Chapter 10

"Your DNA."

These words seemed to pierce through her bone membrane. In an instant, Yao Shengjie's pupils dilated, she froze on the spot, and her mind went blank.

Was there a problem with the paternity test she did before? Could Xingxing not be her grandson? Was she deceived? Was it Zhou Yubai? Or...?

No, it couldn't be him.

No, why can't it be him? Zhou Yubai is also his son, he is...

"No……"

“Don’t overthink it,” Shen Que interrupted her wild thoughts. “When we got to the hospital, I realized I had lost your hair.”

Yao Shengjie felt weak all over. She sat down, gripping the edge of the dressing table, and her trembling hands clenched the hand cream tightly, squeezing out lotion to rub her hands.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"That day, Lin Muchen gave me a ride, and I casually plucked a strand of her hair to do a DNA test, and it turned out that we were related by blood."

After finishing speaking, Shen Que nodded slightly and left.

She knew that Yao Shengjie was trapped by the death of her only son, but she wasn't stupid; these words were enough for her to investigate.

Shen Que has no memory of the past. Her social circle is all within Zhou Yubai's sphere of influence, so it's difficult for her to completely avoid Zhou Yubai's notice in whatever she does.

Yao Shengjie is different; once she becomes suspicious, she will always find a way to prevent Zhou Yubai from noticing.

Shen Que felt a chill in her heart. Zhou Yubai, they formed an alliance from the moment they got married. She helped him gain the trust of Zhou's father. Once he had complete control of the Zhou family business, Yao Shengjie would no longer be able to compete with her for custody.

The bottom line is that Zhou Yubai can never use Xingxing.

He crossed the line, and she immediately retaliated.

Given Yao Shengjie's hatred for Zhou Yubai, she could give him a huge surprise.

As Chen Que came downstairs, the two adults and one child in the restaurant all looked up. Zhou Yubai stood up and asked, "Why are you alone? Where is Aunt Yao?"

She said she wanted to rest.

Shen Que walked to Xingxing's side and saw that Zhou's father's hair on his head had turned white. He was feeding Xingxing egg custard with a spoon.

She looked away, bent down, and gently wiped her son's mouth. "Have you finished eating? If you're done, come home with Mommy."

Xingxing jumped off the bench and waved, "Goodbye, Grandpa."

Mr. Zhou's hand holding the spoon stiffened for a moment. He put down the soup bowl and glanced at Chen Que without making a sound. He had a feeling that she seemed to be getting harder and harder to control.

It should be said that we have never been able to fully control it, and now it is about to slip out of our control.

Not only did Zhou's father have this feeling, but Zhou Yubai also noticed it.

When I first met her, she was injured and ill, and her wary eyes made her beauty extremely aggressive. Apart from that, I didn't find anything particularly special about her.

After several years together, he found her to be clever and cunning yet cold and wary of people. If he hadn't been certain that she had suffered brain damage and could no longer reconstruct her memories, he might have thought she was faking amnesia.

Not to mention in front of outsiders, even within the Zhou family, she showed no flaws.

At first, she was disobedient, and Zhou Yubai tried to "abandon" her, hoping that she would submit in panic and fear.

A woman with no memory, no family, no money, in a foreign land, pregnant, and wounded, is too easy to tame.

She immediately called Zhou's father and asked them to send some tonics.

One action made his father suspicious of him again.

Based on just two public arguments between Yao Shengjie and the Zhou family, he was able to see through their relationship and even use it to their advantage, keeping them in check so that he could be safe and well taken care of.

True composure doesn't involve such deep cunning.

Zhou Yubai investigated her background and found it to be clean and ordinary, just like the millions of people at the bottom of society in this city, as insignificant as a speck of dust, with no sense of existence.

He turned out to be just a clever little guy.

Reassured, he began to move forward with his plan.

Once he fully controls the Zhou family business, she will forever be nothing more than his slumbering lover.

Marriage can be a fact.

Zhou Yubai didn't care if she investigated Shen Que and Zhou Shaoqing's affairs on the ship, or if she did a DNA test, because everything was under his control.

But then Huo Junyan suddenly appeared.

He was unable to find out that she had any connection with Huo Junyan.

Shen Que fastened Xingxing's child seatbelt and closed the car door. Zhou Yubai stood in front of her and asked, "Did you go see Huo Junyan?"

“I saw him today.” Shen Que clasped his arm.

"Why did you go to see him? What did you talk about?" Zhou Yubai asked anxiously.

“The Chu Ci he mentioned went through a shipwreck with me. I’ve investigated so many times over the years, but to no avail. Even if I can’t remember it, I still need to get some answers.”

"What does all this have to do with Huo Junyan?"

"In that shipwreck, besides Shaoqing, only this girl named 'Chu Ci' perished. Yet he believed I was Chu Ci. Don't you have any doubts?"

Zhou Yubai's pupils contracted, and he gripped her shoulders. "I'll be shortlisted soon, and the Huo family is also eyeing this project. Yet, he comes to you at this time, bringing up the shipwreck from five years ago. Isn't his motive obvious?"

After a moment of contemplation, Shen Que said, "What you said makes sense. I will be careful."

"Huo Junyan is a ruthless man, and I'm worried that you'll be deceived by him."

“He can’t fool me,” Shen Que smiled faintly. “I don’t have Chu Ci’s memories, so whatever he says is useless.”

She raised her hand and pushed Zhou Yubai away. "Actually, this matter is easy to figure out. Investigate Chu Ci's identity. She was a victim back then. It should be easy to find out. You can help me find out, right?"

Zhou Yubai touched his nose. "This is easy."

“Then I’ll head back first,” Shen Que said as he got into the car. “You don’t need to worry about me. He says I’m Chu Ci, but he’ll have to provide evidence.”

It all comes down to who can produce more authentic evidence.

As dusk fades, the city lights begin to twinkle.

At the roundabout, the light is red.

As Shen Que watched the vehicles crisscrossing on the elevated highway, his eyes gradually became unfocused.

Since she can't leave the fish tank, she'll bring in someone more capable.

Huo Junyan and Yao Shengjie used their influence to muddy the waters.

This will make Zhou Yubai wary and suspicious, waiting for him to lose his temper and make a move.

Waiting for him to slip up.

Shen Que only told Yao Shengjie half the truth. Using Lin Muchen's hair was indeed an accident, but she still concluded that they were related by blood.

The light turned green, and she drove onto the roundabout.

Another matter: a month ago, Shen Que ran into someone who was the first officer on the ferry years ago. He recognized her at a glance and said that he had seen her on the deck back then.

During Shen Que's hospitalization after her injury, the captain and first mate visited her.

She was pleasantly surprised and left her contact information, secretly feeling that he might be a breakthrough.

By contacting the rescue company that handled the maritime disaster at the time through the ship's mate, one can view the surveillance footage from the 24 hours prior to the disaster.

After the ship sank, I immediately flew abroad and watched the old surveillance video from the ship at the rescue company. The video quality was already blurry because the ship was damaged in the collision, resulting in the destruction of many surveillance cameras.

The footage was intermittent, yet not a single frame of her was captured, let alone any footage of her interacting with Zhou Shaoqing.

At that moment, she thought of another name—Chu Ci.

The rescue company has all the information about the passengers from that trip, except for Chu Ci, who only has a name and no passport, photo, or ticket.

Since we don't know what he looks like, we can't be sure if Chu Ci is in the surveillance footage.

Before leaving, she only told Lin Muchen that she was going to investigate the matter on the ship.

When she returned, her answer was: "Nothing."

Lin Muchen said something very true:

"Has someone erased all traces of your existence?"

She was referring to herself and Zhou Shaoqing.

However, this time she was investigating Shen Que and Chu Ci.

Shen Que drove through the underground parking garage and exited from the other side of the community's garage.

There's a tea and snack shop on the nearby commercial street. Apart from the meals cooked by our nanny, Aunt Liu, the food at this tea and snack shop is the most to my liking.

It's getting late, and all that's left for tea and snacks is fermented rice with shaved ice, mung bean soup, and the last serving of osmanthus rice cake, which Xingxing is allergic to.

Before the New Year, there were a few small red dots on Xingxing's bottom.

At first, she thought it was because she had taken him to the children's pool.

After some time, I noticed small red spots on his bottom and back. I took him to the hospital for a checkup and found that it was an allergic reaction caused by functional oligosaccharides produced after rice cake fermentation. Small amounts are harmless.

Shen remembered it clearly: she brought osmanthus rice cakes to the Zhou family, and everyone ate them.

Ordinary people might not specifically check for allergens, but Zhou's father, Yao Shengjie, must know which foods she cannot eat. Even if a small amount is harmless, she will not touch them if she cannot eat them.

That's why she had the idea of ​​getting a kinship test.

Yao Shengjie's sample was lost.

Shen Que casually put Lin Muchen's hair into Yao Shengjie's sample, thus proving that the previous DNA tests had been falsified.

At that moment, she confirmed all her doubts from the past few years.

Shen Que bought the last rice cake and drove back to the underground garage, only to find a silver-gray luxury car parked in his spot.

We just walked straight through the garage, not here.

It was getting late, and she didn't want to call someone to move her car, so she parked it in a temporary parking space. Just then, she saw Huo Junyan get out of his luxury car.

Shen Que got out of the car. "Mr. Huo, were you waiting for me specifically?"

"I have other conditions for today's cooperation."

Waiting for her in her parking spot late at night just to talk about this?

Xingxing got out of the car, looked up at him, and said, "Uncle, it's you! Mommy and I came to the hospital to see you. Is your injury all healed?"

Huo Junyan coughed lightly, and before he could answer, Xingxing had already run to the luxury car. "Uncle, your car is so cool."

"Want to give it a try?"

Xingxing nodded happily. Huo Junyan opened the car door, but Xingxing wouldn't let him hold her. She climbed in on her hands and feet, groped around for a while, and suddenly grabbed something and jumped down, running to Chen Que. "Mommy, look, I found my ambulance!"

The toy car that Xingxing lost.

Shen Que gave Huo Junyan a meaningful look, then bent down to carefully "confirm" the toy ambulance his son was holding up. "Really? So it was Uncle who found it. Quickly thank Uncle."

"Thank you, Uncle."

Huo Junyan pursed his lips, avoiding Chen Que's gaze, and said without changing his expression, "You're welcome."

Shen Que, holding Xingxing's hand, tilted her head and asked him, "What are the conditions?"

He paused for a moment, then said, "How about we talk another day?"

?

He waited for her late at night in the underground parking garage just to tell her that he had other conditions, but he wouldn't tell her what those conditions were.

Huo Junyan wouldn't be that bored or idle.

That's what he was waiting for.

The Chu Ci (Songs of Chu).

She left in a hurry this afternoon; could he have been waiting for her until now?

Shen Que made a quick decision, "How about we go to my house? Our cooperation isn't complicated, and since you're already here, Mr. Huo..."

Whether it's to break free from the Zhou family's control or what she's going to do next, she needs to leverage Huo Junyan's influence.