Not long after Ye Xixi entered university, her aunt’s brother Zhong Shun, who had been secretly following her, hunched his back like a thief, crouched low, and lurked sneakily under a plane tree not far from the school gate. He held up a camera and frantically took over a dozen photos of Ye Xixi getting out of a luxury car.
After finishing, Zhong Shun smirked triumphantly and lowered his head to review the results of his photography.
The photos on the camera screen turned out quite well.
At least Zhong Shun thought he had done a good job.
He had managed to capture Ye Xixi’s face clearly as she stepped out of the car.
The only regret was that he couldn’t get a shot of the man inside the vehicle.
This old man was truly cunning—probably afraid of showing his face?
Was he worried his wife would find out?
Every time he dropped Ye Xixi off at the university, he remained seated in the car without getting out.
This made it impossible for Zhong Shun to photograph him.
But it didn’t matter. He had captured the license plate of the luxury car. As long as he could trace the plate number, he should be able to identify the old man who was keeping Ye Xixi, that wretched girl, right?
When the time came, he and his sister would extort a hefty sum from that old man.
The thought of possibly extorting at least ten million with his sister instantly put Zhong Shun in a great mood. Smirking slyly, he packed up his camera, strode back to his car, and drove to his sister’s company.
Meanwhile, at the trading company in the city center…
Fang Shanshan, who had recently been chosen by the noble Madam Chen as a potential future daughter-in-law, also came to her mother’s company early in the morning to cling to her and ask for help.
“Mom, where is Ye Xixi living now? Can you contact her?” She needed her paintings recently, but that wretched girl had even blocked her cousin’s phone number.
It made her so angry she almost lost her temper.
This was a critical moment for her marriage into a wealthy family.
The paintings they had previously forced Ye Xixi to create were running low.
She needed to find her and have her paint another hundred pieces.
Mentioning Ye Xixi stirred up an indescribable fury in Zhong Wenfang’s heart.
That wretched girl had some skills—she had hooked up with an old man.
In a rush, she had used the Lu Group to pressure her, forcing her to sign away her guardianship rights.
Now, even as her aunt, it was useless.
She had no way to control her anymore.
The thought of no longer being able to exploit that cheap girl made Zhong Wenfang’s anger burn fiercely inside. Fuming, she randomly picked up a teacup from the table and took a big gulp. “She’s relying on that old man now—her wings have hardened. Don’t even mention you; she’s blocked my number too.”
That wretched girl had blocked her entire family???
Fang Shanshan’s eyes widened in shock, her whole body trembling with rage. What an ungrateful bitch.
So shameless.
When her family went bankrupt and her parents died, if her mother hadn’t kindly taken her in, she would have starved to death on the streets.
Now that she had hooked up with some rich old man, her wings had hardened. “Mom, how could she be so despicable? We raised her for several years! Is this how she repays us?”
“That damn bitch actually blocked all of us? What are we going to do now?”
“Mom, think of something quickly. I’ve been noticed by Madam Chen, and she’s even arranging a marriage alliance between me and her son. But she wants me to paint ink wash paintings for her.” Fang Shanshan didn’t want to lose the wealthy family she had worked so hard to attach herself to.
She was both anxious and furious.
Zhong Wenfang certainly wouldn’t let her daughter miss out on marrying into wealth. She immediately stood up, walked over to her precious daughter, and comforted her, “Shanshan, don’t worry. Mom will think of a way.”
After comforting her for a while, Zhong Wenfang suddenly had a flash of inspiration. She had been so furious these past few days over Ye Xixi’s escape that she had nearly forgotten she still had a trump card: “That’s right, that little bitch Ye Xixi’s grandmother is still in the nursing home, isn’t she?”
“With that old woman in our hands, I don’t believe she won’t obey us.”
“You’re right, Ye Xixi listens to that old woman the most. Mom, hurry to the nursing home and bring her out. Then I can force her to paint for me.” Fang Shanshan’s anger vanished, replaced by instant excitement.
As long as she had Ye Xixi’s paintings to please Madam Chen, her days of marrying into a wealthy family wouldn’t be far off.
Mother and daughter schemed in the office, their plans clicking into place like abacus beads.
Zhong Shun returned carrying a camera. Pushing open the office door and seeing both his sister and niece there, he quickly placed the camera in front of his sister Zhong Wenfang: “Sis, I managed to secretly photograph Ye Xixi and that old man’s car.”
“Really? Who is that old man?” Zhong Wenfang grabbed the camera to look.
“I didn’t get a shot of him, only his car. That old man is quite shrewd—he never gets out of the car when dropping off Ye Xixi.” Zhong Shun wiped his mouth, then thirstily picked up a teacup from the desk and gulped down a few mouthfuls before continuing: “But I did capture the license plate. Sis, if we investigate right away, we can find out who the owner is.”
Zhong Wenfang nodded: “Good, I’ll arrange for someone to look into it immediately.”
With that, Zhong Wenfang quickly sent the license plate number from the photo to her assistant, instructing her to investigate.
Ten minutes later, the assistant finally managed to trace the license plate owner through a hacker.
It really was the car of Zhao Wenzhong, a senior executive at the Lu Corporation???
This Zhao Wenzhong was 50 years old.
He was the right-hand man of the mysterious President Lu of the Lu Corporation.
With considerable wealth, it had to be him.
Upon receiving the investigation results, Zhong Wenfang’s lips curled involuntarily: “I know Zhao Wenzhong’s wife.”
“It seems I can go see his wife this afternoon and have her catch that homewrecker Ye Xixi in the act.”
“If she dares to flaunt being kept by someone, then let her taste the bitterness of being publicly shamed.” The more Zhong Wenfang spoke, the more pleased she became.
Eventually, she burst into loud, triumphant laughter.
Fang Shanshan and Zhong Shun exchanged a glance, then joined Zhong Wenfang in looking up and laughing arrogantly.
This time, Ye Xixi wouldn’t be able to escape!
*
Meanwhile, Ye Xixi remained unaware that her aunt was already plotting against her. After happily finishing her classes at school, she spent some time in the library with Sheng Qiao since she had no afternoon classes.
Remembering that Lu Peishen had mentioned he would have a business dinner today, she pondered for a moment. Lu Peishen had been taking such good care of her these past couple of days.
Shouldn’t she show some appreciation in return?
With that thought, Ye Xixi immediately decided to head home early and cook a meal with Aunt Fang.
That way, when Uncle Lu returned from his dinner, he could have a late-night snack?
No sooner thought than done.
“Qiaoqiao, I can’t stay with you any longer today. I need to go home and cook for my husband.” Ye Xixi closed her review textbook on the desk and stood up to leave.
Sheng Qiao was shocked to hear this and grabbed Ye Xixi’s hand: “Holy crap, you’re cooking? Since when do you know how to cook?”
She remembered they were both equally clueless in the kitchen?
How could she suddenly know how?
Ye Xixi coughed lightly: “I learned it when I was working as a maid at my aunt’s house.”
“Now it’s finally coming in handy.”
Ugh, she couldn’t stand hearing about such bitter memories: “Thank goodness you got away from there.”
“Yeah, I’m heading off now.” Ye Xixi said.
“Alright, I can see you’ve really… become a woman in love,” Sheng Qiao released her hand and teased, though it was all in good fun.
She actually felt quite reassured about her current state.
That man must be treating Xixi well, right?
Otherwise, Xixi wouldn’t be willing to cook for him personally.
“Not really,” Ye Xixi said shyly, not wanting to admit it was unrequited love.
Lu Peishen didn’t like her at all.
He was just purely a good person, taking care of her.
“Enough talking, I’m leaving,” Ye Xixi picked up her books, waved at Sheng Qiao with a smile, and left the library first.
After leaving the school, Ye Xixi stood at the entrance and sent a text message to assistant Shao Bai.
Lu Peishen had instructed her to just text or call Shao Bai whenever she needed to return.
After contacting Shao Bai,
Ye Xixi held her textbooks and waited quietly in a corner near the school gate.
It was exactly 3:30 in the afternoon.
The afternoon sun was still intense.
The heat was making people’s skin feel dry. As a pregnant woman, Ye Xixi’s body sometimes became dehydrated more easily than normal. After standing for a while, she grew genuinely thirsty.
So she turned and went to the nearby convenience store to buy bottled water. After purchasing the water, she slowly unscrewed the cap and began drinking.
While drinking, a young person who looked like a volunteer happened to enter the store to buy water, carrying a stack of promotional posters. As they passed by Ye Xixi, they casually handed her one of the posters.
Ye Xixi found herself unexpectedly holding a poster. Frowning, she opened it and discovered it was about an ink painting exhibition hosted by the famous wealthy Chen family in Beijing’s elite circles.
It sincerely invited art enthusiasts to participate in a competition, with the first prize winner receiving a massive 500,000 yuan prize sponsored by Madam Chen!!!