.
After reading it, He Qingchi felt somewhat conflicted.
She thought that Fei Ying had, in a sense, gotten what she wanted. From now on, the online rumors about her would be rewritten into a different version of the story. As the nominal fiancée of the Wen family, the fame and resources she could gain were beyond what ordinary people could imagine. What was more, as long as the Wen family did not want Fei Ying to stir up any scandals outside that might affect the family’s reputation during these three years, they would treat her fairly well.
What He Qingchi could think of, the aunt within the Wen family could think of as well…
Over this matter, the aunt had even made a big scene and argued fiercely with Wen Shuchen. Later, after returning home, she called a highly respected elder and cried over the phone: “He did it on purpose. Over the next few years, he’ll definitely keep giving Fei Ying benefits, nurturing that woman’s ambitions. This way, Wen Yue will never be able to shake off that ghostly woman for the rest of his life!”
On the other end of the call, the elder did not strongly oppose Wen Shuchen’s decision, which had been made to protect the Wen family’s reputation.
After all, Wen Yue had failed to keep himself in check and had messed around with a woman outside. Now that she had come knocking on the door, taking responsibility was only natural.
But the aunt didn’t see it that way. “Wen Shuchen is too vicious. He either forced me to choose to lock Wen Yue up in a psychiatric hospital with a bunch of lunatics, or he finds a clingy madwoman to entangle Wen Yue. If I chose the former, today’s headlines would be about Wen Yue being sent to a hospital for treatment…”
She chose neither, so Wen Shuchen made the choice for her.
The aunt cried and complained for half an hour. In the end, the elder handed the phone to the housekeeper, citing old age and poor health as an excuse, clearly unwilling to intervene further.
With things already set in stone, even if the aunt declared that she would not acknowledge Fei Ying as Wen Yue’s fiancée, as long as the Wen family acknowledged it and the outside world accepted it, that was enough.
He Qingchi did not know what had happened on the aunt’s side and even thought that she had compromised.
On the third day after her grandmother was able to walk, the quiet Wushan Town welcomed several low-key luxury cars.
They had come to pick someone up.
He Qingchi had stayed there for nearly two months. Now that her grandmother had fully recovered, she no longer had an excuse to remain. Though she had not seen Wen Shuchen for a long time, the one she missed most was the child in his arms.
The little one probably didn’t want his mother to know how carefree his days had been. When he saw He Qingchi, he even put on a show, shedding a few crocodile tears and burying himself in her arms, calling her “Mommy” in a soft, childish voice.
Seeing this, Grandma smiled kindly. “Go with them now. Look at my precious little one crying.”
He Qingchi asked Wen Shuchen for a handkerchief to wipe the child’s tears. As she reached out, her pale fingers were suddenly clasped by the man. His expression was gentle as he discreetly gave her hand a squeeze before quickly letting go.
On the surface, he looked impeccably proper…
In front of her grandmother, He Qingchi couldn’t say anything about him, though her fingertips still retained a faint, unfamiliar sensation.
The family of three stayed in Wushan Town to have lunch with Grandmother, leaving slowly only after three in the afternoon.
As she watched the scenery outside the car window recede, He Qingchi’s drifting thoughts were pulled back by Wen Shuchen. He half-embraced her, holding her protectively in an intimate posture, and said in a low voice, “If you want to come back and stay in the future, I’ll come with you.”
He was very busy, and the time he could spare to accompany her probably wouldn’t be much.
Even so, hearing it made He Qingchi’s heart feel sweet.
“Mommy, welcome home!” The little one refused to be ignored and popped his small head up.
He Qingchi lowered her head with a smile, gently touching his cheek with her fingertips.
Yes—
This time, for no clear reason, she truly felt the reality of coming home.
During this period, Wen Shuchen had been living at the Wen residence. He had been photographed by reporters several times entering and leaving, and in the eyes of outsiders, the Wen family had completely undergone a change of regime.
When the car stopped outside, Wen Shuchen shielded He Qingchi as she got out. Holding the child in her arms, she walked in high heels toward the courtyard that was still not entirely familiar to her.
Returning to live here was not, as outsiders speculated, Wen Shuchen’s way of flaunting his authority. Rather, now that he was truly in charge and had persuaded the elderly members of the family to retire and enjoy their later years, it was simply more convenient—and more stabilizing—to have matters brought to the old house whenever anything arose that required Wen Shuchen to preside over.
At this moment, seeing Wen Shuchen’s increasingly mature and restrained presence, He Qingchi had to admit that he was no longer the same as he had been back then.
The two walked into the living room, and at the stairway, Wen Yue’s figure slowly descended. He wore a white shirt and trousers, with a cashmere coat draped over his arm. Just a few steps behind him, a secretary carried a suitcase—probably filled with his old belongings.
From now on, this old house would belong solely to Wen Shuchen. Wen Yue’s visit was clearly to collect his things.
Compared to their last meeting here, Wen Yue had become colder and more emotionless. His gaze fixed on He Qingchi for a second before shifting expressionlessly to Wen Shuchen, who stood in front of her.
The two brothers had battled for over thirty years, winning and losing against each other countless times, yet the hatred between them had only grown deeper.
Neither Wen Shuchen nor Wen Yue spoke a word, and the atmosphere grew suffocating.
But a man skilled at wearing masks would never let the secretaries and bodyguards present see a spectacle. Wen Shuchen was already the victor. Standing from a superior position, he seemed almost to pity Wen Yue’s situation, with a faint curve at the corner of his lips.
As they brushed past each other, He Qingchi didn’t hear clearly what Wen Shuchen said to Wen Yue.
She assumed they wouldn’t speak at all and didn’t listen closely.
It seemed like advice to go abroad and settle there, that after completing the investigation by the authorities, someone would arrange a new place for him.
The darkness in Wen Yue’s eyes deepened, but what he said was suddenly directed at He Qingchi: “He and I are both destined to end up alone. Take care of yourself.”
Compared to trading harsh words with Wen Shuchen, he preferred leaving a shadow in He Qingchi’s heart.
After saying this, a layer of false smile covered his cold voice. Before leaving the old residence, he raised his hand and heavily patted Wen Shuchen’s shoulder, dripping with sarcasm. “Take good care of your wife and child.”
In the blink of an eye, there was the sound of a wrist dislocating.
He Qingchi didn’t see what happened. Instinctively, she raised her hand to cover the child’s eyes, her breathing quickening slightly as she looked at the two tense men before her.
Whether it was Wen Shuchen or Wen Yue with the dislocated wrist, neither showed the slightest abnormality on the surface.
Wen Shuchen rolled up his sleeve, revealing a solid forearm—the very hand that had discreetly dislocated Wen Yue’s wrist. Turning his face slightly, he calmly instructed He Qingchi to take the child upstairs.
She didn’t obey immediately. Afraid that without anyone to stop them, something else might happen downstairs, she grabbed Wen Shuchen’s shirt sleeve with one hand and hurriedly pulled him upstairs, not sparing Wen Yue in the living room another glance.
Once upstairs and heading toward the master bedroom, she muttered, “Let’s not pay Wen Yue any mind. Before he goes abroad, he still has investigations to face—he can barely protect himself. He can only talk tough.”
She was afraid Wen Shuchen might fall back into the habit of fighting with Wen Yue. His body wasn’t what it used to be.
“I won’t fight him,” Wen Shuchen said with a smile as she dragged him into the room.
He Qingchi didn’t believe him at all. Covering their son’s ears, she said, “You already dislocated his wrist.”
If Wen Yue hadn’t raised his hand to pat Wen Shuchen’s shoulder, and if everything hadn’t happened so fast at such close range, Wen Shuchen wouldn’t have let go so quickly. Otherwise, she would have scolded him for being reckless and frightening the child.
As she scolded him with a stern face, Wen Shuchen suddenly leaned in and lightly brushed a kiss against the corner of her lips. “There won’t be a next time.”
Wen Yue calling him a loner was one thing, but the words he used also cursed the safety of He Qingchi and the child. That had crossed Wen Shuchen’s bottom line, which was why he had acted in the living room.
He Qingchi understood this, so she didn’t stay angry for long.
She put the child on the bed.
The little one, still innocent and confused, stared wide-eyed—too young to understand the adult world.
He lay at the edge of the bed, cupping his chubby face, looking at Daddy and then at Mommy.
He Qingchi walked to the window and watched Wen Yue’s figure leave in the car, followed once again by that old suitcase. Behind her, Wen Shuchen approached slowly and whispered in her ear, “When he was brought back to the old house by my father all those years ago, he was carrying that same suitcase.”
More than thirty years had passed. He arrived with that scene, and he left with the same.
It was as if fate had long since decreed it.
As He Qingchi turned around to look at him, the man gently drew her into his arms.
In a low, warm voice, Wen Shuchen reminded her: “Between us, you lost the bet.”
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