Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"A Ru, what on earth is going on? How come after just one visit to the Lin family, you want to cut ties with Mingning? He’s your own flesh and blood!"

Yun Yongchang pleaded earnestly with Zhao Ru, gently holding her hand as he spoke softly, "No matter what, you can’t just kick Mingning out. After all, you carried him for ten months and gave birth to him."

Seeing Zhao Ru’s expression falter, Yun Yongchang gave Yun Mingning a pointed look. Yun Mingning quickly added, "That’s right, Mom. If I’ve done anything wrong, I’ll change. Please don’t abandon me, okay?"

Yun Mingning spoke with such sincerity and humility that Zhao Ru was about to relent. But just then, Zhao Ru’s younger sister, Zhao Qi, arrived. The moment she stepped through the door, she asked, "Sis, what’s going on? I heard you’re cutting ties with Mingning."

Hearing Zhao Qi’s voice, Zhao Ru snapped out of it. She turned to look at Yun Mingning again and realized that the boy who had just been earnestly repenting was now staring shamelessly at Zhao Qi.

Zhao Ru had had enough. She immediately slapped Yun Mingning across the face and said sharply, "We’re cutting ties. It has to be done. I refuse to have a son like Yun Mingning!"

Zhao Ru was so furious her chest rose and fell rapidly, which terrified Zhao Qi. Zhao Ru had a heart condition, so Zhao Qi quickly stepped forward, holding her sister’s arm to calm her down. "Sis, don’t get worked up. Whatever’s going on, let’s sit down and talk it through."

Zhao Ru’s younger sister, Zhao Qi, was six years her junior, now only thirty-four. She had aged gracefully, leaving almost no trace of age, so much so that at first glance, one might think she was in her twenties.

Zhao Ru gripped Zhao Qi’s hand tightly. "I’m cutting ties with Yun Mingning."

Then she glared at Yun Yongchang. "Make your choice."

Yun Yongchang gave a bitter laugh. "A Ru, how can I choose? On one side is my beloved wife, on the other is my own son. A Ru, you..."

He knelt before Zhao Ru and said, "Let’s figure this out first before talking about cutting ties, alright?"

Yun Yongchang was panicking inwardly. Why was Zhao Ru being so resolute? Had she uncovered something?

That couldn’t be. He’d covered his tracks well.

Just then, Bai Yaxin arrived and saw Yun Yongchang kneeling before Zhao Ru with a gentle expression. The words "killer of his wife" from Lin Tingyue still echoed in her ears. As if triggered, she rushed forward and pushed Yun Yongchang down.

Zhao Qi stood frozen.

What was happening? Her sister was cutting ties with her son today, and now her sister’s best friend had just attacked her brother-in-law.

Bai Yaxin was very close to Zhao Ru, so naturally, she was also on good terms with Zhao Qi. Bai Yaxin had no biological sisters of her own, and having grown up alongside Zhao Ru, she had always treated Zhao Qi like a younger sister.

Zhao Qi knew Bai Yaxin’s temperament well. If even Bai Yaxin couldn’t hold back from striking her brother-in-law, then...

Zhao Qi was different from Zhao Ru.

After getting married, Zhao Ru had stayed at home, and after dividing the family assets, she had entrusted all her wealth to trusted managers. Meanwhile, the companies under the Zhao name were now all managed by Zhao Qi.

Zhao Qi was a businesswoman. She instinctively knew that something major must have happened.

Without hesitation, she told her assistant to look into it.

Just as Zhao Qi was sending the message, Yun Yongchang, still on the floor, finally picked himself up. Though Yun Yongchang was known for his gentle nature, even the most patient man would lose his cool after being pushed like that.

Frowning, Yun Yongchang snapped, "Bai Yaxin, what are you doing?"

"Yun Yongchang, who are you yelling at?" The Lin family, who’d arrived right after Bai Yaxin, finally caught up. Lin Rusong strode forward and stepped in front of Bai Yaxin.

When Yun Yongchang saw the crowd of people behind Lin Rusong, his face fell.

In Lin Yuhuan’s eyes, Yun Yongchang was an extremely dangerous individual. And if he was dangerous, they had to take precautions.

So he had brought over a dozen bodyguards with them to the Ming family villa. Lin Xiawan thought it wasn’t enough, so Lin Yuhuan added a few more, making it twenty in total.

The bodyguards were all dressed in identical suits, each built like a brick wall, making them stand out immediately.

Yun Yongchang asked coldly, "This is the Yun family’s private business. What are you all doing here?"

Bai Yaxin sat down beside Zhao Ru. "Since it's a family matter, I’m staying with A Ru. I was even there when she gave birth."

Bai Yaxin deliberately emphasized the words "gave birth," secretly observing Yun Yongchang's expression. Sure enough, she noticed his face darken slightly.

Her stomach dropped—could it be that everything Lin Tingyue said was true?

These people couldn't be driven away, and doing so would only worsen relations with the Lin family. Yun Yongchang said, "Since you're here, talk some sense into A Ru. What mother would abandon her own child?"

"A mother abandoning her own child?" Bai Yaxin raised an eyebrow. "Not always, right?"

Yun Yongchang agreed, "You think it's absurd too, right? But A Ru is set on it."

Zhao Ru said wearily, "I’m done raising this son. Yun Yongchang, you handle it yourself."

Was Mom really giving up on him?

Yun Mingning’s voice cracked. "Mom!"

Zhao Ru stiffened, covering her face, her voice breaking. "I’m not your mother."

As the room went silent, a woman's voice rang out—

"Wow, what a scene."

"Still going on? Aunt Zhao hasn’t kicked Yun Mingning out yet?"

"And this Aunt Zhao’s so-called husband—if I call the cops now, what if they say it’s not enough?"

Everyone turned toward the door—there stood Lin Tingyue, who had arrived late.

Lin Tingyue was supposed to be here earlier.

But there were too many bodyguards, and the garage didn’t have enough cars. Lin Tingyue had to wait at the villa for Uncle Zhang to return and pick her up.

Call the cops? What’d her brother-in-law do?

A notification chimed on Zhao Qi’s phone—her assistant had sent her a message. Her pupils contracted, and she snapped, standing up from the sofa, "Call the cops. We must call the cops."

Then, glaring at Yun Yongchang and spitting, "Yun Yongchang, what were you planning to do to my sister?"

...

The Yun family drama finally wrapped up three days later.

Lin Tingyue had just finished picking fresh fruit in the orchard—though she had only chosen the biggest and reddest ones. If she had gathered everything, she’d need a truck to haul it all away.

Earlier, Lin Chengyan had mentioned that the Lin family owned a private winery and asked if she wanted in.

Though Lin Tingyue wasn’t the slightest bit interested, it still blew her mind.

If they had a private winery, surely they must also have private helicopters and a private airport, right?

Lin Chengyan gave her a disdainful look, figuring she’d knocked her head silly, and handed her a hospital VIP card before bolting out.

Just remembering it, Lin Tingyue felt indignant.

She walked in carrying a basket, where only Lin Xiawan was in the living room. Lin Xiawan motioned for her to sit.

Lin Chengyan was back in City C shooting his drama, while Lin Yuhuan and Lin Rusong had left for work early. Bai Yaxin was upstairs on the phone with Zhao Ru.

As Lin Tingyue walked over, Lin Xiawan first glanced at her basket—Oh, just fruit?

She’d been listening to that ‘Mushroom-Picking Girl’ song for nearly two hours and had assumed Lin Tingyue was out in the forest gathering mushrooms.

Discovering it wasn’t mushrooms, she was kinda bummed.

Zhang Ma showed up right then and took the basket from Lin Tingyue.

Lin Xiawan looked at Lin Tingyue’s slightly sun-reddened cheeks, grabbed a wet wipe, and wiped the sweat from her face.

Who would have thought that just a week ago, their relationship had been so rocky.

"Thank you, Sister Xiawan."

"Don’t mention it."

Zhang Ma brought Lin Tingyue a glass of iced orange juice. As she drank, Lin Tingyue suddenly said, "Isn’t that Aunt Zhao?"

Lin Xiawan also turned and saw Zhao Ru and Zhao Qi coming across the yard. After a moment’s thought, she sent Bai Yaxin a message.

By the time Zhao Ru and Zhao Qi entered, Bai Yaxin had already come downstairs.

She blurted out, "You arrived so quickly?"

Zhao Ru replied, "We were already on our way when we spoke on the phone."

Zhang Ma brought out three glasses of room-temperature orange juice.

All three left their drinks untouched, studying Lin Tingyue intently.

"?"

"Why are you all looking at me? Do they want iced juice too?"

Lin Tingyue ventured, "Would you like iced orange juice?"

Zhao Qi shook her head and chimed in brightly, "Room temperature is fine for us."

"Okay."

Bai Yaxin jumped in to ask, "How did things go?"

Zhao Qi glanced at Zhao Ru. The past few days had worn Zhao Ru down—even her perfect makeup couldn’t cover how drained she looked. She said, "Xiao Qi, fill them in."

Zhao Qi began, "Yun Yongchang faces charges for trying to kill my sister and swapping the two children. He’s locked up now."

Lin Tingyue was baffled. She hadn’t done anything yet, so how did Aunt Zhao and the others already know and manage to have Yun Yongchang arrested?

Lin Tingyue asked, "How was it uncovered?"

Actually, most of it was because of Lin Tingyue. If not for her inner thoughts, which made Bai Yaxin and Zhao Ru act unusually, Zhao Qi would never have had her assistant dig into Yun Yongchang.

"My sister has been on heart medication, and the assistant found out that Yun Yongchang deliberately switched her pills. Then the police discovered irregularities in Yun Yongchang's finances—he transferred millions to an account every year, which led to uncovering the child-swapping scheme."

"My goodness, is this the kind of work capability an assistant should have? That assistant is basically Sherlock Holmes!"

Zhao Qi couldn’t help but laugh at this. Lin Tingyue was the real Sherlock Holmes here. After all that’s happened, Zhao Qi felt it was ultimately good for her sister—at least she now saw the true nature of the man by her side.

She reached over and tousled Lin Tingyue’s hair, then handed her a card.

The glossy card instantly grabbed Lin Tingyue’s attention. She asked, "What’s this?"

"This is a Zhao Corp stock bonus card. From now on, it’s yours."

This was what Zhao Ru and I decided on—they felt they had to thank Lin Tingyue.

"Wait, me?"

"But I didn’t do anything."

Zhao Qi thought for a moment, then added, "Auntie’s totally smitten with you."

"Pfft—called it! No one’s immune to my charm."

"Hahahaha."

"What’s so funny?"

Lin Tingyue slipped the card into her pocket.