Chapter 42 (Revised)

Mr. Qiao is dying.

Although Hong Siyin used the word "quickly", since she dared to speak out about this matter, it must be that either Master Qiao is really beyond the reach of God, or his life is no longer under his control.

Song Zhiyi raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had not paid much attention to the Qiao family's affairs in recent days. It was obvious that after Hong Siyin was exposed, the Liu family would intervene forcefully. Qiao Liangze was not a person who would just sit there and do nothing. It would definitely be a dog-eat-dog fight for a long time.

Song Zhiyi just didn't expect that Mr. Qiao would die so early.

If I remember correctly, in the original storyline, Mr. Qiao was "angered to death" after the Qiao family fell completely into Liu Qifan's hands. As for Qiao Liangze's fate, there is no detailed description in Liu Qifan's storyline, so I think it will not be very good.

Now that Qiao Nianwen's background has been exposed in advance, it is not a bad thing for the Qiao family. If she were Qiao Liangze, she would have controlled Qiao Nianwen and Hong Siyin the day she knew about their backgrounds, and then gave Wan Bohong a name of being lost in his early years, and immediately transferred some of her shares to him.

Next, we need to stabilize the shareholders and the board of directors, and slowly deal with the business spies planted by the Liu family and Hong Siyin and her son. After all, Qiao Liangze is only in his early fifties, and he can live for at least another ten or twenty years, so he has plenty of time.

However, just by looking at the fact that Hong Siyin was able to appear in front of him, he knew that Qiao Liangze must not have chosen this optimal solution. In other words, he had no choice.

Song Zhiyi stroked the reins in his palm and quickly came up with a guess in his mind.

Wan Bohong, he is the only variable that can affect the overall situation.

Wan Bohong is an honest child. After his mother passed away, he was left alone with his younger sister who was in elementary school. This sister was only adopted by Wan Bohong's mother and had no blood relationship with him.

His younger sister is Wan Bohong's most exposed weakness. Whoever gets her first will have the upper hand.

Qiao Liangze would not be unaware of the existence of this little girl, but as long as Wan Bohong disagrees, it would take a lot of effort for Qiao Liangze to get his sister out of the completely closed school, and the time spent on finding someone might very likely cause him to lose the initiative.

Because Hong Siyin also has Ou Lingling, the actress he once despised the most and also his half-sister.

Ou Lingling is a shrewd person, but she is too young. Her ambition is almost obvious in the eyes of the old foxes in the Qiao family. Therefore, even though Qiao Nianwen likes her so much, she still cannot smoothly take the position of the mistress of the Qiao family.

Things are in chaos in the Qiao family now, but for Ou Lingling, this is her chance.

It is obvious that Ou Lingling would choose to surrender to Hong Siyin, and her surrender is most likely to be Wan Bohong's sister. As Wan Bohong's childhood friend, it is easy for her to find his sister.

In other words, the two heirs of the Qiao family both stood on the side of Hong Siyin and the Liu family.

No matter how hard Qiao Liangze tried, he always ended up in failure. No wonder Mr. Qiao was so angry that he was admitted to the hospital. His condition quickly worsened and he was doomed to die.

Then comes the next question.

Why did Hong Siyin come to Miss Zhi at such a critical moment? At least, it was definitely not to accelerate the demise of the Qiao family.

"Call..." Song Zhiyi stopped the horse and shook the reins, making it turn around and face Hong Siyin's jujube horse.

"Ms. Hong," she called softly, her tone calm and determined, "You want me to help you deal with the Liu family, right?"

Hong Siyin's heart tightened and she completely forgot what she had prepared.

Accustomed to the intrigues of saying one thing in a roundabout way, Hong Siyin hadn't seen someone as straightforward as Miss Zhi for a long time. Moreover, Miss Zhi could guess her true purpose with just one sentence "Master Qiao is dying", which seemed to indicate that Miss Zhi knew more than she thought.

I just hope that it won't be the worst case scenario.

There was no new instruction for a long time. The two horses rubbed their heads against each other and tacitly lowered their heads to eat grass in the same place.

Hong Siyin sat upright on the horse's back, holding the reins tightly with both hands, her fingertips turning white from the exertion.

She once again carefully treated Miss Zhi.

The black and white riding outfit set off her slender figure, and she still wore a finely fitted mask on her face, with a silver base and delicate patterns painted in enamel. The hollows in her eye sockets were also exquisitely carved, and the tails of her eyes were raised very high, just enough to cover her true eye shape without blocking her vision.

The pupils of the eyes beneath the mask were distinctly black and white, and the look in her eyes was calm beyond her age. Occasionally, when she just looked at those eyes, she would wonder if Miss Zhi had even lied about her age.

Hong Siyin was also young, and she had met hundreds if not tens of thousands of young people, but this was the first time she had met someone like Miss Zhi, calm and peaceful, as impartial as water, and she didn't seem to be aggressive at all.

It is also because of this kind of eyes and personality that countless people are respectful on the surface but secretly laugh at Miss Zhi for being just a puppet pushed into the open.

Two years ago, someone had said the same thing to her. Miss Zhi was nearby at the time and said nothing, but just smiled in an ambiguous way. But within half a month, that person had not appeared in front of her again.

It wasn't that anything bloody happened, but her family disappeared from Yasukawa City, packed up their bags and returned to their hometown, never to appear in front of her again.

After all, it was the business of the subordinates and had nothing to do with Hong Siyin. She never cared about it and only thought of Miss Zhi as a rising star, but that was all.

Or maybe she has been living too comfortably these years, and her sensitivity has decreased a lot.

Hong Siyin suddenly chuckled, and her tense body suddenly relaxed. Her tone was also somewhat nonchalant. In other words, it was up to you to do whatever you want.

"Yes, I want to deal with the Liu family. Qiao Liangze is not a good person, but the Liu family is just a bunch of garbage." His tone was almost gritting his teeth.

When she fell in love with Qiao Nianwen, it was probably a result of being plotted against. Since everyone thought that her Hong family and Hong Siyin were a piece of fat meat that everyone could bite, she would make these people have a mouthful of blood blisters!

Hong Siyin said, "Since you know everything, I won't hide it from you. Qiao Liangze looked down on me from the bottom of his heart, and it was because of his mentality that it was convenient for me to tamper with the Qiao family's business. I haven't done nothing in the past twenty years."

Song Zhiyi said nothing, and nodded from time to time to show that she was listening. She certainly knew that Hong Siyin was not the "resentful woman" who loved and killed Qiao Liangze on the surface, otherwise, in the original story line, Liu Qifan would not have been able to swallow up the Qiao family's industry so smoothly.

"...I know you have some friendship with the Liu family," Hong Siyin hesitated, and then said, "If possible, I hope you won't interfere in the feud between me and the Liu family."

"Hmm?" Song Zhiyi's confident expression almost froze. The first half of the sentence was left aside, but the second half, "Why do you think I would interfere?"

Although she did think about it, it was definitely not to help the Liu family.

"You don't know how to do it?" Hong Siyin's expression was obviously a little confused. Although she had already given up, she still subconsciously glanced at the nearby surveillance.

Knowing that Hong Siyin was still worried about the safety here, Song Zhiyi simply said straight to the point: "I promise that everything you say here will not be leaked."

Hong Siyin was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "So Fuxiu Horse Farm is your property."

Song Zhiyi said "hmm" lightly, motioning her to continue.

Fuxiu Horse Farm was originally just a real horse farm. She would go there occasionally to ride horses to relax when she had time. Later, she felt that it was a waste of such a large place to leave it idle, so she simply renovated it and built a supporting hotel and leisure club nearby.

Originally she just wanted to do it for fun, so she set up a membership invitation system, but it ended up becoming popular in the wealthy circle, and she also got to know a lot of wealthy gossip through this.

"In that case, I'll be frank." Hong Siyin asked half tentatively and half jokingly, "Miss Zhi, have you been very close to that celebrity kid from the Liu family recently?"

Song Zhiyi took two seconds to react before replying: "...You mean, Song Zhiyu?"

"It's him." Hong Siyin said calmly, "Miss Zhi, you are young and may not know the grievances of the previous generation. Although Song Zhiyu's surname is not Liu, he is also half a member of the Liu family. Although they broke up in name more than ten years ago, no matter what, the blood relationship cannot be severed."

Song Zhiyi responded with a flat "hmm", looking not very interested.

Hong Siyin's eyes flickered, and she continued, "Song Zhiyu's approach to you should be the Liu family's intention. This is no secret in the Liu family. With your ability, you can easily find it out."

Song Zhiyi didn't want to listen anymore and interrupted, "So you think I would interfere in your affairs with the Liu family because of Song Zhiyu? If that's the case, you can go back without any worries."

"Yes and no." If Song Zhiyu's status was so high, Miss Zhi would not have brought that "pretty boy" with her.

Hong Siyin was silent for a moment, then changed the subject, "Ms. Zhi had previously brought a little...male companion to the event in a high-profile manner, which naturally attracted a lot of attention. I was too busy during this period, and the surveillance video of that day was accidentally leaked."

"So?" Song Zhiyi urged, suppressing his temper.

Hong Siyin slowed down her speech and said carefully, "The Liu family accidentally found out about this a few days ago. It is said that many young people think they are similar to your male companion and think Song Zhiyu is useless. I think they will send someone to you again soon. I brought Lecheng here today because I was worried about this."

Song Zhiyi: “…”

If she guessed correctly, what Hong Siyin meant by this sentence was that she was worried that someone would talk nonsense about her, so she sent someone to take the pillow first? What kind of magical logic is this?

Come to think of it, last night someone from the Liu family suddenly asked Song Zhiyu about "Miss Zhi's" preferences. Could it be for this too?

Song Zhiyi exhaled lightly and raised his hand to rub his forehead, but was blocked by the hard mask.

"Can I ask you something?" Song Zhiyi put down his hand, his tone as calm as if he had been dead for a long time, "Why do you think I am a lecher in your eyes?"

Hong Siyin was silent for a long time this time, and then hesitantly said: "Actually, for someone of your status, it's normal to have a few close friends. I also think that Song Zhiyu is a little rude..."

With a snap, the string in Song Zhiyi's mind was completely broken.

Song Zhiyu had no intention of listening to what Hong Siyin said. Veins bulged on his hands holding the reins, and there was only one thought in his mind.

Song Zhiyu, you're done.

*

As dusk fell, Song Zhiyu drove home after finishing his acting class. As soon as he entered the house, he found that the air pressure was unusually low today.

Aunt Lin still had her sewing basket in front of her, sorting out the threads intermittently. When she heard the door open, she trotted over.

"Xiao Yu is back, come in quickly." Aunt Lin said, "Come in," but she didn't loosen her grip on Song Zhiyu at all, and whispered, "What did you do wrong again? Why did you make your sister so angry?"

"Sister is angry? But I didn't do anything!" Song Zhiyu felt as if a big, round black pot had been placed on his head. He whispered that he was wronged. "She left just after I got up today. She can't be angry because I got up late."

"That's true," Aunt Lin murmured in surprise, "If it's not you, then who else could it be?"

"Who knows? Anyway, if anyone offends my sister, she will definitely punish him. Don't worry." Song Zhiyu lowered his head to change his shoes and asked, "Is my sister really angry? How about I try to comfort her?"

"No, no," Aunt Lin shook her head repeatedly, "You'd better go back to your room and stop hanging around in front of your sister. You don't know, today when I teased Qiuqiu and performed a backflip for her, your sister didn't even laugh!"

"Wow!" Song Zhiyu smacked his lips and decided to stay out of the spotlight first.

He had an audition some time ago and successfully won the second male lead role in the campus drama called "Senior Senior". He has been thinking about the script recently. Today, the acting teacher assigned him homework, so he went back to his room and acted it out in front of the mirror a few times.

Song Zhiyu was thinking about the script and walking towards the elevator. Halfway there, he suddenly thought that Song Zhiyi might be there, so he turned around and planned to climb the stairs.

Although the lights in the side hall were on, there was no one there. Song Zhiyu looked around and nodded in satisfaction. He knew his sister was at the elevator. What do you call this? Prediction!

Song Zhiyu hummed a ridiculous tune, feeling smug inside, and quickly climbed to the second floor.

Huh? Why is the light in the study also on? Did you forget to turn it off?

...No, this is probably a bait, just leave it open. Song Zhiyu paused, turned around quickly, and stepped onto the stairs firmly. Can't go up...

"Song, Zhi, Yu."

when?

Song Zhiyu felt a pulling force at the back of his neck and staggered backwards. After he stood up tremblingly, he turned around and saw a bare hand grasping the collar at the back of his neck.

"Song Zhiyu," the owner of the hand spoke. At the same time, a huge pulling force suddenly came from behind, causing him to retreat. "Come here!"

“…”

It was still the familiar study room and the familiar layout, but this time Song Zhiyi did not go to get the washboard hanging on the inner wall. Instead, she went straight to the cupboard and took out a durian shell that Song Yunzhi treasured and weighed it in her palm.

"No, sister, didn't Aunt Lin just tell us not to touch these durian shells?" Song Zhiyu felt his knees go weak just by looking at them.

"That's true." Song Zhiyi pondered for a moment, and put the durian shell into the cabinet under his brother's expectant gaze, and then...

I opened the drawer below and picked out two that fit from the broken ones.

"Okay, it should be okay to move these."

Song Zhiyi smiled kindly: "Come, let's discuss how you have damaged my reputation."

"..." Song Zhiyu's brain was working rapidly. Intellectually, he knew that he might have really made his elder sister angry without knowing it. He was very angry. Emotionally, he felt that he was more wronged than Dou E!

So, he stared at the durian shell in Song Zhiyi's hand for a long time, gritted his teeth, walked over with an unyielding expression, and then... passed by and silently opened the window.

The set of movements was smooth and flowing. Song Zhiyi was confused by his movements and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I didn't do anything," Song Zhiyu said with a gloomy look, "It's time to snow today."

“…”

It's only early October, so it's impossible for it to snow.

Song Zhiyu thought he was more wronged than Dou E, and stood leaning against the window waiting for the snow to come to vindicate him. Song Zhiyi was almost driven crazy by his nonsense and simply stuffed the durian shell back into his mouth.

This thing has more intimidating effect than actual harm.

Song Zhiyi dragged a chair from the cabinet and sat down at the door. He asked, "When the Liu family asked you about my preferences yesterday, what did you say?"

"Didn't you ask me to say it the other way around?" Song Zhiyu answered honestly, "But I thought it would be too fake, so I made up some stuff."

As he was talking, he opened his phone and thought about forwarding the chat history. After seeing the nonsense he had said last night, he locked the screen as if nothing had happened and wanted to take the phone back. "It's just nonsense anyway... Hey, don't take my phone!"

"Shut up." Song Zhiyi quickly grabbed the phone and slapped him on the back of his hand.

Once something is in her hands, it is difficult to take it back.

Song Zhiyu sighed in frustration and stretched his head to look out the window. Second floor, should it be okay to jump down?

"I knew it was you." Song Zhiyi flipped through her phone, her teeth almost breaking. "You could have given me a random answer, but why did you add the unnecessary sentence 'Miss Zhi has always been a playboy' and act pitiful?"

No, are you really angry about this?

Song Zhiyu said bravely and fearfully, "Didn't you say the opposite? Anyway, it's just a trick. Isn't it in line with Miss Zhi's character to say it this way? And it can also pave the way for me to be 'abandoned' in the future. I can't keep acting like this."

"If the Liu family falls, Miss Zhi will disappear with it. What's the point of paving the way?" Song Zhiyi rubbed his brows. "You've caused me a big trouble."

"No way, my answer is so outrageous, the Liu family can't really believe it, right?"

"It's because every one of your answers is so outrageous," for example, the type of man Miss Zhi likes is female and her biggest hobby is fishing with a tractor, "that makes it seem less outrageous and more authentic."

After briefly telling him what Hong Siyin said today, Song Zhiyi sat on the chair and closed his eyes with a headache.

"Song Zhiyu, have you imagined it? When Miss Zhi attends a banquet in the future, how many men will throw themselves at her?!"

*

Because of this reputation of being "flirtatious", Song Zhiyi had to ask Miao Henliu for help and turned down a number of appointments.

However, before Miss Zhi was overwhelmed by the admirers, "Song Zhiyi" had an additional banquet that she could not refuse.

It was an engagement banquet, and the protagonists of the wedding banquet were the popular young actress Xu Yibai and her old friend Lu Qizhi, who was also from a wealthy second-generation family.

The Xu family and the Song family had less contact since their generation, but the friendship between the two generations still existed, so Song Zhiyi and her brother still had to come and show their faces. However, since they were the younger generation, they didn't need to do anything. They just had to say a few words to Xu's parents, give them some gifts, and leave.

That's the case in theory, Song Zhiyi thought silently.

If she hadn't seen Xu Yibai kissing a man who was obviously not Lu Qizhi in the small flower hall.