The atmosphere remained tense for a few seconds.
Ruan Chen sat back on the sofa. The orange juice wasn't as cold anymore, and it no longer had the same pleasant taste as before.
"You don't seem to deserve the title of 'father'," Ruan Chen said in a distant and cold tone.
A new clue has emerged: the woman from the phone call earlier.
Ruan Chen didn't know why the voice sounded familiar, but the moment she heard it, the image of that alluring figure flashed into her mind.
“Ruan Chen, without me you are nothing,” Ruan Zhengde laughed sarcastically. “You will always have half of my blood in your body, and you will always have my genes in your body—your life is a gift from me.”
For some reason, after receiving that woman's call, his attitude towards Ruan Chen suddenly became tougher, as if that woman had given him immense confidence.
A glamorous, shrewd, and powerful woman?
Ruan Chen recalled that she seemed to have never encountered this type of person before.
She believed that the memory was not without reason, but the dark red hair and eyes seemed to be characteristics of some tribes in the southern part of this world. Ruan Chen had never dealt with such people in her life.
Furthermore, Nguyen Chinh Duc must have been under surveillance by this woman.
No matter what, Ruan Zhengde is the chairman of the largest group in China. Why would he be willing to be monitored by others?
Ruan Chen's eyes swept over Ruan Zhengde before he finally stood up and walked forward.
Ruan Zhengde instinctively tried to dodge to the side—he vividly remembered the scene from that year at the Ruan Group, where Ruan Chen, dressed in a black shirt, wielded an iron rod and toyed with him at will; it was his nightmare during this period.
Ruan Chen reached out, pulled off the brooch on the left side of Ruan Zhengde's suit, glanced at it, and threw it into the half-cup of orange juice.
Wearing formal attire in the middle of the night is suspicious in itself.
“Now is the time for our conversation,” Ruan Chen said. “Let me meet her, the woman who called you earlier.”
"It's not impossible, but my conditions won't change."
“State all your conditions at once.”
Ruan Chen leaned back on the soft sofa. Doing such a brain-intensive thing in the middle of the night was really tiring.
“From now on, be my good daughter and move back to the villa on the hillside. I can leave your studies alone, but your marriage must be arranged by the Ruan family.”
Ruan Chen nodded noncommittally, "Continue."
“I know you are favored by some people. I’ve heard many times that some professors from the four major academies are interested in taking you on as their student and that you have a bright future. So I need you to share everything with me after you have access to the real power of this country.”
It's not surprising that these words reached Ruan Zhengde's ears, but what Ruan Zhengde didn't know was who these "some professors" really were.
Ruan Chen could not possibly agree to these conditions.
But if he doesn't agree, how can he force Ruan Zhengde to take him to see that woman?
Ruan Chen didn't want to do anything that would get her hands dirty.
She took out her phone, opened a photo, and showed it to Ruan Zhengde.
The woman in the photo has a cool and elegant demeanor, clearly cultivated from a young age.
She sat in the library, wearing a white kraft silk dress, a Van Cleef & Arpels latest season unheated pigeon blood red bracelet on her wrist, and a string of celestial pearls around her swan-like white neck, intently reading a book.
The man opposite her was Su Jin, who had forcibly broken into the Ruan family, disrupted the cooperation between the Ruan and Song families, and forcibly taken Ruan Yunhan away.
This photo clearly shows that Su Jin did not mistreat Ruan Yunhan.
Upon seeing this photo, Ruan Zhengde lost his composure.
Compared to Ruan Chen, Ruan Yunhan's betrayal was more unexpected for Ruan Zhengde.
That was his daughter, whom he had carefully raised abroad for seventeen years, but who broke with the family within a few short years after returning to Jingzhou—or rather, eloped.
Ruan Chen pointed to the photo with the background blurred and said, "Don't expect me to be your obedient daughter. If I go back to the villa on the hillside, will you dare to close your eyes when you sleep at night?"
"You've been anxious lately because you can't find your real daughter, haven't you? I'll give you the address; you take me to see that woman, okay?"
Ruan Zhengde considered for a moment, then said, "Deal."
Ruan Chen took out a sticky note from under the table and wrote down an address and the name of a school.
"You can find the school's academic affairs office phone number online. You can check it out. It should be afternoon in F country now. If you hurry, you can still get through."
Ruan Zhengde clapped his hands and handed the note to the approaching servant, saying, "Go and verify it."
The man returned quickly. "Sir, I've checked, and there are indeed two such students at F University's Law School. Their enrollment time matches the time the young lady left, but their names and identities don't match the school's records."
Ruan Zhengde's eyes lit up with excitement at finally finding traces of his prey.
It's normal that the identities don't match. If Ruan Yunhan were still using her own identity, Ruan Zhengde would have found her long ago.
"Let me consult the Holy Maiden." Ruan Zhengde took out his phone.
In fact, he never minded introducing Ruan Chen to that alluring woman from the beginning; the fiercer the battle between them, the happier he would be.
He initially chose to obey the "Holy Maiden's" orders only because there was profit to be made. Now that there is an opportunity to make the Holy Maiden and Ruan Chen both suffer heavy losses, he is happy to reap the benefits.
The call was connected, and before Ruan Zhengde could speak, Ruan Chen snatched the phone away without any room for argument.
The person on the other end of the phone was actually eating potato chips, crunching away, and asked indistinctly, "Oh, Mr. Ruan, have you settled the terms with your sweet daughter? You deliberately blocked the communicator I left for you. I can't see any sincerity from Mr. Ruan regarding this cooperation."
"Hey, aren't you afraid of gaining weight eating potato chips in the middle of the night? Or are you under too much pressure? It's strange, people like you who manipulate people from the shadows can also feel pressure?"
Ruan Chen spoke abruptly, not out of hostility, but purely out of curiosity.
She herself felt that something was off.
Even if this woman wasn't the one who started all of this, she should at least be one of the masterminds behind it all. But Ruan Chen just couldn't be wary of this voice and even asked a bunch of pointless questions.
The sound of someone chewing potato chips on the other end of the phone stopped.
A moment later came the woman's hesitant voice, her tone devoid of the threats, forcefulness, and commands she had shown to Ruan Zhengde earlier.
"This brand just released a new flavor that's really delicious. Although I'm trying to control my weight, the new low-fat and low-sodium flavor is alright. Also, I really didn't manipulate anyone or anything... never mind, I can't explain it to you."
Ruan Zhengde: Shouldn't they be fighting to the death? Shouldn't enemies be especially hostile when they meet? What are these two talking about?
Ruan Chen also found it absurd.
But as they chatted, the sense of familiarity grew stronger, as if a name with one or two words was on the tip of her tongue, about to be uttered.
It seemed like only yesterday that this person had helped her up, and that voice had asked her with concern what was wrong.
Ruan Chen's headache started again.
Hearing her own voice, she subconsciously continued, "If it's hard to explain, how about we meet and talk? Um... my name is Ruan Chen."
"My name is Yan Qian."
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