Contractual Cohabitation GL - Chapter 31

“Dad, Mom… why are you back?”

Caught off guard while relaxed, Jing Xiaonan was stunned, her brain instantly entering a state of first-level combat readiness.

Since she started living independently a few years ago, her parents had moved to New Zealand and had never made such an unannounced, surprise visit. Observing her parents’ expressions, they didn’t look malicious, but they were definitely somewhat solemn. Jing Xiaonan asked seemingly casual questions to buy time while rapidly analyzing the situation.

The last time she spoke to her parents was on Friday, two days ago. The content and tone of the conversation, in all aspects, showed no abnormality. Her parents hadn’t mentioned coming over, so something must have happened in the last two days. Almost instantly, she linked it to the woman standing next to her, not only because it was highly probable, but also because this was the most pressing and concerning issue in her mind.

At this moment, Ye Luochen, standing by her side, was no less surprised than she was. Fortunately, she was naturally adept at concealing her emotions. Although she was quite shocked, she maintained her usual poised and decent appearance. After only a slight pause, she nodded gently, as calm and elegant as before.

“Hello, Uncle Jing and Aunt Yao.”

With an unruffled demeanor, her actions and expression were flawless. Ye Luochen raised her eyes and looked at the couple across the living room with neither arrogance nor subservience. However, both her gaze and aura were consciously and naturally slightly restrained, perfectly displaying the appropriate attitude of a well-bred young lady toward elders. As for the address, she had read the books in Jing Xiaonan’s study and the inscriptions on them, so she knew Jing Xiaonan’s father was Jing Bokun and her mother was Yao Shushu.

Jing Xiaonan quickly glanced at her and subtly pulled her hand. Her fingertips trembled the moment her skin touched hers. Luochen’s hand… why was it so abnormally cold?

Jing Bokun, with furrowed brows, ignored Jing Xiaonan, but nodded after Ye Luochen’s greeting and responded softly. Yao Shushu, on the other hand, smiled warmly and said:

“Come and sit down first.”

“Mhm.”

Hearing Ye Luochen’s affirmative reply, Jing Xiaonan was somewhat troubled. She disliked fighting an unwinnable battle, and the current situation was completely out of her control. She neither wanted to worry her parents about her relationship with Ye Luochen nor did she want her parents to frighten the woman she wholeheartedly wanted to protect. The only thing she could think of now was to reach a consensus with Ye Luochen, find a reason to send her somewhere else to temporarily avoid the situation, sound out her parents’ intentions, and then plan the next step.

However, before Jing Xiaonan could react, Ye Luochen had already replied, walking directly over with hardly any hesitation. Jing Xiaonan anxiously twisted her neck, watching her walk over and sit down on the single armchair. Her attempts to use facial expressions to achieve a tacit understanding were completely ignored.

Of course, she wasn’t ignored by everyone.

“Nannan, you come over too. What’s with your eyes? Do you have trachoma?”

Jing Xiaonan met her mother’s gaze when she heard her words, seeing her smile at her, her expression mixed with a bit of teasing and a lot of care, as gentle as when she watched her study as a child. She clearly saw the comfort in her mother’s eyes, and her heart settled down a lot. Although still reluctant, both sides seemed very willing to meet. It seemed like she was worrying for nothing, like the eunuch rushing when the emperor wasn’t worried.

Cough, cough.

Sighing inwardly, she walked over heavily, only to find that all the available seats on the sofas were already occupied. Her parents were sitting on the wide two-seater sofa, Ye Luochen was in the single armchair opposite, and over here… this cat William, who hadn’t been overfed yet, was occupying her spot!

Suppressing her impatience, Jing Xiaonan scratched William’s fluffy little head: “Hey, at least make some room for me!”

William let out a low purring sound in its throat, impatiently shook its head, rolled over, and lay on its side with its back to Jing Xiaonan. Now the entire sofa had no place for Jing Xiaonan to sit. As if that wasn’t enough, its gray-white, fluffy tail flicked, and for a moment, Jing Xiaonan seemed to smell a toxic gas emanating from the cat.

Life is unbearable.

Deputy General Manager Jing, with a dark line on her forehead, took a few steps back, and reluctantly sat on the floor opposite the sofas, hugging her knees. Her clear peach-blossom eyes looked up again to meet her parents’ gaze, but her uneasy mood made her seem slightly wary and worried.

Jing Bokun snorted, frowning at her, unmoved. Yao Shushu’s mood was also somewhat complicated, but she maintained a gentle demeanor. Jing Xiaonan bit down on her back molars, then released, and introduced in a calm voice:

“Dad, Mom, this is Ye Luochen.”

Upon hearing this, Jing’s parents both turned their heads and nodded as a greeting to Ye Luochen, but their gaze remained slightly critical. The Ye family’s young lady sat with proper elegance. Taking over from Jing Xiaonan, she continued:

“Uncle and Aunt, I am Jing Xiaonan’s friend. Because my family business is currently cooperating with Pengju, I am temporarily staying… here with Xiaonan. Now that you have returned, I feel truly embarrassed to continue imposing. I wonder if I could be allowed a few days to move out?”

Jing Xiaonan listened to her words, not interrupting or correcting her, but her heart gradually sank in her chest. This explanation concealed or even denied any relationship beyond business partners between the two. She stared at Ye Luochen’s poised, elegant, and polite appearance. Was she trying to solve the problem for her? But she was also distancing herself from her.

A subtle, hard-to-ignore bitterness slowly rose in her heart.

Shortly after she finished speaking, a soft voice responded, Jing Xiaonan’s mother smiling once again:

“Miss Ye, there’s no need to be so reserved. You’re Nannan’s friend; we are certainly welcome to have you stay! Nannan’s father and I are only back for a few days, so please don’t worry.” After saying this, she looked at Jing Bokun, not speaking but encouraging her husband with her expression to speak.

Jing Bokun cleared his throat. The man who was always gentle and considerate towards his wife ignored the two gazes at this moment and looked directly at Ye Luochen when he spoke: “Miss Ye, as a father, I’ve been away for many years and haven’t disciplined my child properly. Now that I’ve finally returned, there are some things I want to discuss with her alone.”

A look of concern flashed across Ye Luochen’s face. Her previously elegant posture on the sofa changed; she leaned forward as if to stand up, but stopped the movement abruptly. She looked at Jing Xiaonan, then met Jing Bokun’s rather authoritative gaze.

“Uncle Jing…”

She didn’t know how much of the recent series of events Jing Xiaonan’s parents knew, but she at least understood Jing Bokun’s dissatisfaction with Xiaonan. Her pearly teeth clenched tightly, and her slightly glossy fingernails dug deeply into her soft palm.

Yao Shushu glanced at the Ye family’s young lady, who was clearly flustered for the sake of her Nannan, and sighed inwardly with helplessness. Such matters are genuinely difficult for any parent to accept. She understood her husband’s feelings, but at the same time, she didn’t want the family to become discordant because of it. She made a subtle gesture of shaking her head and said:

“Miss Ye, I also have some things I’d like to chat with you about. Why don’t we go upstairs to the study? We can have dinner together after this father and daughter have finished talking?”

Jing Xiaonan’s eyes had never left Ye Luochen. She could tell that her mother was somewhat on her side. Judging from this attitude, although difficult, it was not an insurmountable problem. She was relieved by her mother’s arrangement. So, as soon as her mother’s words fell, when Ye Luochen looked over at her again, she smiled gently at the woman and winked her beautiful eyes at her.

Ye Luochen’s intensely worried moon-shaped eyes met the smiling peach-blossom eyes. She knew that speaking up now might actually be detrimental to the situation. Fortunately, she was only going upstairs, and she could still keep an eye on the situation in the Jing family’s living room at any time.

Thus, only the Jing father and daughter were left in the spacious living room.

“Nannan, you’ve grown wings recently, and your guts have gotten bigger, haven’t they?”

In Jing Bokun’s view, with the outsider no longer present, he dropped his facade a little. His inherent authority and presence were still strong, but his words clearly sounded like a private conversation between father and daughter.

Jing Xiaonan had already moved to sit next to her father. She chuckled somewhat awkwardly: “Dad, which matter are you referring to?”

Jing Bokun was so angry he laughed instead: “Don’t play the fool with your dad! Since you feel that many things fit my question, then assume I don’t know anything and tell me about them one by one!”

Ha! Jing Xiaonan never used her business-world tactics with her family. Hearing her father say this, she had no choice but to sigh with a troubled face, starting with the smaller matters.

“Pengju and Maple Leaf reached an agreement to establish a subsidiary for the consignment and sale of milk powder, importing infant formula into the country long-term.”

She peeked at her father, seeing him stare at her coldly without speaking, so she had to continue: “Originally, Pengju would only receive a commission from this business, but your daughter felt the profit could be increased, so she proposed this joint venture plan. However, Ye Luochen helped me with extra persuasion at the Maple Leaf board, and that’s how it was finalized.”

Jing Bokun: “Get to the point!”

“Your daughter reciprocated by helping her conceal the process of applying for immigration from the Maple Leaf Group, as a form of repayment.”

Seeing her reluctance to fully confess, Jing Bokun’s brows furrowed into the character for ‘river’ (川), looking formidable even without anger: “Jing Xiaonan, have some ambition!”

Jing Xiaonan bit her silver teeth. She was now completely certain that her father knew the full details of the matter. She calmed her frantically beating heart and said with a steady tone: “I helped her immigrate as a partner, and the registered partner is my name. Legally, Ye Luochen and I are recognized as being in a cohabitation relationship.”

“I don’t think that’s all, is it?” Jing Bokun glared angrily at his daughter, in whom he had always placed high hopes: “You even forged evidence, and you knowingly broke the law. Jing Xiaonan, you’ve truly learned well from your father!”

Completely focused on the coming-out matter, Jing Bokun’s emphasis on this point caught Jing Xiaonan off guard. She lowered her head, the guilt in her heart conflicting with her other conviction, and did not argue.

It had been more than half a year since she last saw her parents, and she just noticed, inadvertently, that her parents had more silver strands in their hair.

Jing Bokun tried hard to suppress his anger, his eyes filled with the frustration of dashed hopes: “Your father was disbarred because he knowingly broke the law. But what was my reason? And what is yours?”

“I was wrong,” she said this softly, looking straight at her father.

After all, she was his daughter. Being stern was one thing; how could he not love her in his heart? Jing Bokun stared at her for a long time, looking at her calm and composed demeanor, yet not lacking the appropriate humility toward her parents. He couldn’t help but sigh at the child’s maturity. After a long while, he asked in a deep voice: “Do you like this Ye Luochen?”

Jing Xiaonan lowered her eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded.

“The person you like is a woman?”

“Yes.” She paused slightly, unable to suppress the pang of concern for her parents: “I know this is distressing for you and Mom.”

Staring at her, Jing Bokun seemed to want to peer into her inner thoughts through her eyes, and also seemed to be weighing something. Finally, he spoke, with his usual authority:

“Don’t eat dinner. Go to the study and reflect on your actions. Think carefully about what you’ve done tonight. We will discuss this matter tomorrow.”