A Righteous Father
There were armed militants who patrolled the area, marching to the sounds of a whistle. However, upon closer inspection, this wasn’t a military base. Or any military training camp for that matter. It was just a retirement facility for militants, with several identical venues scattered all over the country. Needless to say, places like these were usually left vacant and under-maintained.
And by its side facing the coast, a mansion stood visibly well-lit on the first floor.
A huge Mediterranean-made rug covered much of the plywood floor. The light brown leather cus.h.i.+ons were coupled with several extravagant redwood pieces of furniture. The corners of the room held masterpieces of renowned sculptors and vintage million-dollar paintings.
In the center of it all was a huge mounted television where the financial news of foreign satellite broadcasts was showing. There were two smaller monitors with constantly updating stock market data flanking its sides.
Right across the room was a man with the top of his s.h.i.+rt unb.u.t.toned, as he lazed on the couch with a gla.s.s of blood-red wine on his hand. He was visibly satisfied with what was shown on the screens.
Not too far from the man was a pale, skinny woman equally concentrated at the news. But her facial expressions were quite different, ranging from anxiety to worry.
They were none other than Li Minghe on a temporary retreat from the storm he created, and Wu Yue who was knocked unconscious and forcefully brought along.
At this moment, the latest updates from the news were in regards to a small amount of Yu Lei shares being purchased on Nasdaq.
Li Minghe saw the headlines and broke into laughter. “Wow, I guess Lin Ruoxi is truly desperate to fake some individual buyers to repurchase her stocks. What good does she really think it is going to do? What a delusional idiot. Yue’er, come over and take a look at your charismatic, perfect Boss Lin. Turns out she was just an ordinary person like everybody else.”
Wu Yue pitifully turned towards him and questioned, “Minghe, why are you doing this? How would Yu Lei’s bankruptcy benefit you?”
Li Minghe unwaveringly replied, “I never said I wanted Yu Lei to crumble. I just want to witness the fall of Lin Ruoxi. Once the plan has achieved its expected outcome, Lin Ruoxi would no longer be worthy for the role of Yu Lei’s CEO. That’s when I will return to play the role of hero.”
Wu Yue was horrified at his words. “Why would you want to do that?”
Li Minghe sneered, “Yu Lei International is nothing but a corporation too small for my appet.i.te. But then again, I don’t expect you to understand my ambitions. Besides, I’m just taking back what was rightfully mine.”
“You’re crazy… Why are you...” Wu Yue was overwhelmed by the things she had uncovered. She panickingly stood up and declared, “Minghe, I’m going to go back to support Boss Lin! Even if this is a lost cause, I’d still give my all to make sure… make sure you never get what you want.”
Wu Yue upon finis.h.i.+ng dashed towards the exit of the mansion.
Li Minghe instantly tossed his wine gla.s.s aside as the red wine spilled all over the redwood tiles, while he simultaneously latched onto Wu Yue and embraced her from the back.
Wu Yue struggled to break free but to no avail. She tried to bite his shoulder but he was persistent in keeping her there.
She ultimately broke into tears and lifted her head. “Minghe, let me go. Please stop this madness right now.”
Li Minghe eyes were filled with fury as he taunted, “Why, do you not love me anymore? Does it really pain you to see me get better? Is Lin Ruoxi that much more important to you than I am?”
Wu Yue blankly stared at the man she once loved before she shook her head. “You’re not comparing apples to apples. Boss Lin is my senior. You’re the man I love. I cannot allow you to continue falling into this trench. I don’t want to sit by and watch you go mad.”
Li Minghe sternly replied, “You need to know, in my plans, you’re nothing but a chess piece. A p.a.w.n that only has so much use before I discard it…”
Wu Yue was stunned, feeling a heart-wrenching pain.
“But,” Li Minghe let out a long breath, “I have ultimately decided to take you here with me.”
Wu Yue’s body trembled as her breathing sped up.
Li Minghe had a bitter smile as he replied, “Yue’er, do you not know how I feel about you? I know I used you. But right now, I really want you by my side. Once I become the CEO of Yu Lei or achieve even greater things, you’ll be Mrs Li! It definitely sounds a lot better than the puny a.s.sistant position you’re getting right now.”
Wu Yue held her head low as teardrops trickled down on the carpet. She stayed in that position for a while before finally lifting up her head up as she said, “Thank you… for clarifying. I’m glad to hear that from you. No matter what you do, or what you’ve become, I will still love you.”
Li Minghe happily replied, “You mean—”
“Sorry!” Wu Yue continued before he could finish, “Despite how much I really want us to last, I still need to return to Yu Lei, to a.s.sist Boss Lin. I am a naive little idiot with an insignificant position. But it would still be wrong to sit here idly while Yu Lei sinks.”
“Why would you throw my heart away for a woman I hate to my guts?” Li Minghe went unhinged as he furiously shook Wu Yue’s body.
Wu Yue meanwhile sympathetically stared at the man as he descended into lunacy. Smiling, she answered, “That’s because, more than anything, I wish that the child inside me will have a righteous father…”
The entire living room went dead silent—the only noise was that of the broadcasted cable news.
Li Minghe froze upon hearing those words, his eyes filled with nothing but confusion and bewilderment.
Under the same night sky in Zhonghai, Yang Chen adjusted his emotions before getting off the car and walking into the police station. He was frustrated with the abnormally high frequency of visits he had made to the police stations recently. One might think that he was trying to forge a relations.h.i.+p with the police.
Just as he was considering the potential interactions he could have with the police, while also contemplating on how to comfort Liu Mingyu after that incident, a familiar silhouette of elegance and charm strolled out from the police station.
In her full office attire was Liu Mingyu. She looked identical to when she was escorted away that noon. The only difference was the added fatigue in her pupils.
Staring at the man standing right at the end of descending steps, Liu Mingyu was bewildered for moments before she eventually sped up on her footsteps as she dashed towards him. “Yang Chen, why are you here?”
“Stop running, you’re wearing heels.” Yang Chen held his woman on the waist as he scanned her from top to bottom. When he realized there was nothing wrong, he curiously asked, “I found evidence to prove that you were not at fault. I rushed my way here to pick you up. But why did they let you out early?”
Liu Mingyu was electrified as she questioned, “Who? What evidence?”
Yang Chen briefly summarised how Li Mingyu manipulated the hard disk from a photostat machine to get access to the cla.s.sified doc.u.ments. As for Lin Ruoxi’s poisoning, he felt that it would be best discussed at a later time.
Liu Mingyu happily continued, “I knew something was off when he kept coming over to my office. But never would I have guessed that it was a decoy. Actually when I arrived at the police station, Boss Lin had already sent lawyers to defend my rights as a civilian under custody, so there wasn’t anything done against me. Just a few simple questions about the details of the incident.”
“Ruoxi did that?” Yang Chen was stunned. “Why didn’t she tell me about it?”
Liu Mingyu rolled her eyes. “You idiot, you made a huge fuss this noon at the meeting. How could you stand against her in front of so many people? Any wife would be p.i.s.sed if their husband did that. But she was just calm as a cuc.u.mber the whole time. If it was me, I would’ve stamped on you with my heels!”
Yang Chen giggled embarra.s.singly. “I just wanted to make sure you were fine as everyone was picking on you.”
“Yeah, but that’s because the situation was centered around me,” Liu Mingyu replied, “Even if I was being falsely accused, I can still keep myself under control. After all, it was for the greater good that I was sent to the police station. In a way, it was a form of protection for me as well as a chance for me to prove my innocence. Do you really think your wife is a nincomp.o.o.p? If someone as mediocre as you could notice the problem, what makes you think she hasn’t? Under such a circ.u.mstance, she could only send me over first, then deploy Attorney Zhang to deal with the legalities. This would prevent the attacks on me from escalating, killing two birds with one stone.”
Yang Chen was rather annoyed. He understood that he was little brash, notably those that involving his women. Despite how rapid the growth of his cultivation is, his maturity was still rather synonymous with his age.
Liu Mingyu continued, “That’s why don’t blame Boss Lin for keeping it from you. You were the one that was trying to pick a fight with her.”
Yang Chen pouted as he went straight towards her b.u.t.t cheeks and gave a prolonged pinch, prompting her to coyly moan before worryingly looking around to make sure no one saw it.
“Alright, you can stop now. You have to leave me with some pride intact. I’m not a saint, so making mistakes is normal.” Yang Chen smiled awkwardly. “Ruoxi clearly had some embedded intentions when she told me to come pick you up. But let’s just keep it short for now. Now that you’re fine, I should take you back to the company. The situation there is worse than ever.”
Liu Mingyu understood that the severity of the incident was no joking matter. She hopped into his car and the both of them headed back to Yu Lei’s headquarters.
But as he was on his way back, Yang Chen once again received a text message. It was Adeline who was stalking Li Minghe all this while…