First Floor of the Annex
Jiang Chuling leaned excitedly against Sister Xiaoqiu. “I thought we’d only get as far as Granny Ge catching them in the act today! I never expected Technician Hu to fold so easily and confess on the spot!”
That saved them the trouble of pulling any more tricks.
Qiuyun sighed. “She must have been terrified.”
Jiang Linzhi chimed in, “Of course she was terrified! Grandpa’s wrinkles were deep enough to crush mosquitoes! It wasn’t until the very end that I realized she’d been treating Grandpa as her future father-in-law all along! No wonder she was so obedient and eager to please Mrs. Ge just now. When she heard that the housekeeping authority was going to be handed over to our mom, she was the first to jump out and object.”
Even the usually refined and gentle Eldest Young Master could not help commenting, “Fourth Uncle actually sent his girlfriend of two years to Grandpa as a masseuse? Shouldn’t he have told Grandpa about it first? Otherwise, this huge misunderstanding wouldn’t have happened!”
Jiang Chuling snorted. “Fourth Uncle sent her there precisely because he knew Grandpa liked that type.”
Oh…
Jiang Lin’an stared in shock, as if his entire understanding of the world had been overturned.
People could actually play like that?
Main Building.
Study.
The room was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. The entire atmosphere seemed to have been glued in place, heavy and oppressive.
In the end, the Old Master did not come over to help her up. Hu Tingxue remained sprawled on the floor, too frightened to rise, her head bowed as she trembled.
She had no choice but to speak. She really had no choice!
The Old Master clearly intended to make her Yifeng’s stepmother. How could she possibly allow such a thing to happen? All she could do was expose the truth and refuse!
Mrs. Ge leaned against the nearby curio shelf and took a long while to steady herself. Then she drew a deep breath and slapped Hu Tingxue across the face.
“You shameless woman! Who gave you permission to drag Yifeng into this? Have you lost your mind? Get out of here!”
“Ah!”
The slap had been delivered with all her strength, and Hu Tingxue’s cheek instantly swelled. Tears filled her eyes as she sobbed, “Madam, I—I really have been with Yifeng for two years. I’m not lying, truly! You have to believe me!”
Cold sweat began to bead on Mrs. Ge’s forehead.
A woman who had been with her son for two years had inexplicably appeared at his father’s side—and his father had developed feelings for her that were difficult to put into words.
Just thinking about it made the veins at Mrs. Ge’s temples throb violently.
“Get out! You lying, blabbering fool! Get out!”
“Madam!” Hu Tingxue covered her face and cried, “I—I really haven’t lied to you!”
The Old Master took a harsh breath and ordered coldly, “Call him. Bring Jiang Yifeng here.”
Mrs. Ge panicked. “Sir, you can’t listen to this woman’s lies and nonsense!”
The Old Master’s expression turned icy. “If I call him myself, I’ll make sure he can never set foot outside Xihe House again.”
The words she had wanted to use to plead her case caught in her throat. Mrs. Ge mumbled incoherently and did not dare argue any further.
Seeing the situation, Hu Tingxue’s eyes filled with tears. Trembling, she took out her phone and made the call, her voice shaking. “Hello…”
It was a long while before Jiang Yifeng answered. “What is it, Tingxue?”
“Yifeng, the Old Master—he wants you to come to the study.”
Jiang Yifeng’s hand tightened around the armrest of his wheelchair. “What happened?”
Hu Tingxue looked up at the Old Master’s dark expression and Mrs. Ge’s furious face before bursting into tears. “I—I can’t explain it. Sob… Just come over. I don’t understand how things turned into this either!”
The call ended.
Jiang Yifeng tapped his fingers impatiently, his expression grim.
His assistant asked cautiously, “What happened, Boss? Is there anything you need me to do?”
Jiang Yifeng lowered his eyes. It was time to leave himself a backup plan and prepare for the worst.
“Come here. I need you to take care of something.”
Ten minutes later, Jiang Yifeng arrived at the study in his wheelchair.
“Dad.” He ignored Hu Tingxue on the floor and looked at Mrs. Ge. “Why are you here too, Mom?”
After having had time to calm down, Mrs. Ge was not truly a fool. Connecting the events together, she could more or less understand that this woman really was involved with her son. She just did not know why the woman had ended up beside the Old Master—or how things had gone so wrong that the Old Master had taken a liking to her.
“I came to see your father.” Mrs. Ge forced a smile.
Jiang Yifeng drove his electric wheelchair forward, bypassed Hu Tingxue, and stopped in front of the Old Master’s tea table.
“Dad, why did you call me here?”
The Old Master casually picked up a fountain pen from beside him and hurled it at Jiang Yifeng’s temple.
“Ah!”
Hu Tingxue shrieked. She wanted to get up and check on him, but she did not dare. All she could do was silently weep, her eyes filled with concern as she watched the man she loved.
The Old Master pointed at Hu Tingxue, who was sitting on the floor, his gaze sharp. “I’ll give you one chance to explain.”
Pain shot through Jiang Yifeng’s temple. After a brief pause, he admitted his mistake neatly. “Dad, I simply didn’t want you to miss out on such a good masseuse because of my relationship with her, so I kept it from you.”
Hu Tingxue nodded like a chicken pecking at grain. “That’s right! Yifeng told me to take good care of you in the main building—to show his filial devotion in his place.”
The Old Master’s cold gaze swept inch by inch over the two of them before settling on Jiang Yifeng’s face.
“Then why, when my people investigated her background, did they find no connection to you at all? You concealed her identity and sent her to me. What exactly were you planning?”
Jiang Yifeng looked serious. “I had no ulterior motive whatsoever. You can ask her yourself. I never told her to come to the main building and take care of you as part of some mission.”
Hu Tingxue hurriedly nodded. “That’s right! Yifeng only ever told me to take good care of you. He never asked me to do anything else!”
As for the earlier acts of passing information back and forth, she had done those entirely of her own accord.
Those words left the Old Master with nowhere to vent his fury.
Wonderful!
Now it was he—the shameless old man—who had fallen for his son’s woman?!
The room once again fell silent.
That was when the Old Master’s phone rang. The call concerned Huayao Group.
They had previously discovered that the Shiguang Apartments had indeed been developed by a subsidiary of Huayao Group. The group’s legal department had immediately formed a special task force to pursue accountability to the end.
Unexpectedly, however, the case had stalled over the witnesses.
The call was from Jiang Yifeng’s people. They had located, in his hometown, the contractor responsible for laying the foundation at the time. The contractor could testify that Huayao Group’s headquarters had known the nature of the land and had knowingly violated the law. He was a crucial witness.
After receiving the news, the tension in the Old Master’s chest eased slightly.
He looked once again at the three people in the room, especially the little Hu masseuse, whose cheek was bright red and whose hair was disheveled.
How had things…
How had they turned into this?
He had, after all, developed some feelings for the woman.
The Old Master wearily leaned back against his chair. “Since that’s the case, take her back with you. Your legs need massages even more than mine do.”
Hu Tingxue’s eyes lit up.
Could she go take care of Yifeng now?
Dark emotions churned in Jiang Yifeng’s eyes, but he had no choice except to comply. “Yes. Thank you, Dad.”
The Old Master waved his hand. “Go on. All of you, leave.”
