Liu Yan had overlooked something.
Bai Mengling’s parents didn’t fully approve of him, but they didn’t seem to reject him either. In reality, that meal—to use Liu Yan’s own words—felt somewhat insincere. Still, he figured he’d already made all his preparations, so he wasn’t too flustered.
But he had indeed forgotten one thing.
Namely, even if Bai Mengling, the eldest miss, and her parents themselves were well-mannered and held no prejudice against him, that didn’t mean others felt the same.
The simplest example?
Those forces in X City that were subordinate to the Bai Clan.
Many people knew Bai Mengling was the Bai Clan’s eldest daughter—if their own child could marry her, they’d undoubtedly tie the Bai Clan to their own ship.
Of course, many also knew the elder couple was looking for a son-in-law who would join their family.
But reason was reason. In life, people couldn’t help but think about “what if.”
‘What if I rolled the dice and turned things around?’
‘What if I actually got in?’
‘What if she liked me?’
‘What if… the Bai Clan decided an alliance with our family was fine? Who can say?’
From an outsider’s perspective, some things were already set in stone—but just like when Liu Yan confessed to Bai Mengling, he thought she’d never agree, yet she did.
“What if” just happened that way.
So it wasn’t entirely unforgivable for others to hold onto fantasies.
Why this sudden realization?
After finishing lunch with Bai Mengling and her parents, Liu Yan had planned to head straight home. Bai Mengling’s parents seemed to want to talk to her alone, so they didn’t stop him.
Bai Mengling offered to have the driver take him, but Liu Yan declined.
Now he kind of regretted that decision.
His main thought was that Chen Tang was currently showing her cousin around the school, so he could join them.
But he hadn’t expected to be stopped just a short distance away.
“Liu Yan, right? I’d like to have a word with you. Do you have a moment?”
Liu Yan glanced at the two or three bodyguards behind the speaker.
‘If I have to turn on this guy, with his bodyguards and that unfriendly look, my best bet is to act harmless, let him humiliate me, lure him close, then suddenly strike and take him hostage to escape. But afterward, I’d have to face his retaliation. My family’s small—we couldn’t handle someone like that. So should I kill him the moment I grab him? Then throw his barely alive body to the bodyguards, use their distraction to flee, and before they catch me, kill his whole family to eliminate the threat… Even if I die, at least I won’t leave trouble for my family.’
He suppressed those thoughts, put on a smile, and asked, “I don’t think I’ve seen you before. What do you want to talk about?”
“About Bai Mengling. You’ll discuss it with me, won’t you?”
Liu Yan sized him up. The man’s clothes looked expensive.
“Of course. Since you mentioned my girlfriend’s name, I’ll talk.”
He noticed that when he said “girlfriend,” the man in front of him couldn’t help but frown.
So it was about his relationship with Bai Mengling after all.
The man’s gloomy expression flickered and vanished, replaced by a courteous demeanor. “Liu Yan, this way, please.”
“After you.”
This guy probably still played by the rules—or at least, as long as he wasn’t pushed too far, he’d keep up a hypocritical mask.
In other words, as long as negotiations didn’t get too ugly, this type of person cared about “face.”
That was manageable.
Liu Yan quietly relaxed his muscles.
…
“Mom! Dad! That’s… Du Zitang!”
Bai Mengling was sitting in a car not far away, witnessing the scene.
She stared at her parents in disbelief. “What are you doing? Did you arrange this?”
Her father shook his head. “No, but we knew he was coming. That’s why we brought you here to watch. You could say your mother and I are using him to test your boyfriend. But you should understand—from our position, we have no reason to stop Du Zitang. His Du Clan has considerable influence in X City. We can promise you he won’t actually harm Liu Yan. After all, he’s your boyfriend—even if it’s not marriage yet, going after him is going after you.
However, the same logic applies: until you’re married, he has the freedom to compete for your hand. If your boyfriend chooses to back out after meeting him, that’s perfectly normal.”
Bai Mengling felt uncomfortable. “But Du Zitang will use his power to threaten him!”
“Yes, he will. That’s why we took your phone—so you couldn’t warn him.”
“Why?”
Suddenly, Bai Mengling’s mother spoke. “Mengling… we know this isn’t right. But please forgive us. As your parents, we hope the person you love will give up everything for you—even if his family is threatened, he’ll stand firmly by your side.”
“…”
Bai Mengling found herself unable to speak.
Her parents knew very well this was wrong.
Letting a nobody like Liu Yan confront Du Zitang was fundamentally wrong. In the week she’d been dating Liu Yan, Bai Mengling had clearly seen that he wasn’t some urban novel protagonist with a ‘Return of the Dragon King’ trope. His family was ordinary.
He had many people he cherished.
His parents, his relatives, even that troublemaking childhood friend Chen Tang…
These were all people Liu Yan treasured. Du Zitang would use them to threaten him into giving her up.
Yes, her parents said they wouldn’t allow Du Zitang to actually hurt them—but what did Liu Yan know?
Did he know that?
This was absolutely wrong.
But it was useless.
She looked at her parents’ determined expressions and couldn’t say a word.
Because she knew she couldn’t change their minds.
This test was absurd. Anyone could blame her parents, but she couldn’t.
Because her parents were doing it for her—hoping Liu Yan would choose her despite everything…
Bai Mengling’s heart clenched.
Because she knew the answer.
Liu Yan would give up on her.
Someone might say, “What if Liu Yan chooses you?”
That was impossible.
Even if Liu Yan guessed that “Bai Mengling won’t stand by and do nothing,” even if he knew Du Zitang couldn’t really do anything to him…
She was certain, just from this short time together, she already knew the answer.
Because Liu Yan would never gamble on a “what if.”
‘What if Du Zitang actually hurts my family?’
He wouldn’t bet the people close to him.
So, as a reason not to take that gamble, she would definitely be abandoned.
Her face turned pale. “Give me back my phone.”
Her mother was taken aback and was about to say something when she saw tears streaming down Bai Mengling’s face. “He won’t choose me.”
“Mengling!”
…
Bai Mengling was right.
After sitting down with the man who called himself Du Zitang and exchanging a few words, Liu Yan had already made his decision.
He wasn’t stupid.
On the contrary—cleaning up after that little demon Chen Tang was far more troublesome than most people imagined, so he’d been thinking about things since he was small.
For example, when Chen Tang beat up some kid in elementary school, he’d buy ice cream to calm the kid down so they wouldn’t tell the teacher.
But if that didn’t work, he’d beat the kid himself and claim he did it.
Afterward, Chen Tang would pat him on the shoulder and say, “Good brother” or something.
After a few sentences with Du Zitang, he understood the situation.
The other party first introduced himself, then vaguely hinted that he had connections in the food industry.
Then he implied that if Liu Yan broke up with Bai Mengling, he would provide some compensation.
Honestly, the veiled threats and temptations didn’t interest Liu Yan much. But he truly felt a kind of “weariness.”
It wasn’t that handling these things was difficult—in fact, it was just having a meal and chatting.
But he genuinely felt a fatigue that came from being “somewhere he shouldn’t be.”
Normally, after finishing morning classes and having no afternoon classes, he would go back with Chen Tang on her electric scooter to their place, fire up the computer, and start a tense game—losing, blaming each other for being terrible, then silently starting the next round.
That was the life he was familiar with, the life he should be living.
Not like now—having to eat with big shots he almost never met, then being invited to dinner by the son of another influential figure in X City, worrying about whom to offend.
An almost absurd layer of reality unfolded before him.
He felt disgust.
So he gave a heavy sigh.
“Okay, Young Master Du, I understand your point. But I think you’ve misunderstood something.”
Du Zitang frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, even if you hadn’t come to me, I was already planning to break up with Bai Mengling. I don’t know if you’re aware, but I had lunch with her parents today.”
“I know.”
Du Zitang was a little surprised. “Her parents didn’t approve of you?”
Liu Yan stared at Du Zitang for a moment. “Don’t you get it?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Liu Yan sighed again. “I don’t mean to insult you—but let me ask you, in X City, which is more powerful, the Bai Clan or the Du Clan?”
“Even though I’m from the Du Clan, I can’t lie. The Bai Clan is more powerful.”
“Then, since you can have people watching the Bai Clan and block me the moment they finish inviting me to dinner, don’t you think her parents know you came to find me?”
At this point, Young Master Du seemed to finally understand. “You, you mean—”
“They deliberately let you come. If I’m not mistaken, they probably know exactly what we’re saying right now. But it doesn’t matter.”
Du Zitang’s face changed drastically. He suddenly felt like wherever they were, there were cameras everywhere.
“Young Master Du, don’t panic. You haven’t done anything wrong. Besides, the Bai Clan can’t use this as an excuse to get rid of you.”
Du Zitang suddenly realized that this ordinary man in front of him was actually calmer than he was in this situation.
He became a little uncertain. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying it’s too exhausting. Young Master Du, if I were to date Bai Mengling, I’d have to face tests from her parents, her subordinates, her friends, her besties, and even her suitors—pressure and suppression every day. Even if I eventually ‘won the beauty’ and became the Bai family’s son-in-law, I definitely wouldn’t be happy.
I admit I confessed to Bai Mengling. She’s a very attractive woman—good-looking, great body, almost flawless personality, and rich. I appreciate those qualities. But a person lives to be happy. If dating her means I can never truly relax and constantly face pressure like today, then as much as it’s a pity, I won’t keep seeing her.
If Uncle and Auntie are indeed listening and can hear what I’m saying, I hope you’ll go easy on me. My family is small; we can’t handle your tests. Why not look for someone more suitable? If you need a son-in-law who will join your family, there are better candidates—like people you’ve raised and promoted yourselves. Isn’t that also a good option?
Can you let me go?”
With that, he stood up.
“So, Young Master Du, nice to meet you. I’ve said what I needed to say. I’ll break up with Bai Mengling immediately. As for the benefits you promised earlier… you can give them if you want. If you do, I’ll consider you a friend. If you don’t, we never really had any connection anyway. See you around.”
He decisively pushed open the door of the tea room and walked out.
The two bodyguards at the door didn’t make a move.
Liu Yan took out his phone and sent Bai Mengling a message.
“Let’s break up.”
Then he deleted her from his contacts.
If word of this got out, people would probably call him a coward.
But whatever.
He wasn’t going to play their “test of people’s hearts” game with these rich folks.
He didn’t have the energy, and he couldn’t afford it.
As for making them angry and provoking some kind of retaliation—
He suddenly remembered a text he’d learned in elementary school.
“The Emperor’s Wrath—a million corpses, blood for a thousand miles… If a scholar is enraged, two bodies fall, five steps of blood, the world in mourning. That day is today.”
He shook his head, driving those thoughts away.
He called Chen Tang.
“Hey, Old Tang, if someone offered you a lot of money to leave me, what would you do?”
“I’d take the money first, then we’d both skip the country and live it up abroad.”
Liu Yan laughed.
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