The night sky was clear and peaceful but inside the Long Mansion, the storm was brewing. The Longs who no one dared to trifle with, were disrespected by a mere group of mercenaries and that too at their

wedding ceremony.

Moreover, Long Jie's decision not to reside at Xin mansion was adding more to Long Shaoming's distress. The mood in Long Shaoming's room was disconcerting. There was a silent battle going on between Song Lily and her husband. Long Shaoming had just received the call from Xin Mansion, minutes ago and got the shock of his life -- the mere group of mercenaries was somehow connected to his family.

How mortifying! His pride crumbled down with a single phone call. He had vouched to protect Zhenyi if the engagement was a success. But she was attacked at her wedding.

"Don't play with fire, Lily, if you can't handle the flames," said Long Shaoming with a straight face but Lily could see his patience was hanging by a thread. But she ignored all the warnings of danger and stepped into the fire.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Lily said with an annoyed face. She took the book from the bookshelf and sat on the edge of the bed, pretending to be occupied with reading.

"Oh, you don't? Then let me break it to you, dear wife," said Long Shaoming sarcastically."What you did today is unforgivable!"

"What I did? "Lily asked, feigning ignorance. Couldn't he see she was no longer interested in engaging in this conversation?

"The way you behaved with your daughter-in-law is unacceptable, Lily. Today, your eldest son left your house because you were disrespectful to his wife, "Long Shaoming said to his wife. But his wife had no intention of understanding his reason and it was clearly evident on her face.

"I never asked anyone to do anything, Shaoming. It is his decision and he never asked me. Besides, I will never want to be relatives with a family of criminals." Lily said as she folded the book and looked at her husband.

"LILY."Long Shaoming shrieked in exasperation.

"Shout as much as you can, Shaoming. But you can't change the fact. I would rather die than to accept the woman of that blood as my daughter-in-law."Lily said calmly. An aristocratic woman never lost her calm and gentle demeanor.

It was partly the reason she was not accepting Zhenyi as her daughter-in-law, though she would never admit it. Besides, he didn't need to be aware of her reasons.

"Haah...funny...What were you wearing, Lily? Was it Valentino? And your heels, they were Jimmy choo? Wasn't it? I buy them for you. We are not as clean as you think. If you don't remember then let me tell you I afford your lavish lifestyle, your high society friends, and every shopping spree of yours. And earn that money in the same way as Xins do."

"Don't try to brainwash me, Shaoming. I can accept anyone but not Xins. Or that woman's daughter. You mortified my pride today, Shaoming. I looked upon that woman and today you welcomed her daughter in my family as my son's wife." How could she accept it? It was such a ridiculous situation. Moreover, sooner or later she would get rid of that lowly woman.

While her home, her life, was built on piles of dirty money, she had always been able to say she hadn't contributed to the equilibrium. She was a woman of aristocratic origin, she would never admit-- they were on the opposite side of the law. But now, everything was pointing towards -- what they exactly were.

"This is your stupid pride talking," Long Shaoming snickered. How dumb one could be?

Once a wise man said, 'there's no such thing as good money or bad money. There's just money.' Hence, it didn't matter where it came from as long as it secured power and status. Longs and Xins had always been on the opposite side of the law.

"Do you know what's the difference between us and Xins? We hide our demons behind our lavish exterior but Xins, they are what you see them on the surface. Monsters. In and out."

"I have a reputation and status to maintain, Shaoming. How can I accept a woman of such origin as my daughter-in-law? I know my son, he will leave her sooner or later. Then, I will get him the woman he is destined to. Not from some third-grade criminal family," She said firmly, ignoring common sense and reason.

Fortunately, common sense and reasoning had never been Song Lily's forte otherwise they would get upset with Song Lily for constantly ignoring them.

"Naive...."

Sometimes he wondered if her naivety was her denial, or if she would rather weave tales in her mind than face the brutal reality.

"I know you were an idiot but today you cleared every lingering doubt of mine. They will murder your son before he even thinks about betraying her. You don't believe my words?"Long Shaoming was getting tired of her little games. He had always saved her from the shadows because he believed he owed her all these years, but now it was getting too much for him to handle. The woman was hell-bent on destroying her life and everyone else's associated with her.

"Do you know Lily why you are unscathed after the stunt you pulled today? No? Then let me tell you because you are my fucking wife. Do you get it?"Long Shaoming yelled at her.historical

How arduous was the truth for her to acknowledge? It had been decades now, how long she was planning on harboring the contempt that she had no right harboring in the first place?

"And if you believe my father will side with you, then think again? Because he's just the patriarch of the family in name with no real powers. Your Husband used to control it, but now, it's your son. The son, you always ignored and discredited."

If she was delusional enough, she might think Long Yuhan would take her side, and she would be intact after all her little games that she was playing for years now, just because Longs wronged her once and they still owed her, but little did she realized Long Shaoming had settled every debt he owed her at the cost of his own happiness. And now, no one owed her, not even half a cent.

"You can't do this to me Shaoming. I am your wife. You can't talk to me like that." Song Lily yelled hysterically. The aristocratic woman was nowhere in sight.

"Then for God's sake behave like one for once in your damm life." He was running out of patience.

"Shaoming...." He never talked to her like this before. It was happening just because of that Zhenyi. She would never forgive her. She would destroy her life before Zhenyi could touch hers.

"Lily, there are some things you can't even imagine exist. I beg you, not to disturb the equilibrium. I spent all my life on this. For peace. Don't do anything that you will regret later.I may or may not be there to save you." Long Shaoming sighed in frustration as he ran a hand on his face.

"I don't care...." She murmured.

"Well , I don't care too. I want my son back to his house. To his rightful place. And I don't fucking care, how you persuade him to return to Long Mansion! I want my son back. Period." There was no point in reasoning with an absurd woman who was hell-bent on destroying her life.

"Me? Are you kidding me? What makes you think he will agree to return home? Don't forget, he is just like you. Stubborn and unreasonable. He never cared about me just like you. And he won't care for me now too. No matter how much I yell or request." She was Long Jie's mother in a name. The differences between mother and son were too huge to fill now.

Ah, Lily was more stupid than he gave her credit for.

"You brought it upon yourself, Lily. Your temper, your egotism, and selfishness brought it on yourself." Long Shaoming said in disappointment. Partly or perhaps wholly, it was his fault too that they couldn't restore the relationship between them and Long Jie.

"Hah...I brought it on myself? How, my dear camera-perfect husband?Is it my fault, I wanted a perfect son? Is it my fault, your son is the biggest failure and the irradicable stain of your perfect life? " Truly, they were ideal camera perfect couple of Beijing but no one was aware of this fact. Not even their children.

"LILY."Long Shaoming warned her.

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare call my son that again!"

Under no circumstances would he let her belittle his son. Wife or not. Didn't even matter how his complicated his relation was with his son.

*****

Let me welcome the new readers?. Thank you for choosing me and for your patience. I'm sorry I was not able to post daily but please forgive me. I was stockpiling chapters and yes my dear readers, you will be getting daily updates from April 1.

Many of you will be unhappy as so the chapters from now on will be paid. But please support me. It is easier to read pirated content for free but for once think about me, think about the hard work it takes to write even a single chapter.

I'm a full time student so it is hard for me to always post at regular time. I will make sure that I'll post daily but I can't tell you exactly when.

And you want more of Zhenyi and Jie, you will be getting soon. I want you to know about side characters too. It will be easier to understand the background. Ryuu is the second important character after Zhenyi and Jie.

Last but not the least, keep voting. Top 500 ranking means 3 extra chapters . And please keep cheering me. I'm a little attention needy?.

Let's talk to each other on discord : Tanusam#7676 and comments section of course.