Volume 1, Chapter 34: Developing a Need?

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Fu Yunzhen’s expression darkened at once when he saw her pushing him toward another woman.

Before he could finish being angry, she pulled another outrageous stunt, handing him a check. “Here’s five hundred thousand. It’s for the cost of repairing your car. I’ll pay you the rest once I have the money.”

Fu Yunzhen glanced at the check in her hand. “Five hundred thousand isn’t even enough to replace a single mirror. Besides, you’re using money from some other man to compensate me. Do you really think that’s appropriate?”

Qiao Nian’an stuffed the check into his trouser pocket, then tossed him the shirt he had taken off.

“Put your clothes on and climb back through the window to your fiancée.”

Fu Yunzhen pulled the check out and, right before her eyes, crumpled it into a ball and threw it away.

“Fu Yunzhen! That’s money—five hundred thousand! Are you insane?”

Qiao Nian’an had just reached out to stop him when he threw the check straight into the toilet. Watching five hundred thousand disappear just like that, she felt as though her heart were bleeding.

Did he have any idea how hard it was for her to earn money?

It had taken her forever to find a fool willing to let her fleece him.

“Even if you’re worth more money than anyone else now, don’t forget how hard it was to get where you are. If you don’t want the five hundred thousand, you can give it back to me. I’m short of money!”

She had once spent money as though it grew on trees, never valuing it at all.

Only after the Qiao family fell into ruin did she learn how difficult money was to earn.

Now she had to calculate every penny she spent.

She almost wished she could split each coin in two and spend it twice.

“Short of money? Then marry me. My money will be yours, and your money will still be yours.”

Qiao Nian’an clenched her small hands into fists.

So this was what it felt like to be humiliated and pressured with money into doing something one did not want to do.

In the past, she had repeatedly tried to tempt him into becoming her boyfriend with money.

Now he was repeatedly trying to tempt her with money.

Her face turned cold. “I have no intention of becoming the mistress everyone condemns. Get out of here.”

Fu Yunzhen pointed at the phone in his hand. “I can’t see your WeChat Moments or anything else. Did you set it to chat-only? Change it back.”

At first, he had been able to see that her Moments displayed the past six months. Later, when he clicked in again, the words had vanished, replaced by two short lines.

“I only need to report my work to you.”

Besides, she had nothing worth posting.

Once, she had posted something on her Moments, only to receive a flood of unpleasant comments from her classmates.

After that, she simply shut down her Moments and never posted again.

When someone falls from grace, everyone rushes to trample them. She had experienced that truth firsthand.

She had no need for friends.

She had always been a loner.

When she had been utterly desperate, Shen Niwu had hired her to work at her company, offering her a monthly salary of twenty thousand, plus commission.

That had temporarily eased her financial crisis and even allowed her to live a normal life.

The greatest sorrow of adulthood was being unable to earn money, unable to save money, and burdened with debt besides.

She had struggled for six long years. Now fortune had finally turned in her favor. A blessing in disguise, she was now technically the company’s legal representative, and Fu Yunzhen even counted the company’s profits as hers.

At last, her bitter days were yielding sweetness.

She would just have to endure the humiliation and keep working until she had earned enough to clear her debts before resigning.

Otherwise, at the rate she was making money, who knew when she would ever pay everything off?

Seeing that Qiao Nian’an ignored his request, Fu Yunzhen picked up her phone. After unlocking it, he manually changed her privacy settings himself.

Qiao Nian’an watched him enter the password with effortless precision and start the phone. She stared at him in bewilderment. “How… how did you unlock my phone?”

“By entering the password.” Fu Yunzhen continued operating the phone.

“I’m asking how you knew my password.” Qiao Nian’an felt that this man was far too dangerous.

Dissatisfied with the name she had saved him under, Fu Yunzhen changed it himself.

He even picked up his own phone and sent her a photograph.

Then he changed her profile picture as well, giving them matching couple avatars.

As he worked, Fu Yunzhen said, “Who do you think I am? I’m a tech tycoon. A mere password isn’t enough to stop me. Besides, you’ve never changed it. It’s still 124128—the combination of our birthdays.”

The moment he finished speaking, Fu Yunzhen moved closer. He lowered his handsome head, his dark eyes fixed intently on her, and said in a husky voice, “You still have feelings for me. When we broke up, you were forced into it. So let’s get back together and live a good life, all right?”

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Qiao Nian’an looked at his handsome face so close to hers. She was afraid that if she looked at him one moment longer, she would lose herself.

Her expression darkened as she pushed him away. “I’ve never changed my phone, so naturally I couldn’t be bothered to change the password. I was used to it, that’s all.”

She would change it the moment he left.

“You’re used to having me too. Why haven’t you kept me forever?” Fu Yunzhen pinched her chin and gently caressed it.

Looking at the wicked expression on his face, Qiao Nian’an cursed under her breath. “Is your mind filled with nothing but filthy thoughts?”

“Get out. Stop disturbing my sleep!”

With that, Qiao Nian’an forced him out through the window.

When she got her phone back and opened WeChat, she immediately noticed something wrong.

When had she acquired a husband?

Her profile picture had been changed too.

And it matched her husband’s.

Qiao Nian’an furrowed her brows deeply.

She changed the profile picture back at once.

If anyone discovered that they were using matching couple avatars, it would be disastrous.

Another storm would be stirred up.

She also manually changed the name Fu Yunzhen had given himself.

[Creditor]

Fu Yunzhen climbed out through the window and successfully returned to his own room.

Holding his phone, he immediately called his assistant, Lin. “Find out how Fu Jingchuan managed to hook up with Qiao Nian’an and make her his fiancée.”

He considered Qiao Nian’an someone who had tasted the finest delicacies. How could she possibly take a liking to a man like Fu Jingchuan?

Even desperation had its limits.

Besides, Fu Jingchuan held no real power in the Fu family. He was merely a spoiled playboy with a terrible reputation outside the family as well.

Fu Yunzhen could not understand what Qiao Nian’an saw in such a man.

His advanced age?

His yellow teeth and foul breath?

His womanizing nature?

Obviously not.

He intended to make Fu Jingchuan break off the engagement himself and ensure that he never dared to pursue Qiao Nian’an again.

When everyone in the Fu family learned that Qiao Nian’an was Fu Jingchuan’s fiancée, he had been consumed by jealousy.

That Fu Jingchuan had actually stolen the title of fiancé that should have belonged to him.

At that moment, no matter how Luo Yunzhu knocked on Fu Yunzhen’s door, he remained completely unmoved.

In the end, the butler came upstairs and escorted Luo Yunzhu away. Only then did she leave unwillingly.

Lying in the unfamiliar surroundings, Qiao Nian’an could not sleep at all. She had trouble sleeping anywhere but her own bed.

She turned on the bathroom light and made a video call to her mother and daughter, claiming that she was away on a business trip.

…

The following morning.

Qiao Nian’an only wanted to leave as early as possible.

But she thought she had already gotten up early enough.

She had not expected several of the Fu family’s elders to be awake already.

Old Master Fu beckoned her over. “An’an, come have breakfast.”

Qiao Nian’an waved her hand. “Grandpa Fu, Grandma Fu, I’m going to be late for work. I need to get to the company early. There’s a lot waiting for me to do.”

Seeing that she was skipping breakfast, Old Master Fu was deeply concerned. “How can you do that? People live on food. You must eat three proper meals a day. If you keep eating irregularly, your health will suffer.”

“Grandpa Fu, it’s really all right. I’ll buy something downstairs at the company when I get there,” Qiao Nian’an said.

Seeing that she truly was in a hurry to leave, Old Master Fu said, “All right, then.”

After a pause, he added, “You really are disciplined. What young person gets up as early as you do nowadays? Look at Fu Jingchuan—he may not even get out of bed before noon. After you two marry, you should move out and teach him some proper discipline.”

At that moment, Fu Yunzhen also came downstairs.

His face was dark.

His expression was so gloomy it seemed water might drip from it.

Old Master Fu noticed him and ordered, “Yunzhen, didn’t you say you were going out? Since you’re leaving anyway, your nephew’s fiancée might as well ride with you.”

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Qiao Nian’an watched Fu Yunzhen approach and wanted to refuse his offer to drive her.

Before she could say anything, however, she saw that he had somehow arrived at her side and picked up the two boxes of breakfast the servants had prepared.

“Let’s go. Let your uncle drive you.”

At his words, Qiao Nian’an felt her scalp prickle.

With so many of the Fu family’s elders watching, she could only follow Fu Yunzhen outside.

The servants had already started the car.

When Fu Yunzhen came out, one of them handed him the keys.

Qiao Nian’an noticed that he was driving a different car today and could not help frowning.

It was a Phantom.

A custom-made model of which there was only one in the world.

This man truly seemed to love luxury cars.

Every one of them cost at least tens of millions.

The world of the rich really was wonderful.

Qiao Nian’an stood beside the car without getting in.

Fu Yunzhen raised an eyebrow at her and said in a low, magnetic voice, “Your uncle is an excellent driver. Get in.”

Qiao Nian’an frowned at him. “…Just drive properly.”

He kept calling himself her uncle.

Look how pleased he was with himself.

His lips were practically curling upward like a hooked fish.

Fu Yunzhen could see her the moment he woke up, something he had never even dared dream of. No matter what she said, he did not get angry.

Instead, he opened the door for her and shielded the roof with one hand. “The princess may board.”

Qiao Nian’an: “…”

This man really was insane.

Cold and aloof in public.

Completely unhinged in private.

He was made up of two absolute extremes.

Fu Yunzhen got into the car as well and served as her chauffeur.

“Isn’t the company closed on weekends? Why are you going to work? Grandpa will scold me again for mistreating my employees,” Fu Yunzhen said.

Qiao Nian’an had not slept well. At that moment, she leaned against the seat and closed her eyes to rest.

Fu Yunzhen, however, kept talking incessantly beside her.

“Fine. I’ll work overtime without pay. Is that enough?” she asked.

“Enough,” Fu Yunzhen replied.

Thinking of something, Qiao Nian’an asked, “Then why are you going to the company?”

“To make money, of course. If I don’t work, where will the money come from? My darling said she’s short of money. How can I not work harder to earn more for her to spend?”

Qiao Nian’an: “…”

Fu Yunzhen drove her to the company entrance.

When she opened the door, he asked, “Are you free tonight? Keep me company.”

Qiao Nian’an frowned. This was not the first time he had asked whether she was free.

She studied Fu Yunzhen with a scrutinizing gaze, raised an eyebrow, and asked sarcastically, “Keep you company for what? Are you in the mood for something?”

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