Chapter 5: Feeling Alienated at Your own Home

As they headed to the office, Li Min drove in silence. The ride was bland, traffic wasn't too bad, and Yun Qian Meng calmly went over the dream she had seen the night before.

Much like other dreams, she couldn't remember the tiniest of details, but the overarching story of the dream was clear to her. When faced with her fears and the idea that her instincts were subconsciously warning her, she frowned.

Rarely did dreams feel so real. She shook the thought away.

"How long will it take for Li Jun to get a thorough financial and historic check on Bai Ye Qing?" She felt a nagging panic at the back of her mind, something she was unused to. Previously, she had said yes to her father when he asked her to marry. She had met him once, she believed, and not had too bad of an impression about him. But what about him had set her alarms off?

She wouldn't know until the check was done.

"I relayed your orders to him last night. His team is busy with some high-profile cases at the moment, so he will let one of the office managers and detectives take it on." Li Min remained stoic. She didn't know what prompted the decision to check out the future husband, but her boss didn't make them do those until she was suspicious or needed it for business reasons.

Research was step one, always.

"How is the law firm doing?" Yun Qian Meng asked casually.

"It has been doing well, Miss Yun."

Qian Meng had found out that Li Min's brother was a lawyer working in one of the top three firms in the country a year after hiring her. She also found out that he was looking to open his own practice. He had poached a detective from the prosecutor's office and was doing excellent on clients he got from his last firm.

Qian Meng was in need of a lawyer at the time and didn't like the lawyers she got from other firms, so she asked Li Min to connect her with her brother. After the first meeting, Qian Meng was sold. Li Jun was an excellent lawyer and he had a way of playing with law.

Contracts were full proof under his guidance, leaving no wriggle room. Employee cases and other external work was also done by him. With her reference, he scored many other high profile clients, including companies from all sectors and criminal cases that no one else was willing to take.

Not to mention, this man did legal background checks like no one's business. He found out dirty secrets faster than socialites grabbing at the smallest scandal. Yun Qian Meng could trust him to bring authentic information.

"Good news," she said finally. The rest went in silence.

When they were in the office, the flow of people was still less. Barely anyone had arrived apart from the security team and the receptionist. She received their greetings and nodded nonchalantly.

When she sat at her desk, Li Min finally opened a folder and went over her routine for the day.

Her day usually looked like this:

Meeting with the international team. Meeting her executive secretary and other assistants. Meeting with the leadership team. Business reports, proposals, evaluations, and updates from all her companies and investments. Signing on new projects. Overseeing all departments were working well. And emails... hundreds of emails.

Some days, she even went to specific departments for routine checks. She didn't like micromanaging, so she didn't do it too often. This took up about twelve to fourteen hours of her day. Then there was a two hour commute time.

Life of a CEO was hard. She barely had time for herself, and all these CEOs in the novels were actually thinking of romance. She scoffed.

At the end of all of that, Li Min dropped the bomb.

"You have to head home for dinner with your father. He called to let you know." Qian Meng sighed, dropping her head to her hand.

"What is it about?" she asked exasperated. She tried to keep the time with her maiden family to the minimum, so this unexpected dinner was something she was unhappy about.

"He said it was an emergency." As it always was. But if he had called Li Min to make an appointment, it had to be something important. Moreover, her conversations with her father usually ended when he wanted them to. Usually, he would call her and scold her if she was late to pick up or missed it. Usually, she would do it intentionally. Most of what he said was already a child of her step-mother's wicked mind, so she rarely paid any attention.

Surely, he wanted something. She nodded. "Let him know I will reach post work." Li Min nodded, not asking for a time, and left the room.

The day went by without the hitch, she made good money. When work came to an end, it was seven in the evening. She sighed and asked Li Min to go home.

She would drive the car back, herself.

When she reached her family home, she felt a sense of alienation. She hadn't lived in this place for a really long period of time, so it didn't feel like home anymore. Putting her coat over her arm, she strode to the front gate. The guards at the gate had informed the staff she had arrived, so the nanny who had been working at their house for the past thirty years was standing in front of the door, waiting for her.

"Miss Yun," this woman greeted, her head bowing down. Qian Meng looked at the withered face of the woman and felt a sense of nostalgia. Very few people had stayed in this house from before her step-mother came in and generally, none of the servants really bothered with her. They treated her with respect, but it didn't feel like they cared for her much.