As night deepened, Lu Zhe and Xue Xiaodie returned to their respective bedrooms to prepare for sleep. Tang Qi also returned to her bedroom, but after closing the door, she didn't immediately wash up and go to bed. Instead, she dialed her mother's phone number.

Faced with a broken capital chain, and moreover, due to her father's withdrawal of funds, the young lady had no choice but to seek another investor in her life.

After the call connected, my mother's familiar voice rang out, but it was filled with deep fatigue: "Hello, what's up?"

Tang Qi couldn't help but ask, "Mom, what's wrong? You sound like you're sick..."

The mother gave a wry smile: "Heh, I'm still working overtime right now, what do you think?"

Tang Qi asked in surprise, "Aren't you the boss?"

"Small business owners have the least human rights."

After saying that, the mother on the other end of the phone let out a long sigh. That sigh was filled with untold bitterness.

Tang Qi suddenly felt that asking her mother for money, something that should have been a matter of course, had become unusually difficult to ask.

After a two-second silence, the mother suddenly asked, "You called because you guessed I was tired and wanted to check on me, right?"

"Hehe," Tang Qi forced a laugh, "I just wanted to say hello to you."

The mother scoffed, "Come on, when did you become such a sweet and considerate daughter?"

Tang Qi: "I always have been..."

Mother: "You've always been a net addict, a hardcore homebody. It's already a miracle you're not angry with me, let alone considerate?"

Tang Qi was both amused and exasperated: "Mom, you've worked so hard, and you still can't resist teasing me!"

Mother: "I'm just telling the truth. And you tell the truth too, what brings you to me so late? Did your father mistreat you?"

Tang Qi hesitated for a moment: "I..."

Mother: "You haven't really been wronged, have you? But wait, he's so rich, what could he possibly wrong you about?"

After hesitating for a long time, Tang Qi finally said quietly, "But what if it was him who made me suffer?"

The mother's tone immediately became much more serious: "Tell me, how did he wrong you?"

Tang Qi: "I recently developed a crush on a boy, and then my dad also set his sights on him..."

The mother on the other end of the phone gasped. After all, the few words, "My dad has his eye on him too," contained a lot of information.

She quickly pressed on, "Your dad's trying to steal your man? That can't be!"

Tang Qi couldn't help but complain, "What's impossible? He's done it all. Besides, that boy isn't interested in fencing, he's only interested in me, so my dad couldn't compete with me at all. And then... and then he actually cut off my allowance!"

The mother was somewhat taken aback: "Why did he cut off your allowance?"

Tang Qi sighed: "Because my dad said that the boy only likes me because of my money, so..."

The mother flew into a rage, saying, "That old gay man has absolutely no sense of right and wrong! How could a normal boy not like a well-behaved and adorable homebody like you?"

Tang Qi muttered under her breath, "There's no need to emphasize that I'm a homebody..."

Mother: "No, believe me, for men, liking to stay at home is a plus for girls, much better than liking to go out and have fun. Wait, tell me first, if he cuts off your allowance, how will you live on a daily basis?"

Tang Qi: "He said he would transfer the money to my school card and guarantee that I could spend it as I pleased at school, but I couldn't give it to any boys."

The mother suddenly seemed puzzled: "Isn't it easy for you to pick up boys by just snapping your fingers? What, do you actually need to pay someone to support you?"

Tang Qi: "I..."

The mother said "Oh," as if she had realized something, and said, "I understand, this boy is no pushover either. Never mind, you go to sleep first, I'll think of something."

Tang Qi said weakly, "What can you do? I just wanted to vent to you, I didn't want your help."

The mother laughed and said, "You originally wanted to ask me for help, but after hearing that I'm still working overtime so late, you felt I was working too hard, so you were too embarrassed to ask again, right?"

The girl was speechless.

"At least you have some conscience, you brat. Let me think about it, you go to sleep first."

————

Dai Ting hung up the phone.

Then she stood up and stretched. Looking around, all the workstations were empty; several employees had already gone home, leaving her alone in her rented apartment all night.

This apartment is nothing like the one Tang Qi, Tang Qi's daughter lives in in Chengdu. This tiny space of just a few dozen square meters, excluding the bathroom, is entirely used as offices. Of course, the bathroom is actually shared by the employees as well.

When Dai Ting divorced Tang Zehua, she didn't receive much in the settlement. After all, Tang Zehua was still in the early stages of his business, and although it was thriving, the money was circulating within the company and didn't directly belong to him personally. Of course, although the amount wasn't large, those few million should have been enough for Dai Ting to live a relatively comfortable life.

Unfortunately, she used the money to start her own company. After all these years, she realized that buying property and collecting rent was far more profitable than running a company. She initially thought she had mastered Old Tang's business methods, but now she gradually understands that her knowledge is far from sufficient.

This made Dai Ting even more melancholy. She had originally wanted to prove herself and show that she could live a better life without Tang Zehua, but what had happened? Tang Zehua had become a unicorn tycoon, while her company was shrinking year by year, moving from a high-end office building to an old office building and then to a small apartment. Even so, it was barely hanging on, and she didn't know when it would collapse.

"There's nothing we can do about it when our daughter is being bullied like that..."

Dai Ting muttered to herself as she walked into the bathroom, turned on the light, and looked at herself in the mirror.

She resembled Tang Qi by about seven or eight points, only not as youthful, though her large, round eyes were still quite beautiful. However, dark circles and crow's feet had appeared around those eyes.

And what about those superficial best friends you made when you were a wife? They're still clinging to their husbands, enjoying life to the fullest, going to beauty salons almost every day, and looking like they're just over thirty.

Why bother?

Dai Ting finally sighed, picked up her phone, and dialed that number.

However, she hung up the moment the call was dialed.

Leaning against the creaking old bathroom door, Dai Ting hesitated for a long time before gritting her teeth and finally dialing the number again.

Not long after, the call was answered.

Then there was a silence of nearly half a minute.

Finally, Tang Zehua's voice rang out: "I never thought I would receive a call from you one day."

Dai Ting took a deep breath and asked in a trembling voice, "That thing you told me about two years ago... is it still working?"

————