Chapter 265: None of them achieved their promised happiness

Chapter 265: None of them achieved the happiness they promised.

Qin Zhiyi always puts Fu Yanjing first.

Compared to Fu Xianzong, she certainly supported Fu Yanjing in pursuing true love.

But that doesn't mean we'd be happy to see him fall into a life of pleasure and then succumb to it.

Fu Yanjing was currently reviewing the records of his fourth uncle's recent collaborations and activities.

The reports are presented as flawless, even excessively perfect.

But inside, it is full of flaws.

He ran his fingers over the edge of the pages; these reports had not come easily.

Finding the flaws involved required a great deal of effort behind the scenes.

But his voice remained calm and composed.

"If I keep too close a watch, won't the other party become more cautious? To make someone slip up, you have to give them enough space to lower their guard."

"If we don't find enough dirt on them in a day, we can't completely eradicate those filthy things that are silently eroding the foundation of the Fu family. The Fu family has developed cleanly and honestly for a hundred years, and we can't leave any gray traces because of them."

Qin Zhiyi hadn't expected Fu Yanjing to be so meticulous.

He thought of this without making a sound, and then he did it.

While pursuing his wife in Jiangbei, his passionate pursuit created the illusion that he was blinded by love, giving malicious people the false impression that they had enough room to cause trouble.

One side—

Taking advantage of people's relaxed vigilance, they used the pretense of focusing on Henderson Land Development to actually liquidate other subsidiaries.

This achieves multiple benefits in one fell swoop.

Qin Zhiyi felt an indescribable shock and exhilaration.

Finally, she smiled with relief, "You really are a fox. You even fooled your own mother. I really thought you stayed in Jiangbei for love."

Fu Yanjing remained noncommittal. "Who says it isn't?"

Qin Zhiyi: ...

You underestimated him.

But it wasn't underestimated by much.

Qin Zhiyi suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "I heard Jinming went to Jiangbei? Could it be that he's also using the pretense of avoiding an arranged marriage to secretly help himself?"

Fu Yanjing scoffed.

"He's been overestimated."

But since they're already here, might as well make the most of it.

It's perfect for making a small nest.

*

Wen Jin also arranged to meet Shen Mingxi at Mingshanzhu.

This is a Chinese restaurant and club where even a glass of lemonade costs 48 yuan. The decor is luxurious and grand, making it the top choice for dining and entertaining guests in Jiangbei.

The prices of the dishes are comparable to those in Shanghai.

Shen Mingxi arrived much earlier than the agreed time, making Wen Jin, who arrived ten minutes early, the latecomer.

She was a little embarrassed.

Shen Jinzhao was mainly too anxious to see the necklace.

That necklace was put on her neck by her mother herself.

She still remembers the way her mother looked with tears in her eyes as she hung the necklace around her neck before her mother divorced and became a nun.

"Chaochao, Mommy won't be happy anymore. Mommy's sick, and it will only make you unhappy too. This necklace is for you, carrying your grandma's hopes. Will you be happy from now on?"

That necklace was a gift from someone when my grandmother was pregnant and traveling.

It wasn't anything expensive, but it was handmade and had a unique design.

It has a beautiful meaning.

There were originally two.

My grandmother was pregnant with twins.

Mom and Aunt.

However, neither of them was able to find happiness as promised.

My aunt was kidnapped by bad guys when she was a teenager and her whereabouts are unknown. My mother said that my grandmother cried every day during that time.

The marriage that the mother had high hopes for ended in a hasty and unsuccessful manner.

She was tormented and betrayed in that marriage.

She watched different women come and go from her biological father's side.

Although it was a business marriage.

But when his mother married him, he promised true love.

Perhaps love is indeed ever-changing.

But that marriage was a result of his deception from the very beginning.

So, my mother became a nun.

When her uncle came with a group of people to take her away, Shen Jinzhao herself didn't want to leave.

She thought, why should she leave a stable life to that man?

She was determined to stay here and, by sacrificing eight hundred of her own for the enemy's sake, make sure they never had a moment's peace.

*

Having lost it and then regained it, Shen Jinzhao's eyes welled up with tears.

Wen Jin could also see how much she cherished the necklace, and felt a little embarrassed thinking that she had slept for most of the day.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know this necklace was so important to you, making you worry for so long for no reason."

“I was too careless,” Shen Jinzhao explained. “This necklace was left to my mother and aunt by my maternal grandmother, and my mother put it on my neck. It is a legacy of love.”

Wen Jin naturally followed up by asking, "What about your aunt's?"

"My aunt... my aunt may no longer be alive."

"Feel sorry."

“It’s alright.” Shen Jinzhao shook his head. “Actually, we all wish our aunt were alive more than anyone else. She was kidnapped by bad guys when she was a teenager and disappeared. Grandma and Uncle never gave up searching for her, but after searching for so long, there was still no trace of her. We all knew that the hope was slim.”

Shen Jinzhao carefully put the necklace away.

The waiter served several exquisitely presented dishes.

Shen Jinzhao then pushed the menu to Wen Jinye.

"I didn't know what you liked to eat, and since we arrived early, I just ordered a few things. See if there's anything else you'd like to order."

"I'm fine with anything, I'm not picky about food."

Wen Jin also had some guesses about Shen Jinzhao's situation.

After all, she ran away from her arranged marriage, probably to avoid being found by her family.

"Is it really okay for you to have dinner with me in such a high-profile setting like this?"

"It's nothing." Shen Jinzhao quickly recovered from her sadness; she was starving.

He stuffed rice into his mouth and said, "I don't know anyone in Jiangbei. I took a ride-sharing service when I came here, and I've always paid in cash, so they shouldn't have found this place."

The thought that the cooperation between the Shen family and the Zhao family was on the verge of collapse meant that the Shen family had to make significant concessions to barely stabilize the Zhao family.

Shen Jinzhao felt great.

Do you want to treat her like a commodity and sell her for a higher price?

She made the Shen family lose both their wife and their money.

However, this risky move made Shen Jinzhao afraid to go to his grandmother's house or seek refuge with his uncle.

They were afraid that if the Zhao family demanded someone, it would implicate their uncle's family.

but--

Can anyone tell me how her cheap fiancé ended up in Jiangbei?

His behavior that night clearly showed that he didn't recognize her, and thankfully he didn't.

Shen Jinzhao did not know Zhao Jinming's purpose in coming to Jiangbei, so he dared not run away at this time. Adapting to any situation was the only way to survive.

*

At this moment, inside a private room on the second floor.

The aroma of tea wafts through the air, while the sound of the zither resonates.

With Zhao Jinming's pen, the cooperation negotiations finally came to a close.

After the man left, beaming with pride, Zhao Jinming sat at the table and finally realized what had happened.

"I traveled all the way to Jiangbei to cheer you up, only to find out I came here to be your victim."

He tapped the pen, still capped, on the table upside down. "You had me sign a contract worth hundreds of millions. Aren't you worried about that money going down the drain?"

Of course, the money came from Fu Yanjing.

"You've really fed your fourth uncle a lot this time. That old man has been ambitious from the beginning, and he's been pulling a lot of stunts behind the scenes to fight for power over the years. Especially after you got together with reporter Wen, he stopped pretending at all. You don't think you can control the Fu family just like that, do you?"

Actually, his fourth uncle was an ambitious man, and of course, he also had the means to achieve his goals.

However, Fu Yanjing was not without precautions.

If pressure continues and they try to steal the deal, it won't cause much of a stir.

But Fu Yanjing refused.

Knowing full well that the other party was secretly one of his fourth uncle's men, Fu Yanjing pushed Zhao Jinming forward when they came to Hengji to discuss cooperation.

The middleman acts as a go-between, giving the other party the impression that they have limited control over their funds.

This also allowed the other party to bypass Henderson Land and reach for the much larger prize that is the Zhao Group.

Zhao Jinming didn't quite understand this move.

"You know perfectly well that they have treacherous intentions, and you also know that they have already reached a cooperation agreement with your fourth uncle behind the scenes. Ah Jing, what are you really thinking?"

Fu Yanjing said casually, "The more lucrative the project, the more unsightly they are in their greed."