Lin Chu could not help laughing out loud and ignored her.
Yan Beicheng was just listening listlessly, he was not really watching the television.
He turned his head at the noise. "What"s going on?"
Lin Chu pa.s.sed the phone to Yan Beicheng, "Zhe Hexuan sent me this message. How funny is she? Who would care what Lu Zhenghang"s house look like? It doesn"t even bother me. She even took the trouble to let me know that we are living in the same area now. I think she must be going crazy trying to move up the social ladder. Luckily, we are moving soon. One Lu Zhenghang is already too much to handle. And now we have a Zhu Hexuan, who is filled with so much pride about being high-cla.s.s enough to move into this area, thrown into the mix."
Lu Zhenghang was not someone who would treat his relations.h.i.+p with Zhu Hexuan seriously. But Zhu Hexuan was so caught up in it that she did not realize that he had not given her any recognition in this relations.h.i.+p. To put it bluntly, it was no different than being Lu Zhenghang"s mistress.
According to the phone conversation with Nan Jingheng, Lu Zhenghang had never referred to Zhu Hexuan as his girlfriend.
Zhu Hexuan, on the other hand, would occasionally give out hints to others. When others asked her if she was Lu Zhenghang"s girlfriend, Zhu Hexuan would say nothing but would always lower her head and smile shyly in embarra.s.sment. She may not have admitted it openly, but this reaction was her giving silent affirmation.
One was trying to be recognized as a legitimate girlfriend, the other had no such intention.
Zhu Hexuan really thought that her moving in here put her at the same level as Lin Chu. It was truly a joke.
Yan Beicheng laughed at her naivety. "How can it be the same? You"re my wife, what does she think she is? Even if she did end up marrying Lu Zhenghang, that Lu Zhenghang really is no good. How could she compare herself to you?"
Lin Chu snorted with laughter. Yan Beicheng had taken the opportunity to lash out at both Lu Zhenghang and Zhu Hexuan at one go.
Yan Beicheng pa.s.sed the phone back to Lin Chu and said, "Since there is no longer any relations.h.i.+p between you and Zhu Hexuan, delete her contact from your phone. Our WeChat Moments are always updated by our friends and she"s a reporter. She might dig out something from them. Even if we are talking about something normal, she might find a way to twist our words and stir up trouble. Now that you have openly gotten into an argument with her, it won"t be a surprise if she has it out for you."
Lin Chu nodded. "If she hadn"t sent me this message, I would have forgotten that she was even a friend in my WeChat contacts. I never really thought about that."
Lin Chu deleted Zhu Hexuan as she said this.
Zhu Hexuan was still trying to show off to Lin Chu when she realized that her message could no longer be sent over.
Zhu Hexuan, "…"
Lin Chu was not sure if it was because Yan Beicheng was back, but even though Lu Zhenghang had officially moved in, he never returned to hara.s.s her. She might not believe that Lu Zhenghang would be nice enough to leave her alone, but it was still a relief that he was not stirring up any trouble.
It has been more than half a month since Xu Jiaojiao was discharged from the hospital. There had been no news from the Xu family since and Lin Chu had no idea what had happened to them.
Xu Jiaojiao had miscarried a little over a month into her pregnancy but had gotten better in half a month after resting and undergoing a period of confinement. There were still some side effects of the lochia from her predicament, though.
It was funny how people would sometimes respond to thoughts like this. Lin Chu was just thinking about it when Dai Huimin called her.
Lin Chu picked up and smiled. "I was just thinking about what had happened to you and here you are giving me a call."
Dai Humin sighed. "We didn"t want to trouble you if we could. If would be best for us to solve this on our own. If the Yan family found out, they may look down on you. We didn"t want to bring you any trouble as it"s the least we can do for you."
"I guess that you"re were not able to solve it since you"re giving me this call," Lin Chu said as she got up to leave the office.
Dai Humin nodded but realized that she was on the phone and Lin Chu could not see her. Then, she said in embarra.s.sment, "Yes. Jiaojiao has been discharged for more than half a month, but Cheng Ziming still has not come to visit her. That"s why we"re not supporting her relations.h.i.+p with Cheng Ziming. Unfortunately, Jiaojiao is not giving up, so we"re at a stalemate."
Dai Huimin told Lin Chu what had happened during this time.
It turned out that when Xu Jiaojiao hung up on Cheng Ziming at the hospital that day, she immediately regretted it and thought she was being too rash. She tried to call Cheng Ziming that night but Cheng Ziming would not pick up.
When they got home, Xu Jiaojiao got even more anxious after thinking about it and kept making calls to Cheng Ziming.
Finally, Cheng Ziming picked up one of the calls. He told her that he was on the plane, which was why he could not pick up. He was in the USA visiting his wife. Even though he felt no love for his wife, he still needed to put up a front.
Xu Jiaojiao got scared when she heard the news. Now that she had lost her child, she was worried that Cheng Ziming would get back together with his wife. She had not even gained anything but was now she was about to lose it all.
She was busy being pitiful as she cried to Cheng Ziming.
The call was made in secret but Dai Huimin overheard everything. Both mother and daughter got into another argument, and as Xu Jiaojiao was still recuperating, Dai Huimin could not bear to hit her thin, frail body. All she could do was cry to herself as she treated this as retribution for whatever she had done in her past life.
Even though lochia was still being discharged from her body despite Xu Jiaojiao getting better, it did not affect her enough to stop her from leaving the house. Nevertheless, Dai Huimin still did not allow her to visit Lin Mao, much less allow her to see Cheng Ziming.
If Xu Jiaojiao did not call Cheng Ziming, Cheng Ziming would never take the initiative to call her.
Xu Jiaojiao understood very well what was going on based on Cheng Ziming"s att.i.tude toward her, but she was not willing to admit it. She continued to remain stubborn about the matter. As she was not willing to accept reality, she still held on to her empty hopes.
Dai Huimin had said whatever that was needed to be said. She told her that Cheng Ziming did not want to take responsibility for it. Even if he was in the USA, would it be that difficult for him to give her a call? She wanted her daughter to accept the truth and stop being so stubborn.
But Xu Jiaojiao remained firm about her decision.
Lin Chu said, "I think it"s because Xu Jiaojiao is too proud to admit her mistake. She is more or less aware of what is happening. She had previously sworn that Cheng Ziming was serious toward her, but everything changed not long after. She must be unwilling to accept the fact that she had been utterly wrong, so I think it"s better if Cheng Ziming would tell her the truth in person and let Xu Jiaojiao see Cheng Ziming"s true colors for herself."
"I know that, but Cheng Ziming won"t even give her a call. Would he be willing to talk to her face to face? I think Cheng Ziming is trying to slowly distance himself from Jiaojiao," Dai Huimin sighed.
"I have a plan. Listen to me closely because it will need your cooperation," said Lin Chu.
Everyone had to work half a day in Lin Mao on Sat.u.r.days, which was why Dai Huimin waited outside for Cheng Ziming that day.
As Yan Beicheng needed to work overtime that Sat.u.r.day, he was stuck in the office. Thus, Lin Chu drove her car and brought Xu Jiaojiao to a café. Then, they sat in a corner.
There were potted plants in every corner, so even though it was not a private room, it worked well to give them cover.
Xu Jiaojiao just ordered a cup of warm water, but did not even add a lemon slice to it. She had nothing to say to Lin Chu and it was not long before she got annoyed.
"What is the purpose of bringing me here? Spit it out!" Xu Jiaojiao said impatiently.
"I"ve nothing to say to you. Just keep quiet for now," Lin Chu said casually.
The café was very near Lin Mao, just a short walk away.
Xu Jiaojiao looked around. She wanted to see Cheng Ziming at Lin Mao.
Lin Chu lips curved up sardonically as she took a sip of her Yuzu tea. "There"s no need to be anxious. You"ll see the person you want to later."
"What do you mean?" Xu Jiaojiao was taken aback.
Dai Huimin was waiting at Lin Mao"s entrance at that very moment. She finally saw Cheng Ziming walk out from the office building around noon. He was wearing a suit and looking very proper, much unlike his despicable personality.
Dai Huimin almost wanted to walk up and punch him. However, she clenched her fists and calmed down with much difficulty. Then, she immediately walked toward Cheng Ziming to stop him.
Cheng Ziming did not know who Dai Huimin was. He saw that she was dressed shabbily and frowned as he asked in annoyance, "Who are you?"
Dai Huimin raised her hand to give Cheng Ziming a slap. "I"m Xu Jiaojiao"s mum!"
Cheng Ziming"s expression turned ugly at being slapped in public. Moreover, there were some employees walking out of Lin Mao at the same time.
"Why have you come here to create trouble?" Cheng Ziming asked angrily.
"Do you want me to explain clearly everything to you right here? Jiaojiao got pregnant with your child and now that she has suffered a miscarriage, but all you"re doing is avoiding her. I"d like to ask you, how are you planning on handling this?" Dai Huimin raised her voice to ask.
Everyone at Lin Mao was aware of Xu Jiaojiao"s situation, as she was giving it her all here.
As expected, Cheng Ziming clenched his jaws and grabbed Dai Huimin by the arm. "What"s there to shout about?!"
"If you don"t want me to shout, then come and talk to me," Dai Huimin lowered her voice.
Cheng Ziming thought that Dai Huimin was here to ask for something. It looked like Xu Jiaojiao was a greedy person, and so was her mum.
His lips curved up sarcastically, "Sure."
Dai Huimin was afraid that Cheng Ziming would escape, so she held on tight to his suit sleeve.
Cheng Ziming frowned in disgust, as if Dai Huimin"s hands were dirty. He wanted to push her away and he snarled, "Let go!"
"No, I won"t!" Dai Huimin held on tight. She had done physical work her whole life and was quite strong so she was not about to lose out to Cheng Ziming when it came to strength.
"If I don"t hold on to tight to someone as despicable as you, you might try to escape."
Cheng Ziming snorted coldly but allowed himself to be pulled into a café by Dai Huimin.
Lin Chu saw them both enter and huddled closer to a corner. She gave Xu Jiaojiao a reminder, "Cheng Ziming is here, but don"t make any noise. If you want to talk to Cheng Ziming, I"ll give you a chance later, but you"ll first need to hear what he has to say."
Xu Jiaojiao opened her mouth to say something, but decided to shut up obediently. She wanted to listen for herself what Cheng Ziming was planning to do.
Dai Huimin followed Lin Chu"s previous instructions and sat next to where they were.
When they sat down, Cheng Ziming immediately asked, "How much do you want?"
"I don"t want any money. I"d just like to know what do you plan to do about Jiaojiao? Jiaojiao got pregnant with your child and has now miscarried, and yet you"ve never even come to visit her even once. You didn"t even inform her when you came back to the country. Are you planning to break up with her? Regardless of if you are planning to continue your relations.h.i.+p or not, you need to be held accountable!"
"Accountable? What should I be accountable for? Your daughter came on to me for money. We are very aware of what our relations.h.i.+p is based on. She knows I have a family, what is there for me to be held accountable for?" Cheng Ziming said coldly.
Xu Jiaojiao"s face went pale as the blood drained from her face. Her tears would not stop flowing.
"The entire company knows what is going on between us and that my wife will be home soon. I can"t keep her around. I was about to break it off with her, but she got pregnant. I was planning to keep her around and take care of her since she was already pregnant, but she undoubtedly would have to resign. Now that the child is gone, it"s just as well. I"ll just break up with her. I"ve been very clear about this with you today, so you need to remember to tell her so when you get home. Get her to stop calling me. She should understand what I meant when I didn"t come looking for her. I"ve got no feelings toward her anymore. Isn"t it better to part on good terms?
"You should know your own daughter well. She"s not the smartest girl around. If she was at least smart, then I wouldn"t mind continuing our relations.h.i.+p, but she"s just too stupid. I have no patience to handle her stupidity," Cheng Ziming said coldly.
"When Xu Jiaojiao first joined the company, she was doing well. But the moment we got into a relations.h.i.+p, she started thinking she was a big shot, thinking that she was the boss"s wife. There were many instances when she gave her colleagues orders after forgetting who she really was. If I continued my relations.h.i.+p with such a stupid woman, I"d get into trouble because of her. To be honest, I wouldn"t stay with her even if I got divorced. She is unpresentable and I can"t bring her out to embarra.s.s me. If she had taken good care of the baby, then I wouldn"t have treated her badly. Unfortunately, that wasn"t the case."
Even though he no longer had feelings for Xu Jiaojiao, he was still happy about Xu Jiaojiao getting pregnant.
This was because Lin Yuwen could no longer get pregnant, but he desired children.
Xu Jiaojiao was filled with anger. She was trembled, but she was not sure if it was out of anger or pain.
When she was about to walk over to Cheng Ziming and confront him, but Lin Chu pulled her back and glared at her sternly. She did not allow her to go over.
Xu Jiaojiao"s rage dissipated under Lin Chu"s glare. She had not realized how scary Lin Chu"s glare could be. It gave her a chill such that she had no courage to defy her.
In the end, she sat down obediently. All she could do was cry silently as her tears continuously fell.
Her mouth repeatedly gasped for air while she cursed silently. Lin Chu could see her mouthing angrily, "a.s.shole! a.s.shole!"
Lin Chu also thought Cheng Ziming was an a.s.shole, but this could not have happened unless both parties had agreed to it. Xu Jiaojiao did give in to him willingly.
Lin Chu quietly took out some tissues to give her. Xu Jiaojiao took them and covered her face as she continued sobbing quietly.
Then, they heard Cheng Ziing continue, "Nevertheless, she"s kept me company for some time. The miscarriage this time was her fault, but I"m not a heartless person."
Cheng Ziming took out a checkbook and wrote a number down. Then, he tore it out and held the thin paper between his index finger and middle finger before flinging it at Dai Huimin.
The thin piece of check floated toward her before landing on the table.
"Treat this as her compensation. Isn"t that the real reason you came to me? Even if you didn"t come looking for me, I would have still given this to her. Ask her to care for herself when you get home and to stop thinking about climbing up the social circle. Just find someone from a family close to hers. She"s not fit for someone of high status," Cheng Ziming snorted sarcastically.
Dai Huimin stayed silent. She was so angry that she could not reply.
She knew Xu Jiaojiao was sitting behind them and could listen to every word he was saying. This was her choice. This was the man that she claimed would take responsibility for her!
Lin Chu saw that it was almost time. So, she let go of Xu Jiaojiao and let her act freely.
Xu Jiaojiao must have previously been stunned by Lin Chu"s glare. She was not sure what Lin Chu was telling her, so she looked at Lin Chu to get her opinion.
Lin Chu looked at Xu Jiaojiao and thought it was funny of her to act so cautiously now, but she held back her laughter and instead nodded at Xu Jiaojiao.
Xu Jiaojiao immediately ran over and gave Cheng Ziming a great, big slap on the face.
Cheng Ziming had never dreamt that Xu Jiaojiao would be listening to his words right beside him. He was not prepared for Xu Jiaojiao to rush out and slap him right where she wanted to.
Cheng Ziming was not sure if it was because of Xu Jiaojiao"s rage that she had so much strength in her. Half of Cheng Ziming"s face was immediately swelled up on the spot as he felt a buzzing in his right ear. His ear rang continuously as he became dazed.
With great difficulty, he came back to his senses and saw Xu Jiaojiao tear up the check up and throw it in his face. The check was thin and light, so it did not hurt him as the pieces brushed across his nose and fell onto his legs. Nevertheless, Cheng Ziming"s face still fell at the humiliating situation.
"Keep your dirty money to yourself, I don"t want it!" Xu Jiaojiao said angrily as her tears flowed despite her trying to hold it back.
She lifted her hands to wipe them away roughly. She did not want to appear weak in front of Cheng Ziming.
He had been so heartless, so there was no point in her being concerned over him.
However, Xu Jiaojiao could not help it as she cried and continued saying, "So, you look down on me, do you? Then go find someone that you can look up to! Even if you eventually find someone whom you can look up to, rest a.s.sured that they will look down on you! What do you think you are?! Despicable people like you should be cursed with not having children!"
Cheng Ziming immediately stood up. Since Lin Yuwen could not get pregnant anymore, he was very sensitive when it came to the issue of infertility.
"Are you trying to hurt her?" Dai Huimin quickly stood up and stood in front of Xu Jiaojiao to protect her.
She had a weak character but when it came to Xu Jiaojiao, Dai Huimin was strong.
Cheng Ziming really had wanted to hit Jiaojiao but was stopped by Dai Huimin. Xu Jiaojiao pointed to the doors of the café and said, "Get out! Get out of my face! I had always thought you were a good man, even when everyone told me you weren"t. I didn"t believe them and told them what a good person you were. I was blind! It was all because of you that I didn"t listen to their good advice. Now that I"ve lost so much, not only do you have nothing good to say, you actually revealed how much you look down on me. This was my own doing, since I didn"t know how to love myself. It"s my fault for being looked down upon. But it disgusts me that you think you have the right to do so! What right do you have? You"re nothing but a man who relies on another woman for money. How n.o.ble are you to marry into this woman"s family? Do you really think that you"re stepping into an upper circle? Let me tell you this, everyone looks down on you!"
Cheng Ziming"s face went green. He did not know what else to say, so he replied, "I don"t think you"re suited to continue working in the company. You don"t need to come in anymore."
Xu Jiaojiao gave a cold laugh. "Don"t worry, I won"t stay on any longer. I"ll resign this Monday!"
Cheng Ziming pressed his lips and walked away without saying another word.
Lin Chu did not want to continue being hara.s.sed by Cheng Ziming, so she did not show herself. It was only when Cheng Ziming left that she walked out.
She had previously discussed this with Dai Huimin, and it was actually Dai Huimin who suggested that she stay hidden. This was Xu Jiaojiao"s problem, and she was already troubling Lin Chu to help them out. Thus, she could not allow Cheng Ziming to hate Lin Chu more because of this.
Lin Chu was doing them a good deed, so they could not cause her any more trouble.
Lin Chu had thought of something similar, but since Dai Huimin had mentioned it first, she agreed to it.
Xu Jiaojiao did not even care that she was in public when she began breaking down and sobbing. It startled the waiters and customers in the café.
They had all heard Xu Jiaoajiao scolding the man earlier, so none of the waiters dared walk up to her and stop her.