Chapter 14
Zhou Yubai's eyes were bloodshot, and he gritted his teeth, "You've bribed Du Zhiguo and Cui Chongning."
"Ha," she couldn't help but laugh out loud, "with your IQ, you deserve to lose."
Cui Chongning had been with Zhou's father for decades and was already in a high position with financial freedom. He couldn't be bought off with ordinary money.
She continued to provoke him, "Who do you think Cui Chongning listens to?"
Zhou Yubai looked bewildered. Could this be his father's intention?
"Your abilities don't match your ambitions. How could your father watch the empire he built with his own hands be destroyed in your hands?"
“Impossible. Anyone can see the potential of this project,” Zhou Yubai said in disbelief. “He’s not senile.”
She raised an eyebrow. "Of course he's not confused."
Therefore, I will not support you.
The air was stagnant.
Everyone can see the potential of this project, so why do so many people disagree?
Whose future? — Zhou Yubai's future.
Someone just doesn't want him to go up.
“You know your father better than I do; your ambition has frightened him.” Once you reach that high position, you won’t want to step down, let alone someone like Zhou’s father.
“It’s you.”
"I only offered him a suggestion." Saying too much to someone like Zhou's father would only arouse his suspicion.
She admitted it without any burden.
Zhou Yubai slammed his fists on the table and roared, "You ruined me."
"And what about me?" She sat still, her voice indifferent, like the still, lifeless sea at night.
Zhou Yubai's face contorted with a mixture of ferocity, shock, resentment, and disbelief, his voice softening considerably as he spoke, "Chen Que, you..."
What did you call me?
He suddenly stood up straight, clenched his fists and then curled them together, took a step back, and subconsciously looked towards the door. His chest heaved rapidly, and his thoughts were so chaotic that he couldn't make sense of them at all.
After a long while, Zhou Yubai looked at her, his eyes calm, "You couldn't possibly have regained your memories. Did that Huo guy tell you that?"
It is impossible to recover memories.
impossible……
"Ugh," she gagged, but forced it down and looked up at him coldly.
How do you know Huo Junyan isn't lying to you? Isn't using you?
"Heh, heh, heh," she sneered repeatedly, "How could you be so stupid? Do you think you can do this in a short time?" Huo Junyan's appearance was just an extra layer of insurance for her actions.
He had been watching her closely, so he was well aware that her contact with Huo Junyan was recent.
A flash of ruthlessness crossed Zhou Yubai's eyes. "When did you start to have doubts?"
Aside from not finding any prior acquaintance between her and Huo Junyan, he was confident that he had done everything perfectly. Even if she had doubts, the examination report was quite clear.
He has kept track of all her movements over the years.
No one helped her.
She did not compromise with her father and Yao Shengjie, and because she did not want Xingxing to have the surname Zhou, she refused to take the child back to the Zhou family, which had already angered the Zhou family, and the Zhou family would not help her.
Today's situation, which appears to be a sudden attack by Du Zhiguo, has actually been carefully planned for at least one or two years.
Did she really start plotting against him so early on?
“From beginning to end.” He chuckled self-deprecatingly. “I’m naturally suspicious, especially since what you did was full of loopholes.”
She looked at him sneer. "You said I was your brother's girlfriend, that you'd never met me before, yet you desperately protected me from Shaoqing's mother, and now you want to fight Shaoqing for the family fortune. Ha... Zhou Yubai, don't you think you're contradictory? No one can remember all lies, especially not these past five years."
Zhou Yubai walked around the scattered chairs, hysterically shouting, "Haven't I been good enough to you these past five years? I've always indulged you, let you have your way in everything. Five years ago, I helped you; I've always been the one protecting you. It was me!"
She suddenly stood up and kicked over the chair that was blocking the two of them. "You used me. If it weren't for you five years ago, I would have received the right treatment and I wouldn't have to be someone else."
Zhou Yubai was startled.
She finally learned her true identity.
"I am Chu Ci."
Zhou Yubai stepped back and tripped on the chair.
Chu Ci placed her hands on the armrests of the chair, leaned down and stared intently at him, "For the past five years, you've made me bear the burden of Zhou Shaoqing's death. Someone I didn't even know had an accident, yet you pinned it on me! Did you ever think about me?"
Over the course of five years, Yao Shengjie repeatedly demanded that she give back her son's life, uttering all sorts of hurtful words, but she remained indifferent because she couldn't remember anything.
But I inevitably felt guilty about it.
For many days and nights, she tried desperately to remember so that she could explain things clearly and give Yao Shengjie an explanation.
It turns out that it wasn't that she couldn't remember, but rather that none of this had anything to do with her.
It turned out that she didn't know Zhou Shaoqing at all, but she had felt guilty about his death for five years.
Chu Ci gasped for breath, and it took her a long time to calm her still suppressed resentment.
"In order to clear yourself of suspicion, you made me, a passerby, suffer Yao Shengjie's hatred. You even used my child to control her, making her hesitant to act and repeatedly give in at the company, which allowed you to take advantage of her."
Initially, it was just that the rescuers had mistaken his identity.
Why the mistake was made is currently unknown.
However, Zhou Yubai was always paying attention to Zhou Shaoqing, so how could he not recognize the real Shen Que? He could have corrected the identity error immediately.
But they just went along with it.
The moment the news of Zhou Shaoqing's death arrived, Zhou's father and Yao Shengjie were almost driven mad.
When they learned that only two people had died, Zhou Yubai was their first suspect.
In an attempt to divert attention from the conflict, he pushed the severely injured and amnesiac Chu Ci into a quagmire, only to discover that she was pregnant. He saw her as a rare commodity and, while trying to appease Yao Shengjie, he also tried to win over people in the company.
Since he had information about Chu Ci's identity, he was completely fearless.
Chu Ci smiled with a hint of sorrow, "I think if you win today, you will expose my identity, take revenge on Yao Shengjie, and the company will fall into your hands alone."
“No, no,” he said, his eyes wide, shaking his head vigorously, then suddenly gripping her arm tightly. “I admit, I lied to you at first, but my feelings for you over the years…”
"Whose feelings do you have?" Chu Ci interrupted with disgust.
“I like you, I love you,” he said, gripping her arm tightly.
Unable to shake him off, Chu Ci kicked his shin bone hard with the tip of her high heel, "Who do you like? The puppet you killed in the past?"
She slapped Zhou Yubai hard across the face, "Who do you love? The fake sister-in-law you created?"
He suddenly laughed, his tongue pressing against his cheek. "You woman, you're really cold-blooded. Over the years, anyone else would have softened long ago, even if they knew the truth."
The Chu Ci turns around.
“Your parents don’t care about you at all. Whether you are Shen Que or Chu Ci, we are the same kind of people. We are the kind of people who can keep each other warm.”
She glanced back at him, and Zhou Yubai scoffed, "Our business isn't over yet."
"I think so too." She turned around, her back to him, looked up, and gently wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes with her fingertips.
As Lin Muchen stepped out of the conference room, he stood at the door, his eyes red-rimmed. "You've gone too far."
Exhausted, Chu Ci walked past her and went straight to press the elevator button. Lin Muchen caught up and blocked her from entering the elevator.
"Do you know how long President Zhou has been preparing for this day?"
Chu Ci's eyes were indifferent as she watched the elevator doors close and the elevator go down. She glanced at Lin Muchen, whose collar had been pulled to one side, revealing a dense array of hickeys on his collarbone.
Suddenly, she remembered seeing Zhou Yubai and Lin Muchen in the underground parking garage a few years ago.
My first reaction was joy; I felt a sudden sense of relief, as if no burden had been lifted from my heart.
Lin Muchen followed Zhou Yubai in this ambiguous way for several years, which is both tragic and lamentable.
Seeing her stubborn expression, Chu Ci sighed helplessly, "Yes, I know."
"You," Lin Muchen's eyes reddened with anger at her indifferent attitude, and he gritted his teeth as he cursed her, "I knew you had a volatile personality all along. We all had to go along with you and watch your every whim. I never expected you to still be so cold-blooded and selfish, only thinking of yourself. You ruined him. Do you know what he's going to face next? How could you do this? You're utterly despicable, you wicked woman..."
Chu Ci took a deep breath. "Mu Chen, have you thought about yourself?"
Lin Muchen's angry, sobbing expression froze. "Chen Que,"
“My name is Chu Ci,” she said, staring into her eyes. “You already knew that.”
Lin Muchen was speechless. "Your memory has returned? But, but so what? That's no excuse for ruining him! How could you do this to him? How could you be so cruel? How could you..."
She burst into tears.
Chu Ci saw the scar on her palm as she wiped away her tears, and said, "I forgive you."
"What did you say?" Her eyes widened, unable to believe that someone could be so arrogant and shameless. "What right do you have to say you forgive me? I should be the one saying I don't forgive you, I hate you, and you're not my friend."
"Zhou Yubai is not worthy of your efforts."
Lin Muchen froze, his lips trembling, he stammered, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face, "I, I, I didn't, I didn't..."
She pressed the elevator button.
“Chen, Chu Ci, he likes you. Yu Bai likes you too,” Lin Muchen said, gripping her wrist tightly. “Are you taking revenge on Yu Bai because of me and what happened between him?”
She cried even harder, her voice choked with sobs and completely out of tune, "When he was with me, all he thought about was you. I always hoped that I..."
Chu Ci forcefully pulled her hand back, her arm scratched by her fingernails.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," she apologized incoherently. "Please help him again, okay? He loves you. I've always hoped you would get a divorce, but I know he won't leave you."
Chu Ci pressed the close button. "You and Zhou Yubai were never together, so there's no question of one of you leaving."
The elevator doors closed, Chu Ci closed her eyes, slowly exhaled, and smiled coldly: Zhou Yubai, this is just the beginning.
Yao Shengjie couldn't possibly remain unmoved by what was said at the Zhou family's house that day.
The quiet of the past few days is more like the calm before the storm.
Chu Ci did not believe she was entirely innocent in Yao Shengjie's eyes. After learning that Xingxing was not her grandson, it was hard to say whether her hatred would be directed at her.
Also, why did Yao Shengjie suddenly agree to their marriage back then?
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