Chapter 9
Chen Que parked the car and turned off the engine, without rushing to get out.
Zhou Yubai picked Xingxing up from kindergarten and left her a message saying that her grandparents missed their grandson.
She didn't deliberately hide her trip to the Huo Group, so Zhou Yubai couldn't have been unaware of it. He waited until today to react, giving her a warning while leaving room for maneuver.
He called a delivery service to bring him a branded bird's nest gift box. Chen Que got out of the car, picked up the gift box, and rang the bell.
As I changed my shoes in the entryway, I heard the lively chatter coming from the living room. A child's adorable voice was making noises like "woo-wah" and "hi-ha," accompanied by cheers, which made the child's voice even more excited.
As Chen Que walked through the entryway, she saw a children's slide installed in the living room. Xingxing was sitting on the top of it, and when she saw her, Huanmeng waved her little hands, "Mommy~"
It slid down in a flash.
Zhou's father, who was crouching under the slide in a protective posture, turned around and said gently, "Chen Que is back."
“Dad,” Shen Que nodded with a smile, and Zhou Yubai took the bird’s nest gift box from her hand, “Aunt Yao, Shen Que still remembers your preferences.”
Yao Shengjie was also half-squatting and playing with the child when she heard the noise. She turned around and looked back, her eyes filled with undisguised hatred.
Shen Que acted as if he hadn't seen it.
Zhou Yubai's relationship with the Zhou family is delicate.
He was born to Zhou's father and his ex-wife. His parents divorced when he was young, and Zhou Yubai lived with his mother. After growing up, he joined the Zhou family business and has always endured the exclusion by Zhou's father's current wife, Yao Shengjie.
As Xingxing slid down the slide, Yao Shengjie held the child in her arms and played with him using toys.
“Star, come to Mommy,” Shen Que bent down and opened her arms, “come home with Mommy.”
Yao Shengjie suddenly tightened her arms, looked up and stared intently at Shen Que, saying each word clearly, "This is my grandson's home."
Xingxing seemed to feel uncomfortable, struggled for a moment, and looked up, "Grandma." Yao Shengjie quickly relaxed and coaxed her softly, but refused to let go.
From the moment she entered the door, Shen Que maintained a calm smile on her face. "Mom, Xingxing has her own home."
Zhou Yubai stepped forward and placed the bird's nest gift box on the coffee table closest to Yao Shengjie.
Seeing this, Zhou's father smiled and smoothed things over, "Look, Shen Que and Yu Bai are both very filial. Aunt Zhang, start stewing the bird's nest."
Yao Shengjie didn't even look up. "Baby, there are still a lot of gifts in the children's room that haven't been opened yet, including many toy cars."
Xingxing ran happily towards the children's area where gifts were piled up, not forgetting to turn around and say, "Mommy, I'll go home with you after I unpack my gifts."
"Okay, then you'd better hurry up and unpack it, Mommy will be leaving soon."
“Zhang Ma, you can have the bird’s nest,” Yao Shengjie said, raising her chin high. “I’m afraid this quality might cause problems, so don’t bring it again.”
Mr. Zhou glanced at Yao Shengjie with displeasure and lowered his voice, "How could you talk like that... Shen Que, don't mind him." He gestured for Zhang Ma to quickly take the bird's nest away.
“I don’t mind, Mom and Dad. Bringing gifts when I visit is only polite. You can do whatever you want with them,” Shen Que said with a smile.
Yao Shengjie lunged forward, her eyes wide with fury, but was stopped by Zhou's father. "Alright, alright, Aunt Zhang, let's eat. Shengjie, take the baby to wash his hands and eat."
Zhou Yubai suddenly said, "Xingxing, stop playing. Daddy will help you wash your hands and eat."
"Shut up!" Yao Shengjie was furious. She shook off Zhou's father, shoved Zhou Yubai hard with both hands, and stumbled and fell to the ground.
Everyone rushed forward to check.
She lay on the ground, staring intently at Zhou Yubai.
"What are you?"
The sound was squeezed out from between his teeth, and his lips trembled.
Zhou's father grabbed Yao Shengjie's arm, a veiled warning in his voice, "You're done now."
"Get away," Yao Shengjie said forcefully, glaring at the three of them. "You are heartless bastards. My son is dead. No one remembers him except me. None of you can take away the only flesh and blood my son left in this world."
Tears streamed down her face as she spoke too forcefully.
Mr. Zhou looked grief-stricken. "Shaoqing is also my son. How could I forget him? But it's been five years. People have to move on."
"Shut up, what are you looking at? Tell me what you're looking at? The road to the underworld? Yes, my son is waiting for me on the road to the underworld."
He remained indifferent and watched from the sidelines.
This scene has played out far too many times in the past five years.
She's become numb to it all.
I first met Yao Shengjie at the rescue hospital.
Just as the nurse was cutting the gauze off her hand to change her dressing, someone rushed in, grabbed her by the neck, and, in a state of madness, shouted that she should pay with her life.
The sudden feeling of suffocation was as if she had been pushed back into the icy seawater, and the will to survive drove her body to make an instinctive resistance.
Bend your knees and thrust your chest forward, grab your wrists and twist your arms behind your back, then flip over and straddle your partner.
Her muscles seemed very familiar with these fighting techniques; she raised her hand and slapped him across the face, reopening the wound on her hand and smearing blood all over his face.
Zhou Yubai and the others rushed in, separated them, and said, "These are Shaoqing's parents."
She let go, stood aside, head down, and let Yao Shengjie hurl insults at her until the rescue organization forcibly took her away.
She picked up a gauze to wipe the blood from her hands. Zhou Yubai pressed the gauze against her hand, and only then did she notice the scratches on Zhou Yubai's face and the tear in his not-so-clean shirt.
He stood between the two of them the whole time.
Only then did she begin to be willing to communicate with Zhou Yubai.
Before this, it was always him talking and her listening without responding.
After she woke up, the doctor said that her brain cells had been damaged due to prolonged lack of oxygen, which could lead to amnesia or even cognitive impairment.
Zhou Yubai was right beside them; he was the one who contacted the doctors.
She silently cooperated with the treatment, trying to understand why her mind was blank.
Zhou Yubai asked her if she couldn't remember what happened on the ship. He said that Zhou Shaoqing's parents found out that she had booked the tickets, and the two of them shared a room, but Zhou Shaoqing died in the room.
...
Yao Shengjie contacted her a second time when she was transferred from the rescue hospital to a regular hospital.
The woman who had just lost her only son went mad, sometimes begging her to return Shaoqing to her, sometimes cursing her to go to hell.
At that time, all she knew about Zhou Shaoqing was the name Zhou Yubai mentioned and unfamiliar events; she couldn't even piece together a complete picture.
Her silence provoked Yao Shengjie.
She suddenly grabbed the medical forceps from the tray; given the circumstances and the distance between them, she had nowhere to hide.
No one expected Zhou Yubai to pounce on her, shielding her beneath him, while medical forceps were plunged into his back.
Yao Shengjie was hysterical, grabbing Zhou's father and demanding that he see clearly that they had conspired to kill their son, that Zhou Yubai had killed Zhou Shaoqing in order to seize the Zhou family business, and that of all the people on the ship, only two had died, including her son. She also questioned why they, as parents, had no idea that Zhou Shaoqing had a girlfriend...
Shen is indeed Zhou Shaoqing's girlfriend, yet Zhou Yubai protects her desperately, which arouses suspicion from everyone.
Despite his father's almost cruel questioning, Zhou Yubai's injured body still protected him.
"She is pregnant with Shaoqing's child."
Yao Shengjie refused to believe it and demanded a DNA test, which Zhou's father immediately arranged.
Shen Que's patience had reached its limit. "No need for that trouble. It will be easier for you to do the identification once we take it down."
The couple fell silent instantly.
She wasn't entirely provoked by Yao Shengjie and said those words in anger.
A dead boyfriend, a self with no memory, and the terrifying Zhou family—cutting off all contact is the only rational choice.
However, abortion is not permitted under local laws.
Her health condition also prevented her from being discharged from the hospital and returning to China.
However, since then, Yao Shengjie has never lost control and resorted to violence again.
The couple brought her many tonics and pressed her for details about her and Zhou Shaoqing, especially about what happened on the ferry.
Shen Que remained silent most of the time; if asked too many questions, she would simply say, "I forgot."
She knew that Yao Shengjie wouldn't believe that "forgot" meant literally, and would only become more suspicious of her.
But that's exactly the result she wanted.
Who wants others to know they have amnesia? That's tantamount to exposing a weakness.
This situation continued until he returned to China, at which point Shen Que immediately scheduled surgery.
Zhou Yubai said, "If you can never remember the past, and your life can only start from now, I hope that you have blood relatives to accompany you."
Blood relatives...
For the first time since learning she was pregnant, she was shaken, and miraculously, she felt fetal movement that day.
Determined to keep the child, Shen Que joined Zhou's Enterprises. Initially, she worked in the legal department, but unfortunately, she couldn't recall any of the legal provisions, so she chose the software development department instead.
You can learn it in no time.
This kind of highly specialized knowledge doesn't appear out of thin air.
Soon, Zhou Yubai contacted Shen Que's school, and she was indeed a software engineering major.
...
The day after giving birth to Xingxing, Yao Shengjie led a group to snatch the child. Even though she was on guard and Zhou Yubai sent bodyguards, she still lived in fear every night.
During those days, Zhou Yubai's face was always bruised.
He kept them out of the ward at all times.
Yao Shengjie's act of snatching the child made Shen Que completely believe in her identity and her affair with Zhou Shaoqing.
She knew they had countless ways to bypass her and get the child's DNA tested.
Yao Shengjie will definitely undergo a kinship test.
During those days, she lived in constant fear, never leaving her ward. She secretly strung up an electrical cord, tied it to the window, and turned it on. She would string up bells haphazardly in the room before she dared to sleep... doing things she didn't know if they were even useful.
Soon, Zhou's father and Yao Shengjie sued Shen Que, fighting for custody of the child.
The lawyer accused Shen Que of being a "peripheral girl" who lured wealthy second-generation men and was a major suspect in Zhou Shaoqing's death. He argued that such a person was unsuitable to raise Zhou Shaoqing's son and should be stripped of her custody and visitation rights.
Given Shen Que's situation at the time, it was impossible for him to contend with the Zhou family.
She doesn't even remember what happened on the ship, so she can't even file a lawsuit. Exposing her amnesia will only make her lose even more completely.
She wanted to run into the street with her child and shout, hoping that passersby would at most gather around, take pictures, and call the police for her; or she could rush to the police station, but she would still have to go to court.
Looking to go abroad? Where to go? How to get out?
She has already been sued and cannot leave with her child.
"Let's get married."
When Zhou Yubai was desperate, he proposed marriage, which was quite unexpected.
He replied, "There is no major fault on my part. The child's custody rests solely with the parents. As long as our marriage is legal, the court won't even accept the case, and those accusations against you will not stand."
Shen Que used his body to block the crib, and reached under the pillow with one hand, gripping a fruit knife tightly.
Zhou Yubai is also a member of the Zhou family, and he's finally going to help the Zhou family snatch her child...
“I need to take over the Zhou family’s business, and I need my brother’s child to help me gain my father’s support,” he explained to her, word by word. “If we get married, my father won’t need to fight for custody anymore, since they are all his grandchildren anyway.”
"Once I get the Zhou family business, we'll break off the engagement. Don't worry, I won't fight you for custody. It wasn't even my child to begin with."
On the verge of a mental breakdown, Shen Que doesn't think at all; he just clings tightly to this lifeline, even if it's just a snake's tongue.
Get your marriage certificate immediately.
As expected, Zhou's father withdrew the lawsuit.
According to Lin Muchen, Yao Shengjie caused a huge uproar, leading to turmoil among the company's senior management, and Zhou's father's team and Yao Shengjie's people went to war.
Zhou Yubai mediated and persuaded Yao Shengjie to stop, thus calming the situation.
Over the years, Yao Shengjie's team has been gradually merged, audited, and squeezed out, while Zhou's father's team has been subdued and sidelined by him...
Shen Que soon realized that rather than "persuading" Yao Shengjie, it was more accurate to say that he was using Zhou Shaoqing's child to both threaten and win her over.
Just like now, he is still using words to provoke Yao Shengjie, who has already gone mad.
"...Aunt Yao, I really do treat Xingxing like my own son..."
A mocking smile curled at the corner of Shen Que's lips. He turned and walked out of the arched sofa area, around the tea table, down a step, to the children's room, where Xingxing sat amidst a pile of gift boxes, simultaneously controlling several toy cars.
There wasn't a sound of fighting or shouting to be heard here.
Shen Que affectionately stroked his son's head, "Are you hungry?"
Xingxing looked left at the toy cars around her, then right at the toy gun, shook her head, and continued playing with the Transformer in her hand. Chen Que chuckled, "But Mommy's hungry. Shall we eat together?"
"Alright then." Xingxing stood up, hesitated for a moment, and decided to put down the Transformers and pick up the toy car.
living room.
Yao Shengjie was still kneeling on the ground, her hair disheveled, tearing at the Zhou family father and son. When the three of them saw the stars, they immediately stopped tearing at each other.
"Grandma," Xingxing ran a few steps, looked at Yao Shengjie's appearance, hesitated for a moment, and turned back, "Mommy, what's wrong with Grandma?"
"Grandma fell down, and Grandpa and Uncle are helping her up."
Xingxing immediately ran over, even dropping her toy car, and helped Yao Shengjie up. "Grandma, why are you crying?"
Yao Shengjie wiped away her tears and smoothed her hair. "Grandma hurt herself when she fell."
"Grandma, don't cry." Xingxing gently rubbed her knee with her little hands.
Zhou Yubai smiled and said, "Xingxing still has a way." As he spoke, he reached out to touch the back of the child's head, but Yao Shengjie, who was sitting on the sofa, immediately pulled the child into her arms and stared at him intently.
Seeing that another major battle was about to break out, Shen Que shot him a sharp look, and seeing the stern warning on Zhou's father's face, Zhou Yubai finally shut up.
“Mom, let me go upstairs with you to change your clothes,” Shen Que said to Zhou’s father. “Dad, it’s almost seven o’clock, and Xingxing hasn’t had dinner yet. Why don’t you take her to get something to eat?”
Hearing Shen Que say this, Yao Shengjie finally let go of the child, and Zhou's father smiled and took the child's hand to the restaurant.
Yao Shengjie didn't even look at anyone else and went upstairs. Just as she was about to close the bedroom door, Shen Que reached out and blocked her.
What else do you want?
"Mom, I have something to tell you."
Yao Shengjie turned and went into the dressing room, taking off her jewelry. "What do you want to say?"
“I didn’t know beforehand that Mr. Zhou went to pick up Xingxing from kindergarten today,” Shen Que said bluntly. “What he said has nothing to do with me.”
“You two are in cahoots, and you know perfectly well what you’ve been doing at the company these past few years.”
"Everyone in the company has to rely on their own abilities. You've contributed a lot over the years, so there's nothing to say about that."
Yao Shengjie sneered repeatedly, "Then what do you want to say? How did my son, Shaoqing, die? It was you, you and Zhou Yubai, who conspired to kill him. Tell me, tell me!"
"Why did you bring Shaoqing on board? What exactly happened when the shipwreck occurred? Why did you escape while my son didn't? You still haven't given me an explanation."
Shen Que's expression was blank; she also wanted to know these things.
"You are not allowed to take Xingxing away. I will raise Shaoqing's son myself."
Shen Que's eyes suddenly turned sharp. He bit his tongue, swallowing back the words of their past arguments, and then suddenly smiled. "Mom, I know you've done many DNA tests on my son."
“It’s not just you who has doubts, I have doubts too.”
Yao Shengjie's eyes widened, and she gritted her teeth, "You two adulterers!"
She suddenly raised her hand to slap him, but her wrist was grabbed by Shen Que and flung away, causing her to stumble back several steps.
If it weren't for the fact that she was Zhou Shaoqing's mother, Shen Que would have already taken action. Anyway, there were no surveillance cameras in the dressing room, so he could have just given her a few slaps without leaving any marks, but it would have caused her pain for days.
Huh?
She really did come up with this bad idea on her own.
She perfectly fits the villainous woman character in the novel.
"Don't you want to know who I did the DNA test for?" Shen Que picked up a hair comb from her dressing table, with a few strands of hair wrapped around it.
"You shameless, promiscuous woman!"
Yao Shengjie's chest heaved. She was certain that she and Xingxing had undergone a kinship test, but she still hated Shen Que for his betrayal during his relationship with her son.
"You don't need to guess, it's your DNA."
She blew on the hair on the hair comb.
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