Hu Ling laughed triumphantly after hanging up the phone.
"Do you really think I'm that simple? Heh, Guan Yingjie, you still don't understand me. As for marriage, I may not be able to control it, but as for having children, I have the final say in my own life. So my things will be firmly in my own hands, and no one can take them away."
Thinking of Chen Zhe, Hu Ling's smile deepened; "You brat, you don't really think I'm as stupid as Chen Si, do you? Giving my assets to a man unconditionally, haha, what a joke, how stupid do you have to be to do something like that?"
Hu Ling is a selfish person, but she never thinks that selfishness is wrong. She believes that the first thing a person should do in this world is to be true to themselves, and only then should they be considered.
Forced to marry Guan Yingjie, she felt guilty, so she stabbed him without hesitation. She caused such a disaster, but she never regretted it. Although her parents' deaths were largely related to this incident, she still didn't regret it. The moment her family tied her up and sent her there, she severed all ties with them in her heart.
Over the years of struggling on her own, many men have shown interest in her, but Hu Ling has paid them all no mind. She is a complete and utter strong woman who would never entrust her fate to anyone. Love? Ha! Not even a dog would talk about it!
What she wants is to completely control her own destiny, and she will do everything she can to trample anyone who hinders her progress.
Therefore, her achievements today are largely due to her personality.
Chen Zhe rushed home before even finishing get off work.
The moment he opened the door, he saw Hu Ling sitting with her legs crossed, drinking tea, and he was still a little angry.
"Sister Hu, I may not have done anything outstanding, but I have certainly put in a lot of effort, right? You've made me the target of so much hatred, Guan Yingjie will definitely not let me off the hook!"
Hu Ling put down her teacup and smiled at Chen Zhe's exasperated expression.
"Didn't you promise me before? You promised to help me deal with Guan Yingjie, so I have to make sure that we're in the same boat, otherwise I won't feel at ease."
"I promised you I would do it, don't you believe me now?"
“Chen Zhe, you’ve been with me for quite a while now. Do you think I’d believe a verbal guarantee? It’s all about interests. Only when interests are intertwined can a relationship be truly strong. Don’t worry, I’ve already spoken to A Bao. He’ll be with you now. If Guan Yingjie wants to make a move against you, it won’t be so easy.”
"You make it sound so easy. What if he brings another assassin? Like the previous one, someone even Brother Bao couldn't handle."
"Then you can only pray for good luck. I have done enough. Only the strong are worthy of cooperating with me."
Upon hearing this, Chen Zhe knew that Hu Ling had never changed; she was always the one who prioritized her own interests above all else.
She was like this the time she was kidnapped, and she's still like this now.
Nothing can change her.
"Hehe, Chen Zhe, I bet you hate me a lot, right?"
"Sister Hu, if I say I don't hate you, will you believe me?"
Chen Zhe sat down helplessly to the side. He was afraid that if he didn't learn 360 tricks of thinking every day he spent with this woman, he wouldn't live to see tomorrow.
"Haha, of course I don't believe it. It's normal for you to hate me, but you can't deny that you've gotten to where you are today and have wealth and status that you never imagined before. All of this is inseparable from me."
“I admit that most of what I have now is thanks to you, but I hope you see me as a true friend. I don’t want you to keep taking advantage of me. I thought that after everything we’ve been through, your thoughts would have changed, but it seems that you haven’t changed at all.”
"Heh, exploit? Chen Zhe, do you think exploit is a very unpleasant word?"
Isn't that so?
Chen Zhe countered with a question.
"Of course not. A person is only used if they have value. When you are used by others, you should be happy because you have value to be used. This is a form of affirmation."
"Hehe, I don't quite agree with your idea."
"It's normal that you don't agree now. You'll gradually agree with me in the future. Whether it's your colleagues, your lover, or even your parents and family, if you can make use of them, you must make use of them. You need to understand one thing clearly: you have to make use of everything that is useful to you so that you can truly become strong."
Chen Zhe frowned as he looked at Hu Ling.
"Sister Hu, do you really think that matters of the heart are insignificant?"
"Feelings? Hehe, of course they're worth mentioning. The deeper the feelings, the easier they are to use. Look at Yang Yun and A Bao. One of them has been with me since I started my business, and the other has been with me since I left home. They both have deep feelings for me, so I feel very comfortable using them."
Chen Zhe was speechless when he saw how Hu Ling understood relationships.
"Sister Hu, if they heard such words, they would definitely be heartbroken."
"Why should I feel disheartened? I think they should be happy."
"They treat you with genuine affection, so you should reciprocate with the same affection. That's fair, isn't it?"
“Fair? I don’t think so! They treat me with affection because they think I’m worthy, that I’m worthy of their following, that following me is better than following anyone else, that’s the greatest fairness.”
"Huh? Sister Hu, do you really... really think so?"
"Of course, even if they were here, I would still dare to say such things. If they think what I said is wrong, then they can leave, and I will absolutely not stop them."
"Then...can I leave?"
"Hehe, you can't do it, you're not like them."
When Chen Zhe suggested leaving, Hu Ling immediately refused.
“I’m just like them. I’m just looking for a job. I don’t want to lose my life.”
“Wrong. It seems you still don’t see yourself clearly. Actually, you are the same kind of person as me, Chen Zhe. We are the same kind of people. I realized this a long time ago.”
Chen Zhe's expression changed slightly.
"Sister Hu, I'm not like you!"
"Haha, different from me? Are you sure?"
"I am absolutely certain that I am not the kind of person who takes advantage of friends, family, or colleagues. My feelings for them are all very genuine."
Hu Ling shook her head.
"That's just the surface; they're all the same in essence. Let's take an example: from the moment you arrived at Linglong Club, you were using Lin Meiyu, right?"
"My feelings for Sister Lin weren't about taking advantage of her..."
Hu Ling interrupted Chen Zhe: "No, no, no, it's the same. You won her favor, then used her to achieve the top sales position. And then there's Luo Guifang. You know Luo Guifang has a distinguished background, so you tried your best to curry favor with her, and then you got what you wanted..."
“I was just being generous… I helped her, and she reciprocated. We were both very open and aboveboard…”
Hu Ling burst into laughter again upon hearing this.
"Hahaha, upward socializing? Do you even believe in that term? If you have no value to them, why would they bother with you? She uses you, and you use her; it's a mutually exploitative relationship—that's the essence of it all!"
Chen Zhe felt a little uncomfortable hearing this, but deep down, a voice seemed to agree with it.
"Chen Si, those people from the Linglong Club in the North District, your so-called brother Wang De, and all the others—you all have a relationship of exploitation with each other. Can you deny that?"
"I……"
Chen Zhe was speechless for a moment.
Hu Ling picked up her teacup and took another sip. "However, you and I are indeed a bit different. You treated Master Xie's little granddaughter differently. You might have died in that fire. I certainly wouldn't have taken such a big risk, but you still decided to save her. That's not a good thing. You fell in love with her, and you'll lose badly. So my assessment of you is that you're the same kind of person as me, but you're a bit worse than me because I don't believe in love."
Chen Zhe smiled.
Seeing Chen Zhe suddenly laugh, Hu Ling asked, "What's wrong? Don't you agree?"
"Sister Hu, I don't know how to refute your earlier evaluation of me. You may be right in some ways, but regarding Xiaoyu, you said that this is where I am worse than you, which I absolutely disagree with. On the contrary, I think this is where I am better than you."
"Huh? You're really that naive?"
"Am I naive? Sister Hu, now that you have an opinion of me, can you please tell me what I think of you?"
"What do you think of me? That's a pretty new term. Tell me."
"Sister Hu, my assessment can be summed up in one sentence: You are very strong, but you are someone who lacks love."
Hu Ling's expression changed slightly.
Am I lacking love?
"Isn't that right? From the moment I met you until our conversation today, all your words can be summed up in one sentence: you lack love and you are extremely insecure."
"Hehe, your words might work on those young married women, but they won't work on me. Even if I lack love, it's something I actively abandon. Love is something I can do without."
"Sister Hu, Master Xie once told me something like this: you can only let go of something after you've had it."
"Of course I had it. My parents loved me when I was little because I got 100 on every test. My classmates and friends envied me because I was pretty and good to them. And then there was Guan Yingjie, whom I stabbed. You might not believe it, but that bastard loved me to the point of madness. You say I lacked love? Haha, that's utterly ridiculous! I clearly had too much, and I found it annoying, so I just gave it up."
Chen Zhe shook his head again upon hearing this.
"Hearing you say that makes me even more certain that you are starved for love, starved for it very much."
"Hmph, I don't want to continue this boring topic with you."
“Sister Hu, you can only truly say you have someone when you have loved them. You have never loved anyone, so you don’t understand.”
"Enough! What's with all this talk about love? What does that have to do with success?"
Hu Ling was initially calm and collected, but when the topic came up, she became visibly agitated.
“Sister Hu, from a psychological point of view, it’s obvious that I hit the nail on the head, otherwise you wouldn’t have sounded like that.”
"I said, that's enough! This kind of topic is so pointless!"
Hu Ling stood up, glared at Chen Zhe, then went into her room and slammed the door shut.
...
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