TNSFC – Chapter 100

“I’m fine. It’s good that you and the child are okay. You haven’t run into any trouble, have you?”

Que Linyang looked at the furnishings behind Deng Zhi and felt slightly relieved, confirming it was the place he had arranged.

“No, we’re doing quite well here.”

Deng Zhi forced a smile, but her palms were sweating.

Que Linyang: “That’s good. Where’s our son?”

“Oh, him? He’s playing in his room. I’ll go get him for you.”

Deng Zhi stood up, looking pleadingly at the white woman opposite her.

The child was brought out, but the dark muzzle of a gun was still pointed at them.

“Daddy.”

Lin Xi obediently called out, holding his Transformer toy and fiddling with it as he sat beside her.

Que Linyang looked at the mother and son, unable to detect anything unusual, and the smile on his face became a bit more genuine.

“Que Yining and the others shouldn’t have found you, right? I don’t know where they got Xiao Xi’s DNA. Although Que Yining didn’t show up, how could Hou Manni possibly have discovered all this? Xiao Zhi, don’t worry, I’ve already divorced Hou Manni. When all this settles down, and the Que family is in my hands, I’ll bring you back, marry you, and give you and Xiao Xi a proper status.”

Que Linyang said this with great confidence. Deng Zhi was stunned, her heart filled with sorrow, unable to muster a smile.

She looked at the man before her, who believed victory was in his grasp, an indescribable complexity in her heart. In reality, his trump cards were already firmly held by others, yet he remained oblivious—pitiful and ironic.

She moved her lips, wanting to say something, but the white woman aimed the gun at the little boy sitting beside her. Deng Zhi immediately swallowed, forcing back the words that were about to escape.

“What’s wrong, Xiao Zhi? You don’t look too well.”

“I just can’t quite believe it. After all, I’ve waited for so many years. Is it true? Is that day really coming?”

Deng Zhi found an excuse for her change in expression and put a smile back on her face.

“Of course. I’ll be taking Hou Manni to court soon to clarify that this matter has nothing to do with me. You must hide well abroad and not get found. If you have any difficulties, tell me. Que Yining has the Gu family backing her, that’s true, but the Gu family isn’t impenetrable, and that woman’s position isn’t secure either. Someone has already contacted me, so don’t worry.”

Deng Zhi clenched her fists so tightly her nails nearly dug into her flesh, wanting Que Linyang to stop talking, but she still didn’t interrupt him.

Only after the call ended did she collapse onto the floor as if drained of all strength, pulling the child beside her into her arms.

“What do I have to do for her to let me and my son go?”

Deng Zhi asked in English. The white woman wasn’t the only one in the room; she knew she couldn’t escape.

“It seems you’re quite a pragmatic person, Miss Deng Zhi.”

The sudden sound of her native language startled Deng Zhi for a moment. She looked at the phone held by the white woman and immediately understood that Que Yining was on the other end of the line.

She had never actually had any direct contact with Que Yining. She never expected their first direct confrontation to be under such circumstances.

Que Yining had the call on speakerphone, legs crossed, talking to the person across the ocean. Even though she couldn’t see Deng Zhi’s face at that moment, she could imagine her expression.

Should one say birds of a feather flock together? The mistress Que Linyang found was also such a pragmatic person. She seemed deeply affectionate and loyal, capable of being Que Linyang’s secret lover for so many years, bearing his child, becoming his weapon, and at this moment, she had also made this decision.

Que Yining felt Que Linyang deserved it; people like him didn’t deserve to be treated well by others.

Deng Zhi: “What do you want me to do?”

“You are my witness. You’re so smart, you wouldn’t fail to guess what I want you to do. Testifying against Que Linyang in court will be an indispensable part.”

“No wonder Que Linyang wants to get rid of you. You’re truly ruthless.”

Deng Zhi couldn’t laugh. Just thinking about that scene made her resistant, but things had come to this point, and she had no choice.

She knew Que Linyang was a suspicious person. She had hidden something from him once; even if she later showed loyalty and made Que Linyang continue to trust her, she could never again receive his wholehearted treatment.

“Not as ruthless as your venomous hearts. That car accident was meant to kill. You’re his capable assistant; you must have helped him with quite a bit of dirty work, right?” Que Yining chuckled lightly, tapping the table. “I want evidence, the more the better. How you and your son live in the future will depend on how many clues and pieces of evidence you provide.”

Silence fell on the other end of the line. The excessive quiet made the air feel stagnant.

Que Yining knew she was thinking and didn’t rush her.

“You only have one chance. A wise person understands the times. Cooperating willingly is better than me forcing you to cooperate, isn’t it? You wouldn’t want your child to become an orphan at such a young age because of his parents’ mistakes, would you?”

The child indeed had done nothing wrong, and he couldn’t choose his parents. But Que Linyang’s methods were dirty, and Deng Zhi wasn’t much cleaner.

If she was determined to bring Deng Zhi back to the country, the things Deng Zhi had done would be enough to land her in prison for over a decade.

Deng Zhi was a smart woman. The smarter a person is, the better they are at assessing situations. Although Que Yining hadn’t had much contact with her, she had a good grasp of her personality, about seventy to eighty percent, and was confident about the decision she would make.

“Can you let me think about it some more…?”

Deng Zhi’s voice was faint. She held her child tightly, her face full of struggle.

“Within twenty-four hours, I want to hear your answer. After this time, anything you say will be ineffective regarding your future quality of life.”

Que Yining’s tone was languid, but the underlying meaning was very clear.

Deng Zhi knew perfectly well that her and her son’s future quality of life was in Que Yining’s hands. She could give them a sum of money to live well abroad, or she could throw them into the slums to suffer.

Que Yining didn’t say much more; after all, those who understand, understand. She hung up the phone decisively and looked at Gu Shanxue, who was sitting beside her.

“You should be careful. Some of the things you haven’t cleared up yet might start causing trouble again.”

“The pond is shallow; they can’t stir up any big waves.”

Gu Shanxue’s expression didn’t change in the slightest; she didn’t take those people seriously.

Her sole purpose in returning to the country was revenge: to take back everything from the Gu family, make them experience what pain truly means, and make them pay the price they deserved.

However, she had long since discovered something even more important than that; those people didn’t even have the qualification to make her angry.

“That’s good then. About that project I helped you look at last time…”

Que Yining then turned to discuss business matters with Gu Shanxue. They had almost no secrets from each other, whether in personal possessions or business affairs.

Gu Shanxue would help Que Yining review documents when she was too busy, and Que Yining would also save good opportunities suitable for Gu Shanxue’s company and help her secure them.

Anda and Zhang Shiyu had both gotten used to calling the other’s boss if they couldn’t find their own, to ask if she was with her.

While Que Yining and Gu Shanxue were working hard for each other, Que Linyang was also busily making his moves.

Just as Que Linyang himself had said, he was suing Hou Manni to protect his reputation, but this time, the online onlookers weren’t buying it.

【Eating Mud Crab Hot Pot】: Is Que Linyang treating us onlookers like fools? This whole thing is crystal clear. He’s the mastermind, directing his mistress to hire a hitman. It’s just that there’s no direct evidence right now. Does he think he can clear his name like this? But he’s quite clever, directing his mistress, who directs her cousin, who then finds an intermediary. It’s like a winding mountain road with eighteen bends.

【Cup】: The verdict isn’t out yet, can we not jump to conclusions so quickly? Why can’t this matter be unrelated to Que Linyang? It’s highly possible his mistress felt sorry for him being bullied so badly, so she decided to help him get revenge, wanting to make her beloved man happy. What’s wrong with taking a wrong turn for love?

【Frogs Are Delicious】: I’m fucking dying of laughter. Can the person above stop promoting that brain-dead, brainwashing crap? “Love above all, disregarding morals and laws”—it’s disgusting. Love is beautiful, not something for those disgusting people to use as a cover or a fig leaf. Projecting themselves onto the CEO’s mistress and thinking they’re noble and great? Get the hell away from me.

【Qingyun Let Me Win One】: Seriously, these brainwashing narratives have been popping up a lot lately. I thought no one would believe them, but when I was chatting with a friend and mentioned this, saying he was acting like a white lotus again, my friend actually flamed me, asking if I’d seen too many brainwashing posts. I was just confused.

【Has Que Linyang Gone to Jail Today?】: He’s the most pretentious man I’ve ever seen, bar none. The thought of him cheating for so many years, having an illegitimate child, and still acting all deeply affectionate and loving on screen makes me want to puke up last night’s dinner!

Que Yining saw these comments. Of course, she knew the netizens wouldn’t buy it; after all, no one was a fool, and everyone had their own thoughts. Que Linyang could hire paid posters to delete comments and restrict traffic, but he didn’t have the ability to turn everyone into puppets he could control.

She was about to continue working when Zhang Shiyu knocked on the door and came in to ask if she wanted public relations to take down a trending topic.

Que Yining thought some negative news had hit the hot search, but when she looked closely, the trending topic prominently displayed was #GalaxyWatchHillaryPrototype#.

Que Yining was shocked: “What’s going on?”

Que Yining’s heart pounded. Miss Gu wouldn’t see this, would she? It was trending so high, she would definitely notice.

After a few seconds of panic, Que Yining calmed down again.

What was she afraid of?

Anyway, she and Miss Gu had done even more intimate things. If Miss Gu discovered this little Easter egg, it would be a surprise at most.

Zhang Shiyu: “Someone saw you at the restaurant the day before yesterday. The person who took your picture that night posted their previous speculation on Weibo today. Unexpectedly, it was reposted by marketing accounts and went viral. But Miss Gu’s identity hasn’t been exposed yet.”

“It’s fine, let it stay up. It’ll probably go down today.”

Que Yining logged into her personal Weibo. She had only posted one tweet—the clarification tweet from yesterday. Now, many comments below were asking about the Frost Woman’s prototype.

Que Yining didn’t respond. She just casually took a selfie and captioned it with a moon and a rose emoji.

【Protect Our Afra】: My Jiejie is absolutely beautiful!!!!

【Beautiful Love】: This is love! I express my feelings for you through a game! You light a thousand lanterns for me!

【Yue Gui is Real】: This caption, Mom, I think I’ve shipped a real one!

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