Chapter 22: Too Unreal

Soon, evening arrived.

Returning to the rented apartment complex, Su Rulan took out her keys, preparing to open the door. As soon as the key was inserted, the security door, which had been locked from the inside, unexpectedly turned and opened with ease!

Su Weimin and Gao Yulan, standing behind her with troubled faces, noticed nothing amiss. Only Su Rulan felt a vague sense of unease, her thoughts drifting to her uncle, Su Zhengjun, and his peculiar behavior earlier that day. Yet, in the blink of an eye, she dismissed the suspicion. The matter of the betrothal gift had already been confirmed over the phone by Su Yixue herself; there was no other possibility.

Perhaps Ye Tianlin had simply found the keys and happened to unlock the security door! Without hesitation, Su Rulan hurried inside to check.

At a glance, she saw Ye Tianlin sitting on the sofa, watching television. She breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that at least he hadn't wandered off—otherwise, who knows what trouble might have occurred.

"Darling, you're back!" Ye Tianlin rose with a smile.

Su Weimin, barely containing his anger, scowled at Ye Tianlin and couldn't help but curse, "How can you still smile here? We've nearly suffocated from frustration all day!"

"Exactly! That shameless uncle of yours—just to humiliate us, he kept putting on a show at the company, claiming he'd gone to the Tiandu Chamber of Commerce and seen you there in person. If Su Yicai hadn't called Su Yixue, we might have actually believed him!" Gao Yulan's eyes brimmed with resentment, silently cursing this burden in their family for adding to their troubles.

Ye Tianlin immediately realized that some new complication had arisen and asked, "What did Su Yixue say over the phone?"

"Su Yixue's boyfriend is indeed from the Ye Family, and he returned to the country a week early. Because of his special status and various inconveniences abroad, he hadn't explained to Su Yixue his exact position in the Ye Family before," Su Weimin explained with arms crossed.

Hearing this, Ye Tianlin was surprised. What a coincidence! Su Yixue, studying abroad, had actually met someone from the Ye Family?

The Ye Family, through generations of continuity, had many branches, most of which were scattered across regions, managing chambers of commerce for the family, while the main line held true authority.

In terms of status, blood relations naturally placed family branches above servants—this was indisputable. It was only reasonable for someone to claim to be of the Ye Family.

Yet, the peculiarity was that in Jiangnan, no Ye Family branch resided there; everyone in the Tiandu Chamber of Commerce was a servant, without exception!

Ye Tianlin spoke bluntly, "Su Yixue's boyfriend must be from a branch of the Ye Family outside Jiangnan."

Su Weimin snorted disdainfully, "Your illness only settles when it acts up—how could there be such a coincidence? He returned a week early, right when the young master of the Ye Family came back, and the betrothal gift arrived! Who else could it be but the young master?"

"Exactly! Rulan, hurry and give him his medicine. He's been spouting nonsense nonstop, and it's driving me mad!" Gao Yulan rolled her eyes irritably.

Su Rulan, unable to argue, inwardly agreed with her parents. She had no choice but to pull Ye Tianlin into the bedroom, open the drawer to grab the medicine, and hold it to his lips, coaxing him as if he were a child, "Tianlin, be good. Please take your medicine, alright?"

Seeing this, Ye Tianlin gave a bitter smile, shaking his head and blocking her hand. "Rulan, everything I've described from start to finish is true. Uncle acted as he did because he learned the truth—I'm the one who told him to return and clarify things at the company."

"Don't make trouble. I just checked; you didn't even take your last dose—you put it back. How long are you going to keep lying to me?" Su Rulan felt that missing several days of medicine explained why Ye Tianlin had been acting so strangely.

Ye Tianlin sighed. After so many twists and turns, anyone else would have grown weary of explaining, but for the sake of his wife's happiness and understanding, he resolved to persist.

Turning the conversation, Ye Tianlin said, "I didn't take the medicine because I'm not ill—I'm perfectly normal. I know you find many things hard to believe, but I hope you'll trust me one last time!"

"How can I believe you? It's already a settled fact; I don't dare hope any longer, because more hope only brings greater disappointment." Su Rulan bit her lip with difficulty.

Ye Tianlin looked at her with unwavering eyes. "The contracts from the Tiandu Chamber of Commerce's subsidiaries are definitely not limited to just two. There will be more, and they will be delivered to you personally."

"Moreover, because the Su family's scale is too small to support so many projects, in a month's time, the Tiandu Chamber of Commerce will tailor a new group for you—Tianlan Group—with you as the CEO!"

Su Rulan was stunned, her mind nearly drifting.

Truthfully, having two contracts was already a hard-won achievement, enough to secure a stable life for the family and guarantee the child's future.

Yet now Ye Tianlin claimed there would be even more contracts, and a group company established just for her, with her as president?

It seemed unreal, too fantastical to consider. She didn't dwell on it, and seeing she couldn't persuade Ye Tianlin to take his medicine, she gave up helplessly and bent over the desk to write her proposal.

The thought of Su Yixue returning next week made her head ache; she knew more troubles were inevitable.