In the CEO’s office of the Qin Group, Qin Yan wore Bluetooth earpieces as he flipped through documents while listening to Zhou Zhiyang on the other end of the line, who was saying something rather pointless.
“So you knew about your mom and your sister’s plan from the start, which is why you had your secretary tip me off? Why not just let your sister succeed? That way, I’d have no choice but to marry into the Qin family, tying us together like grasshoppers on a string. The partnership between the Zhou and Qin families would be completely solidified. You’ve always been good at pulling this kind of dirty trick.”
Truth be told, he’d been terrified ever since that day. If it weren’t for Qin Yan’s secretary swapping that spiked drink in time… It turns out the night really is full of hidden dangers.
Sniffle… Even boys need to protect themselves when they’re out alone.
“I’m not so despicable as to stoop that low for a partnership.” Qin Yan paused, suddenly recalling what Secretary Fang had mentioned earlier about the lingerie. At first, he thought Jiang Yu was just spouting nonsense. But now, it seemed it really might have been something Zhao Huiru prepared for Qin Huaiyu and intended to use on Zhou Zhiyang? Coming back to his senses, he coughed twice to cover his embarrassment and added, “Besides, I’m not exactly keen on becoming family with you.”
“…” Zhou Zhiyang pinched the spot between his eyebrows hard, repeatedly reminding himself, “At least this jerk saved me,” before suppressing his murderous thoughts. “So how did you manage to make Qin Huaiyu pass out almost as soon as she entered the hotel?” That’s why, when she woke up groggily the next day, she thought her plan had actually succeeded.
“She collapses at the slightest hint of alcohol. Secretary Fang swapped her non-alcoholic drink for a low-alcohol one.”
“Hey, I’ve never understood this. What exactly were your mom and your sister trying to achieve by setting me up? The partnership between the Zhou and Qin families is practically a done deal. There’s no need to bind the relationship through marriage.”
“It’s precisely because the Zhou-Qin partnership is almost certain that they’re so eager to arrange a marriage.” Qin Yan finished signing a contract, twirled his pen between his fingers, and chuckled. “Even though Qin Huaiyu doesn’t handle company affairs, I still have a younger brother.”
“Your mom and your sister are helping your brother compete with you for control of the Qin Group??? But your brother is only 18, still a kid who hasn’t even taken the college entrance exams… And why would they do that?” Zhou Zhiyang genuinely didn’t understand. “Qin Yan, tell me the truth. Are you sure you weren’t just picked up off the street by the Qin family?”
They’re all their own children, so why treat them so differently?
“It doesn’t matter.” Qin Yan tapped his pen lightly on the desk. “Just stall Qin Huaiyu’s demand for an engagement. Let’s see what other tricks they have up their sleeves.”
“Alright, I’ll listen to you. Just don’t screw me over.” Zhou Zhiyang had just solemnly agreed when his mind took another turn, and he whispered excitedly, “Hey, hey, hey! I saw that beauty again. She looks like the kind of person who’s as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, unlike you, who’s all bark and no bite!”
A moment later, he gasped sharply. “Wait, Qin Yan, I heard the hotel manager call her… ‘Miss’??? This hotel belongs to the Jiang family. The Jiang family’s ‘Miss’ would be your…”
—
Jiang Yu had arranged lunch with Li Qinghe, a producer she’d worked with before, to discuss the role.
The person hadn’t arrived yet, so she sat alone at the dining table with nothing to do and opened the Xiao Tiancai app again.
Jiang Yu: I always feel like something called ‘Xiao Tiancai’ should have a chat and friend-adding feature…
System: 【I’m an app, not a kids’ smartwatch, okay!】
Jiang Yu pouted and tapped into the original book’s keyword search function, typing in “Qin Huaiyu”.
When she had read the book before, her attention had mostly been on herself, so she hadn’t really noticed whether Qin Huaiyu ended up marrying anyone later on.
Jiang Yu: If there’s no mention of her marrying Zhou Zhiyang in the plot, does that mean it didn’t happen?
She repeatedly scrolled through all the search results related to “Qin Huaiyu”, but none of them mentioned her getting married.
System: 【Hard to say. Qin Huaiyu isn’t the protagonist of the book, so naturally, not every detail about her would be covered.】
Jiang Yu: But I’m one of the protagonists. Does that mean everything about me is written in the book?
System: 【Major events, life choices, turning points in fate—those kinds of things are definitely mentioned in the book.】
Jiang Yu’s mind raced: Then what about me almost dying from a fall a few days ago? Wasn’t that a major event and a turning point in my fate? I nearly died! Why isn’t any of that mentioned in the book?
Jiang Yu was growing more and more convinced this was a bug: Right, I almost died from that fall. It was only because I was bound with you that I survived, and only then could I break free from the plot’s control and deviate from the original storyline. That means when I fell, I should still have been on the original plot trajectory, right? But in the original book, I didn’t bind with a system. If I fell, wouldn’t I have actually died? How could there have been so many events afterward?”
System: 【…】
Well done, you’ve discovered the plot hole.
The system hemmed and hawed for a while but couldn’t give her a reasonable explanation, only saying: 【You’ll find out later.】
Jiang Yu pouted and didn’t press further.
Fine, keep your secrets. It’s not like she’d gotten to read that extra content anyway! This was just one more thing to agonize over!
“Xiao Jiang!” Li Qinghe had arrived.
Jiang Yu put down her phone and greeted him with a smile, then instructed the nearby server to start bringing out the dishes.
Li Qinghe was a very capable middle-aged man who had worked on many major productions and held some influence in the industry.
“Really planning to make a comeback?” Li Qinghe asked.
“Mm-hmm.”
“I remember you left the industry because you got married… divorced?”
Jiang Yu shook her head: “Not yet, but maybe soon?”
“Then what about your in-laws…” Li Qinghe couldn’t help but worry. Rumor had it she had married into a wealthy family. He was afraid that if the role really went to Jiang Yu, her powerful in-laws might object, causing trouble for the production later.
In the entertainment industry, fans and netizens only knew that Jiang Yu had left showbiz to get married. But they didn’t know who she married. There were just rumors that she had married into a wealthy family to become a rich housewife. In business circles, those who knew Qin Yan had gotten married mostly just knew he had married the daughter of the nearly bankrupt Jiang family. Jiang Yu had never appeared publicly as the Jiang family’s eldest daughter, so almost no one connected the actress Jiang Yu with the Jiang family’s eldest daughter.
Jiang Yu didn’t explain much to Li Qinghe either, simply saying: “My husband supports it.”
Li Qinghe nodded, satisfied. That was good enough.
Plates of seafood were brought to the table, one after another. There were all kinds of varieties, looking incredibly lavish.
Li Qinghe was even a bit shocked: “A seafood feast?” This must have cost a fortune. She really did marry into a wealthy family, huh?
Jiang Yu lifted her chin slightly: “Eat as much as you want. There’s plenty.”
Her mother-in-law had told her to eat these seafood dishes for lunch. She had agreed, so she had to keep her word!
“Are you injured?” Li Qinghe was referring to the bandage still wrapped around her head.
“It’s nothing serious. The bandages can come off in a few days.” She casually recounted her misfortune as if telling a joke, with a tragic yet amusing sense of absurdity. Tugging at her hair a few times, she still made an effort to advocate for herself. “My acting won’t be affected, you can rest assured about that. As for being on camera, since your show is a period drama, the wig should cover it up just fine, right?”
Li Qinghe nodded. “It won’t affect your performance, but our filming schedule is tight. I’m worried your injury hasn’t fully healed, and you might end up getting hurt again during the wirework and action scenes.”
As he spoke, he noticed Jiang Yu’s phone, which she had set to silent and placed on the table, lighting up again. “Why don’t you take that call first?”
“It’s just a scam call.” Jiang Yu picked up her phone and glanced at it. Zhao Huiru and Qin Huaiyu had already left over twenty missed calls between them. She smiled faintly and flipped the phone face down on the table.
Out of sight, out of mind.
—
Ten minutes earlier.
Zhao Huiru had gone shopping with a few wealthy ladies and only returned to Shengjing Huayuan near mealtime, her mind preoccupied with the large box of seafood she had air-shipped from overseas.
But as soon as she stepped inside, she saw Qin Huaiyu sitting on the sofa, not watching TV or scrolling through her phone, seemingly lost in thought.
She glanced around and noticed that Qin Huaiyu was the only one downstairs. Frowning, she asked, “Huaiyu? Where’s Jiang Yu? It’s already so late, why hasn’t she started cooking?”
“Huh?”
Qin Huaiyu massaged her right wrist, which throbbed as if it had been caught in a door. Ever since her encounter with Jiang Yu upstairs, she hadn’t been able to shake off the unease.
The look in Jiang Yu’s eyes at that moment had been genuinely fierce, as if she weren’t just gripping her wrist but her neck.
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you spacing out?” Zhao Huiru frowned even deeper at her daughter’s dazed expression. “I asked you where Jiang Yu is. Go call her down to cook.”
She still had to maintain her image as a gentle and kind elder, so tasks like this had to be left to Qin Huaiyu.
Perhaps because Zhao Huiru was there, Qin Huaiyu felt a bit more at ease. After all, Jiang Yu was that brainless pushover. How could she possibly have such a menacing glare?
She must have imagined it.
She got up and went upstairs to call for Jiang Yu.
Within minutes, she returned. “Mom! Jiang Yu isn’t here! I clearly told her we were having seafood for lunch and asked her to prepare it.”
Not only was there no warm meal waiting for them at home, but Jiang Yu had also disappeared without a word!
With no one else around, Zhao Huiru no longer needed to uphold her persona. Her face instantly darkened. “Call her right now and ask where she went!”
Qin Huaiyu dialed Jiang Yu’s number. It rang several times but went unanswered before eventually disconnecting.
When she tried calling again, it went straight to voicemail.
Zhao Huiru also tried calling a few times, but no one picked up. Clutching her phone, her face twisted with anger.
Just then, Qin Huaiyu rushed out of the kitchen, exclaiming anxiously, “The box of seafood is gone, too!”
In the end, the mother and daughter checked the surveillance footage from the entire residential complex and discovered that around eleven o’clock, Jiang Yu had walked out the back gate carrying the foam box.
Zhao Huiru’s face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
Rubbing her still-throbbing wrist, Qin Huaiyu seethed with resentment. “Mom, don’t you think Jiang Yu has been acting strange ever since she hit her head? She never used to defy us like this before.”
Zhao Huiru’s eyes darkened with suspicion.
The Jiang family has managed to hold on without going bankrupt solely because of the money she provided back then! Jiang Yu is nothing but a pawn in her hands. How could she possibly stir up any waves?
“Fine, let the Jiang family teach their precious daughter a proper lesson.”
—
Since Zhao Huiru and her daughter kept calling Jiang Yu, disrupting her serious discussion with the producer, she simply switched her phone to Do Not Disturb mode.
She didn’t notice that two of the missed calls were from her mother, Song Yun.
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sarcastisaurus On CFRFGC Chapter 102