Lunch, with everyone preoccupied with their own thoughts, ended with the somber tolling of the bells.
"You two brothers come with me to the study." Jiao Cheng's voice was not very strong, but he still tried his best to maintain the dignity of an elder. "Mi Yang, you stay with Xiao Yu for a while."
The footsteps on the stairs gradually faded away.
"The wedding of the second son of the Ning family and the little princess of the Lin family a few days ago was quite a spectacle. The second son of the Ning family had a girlfriend before, but he dumped her because of the arranged marriage. The girl gave birth to the child herself and brought it to the entrance of the wedding venue, causing a scene. The scene was incredibly chaotic..."
Lu Yu listened to Mi Yang's gossip and responded half-heartedly, but her mind was completely on the thoughts of the person upstairs.
His inner thoughts came out in fits and starts, but Lu Yu listened carefully to them.
"Mom, what you're saying is so boring. Third sister-in-law, I want to show you my newly assembled Lego set." Jiao Yuwei pulled Mi Yang and Lu Yu towards his room.
...
In his study, Jiao Cheng received a report call, and his brows finally relaxed a little.
"Third son, it's fine for you and your husband to focus on your own little business, but try to avoid involving the Jiao family as much as possible in the future." Jiao Cheng spoke without any guilt, adopting the manner of instructing his children.
"dad--"
Jiao Yuchen's words were silenced by Jiao Cheng's gesture to stop him.
“Okay, after the restructuring of Tengyue’s equity, an official statement will also be released,” Jiao Yuyin said calmly.
"Equity restructuring?"
Jiao Cheng and Jiao Yuchen spoke in unison.
“The group’s audit team has worked hard. Let’s avoid such unnecessary losses in the future and think of a solution that will solve the problem once and for all.” Jiao Yuyin leaned back lazily in his wooden chair. “I have received a report from my subordinates. Let’s be frank today. It is true that Tengyue Sports was founded by my second brother, but it has only really started to take off in the last six months. I think it is not unreasonable for me to take it over myself.”
"To pave the way for Lu Yu's sports career, you want to leave the Jiao family completely?" Jiao Yuchen asked, picking out the point that would most hurt Jiao Cheng.
"You used the pretext of being wary of Lu Yu to have Dad investigate Tengyue's accounts, but all you wanted was to find those problematic suppliers in the system and keep me tied to the Jiao family, right? After I took over Tengyue Sports' retail business, I kicked out the suppliers you had chosen during the early stages of the business..."
Jiao Yuyin blinked his slightly sore eyes and turned his head to look at Jiao Yuchen.
"What's wrong with the Jiao family that makes you see this place as a den of wolves?" Jiao Yuchen retorted hysterically, ignoring Jiao Yuyin's question.
"I also want to ask, what's so good about the Jiao family that makes you go through all this trouble to scheme against them?"
"Ungrateful wretch—"
Jiao Cheng's faint, ethereal voice drifted through the closed study.
"Having grown up in a life of luxury, what's so good about the Jiao family now?"
Jiao Yuyin was stunned for a moment. At that moment, he thought of his mother, but the pain had already numbed his tongue. He would no longer try to hear the truth from another perspective from Jiao Cheng.
That's not important anymore.
"You can make things as messy as you want with Tengyue Sports, no problem. We can just wait another six months and start over." Jiao Yuyin's voice was cold. "As for Ruixin Group, we all know what you've done. From now on, we'll go our separate ways."
"Now that you've grown wings, you want to fly? When you were used to having everything done for you, why didn't you clamor to fly away..." Jiao Cheng's voice grew weaker and weaker.
The study door opened and then closed.
The weak, lingering sound was once again buried in the airtight study.
“A swallow that wants to fly away is not scary; what is scariest is a swallow that wants to peck at people’s eyes…” Jiao Yuyin thought to himself.
...
“Yuwei’s room is usually off-limits to everyone,” Mi Yang joked with a smile.
Lu Yu smiled and ruffled Jiao Yuwei's fluffy head.
Jiao Yu did not break free immediately. He closed the door and looked serious.
Lu Yu really couldn't understand this child's unpredictable moods.
Jiao Yuwei stood in front of a row of Lego bricks, leaned out, and crawled into the Lego gingerbread house against the wall.
The small camera was held in Jiao Yuwei's arms.
Return to the slot and retrieve the card.
Jiao Yu skillfully inserted the camera's memory card into the computer's card reader.
"My homework, Third Sister-in-law, you can finish reading it first." Jiao Yuwei's childish voice was low as he handed the two earphones to Lu Yu and Mi Yang.
Mi Yang also looked puzzled.
"Last year, the teacher assigned homework to record the process of flowers opening. You didn't hand it in, and the teacher even called me to criticize you. Is this the homework you didn't hand in last year?" Mi Yang asked in surprise, looking at the time watermark in the lower right corner of the video.
Jiao Yu did not nod.
Jiao Yuwei quickly dragged the video to the 3:20 a.m. progress.
Lu Yu felt as if an unknown string in her heart was about to snap.
Gingerbread house...
It's the gingerbread house Lego set that Jiao Yuwei once forbade anyone to approach...
What exactly did the seemingly glamorous Jiao family bring to each of its children?
In order to survive here, everyone needs to have multiple faces.
The sound from the headphones was faint and intermittent.
Even in the quiet of the night, insects chirp.
The flowers bloomed quietly in the greenhouse at night.
Two voices appeared.
It was Jiao Cheng and Tang Weiren.
"Sir, the matter concerning the Second Miss has been resolved." Tang Weiren's voice was calm.
"Well... I didn't want things to come to this... Hua Chang is just too stubborn!" Jiao Cheng's voice was a little hoarse.
"Actually, if only the Second Miss would loosen her grip—sir, when the Second Young Master went to see the Second Miss, a micro-camera in the corner of the room captured the footage. Now we have the footage. Should we destroy it or what?"
"The wolf cubs will grow all their fangs one day. Without the bandages, it would be bad if you were bitten by one of the wolf cubs."
“Alright, I’ll keep that for now.” Tang Weiren instantly understood and added, “When I arranged for the second young lady to be on the top floor of the mental hospital, I thought you would continue to try to get the eldest young lady to make a move. After all, the two sisters have already fallen out, and it’s easier for the eldest young lady to get depressing drugs…”
“This isn’t twenty years ago. It’s easy to get caught if someone dies from drug use now, and we’ll inevitably get into trouble. Besides, Hua An made a tough decision and took such a big risk, but he only gave Hua Chang the drug.” Jiao Cheng sighed.
"The Second Miss has helped the Eldest Young Master and the Eldest Young Master for so many years. Now that they have no other choice, it's not impossible that the Eldest Young Master has taken pity on them. I just didn't expect that, sir, you would ultimately choose to reveal the Second Miss's plan to expose the Jiao family's plot against the Wen family to the Second Young Master."
Jiao Cheng sneered, "You don't understand my second son. If you ask who values the Jiao family's power the most, it must be him. He seems humble, but he's actually the most ruthless. Moreover... he's also the one who's most afraid of the things from twenty years ago being exposed. It's most suitable to hand it over to him."
"Sir, your judgment is correct. The second young master went to the top floor room and pushed the second young lady downstairs. He did it very quickly and didn't hide or dodge afterwards, as if he had already anticipated that you would settle this matter."
"Back then, the Wen family's affairs were an open secret. Actually, I never intended for the Wen family to be destroyed, and I do owe Tang Li that..." Jiao Cheng was lost in memories. "Back then, the Wen Group was Yu Yin's biggest asset. As long as the Wen Group existed, both the Wen Group and the Yu Hua Group would belong to the third son, Yu Yin. You know, back then, I was always the Wen family's son-in-law... But I was just unlucky. For the sake of the Yu Hua Group, I had to endure it."
"What I didn't expect was that the eldest brother, Yu Shen, and Hua An made the first move. Tao Peng anonymously reported the Wen family, and Tang Li was drugged by Hua An... When I found out, I didn't know whether I was excited or scared. It felt like I was walking on a tightrope. But this is my last chance. The Jiao family's crisis was overcome by the Wen family. As long as the Wen family is around, the Jiao family will never be able to stand up for itself. My life shouldn't be such a pathetic one. I must seize this opportunity."
"I was juggling different women, but that fool Wen Tangli was still begging me to save the Wen family. When I saw the once pampered young lady enduring humiliation and pleading with me, I wavered for a moment. But what I was throwing onto the gambling table was the entire Jiao family... In the end, I could only speed things up and harden my heart to give the second son, Yu Chen, some of the evidence of Yuhua's low-price acquisition of the Wen family. I knew he would not let this opportunity pass."
Perhaps it was the complex thoughts that came with the night, or perhaps it was the passing of Jiao Huachang that touched Jiao Cheng's cold, hard heart, prompting him to slowly pour out his heart in the quiet flower room.
The poppies in the greenhouse have bloomed.
They bloomed brightly.
The bright red petals are like a lament in the night, singing of distant partings and deaths.
A figure flashed by in the lower left corner of the video.
In just a few seconds, Lu Yu still managed to see clearly the jade bead bracelet on the person's wrist.
She saw it when she was in Paris; it was picked up by her fourth sister, Jiao Hua!
No wonder Jiao Cheng was able to let Jiao Huachu and Jiao Huashun leave for Switzerland.
No wonder Jiao Hua said Mi Yang was the key before they parted ways. But no one expected that Jiao Yuwei would keep this evidence by himself until now, and even Mi Yang was unaware of it.
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