Qin Jiamo held his phone, listening as Han Rui finished speaking on the other end. He thought about his work schedule for the coming week and said in a deep voice, “Monday morning works. Tell her not to be late—if she misses the window, I won’t wait.”
Before he could finish speaking, the elevator arrived and the doors slid open.
Lin Xiwei stepped in first and, out of courtesy, pressed and held the door-open button.
When she casually lifted her gaze, she saw the tall, aloof man with an imposing presence walking in, and her heart gave a start—she had run into that cold sunglasses man again.
Though today he wasn’t wearing sunglasses indoors.
Perhaps because his aura was too icy, Lin Xiwei didn’t look directly at his face. Her gaze flickered past him and she looked away.
Qin Jiamo lowered his phone after finishing the call, his expression cold.
Within two seconds, the phone rang again.
He glanced down at it, then raised it to his ear. “Hello, Junhe. What did you find?”
On the other end, Meng Junhe replied, “You called it exactly right—Yue Lang’s sample has already been used.”
Qin Jiamo’s expression tightened. “What about the person?”
“Still tracking it down.”
“Notify me the moment you have something.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll take at most two days to find out.”
The elevator reached the first floor, and Lin Xiwei walked out. Qin Jiamo ended the call and lowered his phone, a restless agitation stirring in his chest.
The thought that his younger brother might have left bloodline behind in this world made his breathing tighten.
If he could truly find that child, no matter what it took, no matter what conditions the other side set, he would bring the child home to his parents.
If the two families could then come to know each other as relatives, nothing could be more perfect.
On her way home, Lin Xiwei called Su Yunfan.
But the call didn’t go through.
She figured he could guess why she was calling and was deliberately not answering—he simply didn’t want to part with the money.
She’d considered going straight to his company to find him.
But time was tight. The hospital was waiting for the deposit before starting treatment, and if she went to the company only to get no money, it would just waste time.
So she decided to sell off her jewelry and handbags first to cover the initial costs, and deal with squeezing money out of that scumbag slowly.
When she got home, Lin Xiwei went straight to the walk-in closet, gathered up all the luxury items she’d bought over the years, stuffed them into storage bags, and drove straight to the mall.
The owner of the luxury resale shop stared at the items, then asked in surprise, “Ma’am, you’re getting rid of all of these?”
Lin Xiwei nodded. “Take inventory, please. Give me a good price—my child is sick and I need the money urgently.”
The owner looked skeptical but put on gloves and picked up a handbag to authenticate it.
Outside the shop, a young couple strolled by.
Suddenly, the girl turned to look inside the store.
“Hey, isn’t that my sister-in-law? Why is she in a secondhand shop? Looks like she’s selling those bags…” Su Linlin muttered in surprise.
Her boyfriend, Huang Haoming, said, “Why don’t you go in and ask?”
“I don’t want to deal with her. Just seeing her annoys me. I’ll call my brother and ask.”
With a disdainful look, Su Linlin took out her phone and called Su Yunfan.
It rang for a while before he picked up.
“Hey, bro, did something happen at your company recently?”
On the other end, Su Yunfan, who had just finished a meeting, was baffled. “The company’s fine. Why?”
“I thought you’d gone bankrupt.”
“Why?”
“Haoming and I were shopping and ran into Lin Xiwei at a secondhand shop with a bunch of bags. Looks like she’s selling them.”
Su Yunfan held the phone, saying nothing.
“If your company’s fine, why would Lin Xiwei be selling her bags for cash? Did you two have a fight and you cut off her allowance?” That was the only possibility Su Linlin could think of.
Su Yunfan had just seen Lin Xiwei’s missed call, and combined with his sister’s words, he now understood what was going on.
So the child really did have leukemia.
Lin Xiwei must be selling those things to scrape together the medical fees—she wouldn’t have done something so beneath her otherwise.
But he gave her tens of thousands in allowance every month. Over all these years, she should have saved up at least a million or so, right?
How had it come to this?
He had never considered that the so-called “tens of thousands” covered all the household expenses—raising the child, paying the nanny’s salary, and the social obligations during holidays and festivals.
Lin Xiwei had been extremely frugal, and with the occasional freelance coding work she did for classmates, she’d managed to build a small nest egg.
But that nest egg never lasted more than a few days before the Lin family came begging for money with various sob stories.
“Bro, what’s wrong? What’s going on between you two?” Su Linlin pressed when he remained silent.
Su Yunfan knew this wouldn’t stay hidden forever, so he explained, “I’m planning to divorce Lin Xiwei.”
“Divorce? Why? I don’t like her, but aren’t you two doing fine?” Su Linlin was shocked.
Su Yunfan said, “Your sister Yurou is back.”
“Who? Zhong Yurou?”
Su Linlin was taken aback.
“Why is she back? She dumped you back then because she was too good for a poor man, married some overseas Chinese on a whim, and now that you’ve made it big, she regrets it?”
Su Yunfan: “She had her reasons for that rushed marriage back then. I’ve already forgiven her.”
Su Linlin sneered coldly, “Reasons? What reasons could she possibly have? Just greed and vanity.”
Zhong Yurou’s story was that her mother had cancer back then and needed a huge sum for medical expenses.
She had just graduated and was only a poor student, with no way to come up with that much money.
It was for the hefty bride price, to get money to treat her mother, that she hastily married that rich second-generation overseas Chinese.
But Su Yunfan didn’t say this now—he was afraid his sister wouldn’t believe him and would just mock him again.
Su Linlin: “Then if you two divorce, what about the kid? He’d definitely go with you, right?”
Su Yunfan: “The kid… I originally wanted him, but now—”
Seeing him hesitate, Su Linlin pressed, “Now what? Zhong Yurou won’t let you have him?”
“No,” Su Yunfan said after a moment’s hesitation, “Junjun has leukemia. It takes a lot of money to treat. Lin Xiwei selling off her handbags is probably to scrape together the medical bills.”
“What? Junjun has leukemia? So much has happened to you guys lately, why haven’t you told the family?” Su Linlin’s voice kept rising, drawing stares from passersby.
Lin Xiwei happened to walk out of the secondhand store just then, and spotted her sister-in-law standing by the side of the entrance. Her expression froze for a moment.
Their eyes met. Su Linlin lowered her phone, looking at Lin Xiwei with a complicated expression.
Lin Xiwei knew this sister-in-law had never liked her, so she didn’t plan to greet her. She turned and walked away as if she hadn’t seen her.
But Su Linlin chased after her.
“Hey, hey, Lin Xiwei!” She didn’t even call her “sister-in-law,” directly blocking Lin Xiwei’s path.
Lin Xiwei, now hating the whole family because of one member, stopped and gave her a cold glance. “Something?”
“Does Junjun really have leukemia?” Su Linlin asked.
Lin Xiwei didn’t want to answer and sidestepped to leave.
But Su Linlin blocked her again.
“Don’t go! I’m not done asking. And are you really divorcing my brother?”
“…” Lin Xiwei still ignored her, brushing her hand aside and continuing on.
Su Linlin followed, pressing on: “Then how are you splitting the assets in the divorce? How are the house, the car, and the company shares being divided? You’re not going to be like those gold diggers online, using my brother’s mistake to make him leave with nothing, are you?”
Lin Xiwei let out a cold laugh. “You finally said something sensible—admitting it’s your brother’s mistake.”
“Hey, what do you mean by that! Even if my brother made a mistake, you should reflect on yourself too. Who told you to be so domineering, wanting everything your way at home and outside? Men like wives who are sweet and understanding, you know?”
Lin Xiwei was utterly speechless at her barrage of accusations.
But she didn’t argue back. She just turned her head and glanced at the man standing by the store entrance.
“So by your logic, as long as a woman is sweet and understanding, a man will love her and stay faithful?” she asked her sister-in-law in return.
Su Linlin followed her gaze and looked at her boyfriend too, then lifted her chin. “Of course! My Huang Haoming is crazy about me.”
Lin Xiwei smiled, then casually dropped a bombshell.
“Then ask him—who was that red-haired girl he had his arm around at the jewelry store in Xintiandi last month?”
Su Linlin’s eyes nearly bulged out. “What do you mean?”
Lin Xiwei didn’t answer. She just took out her phone, pulled up a photo, and turned the screen toward her.
Su Linlin craned her neck, and her eyes instantly filled with shock.
She reached for the phone, but Lin Xiwei pulled it back, leaving only a meaningful smile before turning and walking away.
In the middle of last month, she had made plans with Chu Qing to go shopping and have a meal. At a jewelry store in Xintiandi, she’d unexpectedly spotted her sister-in-law’s boyfriend with his arm around a red-haired girl, the two of them intimate and all over each other.
After going home, she’d hinted at it to her husband, saying Su Linlin’s boyfriend wasn’t very reliable and suggesting he, as the older brother, should look into it and keep an eye out.
But Su Yunfan said she was overthinking it, that the young man was a decent guy.
Since that was the case, she didn’t meddle further.
After all, respecting others’ fates and not interfering in their karma is also a form of cultivation.
If her sister-in-law hadn’t provoked her to her face today, she wouldn’t have used this to stab her in the heart.
Lin Xiwei had just reached the elevator when she heard a violent argument erupt not far behind her.
She turned to look and saw Su Linlin swinging her bag at her boyfriend, furiously cursing “scumbag.”
The man dodged while trying to explain, even attempting to pull her into a hug.
The elevator arrived. Lin Xiwei couldn’t be bothered to watch the drama and stepped inside.
She had her own worries now.
Those handbags and jewelry had cost several hundred thousand when bought piece by piece, yet selling them secondhand had only brought in a little over a hundred thousand.
Still far from the five hundred thousand she needed.
She was mulling over where else she could squeeze out money when her phone rang.
Looking down, it was Su Yunfan calling back.
Lin Xiwei’s expression shifted slightly. She hesitated a moment before answering.
“Hello.”
“You were looking for me? I was in a meeting just now, phone on silent.” Su Yunfan’s tone was much colder, no longer as gentle and warm as before.
Hearing his attitude, Lin Xiwei’s heart ached.
After all, they’d been husband and wife, and she’d given so much, once believing they’d grow old together. But now…
Her heart stirred for a few moments, but she quickly calmed down and replied with the same indifference: “Junjun’s treatment requires money. Transfer me five hundred thousand.”
“It’s confirmed?”
Seeing him fixate on this question, Lin Xiwei couldn’t help but sneer, “What, do you think I’m using my child’s illness as an excuse to deliberately ask you for money?”
Su Yunfan fell silent briefly.
Because he had indeed thought that.
“Su Yunfan, I know exactly how the company is doing. Don’t tell me you can’t even spare five hundred thousand. If you push me too far, I can ruin your reputation and leave you with nothing.”
Lin Xiwei had never been a naive fool without a brain.
The only reason she hadn’t yet resorted to burning all bridges was that her child’s illness had left her with limited energy.
But if this pair of adulterers went too far, she wouldn’t hesitate to blow the whole thing up and make them the targets of public scorn.
Su Yunfan clearly knew Lin Xiwei’s temperament as well. After a moment’s deliberation, he said, “I can give you the money, but can you sign the divorce agreement first?”