MWCBTC Chapter 4: Returning Home
Three days after the wedding, it was supposed to be the day for returning home.
Although Qiao Chen and Qin Shen couldn’t really be considered a normal married couple—besides the night they got their marriage certificate, they had almost zero interaction. By the time Qiao Chen woke up in the morning, Qin Shen had already left for work, and at night when Qin Shen returned, Qiao Chen had already retreated to his own room early. They barely even crossed paths.
But appearances still had to be maintained. For instance, the return visit the next day.
So after hanging up a call from Qin’s mother, Qiao Chen carefully walked to Qin Shen’s room and gently knocked on the door.
“Come in.” Qin Shen’s voice came from inside, flat and emotionless.
Qiao Chen entered upon hearing the response. Before he could say anything, Qin Shen’s phone suddenly rang.
He picked it up and answered. No one knew what was said on the other end, but whatever it was clearly upset him. His brow furrowed deeply, and in the end, he scolded the caller before hanging up and slamming the phone down violently on the desk with a loud bang.
Clearly, this wasn’t the right time. Qiao Chen thought so to himself.
That call had clearly left Qin Shen in a foul mood. He, who already disliked Qiao Chen, now looked even more annoyed and asked impatiently, “What is it?”
His face practically screamed, If it’s not important, I’ll bite your head off.
Seeing this, Qiao Chen swallowed the words “Should we go visit my family tomorrow?” back down.
Forget it. He’s so busy with work, he surely wouldn’t accompany me back anyway. And now that he’s in a bad mood, he’d probably throw in a sarcastic jab too.
Why go asking for trouble?
So Qiao Chen shook his head and said, “It’s nothing. Good night.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he slipped away, afraid that Qin Shen might scold him again.
To Qin Shen, Qiao Chen’s behavior was completely baffling. He muttered under his breath, “Nutjob.”
Still, work was pressing, and Qin Shen didn’t have the energy to dwell on Qiao Chen’s odd behavior. He simply sat back down and resumed typing furiously on his laptop.
…
…
The next afternoon, Qiao Chen returned home by himself.
Before heading to the Qiao residence, he made a stop at the mall to buy some gifts—health supplements, liquor, and such—as return presents.
After parking the car, Qiao Chen got out, opened the trunk, and began unloading the gifts. A housekeeper followed behind him to help carry everything.
Inside the living room, Father Qiao and Mother Qiao were both sitting on the sofa, enjoying tea.
Qiao Chen called out, “Mom.”
Father Qiao gave a small nod, while Mother Qiao looked behind Qiao Chen, as if waiting for someone.
Seeing this, Qiao Chen proactively explained, “Qin Shen is busy with work, so he couldn’t come. He asked me to apologize on his behalf and said he’ll definitely visit personally another day. Also, he personally picked these gifts out and asked me to bring them.”
With that, Qiao Chen set the items down.
Mother Qiao glanced at the supplements—there were a lot, and they were expensive. The gesture at least looked sincere.
But that wasn’t all. Qiao Chen then took two gift boxes from his pocket—one was the latest agate necklace, the other a luxury watch—one for Mother Qiao, one for Father Qiao, covering both of them.
If the previous gifts showed effort, then these were the main event—not only were they costly, but they also showed thoughtful consideration, indicating real effort was made.
Qiao Chen added, “These are also from him.”
Seeing this, a smile finally appeared on Mother Qiao’s face. “Qin Shen is quite thoughtful,” she said.
It looked like Qin Shen wasn’t too upset and still valued their family.
Valuing the Qiao family meant he still valued Qiao Yu.
Though she was thinking this, Mother Qiao still couldn't help but ask cautiously, “You didn’t tell him about Yu’er, did you?”
Everything was fine until she brought that up—Qiao Chen’s smile instantly faded a little. He asked in return, “What happened to my brother?”
The question caught Mother Qiao off guard. For a moment, she wasn’t sure what to make of his attitude and stammered, “Well, the matter of him running off with that person…”
Qiao Chen laughed—mockingly. “Weren’t you the ones who told me not to say anything?”
Seeing his expression turn cold, Mother Qiao realized she was in the wrong. The next second, she shifted to emotional manipulation.
Tears welled up instantly. She reached up to wipe her reddened eyes and said, “Xiao Chen, Mom knows this has been hard on you. What your brother did was wrong, really wrong. When he gets back, I’ll definitely give him a good scolding. So…”
It was the same routine again. Qiao Chen had heard it all before. The words were prettier now that he was older, but the meaning hadn’t changed. She said Qiao Yu was at fault, but at the core, she was still defending him.
These sweet-sounding words were completely unnecessary. Qiao Chen thought this to himself, though he didn’t say it out loud. He let her keep going, only half-listening. To him, it all sounded like buzzing in his ears.
Once she had finished her emotional speech and the buzzing faded, Qiao Chen finally looked up with a faint smile. “I know, Mom.”
Seeing Qiao Chen appeased, Mother Qiao finally relaxed and nodded.
Qiao Chen didn’t want to stay at the Qiao residence for long, so he left before dinner.
Father and Mother Qiao didn’t have much of a bond with this youngest son anyway, so they didn’t urge him to stay either.
Qiao Chen returned to Qin Shen’s villa at around six in the evening. It wasn’t too late, but although he hadn’t done much all day, he felt utterly drained.
That was the after-effect of going home. Any time spent with Father and Mother Qiao always left him exhausted—emotionally and physically.
So he simply made himself a cup of instant noodles for dinner and went to bed early.
What he didn’t know was that at that very moment, back at the Qiao family dinner table—
Father Qiao and Mother Qiao were having a conversation. Mother Qiao, being the overly anxious type, was still worried. Although Qiao Chen had done everything impeccably today, she still looked concerned. “Do you think Qiao Chen told Qin Shen about Yu’er?”
Father Qiao looked up and replied, “You’re overthinking it.”
“No way,” Mother Qiao slammed her chopsticks on the table, increasingly convinced. “Then why didn’t Qin Shen come with him today? We know it was Qiao Chen, but others don’t. For Yu’er’s sake, Qin Shen should’ve accompanied him home. Otherwise, it just looks like Yu’er came home alone after the wedding. What would people say? It’s embarrassing! No, I have to call and ask.”
She didn’t wait for Father Qiao’s response. The moment she finished speaking, she stood up and walked straight to the phone.
Her movements were practiced as she dialed Qin Shen’s number—but then she paused, suddenly thought of something, and deleted his number. Instead, she dialed another household number.
The call connected quickly. “Hello?” came a crisp, efficient female voice.
“Hello, Mrs. Qin, this is Qiao Yu’s mother.” Mother Qiao greeted her with a smile.
“Oh? What’s the matter?” Mrs. Qin was in the middle of trimming flowers to place in a vase.
Mother Qiao got straight to the point. “It’s like this—Qiao Chen came home today, but Qin Shen didn’t come with him. He said he was busy with work, but…”
Fifteen minutes later, Mrs. Qin hung up the call after responding politely, “Alright, I understand.”
After that, she immediately placed another call—to Qin Shen.
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