The Daily Life Of A Rich And Vicious Man’S Wife Chapter 4

Chapter 4 (If You Had Never Appeared)

Jiang Li cried until he was exhausted, then leaned against Qin Zhao’s chest, occasionally rubbing his head against the man’s chin. He could hear the steady, strong beat of the heart in the other man’s chest.

His rationality returned slightly, but his throat was still swollen and his voice was hoarse: “If that woman comes back, will you go back to her?”

Qin Zhao would have to be insane to go back to that woman. A person who could sell her own biological son just to marry into a wealthy family—what kind of promises could he expect from her?

“That was over a decade ago. Why are you still dwelling on it?” Qin Zhao stroked his hair and kissed his forehead lightly: “Not now, at least.”

“Then will you treat me as disposable and give me away to another man?”

The hand stroking Jiang Li’s hair paused, clearly startled by the idea: “Who would casually give away the precious treasure they keep on the tip of their heart?”

“Besides, you’re the person on my household register. Even if I agreed, the country wouldn’t allow it without your permission.”

Jiang Li: “I don’t believe you.”

“These aren’t things I can just promise you with words,” Qin Zhao took his hand and placed it over his own chest: “If I ever break my word, you can dig it out.”

Jiang Li scoffed, pulling his hand back: “You have power and influence. No matter where I go, I’m just a plaything you keep by your side. If you’re happy, you’ll tease me; if you’re unhappy, won’t everything I do displease you?”

“Bai Yinzhu is back in the country. I saw her two days ago. Secretary Zhang said it was best not to tell you, so you wouldn’t be upset.”

Hearing this, Qin Zhao sighed inwardly. Secretary Zhang truly couldn’t be kept around. Fortunately, he had fired him this morning.

None of the Qin family members dared to speak ill of Jiang Li, and a mere company employee certainly didn’t have the right. How dare he?

If he lacked the ability to protect the person he wanted to protect, then his position as the Qin family head was meaningless. Since he was determined not to let Jiang Li suffer any grievances, he naturally had ways to ensure no one affected Jiang Li in the slightest.

However, the most important thing right now was to stabilize Jiang Li’s emotions, lest the situation escalate. He planned to solve the problem at its root.

If Bai Yinzhu’s appearance was causing Jiang Li’s lack of security, Qin Zhao would genuinely make Bai Yinzhu disappear from this world if necessary. He was a man of his word.

“Alright, you must be tired after all this fuss,” Qin Zhao gently held him close: “I promise I won’t let Bai Yinzhu appear before you. Besides, you severed ties with her years ago, and it’s legally binding. I am your guardian. No matter what, it’s not for an outsider to criticize you.”

Jiang Li’s smile was faint. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Qin Zhao, but that woman was highly manipulative, and there was also Bai Luo, the half-brother she had with another man.

Bai Luo suffered from a severe kidney disease. Bai Yinzhu’s main reason for returning was to find him a matching kidney source.

Bai Luo had become famous across the internet with a single video of him acting cute and spoiled. He was dragging his sick body around, waiting for the right opportunity to acknowledge Jiang Li as family.

If Jiang Li refused, it would confirm his cold-hearted nature, leading to another round of moral condemnation.

And since Bai Yinzhu was Qin Zhao’s first love, his ‘white moonlight,’ who knew if Qin Zhao would do something out of line just to please her? These were all factors Jiang Li had to consider, making the immense pressure unavoidable.

“You better mean it.” Jiang Li’s tone carried an indescribable weariness, tinged with deep distrust. Yet, currently, he had no one else to rely on but Qin Zhao.

After Jiang Li fell asleep, Qin Zhao quietly slipped out to take the urgent call from Secretary He.

Secretary He, in the most ordinary tone, delivered the worst possible news: Bai Yinzhu had indeed returned for Jiang Li.

Bai Luo, the child Bai Yinzhu had with her second husband, had suffered from renal insufficiency since birth. To be fully cured, he needed a kidney transplant.

Bai Yinzhu’s family had searched all over M Country but couldn’t find a suitable kidney source. Bai Yinzhu then remembered the first child she had abandoned over a decade ago to marry her second husband, and she set her sights on him.

The first thing she did upon returning was inquire about the child’s whereabouts. When she learned the child had been adopted by a high school junior who had a crush on her, treating him as her substitute, her boldness grew.

Using her second husband’s connections, she collected a few strands of Jiang Li’s hair and sent them for a paternity test. Jiang Li was indeed her child.

Her meeting with Jiang Li a few days prior was a test of his current situation. Coupled with the incident involving Gu Yunting, she basically concluded that Jiang Li was a disposable plaything by Qin Zhao’s side.

That’s why she secretly collaborated with Gu Yunting, hiring internet trolls to spread rumors detrimental to Jiang Li, thereby ruining his reputation online. She was partly responsible for that.

Her goal was simply to brand Jiang Li with the persona of someone who looked down on others, and was spoiled and overly possessive.

This would make it easier for her later to use the pressure of public opinion to attack or guide Jiang Li into willingly providing a kidney source for Bai Luo.

Now, the plan was halfway complete. Bai Luo, under her careful orchestration, had become popular on a well-known website, relying on his appearance—which was five or six parts similar to hers when she was young—and his delicate, sickly, pitiful persona.

In recent days, he had pressed his advantage, selling a cute-but-tragic image, garnering a large following of ‘sister’ and ‘mother’ fans, and was currently very popular.

Meanwhile, Jiang Li had recently been confirmed by netizens as having a spoiled and domineering personality because he refused to hype up a relationship with a low-class idol like Gu Yunting. He was also plagued by baseless rumors that he was kept by a man, slept his way to the top, and had doctored explicit photos circulating online.

Qin Zhao hadn’t encountered such a shameless person as Bai Yinzhu in a long time. She was the one who abandoned Jiang Li, and now she was the one who wanted him dead.

Even if Qin Zhao personally stepped in now to stop the rumors, the public opinion had already formed. If they couldn’t shake off the inherent impression created by those comments, the online environment would remain unfavorable to Jiang Li.

Jiang Li had a relatively peaceful sleep. He had listened to Qin Zhao and stayed offline for a few days. During this time, Qin Zhao tried various ways to cheer him up.

He stayed home with him, took him out for relaxation, and helped him recuperate.

Without exposure to the online gossip, Jiang Li’s mental state had indeed improved. The reality show, Idol Drama-like Love, which Qin Zhao had ordered to be revamped, was renamed and adopted a new operating model. The recording, which had been promised to the director, was now back on schedule.

During the few days Jiang Li was absent from the internet, Bai Yinzhu launched her second wave of attacks, subtly revealing the mystery surrounding Jiang Li’s background.

She also found several authoritative marketing accounts to confirm the rumor that Jiang Li was indeed kept by a wealthy businessman. Qin Zhao did not step forward to clarify, because it was true.

He was the one keeping Jiang Li, but the nature of the relationship was not as Bai Yinzhu described—that Jiang Li sold himself for money and status.

Rather, Qin Zhao’s possessiveness led him to use certain methods to compel Jiang Li to willingly stay by his side. They had fought over this, and the arguments were quite fierce.

It was only later, after Qin Zhao recognized his true feelings and communicated with Jiang Li, that they truly came together.

Idol Drama-like Love was officially renamed My Golden Brilliant Life. It no longer focused on the daily interactions between couples.

Instead, it became a slice-of-life variety show aimed at conveying positive values and outlooks on life to ordinary viewers. The guests invited were no longer celebrities from the entertainment industry pretending to be couples and forcing ‘industrial saccharine’ onto fans.

The show invited ordinary people who, despite facing hardship, remained positive and hardworking.

In the episodes leading up to Jiang Li’s recording, the guests included a kind elderly woman who worked three jobs a day and collected trash and recyclables in her spare time to earn formula money for the disabled abandoned infant she adopted.

There was also a stubborn principal who invested nearly a hundred million of his family fortune to ensure children in impoverished mountainous regions could attend school, reducing himself to eating only three plain steamed buns a day.

There were also ordinary young people striving hard for their dreams. The most common daily necessities—firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea—formed the most extraordinary and dazzling lives.

The show received continuous praise after only two episodes. The kind elderly woman who adopted the abandoned infant and the determined principal who wanted all children in poor areas to read received spontaneous donations from netizens.

The abandoned infants were no longer abandoned; they gained thousands of ‘cloud parents.’ The construction of new schools in the mountains was also being put on the agenda.

The young person striving for her dream also received kind encouragement, as many people saw their own reflection in her and felt a resonance.

A good show does not rely on inviting various flashy celebrities to highlight their position in the prosperous entertainment industry, thereby allowing them to look down on ordinary people’s lives and speak ill of them.

My Golden Brilliant Life achieved part of this. The show adopted a healing style, and Qin Zhao did all this entirely for Jiang Li.

Jiang Li already had severe depressive tendencies. If he wasn’t careful, he would always do something foolish to harm himself.

Depression is not caused instantly; it is a psychological illness resulting from the cumulative pressure of life over time.

It cannot be easily cured by a word or two from an outsider. Moreover, many depressed patients are unaware they have depression.

Some people don’t even realize that their state is actually depression. They might choose to end their lives simply because the weather forecast was wrong today and there was less sunshine.

Sometimes the human heart is that fragile, and it cannot be changed by a light accusation from others.

Furthermore, others have no right to accuse, because without experiencing another’s suffering, how can one know their pain, and how can one advise them to be good?

Patients must be shown the light in life before they are willing to cheer up.

More often than not, patients are fighting the world alone. Qin Zhao didn’t understand what depression felt like.

But he loved Jiang Li. He couldn’t bear to see Jiang Li trapped in the mire. These were the few things he could do right now that wouldn’t directly or indirectly harm Jiang Li.

He had even regretted forcing Jiang Li to stay by his side. If he hadn’t appeared in Jiang Li’s life, perhaps Jiang Li would have been better off, perhaps he wouldn’t have so many worries.