CHAPTER 2: The Mother-in-law is More and More Pleased with Her Son-in-law

There’s a saying: The more a mother-in-law looks at her son-in-law, the more she likes him. In this case, Ms. Sun truly treated Ji Jing like her own son. The moment she saw the bruises on his face, her heart ached so much she nearly burst into tears.

“What kind of father does this? No matter what, he’s still your flesh and blood—bone and sinew!”

Su Jiasui couldn’t take her mom’s endlessly recycled speech anymore. “Mom, go make dumplings already. I’m starving. Ji Jing’s starving too.”

“Okay, okay!” Ms. Sun knew that once Su Jiasui got hungry, she turned into a T-rex who didn’t recognize her own kin. She hurried off to the kitchen to cook dumplings for her three “kids.”

Su Jiasui had a younger brother—a twin brother. If Su Jiasui was Guo Xiang from The Return of the Condor Heroes, then Su Jiahe was Guo Polu: almost entirely forgettable.

“He hit you with a belt?”

“Mm.”

Su Jiasui looked at the red welts on Ji Jing’s arm. After a moment of silence, she said, “What about ambushing him in your company’s underground parking lot? I scoped it out once—there are a lot of blind spots in the surveillance. Your dad parks in Zone A. Right after he comes out of the elevator, he passes through one of them…”

Ji Jing’s pupils dilated. “When did you scope that out?”

“I just happened to pass by.”

“Let’s not. If it leaves a stain on your record, it’ll affect your college entrance exam—not worth it.”

“But if I keep bottling it up like this, I’m gonna get breast cancer.”

“Revenge is a dish best served cold. Ten years won’t be too late.”

Ji Jing couldn’t believe such sensible words came out of his own mouth. But with how reckless Su Jiasui could be, he had no choice but to rein her in—any more encouragement and she might actually end up in prison.

Thinking about it now, it was kind of funny. After their relationship became public, the teachers always asked Su Jiasui to keep Ji Jing on the straight and narrow. Study hard, behave, stay out of trouble. In the teachers’ eyes, he was the delinquent heir of the school’s board member, while she was the model student with excellent grades. But in reality, Su Jiasui was the infamous boss of the entire joint-school district.

“Take your shirt off. Let me see if there are more bruises.”

“…”

“Hurry up. What’s there to be shy about? Here, I’ll show you mine too.”

As she spoke, she casually lifted her dress, revealing denim shorts and a white camisole underneath. The camisole clung tightly to her body, accentuating her soft, curvy figure.

Ji Jing’s face instantly turned bright red. “Put it down! I’m not shy—it’s just… your mom’s still home!”

Su Jiasui was great in every way—except for one thing that always gnawed at Ji Jing. Maybe it was because she had a twin brother, but she had no sense of boundaries between boys and girls. She loved physical contact—hugging, hanging off people—regardless of gender.

After that Christmas Day brawl, the two of them had buried the hatchet and made peace. They even pinky-swore that from then on, he wouldn’t call her Busybody, and she wouldn’t call him Curly. If either of them broke the deal, they’d treat the entire class to a feast.

A couple days later was the final exam. Out of nowhere, Ji Hanhua—who never cared about Ji Jing’s grades—called the homeroom teacher to ask about them. It was obviously a pretext to pick a fight. Sure enough, that night Ji Jing got beaten.

He didn’t want to go to school with bruises on his face, so he skipped for a whole week. Spent his days riding motorcycles and his nights in bars. Ji Hanhua was happy to see him spiral, and Ma Hui even gave him a wad of cash.

Once the bruises faded, Ji Jing returned to school. The moment he stepped into the classroom, Su Jiasui bombarded him with questions—why he skipped class, where he went, why he didn’t answer the teacher’s calls.

The prestigious school board heir, secretly getting beaten for bad grades—how humiliating. Especially since there was so much dirt hidden beneath the surface. His pride flared, and Ji Jing couldn’t hold back his temper.

“You’re such a busybody! Do you have to meddle in everything?! So annoying!”

Su Jiasui froze. Then suddenly threw her arms around him, jumping up and down excitedly. “Yay! Ji Jing’s treating us to dinner!”

That night, Ji Jing finally found out—it was Su Jiasui’s birthday. She had invited the entire class to her birthday party at the best five-star hotel in the city.

The tale of “Sister Sui’s generous treat, Jing-ge’s tearful bill” was still being teased about to this day.

Actually, that whole day, everyone had been discussing what gift to get Su Jiasui. But Ji Jing, distracted and out of it, hadn’t heard a word. He just kept thinking about that sudden hug—kept thinking about the scent of buttercream cake on her body.

From then on, Ji Jing started paying more attention to Su Jiasui.

He noticed that Su Jiasui would space out during class and secretly sneak snacks into her mouth. When she studied, she was fiercely focused—her gaze just as intense as when she fought. She couldn’t tie a ponytail to save her life and always made the girl behind her help. She loved hugging people—whenever she was happy, she had to hug someone and bounce around.

And…

She didn’t pay as much attention to him anymore, like she did when they were enemies.

In truth, Ji Jing still couldn’t figure it out—even now—why Su Jiasui had suddenly asked him out to a movie just a few days into winter break, and even confessed her feelings first. Back at school, they hadn’t exactly hung out much.

He didn’t dare ask for the details. In any case, Su Jiasui was already his girlfriend. In any case, she now considered him her best friend.

Unfortunately, his smart and beautiful girlfriend had a few screws loose—she had absolutely no idea what being in a relationship meant.

“Don’t go lifting your shirt like that in front of other people.”

“Why not? It’s not like I’m not wearing anything underneath.”

“Still not great.” Ji Jing knew all too well that you had to go with the flow when dealing with his girlfriend. Otherwise, it’d definitely backfire. “You’re a cultured, elegant lady, remember?”

Su Jiasui loved it when people praised her for being cultured. She instantly lit up like a flower in full bloom.

Ms. Sun called the kids to eat once the dumplings were done.

Su Jiasui grabbed Ji Jing’s hand and led him to the dining room. The housekeeper, who had stayed in the kitchen the whole time, caught sight of the bruise on Ji Jing’s face and gasped, “Oh my, what happened to your face?”

Ms. Sun immediately chimed in, “His dad hit him! Tell me, what kind of father does that?”

“There you go again, Mom. Can’t you hold back for once? Let us eat in peace.”

Ji Jing patted his girlfriend’s hand. He was already used to his mother-in-law’s occasional barbed comments. Either way, Ms. Sun wasn’t a bad person.

Su Jiahe finally came downstairs, glanced at Ji Jing, and sat across from him. “Sis.”

“Jiahe.”

Su Jiasui gave her brother a pointed look before Su Jiahe reluctantly greeted Ji Jing, “Hey… Brother Jing.”

To be honest, Ji Jing liked Su Jiahe. He looked a lot like Su Jiasui—they both had those big, pretty eyes. Unfortunately, Su Jiahe had always hated anyone who took his sister’s attention away from him.

In Ms. Sun’s words, Su Jiahe had practically been an accessory to Su Jiasui since they were in the womb. Things had gotten a bit better as they got older, but during their middle school years, the two were inseparable. Especially Su Jiahe—his world revolved around his sister. He barely interacted with outsiders. Old Su had worried that this might lead to personality issues down the line, so when high school came, he made the executive decision to separate them.

“Hey, Sui Sui, are you guys starting school next week?”

“Yeah, school starts Monday.”

“Which class are you in again?” The housekeeper, still cooking up a side dish, asked casually, “I heard your school has a Rocket Class?”

“Yep, lots of direct admissions from Rocket Class. They’re all aiming for the top universities.” Su Jiasui said as she put down her chopsticks, cupped Ji Jing’s chin with her hand, and grinned. “Our class president is in the Rocket Class too—always dead last.”

The shares in Xinghai High School had originally belonged to Ji Jing’s grandfather. After his passing, the shares were left to Ji Jing, though for now, they were managed by his legal guardian, Ji Hanhua. Ji Jing wouldn’t gain full ownership until after he graduated college.

“Class president?” The housekeeper had just started working for them recently and didn’t know much about Ji Jing’s background.

Although the Su family wasn’t short on money, they were still a far cry from the Ji family. The fact that her daughter was dating Ji Jing made Ms. Sun secretly proud. She could never resist the urge to show off: “Xinghai’s a private school, right? The Ji family’s a major shareholder. So everyone jokes around and calls Xiao Jing the class president.”

“I see… So that’s how it is. Actually, I have a nephew who’s in his third year too, and he’s thinking of transferring here. His dad asked me to look into Xinghai High. It’s a boarding school, right?”

“Where’s he transferring from?”

“Xiangtai.”

Ms. Sun had never heard of the place. She assumed it was probably some small town, and replied tactfully, “Xinghai does have excellent teachers, but the pace is pretty fast. Sui Sui finished all her Year 2 material by the end of last semester. Year 3 is all review and test prep. How’s your nephew’s grades? I’d hate for him to fall behind.”

Talking about her nephew’s grades, the housekeeper’s face lit up with pride. “He’s really good—always ranked first at his old school, way ahead of second place. His teachers all say he’s a shoo-in for Tsinghua or Peking University. It’s just that both his parents are working here now, and they don’t have any relatives left back in Xiangtai. They want to keep an eye on him.”

“Wow, sounds like a bright kid.”

“He really is. His parents never had to tutor him or sign him up for cram school.”

Even though Ms. Sun had a bit of local fame thanks to a big demolition payout, she never finished middle school and had a natural reverence for top students. Hearing how amazing the housekeeper’s nephew was made her warm up instantly. “That’s incredible. If he gets into Rocket Class, that’ll be icing on the cake. As for boarding… Sui Sui, does Xinghai still have dorms?”

Su Jiasui was in the middle of racing Ji Jing to see who could eat dumplings faster. Suddenly being called out nearly made her choke. Ji Jing quickly poured her a glass of water and answered for her: “Probably not. Xinghai’s resources are great—lots of competitions and summer camps. Tons of Year 3 students are trying to transfer in.”

“I figured. And boarding costs a fortune at Xinghai. Might be better to just rent a place nearby, so the kid can focus on studying.”

The housekeeper sighed. “His dad already looked into it. All the nearby rentals are filled with other Year 3 students. Rent’s close to three thousand a month. We can’t afford that kind of money. And too far would be inconvenient.”

Su Jiasui finally swallowed her dumpling and, now able to speak, offered kindly, “If he doesn’t mind, we can clean out that little room next to the boiler. It’s close to school. I could walk him to and from class.”

The housekeeper’s eyes lit up. “He won’t mind at all—that would be amazing. You two can even help each other with homework.”

It all sounded like a win-win situation.

Only Ms. Sun quietly glanced at Ji Jing, who was sipping water in silence with a glass in hand. She had a feeling… he wasn’t very happy.