Marriage Seduction Addiction

Chapter 405 Story
Upon hearing this, Jiang Beiheng's pupils visibly trembled, as if he had heard something unbelievable. He stared at Yan Shiyu in utter shock, "What did you say? What do you mean by 'exterminating them'?"

Yan Shiyu remained composed and asked in return, "Mr. Jiang is asking me?"

Jiang Beiheng's gaze sharpened. "There must be some misunderstanding. What exactly happened after your mother left Huai City?"

Yan Shiyu withdrew his gaze and said, "I have no interest in answering Mr. Jiang's questions about these old matters. The reason I came here to see you today is to tell you to stay away from her and not to try to get close to her again."

“Impossible,” Jiang Beiheng replied decisively. “If I didn’t know, that would be one thing, but now that I know she’s my daughter, how could I possibly ignore her?”

Upon hearing this, Yan Shiyu chuckled, and after a long while, she looked up at him again, "So? What does Mr. Jiang plan to do? Will you let her be recognized as a member of your Jiang family? Do you have the guts to acknowledge her identity? Do you dare to announce her existence to the outside world?"

Jiang Beiheng froze for a moment, without answering.

He has always enjoyed a very high public reputation, whether for his achievements in his career, his conduct, or even his relationship with his deceased wife. However, Jiang Muchen's ruthless and decisive approach after taking over the Jiang family business, as well as his intimate relationships with many women outside of his marriage to Tang Xu, have been criticized by the media, who say he has none of his father's charm.

If an illegitimate daughter were to suddenly appear nowadays, it would likely cause quite a stir.

“We can discuss this later,” Jiang Beiheng said. “I only found out about her after she had grown up so much, and I already feel very guilty. I have to do something to make it up to her. How could I just ignore her?”

“You’ve ignored her and she’s grown up so much,” Yan Shiyu said. “If you had really taken care of her and looked after her, she might not even exist in this world anymore.”

"What do you mean by that?" Jiang Beiheng said. "In your heart, what heinous crime have I committed that you think I can't even tolerate my own daughter?"

"Whether you can accept it or not is your business," Yan Shiyu said. "But if you want to acknowledge her back, I can only tell you that's wishful thinking."

Jiang Beiheng was still caught up in the clash between the past and the present, and his emotions remained somewhat unstable. Upon hearing Yan Shiyu's words, he couldn't help but ask, "What makes you think you can stop me? Is it because that brat Lu Xingyan has been interfering time and time again? Will that even work?"

“Yes, it used to be useful, but it’s useless now,” Yan Shiyu said. “Since Mr. Jiang looks down on Lu Xingyan’s methods, then I wonder if you look down on Young Master Jiang’s methods?”

Upon hearing him mention Jiang Muchen, Jiang Beiheng's expression changed slightly once again.

Yan Shiyu spoke calmly, "Putting aside all the public opinion, what are Mr. Jiang's plans? How do you intend to introduce Yan Yan's identity to him? Do you dare let him know about this sister's existence? Mr. Jiang should know better than me how he will react and what actions he will take after he finds out. Is Mr. Jiang sure he can bear the consequences of this whole incident?"

After hearing Yan Shiyu's words, Jiang Beiheng finally fell into complete silence.

Yes, even if public opinion and reputation are unimportant to him, he still cannot ignore the impact Jiang Muchen will suffer in this matter.

Even if the relationship between father and son is tense, they are still blood relatives. Even if he is disobedient and does many rebellious things, he will still make a deal with Tang Xu because of his illness. He would rather divorce Tang Xu than let him go to England for treatment.

Although on the surface it seems that he wanted to send him away so that he wouldn't get in the way of company affairs, if he really hated him to this extent, he could have simply ignored him and waited for his illness to flare up. Why go through all this trouble?
Even though there were countless unspoken resentments and sorrows between the father and son, Jiang Muchen was still the most important person in the world to him, and the person he cared about the most.

Seeing Jiang Beiheng's reaction, Yan Shiyu had nothing more to say and stood up to leave.

"Wait!" Jiang Beiheng called out to him again.

Yan Shiyu continued walking towards the door without stopping, saying, "Let's wait until Mr. Jiang has considered the consequences of the whole matter before you talk to me. Before that, if you dare to approach Yan Yan even slightly, I can't guarantee what will happen."

After saying this, Yan Shiyu opened the door and left.

Jiang Beiheng remained seated there, silent for a long time, until finally only a sigh escaped his lips.

……

When Jiang Beiheng returned to the Jiang family from "Wangshan", it was already late at night. He got out of the car with the help of the driver and was surprised to find that Tang Xu's car was parked next to him.

When he looked up again, he found Tang Xu already standing at the main entrance of the building, looking at him with a slight frown. "Where have you been so late?"

Jiang Beiheng smiled, walked slowly forward, and asked her, "When did you arrive?"

"I arrived around eight o'clock," Tang Xu replied, arms crossed. "They said you went out, and we thought you'd be back soon, but we've been waiting until now. Don't you need to sleep anymore? You're completely ignoring your sleep schedule, aren't you? You didn't even take your medicine tonight! Do you even care about your health?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Beiheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, yes, yes. This is the only time; there will be no next time."

Upon hearing this, Tang Xu's expression softened slightly, and she stepped aside to let him in.

As soon as she entered, Tang Xu noticed that he looked unwell and immediately reached out to support him. "What's wrong? Why do you look so pale? Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing," Jiang Beiheng said. "I've been out for a long time, and it reminded me of some things from the past. I just felt a little sad for a moment."

Tang Xu listened and said softly, "If you know something will make you sad, then don't think about it..."

Although she had said it, she knew it made no sense, so she didn't say anything more and quickly accompanied Jiang Beiheng upstairs back to their room.

Jiang Beiheng sat down on the sofa, his gaze suddenly falling on the bookshelf in front of him. He then said to Tang Xu, "There's a photo album on that shelf over there. Could you get it for me?"

Tang Xu found the photo album as instructed, and handed it to him.

This is a very thin photo album, thinner than that of an ordinary family, let alone many large and prosperous families.

Although the phrase "a large and prosperous family" never existed for the Jiang family, seeing that photo album still evokes a sense of melancholy.

Tang Xu had seen the photos in there before—aside from some photos of the Jiang couple when they were young, there were only photos of Jiang Muchen. However, the photos of Jiang Muchen only went up to when he was nine years old—after that, no photos of him were included in this album.

At this moment, Jiang Muchen suddenly remembered to look through this long-forgotten photo album, probably because he had just recalled something sad.

Tang Xu sat beside him, her gaze sliding over the photo under his fingers, and saw Jiang Muchen's face, which was already cold and devoid of any childlike innocence when he was nine years old.

Tang Xu glanced at it once and looked away, not intending to look any longer, but then Jiang Beiheng suddenly asked, "Have I told you about the circumstances under which this photo was taken?"

“No,” Tang Xu said.

“That day was his birthday. We used to take a lot of photos of him every year on his birthday. As you can see, he used to smile happily in the previous years. But starting from this year, he stopped smiling... because in this year, I separated from his mother.”

Hearing this, Tang Xu was slightly shocked. "You two separated?" In her mind, Jiang Beiheng and his wife had always been a model couple, deeply in love. It was common knowledge that Jiang Beiheng had taken care of his wife, who was seriously ill for many years, and that he had never remarried after she passed away, raising Jiang Muchen to adulthood on his own.

But they actually separated?
Jiang Beiheng nodded and said, "That year we decided to break up, but we hadn't officially told Mu Chen yet. However, he seemed to have sensed something, and his emotions became very unstable. He wouldn't even smile on his birthday."

Tang Xu vaguely sensed that something else must have happened, and couldn't help but ask, "And then? Did you get back together because of him?"

“Yes, but not entirely,” Jiang Beiheng said. “We were separated for almost a year, and Mu Chen’s condition was getting worse and worse. We tried everything but nothing worked… Although we considered getting back together, we didn’t actually take that step until his mother was diagnosed with a tumor, and that’s when we finally got back together.”

The two of them actually got back together after Mrs. Jiang was diagnosed with her illness. Tang Xu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You are also very affectionate."

"I had no choice." Jiang Beiheng didn't praise himself for it, but simply said, "At that point, it seemed I had no choice but to do it."

Tang Xu couldn't help but ask, "Back then, did you still have feelings for her?"

"If there is any feeling, it's more like the feeling between family members. After all, we've been husband and wife for over ten years, and she's an elderly mother. I can't just watch her suffer from illness alone."

"But Jiang Muchen's condition didn't improve because you two got back together," Tang Xu speculated.

“Yes,” Jiang Beiheng sighed. “Once he makes up his mind, he never changes it easily, especially since his mother’s illness is another blow to him.”

Tang Xu couldn't help but recall Jiang Muchen's attitude towards Jiang Beiheng on the anniversary of Mrs. Jiang's death. After hesitating for a moment, she asked again, "During this time, did you meet any other women?"

Jiang Beiheng remained silent for a long time before saying, "That's why he hates me so much."

Tang Xu paused for a moment, then said softly, "Because he is convinced that you separated from his mother because you had another woman. The reason you got back together with his mother was just a pretense... That's why he went so far. He even took away and threw away the flowers you sent to her grave... and he still hasn't forgiven you."

Jiang Beiheng nodded slowly, which was considered as an open admission of the past in front of Tang Xu.

"And then what happened?" Tang Xu couldn't help but ask again, "After you got back together with Mrs. Jiang, did you still keep in touch with those other women?"

Jiang Beiheng lowered his eyes slowly, sighed softly, and then said, "Actually, there was only one person... After I decided to get back together with his mother, I broke off our relationship and sent her away from Huai City."

Tang Xu paused for a moment before saying, "It's one way of dealing with it, but... it might be a bit cruel to that woman."

“I always thought I had settled her in well,” Jiang Beiheng said. “I originally thought she would live a good life for the rest of her days.”

Tang Xu suddenly realized something and asked, "So she's not doing well? You ran into her again? When did this happen? Today?"

Jiang Beiheng turned to look at her, smiled slightly, and said, "Are you that curious?"

“Since you’ve put it that way, of course I want to know the result,” Tang Xu said.

Jiang Beiheng slowly closed the photo album in his hand and said, "I really wanted to see her again, but unfortunately, I only found out today that she had already passed away."

Tang Xu's eyes drooped slightly at the corners instantly.

Admittedly, such an ending is not surprising, but it still makes people sigh.

"Has she been unhappy since she left you?"

“It should be bad,” Jiang Beiheng said, “but just how bad is it? We have no way of knowing.”

"He is gone," Tang Xu said softly. "In the end, we can only remember him."

Jiang Beiheng said, "I owe her... I always feel that I should do something to make up for it, but I don't know whether I should or not."

After a long period of contemplation, Tang Xu slowly said, "Is your so-called compensation really for her sake, or for your own?"

Jiang Beiheng turned to look at her.

Tang Xu said, "From her perspective, if she really needed your compensation, she probably would have come to you long ago. Your so-called compensation is probably more about giving yourself some psychological comfort and making yourself feel better... As for whether she needs your compensation, and what you can really bring to a person who has already passed away, have you thought about that?"

Jiang Beiheng lowered his gaze and remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Then what do you think I should do?"

"It's better to let bygones be bygones. Life will always have some regrets, and no one's life is perfect," Tang Xu said. "Letting go of the past is letting go of yourself, and it may also be letting go of others."

……

When Tang Xu left the Jiang family and returned to Yujing Bay, it was already past 2 a.m.

Yan Shiyu was sitting on the sofa staring at the financial news playing on the tablet in front of him when he heard the noise and looked up.

Tang Xu thought he was already asleep, so she tried to close the door quietly and come in, only to find that the person was still sitting upright on the sofa.

"Didn't I tell you to go to sleep first?" Tang Xu stepped forward and said, "Why are you being so uncooperative?"

Yan Shiyu looked at her and said, "I've never seen you listen to me before."

Tang Xu leaned into his lap and said, "If we really have to bring up old grievances, then none of us will be able to sleep tonight."

Yan Shiyu reached out and put his arm around her before lowering his head again, "Why did you stay out so late?"

Tang Xu thought for a moment and replied simply, "I heard a story from the past."

"Is it a good story?" Yan Shiyu asked.

Tang Xu was silent for a moment before saying, "It's not good. I don't really like it."

Yan Shiyu seemed to like her answer, gently stroking her hair and whispering, "Since it's not a good story, then don't listen to it anymore."

Tang Xu responded softly, not in a hurry to go to sleep. She found a comfortable position to lean against him and calm her mind.