"What did you say?" Ruan Wanyi exclaimed in surprise. "Really?"
Old Zhan smiled and said, "Without some leverage, how could I have come here rashly? What I just told you was actually to test your attitude."
"Since you've decided to sever ties with us, there's no room for sentimentality. If there's no sentimentality, then let's make a deal."
The matter was of great importance, and Ruan Wanyi could not be careless. She hurriedly instructed Zheng Ma, "Go and call Jingting down."
"Yes, madam."
Zhan Jingting was wiping Qiao Wanwan's face in the room when he heard this, and his hand holding the towel paused. "What did you say?"
"Old Master Zhan said he knows about your other child with your young mistress!" Aunt Zheng reported excitedly. "Young Master, you'd better go down and find out!"
Zhan Jingting calmly put down the towel in his hand. "Have someone come in and watch over Wanwan. I'll go check on her."
"yes."
When Zhan Jingting came downstairs, Old Master Zhan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He originally thought that Zhan Jingting was cold-hearted and wouldn't care about this matter.
But now it seems he's not as cold-blooded as he thought!
"Jingting, Elder Zhan said he has news of another child," Ruan Wanyi said anxiously.
Zhan Jingting calmly sat down on the sofa, looking at Old Master Zhan across from him with a detached expression. "How would he know that Wanwan and I have another child?"
Ruan Wanyi was immediately stumped by the question, "This...that makes sense, outsiders don't know about this, how would he know?"
"I naturally have my own channels," Elder Zhan said without explicitly stating it.
"Your channel is to plant spies around me, right? She must have overheard this, right?" Zhan Jingting exposed him directly. "Your spies have been out of contact recently, haven't they? That's because I found out about them and dealt with them."
Old Zhan's face turned pale. "You killed her!"
Zhan Jingting smiled faintly, "She was dragged out along with a few others. Although she acted very scared at the time, just like the others, I could tell at a glance that she was faking it. Someone who can remain calm and act in front of me is naturally extraordinary."
"So I had Jiang Dong take her for interrogation. She couldn't withstand the torture and confessed everything. She said she was Zhan Xiuwen's person, but this person had been working for the Zhan family for more than ten years. It was impossible for Zhan Xiuwen to start planting seeds more than ten years ago. So she deliberately pinned the blame on Zhan Xiuwen. Firstly, it could exacerbate the conflict between me and Zhan Xiuwen, and secondly, it could protect her true master. And that person is you—Old Zhan."
Ruan Wanyi was stunned. "Jingting, that's impossible, isn't it? Old Master Zhan is already so old; he's long since retired and enjoying his old age. What would he be after by doing this?"
“He is old, but he still has sons, grandsons and great-grandsons to look after, so naturally he has to plan for them.” Zhan Jingting looked at Old Master Zhan with a half-smile. “Not only do I have spies, but you have also planted spies in the collateral branches of the Zhan family as long as they are slightly capable, all in order to control everyone’s movements and pave the way for your descendants.”
“There is a hereditary disease in our family. You know that whether it is the position of the person in charge or the Zhan Group, it will eventually be handed over to the collateral branches. So you started planning a long time ago. My father died, and you couldn’t find an opportunity for me to inherit it. But you think it doesn’t matter because I will die before I’m thirty.”
"And what makes you even happier is that I am different from my grandfather and father. They got married and had children early so that someone could inherit the family business, but I have remained unmarried for a long time. You are secretly pleased, but then you realize that I am not only married, but also have a child."
As Zhan Jingting recounted his story, Old Master Zhan's face paled inch by inch, and his hand holding the cane trembled uncontrollably!
Zhan Jingting took a sip of hot tea and continued speaking slowly, "You think this is my child with Wen Xue? Although he is an illegitimate child, that's not important. What's important is that he is my biological son, Zhan Jingting, and therefore very likely to be the next heir to take over the Zhan Group."
"So you got anxious and secretly contacted Zhan Xiuwen, telling him that he was the rightful leader of the Zhan family and that the Zhan Group should be taken over by him, and that you were willing to help him."
Ruan Wanyi grew increasingly alarmed as she listened. "Jingting, are you saying that Elder Zhan and Zhan Xiuwen are in cahoots?"
"Those collateral branches of the Zhan family have made so much money following me these past few years. They're not stupid. Would they really blindly switch allegiance to Zhan Xiuwen, who returned from abroad? Of course, it's thanks to Elder Zhan that this is all thanks to him."
Ruan Wanyi was so angry she felt like her lungs were about to explode. "Elder Zhan, I always thought that even if you didn't side with my son and me, you were at least neutral and wouldn't take sides. But I never expected that you had been secretly helping Zhan Xiuwen all along! It turns out that the one who was hiding the deepest secret all along was you!"
Old Zhan closed his eyes, his aged face unusually calm. "Jing Ting, when I looked back on my life, I was once a man who could hold up the sky. Although your family is the core of the entire Zhan family, when I was young, I fought alongside your great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather. I even assisted your grandfather."
Old Zhan became increasingly heartbroken as he spoke, “I’ve been proud my whole life, but my descendants haven’t been able to be my pride. If they were capable and could be your right-hand men, I wouldn’t have bothered with these things. Jingting, I’m practically buried in the ground now, what is there left for me to fight or compete with you for?”
"But for their sake, I have to scheme and fight, because I know that with your temperament, you won't show any mercy. You won't keep people with no ability around, let alone give them important positions. What else can I do?"
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