After a relaxing night, with Yibo holding his Zhan in his arms and even imagining that it could always be like this, the two had a leisurely breakfast before heading downtown for a shopping spree. They wanted to get a mixer and a kettle for Yibo's apartment, as well as couple cups and couple slippers. The latter was Yibo's idea so that everyone would immediately know when they entered the apartment that he and Zhan are a couple.

While shopping, they took their time and kept fooling around like teenagers in love, especially when Yibo secretly stole a kiss from Zhan when no one was looking at them at the moment.

At lunch time, they just went to a Subway restaurant and ate a delicious topped baguette. After that, their shopping spree could continue. When they finally came home, frozen and exhausted, but also happy, it was already late afternoon. And instead of just couples cups and couples slippers, they now even had a whole couples outfit, which they also put on immediately.

In their new couples outfit, they snuggled under a blanket on the sofa, drank a hot tea from their new couples cups, whose water they heated with the new kettle, lit a candle and ate pastries while they happily talked again about their shopping tour.

It hadn't taken long, however, for their conversation to be interrupted by the doorbell. Yibo got up from the sofa and went to see who was at the door, and shortly after came back into the living room with his brother. Hai Kuan, who seemed a little surprised when he saw Zhan, greeted Zhan with a nod of his head and immediately sat down in the armchair.

Yibo sat down next to Zhan again and asked his brother, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, while you're cozy here with your boyfriend, our mother sent the tax investigators to the company. They turned everything upside down and took all the records and hard drives." Explained Hai Kuan.

"What, why? I thought mom was on vacation?"

"She is. I guess she had it all done through her lawyer."

"And now?"

"Yeah nothing. We can't do anything right now until the investigation is complete."

"Silly question though, could they possibly find anything? Because, mom wouldn't have them sent to the company for nothing."

"I have no idea. I had nothing to do with any of this. They took Uncle Wang, Dad, and my wife for questioning."

"Why your wife?"

"That's what I'd like to know. But they won't tell me anything, even though I'm her husband."

"That means they have reasonable suspicion that your wife is involved in this whole thing in some way. And until they question her, they won't give you any information or let you talk to her. After all, there may be other evidence against her or one of the others somewhere that you could quickly destroy." Explained Zhan.

"How do you know?" His brother wanted to know.

"My dad is a judge and has a lot of friends who are lawyers. They used to talk about their work a lot and that's where you catch a lot of things." Replied Zhan.

"So what are we going to do?"

"What do you want to do? You're looking for evidence that your father isn't perfect, after all, so that your mother doesn't end up empty-handed in the event of a divorce. So it's best not to get involved and let the others do it."

"But we can't just stand by and watch. We have to do something. This is going way too far! We have to find out what else Mom is up to."

"But interfering won't do any good either. Call your lawyers and let them handle it. But your dad will probably have informed them first anyway. And remember, you were trying to protect your mom from your dad, not the other way around."

"So we're just supposed to sit around and do nothing?"

"Don't keep saying we! I don't plan on getting involved in anything. I already told you, I'm going to do my own thing and see that I become independent from mom and dad." Said Yibo angrily.

"You don't have to get mad right away Yibo. I want to become independent from them too. But it won't happen overnight. What if Dad finds out we didn't do anything to help him? Then he might kick us out of the company too."

"I think Dad knows perfectly well that if we get involved now and somehow try to help him on our own, it might be considered negatively. Zhan is right, he will have called the lawyers and they will take care of everything. Knowing Dad, he'll be back home drinking his whiskey in peace by tonight at the latest."

"And if not?"

"Then that's the way it is. I'll stay out of it, anyway. I don't want to get involved. Besides, Dad has the best lawyers and they can't keep him there forever. It's the IRS, not homicide!"

"I should still call Mom and see what she's up to."

"Good luck. I don't think she'll tell you. If she was going to involve you in her plans, she would have given you a heads up. And one more thing. You better start finding out if Dad and your wife are having an affair. You want a divorce, don't you? But without Concrete Evidence, you can't just get a divorce without losing everything."

"I know Yibo. But my wife is not so easy to catch. I asked her about the hotel where she was with Dad and I said I was looking for a good hotel for my business partners. To which she just laughed and said I should put them up at the usual hotel our company has a contract with."

"Then start looking for the hotel yourself. It can't be that hard. She said she accompanied Dad to a business dinner. That means you just have to find out where they went to eat and see what hotel is nearby."

Zhan shook his head. "Do you really think those two are staying at a hotel? If there's really something going on between them, it's more obvious that they have a small apartment somewhere where they can meet undisturbed and spend time together. Anything else would be too conspicuous. Are you sleeping with your wife? And if so, how do you use contraception?"

Hai Kuan stared at Zhan for a moment and replied, "We don't have sex. Never! So there's nothing to use contraception either."

"Okay, then look for condoms at your house. Look for birth control pills. Anything that indicates she's having intercourse." Suggested Zhan.

"It's not that simple. Since we don't have a relationship with each other, other than a friendship, we have an open marriage and she said she knows someone she sleeps with from time to time."

"You say you're friends. So ask her about this guy. How old he is, what his name is, where he lives. Anything that will help you. Or secretly follow her when she leaves the house to meet someone. I would have done that long ago if I were looking for something against her so I could file for divorce."

"Since I always thought that she and I were good friends because we share the same destiny, I never thought of having to take such measures. We agreed to pretend to have a real marriage in front of our parents, while otherwise going our separate ways. We never talked about divorce because our parents would never allow it. That's just changed now. At least with me."

"So you've only realized within the last few days that your good friendship with her then isn't as good as you thought and realized that she must be playing a false game, and now you're looking for a way to ask for a divorce without your parents getting in the way and her getting all your money?"

"Yes, in summary, yes."

"And then?"

"I haven't thought about that yet."

"Oh, yeah? I heard you still love my cousin Cheng."

"Yes, I do. But I don't know if he could ever forgive me."

"Well yeah, Cheng is in a relationship. His girlfriend Wen Qing is a beautiful, smart and loving doctor. The two of them have even talked about marriage. He's serious about her. And do you really think Cheng could forgive you after all this?"

"I don't. Probably not."

"Do you know why I'm asking you this?"

"Why?"

"Because you show no initiative. Nothing. You whine and rant. But you do nothing. Back then, you just broke up with Cheng without explanation and just gave up on him. You let yourself get married to that woman without any resistance. You gave in to that marriage, though not completely. You say you still love Cheng, but you have done nothing to contact him or at least explain anything to him in the past 2 years. All you do is talk and that really annoys me. If you really want to achieve something, you have to get off your butt and finally do something! Just talking and complaining won't help. Start by finding out what you really want and what you have to do for it. Do you want a divorce? What do you have to do for it? Do you want to get away from your parents and become independent? Then what do you have to do for that? Do you want Cheng back? Then where is the best way for you to start?" Replied Zhan.

Yibo knew that Zhan had hit the mark of Hai Kuan with what he said. Zhan was absolutely right, Hai Kuan was also aware of this. But he was so speechless because of Zhan's honest and harsh words that he just didn't know what to say in response except, "You're right Zhan."

"If you prove to me that you really mean what you say, that you don't just talk anymore but act and finally stand by what you want and are willing to fight for it seriously, then I will be happy to help you and at least establish contact between you and my cousin. But you have to absolutely be able to convince me."

"So if I can prove it to you, you'll help me?"

"Yes. But as I said, I want to see that you've changed and really want to fight for Cheng. Most of all, I want to see that you wouldn't drop him again if a new problem came up. You've hurt him enough and I won't let you do it again!"

"Thank you. I promise you, I'll change. I won't run away anymore." Said Hai Kuan.

Zhan has always hated interference. But he also knows, but he still keeps this to himself, that Cheng still thinks about Hai Kuan often and talks about him a lot. That Cheng still has very big and strong feelings for Hai Kuan. So he sees this interference rather as a chance to help both men. And be it only that they can finally talk it out and maybe leave the past behind. Or maybe decide to try again after all. That's up to Cheng and Hai Kuan.

Since there was apparently nothing more that Hai Kuan wanted to talk about, he went on his way again and thus Zhan and Yibo were alone in the apartment again. Zhan also immediately took advantage of this to snuggle up to Yibo, give him a kiss on the cheek and say, "Thank goodness you're not like your brother."

Yibo smiled, "I would do anything for you Zhan. I will never give up on you! You belong to me and no one can take you away from me. I would literally go to the extreme to fight for you and us."

Zhan looked deep into Yibo's eyes, stroked his cheek and replied, "I am so happy that I fell in love with you. A great man who knows exactly what he wants and is not too afraid to fight for it. I love you Yibo. I love you like crazy."

"What can I say to that Zhan? My love for you, makes me a better person and gets everything out of me. I also love you like crazy and that's why I can't become like my brother at all. So don't worry, your Yibo won't let you fall because I have a net and a double bottom, so you can't fall at all." Yibo replied with a grin.

Zhan threw his arms around Yibo's neck and plastered his face with kisses. The two laughed and quickly Hai Kuan's problems were forgotten, as well as those of Yibo's father. After all, they have each other and their love for each other, which is much nicer than having to worry or listen to any problems.