Chapter 2 Buying a Property

• Upon hearing this, Cheng Yuan shuddered involuntarily and clenched his fist. 100 million! Who could ever resist the temption of this sum of money?
• But Cheng Yuan took a deep breath and pushed the card back to the woman.
• “Can you leave first? I can’t just listen to one side of the story. Let’s talk about this when my mom is awake.”
• Cheng Yuan said politely, regardless of what happened, the woman standing before him did him an enormous favor.
• “If that’s the case, Yuan, you can keep the card for now,” the woman collected herself, and insisted, “my phone number is on the card, you can call me anytime, I will be waiting for you at Xin Yang Hotel.”
• Cheng Yuan could not believe it, he thought it was a dream even after the woman left for a while.
• Then he settled down, hired a full-time carer to look after his mother and left for the bank before his mother woke up.
• As Cheng Yuan walked out of the bank, he remained in disbelief.
• He felt as if everything was an illusion, there really was 10 million in the card.
• Was it true that the woman was her birth mother?
• He took two deep breaths and started making his way home. It felt like everyone on the street was spying on him.
• After all, any normal person who had 10 million on them would feel threatened, right?
• When Cheng Yuan finally came to his senses, he pondered, everytime when mom was sick in the past, Bai An Xiang never failed to visit. To not show up knowing that mom needed to undergo a surgery today was totally unlike her.
• Not to mention she stood up for him at the banquet today. This meant she really cared about him, there was no reason to not visit.
• Despite not having an intimate relationship, Cheng Yuan and Bai An Xiang had lived together for two years now. Nobody understood Cheng Yuan like Bai An Xiang did; likewise, noone understood Bai An Xiang like Cheng Yuan did.
• He knew what she was going to do.
• When Cheng Yuan arrived home and inserted his key into the keyhole, he heard the scoldings by his mother in law clearly from the living area.
• “Are you out of your mind, little girl? I’m warning you, if you sell the house for the piece of trash, I… I will disown you, I will jump off this building, I…”
• “Mom, can you calm down? Cheng Yuan’s mother is really sick, he desperately needs the money now, is there anything more important than someone else’s life? It is just a house, we can buy one again in the future.”
• Bai An Xiang was focused on returning the money to Bai Yong Ming, she didn’t want Cheng Yuan to fall for his ploy.
• Over the last two years, she recognized how nicely Cheng Yuan treated her. There was one time when Cheng Yuan stood up for her against a group of youngsters in the Bai Family and was demeaned by having a mixture of alcohol drinks poured over his head. She could not forget that scene until today.
• She also saw Cheng Yuan’s noticeable changes throughout these two years. He had changed from an energetic, keen young man to the dispirited and feeble man today. How much did a man have to go through in life to undergo a change like this?
• She did not want the only man, apart from her father, who treated her with sincerity to lose his only hope. If he lost this last hope, what more could Cheng Yuan take in? Death?
• “Bullcrap, why don’t you look at your dad’s status in the family, to buy another house, how long until that happens? The useless piece of junk Cheng Yuan can’t contribute anything, just like your father, none of these guys can be relied on.”
• “Besides, the two of you are only married by agreement, remember? Once the three-year period is over, just get a divorce, why bother helping him now?”
• Bai An Xiang’s father did not respond to her mother’s remarks throughout the exchange.
• Cheng Yuan heard the entire altercation by the door, at this point, he was hesitant to open the door.
• In fact, he was already used to the jeerings and mockeries coming from his mother in law, but he was moved by Bai An Xiang’s unconditional support for him.
• Cheng Yuan took a deep breath, as he was about to open the door, Bai An Xiang’s voice arose once again.
• “Sure, an agreement for 3 years of marriage, but have you guys ever thought about my feelings?” She said with a tone of discontentment, “it’s been two years, anyone would start to develop feelings even for animals after two years under the same roof, and what’s more, he is a human being, a human who loves me and treats me with respect!”
• Cheng Yuan could feel his heart rate starting to pick up.
• “Love you huh? If he truly loves you, he wouldn’t stay at home all day! If he truly loves you, he wouldn’t let anyone you torment you without fighting back. I don’t care what you think, the house is under my and your father’s name, you are NOT selling it!” insisted Li Ning Juan, Cheng Yuan’s mother in law.
• The heated argument instantly reduced to a complete silence.
• “Fine, so be it, I am moving out.” Bai An Xiang said in a stubborn manner.
• Upon hearing this, Cheng Yuan quickly pulled the key from the door and retreated to the corner of the stairwell.
• The next thing he knew Bai An Xiang was stomping out of the house.
• She didn’t notice him, but he was looking at her from behind, hiding himself at the same spot.
• Cheng Yuan felt greatly apologetic toward Bai An Xiang. Bai An Xiang’s father was an illegitimate child of master, born when he made a mistake in his younger days. Thus, her family was always looked down on among the Bai Family. Moreover, Bai An Xiang was just an ordinary staff in a company under the family business, she had always struggled financially.
• This was also the reason Cheng Yuan did not want to borrow money from Bai An Xiang in the first place.
• Furthermore, he was referred to as the matrilocal bumpkin all these years, this led to numerous sarcastic remarks toward Bai An Xiang. However, Bai An Xiang would always bear these silently while Cheng Yuan never tried to change the situation.
• “An Xiang, I am gonna make it up to you.” Cheng Yuan whispered to himself.
• He recalled Bai An Xiang once spoke to her best friend, Mu Ru Zhen, on the phone about how much she desired to live in a villa at Yue Liang Wan. To her, this was something to die for.
• Mu Ru Zhen never understood what was the big deal over there. Bai An Xiang mentioned that she wanted to live there not because of its luxuriousness, but for the contemporary, ultra-modern design of the place. It was her dream to become an architect, but this dream never came true due to several constraints. Therefore, the least she could ever wish for was to experience the design first-hand.
• He decided to fulfill this wish of Bai An Xiang’s.
• Cheng Yuan liked Bai An Xiang, not only because she was beautiful, but in the past two years of living together, he also realized that she was a kind and filial lady.
• Thus, he was determined to change the 3-year period to a lifetime of marriage!
• This also required hard work for Bai An Xiang’s acceptance of him as a husband, as well as his parents in law’s as a son in law.
• When he left the suburb, he took out his phone and called Mu Ru Zhen, “Hello, this is Cheng Yuan, can I ask for a favour?”
• “Cheng Yuan?” Mu Ru Zhen asked at the other end of the phone in a repulsive tone, “I am very busy right now.”
• Cheng Yuan understood that Mu Ru Zhen did not mean any harm, at least not to Bai An Xiang. She disliked him mostly because she thought Cheng Yuan was not good enough for Bai An Xiang, she felt Bai An Xiang deserved much better.
• “I want to buy a house for An Xiang as a birthday present, but I don’t really know much about this, so I hope you could give me a hand.” Cheng Yuan said.
• “What?” Mu Ru Zhen responded in surprise.
• “Please don’t let An Xiang know, I will wait for you at Yue Liang Wan”
• As soon as he hung up the phone, Cheng Yuan took a cab to the sales office of Yue Liang Wan. Half an hour later, Mu Ru Zhen showed up with a dismal expression.
• Mu Ru Zhen rocked a pair of red heels, with a frown on her face, in a tight, fitted dress. With her enchanting aura, she walked in Cheng Yuan’s direction and looked at him in disgust.
• “Where did you get the money from”
• Cheng Yuan had already thought of an excuse, “Would you believe it? I won the lottery…”
• “Nope!” Mu Ru Zhen waived her hand impatiently and continued, “Don’t worry about it, it’s none of my business anyway.”
• Cheng Yuan scratched his head awkwardly and walked to the front desk of the sales office. Mu Ru Zhen looked at him suspiciously and shrugged briefly before entering.
• Yue Liang Wan had completed the forth phase of their project. Due to it being a nature-friendly suburb, combined with a range of high-tech facilities, it was widely regarded as a prestigious area in Xin Yang City. Most of the residents at Yue Liang Wan were either wealthy or noble.
• The sales office was packed with a crowd, dozens of fine-looking salesladies were busy serving their customers, none of them bothered to serve Cheng Yuan.
• As he was being overlooked, Cheng Yuan saw a relatively quiet area next to the architectural models of the houses, and walked straight toward it.
• When she noticed this, Mu Ru Zhen was infuriated.
• “Are you blind? The houses here are labelled as 150-260 square meters!” she shouted at Cheng Yuan as she caught onto him.
• Cheng Yuan asked in hesitation, “So what? Does that mean they don’t sell these?”
• Mu Ru Zhen was completely speechless, she scoffed at him, “As if you could afford it!”
• The houses at Yue Liang Wan were really costly, especially one of these sized between 150 to 260 square meters. They rarely attract any enquiries for their price tags, which were labelled clearly, the ordinary folks could not really afford them.
• Thus, there was only one saleslady-in-charge at this part of the office, sitting listlessly at the corner. She startled in surprise and jumped up as she saw Cheng Yuan and Mu Ru Zhen walking in her direction.
• However, as she caught a glimpse of Cheng Yuan’s outfit, she paused, sighed and unenthusiastically moved toward them.
• “Sir, help yourself.”