Chapter 1070: The Flash Marriage Heiress (54)

Tang Guo had no idea that a certain someone had become so desperate to get married that he was nearly losing his mind. At the moment, she was completely immersed in her role-playing game, enjoying herself immensely.

On one side, the System watched the energy points rise steadily and felt delighted. On the other, seeing his host becoming increasingly terrifying, he could only mourn in advance for the male and female leads of the next world.

Hopefully, they wouldn't do anything to wrong his host.

As long as they didn't betray or offend her, peaceful coexistence should still be possible.

Facing such a frightening host, he honestly felt a little scared. Especially after she had awakened her role-playing talents—the way she smiled while tormenting others was enough to send chills down one's spine.

No, not spine.

Chills down a System's core.

Luo Yicheng had already tried his best to avoid seeing Qian Beibei. But her workplace was so close to his company.

Whenever they happened to run into each other, he couldn't exactly pretend not to know her, could he?

And whenever he saw her lonely, solitary figure, his heart would soften.

He knew all too well that he had never forgotten Qian Beibei.

But there were limits to what he could do now.

At most, he could help her a little at work.

Once, he happened to visit a floor in the building where her company was located and accidentally witnessed her being deliberately put in a difficult position by her superior.

Unable to restrain himself, he spoke up on her behalf.

After that incident, he found himself paying more and more attention to her life.

Every now and then, hearing bits and pieces about her situation, he eventually began secretly helping her behind the scenes.

Seeing the suggestive smiles on the faces of her superiors, he made no effort to explain himself.

As long as they didn't spread rumors openly, perhaps the misunderstanding would make her life easier.

And indeed, afterward, he noticed that Qian Beibei had become much happier.

But before long, he discovered that she had grown unhappy again.

When he found an opportunity to ask, she didn't tell him much, merely saying that it was because of family matters.

He tried to suppress his concern and force himself not to think about it.

Yet the image of Qian Beibei looking pitiful and helpless kept appearing in his mind.

In the end, he hired someone to investigate the Qian family's situation.

Only after reading the report did Luo Yicheng finally understand why her life had become so difficult.

Qian Chengcheng was getting married.

The Qian family had purchased a new apartment in one of the city's most desirable districts, and the bride's family was demanding hundreds of thousands in bride price.

Unable to come up with the money, the Qian family had turned their attention to Qian Beibei.

Several years ago, he himself had almost been humiliated because he couldn't afford the bride price, ultimately leading to his separation from Qian Beibei.

To be honest, he harbored some resentment toward the Qian family.

But whenever he thought of Qian Beibei, he couldn't help pitying her.

Perhaps she had been a victim too.

Maybe the Qian family had demanded a bride price back then because of Qian Chengcheng as well.

He stared at the investigation report for a long time.

Finally, he dialed a number he hadn't called in years.

“Hello? Who's this?”

Niu Jinlan's sharp, unpleasant voice sounded exactly the same as before, unchanged in the slightest.

After a few seconds of silence, Luo Yicheng said, “It's me, Luo Yicheng.”

“Luo… Luo Yicheng?” Niu Jinlan's tone immediately became unpleasant. It was obvious she wanted to lash out, but apparently remembering something, she forcibly restrained herself. “So it's President Luo. Why are you calling? Looking for our Beibei?”

“President Luo, you're already married. Isn't it inappropriate to keep looking for our Beibei? Our Beibei is a respectable, pure young woman. She won't become someone else's mistress, much less some rich man's kept woman. Don't you dare ruin our Beibei.”

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✦ A Completely Random Translator's Note 

Okay, another random thought from me! 😂

At one point while translating Villain Husband, Please Let Go, I wrote a Translator's Note about something that I really don't like seeing in novels: when the main couple has a child and suddenly that child becomes this weird kind of extra baggage in the relationship.

Especially when it's a son and the father starts treating him like some kind of rival for the mother's affection. You know the trope I'm talking about—the husband is basically going “Why are you paying attention to the child instead of me?!” and the child somehow becomes a third wheel in his own parents' marriage. 😭

To be clear, Villain Husband doesn't actually do this. There was one arc where it briefly gave me that “oh no, are we going there?” feeling, but thankfully the ML got his act together pretty quickly, and it never actually became a thing. It just reminded me of the trope.

And that brings me back to this novel, because I actually really like how it handles the whole question of children.

Tang Guo is... well. Let's be honest. She can insist all she wants that she's perfectly fine because she knows how to look for the good in life, but girl, you have been through A LOT.  Our queen needs therapy. 😭

And then we have our ML, who is basically a ridiculously loyal puppy whose entire universe consists of Tang Guo.

And honestly? They know themselves.

They don't have children.

Tang Guo does mention that after she starts inhabiting these bodies, she can no longer have children, so there is technically an in-universe reason for it. But even without that setting, I honestly feel like the two of them would probably choose not to have children anyway.

You remember those moments where the ML more or less admits that he worries about what would happen if she wanted children—because then he might no longer be the only person in her eyes? This is it. I kind of love that they are both conscious of what they want from their relationship, they're honest and make choices based on this.

It's not presented as “children are bad” or “everyone should be childfree.” It's simply that they know what works for them.

And honestly, I think that's a pretty mature decision.

Children are a HUGE responsibility, and I sometimes feel like people don't think about that nearly enough. There's this very common idea that life simply goes:

Get married → have children → raise children → continue life.

And obviously, plenty of people genuinely want children and love being parents, and that's wonderful! But sometimes people also have children because it's simply considered the next thing you're supposed to do.

But you're bringing an entirely new person into the world.

If you're not psychologically ready for that responsibility, if your relationship with your partner is unstable, if you don't have the capacity to provide the emotional support and care a child needs, or if you simply don't actually want children... it's okay not to have them.

And I think that's something worth thinking about before bringing another person into the equation.

Because, unfortunately, children don't come with an instruction manual. 😂 They need more than food, education, and a roof over their heads. They need love, attention, emotional support, guidance, stability... and a whole lot of patience.

And, uh... this is probably where my job is going to betray me. 😂

I work as a school counselor, and I see quite a lot of situations where a child is actually doing remarkably well considering their circumstances, while the adults around them are... let's just say making my job significantly harder than it needs to be. 😭

Sometimes teachers come to me asking what they should do about a particular student, and after talking to the child and looking at the bigger picture, I'm sitting there thinking, “Honestly? This kid is doing AMAZING considering everything they're dealing with.”

And then comes the difficult part—trying to work with the parents.

Because the moment you suggest that perhaps something at home could be affecting the child, some parents immediately go:

“Excuse me? Who are YOU to tell me how to raise my child?”

And I'm just there like...

Ma'am. I am literally the counselor. Please. ✋😭

Anyway, I've gone on a massive tangent now. 😂

So I'm curious—what do you guys think about this particular trope in novels? Do you like stories where the main couple has children, or do you prefer it when the couple stays childfree? And what do you think about the way this novel handles it?

And if you have kids yourselves: please be good to them. 🥹 (I trust you are already🙈👊)

And if you don't have kids yet, well... just think about it carefully before you do. Your future children will thank you, and hopefully you won't end up with some poor school counselor sitting in her office at 5 PM staring into the void and thinking:

“What am I supposed to do with these parents? Who am I? Where am I?"😭

Okay, I'm stopping now.

I swear I try not to blabber this much, but apparently once I start writing these Translator's Notes, I just... keep talking. 😂

Feel free to skip my ramblings if you've already had enough of me. I promise I won't be offended. 🥹👉👈

—Cy