Strategy to Capture Men

On the way home, Xinya was so silent that Tang Ke was afraid to ask anything.

His mother had changed her clothes, retied her hair and even redone her makeup. He really wanted to ask her what had happened during her absence, because he had a very bad feeling about it. But his mother looked so weary that he simply couldn't open his mouth.

The driverless taxi was heading smoothly through the East District, and when it passed a residential area, Xinya suddenly looked up out of the window.

Tang Ke knew that house. Every time they passed by, Xinya would point it out. That was her former home.

Xinya had also once been a rich young lady from the East District. Although her family's wealth had only been a drop in the ocean compared to the Han family, it had been enough to allow her to hold her head high and refuse when that young man had put forth an unreasonable suggestion. Their decline had only been a matter of a few years. Watching R-ray irradiation torture her husband to the point of suicide, she had refused to give up, sold everything she could and insisted that he get treatment.

The property her parents had left behind no longer belonged to her, and the life of the past had left her. She had become that 'leech' and 'sycophant' that her relatives used to talk about.

She relied on her own job to support Tang Ke. If like her, he had only had B or C-class spiritual power, she might probably had taken him far away from their wealthy relatives and raised him quietly somewhere. But Tang Ke had been A-class at his first breakthrough. Such a child would at least be an A as well in their second breakthrough, and if he got the right training and nutrition, becoming S-class wasn't impossible.

He had such talent! Xinya wouldn't be able to forgive herself if because of her, he would only live a mediocre life.

She wanted to push him back into the circle where he should have belonged. So she had sold her last small house, returned to the East District with her son, thrown away her pride, and knelt down before that man.

"That's your grandparents' house," she said suddenly.

"I know, Mom. You grew up there," said Tang Ke. He thought the house was beautiful, or at least much bigger and more beautiful than the house they had lived in before they came back to the East District.

He had actually lived in a big house as a child, but in the past few years, his family had declined. That big house had been sold to pay for his father's treatment, and he and his mother had moved into a small apartment.

But although it had been small, it was much better than where they were now.

Xinya gazed at the house before saying to him, "If you can, one day... buy that house back..."

Tang Ke felt distressed to see his mother's expression. He nodded. "I'll work hard."

Xinya said nothing more. The taxi drove past the magnificent manor, and the houses it passed on the way became smaller and smaller until it finally stopped in a shanty town.

Because they had just returned to the East District, Xinya had not yet found a job. With the money that she had sold their small apartment for, she could only afford a place in the run-down areas of the East District. Tang Ke was also temporarily in a public school.

When she got off their taxi, she saw someone lurking in the shadows. Nervously, she clutched Tang Ke's hand, walking quickly toward the entrance.

Tang Ke squeezed her hand back, motioning for her not to be afraid. The shanty town was dirty and disorderly. Last time they had come back late, they had been robbed. But they hadn't expected him to have an A-class spiritual power. Although he was too weak to launch two attacks in a row, the strength of an A-class blow had made the other hastily flee.

He had to quickly grow up and become stronger, Tang Ke thought, to protect his mother.

Han Yanyan was thinking that this conversation with her father was quite weird, and oddly inconsistent.

Finally, she said, "I'm only twelve. Don't you think it's too early for you to teach me these things now?"

"The sooner you stop being naïve," said Patriarch Han, "The sooner you can become a qualified heir."

"Now run along," he gave her her marching orders. "The guests downstairs still need your hospitality. Go and do what you should be doing."

Han Yanyan didn't expose the truth - he was too lazy to socialize because he was still basking in the afterglow. She rolled her eyes inside and took her leave.

As she walked down the corridor, she had a sudden realization.

Building the world was like writing a novel - the author's values were inevitably reflected within. In both Ding Yao's and Yao Chen's world, men were strong and women were weak. Because the real Han Yanyan came from a patriarchal world in which science and technology had not yet developed to the point where women could free themselves from gender constraints, this subtle patriarchal creed had followed through into her every world.

But in this world, women could be Matriarchs, and women could play around with men. At a glance, it should have been quite feminist, but in the minor nuances it wasn't. Within Patriarch Han's thoughts and behaviors, male chauvinism abounded. That was the sense of dissonance that she had felt in their conversation.

All of a sudden, she halted in her tracks. This world was neither patriarchal nor matriarchal. It ran solely on the principle of 'might makes right'. If you had the power, you could ignore law, morality and even ethics. It was true that she had set up this 'the tyrant takes all' plotline but these... weren't the values she would have constructed.

Most importantly, even though there was something wrong with this world's logic, it still hadn't collapsed. So that's what was happening. It was all becoming clear.

She wasn't the only variable in the world. Another unknown had wrestled with her before the world was created. If her little preferences could be projected into the world, then in the same way so could the other person's, and all this affected the architecture of the world. This seemingly specious, shaky logic could still generate a world because it had reached a compromise that both variables could accept.

I see.

So that's why, Tang Ke, what you'll encounter in this world won't just be my fault alone.