Chapter 182: The Tolerant Virtuous Wife in a Harem Novel (Arc End)

Xie Hui knew it wasn’t exactly appropriate to take someone out during dinner time, but this was a rare opportunity. More importantly, he wanted to see if this girl could still be saved.

Watching the scene unfold, those who could still be saved would think Zhou Yang was no good. The hopeless ones, however, would continue to believe Zhou Yang wasn’t at fault and that it was all someone else’s fault for seducing him.

Fortunately, the outcome didn’t disappoint Xie Hui.

“So, what do you want to eat?”

“Hotpot! The super spicy kind!”

“Driver, take us to a hotpot place.”

During the meal, Xie Hui couldn’t tell if the girl was crying from the spiciness or from emotional pain. Either way, she was eating while tears streamed down her face, her cheeks puffed out with food.

“Your makeup’s all smudged.”

As he placed ingredients into the bubbling pot, Xie Hui gently reminded her.

“So what if it is? Dad, it’s not like you’ll think I look bad. I don’t mind either.”

After they finished eating and returned home, just as Xie Hui was about to head to bed, Xie Shu—already a grown girl—grabbed his arm and tugged him out into the courtyard.

“It’s bedtime, Shushu.”

“Dad, doesn’t it sound like you’re calling me ‘shushu’—uncle?”

Xie Shu sat on the swing chair in the courtyard, tilting her head to rest against her father’s shoulder just like she used to. As soon as she said that, she wasn’t the least bit surprised when she got a light knock on the head.

“Ow, Dad, that hurt.”

They sat in silence for about five minutes before Xie Hui finally heard her muffled sobs. He reached out and gently patted her shoulder.

That small gesture seemed to flip a switch. Her quiet crying quickly turned into unrestrained sobbing.

“Dad… am I really that awful?”

“Yes, you are.”

Being kind and gentle to outsiders while dumping all your negative emotions on the people closest to you—this was a common flaw. And yes, it was unfair.

Xie Hui patiently let Xie Shu cry her heart out. Only when it was deep into the night and her voice had gone hoarse did he finally take her back to her bedroom.

“Life is never smooth sailing, but Dad hopes that when you realize you’ve taken a wrong turn, you’ll have the courage to change direction.”

“I understand.”

Back in his own room, Xie Hui summoned the Client. He was willing to spend his points to let the Client continue living in this world.

“Why?” the Client asked.

Thinking of how Xie Shu had looked earlier, Xie Hui shrugged and replied, “I guess… because I couldn’t give her the love of a real father. She reminded me of some things that weren’t so pleasant.”

Before sending the Client back, Xie Hui spent half a day talking with him, emphasizing that raising a child wasn’t just about spoiling them. Discipline was just as important. Indulgence, without boundaries, could do more harm than good.

Later, Xie Shu decisively broke up with Zhou Yang. Father Xie, having learned his lesson, exposed Zhou Yang’s multiple relationships during his university years. The scandal was so serious that people even dug up an old incident where Zhou Yang had taken a girl to a shady clinic for an abortion because he didn’t want to take responsibility.

In the end, Zhou Yang was expelled from university. Whenever he tried to find a job, Father Xie would intervene—not enough to let him starve, but definitely enough to make sure he never lived well.

After graduating, Xie Shu began learning how to manage the company and eventually took over the family business from her father.

Because of her unpleasant experiences in college, she instinctively kept her distance from romantic relationships.

All the profits from her Virtual Idol venture were still, as her father had once intended, donated entirely to charity.

It’s worth mentioning that Yinyin recovered. After growing up and graduating, she became Xie Shu’s secretary. Her mother cut ties with her own mother after Yinyin got better, and now the mother and daughter were living a good life.

Xie Hui sat on a bench in the System Space, for once doing what the Client used to do—watching the lives of these people unfold to the end.

When Father Xie couldn’t help but start pressuring her to get married, Xie Shu straightforwardly told him to pick someone for her.

She admitted that she lost herself too easily in relationships, and that her taste in men was terrible—always falling for scumbags. But she was willing to trust her father.

Father Xie picked someone decent. Ambitious, calm, rational. He and Xie Shu could barely be considered childhood friends. After they got married, Xie Shu found out he had liked her for a long time.

She had once been a hopeless romantic, but now she had someone responsible and capable by her side. In Father Xie’s eyes, this was a loving, harmonious marriage.

After watching everything, Xie Hui turned around and met the curious gaze of the System, now in the form of a three-year-old child.

“Host, do you have any unpleasant memories from your past?”

“No.”

“But what you said to that Client earlier…”

“That’s not something a System like you should be asking about.”

Scolded, the System drooped its head and let out a pitiful “Oh.”

“Let’s meet the next Client. Pick someone young this time.”

Xie Hui felt that raising a child from a young age was much easier. There would be emotional bonds formed over time, and even if they acted out occasionally, he could still accept it.

Unlike when Xie Shu had cried, “If you don’t love me, why did you bring me into this world?” That line had stabbed the Client—who genuinely loved her—straight in the heart.

But at that moment, Xie Hui’s first reaction had been anger and a sense that the Client didn’t deserve such pain.

He knew his thoughts weren’t entirely right, but he didn’t care to change. So he simply spent some points to let the Client return on his own.

This time, the one who walked in was a man dressed oddly. His clothes looked expensive, but the fit was clearly off. His hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in a long time.

“Hello.”

After Xie Hui spoke, the man sat down, took the cup of tea handed to him, took a sip, and nodded at Xie Hui.

“Hello. I… I’d like you to take care of my son. This task might be a bit complicated, but I hope you won’t mind. He’s a zombie, but he’s really well-behaved. He doesn’t bite people.”

“Alright.”

It wasn’t until he was about to enter the mission world that Xie Hui realized he might have agreed too hastily. He had assumed it would be a typical father-and-son survival story in the apocalypse.

But it turned out, the Client was still a normal human.

The Client could be considered a decent person. His son had turned into a zombie early on in the apocalypse, one of the first wave. Unlike most zombies who only craved flesh and blood, his son had retained his rationality and memories from his human life.

In the end, the Client personally handed his son over to the female lead, who was a researcher. From his son’s blood, she was able to develop the key to curing the zombie virus.

After the zombie vaccine was developed, the male lead barged in unexpectedly, startling the female lead. This caused an accident during the experiment, and Xie Yun—used as the test subject—died on the operating table.

Because of this, the female and male leads had a falling out for a while. Eventually, the male lead gave the father, Xie Yun’s Client, some compensation.

Xie Hui, as the father, chose to let the matter go. In the end, the whole incident was quietly swept under the rug.

“Host, the current world has been identified as a special world. You may bring two items with you.”

“Portable space, and water-type abilities.”

For Xie Hui, those were the most important. A way to store supplies, and the ability to ensure cleanliness for both himself and his little one using water powers.

He had never raised a little zombie before, but no matter what kind of child it was, if they weren’t clean, he just couldn’t bring himself to cuddle them.

As soon as he arrived in the new world and opened his eyes, he heard a knock at the door. The knocking came faster and faster, more urgent with each beat.

Before he came here, the client’s heart had been racing. Once he calmed down, he heard the sound of a child crying outside.

“Daddy, why did you lock me out? I know I was wrong, I won’t sneak spicy food into your meals again, sob sob…”

Hearing the tearful voice, Xie Hui instinctively opened the door. The child, who had been knocking until he was exhausted and had slumped to the ground, immediately looked up when the door opened.

He wiped his tears away with the back of his hand and ran straight toward his father, throwing his arms around his dad’s leg.

“Waaah, Daddy, why did you lock me outside? I was so scared, there are monsters out there…”

Xie Hui had been about to comfort him, but froze when he heard those words.

Did this little guy even realize that he himself was also a little monster? Hmm… a very obedient and adorable-looking one, at least.

According to the client’s memories, Xie Yun had already turned into a zombie.

On what had seemed like an ordinary day, the sky suddenly turned green and stayed that way for three hours.

After that, some people gained supernatural abilities, while others turned into zombies.

Most of those who became zombies lost their minds and became walking corpses. The world had already begun to fall into chaos.

Xie Yun was wearing a pair of overalls. His black hair had a slight wave to it, and his eyes, once amber, had turned a deep blue, giving him a mysterious aura.

In the client’s memories, this child had been mischievous, with sun-kissed skin—normal, healthy tan. But now his complexion was a flawless porcelain white.

His features were delicate, and tear tracks still clung to his cheeks, not yet fully dried.

Terrified, the little one clung tightly to his father’s leg like a human-shaped leg pendant.

The house the client had lived in wasn’t particularly sturdy. The zombies outside, lured by the sound and the scent of human flesh, had already begun throwing themselves against the door.

It wasn’t a strong door to begin with. After a few heavy hits, it crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Xie Hui instinctively reached for a weapon. He was aiming for a baseball bat, but the leg pendant was too heavy. Before he could shake him off, he heard Xie Yun’s voice again.

“Waaah, Daddy, it’s a monster! It’s so ugly, Yun Yun is scared!”

Xie Hui hadn’t even had a chance to say anything to calm him when he saw the zombie that had broken in suddenly collapse to the floor, trembling slightly if one looked closely.

On instinct, Xie Hui gently pushed his son’s shoulder. In response, he heard another soft sob.

“Waaah… scared.”

(Arc End)