Nan Zhou angrily hung up the phone.
He really wanted to storm over and beat the hell out of that bastard Gu Tingshang. If it weren’t for the Xigang project, who would put up with this kind of humiliation?
Forget it. Lone Wolf was too powerful to provoke. Better to keep his head down and play the obedient underling.
He respectfully sent Lin Zhixu’s phone number, along with a reminder.
“Could you please not yell at her? She’s on her period these next couple of days, so she’ll have stomach cramps. Please make her some brown sugar water.”
When Gu Tingshang saw the message, he got even angrier.
The jealousy burning in his chest could practically travel a thousand miles through the air.
“My wife’s period is none of your business! You’re like a dog catching mice—meddling where you’re not wanted. You’re irritating!”
Lin Zhixu had just been brought home by her Second Sister when Gu Tingshang called.
Her fingers trembled as she stared at the unfamiliar string of numbers. Fear welled up inside her. But she worried it might be Nan Zhou calling, so she answered anyway.
“Lin Zhixu, where are you?”
Gu Tingshang’s voice was icy, edged with a terrifying fury.
Lin Zhixu froze on the spot and, in a high-pitched voice, blurted out nonsense.
“I’m sorry, you have the wrong number. I’m not Lin Zhixu. She’s asleep and isn’t home.”
Then she hung up.
The moment Gu Tingshang heard her coy, sugary little voice, his anger vanished.
He couldn’t hide the grin tugging at his lips.
“Idiot! You can’t even lie properly!”
“‘She’s asleep and isn’t home.’ Hahaha! What on earth had Nan Zhou been feeding her for the past three years? Pig slop? How did she get this stupid?”
Hearing her innocent, foolish answer was enough to assure him she wasn’t in danger. The worry weighing on Gu Tingshang’s heart eased.
He sent her a message, short and direct.
“Address!”
Lin Zhixu didn’t understand what he meant. She simply ignored those two words.
“Hmph! I’m not telling you. Even Nan Zhou doesn’t know where I live, so what makes you think you have any right to ask?”
Her Second Sister, Ye Lingshuang, heard the stupid reply and couldn’t help pressing a hand to her forehead.
“Lin Zhixu, how are you still this stupid? You’re twenty-three. Can’t you use your head for once?”
“Do you think every man in the world is as honest and easy to fool as Nan Zhou?”
“Look at that foolish face of yours. You got cheated by a bad person and paid the price, didn’t you? From now on, be smarter. Take the living expenses you’re offered and just live peacefully with Nan Zhou. That’s enough.”
Lin Zhixu had called her Second Sister to say she’d been bullied. Ye Lingshuang had raced all the way to the hospital on her motorcycle and brought her home.
During the three years she’d been married, Lin Zhixu had never once returned home, though she’d sent money back. She’d stayed away for fear that her identity would be exposed and jeopardize the family’s revival.
Lin Zhixu had originally been surnamed Ye. After the family suffered a major catastrophe, her relatives sent her to live with her maternal uncle when she was little. Her household registration was under her mother’s family, and her surname was changed to Lin.
But her uncle, who doted on his niece to a ridiculous degree, had only taken her out to eat and have fun. He’d never taught her to scheme or think strategically. He’d taken an exceptionally gifted child and turned her into a silly fool.
At nineteen, Lin Zhixu was brought back to the Ye family, where she learned her true identity and the mission she had been entrusted with.
Twenty-three years earlier, the Ye family had been Jincheng’s wealthiest, its fortunes thriving and its riches immense. It had held the top spot among Jincheng’s elite families.
Then an insider betrayed the company, and the head of the Ye family was framed by a villain and sent to prison. The couple from the Ye family’s second branch and their grandson, who had only just come of age, also died in a car accident.
From then on, the Ye family fell into decline. The Gu, Shen, Nan, and Xiao families joined forces to carve up its holdings.
Old Master Ye endured the grief of losing his son and having the family stripped of everything. He took his wife and granddaughters and moved far away to Jiangzhou, where he carefully raised the girls until they were grown.
Lin Zhixu had been only one year old when her parents died, too young to understand grief. Later, her grandfather sent her to live with her uncle and told her that her uncle and aunt were her real parents. As a result, her childhood was carefree and happy, without a worry in the world.
Her uncle’s family, feeling sorry for her circumstances, had spoiled her like a princess. They had never burdened her with thoughts of revenge or any pressure to avenge the family.
When Master Ye brought Lin Zhixu home, he discovered that his youngest granddaughter had been raised completely “wrong”: she had a pretty face, but no brains.
There was no fixing her.
The frustration of watching her waste her potential was absolutely heartbreaking.
“Good grief! Your uncle’s ruined her! Ruined her!”
Of the three granddaughters he’d raised, every one was exceptionally bright and talented.
Just look at her three older cousins.
The eldest, Ye Wanlan, was a brilliant, clearheaded strategist. She had built a company from nothing, carving out a path for herself in the thorny world of Shang business and opening up new prospects for the Ye family’s revival.
The Second Sister, Ye Lingshuang, had won national championships in taekwondo, karate, and full-contact fighting at just thirteen. She worked hard to build connections with all kinds of people, from every walk of life, secretly protecting the Ye family.
The Third Sister, Shujun, was a prodigy. She’d been admitted to Qing University at sixteen, and by twenty-five had become the youngest postdoctoral researcher with doctorates in both physics and chemistry at Qing University. She was currently conducting research in the sciences. When the time was right, she would return to the family and become the scientific and technological backbone of Ye Group.
And then there was his youngest granddaughter, innocent as a white radish and a constant source of worry.
She couldn’t even solve quadratic equations, didn’t know how to win at mahjong, and couldn’t take the subway without riding in the wrong direction. With a head that slow, no one expected her to restore the family’s fortunes. It would be enough if she could simply understand how to live her own life and be happy.
But she refused to admit she was stupid. She thought that as a granddaughter of the Ye family, she ought to do her part to revive it. She kept insisting she would work hard, venture out into the world, and accomplish something big.
Her Second Sister was afraid she’d go out and get a brutal lesson from society, so she came up with a brilliant plan.
“Little Sister, you’re not completely useless. Sure, you’re a bit slow and not very clever, but you’re pretty. Your looks are your greatest asset. You can use them to land a rich husband and bring money into the family.”
“Eldest Sister’s company is just getting started and needs a lot of funding. Third Sister wants to build her own research institute to develop new products for Ye Group, and that’ll take a lot of money too.”
“So you can handle the money-making. You don’t need to do anything else—no hard work, no striking out on your own. Just be a beautiful little ornament and marry a rich tycoon.”
“That’s the safest way, and the fastest way to bring in money. Understand?”
When Lin Zhixu heard the plan, she thought it was wonderful. She couldn’t do anything else, but she could certainly get married.
Happily playing the part of a wealthy family’s young madam and bringing money home sounded much better than working, selling goods, or doing manual labor.
From then on, Lin Zhixu became a shameless little moneygrubber. She had only one goal: make money.
She was lucky, too. On her very first day out, she happened to run into Madam Nan.
Madam Nan was troubled because her son was dating the daughter of an enemy. The moment she saw Lin Zhixu, she was struck by her beauty.
She wanted to take Lin Zhixu home as her son’s wife, hoping that would make him come to his senses and give up on marrying that scheming, sanctimonious white lotus.
Lin Zhixu asked, “I can marry your son, but is your family rich? I want a big bride price!”
Madam Nan laughed at her innocence. “How much do you want?”
Lin Zhixu had heard Eldest Sister say that her company needed financing for a new project—at least twenty million.
So she came right out with it. “No less than twenty million. Otherwise, I won’t marry him.”
As luck would have it, the Nan Residence was very wealthy, and Madam Nan agreed on the spot.
“Fine, all right! But you’ll have to win my son over and persuade him to marry you.”