Zhao Zhao had also arrived by this time, and Chu Lianxing more or less knew who had taken her away.
After getting into the car, Chu Lianxing told the driver to head to Garden Apartments.
This property was located in the city center, being a high-end apartment complex and concurrently one of the real estate developments built by the Chu family.
Coincidentally, it was very close to the company where Song Yushun’s girlfriend worked, so as soon as the units were completed, he had asked him for one.
As for how Chu Lianxing knew Huang Chuyan was with Song Yushun, of course, it was because he had sent him a message beforehand, asking him to hide Huang Chuyan away.
Chu Lianxing wasn’t certain whether Song Yushun could manage to slip her out past Huo Ci’s surveillance network, which was why he immediately called Zhao Zhao the moment he woke up.
He had made a two-pronged plan.
The villa and the apartment weren’t far apart, and the car arrived quickly.
When Song Yushun opened the door and saw Chu Lianxing, he shook his head at him: “She won’t say a word.”
Chu Lianxing looked at the woman sitting on the sofa. Beneath her heavy makeup lay an unmasked exhaustion, and upon seeing Chu Lianxing, she still refused to open her mouth.
On the way over, Song Yushun had already relayed Huo Ci’s threatening words to Huang Chuyan verbatim to Chu Lianxing.
Huang Chuyan’s attitude was naturally within Chu Lianxing’s expectations, and he wasn’t in a hurry either. He picked up a paper cup in the kitchen, poured some water, and placed it in front of Huang Chuyan.
Over the years, Huo Ci had led the Huo family forging steadily ahead, his influence rivaling that of the Chu family. It was only natural for her to have misgivings about Huo Ci.
“The Chu family nowadays is merely keeping a low profile, not failing. Are you certain you want to make an enemy of me? By then, Huo Ci might not necessarily be able to protect you.”
Chu Lianxing’s expression remained as usual, showing no trace of threatening demeanor.
Yet Huang Chuyan involuntarily shivered. She was well aware of Chu Lianxing’s methods. Indeed, the Chu family was keeping a low profile, not failing; moreover, there was also the Zhou family, whose standing paralleled the Chu family’s and who were known as the Southern Zhou and Northern Chu.
The previous head of the Zhou family was none other than Chu Lianxing’s mother.
Just as Huang Chuyan’s resolve wavered, the memory of that eerie bank account number made her lower her head again and stay silent.
Chu Lianxing felt a slight trace of puzzlement. With the Chu family protecting her, who in the entire Huaguo could possibly touch her? “Some abnormal factor?”
Huang Chuyan snapped her head up sharply, her eyes widened as if asking, How did you know?
Chu Lianxing knew he had guessed right.
Huo Ci secretly invested in a research institute, which Chu Lianxing had people investigate and found out was studying paranormal phenomena.
Therefore, what Huang Chuyan feared wasn’t hard to guess, and coincidentally, his own cousin was also a researcher in this field—the difference being that she belonged to the national research institute.
“I received a remittance from ten years in the future,” Huang Chuyan trembled all over.
Song Yushun’s hair stood on end. The room fell into an eerie silence, and he felt as though something was standing right behind him.
“Ah!” Screaming, he threw himself into Chu Lianxing’s arms. “Brother Chu, there’s a ghost.”
Chu Lianxing looked behind him. The apartment had just been renovated, and to let out the formaldehyde, the windows had been left open.
What was moving behind him just then was simply the fluttering curtain.
He lowered his head and patted Song Yushun: “Let go.”
Song Yushun tightly wrapped his arms around Chu Lianxing’s waist, rubbing his cheek slightly against it: “I’m scared, Brother Chu.”
“There are no ghosts. The windows weren’t closed during the day, it’s just the curtain moving.” As he spoke, he struggled with all his might to stand up and close the window.
Though he now knew there were no ghosts, a bank remittance from ten years in the future was still rather spine-chilling, and Song Yushun cowered close beside Chu Lianxing.
He glanced at Chu Lianxing forget about being scared, his expression hadn’t even flickered the slightest bit.
Huang Chuyan continued, “I pointed you out back then because I was driven to a dead end. My mother was critically ill, and I had also failed to keep my top-ten ranking, meaning no scholarship.
Right when I couldn’t hold on any longer and wanted to jump from a building to end it all, a sum of money was suddenly transferred into my bank card—not a penny more, not a penny less than my mother’s surgery fees.
The message left with it instructed me to frame you for raping me.”
Everyone knew what happened next: the Chu family’s stock plummeted, Elder Chu happened to fall gravely ill, and Huo Ci acted like a rabid dog, beginning to crazily target Chu Lianxing.
Song Yushun focused entirely on Huang Chuyan framing Chu Lianxing for rape, and punched her right in the face: “Damn it, you bastard! Brother Chu saved you, and you—motherfucker—are ungrateful and devoid of conscience!”
Huang Chuyan sat there letting him hit her; it was her own fault.
Seeing that the other person had taken enough blows and to prevent any loss of life, Chu Lianxing pulled Song Yushun away.
He soothingly patted Song Yushun’s back: “Don’t, don’t beat her to death yet; she still has to tell me Gu Jinyu’s secret.” With that, he looked at Huang Chuyan, whose face was bruised and battered. “Continue.”
“After graduation, the company I worked for accidentally collaborated with the Gu Corporation. As the project manager representing the (second party), I saw a bank card on the CEO’s desk that was identical to the one from twenty years in the future.”
Song Yushun chimed in, “You made it sound so terrifying just now, I thought it was a supernatural event, and it turns out to be just this? He used this bank card to transfer money to you ten years ago, huh.”
As soon as Song Yushun finished speaking, he realized something was wrong.
Chu Lianxing said, “Twenty years ago, Gu Jinyu was an illegitimate child spurned by everyone in the Gu family. Where did he get the money? Besides, Grandpa checked Huang Chuyan’s bank statement back then and didn’t find that transaction.”
Chu Lianxing looked at Huang Chuyan, signaling her to go on.
“Indeed. After seeing it, I checked my own bank statement and found no deposit.
And the first thing Gu Jinyu said when he saw me was, ‘You’re still alive.’
Yet when I got home, my mother had vanished, and everyone around me was saying my mother had died five years ago.
Overwhelming emotions drove me to return to City A, and the moment I stepped into the City A hospital, I received a call saying my mother’s condition had worsened.
I knew President Huo had a private team specializing in researching these kinds of issues, but I couldn’t get an appointment with him, so I could only find Song Yushun and have him bring me to you.”
Chu Lianxing called Zhao Zhao, who was waiting in the car, to come upstairs: “I’ll have someone send you to my cousin’s place; she will resolve your doubts.”
After settling these matters, Chu Lianxing also returned home. As soon as he stepped inside, he felt the atmosphere in the villa was rather tense and combative.
His cousin Zhou Nannan sat in her wheelchair opposite Huo Ci, with several bodyguards standing behind her with drawn swords and bows (ready for action).
That mad dog Li Yuanbai, who only took orders from his cousin, broke through the encirclement and pressed down on Huo Ci, forcing him to sign the divorce papers.
Huo Ci, like a melodramatic novel heroine facing a vicious mother-in-law, wore a stubborn expression: “Grandpa Huo said before he passed away that he didn’t allow us to get a divorce.”
Zhou Nannan hurled the teacup in her hand right at Huo Ci’s forehead. Inside was scalding hot tea, which streamed all the way down his forehead, leaving a streak of red wherever it passed.
“Who allowed you to mention Grandpa Huo? Back then, you crippled my leg and drove your car to crash into my cousin.
When my cousin’s life was hanging by a thread, you had people inform a severely ill Grandpa Huo to provoke him, causing him to lose his life.
How shameless can you be? You were in love with someone else yet you still climbed into my cousin’s bed, using goodness-knows-what tricks to make Grandpa Huo warn my cousin not to allow a divorce.”
Zhou Nannan grew more agitated as she spoke, her expression even somewhat fanatical.
That’s right, the person in front of her was the enemy who caused her to lose the ability to dance due to a crippled leg, who caused her to lose her inheritance rights and become a cripple, and who—had it not been for her cousin’s help—wouldn’t even have been able to retrieve her mother’s keepsake.
“Nannan.” Chu Lianxing entered and walked around behind Zhou Nannan, pouring her a glass of water. “Drink some water. Your health isn’t good, getting angry over a person like this isn’t worth it.”
Huo Ci’s heart twitched in pain ah, indeed, someone like me doesn’t deserve to stay by his side.
However, this emotion lasted for only a single second. Taking advantage of Li Yuanbai’s momentary distraction, he broke free from his restraint.
He slid to his knees right in front of the brother and sister: “Xingxing, don’t divorce me.”
With slightly red eye rims, eyelashes hanging with teardrops, and a red mark on his fair face, Chu Lianxing had to admit his heart ached: “Get up first.”
“No divorce.”
Huo Ci knew Chu Lianxing’s heart had softened, so he had to strike while the iron was hot; otherwise, Zhou Nannan would definitely urge Xingxing to divorce him, and given how much she doted on her cousin, she would surely push for a divorce from him.
This fox-like appearance stung Zhou Nannan’s eyes, and she turned her head away, unable to bear looking at him.
Yet immediately afterward, she noticed an extra red mark on her cousin’s pale, translucent wrist.
Could it be that this piece-of-shit trash had been domestic-abusing her cousin after marriage?
She grabbed her cousin’s wrist and raised it before everyone: “Big Brother, what is this?”
Following her movement, the wide sleeve slipped down, exposing a forearm covered in purplish hickeys.
Zhou Nannan awkwardly turned her head away, awkwardly rubbing her nose before looking anywhere else but at them.
Everyone present was an adult, and at a glance, they knew what had happened to Chu Lianxing.
Most of them were retired soldiers and hadn’t witnessed such a sight, but out of respect for their employer being present, they felt too embarrassed to show it outwardly.
The only one who couldn’t perceive it was Huo Ci, who stubbornly recited: “Xingxing, we cannot divorce. If we divorce, you will die.”