The Painful Masks of the Couple The Fear of Being Dominated... A Showdown at the Hospital Entrance

Rustle, rustle.

In the first-floor lobby, the only sound that could be heard was the flipping of pages. Dongfang Zhan looked at the documents in his hands, his expression heavy and solemn.

It was not that the documents contained a lot of information; in fact, there was very little, and it could be read in just a few minutes. However, Dongfang Zhan and his wife, Su Su, had been sitting here for nearly half an hour, growing increasingly silent the more they read.

They seemed to be thinking of a solution, but in reality, they were at their wits' end.

The couple knew exactly what their daughter was like. She had a strong personality, was independent, and possessed abilities far exceeding those of her peers. She was destined to be one of the most brilliant future successors of the Dongfang family!

The good news: she was independent. The bad news: she was too independent.

She did not even consult them on something as major as finding a partner. Now the situation was urgent, and everyone else knew about it before they, her own parents, finally found out. Was this not absurd?

Dongfang Zhan sighed and put down the documents. Let us wait a bit. Our daughter is still in class right now. I will call and ask her tonight after her classes are over.

It was the helpless sigh of an old father.

He knew that once his daughter made up her mind, it was very hard to change or sway her, but he still had to try, right?

Why would Zhixia make such a rookie mistake? Su Su frowned, her eyes filled with confusion, still holding Ye Cheng's file.

Looking at Ye Cheng's life history, aside from being somewhat good-looking, she really could not pick out a single redeeming quality. He was a textbook rich-girl killer, a scheming social climber.

In their social circle, anyone with a daughter paid close attention to this, warning them from a young age to prevent them from being taken advantage of.

To avoid this very situation, they even sent them to aristocratic schools, greatly reducing the chances of them coming into contact with those malicious social climbers from the outside.

They took every precaution, but in the end, they still fell for it, and it was their proudest daughter, no less.

It was a real-life version of the saying that the ones who drown are the ones who know how to swim. Neither of the parents knew how to broach the subject. If they said even the slightest wrong thing, given their daughter's personality, there was a high probability she would just cut ties and leave the family.

It was like defusing a bomb. They had to be careful, careful, and even more careful. One wrong step and it would all blow up!

Damn that social climber!

Dongfang Zhan shook his head. Fortunately, we had that crazy lady... ahem, witch to remind us. Finding out now is not too late, and there is still time to salvage this. Let us think, let us think...

Growing up, Dongfang Zhan had always called Du Wanyi a crazy lady and rarely used her real name. However, because of his daughter's situation, he now owed her a favor. It would be a bit unreasonable to keep calling her a crazy lady at every turn.

It would make their family seem too ungrateful.

Su Su nodded, looking at the documents in her hands. But, honey, the information in these files seems to differ a bit from what that witch said earlier?

Previously, Du Wanyi had described him as malicious and scheming, but the investigation reports from their subordinates painted a different picture. The subordinates evaluated him as kind-hearted?

Things like feeding a fat, ugly yellow dog 360 days a year without fail, or helping a disabled person on the street stand up again, even grabbing a megaphone to help the guy beg for money. Though for some unknown reason, that disabled person with bad legs ended up standing up and running away on his own...

Whether these were actually good deeds was up for debate, but their subordinates had not found a single shred of evidence of Ye Cheng doing anything evil.

The only thing that did not differ much from Du Wanyi's claims was her statement that his words and actions were slightly eccentric. After reading Ye Cheng's life history, eccentric was no longer sufficient to describe it; it was downright bizarre.

In kindergarten, he scammed the surrounding kids out of their milk and eggs. In elementary school, he led a protest demanding gender equality just so he could go into the girls' restroom. In middle school, when he got a nosebleed, he firmly believed he was the reincarnation of a tomato...

You call this slightly eccentric?

What kind of behavior was this? Was he even human!

At least to the conservative Dongfang Zhan and his wife, Ye Cheng's life history was bizarre to an incomprehensible and unacceptable degree. They absolutely could not accept such a strange person associating with their daughter!

Absolutely not!

Could you have accepted him if there were not any discrepancies? Dongfang Zhan asked tentatively after a moment of silence.

Su Su: ...

Well, regardless of whether there were discrepancies, she did not think she could accept him. She could accept her future son-in-law being a bit mediocre, as long as he had no bad intentions and loved their daughter enough.

The Dongfang family lacked nothing else. Once they had kids, they could just focus on cultivating the next generation...

Any great family was like a massive machine. It was precise, yes, but it would not stop functioning just because one person was missing. On the contrary, because of its massive scale, parts could be constantly replaced, offering more choices to keep the machine running.

Even if they did nothing, it could continue running like this. It had a high margin of error; they only needed to wait for the right moment and the right leader to emerge to lead them to new heights of glory!

Ordinary people did not have such a margin for error. One failure, and they were doomed forever.

He could be ordinary, but he absolutely could not be a bad seed like Ye Cheng, full of calculations. If he entered their family, the consequences would be unimaginable!

Alright, honey. I will send Zhixia a message and ask her to come home today. Do not say anything at first; let me talk to her... Su Su said, her elegant brows slightly furrowed, looking weighed down by her thoughts.

Dongfang Zhan nodded.

Okay.

Indeed, there were some things that he, as a father, was not suited to bring up. It was better to leave it to his wife, and he would step in only if the situation could not be resolved.

The couple shared a very shrewd trait: they did not secretly seek Ye Cheng out to negotiate a resolution to this matter.

Geese leave traces when they fly, and there is no wall in the world that does not leak wind. If they did that, their daughter would absolutely find out later, and the bomb exploding would become a near certainty.

Unless they were out of their minds, they would absolutely never do such a thing.

The stuff in TV dramas was all fake. If you truly cared about your daughter or son's feelings, how could you ever say something like, Here is five million, leave my daughter?

Dongfang Zhan had rushed back specifically to handle the matter concerning Ye Cheng. Now that they had discussed a solution, it was time for him to head back to the company for work.

Buzz, buzz!

Dongfang Zhan's phone vibrated. A message came from the Dongfang family's logistics staff, sending over a surveillance video clip.

Hmm? A question mark appeared over Dongfang Zhan's head. Looking at the thumbnail of the surveillance video, was this not the place where their daughter lived at school?

What was going on?

He tapped on the video and it began to play. Ye Cheng appeared in front of the camera, looking incredibly sneaky and suspicious, and shouted a couple of times.

Madam President, I am back, open the door!

Hamster, Hamster, open the door!

Dongfang Zhan: ???

Beside him, Su Su, who had just finished sending her message, heard the voice and looked over as well.

"Darling, what's wrong?" Su Su leaned sideways, her eyes widening in surprise as she got a clear look at the screen on the phone.

"Why is it this social climber!" Su Su exclaimed in shock.

The two continued watching. Ye Cheng shouted at the door for a while. After realizing no one was coming to open it, he climbed over the wall and slipped inside. Then, noticing the security camera, he silently climbed back out—but not before unlocking the gate from the inside.

Then... he gave a symbolic knock on the door, pushed it open, and walked right in through the main entrance in broad daylight.

Su Su: "???"

Dongfang Zhan: "???"

The sheer bizarre nature of this surveillance footage was on par with writing a check that started with a "1" and filling the rest with the word "Chengdu"...

Too devious!

Dongfang Zhan and Su Su finally realized the true weight of the phrase "slightly bizarre behavior" mentioned in his background file. This kid was genuinely weird!

You already climbed in, but just to walk through the front door, you climbed back out?

"Darling, why do I feel like there's something wrong with this guy's head? Zhixia likes this type?" Su Su said after a brief silence, her face immediately twisting into the mask of pain typical of an agonizing mother.

No wonder their daughter hadn't shown any signs of early romance all these years, not even having a single boy she fancied. Later, when she took in the legitimate daughter of the Li family, they had worried themselves sick thinking she had a different sexual orientation.

After all that, it wasn't a matter of sexual orientation; she just liked the abnormal ones!

Between poop-flavored chocolate and chocolate-flavored poop, did she really have to pick one?

It hurts, it hurts too much!

Dongfang Zhan remained silent without saying a word. He appeared emotionally stable, but in reality, the old father was at his wit's end. His heart was bleeding, and he was so miserable he couldn't speak.

He noticed the way Ye Cheng addressed her at the beginning of the video, and judging by his practiced movements, it probably wasn't his first time breaking into their daughter's house like this.

Which meant... he had done it many times.

Without realizing it, Dongfang Zhan's hands had clenched into tight fists, the veins on his arms bulging, and he was gritting his teeth hard enough to shatter them.

"Bang!"

Not long after, a loud crash came from the surveillance footage. The first-floor window shattered, and a large lump of something flew out, landing heavily on the ground. Once the noise settled, the Dongfang couple finally saw clearly what that large lump was.

Two people: the despicable social climber and the legitimate daughter of the Li family.

Dongfang Zhan: "???"

Su Su: "???"

The couple's eyes widened simultaneously, looking as if they had seen a ghost. In the footage, Ye Cheng, who had fallen to the ground covered in blood, tore off a piece of his clothes to do a simple bandage, and then simply picked up the motionless little secretary and ran off.

That's right, just like that... he ran.

Ran to the hospital to register for surgery.

Su Su: "???"

Dongfang Zhan: "???"

Time and time again, Ye Cheng's actions refreshed the couple's understanding. For the first time in years, Dongfang Zhan felt the familiar terror of being dominated radiating from Ye Cheng.

The terror of being dominated by Mrs. Du!

No wonder he felt like he saw the shadow of an old acquaintance in Ye Cheng. It turned out to be that crazy woman!

"No, absolutely not! I won't allow it!" Dongfang Zhan reacted as if triggered, firmly biting down on his refusal to accept the relationship between Ye Cheng and his daughter.

Su Su: "..."

Seeing her husband's triggered state, Su Su faintly guessed something. Her mouth twitched; her poor husband really was pitiful, having to endure this kind of thing since childhood...

It was like a massive cycle of karma. The things her husband experienced back then, her daughter was now encountering all over again. How ridiculous was that?

According to normal logic, shouldn't their daughter be disgusted?

How did she end up attracted to him?

After the video ended, silence returned to the hall once more. The couple became even quieter than before.

"Let's transfer her to another school," Dongfang Zhan said, seemingly having calmed down a bit.

Su Su: "..."

"Alright, I'll call Zhixia first to test the waters." Su Su nodded in agreement. She leaned forward, stretching her arm to grab her phone, and quickly dialed her daughter's number.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

The call connected quickly, but there was no sound from the other end. Confusion flickered in Su Su's eyes as she spoke tentatively.

"Hello? Zhixia, can you hear me?"

Faint sounds of an argument could be heard from the other side. At this moment, the President was being blocked by the short-haired woman and hadn't left the hospital yet.

Waiting with an anxious heart for a moment, the President's voice finally came through the phone.

"Mom, what is it?" Dongfang Zhixia's slightly exhausted voice sounded from the other end—a mental exhaustion rather than a physical one.

"Zhixia, are you busy over there?" Su Su asked.

"Something came up. Let's talk later, I'm hanging up." Dongfang Zhixia's tone was urgent. Not wanting to waste even a single second, she hung up directly.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

Su Su: "..."

The couple looked at each other, both donning masks of pain simultaneously. They didn't even need to think to know what their daughter was busy with right now—she was busy taking care of her boyfriend.

NO!!!

...

The sky gradually darkened.

The Du family's private car slowly pulled up to the hospital entrance.

"Little Lanlan, do you think Little Hanhan will be happily startled when he sees me later?" Du Wanyi lay excitedly in the back seat, holding up her phone to watch a brain-dead short drama.

The short-haired woman: "..."

Whether he would be startled wasn't clear, but he probably wouldn't be too happy...

"Let's go, let's go!"

Du Wanyi grabbed her little box and skipped out the back door. As if sensing something, she stopped after two steps and suddenly turned her head to look in a certain direction!

Dongfang Zhan: "???"

Su Su: "..."

This demonic woman was too outrageous!

The private car carrying the Dongfang couple had just come to a halt. Seeing a familiar figure ahead, they subconsciously took a second glance, and as a result... instant eye contact!!!

"Hiss, why did these two old fogeys come here?" Du Wanyi frowned, secretly thinking this was bad.