Back then, a conviction for hooliganism could cost someone their life. What’s more, Zou Zhengting was in the military and the son of the Zou family. Even if he insisted he would rather face a firing squad than marry Lin Ni…
The Zou family wasn’t made up of just Zou Zhengting alone.
He had parents who had devoted their entire lives to the revolution, lived with spotless reputations, and were deeply respected. He had an older brother and sister-in-law whose political careers had to be protected, and an older sister who worked at a newspaper and was already married.
He could throw away his own life if he wanted.
But he had no right to ask his family to throw away theirs with him.
Later, Zou Zhengting specifically went to the Lin family to reconstruct everything that had happened that day.
Every clue pointed toward Lin Zhaoyang’s grandmother and eldest uncle’s family helping Lin Ni scheme against him.
Unfortunately, there was no evidence.
So Grandpa Lin suppressed the matter and forbade anyone from bringing it up again.
Of course, Zou Zhengting wasn’t someone who could simply swallow such humiliation.
He endured it through gritted teeth.
But no one knew that the marriage certificate had actually been forged by someone he hired.
Lin Ni’s family had been so eager to climb into the Zou family and so inexperienced that they were completely fooled by him.
Zou Zhengting had been waiting.
Waiting for time to pass.
Waiting for the right opportunity for the Zou family.
Two years had gone by.
Meanwhile, under relentless pressure and tears from her mother, Lin Zhaoyang had reluctantly agreed to another blind date.
The house next door was the new home purchased jointly by both families for Lin Zhaoyang and her current fiancé, Yang Wen, in preparation for their marriage.
There was a post office at the end of the street where people could make phone calls, so Zou Zhengting returned quickly.
When he walked inside, Lin Zhaoyang was still sitting in exactly the same position as when he had left.
He poured her a glass of water and handed it over.
“Drink some water first. Soothe your throat… and calm yourself.”
Lin Zhaoyang reached out to take it.
Her fingertips accidentally brushed the back of his hand.
She immediately jerked her hand back.
Zou Zhengting let out an amused snort.
Holding the cup, he stepped closer, grabbed her wrist with one hand, and firmly placed the cup into her other hand.
“What? Do you think I’m going to eat you?”
The instant their skin touched, every pore on Lin Zhaoyang’s body seemed to scream.
Fortunately, he released her the very next second.
Otherwise, she couldn’t guarantee she would still be able to resist finishing the “feast” that had been interrupted earlier.
Zou Zhengting went out again.
This time he returned carrying an electric fan.
He had drunk much more of the drugged water than Lin Zhaoyang had, and its effects hadn’t worn off yet.
If she was suffering, he was in even worse shape.
He didn’t dare stand facing her directly.
He was afraid she’d once again notice that the part of him below his waist still refused to calm down.
“Zou Zhengting, what exactly is Lin Ni trying to do?”
Ever since discovering that Lin Ni had a key to her new house, Lin Zhaoyang had realized today’s incident had been carefully orchestrated by Lin Ni.
Sitting sideways, one hand resting on the table, Zou Zhengting stared at her with piercing eyes.
“If I knew, would I have let this happen to you? Would I have treated you like this?”
The word greed was written plainly in his eyes.
The smile he was trying to hide lingered there.
“Who has keys to your new house?” he asked.
“I have one. My parents have one. My fiancé has one.”
Even her future mother-in-law didn’t have a key.
“My key is with me.”
Lin Zhaoyang pulled the key wrapped in yarn from her pocket.
“My mother’s key is locked inside a drawer in her room. Besides my mom, not even my dad or my younger brother can get to it.”
Ever since Lin Ni’s family had stolen Lin Zhaoyang’s fiancé two years earlier, Lin Daheng had gotten into a huge argument with Grandpa Lin and insisted on dividing the family completely.
A wall had been built right through the middle of the old Lin family home.
Lin Zhaoyang’s family lived on one side.
The grandparents lived on the other with Lin Ni’s family.
The two households used separate entrances and had no access to each other.
For the past two years they hadn’t exchanged a single word, let alone visited each other.
Zou Zhengting had interacted with Lin Daheng and Wang Fenglan—the couple who had nearly become his parents-in-law.
Neither of them was foolish.
Since they had carefully hidden their key, it was highly unlikely Lin Ni could have stolen it.
Lin Zhaoyang hated Lin Ni as much as she hated maggots.
Lin Ni had never even had the chance to get close enough to steal her key.
That left only one possible weak link.
Her fiancé.
“Lin Ni works as a temporary employee at your fiancé’s factory, doesn’t she?”
A possibility occurred to Zou Zhengting, and he couldn’t suppress the smile tugging at his lips.
“Could it be that Lin Ni has set her sights on your new fiancé?”
The smile finally spread to his lips.
He could no longer hide how pleased he felt.
This…
This was exactly the opportunity he had been waiting for.
“You mean Yang Wen gave her the house key?”
Lin Zhaoyang shook her head repeatedly.
“Yang Wen isn’t as good as you. Unless Lin Ni’s blind, there’s no way she’d ignore you just to steal Yang Wen.”
Zou Zhengting curled his lips into a smile.
He very much liked hearing that Yang Wen couldn’t compare to him.
“What are you smiling about? It’s simply true that Yang Wen’s family background isn’t as good as yours.”
Privately, Lin Zhaoyang added another thought.
In terms of looks, Yang Wen couldn’t compare to Zou Zhengting either.
But she kept that to herself.
She didn’t want his ego getting any bigger.
“Yang Wen’s family isn’t as influential as mine, but none of what I have benefits Lin Ni.”
Zou Zhengting didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty saying so.
“Hasn’t Lin Ni spent years telling everyone I’m as stingy as a miser?”
He knew she’d constantly badmouthed him in public, making him sound as awful as possible.
He despised Lin Ni with every fiber of his being.
He didn’t want to see her, speak to her, or even acknowledge her existence.
Most importantly, he refused to spend a single cent on her.
He would never let her gain even the smallest benefit from him.
“That bastard Lin Ni!”
Lin Zhaoyang gripped her water glass so tightly she practically twisted it as though it were Lin Ni’s head.
“I’ll see for myself what kind of game you’re playing!”
She set the cup down and walked back into the courtyard.
Lin Ni had been reborn two months earlier.
In her previous life, she had lived a miserable, bitter existence.
After seeing that marriage certificate, Zou Zhengting had taken it away, and she never saw him again.
That madman had returned to the military and immediately applied for reassignment.
Just to avoid her, he eventually stopped returning to the provincial capital altogether.
From then on, they never met again.
Then one day, he abruptly informed her that they no longer had any relationship whatsoever.
Lin Ni refused to believe him.
She went to the Civil Affairs Bureau and begged someone to check their records.
Only then did she discover that Zou Zhengting’s influence reached astonishing heights.
He had erased every official record connecting the two of them.
Lin Ni…
Had become someone who had never been married.
After the divorce, Zou Zhengting became even more ruthless.
He hated her and her family for destroying his relationship with Lin Zhaoyang.
He relentlessly targeted them, using every possible method to take revenge.
Because of him, she was fired from the factory before she could even become a permanent employee.
Her father and older brother were also quickly dismissed under various pretexts.
From then on, every member of the family struggled to find work.
Her parents…
Her brother…
Her sister-in-law…
Even her younger brother…
All blamed her.
They called her a jinx.
They said the entire family had offended Zou Zhengting because of her, and now none of them had any future left.
To support the family, her parents had no choice but to take the dirtiest, hardest labor they could find.
Unable to endure such hardship, her sister-in-law divorced her older brother.
Her younger brother remained unmarried well into his thirties.
As for Lin Ni herself, she couldn’t even find a second husband.
Any family with decent circumstances would immediately flee after learning they had offended the Zou family.
The only men who weren’t afraid of the Zous were already desperately poor, much older, or even disabled.
Every single day, Lin Ni lived in agony.
Meanwhile, after leaving Zou Zhengting…
Lin Zhaoyang’s life became even better.
One of Lin Zhaoyang’s coworkers introduced her son, Yang Wen.
Although Yang Wen couldn’t compare with Zou Zhengting at the time, his mother was a high school teacher.
She had a respectable, stable government job with a good income.
No matter how many factories laid off workers, teachers were never the ones losing their jobs.
More importantly…
Yang Wen’s mother was an excellent mother-in-law who cherished Lin Zhaoyang as though she were her own daughter.
Despite being married to Zou Zhengting for so many years, Lin Ni had never even stepped through the doors of the Zou family home.
She had never spoken to Zou Zhengting’s mother—the woman everyone said adored Lin Zhaoyang.
After marrying Yang Wen, he eventually resigned from the factory and went into business.
He first opened a small shop and made money.
Lin Zhaoyang then resigned from her teaching job and stopped working altogether, enjoying the comfortable life alongside him.
Later, Yang Wen established factories, founded companies, and became a wealthy businessman.
He and Lin Zhaoyang became famous throughout the country for their wealth.
Every New Year, when the Lin family gathered together, Lin Ni would watch Lin Zhaoyang return home wearing designer clothes, driving a luxury car, and carrying expensive holiday gifts.
At night, she would dream that she was the one living the life of a rich, pampered wife.