When Qiao Lan arrived at the Qiao Estate, she was welcomed warmly by the gardener. Confused as to why he was the only one on the property, she had asked him where the rest of the servants were. The man told her that they"d been dismissed.Qiao Lan"s brow furrowed.
"Why?" Qiao Lan asked suspiciously.
"Your grandfather is away." The gardener said nonchalantly as he continued to shape a shrub.
"Where?" She asked. A tinge of anger appeared in her voice causing the gardener to give her his full undivided attention.
The gardener began to explain all he was told.
As he spoke Qiao Lan"s face got blacker and blacker and she felt her blood boil.
Apparently, her grandfather had left two days ago to visit friends three cities away from where he"d be staying for two months!
How could she be so unlucky?
But it had nothing to do with luck. For months Elder Qiao had been planning this trip and he had told her about it multiple times before but she had completely forgotten.
So now what could she do?
Qiao Lan took out her phone and tried to call her grandfather but the line was busy so she ended up going to visit her mother.
Qiao Qing Qing, Qiao Lan"s mother, was a sickly woman. Since she had given birth to Qiao Lan, twenty-nine years ago, her body had grown weaker and weaker, forcing her to constantly go in and out of the hospital.
Despite this, Qiao Lan didn"t visit her mother much because she had a general disgust for hospitals. Instead, she would make sure to call her mother almost every week.
It was so unlike Qiao Lan to come to visit that when her mother saw her for the first time, she wondered if she was having a delusion. Her face began to pale even more than it had originally been. But once she noticed that it was actually her precious daughter, the woman face twisted in confusion and worry.
"What"s wrong?"
Qiao Lan slowly walked over to her mother and stood by her bed. She leaned forward to give her mother a hug but she avoided looking at the woman too much. Especially the IV in her arm.
"Do you know where grandfather is?"
Qiao Qing Qing did not answer her daughter"s question. Instead, she repeated her own in a more rigid voice.
"What is wrong, Qiao Lan?"
Going over to sit on the bed. Qiao Lan hugged her mother"s neck, as her eyes began to redden. Seeing her daughter like that made Qiao Qing Qing"s heart break.
"Mommy… someone bullied me." Qiao Lan began to sniffle.
Her mother"s eyes turned dark and ravenous.
"Someone bullied you? Who would dare do such a stupid thing to a Qiao?" Qiao Qing Qing screamed.
"It was Kang Jun."
Hearing the offenders name, her mother was quiet for a moment. "Oh…"
Qiao Qing Qing swallowed hard.
The woman knew Kang Jun"s demeanor and temper well. He wasn"t her child but she was good friends with the man"s mother and she had quickly deduced that those two were freakishly alike.
"I"m not going to involve myself in this. If you want, I"ll give you your grandfather"s other number and the number of the friend he"s visiting. You can try calling but if they don"t answer there really is nothing I can do."
Qiao Lan knew that there was nothing her mother could do for her. What would a bedridden old woman be able to do? Nothing. But she had done more than enough.
She hugged her mother once more. "Thanks, mom."
"You"re welcome, but…" She paused for a second. "Could you please not start a fight with Ah Jun."
Hearing her mother call Kang Jun "Ah Jun", Qiao Lan wanted to explode.
"Mom, he threatened me!"
"Even so… He, uh… he"s not normal." Qiao Qing Qing wasn"t sure how to explain her emotions towards Kang Jun. She couldn"t deny the man"s merits but he had always rubbed her the wrong way; even when he was a child.
Qiao Lan wasn"t sure what her mother meant, but she didn"t care. "How can you take his side?"
"How am I taking his side?! I"m just telling you that it"s a bad move." Qiao Qing Qing coughed. "I mean, think about it, you"ve been living a good life with the Kang"s and they treat you so well. If it"s just about Kang Jun just steer clear from him. You don"t want anything jeopardizing your position."
"And what position is that? Once he becomes Elder Kang"s successor, do you really think I"ll have any position in the Kang family." Qiao Lan said bitterly.
Qiao Qing Qing paused for a second. "How do you know?"
"I just do. Out of all the sons of Kang Mu, Kang Jun is the only one who has barely done any mistakes, and the subsidiaries he manages are doing better than his brothers. I saw the files on grandpa Kang"s desk."
"Are you afraid of getting kicked out of the Kang family? Do you think the elder will allow that? " Qiao Qing Qing"s voice was low and slightly shaky due to both anger and fear, though mostly the latter.
Qiao Lan didn"t speak, causing her mother"s face to pale.
In truth, Qiao Lan wasn"t worried about that. Her real worries lied with Kang Jun getting married or acquiring Mingyu…
Though one of the two options were already off the table. Kang Jun would most likely never get married after what had happened in the past, so his only hope of becoming the heir lied with Mingyu.
This was the one piece that could tip the scales in his favor.
With the boy by his side, Kang Jun didn"t need an heir. No matter his birth, the boy was already recognized as a child of the Kang"s thanks to Kang Zhi and Elder Kang.
In the grander scheme of things, Mingyu was just a chess piece and Qiao Lan had to make sure he didn"t fall into Kang Jun"s hands.
As long as Kang Jun did not become the heir, she"d be fine. Out of all his brothers, Kang Jun was the only one who was more than capable of leading. He was also the only one Qiao Lan knew she couldn"t get close to enough to secure her place in the Kang family register forever and maybe get a little more…
But even if he did become the heir, Elder Kang would never allow anything bad to happen to her. If Qiao Lan was going to be thrown out of the Kang family, it would be over the old man"s dead body.
The thought was powerful enough to bring her to tears.
Would Kang Jun really kill his grandfather in order to destroy her? Qiao Lan strongly belied he would.
After all, it was Kang Jun"s fault that Kang Zhi died...
"Everything would be different if Zhi was alive…" Qiao Qing Qing sighed heavily. The mention of Kang Zhi"s name made Qiao Lan"s heart tighten. It"s like the mother and daughter had some type of telepathic connection.
Silence spread through the room.
Kang Zhi was the eldest of Kang Mu"s five sons and the favorite grandson of Elder Kang. He was a perfect man. He was kind, understanding, gentle but also intelligent, business savvy and social. Everyone loved him and that"s why it hurt the family the most when he died.
After his death, Kang Corporations became hard to manage under Elder Kang alone and the elder knew he couldn"t trust his own son to manage it, so, instead, Kang Jun was promoted to President, succeeding Kang Zhi.
This angered Qiao Lan to the core because the man had been put in a position that almost a.s.sured him his family legacy, but due to his unlikable personality and lack of interested in interpersonal relationships Kang Jun"s succession brought overwhelming doubt within the Kang family and the investors of Kang Corporation.
If Kang Jun wasn"t so good at his job, he would have already been dethroned.
Watching her daughter intently, Qiao Qing Qing sighed. "I doubt the elder would give the company to someone who won"t be producing heirs."
Qiao Lan"s face turned dark.
Quickly, Qiao Lan said her goodbyes to her mother and left the room. The woman thought about what her mother had said.
Heirs...
If she"d been able to produce an actual heir then she would have had a true claim on the Kang empire but that was too late. Kang Zhi had died too early, and it was such a shame.
Leaving behind his family, his wife, and secrets…
Secrets that, because of Kang Zhi"s death, only Qiao Lan and Elder Kang knew. Ones that the pair had decided to keep until their deathbed. At least, for now. As soon as Kang Jun had been promoted, she had begun to rethink that pact. She decided instead, that she would keep the secret with all her might, and expose it when the time was right.
It would change the whole Kang family forever.
As she was exiting the room, Qiao Lan started to call her grandfather. It rang once, and that was all it took for the man to answer.
"Grandfather." Qiao Lan said with love and admiration but her tone quickly changed. "Someone bullied me." She whined, recycling the words she"d said to her mother.
***
At Kang Corporations Elder Kang sat in Kang Jun"s office.
In the middle of their contract conversation, Kang Jun had been called out to partic.i.p.ate in an important meeting. A part of him wanted to push it back, but Elder Kang had told him he wouldn"t mind waiting. As soon as Kang Jun left the room, Secretary Rong entered and respectfully bowed to the old man before he spoke.
"Sir, Miss Qiao called."
"Oh…" Elder Kang didn"t want to talk to Qiao Lan right now. He felt pretty bad for ignoring her but at the same time, he didn"t have the luxury to.
"Should I call her back?" Secretary Rong was a diligent man and if it was any other situation, he would make decisions in Elder Kang"s stead.
They"d been together so long that the elder would respect his decision. However, when it came to situations regarding family, Secretary Rong was not the best helper. For him, the family was like a business and it should be handled ruthlessly.
"No. I"ll speak to her later."
"Much later if possible…"
Elder Kang wasn"t sure how he would solve the problems between his grandson and granddaughter-in-law but he knew he had to do it before things got blown out of proportion.
And he feared that it would happen soon but he believed he had enough time to fix it before it did. It was too bad for the elder that he didn"t.
He had thoroughly underestimated Qiao Lan"s patience.
Time had run out the moment he didn"t answer her call that morning.
Elder Kang"s phone began to ring in Secretary Rong"s hand. Looking down, the man sighed and shook his head slightly. Seeing this, Elder Kang ask,
"Who is it?"
Secretary Rong didn"t answer, he just showed him the screen.
It was Qiao Jianhong.