Xie Jinghu had completely lost his reason.
There were clearly lifts in the hospital, yet he seemed blind to them. He charged down the stairs, nearly missing a step several times.
Zhong Yong hesitated, wondering whether to steady him, but Xie Yuping saw through him at once. “Worried he’ll fall? Let him. That height won’t kill him.”
If it did kill him, it might even be a blessing.
One death here, and Zou Weijun could immediately sign as his wife for cremation. Turn the body into a jar of ash and flush it down any drain. No one would be able to collect even a bone fragment.
Then destroy every single paternity report made today. No matter who later claimed to be Old Three’s illegitimate child, the Xie family could simply deny everything.
Just imagining it made the fire in Xie Yuping’s heart leap with joy.
Alas, Old Three would not die from the fall.
Downstairs, in the rest room.
Zhuo Chen and Zhuo Yue had waited for hours. They were hot and thirsty. The physical discomfort was nothing compared to the mental torment.
Hadn’t they said the tests would be rushed?
Why were the results still not back?
Had Xie Yuping changed his mind again? Seen the results and decided not to acknowledge them after all?
Though young, Zhuo Yue had a very active mind and worried a lot.
There was no one else in the rest room. She listened to the noises outside, desperate to seize any chance to gather information.
If only she could contact Mummy.
The moment the thought crossed her mind, she heard voices in the corridor.
“Is that Mummy?”
It was definitely Mummy’s voice.
Zhuo Yue jumped to her feet. “Brother, Mummy’s here for us. Mummy, we’re in here, in this little room!”
She did not have to wait long. The door was opened from the outside, and Zhuo Yue saw Sara Zhuo.
Sara Zhuo had come alone.
Wherever Xie Yuping was present, bodyguards were meaningless. Bringing them would only make her look guilty.
They had been apart less than a day, yet Zhuo Yue threw herself into her mother’s arms as though they had been separated for years.
She had so much to tell Mummy: her anxiety, her excitement, her guesses.
“Mummy!”
Zhuo Yue’s pretty little face was flushed red from the heat. Her hair stuck damply to her cheeks. She looked utterly dishevelled.
Sara Zhuo stroked her daughter’s face and smoothed her hair. “Did the Xie family bully you?”
Of course they had.
They had summoned her and her brother and then ignored them.
Uncle Xie had not once looked at them properly. He had locked them up and denied them even water.
Daddy Xie Jinghu had shown almost no warmth, as if he did not know them.
Zhuo Yue had a bellyful of grievances, but she desperately wanted Xie family acceptance. Afraid the truth would inflame her parents’ conflict, she swallowed every complaint and reported only good news. “No one bullied us. Uncle arranged for us to come and have DNA tests.”
Looking down, she missed the shock that flashed across Sara Zhuo’s face.
“DNA tests? Where were they done?”
Zhuo Chen caught Sara Zhuo’s expression and felt his heart sink. “We don’t know where the samples were sent. They took five tubes of blood from both me and my sister. He… I mean Daddy was here too. The samples were taken away several hours ago.”
Sara Zhuo’s face became indescribable.
Why on earth was Xie Yuping in such a rush to test Zhuo Chen and Zhuo Yue’s DNA?
Before Sara Zhuo could think of a countermeasure, the half-closed door was kicked open with terrifying force.
Sara Zhuo turned and saw Xie Jinghu, his face twisted with bitter hatred, looking like a horrifying beast.
“Daddy…”
With Xie Yuping no longer present, Zhuo Yue could finally act spoiled.
“I haven’t seen Daddy in so long. I missed you so much.”
Hours of heat and thirst had left her looking utterly pitiful. Sweat had plastered her hair to her head, and her lips were cracked and peeling.
From the day she was born until now, she had probably never suffered like this.
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.
Once upon a time, those clear, bell-like calls of “Daddy” had melted Xie Jinghu’s heart.
Xie Qian had always been cool and precocious, never clinging or coquettish.
Xie Jinghu had missed Zhuo Chen’s entire childhood.
Zhuo Yue was a girl, and her sweet acting spoiled had convinced Xie Jinghu that daughters truly were little padded jackets. She was the “the fruit of love” born after he and Sara Zhuo rekindled their old flame. For this youngest daughter, Xie Jinghu had once feared she would fall if held in his hands and melt if held in his mouth.
Even when he had to distance himself from Sara Zhuo to save his marriage, he could never bring himself to end Zhuo Yue’s calls.
Sniffling, Zhuo Yue sidled over and took Xie Jinghu’s arm.
She expected him to comfort her. Instead, Xie Jinghu exploded like a gas canister set alight. He flung her hand away and slammed the paternity reports into her face with all his strength, roaring at the top of his lungs:
“Get away from me. I am not your daddy. You are a little bastard!”
…
In the corridor.
Listening to the commotion from the rest room, Zhong Yong finally found a moment to call Wen Ying.
Wen Ying must have been waiting, because the call was answered instantly.
“It’s Xiao Wen?”
“Yes!”
“The leader asked me to tell you that the DNA tests between President Xie and the Zhuo siblings are complete. Only one of the two has a biological relationship with President Xie…”
Before Zhong Yong could finish, Wen Ying exclaimed on the other end, “It’s Zhuo Chen. Zhuo Chen is the biological one!”
“How did you know?”
Most people would guess Zhuo Yue was the biological child.
By normal logic, once Sara Zhuo had reunited with Xie Jinghu, a rich and handsome man who spent freely on her, having another daughter to cement the relationship would be perfectly reasonable.
Zhuo Chen, on the other hand, was supposedly not even the old overseas merchant’s son, so there was every chance he was not Xie Jinghu’s either. After all, Xie Jinghu had not been present at his birth.
The DNA test done abroad over ten years ago could easily have been faked.
If Zhuo Chen were not Xie Jinghu’s son, when the secret came out Sara Zhuo could still play the emotion card with Zhuo Yue and beg forgiveness. A clever woman who understood men might very well take that gamble.
One lie for a lifetime of wealth and glory. The payoff was worth the risk for Sara Zhuo.
No one had expected her to do the complete opposite.
Since Zhuo Chen was biological and she had already obtained everything she wanted from Xie Jinghu, why had she still slept with other men and made Xie Jinghu wear that humiliating green hat?
Once this secret was exposed, it was not simple deception. It was deception plus betrayal. A double blow that Xie Jinghu could never forgive.
Had Zhong Yong not already known the results, even if he guessed neither child was Xie Jinghu’s, he would never have imagined Zhuo Chen biological and Zhuo Yue not.
How had Wen Ying guessed correctly in one try?
Zhong Yong was extremely curious.
On the other end, Wen Ying gave a cold laugh. “Any woman willing to be a mistress has no bottom line. Once there is no bottom line, I naturally assume the worst.”
Because in her previous life, it had been Zhuo Chen who took over Jinhu.
Wen Ying had always wondered: even if something happened to Xie Qian in her last life, the entire Xie family could not have died out, could they?
The prerequisite for Zhuo Chen to defeat Xie Qian and seize Jinhu was that Zhuo Chen genuinely was Xie Jinghu’s biological son.
Therefore, if only one of the two siblings was Xie Jinghu’s, Wen Ying was certain it had to be Zhuo Chen.
Sara Zhuo really was audacious.
To deceive Xie Jinghu for so many years.
She wondered whether Zhuo Yue’s true parentage had ever been exposed in the previous life, and if it had, how Sara Zhuo had managed the crisis.
After thinking about it, Wen Ying leaned toward the secret never having been uncovered.
Yes. Unless someone deliberately investigated, who would ever imagine Zhuo Yue was not Xie Jinghu’s biological daughter?
Even when Xie Qian had investigated the first time, the result showed both Zhuo Chen and Zhuo Yue were Xie Jinghu’s children.
Was it Sara Zhuo alone, or Zhang Zhijun, or the two of them working together to obstruct Xie Qian’s investigation?
Thinking of Xie Qian’s “sudden trip abroad”, Wen Ying nearly burst into tears.
Xie Qian had not trusted the first test results. He must have obtained new samples from the Zhuo siblings and tested them against Zhang Zhijun. Then the accident happened.
The rest room had already erupted. One door could not contain Xie Jinghu’s furious roars. Wen Ying faintly heard the noise and quickly spoke before Zhong Yong hung up. “Uncle Xie had the Zhuo siblings’ DNA tested. I think Aunt Zou can no longer endure this marriage. If Aunt Zou wants a divorce, I have a suggestion regarding asset division. Secretary Zhong, could you pass it on to Uncle Xie?”
Whether Zou Weijun divorced and how assets were split was not something Zhong Yong could interfere with.
Professional lawyers were already on their way to the hospital.
Zhong Yong felt the professionals would have better ideas.
Even if Wen Ying and Xie Qian’s relationship were public, it would still not be her place to tell Zou Weijun how to divide property.
Then he remembered Xie Yuping’s evaluation of Wen Ying.
Xie Yuping had said she was a very capable and astute girl. Zhong Yong decided to hear her out.
He would only relay the message. Whether the leader listened or how Zou Weijun reacted was not up to him.
“Alright. I don’t have much time. Make it short.”
Zhong Yong had only intended to listen casually, but as Wen Ying spoke clearly and logically, he grew increasingly serious.
If Xie Yuping himself had devised such divorce terms, Zhong Yong would have found it normal. The leader simply operated on a different level.
Yet this had come from Wen Ying.
Zhong Yong remembered that Wen Ying’s outstanding talent was writing and that she was studying finance this year. How could she devise divorce terms like these?
“…May I ask why the clauses are limited until the end of 2019?”
