Chapter 422: Ironic Reality
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhen Zhu slowly sat down opposite Zhen Chongming. She wanted to see what he had prepared.
“Your mother’s death was due to a traffic accident. At that time, the police had already investigated it in detail.”
Zhen Chongming didn’t beat around the bush. “I’m sure you know that. But-”
He changed the topic and his eyes flickered. “There’s a story behind this traffic accident.”
Zhen Zhu clenched her fists. “What do you mean?”
“I remember that many years ago, you caused a ruckus at your father’s birthday banquet and broke off relations with the family.”
He continued unhurriedly, “1 heard that it was because you think your mother’s death is related to your father.”
Zhen Zhu did not hide it as she said, “Yes.”
He picked up his teacup and took a sip. “When you came to me to ask me about the whole story, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell you, but I couldn’t tell you. However, your guess wasn’t wrong.”
Her heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, but she still looked calm. “You have no grounds to prove anything right now. Where’s the evidence?”
Zhen Chongming took in her behavior and sipped his tea slowly. “What’s the rush?”
She stared at him, waiting for him to continue.
He then continued in a casual manner,
“Your mother and your father got together because of their parents’ orders. Your grandfather saved your father’s life in the past, so they got married. Although your grandfather pa.s.sed away early, the Zhen family’s Old Master Zhen still kept his promise and allowed your father to marry your mother. To be honest, your father treated your mother quite well, but she didn’t like him back.”
Zhen Zhu didn’t know much about her parents’ past because everyone in the Zhen family kept it a secret and never mentioned anything to her.
Her grandmother had also pa.s.sed away due to illness less than a year after her mother’s death.
Therefore, this was the first time she had heard of this.
Zhen Chongming’s description of the past was actually quite realistic. At the very least, it coincided with some of Zhen Zhu’s memories.
She remembered that her father had always been very proactive and concerned about her mother. Sometimes, when her mother casually mentioned something, she would receive a gift from him on the same day or the next day. The gift would always be exactly what she had mentioned.
However, her mother’s reaction was always indifferent and she never smiled.
Later, she moved to the villa to recuperate. Her father often visited her, but she was still neutral with him.
“You should remember that your mother moved out of the Zhen family because of her illness and lived in a villa in the suburbs of Beijing for several years, right? Actually, she didn’t have a light illness, it was because she had a heart disease.”
Zhen Chongming’s words came unexpectedly. Zhen Zhu blurted out, “A heart disease?”
“Yes, before your mother married into the Zhen family, she had a lover she met in university for several years. She didn’t like your father because she couldn’t forget her first love.”
Zhen Chongming said, “Actually, when your mother first got married, even though she didn’t have much of a relationship with your father in private, she was okay on the surface. One year, the company held a banquet and your father brought her to attend. In the end, at that banquet, she met her first love. That person was an employee of the partner company at that time and had come to the banquet with his president. No one expected that the two of them would actually… Get together in secret.”
He was calm as he revealed the truth about the past, but to Zhen Zhu’s ears, it was an inexplicable feeling.
She only felt that the air in this dim private room was a little too thin, and she was a little breathless.
When she was young, she had fought with her cousin Li Zhongjin because he had humiliated her mother. During Zhen Yiping’s birthday banquet, she had heard two women gossiping about her mother seducing a man. She had gone crazy and smashed a vase on the other party’s head, causing a ruckus at the banquet.
She did not expect the reality to be so ironic. Her mother and father divorced because her mother was the one who cheated first.
In her memory, after her mother got divorced and left the Zhen family, a man was waiting for her outside the door. The two of them hugged in front of the car. Later, the man took her mother into the car and left.
Was that person her mother’s first love?
*
“Paper can’t hide the fire. Old Master Zhen was furious when he found out, but for the sake of the Zhen family’s face and because your father helped plead for her, Old Master suppressed this matter and only forced that person to leave the capital.”
Zhen Chongming continued, “However, your mother fell ill because of this. She moved out of the Zhen family alone and lived in a villa in the suburbs. Old Master Zhen and Old Lady Zhen actually didn’t agree with this, but your father went against everyone’s wishes and still allowed her to go.”
“Your mother wanted a divorce, but your father refused. After that, she got pregnant with Zhen Huan and went quiet for a while. Later, because your grandmother got sick, she went back to visit her hometown. By accident, she met that person again at the hospital. Although they couldn’t talk to each other because of the bodyguards, your mother was determined to get a divorce after she came back. 1 remember that Zhen Huan was only one year old at that time, and you were six or seven years old, right?”
Zhen Chongming said a lot of things in one breath, his mouth running a little dry. He took a few sips of tea before continuing, “I’m sure you know what happened after that. Your mother got a divorce as she wished and went to Europe with her first love.”
Zhen Zhu listened in silence and asked almost mechanically, “And then?”
“After that?”
Zhen Chongming said meaningfully, “After disgracing the Zhen family, do you think that your mother will be happy even if she had left?”
Zhen Zhu’s nerves were tensed up like a thread, as if it would break at any moment. “What do you mean?”
“After your mother left, Old Master Zhen and Old Lady Zhen were furious. Your father was even more furious.”
Zhen Chongming said, “At that time, he came to drink with me a lot. He would get drunk easily and was very angry with your mother. He probably just said it in a moment of confusion, but he really…”
Zhen Chongming paused.
Zhen Zhu raised her head and looked at him. Her voice trembled slightly as she asked, “What’s wrong? What did he say?”
Zhen Chongming turned on his phone and played a recording. He shook his head and said, “There’s a recording here; listen to it yourself. I secretly recorded this when your father came looking for me. Originally, 1 only thought that if the old master knew about it one day, perhaps 1 could prove my innocence. Now that I’m letting you hear it, it can be considered useful.”
He pressed the play b.u.t.ton, and after a short sizzling sound, Zhen Yiping’s voice suddenly sounded.
“No matter how 1 think about it, 1 can’t take this lying down. Chongming, I’ve decided. 1 must teach this adulterous couple a lesson.”
“How do you want to teach them a lesson?” In the recording, Zhen Chongming said, “Yiping, you’re already divorced. You have to think it through.”
“I’ve thought it through. I want them dead.”
That voice was filled with hatred and a hint of gnashing teeth. It was not as solemn and dignified as it was now. In fact, it was slightly distorted.
However, this recording was more than ten years old. After all, Zhen Yiping was still young at that time.
“You should know what happened after that. Your mother and her first love had only been abroad for half a year when the man died of a drug addiction in a bar. Not long after, your mother died in a traffic accident.”
Zhen Chongming shook his head and sighed. “The police had determined that it was an accident and the driver had migrated. Due to that, n.o.body pursued the matter anymore..”