The moment He Yuan finished receiving the realm details, he opened his eyes with a dumbfounded sigh. Where to begin?
First and foremost.... What the heck was with the Han family's luck? He had just 100 luck points -nowhere near the lower limit- and yet he wasn't as unfortunate as they were. It was almost as if there was an external force suppressing the family into extinction.
Anyways... Xu Lifen, Chen Meili and Han Tao's relationship was one unfortunate mess.
At first, He Yuan felt the need to commend Han Tao for rejecting the other women offered to him and sticking to his wife even though he was not very a emotional man but now...
888 tsked and muttered under his breath, "The scum had rejected the other women because the one woman he truly wanted was right in the Han family home!"
He Yuan's eyes moved to his system and he resisted the urge to smile when he saw the disgusted look in 888's eyes.
888 was not a very sympathetic person naturally but the one thing he absolutely detested was manipulation and subsequent deceit. Han Tao lead others to believe thay he was loyal and steadfast but that wasn't the case!
He Yuan moved his eyes to Xu Lifen. The pretty leaser was seated with a good posture but she had her head lowered. He could see she was nervous and tried hard not to show it. He sighed. Again, everything was just a series of unfortunate events.
He'd already given up on Han Tao as soon as the man agreed to let his deceased younger brother's wife carry his children. It was kinda weird. Letting your sister-in-law carry your own children. It seemed so invasive to He Yuan.
As for Chen Meili... Even if he knew it must have been hard for her to painstakingly carry the kids for over nine months, he just could not find it in him to sympathize with her.
Why? Well...
One: Chen Meili herself had decided to marry Han Jinhai when she discovered that Han Tao was proclaimed dead. Nothing was wrong with marrying someone else but it was only two months after the she heard of his death that she had gone ahead to marry the so called love-of-her-life's younger brother.
What was she thinking? Her love seemed a bit fickle.
Two: Chen Meili herself decided to remain in the Han family home when her husband died even when she was allowed to leave. No harm there but it wasn't because she loved her husband deeply, it was because she was eyeing her already married brother-in-law!
Three: Chen Meili had eagerly offered to be a gestational surrogate knowing fully well what it entailed. As unfeeling as it sounded, being a surrogate does not make one a mother. They were two different things. This was why a contract was very crucial during surrogacy. To protect both the interests of the surrogate and those of the aspiring parents!
This was why, to He Yuan, Chen Meili did not deserve any sympathy or empathy. It wasn't as if the Hans had maltreated her or something.
He absolutely detested when people acted like the entire world owed them something because of the misfortune that happened in their lives.
Chen Meili encountered a series of unfortunate events that caused her to lose the 'love of her life' but which one of them was Xu Lifen's fault? Xu Lifen had been against Chen Meili as the surrogate from the start but the oh so warmhearted and kind special one had managed to convince everyone.
Another important point was that, no matter what, the twins belonged to Xu Lifen. Gestational surrogacy seemed like a somewhat messy affair but it was pretty straightforward. The embryos were made up of just Xu Lifen's and Han Tao's DNA with absolutely no relation to Chen Meili. At. All.
Even if a DNA test should be carried out, there would be absolutely no trace of Chen Meili's DNA found in the babies. It might be a little harsh to say but Chen Meili's role was nothing more than being a biological vessel for the embryos to develop so what right did she have to feel wronged when Xu Lifen took the babies away?
He Yuan tapped his chin with a finger. What angered him the most was the realization that although Chen Meili kept acting like the babies were hers, the inheritance of the Han family had ended up in the hands of her own first born son with Han Tao!
"Sigh~" He Yuan finally brought his attention back to Xu Lifen. Even if he'd been a bit skeptical of accepting the task from another woman, he had already invested his anger just from checking out the original timeline. He felt hard pressed to see it to the end so he asked," What is your request?"
Xu Lifen raised her head with tensed shoulders and moisturized her lips before speaking in a slightly shaky voice, "If it's possible... I don't want to marry Han Tao."
If she hadn't married Han Tao, she might not necessarily have been involved in the car accident and lost her ability to carry children altogether.
He Yuan's brows furrowed in contemplation. He wasn't in control of his transfer in the timeline so he doubted that he would be able to prevent the marriage between Han Tao and Xu Lifen. Afterall, he needed to be in contact with the special one in order to carry out his own task of realm balance.
If Xu Lifen doesn't marry Han Tao...
He cleared his throat. "I'm afraid... That might not be possible."
Surprisingly, Xu Lifen's shoulders relaxed. Although she'd requested to be unable to marry Han Tao, she still felt a pang of regret that she wouldn't meet her kids. She might have spent very little time with them before she died but that time was honestly the most happiest of her life.
She'd married Han Tao thinking that she would never be lonely again but had ended up feeling even lonelier in the Han family home than she had on her own.
Her babies had finally cured the bleak loneliness that she'd felt all her life. They were the most importatant to her. She had a loving smile of nostalgia on her face as she said, "Ah, nevermind. My kids are the most important."
He Yuan nodded as he inwardly let out a sigh of relief. Xu Lifen's words made his impression of her skyrocket. It would be difficult to gain soul energy if he was unable to fufill the request of the leaser's request and she'd solved that kindly.
Xu Lifen continued after a while, "Is... 50% of my soul energy enough?"
She had been very brash and straight forward when she entered the Han family but her experience had smoothed her temperament greatly. Her calm state made He Yuan like her even more so he returned her smile. "Sure."
888 cleared his throat then and cut in by presenting Xu Lifen with the intermediate contract, "That's it then... Infuse your soul imprint."
Once the contract was signed, Xu Lifen vanished from the system space and a prompt swiftly appeared before He Yuan.
[Begin Task, Yes/No]
He Yuan raised a brow at 888 due to the abruptness of it all but seeing as the system calmly avoided his eyes, he ended up clicking on Yes.
-----------------------------------------------------
The Han Family Tree For Future reference :)---
Han Madam (Yu Fenfang)
Yu Fenfang's children
Han Yuanjun[M], Han Shan[M](Dead), Han Rong[F]
Han Yuanjun's family
Wife; Fu Lan, Children; None
Han Shan's(deceased) family
Wife; Min Yanyu, Children; Han Tao[M], Han Jinhai[M](Dead).
Han Rong's family
Husband; Gu Longwei, Children; Han Yi[F], Han Jiao[F], Han Wen[F], Han Hualing[F]<Married>, Han Xingjuan[F]<Married>, Han Huian[F]<Married>
Han Tao's family
Wife; Xu Lifen, Children; Pending twins.
Han Jinhai's(deceased) family
Wife; Chen Meili, Children; None.