(Thanks to [Fate Decides You and Me] brother for the promotion, adding a Guardian to the mix, special thanks!)

Yes, Li Yan's words startled Zhang Yurong!

Because in those words, she didn't feel unhappy, but rather felt a sense of pressure!

Li Yan may not be the ideal husband, but at least for now, he is her husband. And with her pride, she can accept giving him up, but cannot accept being defeated by someone else. Because from childhood to adulthood, from school to the business world, she has never suffered a major defeat!

So, for the direct emotional rival, Yu Xiaodi, and the potential rival, Wen Qianyi, she takes them seriously but doesn't feel much pressure. Take Yu Xiaodi for example, when Li Yan brought her home that night, she was really angry, but calmed down by the next morning.

She has a basic understanding of Yu Xiaodi's family background. Her father is Yu Hong and her mother is Chen Mingying, both very reputable figures. In Yun Country, the concept of marrying into a socially equal family has never died out and is a traditional belief.

In today's society, this is a more evident problem. Would a girl with a local household registration in Tandou marry a boy from a rural province working in Tandou? Would a foreign-returned PhD marry a housekeeper with a middle school education? It might happen, but that would be a rare story worthy of being in a magazine like "True Confessions." And the idea of a poor boy marrying a rich girl has been unchanging since ancient times.

Of course, this concept of equality in social standing isn't inherently wrong or discriminatory (although there might be elements of discrimination). Because people don't grow up in isolation, they are influenced by their growth environment, including social, living, and educational environments, which in turn shape various views. For instance, some people believe in having a house before marriage, while others think renting is fine; some prefer no children, while others must have a son; some enjoy highbrow art, others like popular culture...

Even if two people are deeply in love, if one loves opera and the other loves traditional comedy, can they accommodate each other for a lifetime? The challenges in real life are not merely differences in interests. Therefore, families with similar backgrounds might not have passionate romances, but comparatively, they are more stable, because their views are similar.

Li Yan is a penniless poor boy, and worse, he lacks ability and ambition. In Zhang Yurong's view, apart from her father's unexplained deep bond or agreement with Li Yan's father—her derived father-in-law, typically parents wouldn't accept such a relationship. Whether it's Yu Hong or Chen Mingying, they might accept Li Yan dating Yu Xiaodi, but they would never agree to a marriage.

Besides that, there's also an age gap, which would lead to conflicts in interests and views, etc. Hence, Zhang Yurong had long since stopped feeling much pressure from Yu Xiaodi.

Similarly, Wen Qianyi, with beauty, figure, temperament, and capability no less than hers, once gave Zhang Yurong considerable pressure because, compared to her, Wen Qianyi also has a charming smile, a seductive side, and a straightforward personality, which are precisely her weak points.

But it's not overwhelming pressure because Wen Qianyi is too strong! Being with Li Yan, she's dominant everywhere. To Li Yan, being with Wen Qianyi or being with her, Zhang Yurong, what essential difference does it make? He would still feel pressured. In contrast, since they are only nominally married, she rarely controls him, which might make him feel a bit freer.

Thus, Yurong has worried that the two might spark a love interest, but she doesn't think Wen Qianyi can lure Li Yan away.

However... now she feels pressured by the girl from Beihai Country, Shinohara Mirai!

It's not because Shinohara Mirai is particularly outstanding; on the contrary, compared to Wen Qianyi and Yu Xiaodi, she's the "very naive and innocent" type, but isn't that exactly what men like? It can fulfill a man's desire for control, protection, male chauvinism, etc. And Shiroyama Gou, having liked and accepted Yun Country women early on, and not remarrying after his wife's death, shows he is unlike typical Beihai people and probably doesn't hold any social status bias. If Shinohara Mirai likes Li Yan, and he finds her acceptable, there's a real possibility of keeping Li Yan.

If he can gain a family business no less than the Zhang Family, marry a stress-free wife, and enjoy the male dominance typical of Beihai Country, for the unambitious Li Yan, isn't this extremely attractive?

...

"Really? You've become quite the catch, I should congratulate you, why wouldn't I be happy?" Zhang Yurong suppressed her thoughts and said with a slight hint of sarcasm.

"Would you let me go? To become a son-in-law in Beihai?" Li Yan asked in surprise.

Yue Yao, seeing things clearly as an observer, secretly shook her head. With the way they're talking, they're about to start a bicker!

Sure enough, Zhang Yurong snorted coldly: "Of course, you go be a son-in-law in Beihai, and you could become a director or president, I would only be happy for you, I absolutely wouldn't be unhappy."

Li Yan unexpectedly chuckled bitterly: "Here's the problem... If I went to Beihai as a son-in-law, you'd be happy, wouldn't be unhappy. But what about me... I immediately rejected his proposal. I said in Yun Country, there is already a woman I love deeply, I wouldn't give her up to go to Beihai, even if going to Beihai would relieve my pressures, receive his nurture, and allow me to stretch my wings, even if I lived a luxurious life as a puppet, I wouldn't want to leave my woman, because I already have a wife, no matter how she treats me, I won't leave her..."

His sudden confession left Zhang Yurong unable to process it immediately, like what is this about! But anyhow, deep down, she felt this guy still has some conscience, because if he really was a white-eyed wolf greedy to become a Beihai son-in-law, tonight's dinner would have been a total waste on him!

Yue Yao secretly admired him; Li Yan's face had gotten thicker, and his sweet talk was getting smoother.

"So, I don't want to go to Beihai Country. If I stay here to pester you, won't that make you unhappy?" As Li Yan finished speaking, he looked at Yurong, wanting to see her reaction.

Yurong panicked a little, quickly avoiding his gaze. Saying she was happy would show she cared too much about him, and his tail would be up in the sky; saying she was unhappy might discourage him and make him go to Beihai Country.

"Whether you stay in Beihai Country, what does it have to do with me? Whether I'm happy or not, what does it have to do with you? So naggy! Since you refused him, why does he still take care of you?" Yurong quickly thought of an ambiguous way to muddle through and then immediately changed the subject.

"If I were to become his son-in-law, I'd be one of his own, and he'd nurture me. But since I refused him, it's like offending him, he wouldn't want to owe me any favors, so he decided to repay us all at once. Maybe he wanted to show me his strength, indicating that even through overseas business, he has the ability to help and nurture me!"

Yurong snorted lightly: "Doesn't Paradise Group have the ability to nurture you? It's you who isn't ambitious or willing!"

Li Yan couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Is this challenging the old man Shiroyama? Is Yurong really worried I'd become Beihai people's son-in-law?

"This... is different."

"How is it different?"

"If I stay in Beihai Country, become Shiroyama Gou's son-in-law, I would have to work very hard because I'd have to take over and take care of the future. But in Paradise, it's different; my wife is a genius and a formidable president, and she can take over. I just need to play the role of a housebound husband and solve any of her worries." Li Yan said half-jokingly.

Yurong was speechless and could only half-seriously say, "But... not many women would like a man who hides behind them."

"What about you?" Li Yan pursued.

Yurong looked at him for a moment, then snorted coldly, "I refuse to answer." She was secretly annoyed in her heart, thinking, "This is what I said, obviously it represents my opinion. Do I still need to say it out loud myself?"

Li Yan, of course, understood what she meant, but hearing her refusal to answer still made him happy. It showed that after his playful remark about becoming a housebound husband, she was only reminding him, not directly admitting that she disliked him that way.

"Then I guess I'll have to figure out what you're thinking and make some changes accordingly." Li Yan said meaningfully.

The questions Yurong wanted to ask seemed to have all been asked. He probably wouldn't say more about Shinohara Mirai and Matsushima Kui's matters either. Continuing to ask would lead to awkward silence.

So she stood up and stretched, "I'm going to take a shower!"

"I'll go peek!" Li Yan immediately raised his hand.

"In your dreams!" Yurong pouted coquettishly.

"In my dreams? Let me go peek?"

Yurong ignored him, said a few words to Yue Yao, and went upstairs first.

Li Yan was just joking, of course, he couldn't possibly go peek, nor could he manage to peek.

But after she went upstairs, Yue Yao pointed at him and whispered, "Aren't you going up with her?"

"Hmm?" Li Yan was a bit surprised, had he missed Yurong's hint?

(Eighth update! An apple for breakfast, a packet of instant noodles for lunch, and a pot of porridge for dinner. With this support, Lao Lai worked hard for a whole day and completed another big burst, the third of this month! A small achievement, but it's a pity that yesterday only had one update, with 6 monthly passes. Today, 8 updates, only 17 monthly passes, sigh... Looking at it, it's only halfway through the month, there's still the second half. Can Lao Lai still explode? Will he shrink? Or can he continue to burst once, twice, or three times? That depends on the support from the brothers. Every one of your monthly passes can give Lao Lai motivation, if there's no support from monthly passes, it's hard to persist even if trying hard, it's discouraging to deflate. Finally, one more sentence: Asking for monthly passes! — Thank you)(To be continued, for the next part, please log on to www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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