Luo Xinglan was the first to react. “Are you sure that female con artist is back in the country? Is the information reliable?”
Song Linyan swallowed and hurriedly said, “It’s true! I saw her name on the airline passenger list. Wen Mo, right? That’s definitely her name, isn’t it?”
He handed over his phone, shoving it right in front of Pei Sijie.
The Song family ran an aerospace company and held controlling stakes in airports of all sizes, so checking a passenger list was easy.
Song Linyan had long since given the order: if the name Wen Mo showed up, report it immediately.
His subordinates were eager to prove themselves and took the matter especially seriously.
Pei Sijie glanced at the screen.
Sure enough, Wen Mo’s name was there. He just didn’t know whether this Wen Mo was the same female con artist.
He had first learned that name six months ago.
At the time, an intern named Chu Yueyao had joined the company. He happened to glance at her and recognized her on the spot.
Her face was the one in the photo the girl he’d been in an online relationship with had sent him back then.
At first, he thought Chu Yueyao was the female con artist, but she looked completely baffled and said she had no idea what he was talking about.
Only after he showed her their chat history and confronted her with it did Pei Sijie become certain that she hadn’t been the one chatting with him.
Later, Chu Yueyao mentioned Wen Mo’s name, and he began investigating.
Chu Yueyao said Wen Mo had been her college roommate.
Her family had been poor, but then she’d suddenly started dating a “rich boyfriend” and showing off all kinds of luxury brands in the dorm.
Wen Mo loved showing off, and she wasn’t a very good person either, so she was deeply disliked by everyone in the dorm.
Then, before graduation, Wen Mo suddenly disappeared. No one knew where she’d gone.
Putting the pieces together now, Chu Yueyao was quite certain that Wen Mo had most likely stolen her photos to use in an online relationship.
Pei Sijie had completely lost it when he heard.
It was bad enough that the female con artist had used a fake name; she’d even used fake photos.
And he didn’t even know what the female con artist looked like!
What made him even angrier was that he couldn’t find any trace of someone named Wen Mo. She had most likely changed her name after fleeing overseas.
Just as his thoughts were sinking into a dark place, Pei Sijie suddenly remembered an anonymous text he’d received a few days ago.
【Pei Sijie, I heard you’ve been looking for me. I’m back, and I’ve brought you a surprise. Wait for me...】
At the time, Pei Sijie had taken it for a spam text and deleted it after a glance.
But now that he thought about it, that tone...
He abruptly tightened his grip on his glass.
Could Wen Mo really be back?
“It’s her!”
Pei Sijie’s declaration sent shockwaves through the room.
Everyone erupted at once.
Yin Xufeng: “Holy crap, she actually dares to come back? Did she come back looking to die?”
Luo Xinglan clicked his tongue and shook his head. “How does she have the nerve to come back? That gold-digger’s got some guts. She dares to return, like Young Master Pei means nothing to her. Young Master Pei, you can’t let her off this time!”
The others chimed in too.
“Young Master Pei, what are you going to do with that female con artist? Send her to serve time in prison, or make her pay back every cent she swindled, with interest?”
“Young Master Pei, just say the word. We’re ready to help!”
But Pei Sijie showed little emotion.
He suddenly set down his glass and stood up. “I’ll handle this myself. You all carry on.”
With that, he picked up his coat from the sofa and strode out.
The private room door closed, leaving everyone staring at one another in bewilderment.
Yin Xufeng scratched the back of his head. “Young Master Pei’s handling it himself... Can he take on that sly female con artist alone?”
Song Linyan sounded certain. “Of course he can. Young Master Pei isn’t the same man he was back then. The moment that female con artist comes back to the country, he’ll find her in no time. Didn’t you see his expression? It was the calm before the storm!”
Luo Xinglan raised an eyebrow. “Let’s make a bet. What do you think Young Master Pei will do to that female con artist? I bet he’ll have her dragged back and locked in a room for three days and nights of interrogation!”
Yin Xufeng raised his hand. “I bet he’ll go straight to the police. The amount she swindled is enough to get her serving time for years.”
Song Linyan stroked his chin. “I bet... Young Master Pei will personally make her wish she were dead.”
Mu Yanchen, who had barely said a word, spoke in a low voice. “You’re overthinking it.”
Everyone looked at him.
Mu Yanchen leisurely took a sip of his drink. “Young Master Pei stopped caring about her ages ago. He wouldn’t give her the time of day. This kind of trivial matter doesn’t need Young Master Pei to handle personally. He can leave it to his subordinates.”
Yin Xufeng: “...That makes sense.”
Luo Xinglan curled his lip. “That’s way too easy on that gold-digger.”
The private room filled with chatter again as they dreamed up all kinds of ways Pei Sijie might deal with the female con artist.
......
Wen Mo spent the whole day wandering the streets with the four little ones.
She really wanted to find a job, but she’d run into a major problem.
Every time she went into a shop and asked the owner if they were hiring, they’d see the four little shadows following behind her and immediately shake their heads.
Wen Mo crouched by the roadside and looked at the four little ones sitting in a row in front of her, then sighed deeply.
Looking for work while taking care of four children really wasn’t practical.
A hundred yuan wouldn’t last long. If she didn’t earn money soon, they’d end up starving.
But if she got a job, she wouldn’t be able to look after the four little ones.
What was she supposed to do?
This was such a headache.
Just then, Wen Mo thought of the original host’s family, whom she’d lost contact with long ago.
Back then, after the original host had swindled Pei Sijie out of his money, her parents had advised her to stay overseas for a few years so Pei Sijie couldn’t find her, then come back once things had blown over.
The original host had done as they said, but as soon as she fled overseas, she changed her phone number and focused only on enjoying herself, completely forgetting about her own parents.
In the original novel, the original host’s parents were villains too.
But when it came to spoiling their daughter, they really couldn’t be faulted.
The original host’s family wasn’t well-off, yet they’d pampered her from childhood. Whenever she asked for money, they gave it to her. No matter what she did, they’d quietly clean up the mess behind her, which was how she became so selfish and irresponsible.
Her father ignored the law and stubbornly took her side, while her mother was a sweet but foolish woman who doted on her daughter without thinking.
Yet when the original host had money, she wouldn’t give them a single cent.
After returning to the country, unable to get close to Pei Sijie, she shamelessly went home to freeload.
She certainly hadn’t been a very considerate daughter, but things had come to this...
Surely she could ask them for a place to stay and have them help watch the children?
After all, they were her parents.
Besides, she wouldn’t freeload. She’d find a job and earn money.
Fortunately, she still remembered the original host’s mother’s number.
Wen Mo pulled out her phone and tried calling it.
After a while, the call connected.
A familiar voice came from the other end. “Who is this?”
Wen Mo recognized the original host’s mother’s voice and immediately cleared her throat. Trying her best to sound like the original host, she said, “Mom, it’s me, Xiao Mo.”
The person on the other end fell silent for a full three seconds.
Then a woman’s trembling, excited voice suddenly rang out. “Dear baby? Dear baby, is that really you? You’re back in the country?”
Wen Mo froze for a moment.
Dear baby?
Thinking it over, that seemed to be what the original host’s mother called her.
In the original novel, the original host hadn’t reached out to her family. Only after repeated setbacks with Pei Sijie, when things had become a huge public spectacle, had she been forced to go home.
Wen Mo said, “Yes, I’m back.”
The woman on the other end immediately burst into tears, sounding both excited and aggrieved. “Dear baby, you’re back in the country—why didn’t you come see Mom and Dad? We miss you so much. Come home, dear baby. Sob, sob...”
Wen Mo had prepared a whole list of things to say, thinking about how to ask them to take her in.
But before she could even say anything, her mother had already told her to come home.
Well, then she wouldn’t hold back!
“Okay, Mom. I’ll come home right away.” Wen Mo hesitated. “But, Mom, I don’t even have enough money for the trip home... Could you send me some travel money?”
After Wen Mo finished asking, feeling embarrassed, she heard the call disconnect.
Wen Mo: “......”
Huh? What happened to doting on her daughter without thinking? Had her transmigration changed the original host’s mother’s personality too?