January 14, 20X2 (Tuesday)
Various Places"Chen, Are you okay?" Yue"s voice boomed from the speakers of Hao Chen"s phone. The man sighed, loudly, making the woman on the other line of the call grew curious. Zhao Yue, who was working in j.a.pan, was taking a break. Her phone on her hands being put into speaker mode as she was being styled to perfection on her chair. Everyone stared at her phone when a sound of something breaking broke the silence resulting from their concentration. "What was that?" Yue asked the man on the other line. Hearing the same loud sigh again, Yue"s hands clenched her phone. She was starting to grow irritated at the Hao Family and how they treated Hao Chen. "It is just the mother and my future sister-in-law that is fighting again." Hao Chen said, hoping Yue was not angry nor annoyed at him for the behavior of his family. "Did you know about the video?" Hao Chen asked after a while. He could not help but tell Yue the truth. It felt uncomfortable to hid this fact to Yue. "The video? I am very busy with work, so I don"t have much time to be online." Yue asked curiosity coated her voice. "Oh," Hao Chen continued with a small voice, "Someone posted a s.e.x scandal of my future sister-in-law and it went wild here." Yue blinked, her eyelashes fluttered like b.u.t.terfly wings. Her eyes ready to pop out of its sockets in shock. Did she hear right or was it just a mistake? A s.e.x scandal of all things? Her shock turned to amus.e.m.e.nt as her silent stupor was broken with her laughter. Her body shook with laughter and the mascara that the makeup artist had worked so hard to perfect become flawed as Yue laughed so hard that tears welled in her eyes. "The innocent Ye La n?" Yue gasped as if she was in disbelief while she continued, "have a scandal! Wow! I cannot believe it! So much karma!" Hao Chen followed Yang"s example and touched his nose, feeling helpless as he listened to Yue mock Ye Lan with the most sarcastic tone he had ever heard in his whole life. "Is the scandal still in the net?" Hao Chen could not believe how excited Yue"s voice changed. "It will be forever in the net." Sighing, Hao Chen answered with a tight voice that carried his unsure thoughts. Yue waited for a while, and then Hao Chen continued, ".... I think I should also tell you that there are two videos of the said scandal..." Laughter boomed from the speakers of Hao Chen"s phone once again. Hao Chen unconsciously followed Yang again; he touched nose with his right hand. Zhao women were something else, but he would not have Yue any other way. "Two videos? I want to see!" Yue was wheezing with all the laughter that she had done. Her eyes become small and crescent-like in her amus.e.m.e.nt. The usual stoic face of a model was devoid in her face. When Hao Chen ended the call, he could still hear his stepmother and his brother"s fiancee fighting and shouting at the top of their lungs. He covered his face with his hands to hide the shame that was evident in his expression. What had he done in his past life to be born in the Hao Family? If only his mother were still alive, he would at least have someone to call real family. Meanwhile, Yue immediately called Mei Lin and started to ask for questions about the scandal videos. They both started talking about the source of the videos, the possibility of it being true or fake, and so much more. It was in the middle of their conversation that Ling Ling tugged on Mei Lin"s skirt and asked, "Can I t alk to Aunt Yue?" Yue heard the small voice and immediately agreed. The talk about the scandal disappearing as Ling Ling took all of Yue"s attention. Ling Ling received the phone and put it in her right ears. Mei Ling covered her lips with her left hand as she stared at her daughter. The phone was big enough to cover her face, emphasizing how small Ling Ling was. Chang was still on his chair reading another History book. "Aunt Yue, I learned about Tea ceremony, and Grandma told me that you hated Tea and..." Ling Ling began to prattle about her adventures from the days before. Mei Lin looked out of the window in contemplation. She too was wondering who could post such videos of Ye Lan. Not many people could uncover secrets like that and then post it on social media without being discovered who his real ident.i.ty was. Whoever it was, Mei Lin promised to be careful around that guy. What if her past would be dug out too? In her contemplation, Mei Lin forgot that her Uncle Wu was one of the best hacker and also a former government agent. Yawning, Mei Lin"s eyes started to feel heavy again. For the past 2 months, she had been so sleepy. In fact, she had slept when teaching Ling Ling some words. Heck, she had even slept when he was seated and drinking tea. Maybe she should go to the doctors? What if she was pregnant? Drowsiness was one sign of pregnancy... Then she remembered that she also had small spotting before... Maybe she was indeed pregnant. As Mei Lin began to sleep while standing up, Chang called for a servant maid and helped guide Mei Lin to a chair. In this, Mei Lin"s thought about the probability of her pregnancy was forgotten as she slept.