Chapter 419 Very Strong
"This isn't about helping me, it's about helping you." Ji Wan's voice remained calm, but every word was clear. "If Chi Wenyan were to fall completely, what would this child in your belly get? A father who would be disgraced and possibly even imprisoned?"
Zhao Xiyue's pupils shrank slightly. She hadn't expected Ji Wan to be so direct and so precise in addressing her concerns. She really needed Chi Wenyan, at least right now.
"Go on." Zhao Xiyue put away her laziness, leaned forward slightly, and showed a negotiating attitude.
"It's very simple," Ji Wan met her gaze without flinching, "Find that manager and provide evidence that proves Chi Wenyan's innocence. Get him out."
The living room fell into a brief silence, and the air was filled with a silent contest.
Zhao Xiyue looked at the woman in front of her. She was much more troublesome than she had imagined.
I thought it would be an easy crush, but now it has become a game of equal strength.
"It's possible to save him." Zhao Xiyue finally spoke, breaking the silence. Her fingertips tapped the armrest of the sofa, making a rhythmic sound. "But I have one condition."
Ji Wan looked at her quietly, waiting for what to come.
Zhao Xiyue's gaze became sharp and direct, with an unquestionable determination: "I want Chi Wenyan, give my child a legitimate status."
These words were like a stone thrown into a deep pool. Although they did not cause any waves on Ji Wan's face, the fingers that she supported on her sides curled up almost imperceptibly.
status.
These two words, like a poisoned needle, pierced the softest part of her heart.
Zhao Xiyue captured her momentary stiffness with satisfaction, and the corners of her mouth rose again with a hint of victory.
"Miss Ji, please think carefully. This is my only condition. Using a name in exchange for Chi Wenyan's freedom, and even his future prospects, this deal is very worthwhile."
Ji Wan's eyelashes trembled slightly, and then she regained her composure. She didn't answer immediately, but looked at Zhao Xiyue with a serious look. The emotions surging deep in her eyes were suppressed by her strong willpower.
"I need time to think about this matter."
Finally, she spoke slowly, her voice expressing neither joy nor anger.
Zhao Xiyue shrugged, her expression nonchalant. "Of course, I'm not in a hurry. However, considering Mr. Chi's situation, I'm afraid we can't wait too long."
She stood up, walked to Ji Wan, leaned over slightly, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Ji Wan, you are a smart person. Some things will break if you hold them too tightly."
Ji Wan didn't look at her. His gaze passed over her shoulder and fell on the gloomy sky outside the window. "The gift has been delivered, and my words have also been delivered."
She turned around and walked straight towards the door without saying another word.
Watching Ji Wan's straight but slightly thin back disappear outside the door, the smile on Zhao Xiyue's face slowly faded, replaced by a solemn and thoughtful look.
This Ji Wan is not easy to deal with. But the conditions she puts forward are her trump card and her obsession.
She didn't believe that Ji Wan could refuse.
After all, she seemed to really want to save Chi Wenyan.
The car door slammed shut, blocking out the noise from the outside world and completely trapping Ji Wan in his own turbulent emotions.
status.
Zhao Xiyue's voice, filled with confidence and calculation, seemed to still echo in her ears.
Exchange Chi Wenyan's freedom and future for the legitimacy of her child.
What a “good” deal.
Ji Wan closed his eyes and clenched the leather seat beneath him tightly with his fingers, his knuckles turning white from the force.
My heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible hand, and every contraction was accompanied by sharp pain.
She never thought that one day, her relationship with Chi Wenyan would need to be maintained with such a condition, and its value would need to be measured by another woman's child.
Zhao Xiyue was right, she was a smart person. Smart people know how to weigh the pros and cons.
But love is never a simple arithmetic problem.
Outside the car window, the scenery was rapidly receding, and the neon lights of the city were flashing, but they could not illuminate the haze in her heart.
What should she choose? Should she watch Chi Wenyan sink deeper into the quagmire, or push him to another woman with her own hands, and use a name to bind their lives?
The driver carefully observed the woman's expression in the back seat through the rearview mirror, not daring to breathe.
That silence carried a frightening sense of brokenness.
At the same time, in the living room of Zhao Xiyue's apartment.
Zhao Xiyue stood in front of the French window, holding a glass of water, watching the black car slowly drive away downstairs. The curve of her lips remained, but her eyes no longer had the determination they had just had, instead they were tinged with deep thought.
Ji Wan's final reaction was too calm. Too calm to be a woman who was about to lose something.
Is the phrase “I need time to think about it” more like a form of procrastination, a silent resistance?
What she wanted was for Chi Wenyan to give the child a status, an identity that would prevent the child from becoming a scandal for the Zhao family and prevent the child from being born with the label of an illegitimate child.
She thought Ji Wan would collapse, be angry, and would have to give in for Chi Wenyan.
But Ji Wan didn't.
Did she underestimate Ji Wan, or did she not express herself clearly enough?
Zhao Xiyue frowned and thought carefully about the conversation just now.
"I want Chi Wenyan to give my child a name."
To Ji Wan, this sentence probably meant that she should give up her position, let Chi Wenyan marry her, Zhao Xiyue, and let this child become the heir of the Chi family rightfully, right?
A shudder ran up Zhao Xiyue's spine. She suddenly realized that Ji Wan might have completely misunderstood what she meant.
What she wanted was never the position of Mrs. Chi!
She looked at her slightly bulging belly, her eyes becoming complicated and sad.
This child is the only bond between her and her deceased lover, and it is the thought that she will fight to keep alive. But what kind of storm will a child conceived out of wedlock, especially one whose father is no longer alive, and born into the Zhao family, stir up?
Her family would never allow such a "stain" to exist.
Registering the child under Chi Wenyan's name was the only way she could think of to ensure the child's safe birth without completely destroying her and the Zhao family's reputation.
She needs Chi Wenyan's identity as a "father", that's all!
And she had never thought of destroying Ji Wan and Chi Wenyan! She just needed a shelter.
Damn, how could she have overlooked such an important ambiguity.
Zhao Xiyue immediately turned around, walked quickly to the coffee table, picked up her cell phone, and hurriedly searched for the number belonging to Ji Wan that Lin Sen gave her.
She must explain it clearly immediately, otherwise, not only will she fail to save Chi Wenyan, but she will also push things to a worse situation.
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