The next day, she had to go to school as usual. It wasn’t until classes ended in the afternoon that the Yan family sent someone to pick her up to celebrate her birthday at home.
...
In the original owner’s past life, the Yan family had celebrated their birthdays together. Yan Qingqing received an abundance of gifts. Mr. Yan gave her a villa, Yan Haotian gifted her a sports car worth over eight million, and Mother Yan presented her with a treasured jewelry set worth over a hundred million. Furthermore, she even received eight percent of the Yan family’s shares. Conversely, the original owner received absolutely nothing. The excuse the Yan Family members gave was: "You’ve received enough gifts in the past, and we owe Qingqing too much. We won’t prepare a gift for you, otherwise, Qingqing would definitely be heartbroken."
Such drastically different treatment would leave even Buddha himself crestfallen. Not to mention, the original owner was just a young girl who had barely come of age. One could only imagine the disappointment and humiliation she felt. She just wondered if the Yan family would still be willing to give her that many shares this time around.
Inside the Yan’s large villa.
Mrs. Yan indeed didn’t invite too many guests to celebrate her daughter’s birthday. The main reason was the fear of affecting her college entrance exams. A simple family dinner was enough; they would host a grand and lively celebration banquet once her university acceptance letter arrived. Yan Qingqing had no objections to this decision. Her biggest concern right now was exactly how many shares her parents were going to give her. However, reality was bound to disappoint her.
In the previous life, Yan Haotian had made a fortune for the company through the Southern Home Furnishings investment, and most importantly, he had cemented his authority within the company. Greatly gratified, Mr. Yan had given him fifteen percent of his own shares. President Yan, not one to cling to power, figured his son was capable and wanted to hand the company over to him. He divided his own shares, giving five percent to his son, keeping five percent for himself, and giving the remaining five percent to his daughter. Out of a desire to compensate her, Mr. Yan also gave Yan Qingqing three percent of the shares, which was how she had obtained a total of eight percent.
Things were different now. Since Yan Haotian hadn’t achieved any extraordinary results, Mr. Yan naturally had no thought of giving his grandson any shares. Consequently, President Yan wouldn’t give his shares to his son either, meaning Yan Qingqing wouldn’t receive eight percent of the shares, let alone the ten percent she was anticipating. As for Yan Haotian, he was still feeling under the weather himself and had no time to worry about Yan Qingqing.
Therefore, when Yan Qingqing received a diamond watch from President Yan and a jade necklace from Mrs. Yan, her face completely darkened. Although the diamond watch from President Yan was worth seven figures, and the jade necklace from Mrs. Yan cost upwards of ten million, they were truly not worth mentioning compared to the Yan Family’s shares. Even a top-tier jewelry set worth nearly twenty million gifted by Gong Yuze failed to bring her a shred of joy.
She was unhappy, but she couldn’t show it in front of everyone. She had to force a smile and say she loved them. In the end, showing a ruthless streak, she simply downed a few extra glasses of wine, pretended to be drunk, and retired to her room early. Gong Yuze helped her into bed and had a servant feed her some hangover soup. Only then did he go downstairs, chat with President Yan and his family for a short while, and leave.
His assistant was highly capable; he had already gotten his hands on yesterday’s hotel security footage and tracked down the woman with whom Gong Yuze had shared a night of passion the day before. To his surprise, she was a student at a film academy.
The blue, top-tier sports car roared as it sped toward the Beijing Film Academy.
...
Having successfully planted a seed of doubt in Yan Qingqing’s heart, Ning Yue spent her days diligently studying and doing practice papers. Her days were ordinary yet fulfilling. Time flew by, and the college entrance exams arrived.
Ning Yue felt very calm. For someone who possessed a system, the college entrance exams were really nothing special. But it was a different story for Mr. Ning and Ning’s mother. The two were so nervous that they couldn’t sleep all night. The next day, they got up incredibly early to prepare breakfast before escorting Ning Yue to the examination center. Ning Yue knew that trying to talk them out of it was useless, so she let them accompany her the entire way.
It wasn’t until she finished the final subject that the family of three finally breathed a collective sigh of relief. As if they had agreed upon it beforehand, Mr. Ning and Ning’s mother didn’t ask a single question about how she did on the exams. Instead, they dragged Ning Yue to a relatively upscale nearby restaurant for a Chinese meal, and they spent over an hour relaxing in the public square that evening before finally returning home.
With the college entrance exams over, Ning Yue began getting down to serious business. The original owner had married that domestic abuser three years later, but Ning Yue couldn’t wait that long. Revenge had to be exacted early. That man’s name was Li Chengrong. He was forty-one this year and the president of Yaoyang Entertainment Company. Ning Yue suspected that the only reason the Yan family made the original owner marry Li Chengrong in her past life was entirely because of Yan Qingqing.
Back then, Yaoyang Entertainment had invested in a massive 400-million-yuan production. Not long after the two got married, Yan Qingqing became the female lead of that Xianxia drama. Furthermore, the drama was a massive success after filming wrapped up. The investors raked in massive profits, and every single leading and supporting actor skyrocketed to fame. Even the minor characters gained hundreds of thousands of fans. It could be said that one single drama propelled a huge wave of people to stardom.
At this moment in time, Li Chengrong’s wife, Jiang Shihan, was still very much alive and well. The couple even had a daughter in junior high. Yet, this child attended a full boarding school and only came home once a month. Yaoyang Entertainment was, after all, a large corporation with a market value in the billions, and Li Chengrong was a major shareholder. He certainly had no shortage of money. How could he bear to let his child live at school at such a young age?
Thinking about it, it was obvious that Li Chengrong and his wife were at odds. He probably even beat Jiang Shihan, and out of fear of frightening their daughter, she had sent the girl away to a full boarding school. In the original owner’s past life, Jiang Shihan had died. Otherwise, it never would have been the original owner’s turn to marry Li Chengrong.
To deal with Li Chengrong as soon as possible, Ning Yue contacted a private detective, planning to investigate Li Chengrong’s background first.
Inside a cafe, Ning Yue looked at the heavily bearded man sitting across from her, feeling rather speechless. Of course, she saw the exact same sentiment reflected in his eyes. As a private detective, he was undoubtedly skilled in all sorts of disguises. Therefore, he could tell at a single glance that Ning Yue’s long hair was fake, and her feigned maturity was just an act. Because Ning Yue was wearing a disguise herself, she naturally recognized that the beard on his face was fake, his forehead wrinkles were fake, and even his height was fake. He had added at least five centimeters to his height with lifts.
"My surname is Hu. I am the director of the Hu Lai Detective Agency."
Ning Yue was utterly speechless! This was the first time she had ever heard of a detective agency with such a bizarre name. Well, whatever the agency was called, as long as they got the job done properly, it didn’t matter. With this in mind, she pulled a stack of documents from her bag. "I need you to tail him. How much is the fee?"