Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Do Not Grow Spoiled by Favor

"Oh, you’re trying to push someone else into my husband’s arms right in front of me. Husband, what should we do? I might get angry."

Fang Anning sardonically curled her lips, then pretended to act coyly and leaned on He Tingchen’s shoulder.

However, she wouldn’t dare truly lean on his shoulder – not if she valued her life.

"Bringing you here is to relieve stress, not to get angry. Since you’re not happy seeing this, let’s go back," He Tingchen stood up, taking her hand and leaving.

But on reaching the doorway, Fang Anning said, "Wait a moment, I still have a few words to say to Zhou Muyan."

He Tingchen looked at her, puzzled.

Fang Anning gave him a pleading look.

He Tingchen had no choice but to let go of her hand but instructed the bodyguards to follow close by her side.

Fang Anning walked back and approached Zhou Muyan.

Zhou Muyan was tightly clutching her torn clothes, her face streaked with tears, quietly crying.

Fang Anning had the bodyguards pull her up, after all, it wouldn’t be proper for her to stoop down to speak.

Once Zhou Muyan was standing, Fang Anning leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "I used to be envious of you. We’re both daughters of Zhou Zhaoguo, yet your life was so much better than mine. But today, I realized there’s nothing to be jealous of. At least, my mother truly loves me. And you? Ha."

At this, Fang Anning stopped speaking.

The words to follow, even if unsaid, Zhou Muyan probably knew what they would be.

After Fang Anning and He Tingchen left, the bodyguards who stayed to watch the Zhou family gradually departed as well.

Zhou Muyan held onto her clothes with one hand, while the other hand clenched into a tight fist.

As soon as Chen Fengjiao and the others left, she immediately helped Zhou Musen up, asking anxiously, "Son, are you alright? Does it hurt?"

"It hurts, it’s killing me," Zhou Musen wailed loudly.

Chen Fengjiao furiously confronted Zhou Zhaoguo, hitting and punching him, "You heartless bastard, he’s your own flesh and blood, how could you be so cruel to him?"

"What could I do? If I didn’t discipline him myself, and He Tingchen’s men got to him, he would have suffered even worse," Zhou Zhaoguo said.

Yet Chen Fengjiao continued to beat and blame him, while also tenderly embracing Zhou Musen.

And all the while, no one bothered to ask Zhou Muyan how she was doing.

Zhou Muyan coldly watched her parents and brother, who once were her dearest family. Now they’ve become so strange to her, so alien that she felt she did not recognize them at all.

It took a long while for Chen Fengjiao, consumed with pity for Zhou Musen, to finally remember she had another daughter.

Then she quickly embraced her, coaxing, "Yanyan, don’t be mad at mom. Mom had no other choice, I was just desperate. If He Tingchen truly took you in, it would have been your good fortune, there would have been no chance for Fang Anning to act so arrogantly. Too bad He Tingchen refused, he’s really blindsighted, to reject such a beautiful daughter like you in favor of some bastard. We must find a way to make him fall for you."

"Mom, I’m sorry, it’s my uselessness. I will try harder in the future to make He Tingchen like me," Zhou Muyan said calmly.

But though her voice was calm, there was not a hint of warmth in her eyes.

**

"I thought you would take vicious revenge on the Zhou family,"

In the car, He Tingchen spoke slowly.

Fang Anning snorted with laughter, "The Zhou family doesn’t need my revenge. After today’s events, they will rot from their roots. Just watch, it won’t be long before the Zhou family falls apart."

Actually, she was quite puzzled – what did her mother see in someone like Zhou Zhaoguo in the first place?

In her memory, her mother was not a lovesick fool so blinded by appearance, infatuated with a man to the point of life and death just because of his good looks.

"Everything that needed to be done is done. From today onwards, you’ll be taking care of yourself and your pregnancy at home," He Tingchen said.

"Mhm," Anning nodded, but soon she realized something, and immediately asked in surprise, "What do you mean? Taking care of my pregnancy?"

"What, do you still have things left unfinished?" He Tingchen frowned.

Anning quickly explained: "Nothing’s left, but I have to continue my studies; I can’t just stay at home taking care of the pregnancy."

"Studies? You’re pregnant and you still think about going to school?" He Tingchen’s eyebrows furrowed, as if she had just delivered a huge joke.

Anning said, "Of course I need to study. I’ve already taken off two years and am two years older than the others. If I take off another year, I fear I might never graduate. No, I have to go to school; many people still work while pregnant, right? So, going to school is absolutely not a problem for me."

"That’s not possible, others are others, you are you," He Tingchen said coldly.

Anning bit her lip, her mouth pouted, looking at him with a wronged expression.

He Tingchen frowned, reached out his hand to cover her face, and said coldly, "Don’t look at me with that face."

"But I really want to go to school," Anning said pitifully, with her face covered by his hand.

He Tingchen ignored her and left after bringing her home.

Before leaving, he instructed Mrs. Chen to watch her closely and forbid her from stepping out of the house.

"Lady, what happened? You were fine before you left the house, why are you suddenly angry?"

Mrs. Chen was confused and quickly asked Anning after He Tingchen had left.

Anning coldly snorted and said, "How would I know? His mood is always unpredictable, how could I know why he is angry?"

"Lady, you must not be petulant due to being doted on," Mrs. Chen advised her.

Anning: "..."

"I am being petulant? Mrs. Chen, which one of your eyes saw me being petulant? Who has doted on me? Who, who, who?"

"Isn’t your husband doting on you enough? He has a mania for cleanliness, yet he doesn’t let me attend to you during your morning sickness and personally takes care of you himself. Even the old master has never received such treatment; you are unique in your husband’s eyes," Mrs. Chen said with a smile.

Anning rolled her eyes: "That’s because he cares about the child in my belly, not about me. If he truly cared about me, why would he stop me from studying? No, I must go to school. Once the child is born, I’ll leave. If I don’t have a university diploma, I won’t be able to find a proper job. What will I do for the rest of my life?"

"Why are you thinking about leaving your husband? Isn’t it good to live with your husband?" Mrs. Chen asked, puzzled.

Anning: "..."

That, she had not considered, but it’s key that He Tingchen himself wouldn’t want it!

With his indifferent attitude towards women, no woman could stay by his side for long!

After she gives birth, without her having to say anything, He Tingchen will kick her out!

What should she do?

Stay with dogged persistence?

Forget it, she didn’t want to give him another chance to throw her into the sea to feed the sharks!

Therefore, she had to continue her studies, she must get that diploma.

No, she needed a good plan. One that would allow He Tingchen to agree to her demands without angering him.

"Liao Hanfeng, I have a question for you. What do men like women to do?" Anning called Liao Hanfeng for advice.

Liao Hanfeng laughed and said, "What else? Of course, they like it when they’re flirted with and cuddled. This trick works on all men, including my cold-faced and cold-hearted cousin."

"Understood."

Anning snapped her fingers.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read