After the long talk with Zhan and his parents, Zhan and Yibo actually wanted to go for a walk as planned. But the weather did not play along, because it had begun to rain. And so the two stayed in the house and also spent the afternoon with Zhan's parents. Together they played a board game and had a lot of fun.

When it was time for Yibo to go home again, he promised as he said goodbye, once again, to work on his plan for the future right that evening. And he did! But first he had to tell his father and uncle that he was ready to take over a leading position in the company.

So when he arrived home, he explained to his father and uncle that he had taken advantage of the past few hours and had thought about everything that had been said that morning after breakfast. He pretended that he too felt that his mother had become unacceptable to the company and that she should therefore resign from her position. Which the two of them received with pleasure.

He then stated that he was willing to take over his brother's position so that he could take over his mother's position. The reason he gave for his sudden change of heart was that he was only thinking of the benefits he would receive from his new position in the company.

But to make it look as if he had given up completely without a fight, because after all he is plotting against his own mother, he made one more condition. Namely, that his best friend Seungyoun may take over his leading position in the marketing department. Yibo knows that Seungyoun is very similar to him and therefore he can trust him to do everything for the department. And the two immediately agreed. They would probably do everything they could to put his mother out of business, too. Should he perhaps have made more demands? Mhhh, rather not. Then they might have figured him out.

But then before he went to his room, his father told him that they were going to do the management restructuring within a week and then he would be in his new position in a week. He even told him that he should call his personal assistant Xiao Zhan and ask him to start working sooner. Of course Yibo did not mind at all. Rather the opposite! And Yibo immediately took advantage of the moment and demanded that Zhan get a desk in his office and not in front of it! And his father nodded. His uncle looked at the two only frowning, but said nothing.

After talking to them, Yibo hurried upstairs to his room, where he immediately began to make a to-do list. He gave his list the name "Independence" and listed the first item as, save money! During the conversation with Zhan and his parents, Yibo had deliberately not yet mentioned that he had already saved his money in the last two years.

However, this came automatically, since he had always been supplied at home and at work, with everything he needed. Only for his hobby, the motorcycle driving, he had spent a small part of his money. Otherwise, however, he saved it. And at the moment he at least had enough money to afford a small apartment. But of course, that's not nearly enough to become independent from his family.

At point 2 of his list was to open a Swiss numbered account and transfer all his saved money there. And he did it immediately. He accessed the website of the Swiss bank and applied for an account online. To his surprise, it was activated immediately. He would have liked to transfer his money there immediately, but then he remembered something important. If he transferred the money from his account to the new numbered account, it would be too obvious. After all, this is supposed to be a secret account. Then, of course, the transfer of his money must not show up anywhere in his account transactions.

So he decided to go to his bank first thing in the morning, withdraw his money from the account and deposit it into his numbered account in cash. He can hide the record of that.

After he finished the to-do list, he took a picture of it, sent it to Zhan and then called him to tell him about the conversation with his father and uncle. He also had to inform Zhan that he would have to start working in a week after all. What made Zhan very happy, because now he didn't have to wait 4 weeks, but only one week.

They also talked about Yibo's planned move and their first weekend together in the city apartment. Zhan admitted that he was excited just thinking about it. Yibo, however, was no different. He was already so full of anticipation that he felt a tingling in his stomach and chest just thinking about the upcoming weekend.

The two talked on the phone for a full hour before wishing each other a good night. Yibo really just wanted to shower and then go to bed, even though it wasn't that late. But just as he was about to go into his bathroom, his brother called him and asked him to come outside because he wanted to talk to Yibo undisturbed in private.

Yibo got dressed again and went downstairs. His brother was sitting outside in his car and beckoned Yibo to join him. He sat in the car with his brother and his brother started the engine. Yibo didn't ask why, he could already guess why his brother was doing that.

After about 10 minutes, his brother stopped on the side of a country road. He turned off the engine and said, "Yibo, I think we are about to face a much bigger change than our job changes."

"Oh yeah, what makes you think that?" Asked Yibo. He too had been having this feeling since this morning, that there might be more in store for them.

"Well, I think Dad is having an affair with my wife. And he wants to get rid of Mom."

"Huh? The two of them are supposed to be having an affair?"

"Yes. My wife has been acting really strange for a while. Plus, she seems to know all about our dad's plans. And a few weeks ago she had accompanied him to a business dinner, after which they both spent the night in a hotel because they were supposedly too drunk to drive home. Also, I overheard Dad and Uncle Wang in Dad's office talking about divorce and that he'll lose half his fortune if he doesn't think of something to do about Mom."

"Well, I've read their prenuptial agreement before. And it says that if she is in any way to blame for the marriage ending, she goes away empty-handed. Alcoholism can be a good reason, can't it?"

"True. Dad could say that being married to Mom has become unbearable for him since she got addicted to alcohol."

"And one proof of her unpredictability when she's drunk is that she no longer works at the company."

"You're right, Yibo. Dad could be orchestrating all of this."

"Well, it wouldn't even be staged. Mom's really drinking, after all. And complaints about her are piling up at the company."

"Isn't there some way we can help Mom so she doesn't go away empty-handed? After all, it's her fortune, too. They built it up together."

"Well, you could try to find evidence of the affair between Dad and your wife. Then she'd have something on Dad."

"Dad's not stupid enough to leave any evidence."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. He's not perfect either. Find out if they shared a room at the hotel. Try to find out what your wife does so often at Dad's office and note how long she always stays with him. Every detail you notice, you should write down."

"How am I supposed to find out if they shared a hotel room? I'm sure they won't just tell me."

"I'm sure they won't. But you could call there and pretend to be Dad. Just ask your wife what hotel they stayed at and what room. You could then call there on Dad's behalf and say you spent the night there with a woman who lost her earring in the room somewhere there. And then you'll see what they say."

"I can try. But won't it be obvious if I ask her about it now?"

"Well, in that case, you could say that you have business clients from out of town and they asked if you could recommend a hotel to them."

"Wow, you really come up with good ideas little brother."

"But you should also think about what you're going to do if it really turns out that Dad and your wife are having an affair."

"I already know what I'm going to do then. I'm going to get a divorce. Because then I'll finally have a real reason to end this marriage."

"And then what's going to happen? Are you going to let them push you into the next marriage?"

"Absolutely not."

"Then what? Are you going to get a boyfriend?"

"I don't know. To be honest, I can't forget Cheng. Even though it's been two years since we broke up, I can't stop thinking about him. I still love him."

"So you want him back?"

"Yes."

"That's going to be hard. Even for you big brother. Because the way you dumped him back then, he won't be able to forgive you so easily. Besides, he doesn't live in Beijing anymore."

"How do you know he doesn't live here anymore?"

"Because Zhan told me. He moved away right after you got married. And Zhan also said that he has a girlfriend now. Wen Qing is her name, I heard she''s totally beautiful."

"But..."

"What did you expect? You broke up with him just like that back then without explaining why, and then he heard about you marrying a woman just two or three months later."

"I had no choice at the time, and I didn't want to drag Cheng into the problems with Dad."

"I know. But Cheng doesn't know that."

"And you? So you're with Zhan now? Aren't you worried about Dad finding out?"

"I don't have to worry about that. Because Dad even gave me permission. Under his conditions, of course, but I'm allowed to be with Zhan and even take him to the city apartment."

"How come all of a sudden?"

"Well, I think it's all part of Dad's plan to get rid of our mother and get me to go along and stand behind him. While Dad thinks he can abuse my feelings for Zhan for his own purposes, I'm following my own plan. And that's what you should do. On the outside, you act like you're completely behind Dad. But behind the scenes, you're following through with your own plans. That's how I do it, anyway."

"You're right, I should do the same. After this morning, I'm sure we should work on our own future as soon as possible."

"That's right big brother. And the best way to do that is to start covering yourself. Save money. Finding evidence of your wife's unfaithfulness. And so on."

"Can I ask you something Yibo?"

"Sure."

"Do you really love Zhan? I mean, you've only spent one night together and haven't seen each other in two years. Maybe he just wants to take advantage of you to get money."

"I really do love Zhan. And just for the record, I think his family has a lot more money than our family. I have met his parents and feel they are very warm and kind people. They are open-minded, give me good advice and support Zhan in just everything! For them, family comes first and it is noticeable. When I was there today, we played Monopoly for hours and talked and laughed a lot. We had real fun and not once did they talk about work. There are family pictures all over the house. And his parents walk around at home in their feel-good clothes. Sweatpants and sweaters. And when they eat together, they tell each other about their day and their plans. It's so incredibly nice to experience that. It's really relaxing. You immediately feel comfortable with them."

"Sounds like a perfect family."

"You'd think so. But they say of themselves that they're not perfect and don't want to be perfect. They're just a family that sticks together and there's a lot of love and sometimes a lot of chaos."

"So a family like we never had."

"Right. They're so different from our family. And believe me, Zhan is only after me and not my money. He really likes me and has for a long time. To be honest, he and I had our first kiss when we were teenagers. However, that kiss had only been an accidental one. Even then, Zhan was in love with me and I had noticed him too. I even tried to get his attention. And through him I realized that I was gay. When I spent the night with Zhan two years ago, I just didn't recognize him, unfortunately. He has changed a lot since then. But he told me about that time and even showed me a picture he secretly took of me then."

"Sounds like you're meant to be together."

"I think we are. And I will do anything to stay together with Zhan. I love him and I won't let anyone take him away from me again."

"I should have stood by Cheng like that then, too."

"Yes, you should have. But who knows, maybe you'll meet him again someday and you'll get a second chance."

"I hope so." Replied Hai Kuan. Afterwards, they sat in the car in silence for a moment, as neither of them knew what else to say. And finally, his brother drove him back home.

After Yibo showered at home, he lay in his bed wondering if his brother was right and their father was really having an affair with his brother's wife. And the most frightening thing for Yibo was that he could absolutely imagine it. Nothing in him resisted that thought.

But he also had to smile at the thought of soon being able to leave all this behind. And moving into the city apartment, would be a good start for getting out of all this.