Old Master Zhan took a deep breath, composed himself, and calmly said, "If you want to know the child's whereabouts, Jing Ting must agree to do me a favor."

"You still dare to bargain with us?" Ruan Wanyi was furious.

Zhan Jingting said with great interest, "Go on."

"My request is very simple, and you can easily do it with your abilities," Elder Zhan said. "I want you to help me take over the Hezhong Alliance from Zhan Xiuwen, let my grandson take over it, and from now on, you are not allowed to suppress the Hezhong Alliance; you must let it develop smoothly."

Ruan Wanyi laughed directly, "You want Jingting to clear all obstacles for you and just hand you the money? How come you're so good at calculating?"

"Wanyi, you don't need to laugh at me. Now that things have come to this, I really don't care about losing face anymore." Old Zhan looked at Zhan Jingting. "So, how about it? This deal is very worthwhile for you, isn't it?"

Ruan Wanyi looked anxiously at Zhan Jingting, but didn't know what to say.

He didn't want Zhan Lao to succeed, but he couldn't ignore his grandson's whereabouts!

Zhan Jingting smiled faintly and said, "Of course I'll look for my own son, but I haven't heard anything. So why should I believe that you'll find out my son's whereabouts before I do?"

Elder Zhan was taken aback. "You don't want to make a deal with me?"

"Why should I make a deal with you?" Zhan Jingting crossed his long legs, his deep, cold eyes looking at him with a half-smile. "I don't believe a word you say."

Ruan Wanyi compromised, saying, "Elder Zhan, if you really know anything about the child, you can tell us first. I can write a contract: as long as I can find the child, the Alliance will definitely help you get him. Even if we can't, we'll give you whatever the Alliance is worth. Is that alright?"

Old Zhan said, "Your family is run by Jing Ting, how can we believe what you say?"

"This concerns my grandson. Jingting must listen to me. If he doesn't, I'll kill myself!" Ruan Wanyi looked anxiously at Zhan Jingting. "Say something!"

Zhan Jingting shrugged. "I can certainly afford this amount of money, and I can also secure the alliance. If you really have any information, I'm willing to grant your request."

Ruan Wanyi was overjoyed. "Did you hear that? Jingting agreed! Tell me quickly!"

Old Zhan hesitated, "This is risky. What if you change your mind? Wouldn't I have gained nothing? I need to go back and think about it."

Ruan Wanyi was extremely anxious, "How could we possibly go back on our word!"

"I need time to think about it. I'll let you know when I've made up my mind."

After saying this, Zhan Lao got up and left.

"Wait a minute!" Ruan Wanyi wanted to chase after him, but Zhan Jingting stopped her.

"Don't chase after them."

“Jingting, he knows where the child is!” Ruan Wanyi said anxiously. “The child must also have a hereditary disease, and we don’t know where he is suffering now. Aren’t you worried at all?”

"What's the use of being anxious? Do you really think he's afraid we'll change our minds?"

Ruan Wanyi was taken aback. "What do you mean? Isn't that right?"

"Of course he knows I always keep my word. Normally, he would have seized such an opportunity long ago, but today he hesitated and left. There is only one possibility: he is lying and he has no clue at all."

"How could this be..." Ruan Wanyi said in disbelief, "He's lying to us?"

“What lie can’t a desperate person make up? He’s using his child as an excuse because he’s at his wit’s end and wants to see where my bottom line is, and whether there are any people or things he still cares about.”

Ruan Wanyi was extremely disappointed. "He was lying to us! Does that mean my grandson is still missing? Jingting, Wen Xue genuinely believed that Eleven was her child at first, so she truly loved him. But this child might not be so lucky, so I'm really scared, afraid that he'll suffer outside..."

Zhan Jingting said, "Before Wen Ru died, she told Wanwan that Eleven had a twin brother, but there's no way to verify it now. No one knows if it's true or not. If it's false, aren't you just worrying and feeling sad for nothing?"

“That’s true.” Ruan Wanyi wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. “Thinking about these things now is a bit pointless. Actually, I’m also conflicted. I hope this child exists, but I’m also afraid that he really does exist.”

Aunt Zheng spoke up, "Madam, if the young master really has a twin brother, that's a good thing. What are you afraid of?"

“It’s obvious you haven’t thought this through. If there’s another twin, he’ll definitely have a genetic disease too. Won’t the child suffer?” Ruan Wanyi became more and more distressed as she thought about it. “If the child comes back, how can we save him? Wanwan is already lying in bed. Are we going to have to keep drawing her blood to donate to the other child?”

Zheng Ma nodded sadly, "What Madam says is true."

"Forget it, let's not talk about these unverified things anymore. I'm going to go see Wanwan."

Zhan Jingting leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes to rest, and after a long while, he called Jiang Dong over, "Is there any news about the child?"

"Master Zhan, we're investigating, but we still haven't found any leads," Jiang Dong reported. "Back then, the young lady gave birth to the child at the Qiao family's villa in the suburbs. The bodyguard who guarded the place is dead. I went to his family, and they said that the job was easy and paid well, but the only problem was that he had to sign a confidentiality agreement and couldn't reveal anything about the employer's family. In order to keep his job, he didn't tell his family anything."

"As for the midwife that Qiao Yuqi found on the black market, we have no clue about her. I went to the prison to see Qiao Yuqi and told her that as long as she could provide clues, I would try to reduce her sentence. She was very willing to cooperate and provided a name. I looked into it and there is indeed such a person."

"That man was a middleman in the black market. He recalled that a generous girl had indeed approached him that year, asking him to help find someone who could take care of pregnant women and deliver babies on her own."

“But they never keep records in this line of work. They just take the money, do the job, and move on. Too much time has passed, and he can’t remember who the midwife was. I offered him money as a condition to try to remember and provide clues, but at the moment, it seems that the chances of finding her are slim.”

Zhan Jingting frowned slightly. "This midwife is the key. She delivered the child. To be able to switch the baby and turn Eleven into Wen Xue's child, there must be someone with considerable power manipulating things behind the scenes. Maybe even Wen Ru is just a pawn. And this person's plan is very comprehensive. What I don't know now is whether this person is targeting me or Wanwan."

Jiang Dong analyzed, "If this person already knew that the young lady was carrying your child, then it's highly likely that it was targeting you. If he didn't know, then it might be targeting the young lady."

"But the young lady was only an eighteen-year-old student at the time. How could someone have set up such a big scheme against her?"