Chapter 44: I WILL NOT HAVE THIS FAMILY EMBARRASSED

Shen Mingzhu: Also you looked incredible at that gala. Those were Louboutins right? I knew it the moment I saw the red sole on the footage.

Shen Mingzhu: Also, are you actually married to Liu Liuxian? Because the foundation group chat is losing its mind and Bai Feng has had to tell everyone to calm down twice already.

Guiying looked at the messages.

He typed back: Yes those were Louboutins. And no, we are not married. I was just his partner for the event.

The response was immediate.

Shen Mingzhu: Partner. Right. Those are absolutely wedding rings but okay. I will respect your privacy.

Shen Mingzhu: Also the internet cannot figure out who you are and I am finding it very entertaining.

Shen Mingzhu: Are you okay? Because the speculation threads are getting wild.

Guiying typed: I’m fine, what else can they go but speculate?

Shen Mingzhu: Honestly. See you Thursday.

Liuxian’s car pulled through the Liu family residence gates at four thirty seven.

He had not been here in six weeks. The house looked exactly the same as it always did, which was the point. The Liu family residence did not change because the Liu family did not believe in unnecessary change.

The housekeeper met him at the door.

"Madam Liu is in the sitting room," she said, in the tone of someone reporting a weather condition.

Liuxian handed her his jacket and walked through.

Fu Wanqing was seated in the chair she always sat in, the one that faced the door, the one that ensured she saw everyone who entered before they had fully committed to entering. She was wearing something elegant and understated and her expression was the particular expression she had worn every time Liuxian had done something she had not approved of since he was approximately seven years old.

She looked at him.

He looked at her.

"Sit down," she said.

He sat.

A server appeared silently with tea, placed it between them, and disappeared. Fu Wanqing did not reach for her cup. She looked at her son with the unhurried attention of a woman who had spent thirty years learning exactly how much patience it took to outlast Liu Liuxian in a room.

"Are you married?" she said.

"That is a very direct question," Liuxian said.

"I am a very direct woman. Are you married?"

"I am a man who takes commitment seriously," he said. "Whatever form that commitment takes is a private matter."

Fu Wanqing looked at him.

"I see," she said. "And the person on that red carpet with you. Who is he?"

"His name is Tang XiaoYu."

"I am aware of his name. It has been on every screen in this country since last night." She finally picked up her tea and held it without drinking. "I am asking who he is. Where he comes from. What his family is. What his intentions are toward this family."

"He is someone whose company I find worthwhile," Liuxian said. "Beyond that I think the details belong to him rather than to me."

Fu Wanqing set her cup down.

"Liuxian." Her voice did not rise. It never rose. That was precisely what made it effective. "I am not asking out of idle curiosity. I am asking because my son’s face was on the morning news beside a person I have never been introduced to, wearing what every jewelry house in the country has already confirmed are Atelier Maren commitment pieces, and the phone has not stopped ringing since six this morning." She looked at him steadily.

"I am asking because I am your mother and I have spent thirty years ensuring that this family’s name means something in every room it enters. I would like to know if that work is about to be undone by a decision you made without consulting anyone."

"The name is fine." Liuxian said.

"The name is currently trending on Weibo beside speculation I find deeply undignified," she said. "That is not fine. That is the opposite of fine."

Liuxian looked at her with the composed patience of someone who had learned stillness from the same woman now sitting across from him and had simply applied it more consistently.

"It will settle," he said.

"And Dia An?" Fu Wanqing said. "Will that settle too? Because her family has been waiting for an explanation since the day you failed to appear, and I have been managing that situation on your behalf for weeks with nothing to show for it because you will not return my calls." She looked at him.

"That arrangement was made carefully. Her family, her standing, everything about it was considered. She is the right choice and you know it."

"She is your choice," Liuxian said. "She was never mine."

"You are thirty three years old," Fu Wanqing said. "You run one of the largest corporations in this country. You understand better than most people that personal decisions do not exist in isolation from the structures around them. Dia An understands this world. She was prepared for it." She set her cup down.

"End whatever this is with Tang XiaoYu. Do it quietly, do it with dignity, and go back to the arrangement that was made for good reason. That is what I am asking of you."

Liuxian looked at her.

"No," he said.

Fu Wanqing looked at her son for a long moment.

"I will not have this family embarrassed," she said. Her voice had dropped to something very quiet and very final.

"I have never embarrassed this family,"

Liuxian said. "I do not intend to start." He stood. "I will contact Dia An’s family by the end of the week and handle it properly. That I will do. But the rest is not something I am going to revisit."

He picked up his jacket from the arm of the chair.

"I will see you next week," he said, and walked out.

Fu Wanqing sat alone in the sitting room and looked at the cold tea on the table in front of her.

After a long moment she picked up her phone. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Find out everything there is to know about Tang XiaoYu," she said to her assistant. "Everything."

He arrived back at the mansion at eight forty three.

The house was quiet in the way it was quiet when everyone had settled into the evening. He handed his jacket to Wang Chengli, who appeared from nowhere the way he always did.

"Where is he?" Liuxian asked.

"Master Xue is in his room, Young Master," Wang Chengli said. "He ate dinner at seven. He seemed well."

Liuxian nodded and headed for the stairs.

He knocked on Guiying’s door.

"Come in," came the voice from inside.

He opened the door.

Guiying was on the bed with his laptop, the bear slippers on his feet, a half eaten bag of mixed nuts beside him. He looked up when Liuxian walked in.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"Not well," Liuxian said.

He crossed the room, sat on the edge of the bed, and looked at Guiying with the expression of a man who had spent the last several hours being very composed about something and had now arrived at the place where he did not have to be.

"I have had a long and stressful day," he said.

"I need a hug from my wife."

Guiying stared at him.

"You are serious?" he said.

"Completely," Liuxian said.