Shao ChengZe coughed lightly and cleared his throat to stop himself from laughing out loud because of what his daughter said.
Cheng LiQi looked at her coughing father and asked, "Daddy, don't you like to be jealous?"
Shao ChengZe coughed again and answered his daughter seriously, "Daddy likes being jealous very much."
The hand under his desk was probably going to be uncontrollable after this meal.
Cheng LiQi's laughter sounded like silver bells. "I also like being jealous. I like eating sour and sweet things, not spicy things."
The restaurant manager felt that after he left this private room, his thighs would also be uncontrollable. They were all pinched by him trying not to laugh. It turned out that this was a family of three who liked being jealous. They were really too cute.
On the way back, Cheng LiQi was not sleepy because of her full stomach. On the contrary, she was very energetic. She lay on her mother's lap and told her parents what she had learned today at kindergarten, and talked about how she wanted to celebrate her birthday party this year. She had already figured out how to design the invitation cards and would show them to her mother after she finished making them.
Cheng Jinlan leaned down and kissed her chubby little face. "Our little girl is so capable."
Cheng LiQi held her mother's face and kissed her too. "Because I have a very capable mother!"
Mother and daughter laughed together with their heads leaning against each other.
Shao ChengZe held the steering wheel with both hands, glancing at the rearview mirror from time to time. The corners of his mouth were raised with a smile, and his pitch-black eyes were filled with endless tenderness.
In the lights of thousands of households, this was just the most ordinary one, but the most touching ones were often these seemingly ordinary moments.
The car pulled into the yard. Cheng LiQi got up from her mother's lap and said, "We're home! Mom, is Dad sleeping at our house tonight?"
Shao ChengZe turned around to look.
Cheng Jinlan tidied her clothes for her and said, "Dad has to go back for work, so he can't sleep here."
Shao ChengZe's expectations fell through, but he was not disappointed either. Things had to be taken one step at a time, and he was already very satisfied with the current situation.
Cheng LiQi clung to the back of the driver's seat and leaned over to her father. "Dad works so hard. You still have to work at night."
Shao ChengZe reached out and picked his little princess from the back seat to the front. "Dad is not tired. Dad likes working."
Cheng LiQi lay on her father's shoulder and hugged her father's neck. "Dad, if you want to sleep here in the future, you don't need to climb over the wall or dig tunnels. You can just dress up as Snail Girl again like in the morning. I can lend you my doll's wig."
...Shao ChengZe didn't know how to describe his current mood. In short, it was very complicated, and one or two simple words were not enough to express it.
Cheng Jinlan got out of the car first, afraid that she would burst out laughing in the car. This morning, her mother had only sent her a photo. As for what happened, her mother told her to ask him. So it turned out that her daughter had set him up, no, she should say her daughter had saved him.
Before going to bed, Cheng Jinlan received his message on time: [Xiaomiao, good night].
She looked at the message for a long time without putting her phone down immediately like usual.
She replied: [Good night, Snail...Sir].
When Shao ChengZe saw her reply, he suddenly felt that dressing up as Snail Girl was also quite good. It could make his daughter happy, please his mother-in-law, and most importantly, win her heart. There was nothing more cost-effective than this.
That night, both Cheng Jinlan and Cheng LiQi slept very soundly and dreamed sweet dreams.
However, not many people in the Shao family slept that night. Wu Jingyao had originally arranged everything and planned to take preemptive action. She was going to release several waves of rumors on the Internet at 10 pm when traffic was highest. She had already written the titles and content of the rumors. The titles were very eye-catching.
The first wave was "The Big Reveal of the Reason Why Shao ChengZe Became the Abandoned Heir of the Shao Family - He Is Not a Descendant of the Shaos!!!"
The second wave was "The Origin of the Grudge Between the Shao and Cheng Families!!"
The third wave was "The Big Reveal of the Relationship Between Shao ChengZe and the Second Young Miss of the Cheng Family!"
Wu Jingyao naturally knew that Shao ChengZe was Shao Yunzheng’s grandson. There was no mistake at all. Otherwise, Shao Yunzheng would not have let him return to the Shao family, let alone take over the Shao Group. But nowadays, no one cared about the truth of things. The more outrageous and sensational, the more easily people would believe it. These three consecutive waves of rumors would surely set off huge waves. By then, Shao ChengZe would truly experience the meaning of vicious rumors, even if he presented substantive evidence. People would have preconceived notions. He, that girl from the Cheng family, and their daughter would always live under gossip and rumors.
Just when it was 10 pm, those big Vs who were supposed to post fell silent collectively. None of the prepared content was posted. Wu Jingyao asked Qian Huiqing, and Qian Huiqing said he couldn't contact anyone now. His phone and WeChat had all been blocked. Someone must have intervened to stop this.
Wu Jingyao tightly clutched her phone, unable to control her emotions at all. She really wanted to smash the phone on the ground. She had done this very covertly. It was impossible for anyone to find out, and yet actions were taken so quickly.
There was a knock on the door. The maid outside the door shouted, "Madam, the old master wants you to go to the study."
Wu Jingyao took a few deep breaths to calm herself before replying to the maid, "Got it."
She tidied up her expression in front of the mirror and put on the most perfect smile before going to the study. But she didn't expect that there would be someone else in the study. That bastard was sitting leisurely on the sofa looking at her. So he was the one who had stopped this. Now he had run over here to tattle. Wu Jingyao quickly thought of a countermeasure. She would simply deny it. All of this was done by Qian Huiqing's people, and it would not implicate her side.
Wu Jingyao had made up her mind, but just after taking two steps into the study, Shao Yunzheng dumped a stack of photos and documents on her out of the blue. Shao Yunzheng's face was livid, and his cloudy eyeballs looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets. "Explain this to me! What is going on?!"
When Wu Jingyao saw the photos, she could still remain calm. She was just having coffee with Qian Huiqing. It didn't prove anything. But when she saw those documents, she panicked completely. Her hands trembled as she held the documents. She first wanted to deny it, but seeing Shao Yunzheng's icy stare, she couldn't help but shudder. Tears flowed out, from fear and from acting.
She knew what Shao Yunzheng liked to see most. Her voice was intermittent and aggrieved. "These were all things before I met you. Who told me not to meet you earlier? The mistakes made when I was young, and now you're settling accounts with me. What do you want me to do, relive everything again? Aren't you forcing me to die like this? Since separating from him, I have never contacted him again. I also just found out that Qian Zheng is my...son. How would I know things would coincide so perfectly that he became your secretary? Qian Huiqing is now using this to blackmail me for money. I went to see him because I wanted to discuss this matter with him. After following you for so many years, don't you know what kind of person I am? Shao Yunzheng, don't you have any trust in me at all?"
Shao Yunzheng's eyes flickered a few times, and his chest heaved rapidly, but he didn't say any more hurtful words in the end.
Shao ChengZe even wanted to applaud this impressive performance by his step-grandmother. If she went into acting, she could win all kinds of acting awards. As for the hidden relationship between Wu Jingyao and Qian Zheng, it was something he discovered by accident. Ever since little LiQi found the Shao family, he had been guarding against any actions from Wu Jingyao's side and had people keeping an eye on her. His subordinates would report her activities to him every day.
He noticed that her meetings with Qian Zheng's wife were too frequent. He knew Qian Zheng had always been doing things for her, so it was normal for Qian Zheng's wife to curry favor with her. But in the photos, Qian Zheng's youngest son was present every time they met. Shopping, all purchase invoices, even for buying brand name watches and luxury cars, were paid by Wu Jingyao. Wu Jingyao was never a generous person. She had always looked down on her subordinates. Only others tried to curry her favor and snatched at giving her invoices. Why could Qian Zheng's wife and son receive such preferential treatment from her?
Shao ChengZe felt something was off, so he casually looked into it. Some things really couldn't stand up to investigation.
All he could say was that his grandfather was really old and had been kept in the dark by his pillowside companion for so many years without noticing anything. Wu Jingyao had arranged for Qian Zheng to be by the old gentleman's side for so many years that he had become the most trusted right-hand man of the old gentleman. It would be fair to say that he was the old gentleman's spokesperson. His intention was none other than to have Shao Zhangting inherit the company so that Shao Zhangting could be an emperor who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun while Qian Zheng would be the real person in power behind the scenes at Shaoshi.
Shao Chengze didn't want to listen to Wu Jingyao continue her act. He directly took out his phone and played a recording that Qian Zheng had given him. It was a phone conversation between Wu Jingyao and Qian Zheng before, discussing the plan for Shaoshi after taking Shao Chengze down completely. She even said for Qian Zheng to think of a way that could make the old man die unconsciously and without a trace. After all, the old man had so many underlying diseases. In the recording, Wu Jingyao's voice was clear and unambiguous. Even if she wanted to deny it, she couldn't.
Shao Chengze looked at Wu Jingyao and said, "If you want to listen, I have a lot more here, but I'm afraid that listening to them would be too much for the old gentleman's heart to bear, so I won't play them for now."
Wu Jingyao completely collapsed in the chair. What shocked her wasn't the content of the recording, but that this recording was given to Shao Chengze by Qian Zheng, her own son.
Back then, she and Qian Huiqing only held a simple banquet and didn't get a marriage certificate. After she got together with Shao Yunzheng, she completely cut off contact with Qian Huiqing. It wasn't until Qian Zheng graduated from college that she recognized him again. Compared to how she treated Shao Zhangting, because she felt guilty and also because Qian Zheng was much more capable and smarter than Shao Zhangting, she had devoted all her effort these years to him. But what she got in return was that he sold her out with his own hands.
Wu Jingyao gazed blankly at Shao Chengze and murmured, "Why?"
Shao Chengze sneered contemptuously, "The money he skimmed from the company in these years is enough for him to live idly for generations. Although he did it cleverly, it wouldn't be too difficult to find evidence if there was a thorough investigation. According to the sentencing standards for the crime of infringement of duties, he would at least get ten years in jail. For him, selling out his own mother versus going to jail, the choice was not difficult at all. He couldn't even hold out for two days before he cracked. To him, you were probably just a money-making tool."
Tears rolled down Wu Jingyao's cheeks. These tears were probably genuine tears.
Shao Yunzheng leaned back in his chair with eyes closed, not saying a word, aging more than ten years in an instant. This was probably retribution. Although he didn't want to believe it, he had no choice but to believe it.
The outside world thought that the estrangement between the Shao family and the Cheng family was due to business matters, but that was not the case. Besides Yin Manqing, there was another person in the car when she got into the accident - Cheng Boyi, Cheng Jinlan's young uncle, Cheng Jinchuan's most beloved uncle. Yin Manqing died on the spot, while Cheng Boyi passed away the next day after being sent to the hospital. At that time, the two families had suppressed the news so the outside world didn't know their accident was the same one.
Back then, when Yin Manqing found out about his affair with Wu Jingyao, she demanded a divorce without hesitation. Shao Yunzheng absolutely did not want a divorce. He had no intention of doing anything with Wu Jingyao. He just couldn't stand Yin Manqing's overbearing personality and wanted to occasionally enjoy some tender affection from Wu Jingyao.
At that time, Shaoshi was at the most critical stage of development. Yin Manqing had absolute influence in the company. More than half of the company's backbone was recruited and cultivated by her. If they divorced, aside from taking away a portion of the company's equity, she might also take away many people with her. The blow to the company would be devastating. There was no way he would let this divorce happen.
But Yin Manqing was determined to divorce. The lawyer she hired was Cheng Boyi. He, Yin Manqing and Cheng Boyi were classmates. Yin Manqing and Cheng Boyi had always competed for first and second place in class. Both had relatively strong personalities, so they didn't get along too well.
As a poor student who always ranked near the bottom, he originally didn't have many opportunities to interact with Yin Manqing. But when they were sent to the countryside together during the Down to the Countryside Movement, he pursued Yin Manqing for two years before she finally agreed. Not long after they got together, they got married. He still remembered vividly to this day when Cheng Boyi came rushing in, drenched in sweat, on the night before their wedding. At that moment, he knew that this man liked Yin Manqing, but he was just one step too late.
He knew Cheng Boyi's importance in Yin Manqing's heart. She admired him, although she never said it outright, but it was apparent from the way she looked at him. He was jealous of Cheng Boyi, of course, but he had no grounds for this jealousy since Yin Manqing had married him after all. So when he found out that Yin Manqing had hired Cheng Boyi to handle their divorce, he was furious.
At that time, Yin Manqing only had two demands - first, custody of their son; second, half of the company's equity. Based on her personality, once she decided on something, she would stop at nothing to accomplish it. So Shao Yunzheng was afraid. During that time, Yin Manqing and Cheng Boyi often worked late into the night in his office, so he wanted to take advantage of this. Besides being a lawyer, Cheng Boyi was also a university professor.
For a man and a woman to come out of a house together early in the morning was ambiguous enough. Compared to verbal explanations, people would believe more readily what they saw in photos. So Shao Yunzheng arranged for someone to tail Yin Manqing and Cheng Boyi. The day of the accident, Yin Manqing discovered the person tailing her and drove fast, trying to shake off the car chasing her, which resulted in a crash with an oncoming truck. The accident claimed two lives.
At first, Shao Yunzheng still felt a little guilty over the deaths of Yin Manqing and Cheng Boyi. He only wanted to use photos to negotiate terms with Yin Manqing and didn't intend for her and Cheng Boyi to die.
During that time, he waited downstairs at Cheng Boyi's office building for a whole night. All sorts of dirty, vicious thoughts went through his mind. He even considered just rushing upstairs, but held back in the end. He didn't want things with Yin Manqing to get too ugly. He only wanted to get some leverage so he could negotiate terms with her. At that time, for a university professor to be entangled with a married woman, even without substantive evidence, some ambiguous photos could easily ruin that professor's career if it was brought to the school's attention. Yin Manqing would definitely not want to ruin Cheng Boyi's career because of herself.
As long as she didn't divorce him, he could pretend nothing had happened. Although he knew nothing had happened between them, he still understood Yin Manqing. While still married, she wouldn't do anything with another man even if she had feelings for him in her heart. But later he began to doubt this conviction. If they really had nothing going on, why were they desperately trying to avoid him? He even went so far as to specifically check the DNA between himself and Shao Zhangke, and the results did confirm Shao Zhangke was his biological son. But that still didn't preclude the possibility that something might have happened between Yin Manqing and Cheng Boyi.
The Cheng family blamed Shao Yunzheng for Cheng Boyi's death, while he felt it was Cheng Boyi who caused the death of his wife. If not for Cheng Boyi constantly egging Yin Manqing on, she wouldn't have been so determined to divorce. If she didn't push for divorce, none of this would have happened.
Only now did he realize he was the one in the wrong. He had failed Yin Manqing's feelings and went back on the vows he made to her on their wedding night to be lifelong partners. With her proud personality, once she found out about his affair with Wu Jingyao, there was no way she could continue to be with him. It was he who killed her, and no one else was to blame.
Perhaps there really was some kind of karmic causation. Sometimes when he saw Shao Chengze's methods and wristwork in handling company affairs, he felt blood ties were truly mystifying. Although Shao Chengze had never even seen his grandmother's face, his style and capabilities were very similar to hers. So sometimes he really wanted to see Shao Chengze, yet also feared seeing him. If Shao Chengze was sent by Yin Manqing to take revenge on him, then he accepted it now. Let everything be restored to its rightful place. After all these years of nightly nightmares, he was truly exhausted.
The next day, Shaoshi released several major announcements in succession.
The first was that Old Mr. Shao's executive assistant Qian Zheng had been fired by the company and immediately stripped of all positions and access in the company.
The second article stated that all shares under Ms. Wu Jingyao and Mr. Shao Zhangting would be transferred to Mr. Shao Chengze's name, and they would withdraw from the Board of Directors.
The third article stated that starting today, Mr. Shao Yunzheng would fully withdraw from the Board of Directors and no longer participate in any of the company's operations and management. Mr. Shao Chengze would take over Shao Group again and serve as the Group's Chairman.
From today onwards, there would be no more "Little Shao Chairman" or "Old Shao Chairman" in Shao Group. There would only be one Chairman Shao.
Cheng Jinlan only found out about what happened in Shao Group that afternoon when her brother Cheng Jinchuan gave her the news. He also attached a voice message. His tone was a bit disdainful but also a little happy. Of course, he would never admit to that tiny bit of happiness. "He's decent enough. In just a few months, he accomplished this much. At least it shows he's not just a freeloader."
After deleting and revising her message to Cheng Jinchuan several times, Cheng Jinlan still didn't know how to reply. Then Cheng Jinchuan sent another message: "He called me just now and said he wants to partner with our family to develop that plot of land in Nancheng. As the first collaborative project between the Cheng and Shao families to break the ice, his moves are quite swift. He just finished his power struggle this morning, and by the afternoon he's already scheming with our family. I haven't even agreed yet and he's calling it a 'first launch project'. Looks like he already has second and third launches in the works. He really intends to latch onto our Cheng family, doesn't he?"
Cheng Jinlan decided not to reply for the moment, because her brother clearly wasn't done speaking. She would reply after he finished. Sure enough, not even a second later, another voice message came in. "But his idea is not bad. He said we could build an amusement park. I was also thinking about how to utilize that plot of land in Nancheng. An amusement park sounds great. It can be a gift for my little Luqi. We'll just consider it a present for little Luqi. But even if we really partner up, I still need to think carefully about how to collaborate. I absolutely can't let him lead me by the nose."
Cheng Jinlan replied: [He definitely can't lead you by the nose. Only a beauty can lead away your nose.]
Cheng Jinchuan hee-hee'd twice. "My sister knows me well."
Cheng Jinlan pondered if she should send a message to ask about his situation over there. She had just tapped on his WeChat avatar when a red dot appeared over it.
[Want to have dinner together tonight?]
Cheng Jinlan was half-amused, half-exasperated. [Are we dining buddies? All we do is eat.]
[Of course we're not dining buddies. I have no work tonight. As my girlfriend, you can exercise all your privileges over me. I'm just afraid you won't exercise them.]
Cheng Jinlan gave him a one word reply. [Scram.]
Shao Chengze returned to the original topic. [How about Pine Grove Apartments tonight? I just learned a few sweet and sour dishes I want you and little LiQi to try.]
Cheng Jinlan asked him, [Have you resolved everything with your company?]
[It's resolved, so I'm anxious to find you and little LiQi to taste test my cooking. I also want to formally meet your parents soon and cook them a meal.]
Cheng Jinlan sent another one word reply. [Scram.]
Shao Chengze drove his SUV over to pick her up first before going to fetch little LiQi from school. LiQi leaned against her dad. She looked at her dad, then her mom. "Dad, you and Mom have been dating a lot lately."
Shao Chengze's expression changed slightly. He looked at her cautiously. "Doesn't little LiQi like it when Dad dates Mom?"
Cheng Jinlan was also watching her daughter. She didn't seem to be in high spirits today. Jinlan took her little hand. "Did something unhappy happen today, little LiQi?"
LiQi shook her head. "I'm not unhappy. I also want Dad and Mom to date more. But won't I become a lightbulb if I'm always there when you date? A really bright one?"
LiQi had learned a new word today from her classmates - "lightbulb". She thought carefully about its meaning. Wasn't she the lightbulb? She wanted her parents to date because it made her mom happy. She also wanted to be there when her parents dated because she didn't want to be apart from her mom. But wouldn't that make her a lightbulb? She didn't like being a lightbulb, but she also didn't want to interfere with her parents' dates.
Shao Chengze gently said, "Little LiQi could never be a lightbulb. You're a mini matchmaker for Dad and Mom. Think about it. Weren't you the one who brought Dad to Mom? If you hadn't come looking for Dad, Dad might never have found Mom. Also, didn't you teach Dad how to make Mom happy? If you hadn't been Dad's little teacher, Mom would still ignore Dad now. And remember yesterday morning? Wasn't it you who cleverly dressed Dad up as Lady Snail so Grandma wouldn't discover him? Without little LiQi there, Dad would have been doomed. Dad and Mom must have you there when we date, otherwise I won't know how to placate Mom if I make her angry."
As she listened to her dad's words, LiQi's smile grew wider and wider. "So I'm actually so amazing. I'm a mini matchmaker for Dad and Mom, not a lightbulb."
Cheng Jinlan ruffled her hair. "With so much hair, how could our little LiQi possibly be a lightbulb?"
LiQi rubbed her head against her mom's palm. "Mom, then you and Dad don't need to date once a day. Date three times a day instead. I'll be the best mini matchmaker ever and make sure Mom is happy every date."
Cheng Jinlan flicked her forehead lightly. "Don't you need to go to school anymore? Dating three times a day."
Oh right, LiQi stuck out her tongue. "Then date once a day on school days. And date three times a day on weekends."
"I think this arrangement by little LiQi is simply perfect." Shao Chengze lifted the little princess high up. Their little princess was no mere woolen coat, she was a mink coat!
LiQi giggled. "I think so too. What does Mom think?"
Cheng Jinlan pretended to scold the duo, one bigger child and one smaller child, both equally silly.
When they arrived at Pine Grove Apartments, LiQi worked on her birthday party invitations in the living room while her parents made delicious food for her in the kitchen. Hearing the doorbell ring, LiQi put down her paintbrush and scampered to open the door.
She opened the door to see a beautiful and kind-looking granny. LiQi smiled brightly and asked, "Granny, did you need something?"
Seeing this adorable little girl, Lv Siwei's heart almost melted away. How could there be such a cute little girl in the world? She secretly signaled to Shao Chengze who had walked over - "Little girl, granny went to the wrong floor. Granny should be up one more floor. Sorry about that, little girl, for disturbing you."
Lv Siwei had come today from her hometown, firstly because of what happened in the Shao family today, and secondly because she wanted to check on her son's progress pursuing his wife. That was of course the main reason. Nowadays she dreamed every night about this cute little girl, longing intensely to see her.
She figured with her son's cold personality, he might not even be holding the girl's hand yet at this point. Who would've thought her son would act so boldly and swiftly this time, already bringing the girl home with him. She had come at the wrong time today. If she had known better, she would've called first. Her son wasn't a lonely bachelor anymore. She couldn't just directly come over now like before. From now on, she would need to call ahead every time she visited, she couldn't disturb her son's dates. She had to leave quickly.
LiQi looked back at her dad, then turned to look at Lv Siwei again. She even took a step closer to her. "Granny, are you my dad's mom?"
Lv Siwei was completely shocked. She bent down to meet LiQi's eyes directly. "Sweetie, how did you know?" This was the little girl's first time seeing her right? How did she know she was her dad's mom?
"Because Dad looks at Granny very gently, the same way he looks at me and Mom. So Granny must be someone very close to Dad. Granny seems around the same age as my grandma. So you must be Dad's mom!"
Lv Siwei stared with mouth agape. This little sweetie must be a child prodigy!
