C4 Chapter 4
The thought of divorce kept growing stronger.
But Luh Yubai seemed like a different person—he dug in his heels and refused to divorce. Old Mr. Luh was, of course, happy to see it. He even asked to speak with her privately, saying Yubai had come to his senses and that she needed to tighten her grip, too.
Anan couldn’t help feeling irritated. She had barely left the Luh family home when her mother called.
“Anan, your brother’s in trouble again.”
“What? Mom, don’t panic. I’m coming right now.” The moment Anan heard, she rushed home in a frenzy.
The Qiu family had once run a decent-sized company, but by her father’s generation it had completely fallen apart. Now they could only scrape by thanks to the Luh family. And of course, Anan’s brother was never one to stay out of trouble.
“Mom, what is it this time?” Anan stepped inside and froze. Red paint was splashed all over the walls. Her stomach dropped as she frowned. “Did Qiu Dong do something stupid again?”
“Anan, what are we going to do? Your brother borrowed one and a half million dollars from a loan company... they took him away. You have to go save him!” Qiu’s mother had been a sheltered rich girl her whole life. Even after the Qiu family’s decline, life had stayed comfortable thanks to the Luh family—until her good-for-nothing son made her spend her later years in constant fear.
Anan wasn’t surprised. If anything, she found it almost laughable. “One and a half million? Guess he’s raising the stakes every time.”
Ever since Qiu Dong turned eighteen, he’d been drifting around, doing nothing. He had big ideas, convinced that with the Luh family behind him he could rebuild the Qiu name. But every single time, Anan was the one left cleaning up his mess.
This time, she was done. Completely. “Mom, Qiu Dong needs to learn to take responsibility for himself.”
“Anan! How can you say that? He’s your brother! One and a half million—you just go to Yubai and get it!” Qiu’s mother nearly choked with anger. In her heart, her son would always matter more than her daughter.
“Mom, you know what things are like between me and Yubai.” Anan’s face darkened. For years, she’d kept funneling money back to her family to bail Qiu Dong out, until she could barely hold her head up in front of the Luh family anymore.
That was exactly why Mrs. Luh couldn’t stand the sight of her—having a family like that on her side was nothing but trouble...
Qiu Anan took a deep breath. The last $600,000 had already been her absolute limit. Now, not even a week later, Qiu Dong had gone and caused another massive mess. She truly didn’t know what else she could do.
“Mom... I’m getting ready to divorce Luh Yubai.”
“What?!” Qiu’s mother’s voice shot up, sharp and shrill enough to grate. “Anan, you can’t divorce Yubai!”
She grabbed Anan’s hands in a panic, her voice trembling. “You’re the one holding this family up. If you get divorced, what happens to Dong? What happens to me? Your father died young...”
As she spoke, tears poured down her face as if she’d been dealt some unbearable tragedy. “Didn’t our family do the Luh family a favor? Go beg Yubai—no matter what, you have to keep your place as Mrs. Luh.”
“Mom!” Qiu Anan’s eyes reddened. She yanked her hands free and shouted, “My marriage to Luh Yubai isn’t happy!”
Qiu’s mother clearly hadn’t expected her to react like that. She stumbled back a step, her drawn face tightening with unease. After a long pause, she said timidly, “But what about Dong? You still have to help him come up with this $1,000,000...”
Dong. Dong!
Qiu Anan felt like she couldn’t breathe under the weight of it. In her mother’s heart, there was only Dong—only that useless younger brother of hers.
“Mom! I can’t come up with a million dollars! If they want Dong’s hand—if they want his life—there’s nothing I can do!”
“Smack!”
A crisp slap landed, snapping Anan’s face to the side.
The room fell dead silent.
Qiu’s mother stared at her with venom in her eyes, chilling to the bone. “Qiu Anan! How can you be so heartless? If I’d known, I would’ve strangled you the day you were born!”
