Time Travel: The Queen's Coronation

I returned to my room that night and turned on the light. The figure I saw startled me. Li Zhanwen sat dejectedly on the floor, leaning against the wall, staring blankly at me. The moment our eyes met, tears streamed down his face. I hurried over to help him up.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you sitting here without turning on the lights?"

Li Zhanwen didn't say anything, but hugged me tightly. I patted his back and said gently, "What's wrong?"

Li Zhanwen couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into tears, crying and complaining, "They all lied to me! They are all liars! Why did they treat me like this!"

"Tell me, what happened?" I was confused.

“They are all liars!”

"Calm down first and tell me what happened. Let's face it together and solve it together, okay?" I coaxed him to stop crying like a child.

"My mother's decision to ask me to marry Fang Hui was not a sudden idea, but a premeditated one! I was deceived! Everyone of them knew it, but everyone was deceiving me! Everyone was deceiving me for their own benefit! The principles of filial piety, brotherly love and respect for younger brothers that I have always upheld are all jokes! In the face of greater interests, my happiness can be sold out by them! I was deceived, Aqing! I was deceived!" Li Zhanwen complained heartbreakingly.

"Why do you say that? Is your mother's illness fake?"

"She is really sick, but not as seriously as the newspaper said! She just has ordinary high blood pressure, but she lied to me and said she had heart problems, and she even colluded with the hospital to put on a whole show for me! I have been praying for her, and I even hurt you to fulfill her wish, but she made a fool of me!" Li Zhanwen accused angrily.

"Calm down first. You still have me. Let's face it together!" I said, holding his hand.

"My mom has no heart problems at all. They're all acting this out themselves, a trick they pulled to make me willingly marry Fang Sui! They even went so far as to announce her critical illness. They acted so convincingly! My dad and his team wanted to cooperate with Aneng Group on a photovoltaic project, but the condition Aneng Group put forward was that I marry Fang Sui. My dad and his team were afraid that I would disagree, so they came up with such a bad idea! Every one of them acted in front of me, until that day when I went out to buy something and came back. The elevator was broken, so I had to climb the stairs. I overheard a conversation between my dad and my eldest brother in the stairwell, and then I realized they had been lying to me! My father and eldest brother, whom I respect so much, actually sacrificed my happiness for the sake of profit! I'm a joke!"

"Since you know this, why don't you just reveal it?"

"When I learned the truth, I couldn't accept it for a moment. I went out to calm down, then came back and confronted them directly. But they said the press release had already been sent out, and the whole world knew I was going to marry Fang Sui. This was related to the reputation of both groups, and it was irreversible! I had to get married whether I agreed or not! I argued with them, but they were not as kind and friendly as before. They kept accusing me of not contributing to the family. My father even locked me up at home to reflect on my actions. I escaped when the bodyguards were not paying attention!"

"Your father is so excessive? You are his youngest son! And what era is this? They still do things like arranged marriages!"

"He said that since I've enjoyed the wealth and glory brought by my family, I should make sacrifices for them! This is my destiny!"

"That's too much! I didn't expect your father to be such a pedantic person! No wonder your father tolerates your mother's misbehavior, it turns out they are the same kind of people! It's just that your mother was blocking the way in front, so we all ignored him!" I stood up for Li Zhanwen.

"Aqing, what should I do? I don't want to marry Fang Sui! The one I love is you!"

"At this point, the only option is to strike first! Immediately publish an advertisement to clarify the matter between you and Fang Hui!"

"But that would cause Yaoning's stock price to fluctuate! I can't do anything that would harm the family's interests!"

"But do you have any other choice?"

"I'm going to negotiate with my parents and Fang Sui, and persuade them to cancel the engagement!"

"Impossible! Fang Hui is determined to marry you now, the Fang family will never cancel the engagement! Your father is also determined to cooperate with Aneng Group, and your mother has always wanted to break us up. There is no way they will give up on such a two-birds-at-one-stone opportunity!"

"But this will cause too much harm to Yaoning!" Li Zhanwen was very resistant.

"You can't have your cake and eat it too! If you don't want to marry Fang Sui, you have to do this!"

"Is it necessary to go this far?" Li Zhanwen was still very hesitant.

"Your father is already like this. He forced you to marry someone you don't love for the sake of his own interests, even though he knew you had someone in love. Why do you still care about him? You can be your father's filial son, your elder brother's obedient younger brother, but no matter what your identity is, you are first and foremost yourself! You are an independent person in this world! Since your parents decided to bring you into this world, it is their responsibility and obligation to provide the material conditions for your growth! Because your coming into this world was determined by their will, you don't owe them anything! If they love you, they should respect your wishes and let you grow according to your own ideas, instead of interfering with you in every way and making you grow up according to their ideas! That is control, not love!"

"But no matter what, they are my parents! My mother had a difficult labor when she gave birth to me. This is a lifelong guilt for me!"

"Why do you always feel guilty about your mother's difficult birth? It's because when you were little, your father, your mother, and everyone around you kept telling you how much hardship and suffering your mother went through to give birth to you. You were constantly indoctrinated with the idea that you owed your mother, and unknowingly took on the responsibility for your mother's difficult birth! Your mother's difficult birth was not your subjective cause; it was just an accident! But they put this accident on your head and asked you to pay the price. This is moral kidnapping!"

"But……"

"But what? I was still a student when I gave birth to my eldest and second child. Did I constantly instill in them how much I sacrificed to give birth to them? It was also quite difficult when Wei Cheng was born, but did I ask for anything from him? And the father of the quadruplets betrayed me, did I take my anger out on them? Love is about feeling indebted rather than asking for something! I only feel that I owe them. I brought them into this world, so I must give them the best! Children are not appendages of their parents! They have their own thoughts, and we should let them experience the world on their own! Instead of forcing them to do things they don't want to do according to our ideas!"

"But no matter what, they are my parents. I, I can't do anything to hurt them!"

"You've been deeply brainwashed! Have you ever thought about which is stronger, Zhongding or Aneng Group?"

"Of course it's the bell and tripod!"

"With you and me together, they have countless opportunities to cooperate with Zhongding. Why would they choose Aneng Group?"

"why?"

"Because An Neng and Yao Ning are on equal footing! If you become An Neng's son-in-law, you will always be under their control. But if you become Zhong Ding's son-in-law, they will need to be wary of you!"

"But even if I marry you, I am still their son. Why are they afraid of me?" Li Zhanwen was very confused.

"Think about it, your Li family was originally among the top ten wealthy families in Hong Kong Island, but the last time your mother and Shen Shaopeng cooperated, the Li family dropped out of the top ten. Your father and the others are definitely resentful of me! Don't say they are very generous or anything like that! Your father and your mother are husband and wife! Being able to live together for decades will definitely be subtly influenced by each other. Your mother is so unreasonable and even uses the entire Yaoning to fight against me, but your father is indifferent. Don't you think it's strange? And if your father doesn't nod, how can your mother command the current management after so many years without the company? After all, your mother has your father's support behind her. You think your mother is against us, but in fact your father is more opposed! It's just that it's not easy for your father to come forward to do such things. They are the good cop and the bad cop!"

"This is impossible!"

"Although the truth is cruel, it is the fact! Your father and Xiao Yuan's father are essentially the same type of people, both staunch defenders of the eldest son inheritance system. Although you brothers have no objection to your eldest brother inheriting the company, your father's original intention was for your eldest brother to inherit the company, and for you younger brothers to assist him, not to let you surpass the boss! I let you manage the bell tripod, and you are with me. In the future, the bell tripod may be passed to Wei Cheng. Your father cannot tolerate you and your son, as a side branch, surpassing your eldest brother's lineage!"

"I don't believe it! My dad is not that kind of person!"

"You just said you couldn't do anything to hurt your parents, but whether from a profit or emotional perspective, you and I being together is beneficial to the Li family. You can be with the person you love, and Zhong Ding and Yao Ning will also be good partners. Why didn't your father do such a win-win thing? Instead, he risked offending me and let you betray our relationship and marry someone else? Why did they do something so obviously harmful to you?"

“Maybe the photovoltaic project is too profitable!”

"Don't forget that Fang Yicheng's grandfather's family is the Han family of the Wilo Group. The Wilo Group has always cooperated with them. How could they let you, Yao Ning, take the lion's share? Offending the thriving Zhongding just to gain a little profit, does this align with your father's usual style?"

Li Zhanwen fell into deep thought.

"Think about it carefully! I know it's hard for you to expose their true colors all at once, but a short pain is worse than a long one. You need to cut the Gordian knot and end this pain!"

Li Zhanwen kept grabbing his head and facing these realities painfully. I felt uncomfortable watching him from the side.