Shen Qingqing couldn't remember her final emotional state when she hung up the phone.
She immediately returned to the room.
Looking at the still sleeping Lu Zheng, she felt an inexplicable anger bubbling inside her, devoid of her usual gentle demeanor.
She hurriedly nudged Lu Zheng with her arm, "Wake up, something big has happened."
Lu Zheng hadn't been in a deep sleep.
Earlier, Shen Qingqing's phone had been ringing constantly.
She had mysteriously gone out to answer it.
Since Lu Zheng had fallen out of love with Shen Qingqing, he hadn't been interfering much in her affairs.
He had just rolled over and gone back to sleep.
In his drowsy state, before falling into a deep slumber, he heard a voice nearby and opened his eyes with annoyance, "What's the matter?"
Shen Qingqing said, "Your father has another child now."
"Impossible," Lu Zheng scoffed.
Back in the day, his father and mother were known for their loving relationship. His mother had passed away over twenty years ago, and his father had never remarried.
Even their friends in the wealthy circles would say, "We envy him."
At the time, he had felt a sense of pride.
After all, compared to other wealthy families with dozens of illegitimate children, being an only child naturally meant he enjoyed unique privileges.
So in some matters, he had the capital to be willful.
Lu Zheng asked, "Who told you this?"
Shen Qingqing replied, "Your ex-girlfriend said so, how could it be false?"
The smile on Lu Zheng's face froze, "Lin Rui?"
He immediately found his phone and called Lin Rui.
Lin Rui hung up, but Lu Zheng persisted and called again. On the second attempt, she finally answered.
This time, Lu Zheng didn't dwell on matters of love or not.
At this moment, all his attention was on the news he had just learned, "What's going on? My dad has another child, how come I don't know about this?"
Lin Rui said, "Isn't this normal? When the main account is defunct, naturally you'd consider starting a new one."
Lu Zheng said, "I'm not joking with you." He emphasized once more.
Lin Rui replied, "I'm not joking either."
Lu Zheng's brows furrowed deeply, forming a crease between them.
This kind of thing was absolutely impossible.
But he also knew that Lin Rui wasn't the type to speak nonsense.
So he hung up and immediately called his father.
His father answered his call, which made Lu Zheng feel a little better.
Then Lu Zheng's anger erupted, and he fired questions like a machine gun, "What's the meaning of this? You had another child? You betrayed my mother?"
Old Boss Lu didn't know where his son had gotten this information from.
But faced with the questioning, he said, "Yes, so what? I've been a widower for so many years, remarrying is perfectly legal and reasonable, isn't it?"
Lu Zheng felt dizzy. An illegitimate child was already unacceptable to him.
But his father's implication wasn't about an illegitimate child; he had remarried.
Originally, everything was supposed to be his. But if this old man had a new wife and child, the share of the fortune falling to him would be reduced to just twenty-five percent.
"When did this happen? Those people are just after your money," Lu Zheng couldn't accept it.
Old Boss Lu wanted to say it was none of his business. But hearing these familiar words, he instead said, "It's true love between us, stop meddling in my affairs."
These were the exact words Lu Zheng had thrown back at Old Boss Lu in the past.
Back then, Old Boss Lu had said that this Shen Qingqing was of dubious origin and not a suitable match.
Lu Zheng, putting love above all else, had spouted this same nonsense.
Now the tables had turned. It let him experience the feeling of being rendered speechless.
Old Boss Lu, having a new heir now, no longer needed to be manipulated by this ungrateful son.
Lu Zheng immediately hung up the phone, grabbed his clothes, and headed out.
Shen Qingqing followed him, asking, "Where exactly are you going?"
"Home!" Lu Zheng had been at odds with his father for a while and hadn't mentioned going home, but now he couldn't care less about that.
If he didn't go back now, his home would be stolen from under his nose.
He never imagined that his father, at such an advanced age, would want to have a second child.
He had enjoyed the privileges of being an only child for over 20 years, and now this news was something he absolutely couldn't accept.
They took a taxi to the high-end villa complex.
The security guard recognized him.
However, given the widespread online gossip, he wasn't sure whether to let this esteemed guest in.
He even made a special call to the Lu family's housekeeper.
Lu Zheng's face was extremely sour.
For the first time, he was being stopped by a security guard from entering his own home. It was a great humiliation.
After a while, the security guard hung up the phone, and his gaze towards Lu Zheng changed, "I'm sorry, your father specifically said not to let you in."
Lu Zheng kicked the guard booth door heavily, "That's my home, why can't I go back?"
Just as he was about to make a scene regardless of his image, he saw his former fair-weather friends driving back. The cars all had privacy film on the windows. He couldn't see inside, but he recognized the license plate numbers.
Lu Zheng's desire to make a scene cooled once again.
He angrily left the place, pretending that he was leaving of his own accord, not being driven away.
After leaving the villa area, Lu Zheng immediately tried to call his father, but this time he couldn't get through at all.
Now he understood everything clearly.
His father had blocked his number.
Lu Zheng was truly panicking now.
Shen Qingqing had been by Lu Zheng's side the whole time, witnessing firsthand the Lu family's attitude. She felt both terrified and nervous.
Remembering that she hadn't answered Shen Wei's earlier call, she immediately dialed the number, "What did you want earlier when you called me?"
At present, Lu Zheng was like a stray dog.
In contrast, Shen Wei had everything – wealth, status, career, and even a former fiancé who had always pursued her.
Shen Wei was calling about the same matter.
Shen Qingqing gritted her teeth in hatred, "You're just here to gloat."
"Correct!" Shen Wei agreed readily. Thinking about how in the original story plot, she would have been driven to death by these two people hand in hand.
The vast family fortune would have benefited them, how sickening!
Shen Wei might show a bit of leniency towards others, but towards them, she wouldn't at all.
Shen Qingqing was furious, "Don't be too smug for too long! Be careful not to sour relationships, lest it backfires on you in the future."
Shen Wei said, "Isn't that what you said last time too?"
Shen Wei felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction from verbally sparring with Shen Qingqing.
It turned out that even predetermined fates could be changed.
If Shen Qingqing hadn't relied on men and had only depended on herself, she wouldn't have lost so miserably.
When Shen Qingqing first heard that Old Boss Lu had a new child, her heart sank.
But she was also afraid it might be a test among the wealthy families.
Now, calling Shen Wei, she stubbornly said with a lump in her throat, "No matter what, I love him, and no one can take him away. So what if you have money? You don't have this kind of deep, unforgettable love."
Shen Wei laughed, "Then you can spend your whole life clinging to your love."
Just as Shen Qingqing was about to curse, Shen Wei hung up the phone.
Shen Qingqing felt like she had punched a cotton ball, leaving her furious.
Initially, Shen Qingqing had wanted to get more money to help her family become wealthy. Instead, she had lost both money and property.
But she could still work. There was still a chance to turn things around.
However, having tasted the good life, she now only wanted to become the Lu family's daughter-in-law again, not wanting to start from scratch.
At this moment, Shen Qingqing was momentarily at a loss,
unsure whether to proceed with the original plan of having a child to force their hand.
When she mentioned this to Lu Zheng, he said viciously, "Have the child. I don't believe that old man will ignore us."
Seeing Lu Zheng say this, Shen Qingqing finally felt reassured.
Indeed, she knew these wealthy families were full of tricks.
She and Lu Zheng had been on-again-off-again for so long, perhaps this was the final hurdle to becoming Mrs. Lu.
If she didn't overcome it, wouldn't all her previous efforts be in vain?
So Shen Qingqing angrily returned to the rented apartment with Lu Zheng, planning to continue trying to have a child to shock everyone.
