Marry by Relying on Favor: Chapter 158 - He Was Willing to Trade His Entire Life In Service to the Qu Family in Exchange for Hers
Too terrifying!
Qu Bixin had never imagined—even in her dreams—that Shen Fu had already laid out the entire chessboard. Since returning to Jiangcheng from his business trip a week ago, he hadn’t once come to the villa to see her. Instead, he called her phone punctually every morning, noon, and night, chatting about daily life—just never showing up in person.
She had been avoiding him lately, so not seeing him should have been exactly what she wanted. Yet because Shen Fu kept “harassing” her father, she found herself unable to eat or sleep in peace.
Basically, wherever the Qu father and son appeared, Shen Fu would be there too.
As if they were inseparable and on excellent terms.
Qu Yanming cursing Shen Fu for being shameless on social media had become a daily routine.
After lurking in her villa and reading the eighth such post, Qu Bixin couldn’t take it anymore.
Why was he showing up at the Qu Corporation’s celebration banquet?
He even brought reporters with him. Before anyone could react, headlines about Shen Fu and the Qu family were already circulating.
Qu Bixin vaguely felt like she was being forced into marriage—even though Shen Fu hadn’t mentioned the failed proposal again.
By noon, when she saw several magazines running news about her and Shen Fu, she finally snapped. She changed clothes, left the house, and drove to the headquarters of the Wen Group.
Without calling Shen Fu first, her sudden inspection caught everyone off guard.
She didn’t know which floor he worked on, so she gave her name and asked to see Wen Shuchen. Soon, a secretary escorted her upstairs, straight to the office. Inside, Wen Shuchen and his elite team were drinking tea. Several sharply dressed men sat on the sofas, exchanging harmless jokes.
Before entering, she vaguely heard someone mention Wen Yue—apparently his businesses had been sealed, and he was facing prison. As for his fiancée… the topic was cut short.
The secretary knocked twice and brought her in.
Wen Shuchen had already been informed, so he calmly invited her to sit.
“Miss Qu is here to see Shen Fu?”
She hadn’t even spoken, yet her purpose was guessed immediately.
Under the collective gaze of several men, the atmosphere felt strange. She nodded. “I have something to discuss with him.”
Wen Shuchen smiled faintly and took a sip of tea. A man in a black suit on the sofa added, “President Shen took Fei Ying to visit her fiancé this afternoon. If Miss Qu doesn’t mind, you can wait here.”
The name Fei Ying sounded vaguely familiar—wasn’t she Wen Yue’s fiancée?
The secretary guided Qu Bixin to a nearby sofa.
The men continued chatting openly, seemingly regarding her as Shen Fu’s woman, speaking without restraint. “Sister-in-law, please don’t misunderstand. Fei Ying works in his department now. If she can’t find President Wen, she can only go to President Shen.”
In other words, Wen Shuchen had handed his nominal younger sister-in-law over to Shen Fu to handle.
Qu Bixin smiled sweetly. “Even if he stole President Wen’s sister-in-law away, it wouldn’t be my place to misunderstand.”
“Looks like President Shen has a tough road ahead,” one of the men laughed.
The elite team members all chuckled, clearly enjoying the spectacle of Shen Fu chasing his wife.
Wen Shuchen calmly interrupted them.
The secretary added, “Gentlemen, President Wen has something to discuss with Miss Qu. Would you mind giving them some space?”
These elite members had followed Wen Shuchen for years. They weren’t afraid of their boss. After enough joking, they gathered their laptops and left.
Only then did Qu Bixin breathe a little easier. Those men had sharp tongues—if not for their gentlemanly manners, they could probably bully women effortlessly.
Wen Shuchen, noticing her tension, personally poured her a cup of tea and handed it over.
“Thank you.”
She lowered her head and took a slow sip.
Wen Shuchen always maintained a courteous distance with women—never making things awkward, never letting the atmosphere turn uncomfortable. He first explained that Shen Fu had been sent to handle work matters and wasn’t entangled with any other woman.
On that front, Qu Bixin believed him. Shen Fu loved his career more than anything.
After a brief pause, Wen Shuchen stood casually by his desk and asked, “Have you visited the cemetery Shen Fu chose for your child?”
Her fingers tightened abruptly around the teacup, heedless of the heat. She looked up in shock.
Wen Shuchen didn’t clarify how much he knew, nor did he say a single good word for Shen Fu. He simply gave her the cemetery’s address.
When she left the Wen Group, her mind was in chaos. She drove aimlessly around Jiangcheng. Before sunset, she found herself at the cemetery.
The place Shen Fu had chosen was lush with greenery and tall cypress trees—a site of excellent feng shui.
After giving Shen Fu’s name to the caretaker, she was led to a grave. “It was built not long ago,” the old caretaker said. “Last month I saw a very handsome man come—black shirt, stayed alone in front of the tombstone all day. Oh, and my colleague said he also came on New Year’s Eve, stayed until sunset. I heard the child buried here is his.”
Perhaps because she looked gentle and likable, the old man chatted a bit.
Qu Bixin remained silent. When she reached the grave, she softly thanked him.
Sensing her expression, the caretaker tactfully left.
As evening fell, the temperature dropped sharply. A cool breeze brushed her bare calves beneath her skirt.
She looked at the tombstone. When she saw the name engraved on it, her chest tightened painfully.
There were names carved there—hers and Shen Fu’s as parents.
And the child’s.
Shen Fu had given their nonexistent child a name.
Two characters were etched into the stone: Shen Xi.
Xi, as in “to cherish.”
Qu Bixin didn’t know how to describe what she felt. All strength seemed to leave her body. She sank to the ground, burying her face in her knees, lashes lowered, unable to stop the ache rising within her.
“Shen Xi.”
It sounded like a girl’s name. Seeing it, she suddenly realized that perhaps Shen Fu truly wanted a family.
He was the one starved of love. When he met a woman he liked, his instinct was to seek love in return.
Tears welled in her eyes as she silently repeated the girl’s name.
过去都想霸占，这是她在这段感情里偏执的一面。
She had once resented the existence of Shen Tingji—the mute girl he had raised—wishing he had never brought her up. When she loved someone, she wanted to possess even his past. That was the obsessive side of her in this relationship.
So when Shen Fu wanted to start over, she still couldn’t let go.
But seeing that he had named their nonexistent child Shen Xi, she suddenly didn’t want to hate those past grievances anymore.
He raised Shen Tingji, and he named this child Shen Xi—for the same reason. He just wanted a home.
This was, for him—an orphan—a wish too difficult to speak aloud.
Qu Bixin also sat alone in front of the gravestone for a long time. Even though she knew the child didn’t exist, she truly felt Shen Fu’s emotions for once. When he had sat here back then, was he searching for a home of his own?
Only where there are relatives can there be a home. But his parents and older brother were gone, and Shen Tingji had also been sent away.
So on New Year’s Eve, the only place he could come to was the cemetery, letting this “child” keep him company.
It wasn’t until the sky had completely darkened that Qu Bixin quietly left the graveyard.
She returned to the villa. It was empty—no one else there.
All the lights were turned on. Qu Bixin found the wedding ring that had been neglected for a long time. She lowered her head and looked at it for a long while, then slowly closed her fingers around it.
Around nine o’clock, Shen Fu called.
Perhaps he had learned from Wen Shuchen that she had come, so after finishing what he needed to do, he reached out to her.
At this moment, Qu Bixin had already returned to the Qu residence. When she received the call, she avoided the others and stepped onto the balcony to answer it.
Her tone was no different from usual; she even carried a smile. “Be honest—did you seriously offend my dad lately? Just now in the study, the moment he mentioned you, he was so angry his mustache was practically bristling.”
It wasn’t exactly offending him. Shen Fu had simply made sure that everyone in their social circle knew that Father Qu had a former son-in-law who was utterly devoted to him.
Those wealthy young men who wanted to marry into the Qu family or go on blind dates with Qu Bixin would first have to get past not Father Qu, but Shen Fu—the ex-husband who kept making his presence known every few days.
As a result, Qu Bixin’s “market value” had dropped, and naturally Father Qu was upset.
To make matters worse, his old friends from prominent families were all advising him to accept this former son-in-law.
On the phone, Shen Fu sounded sincere and humble, claiming it was because he hadn’t done well enough.
Qu Bixin shook her head and sighed. “When we were married, you always acted so aloof—I never saw you buttering up my dad like this. Now you’re practically more filial than my brother.”
Shen Fu said, “Can I come pick you up tonight?”
Since their relationship had grown subtly distant, this was the first time he had asked.
Qu Bixin answered generously, “Sure. I’ll wait for you after ten.”
Satisfied, Shen Fu hung up.
Qu Bixin chuckled softly at her phone, but the moment she turned around, she saw her father standing behind her. Startled, she clutched her chest. “Dad, were you eavesdropping on me?”
“Just passing by!”
Father Qu would never admit it. He’d clearly picked up this habit from Old Man He next door.
His tone turned somber. “Have you really decided to get back together with that ungrateful bastard?”
Standing on the balcony, the light cast a soft glow on Qu Bixin’s small face. Her expression grew serious. “Maybe he’s just fated to make my heart ache at first sight. Dad, we’ve been together nearly ten years. I don’t want to keep going back and forth anymore.”
Sometimes she wanted to be like He Qingchi—find a reliable husband and live peacefully at home as a wealthy lady.
She didn’t want to suffer so much over love anymore.
Father Qu had a thousand, ten thousand complaints about Shen Fu, but they could never outweigh his daughter’s single word of approval.
He reminded her earnestly, “That boy clawed his way up from the very bottom. He doesn’t even count as coming from an ordinary family… Sometimes I think I’d rather you marry a second-generation rich kid like your brother than follow a hard-hearted man like Shen Fu.”
Choosing a son-in-law wasn’t like doing business—if one deal failed, you could just make another.
Father Qu admired Shen Fu’s business skills, but seeing him as his son-in-law was something he resisted from the bottom of his heart.
Qu Bixin said, “Uncle He used to dislike Wen Shuchen, too. After he came around, now he praises his son-in-law to everyone and treats him like his own son… Dad, can’t we give Shen Fu another chance? When he wants to do something, he never does it worse than anyone else.”
That was Shen Fu’s strength. When he had nothing, he still managed to raise Shen Tingji into a musician and provide him with the best living environment.
Now, when taking care of her, he was even more attentive than a professional housekeeper. Without any prompting, he arranged everything properly.
Before she knew it, Qu Bixin had begun to rely on him again, unconsciously drifting back toward him.
Seeing his daughter’s softened heart, Father Qu finally relented. “You can live with him outside, but the doors of the Qu family will not open to him a second time.”
The tension in Qu Bixin’s chest instantly eased. At least this meant her parents were tacitly accepting her being with Shen Fu.
Father Qu patted her shoulder and led her back to the study.
Qu Bixin was still puzzled until she saw her father take out an inheritance distribution agreement from a drawer.
She took it and quickly read through it.
In the agreement, Father Qu had divided the shares he held into two portions.
Her eyes widened in surprise, and she looked at him, hesitant to speak.
He had once said the company would go to Qu Yanming, and since she had no head for business, she had given up any thought of competing for shares.
“Yesterday Shen Fu came to talk to me.”
Father Qu said. Even mentioning his former son-in-law darkened his expression. “He promised that whether in the Wen Corporation or if he starts his own business again, he will serve the Qu family for the rest of his life. In return, he asked that the Qu Corporation must include shares under your name.”
Qu Bixin held the agreement, her red lips parting slightly. “What if I don’t end up with him?”
“He’ll still serve the Qu family and protect you.”
Father Qu was a shrewd businessman; he wouldn’t make a losing deal.
He had seen that his son Qu Yanming’s business sense was far inferior to the He family’s son-in-law. If the Qu family were handed to him, at best he could maintain the status quo; making it flourish in the next generation would be impossible.
Shen Fu, however, was willing to devote himself unconditionally to the Qu family, support Qu Yanming in running the company well, asking only that Qu Bixin hold a portion of the shares.
For Father Qu, those shares would belong to his daughter—not to Shen Fu.
So he could accept it, but he added one condition to Qu Bixin: “You can publicly be with Shen Fu, but you cannot legally marry him.”
The shares had to remain in the hands of the Qu family.
Qu Bixin felt a little dazed and said instinctively, “We could sign a prenuptial agreement…”
Father Qu had considered that. “Not safe.”
He feared that if he grew old and passed away, and Shen Fu coveted the assets in his daughter’s hands, no one would be able to help her.
The safest solution was for Qu Bixin not to marry Shen Fu.
Wealth in this world should not be divided; married couples should share a name—but as long as interests weren’t entangled, Father Qu would ultimately follow his daughter’s wishes.
The impact of this entire day on Qu Bixin had been overwhelming. It felt as though everyone and everything had been arranged in advance by Shen Fu, step by step forcing her into a dead end, making her face the choice between them.
She held the inheritance agreement and only left the study half an hour later.
Downstairs, Qu Yanming was still lounging on the sofa with one leg crossed, watching TV. When Qu Bixin saw him now, she looked at him as if he were a fool. Perhaps because she might end up taking half his assets in the future, she was unusually gentle with him.
Unaware of the situation, Qu Yanming spoke in his usual sarcastic tone: “Sis, did you know? Shen Fu kept pestering Dad today—even followed him to the company. He’s practically the hottest topic at the Qu Corporation now.”
Qu Bixin didn’t get angry. Instead, she gave him a sweet smile. “Brother, I won’t argue with you anymore. I’ll treat you well from now on.”
Qu Yanming was so creeped out by her sudden change in attitude that he instinctively felt there must be a trap.
But Qu Bixin didn’t say anything. She sat with him and watched TV for a while. Only when her phone rang did she pick up her bag and leave.
Qu Yanming was still bewildered. Turning to his wife, he said, “Is something wrong with my sister’s brain tonight?”
……
It was already late outside. After walking out of the Qu family villa, Qu Bixin saw Shen Fu’s car parked under a streetlight not far away. His tall figure stood by the front of the car, dressed in a black shirt and trousers, one hand in his pocket. As if sensing her gaze, he looked over too, a smile spreading across his refined, handsome face.
Her heart stirred. In her high heels, she slowly walked toward him.
It felt just like the beginning again—back when he didn’t even have the right to step into the Qu family home and would come to pick her up late at night like this.
The difference now was that Shen Fu’s feelings were no longer cold. He looked at her with passionate affection.
When she approached, Shen Fu lifted a hand and pulled her into a brief embrace, his voice low as he murmured by her ear, “I missed you.”
His deliberately lowered voice made her heart tremble. Perhaps because they hadn’t seen each other for so long, the way he looked at her was bold and undisguised. Holding her hand, he led her into the car, his eyes filled with smiles the entire way.
In contrast, Qu Bixin was distracted, her thoughts lingering on the inheritance agreement.
Shen Fu drove back to the villa and helped her out of the car.
Neither of them mentioned the time they had stayed apart. To Shen Fu, coming here was no different from returning home; he was familiar with everything.
“Do you want a late-night snack, or should I run a bath for you?”
His question pulled her back to her senses. She stammered slightly, “Ah—bath, let’s bathe.”
She had eaten not long ago at the Qu residence. She wasn’t a pig; she couldn’t possibly eat that much.
So Shen Fu went upstairs to the bathroom first. Seeing that the villa wasn’t as tidy as before, he had already rolled up his sleeves, ready to clean.
But Qu Bixin’s mind was elsewhere. She followed upstairs, yet headed toward the study instead.
Half an hour later—
Shen Fu found her and didn’t mention anything else. “Xinxin, go take a bath first.”
She was sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window, hugging her knees. Turning her head, she softly asked him to come over.
Outside, the deep night was pitch-black. The streetlights only illuminated the trees; there wasn’t a single person in sight.
Shen Fu sat beside her. Neither of them minded the cool floor. The dark glass of the window reflected their figures and expressions.
Qu Bixin looked at him for a long, long time before finally speaking. “My dad told me everything tonight.”
“Mm.”
His tone suggested he had already expected it. He noticed her hands resting on her knees were slightly cold, so he held them, warming them with his body heat.
Her slender fingers were delicate and fair—just missing a ring.
Earlier, Shen Fu had gone downstairs to look around the living room but hadn’t found the ring box.
Unaware of his thoughts, Qu Bixin hesitated before saying, “I might not be able to give you marriage.”
She was determined to secure her shares in the Qu Corporation. She loved money, loved vanity and wealth—it wasn’t something she could change.
Ironically, as a wealthy heiress like her, she should have entered a powerful alliance marriage, choosing a prestigious and influential husband. Yet she had picked the poorest one.
Shen Fu only said three words: “It’s okay.”
The calmer he was, the more a faint sense of guilt stirred within her, as though she were playing with his feelings without taking responsibility.
“I can live with you, have children with you, even hold a wedding—but it can’t be legal.” The lesson she had learned years ago had made her wiser now. Back then, she had given up her identity as a rich heiress, willingly becoming an ordinary woman who sacrificed everything for a man.
Now, after half an hour in the study, Qu Bixin had made her decision—she chose to sacrifice Shen Fu.
When she felt guilty, she became especially agreeable.
“Let’s have a daughter in the future. We’ll call her Shen Xi.”
Shen Fu looked at her, his long fingers slowly caressing her pleasing face.
She smiled. “Nod?”
His fingertips traced along the contours of her cheek bit by bit. His gaze was deep, unreadable.
In truth, these choices had all been placed before her by him.
He had hurt her before; subconsciously, she resisted stepping back into marriage.
If he kept pressing the issue, he would only drive her away again, just like before.
Now that everything had made Qu Bixin realize there was no possibility of marriage between them, she relaxed her guard. Like a clingy kitten, she leaned into him, revealing her true feelings. “Living together like this is pretty good. I still like you—like you very, very much…”
Shen Fu pulled her into his arms and couldn’t help lowering his head to seal the words on her lips.
She responded willingly.
They kissed by the floor-to-ceiling window for nearly half an hour before he finally released her, his voice low and hoarse. “Except for marriage, everything about you—I want it all.”
He spoke each word heavily, with absolute clarity.
She lifted her beautiful eyes to meet his focused, earnest gaze. Her fingertips slowly traced up to his face. “And how exactly do you plan to take it?”
Suddenly, Shen Fu lifted her from the floor. Instead of going to the master bedroom, he pressed her down onto the sofa in the study.
He had calculated the timing—calculated her recovery after the miscarriage.
Only then did Qu Bixin realize that everything had been planned by him.
He knew that after a miscarriage, a woman shouldn’t conceive again too soon—at least within six months—otherwise it would harm her health.
So all this time, Shen Fu had restrained himself, not even touching a single finger of hers. Now that things were laid bare between them, he no longer played the gentleman. He kissed her with bone-deep tenderness, whispering affectionate words over and over by her ear.
In the latter half of the night—
Qu Bixin fell asleep in his arms. When she woke, it was still dark outside.
She lifted her head, quietly studying Shen Fu’s sleeping face. Compared to earlier passion, he now looked like an obedient child, his high-bridged nose and thin lips curved naturally into a pleasing shape.
Lying there, she thought about how he had agreed not to marry her, only wanting a home with her. Her heart softened.
Slowly, she slipped out of his arms and, barefoot, walked to the dressing table.
In the lowest drawer was the ring box.
Wearing a black lace camisole, her skin pale as fine porcelain, she stood there quietly for a moment before slowly opening the ring box.
Three minutes later.
Qu Bixin returned to Shen Fu’s embrace, her cheek resting against his chest, her curled lashes gently closing.
Her fair hand quietly settled near the place where his heart beat. On her ring finger was the wedding band—neither too big nor too small, fitting just right.
……
Perhaps I was born a demon wandering the mortal world.
And you—are the little princess I possess even while standing in darkness —Shen Fu.
“Married by Relying on Favor” — The End.
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