The Tao family had been wealthy for generations, dominating Jingpu for hundreds of years. Regardless of changes in dynasties or turbulent times, even with occasional setbacks, they had never suffered any serious damage, nor had their family legacy been threatened.

However, it was only during the time of Tao Fengche’s grandfather, the old master Tao, that the family truly expanded overseas. Currently, most of the Tao family’s overseas businesses were the foundations established by the old master.

Although the family didn’t have a long line of single heirs, the Tao family had always been short of descendants. During their overseas expansion, both their legitimate and illegitimate businesses inevitably had to rely on outsiders.

Those who spoke disrespectfully at Tao Zhixing’s funeral, tried to forcefully take over, and tampered with the Tao family’s production line in country C months later—like Elder Sun and others waiting for Lawyer Li to read the will—were all once loyal followers who helped the old master Tao establish his empire.

This group of old retainers were now aged, having made more than enough wealth. They should have retired long ago and enjoyed their pensions from the Tao family. However, they still couldn’t let go of their power and occasionally reappeared to stir up trouble for Sui Yuesheng.

Fortunately, over the past six months, the new head of the Tao family had become infamous for being ruthless and cold-hearted. After some severe warnings, this group had quieted down significantly, much like vultures circling low, waiting for the prey to show signs of weakness before descending to tear it apart.

Yet these people were merely tools that the old master Tao had found convenient to use. His true confidants were few in number—less than four, even if you included Xu Song. Among them, one was named Zhao, and the other Chu.

As the Tao family’s overseas business grew larger, more people sought a share of the profits.

The old master Tao always had bodyguards accompanying him, leaving no chance for others to attack him directly, so they shifted their attention to his trusted aides, as a way of intimidating him.

Both Zhao Feng and his wife worked for the Tao Corporation. While negotiating business in country D, they were attacked by a local terrorist group and died on the spot. Their young son, Zhao Jiayang, was in Kyushu, under his grandmother’s care, and thus escaped the tragedy.

When the news reached home, the old master Tao sat in his study for a long time in silence. Zhao Jiayang’s grandmother, devastated by the loss of her son in her old age, fainted on the spot and passed away not long after.

Zhao Jiayang was not yet five at the time. According to custom, he should have been placed in the care of relatives, and the Tao family would provide a substantial pension, enough to ensure he would grow up without financial worries. Since both Zhao Feng and his wife were only children, they had only a few distant relatives. When contacted by the Tao family, the relatives, concerned about potential greed, were not told the exact amount of the pension. They were simply informed that the couple had died in an unfortunate accident while on a business trip, and the company would provide some financial support to whoever took in their child.

But how much could the company really give? None of the relatives were willing to take in the “burden,” and after passing the responsibility back and forth, they eventually suggested sending Zhao Jiayang to an orphanage.

When old master Tao heard the news, he couldn’t bear the thought. Besides, Tao Zhixing was close in age to Zhao Jiayang, so the old master decided to adopt Zhao Jiayang as his son, bringing him into the Tao family to be raised alongside Tao Zhixing.

However, Chu Yin was a posthumous child.

Chu Tian and Yin Xia were high school classmates, and their love blossomed from the campus to the wedding altar. They were a match made in heaven, admired by everyone.

After graduating, Chu Tian joined the Tao Corporation. He was meticulous in his work and cautious in his dealings, with no backing from other forces, which quickly earned him the trust of Old Master Tao, who made him one of his confidants. Naturally, his salary increased accordingly.

Not long after their marriage, Yin Xia resigned from her job to become a housewife, actively preparing for pregnancy and ready to focus on raising their future children.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. She never got pregnant, and both families started pressuring them. Luckily, Chu Tian cared deeply for his wife and shielded her from the nagging.

A few years later, while Chu Tian was on a business trip to the southern hemisphere, Yin Xia unexpectedly found out she was pregnant. She kept the news to herself, secretly booking an appointment for a prenatal checkup. At the same time, she sent Chu Tian a message saying she missed him and asking when he would return, hoping to surprise him with the news when he got home.

But all she got in the end was news of Chu Tian’s death—killed in an accident while inspecting a factory.

Chu Tian had actually been assassinated by rival forces, but Yin Xia, who wasn’t involved with the Tao Corporation, only knew that he had died in a work-related accident. When she calculated the timing, it turned out to be just a few days after she had sent her message.

… If she hadn’t sent that message, would Chu Tian have made a mistake out of urgency? Would he still be alive?

The vortex of guilt almost swallowed her. She even regretted getting pregnant at such a time. Yet, a part of her was grateful—after all, a part of Chu Tian still lived on in the child. The child was the continuation of Chu Tian’s life.

Both families urged her to abort the child, but Yin Xia didn’t listen to anyone. She took the compensation money from Tao Corporation and lived alone in the house she and Chu Tian once shared, believing she could raise the child healthily on her own.

When they bought the house, they were short on cash, so they bought a second-hand home. Most of their neighbors were workers from a nearby textile factory, and some were quite gossip-prone.

Once people learned about what had happened to the Chu family, many whispered behind her back, calling the child a bringer of bad luck—saying that even in the womb, the child had caused the father’s death. But Yin Xia didn’t let any of this affect her. She endured the tough pregnancy alone, with all her hopes pinned on the unborn child.

Chu Tian was an alpha male, and she was a female omega. Surely, the child would inherit both their genes and turn out to be an excellent alpha, right?

Maybe the child would even look a lot like Chu Tian.

Yin Xia suffered a difficult pregnancy, and during delivery, she encountered complications that led to an emergency C-section. She fought for her life to bring the child into the world, but the baby turned out to be a small, fragile male beta, with a weak, almost kitten-like cry.

Yin Xia’s face changed immediately.

It was one thing for the child not to be an alpha like Chu Tian, but at the very least, it should have been an omega. How could it be a beta?

She had gone through so much pain, only to give birth to a beta who looked just like her, with no trace of her husband in him—a plain, ordinary beta?

She was stunned and couldn’t accept this reality. When the nurse asked for the newborn’s name, she absentmindedly replied, “Let’s call him Chu Yin.”

“Alright, Ms. Yin,” the nurse said.

By that time, Yin Xia’s postpartum depression had already worsened, and her mental state fluctuated. Unfortunately, the overworked staff at the public hospital had no time to focus on the mental health of an ordinary patient. Even though her parents visited occasionally, they didn’t notice her abnormal behavior, as her mood had been erratic since the pregnancy.

After her confinement period, Yin Xia sent her parents away and lived alone in her former love nest, surviving on her savings and the compensation money. She didn’t go back to work, so no one noticed her deteriorating condition.

It was eventually the Tao family who discovered everything.

An organization affiliated with Tao Corporation would periodically visit these widows with gifts as part of the company’s benefits. As soon as the staff arrived at the Chu home, they sensed something was wrong. Chu Yin looked too thin—despite being over three years old, he was as small as a one-year-old child, short and skinny. His large eyes made him resemble a little skeleton, and he was almost frightening to look at.

Chu Tian had once done a favor for the head of the organization. Upon receiving the report from his subordinate, the head hesitated but eventually informed Old Master Tao. The old man still remembered his loyal assistant who had died in the assassination and made time to visit the Chu family himself.

It was already June, but Chu Yin was still wearing long sleeves and pants. His face was tinged with an unhealthy flush—whether from being too hot or from illness was unclear. He was so thin and frail that it seemed like a gust of wind could blow him away.

Even though some children were small-boned or developed late, this was too abnormal.

Old Master Tao suspected something was wrong but kept his composure as he greeted Yin Xia. Upon learning that he had been her husband’s boss, she invited him into the living room and rushed to the kitchen to make tea, while Chu Yin stood nearby, looking anxious.

“What’s wrong? Do you like candy? How about I give you some?” Old Master Tao asked.

“You can’t take things from strangers,” Chu Yin shook his head vigorously.

Old Master Tao was about to compliment his good upbringing when the child added in a panic, “Mom won’t make tea, I will. Lazy kids get beaten.”

Old Master Tao froze. He quickly grabbed Chu Yin’s tiny hand, lifting his sleeve, and his face darkened instantly. When he checked the boy’s legs, his expression turned grim.

The child’s body was covered in bruises—long streaks that looked like they had been made by a hanger, swollen fingernail marks, and a large bruise the size of an adult’s palm on his back.

Other than his exposed face and hands, there wasn’t a single unblemished patch of skin on his entire body.

Even the back of his neck, hidden by his hair, had a deep strangulation mark.

Before Old Master Tao arrived, he had already gotten a rough understanding of the Chu family’s situation. He immediately called the Tao family’s private doctor and also informed the bodyguards to “escort” Yin Xia to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Yin Xia refused to cooperate, insisting she wasn’t ill, but the test results came back quickly—she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and needed immediate hospitalization.

Seeing Chu Yin, Old Master Tao was heartbroken. With the elders of the Chu family unable to raise him, he decided to adopt Chu Yin. After all, raising one child or two is the same—how much could such a small child eat or cost?

But at that point, Yin Xia became reluctant to part with her child. She refused to be hospitalized, and Old Master Tao practically had to “snatch” Chu Yin back to the Tao family.

Chu Yin had been malnourished even in the womb, and after birth, he was constantly abused by his biological mother, often going hungry. The night he arrived at the Tao family, he started running a fever. His condition kept fluctuating, and medications were sent to his room continuously until it took over half a month before he could barely stand.

Tao Zhixing and Zhao Jiayang were both strong and healthy alphas, so Old Master Tao had never seen anything like this before. He panicked, not only insisting that the Tao family’s private doctor stay by his side constantly, but also inviting pediatric specialists from the private hospital invested in by the Tao family for consultations.

After extensive discussions, the experts reached a consensus—the child was too young, and his condition had been neglected for too long to be fully cured. The only option was to slowly nurse him back to health.

Luckily, the Tao family’s business was in pharmaceuticals, and they had no shortage of medicine or money. Eventually, they managed to pull Chu Yin back from the brink of death.

Chu Yin’s health was too fragile. When children his age were attending kindergarten, he was recuperating at home. By the time he was old enough for elementary school, Old Master Tao, looking at his face which had only recently gained some flesh, was too worried to send him to school. Besides, the doctors also advised against it.

The adults in the family discussed it and finally decided to hire some tutors for him to receive one-on-one lessons at home.

Among the three Tao family children, Chu Yin was the youngest. Zhao Jiayang was three years older than him, and Tao Zhixing was five years older. Chu Yin liked both of his brothers very much but was more attached to Zhao Jiayang.

Tao Zhixing, as the family heir, had a lot to learn. Additionally, as the eldest brother, he occasionally acted the part of the responsible elder. Chu Yin had more respect for him.

But Zhao Jiayang was different.

Zhao Jiayang was also an adopted child, so the two shared a similar background. Chu Yin, with his weak health, had spent almost all his time at home recuperating and had rarely been out. Zhao Jiayang felt sorry for his younger brother and often brought him small toys, playing with him after finishing his homework.

During that time, a common scene was Tao Zhixing studying in the library while Zhao Jiayang, after finishing his work, would take Chu Yin to the yard to swing.

Chu Yin would sit gently on the swing, and Zhao Jiayang would stand behind him, pushing. The bodyguards would nervously stand by, protecting them, while Xu Song would stand nearby, smiling with a bowl of medicine in hand, waiting for Chu Yin to finish playing and drink it.

Those were the best days.

Time flew by, and as puberty arrived, Chu Yin’s reliance on Zhao Jiayang gradually transformed into budding feelings. Meanwhile, Zhao Jiayang’s instinctive care for and protection of him also slowly changed. The elders in the family saw this, and they were all pleased with how things were developing.

Although marriages between alphas and betas were rare, they weren’t unheard of. Zhao Jiayang and Chu Yin had grown up together as childhood friends, and if they could end up together in the future, it would be a good thing.

Zhao Jiayang was naturally charming, and even without trying, he won many hearts. Although Tao Zhixing was two years ahead of him in school, they attended the same institution. According to inside sources Tao Zhixing brought back, Zhao Jiayang had been receiving love letters nonstop since middle school.

However, when it came to Chu Yin, Zhao Jiayang acted like a tiger without teeth, behaving perfectly and never crossing any lines.

Chu Yin, being physically weak and inexperienced with the outside world, was incredibly naive. The family constantly worried he might be deceived, so having Zhao Jiayang take care of him was the best possible arrangement.

The entire Tao family, including Tao Zhixing, watched the development of their relationship with pleasure, eagerly waiting to see who would confess first. However, an unexpected change occurred during Zhao Jiayang’s high school graduation.