Chapter 142 Your Love Is So Cheap

Chapter 142: Your Love Is So Cheap

Ling Jue sneered, "Yes, after all, I never had a father to teach me how to be a kind person."

On the other end of the phone, Ling Mufeng went rigid, his breathing heavy.

After a long while, sorrow crept into his expression.

"It's not because I have any special feelings for her. It's just that she ended up like this because of me. I can't let her die without peace."

He suppressed his anger and patiently explained.

"I haven't visited her once in all these years. You should know it's just guilt."

"But your guilt outweighs your rationality," Ling Jue struck at the core.

This guilt had once turned into a knife that hurt Qi Manjun. Now, the arrow had turned back, striking him in a cycle of cause and effect.

"I told you, you can wash your hands of her. I gave you a choice."

Ling Mufeng's bloodshot eyes turned red as he gritted his teeth. "Your so-called choice is forcing me to divorce your mother?"

Ling Jue replied, "If you hadn't kept avoiding it, we wouldn't have reached this point."

Of course, there were other ways to get a divorce, but having Ling Mufeng sign the papers and cooperate for a peaceful separation was the fastest, easiest, and least disruptive way for both the Ling family and the Qi Corporation.

Ling Mufeng felt as if he had stumbled into a lonely dead end, with everyone pushing him forward, leaving him no way out.

Hearing the silence on the other end, Ling Jue added fuel to the fire. "Three days. You've already burned through one. Tell me, do you think Tong Xiaoya, whose memories stop at seventeen, feels pain or fear, waiting day and night for you to save her?

Or would you rather hear her screams in person? I'm told that without painkillers, even ordinary people can't bear it."

Ling Mufeng clenched his fists.

"Ling Jue, I really wish you weren't my son."

He never imagined he would raise a wolf that recognized no family, repeatedly pushing him into desperate situations.

"I've known this for a long time," Ling Jue chuckled. "You've always preferred other people's children, haven't you? How magnanimous." His voice dripped with sarcasm.

Ling Jue had known from a young age that winning first place or bringing home countless trophies would never earn him a word of praise. His father was dedicated to molding him into a precise, successful instrument, while lavishing paternal tolerance and affection on others.

"I just wanted you to do better. Is that wrong?" Ling Mufeng retorted angrily.

Naturally, he had different expectations for an heir versus an insignificant child.

Besides, hadn't Ling Jue always been closer to his uncle? Had Ling Jue ever truly treated him as a father?

Ling Jue saw no point in arguing with him over this issue and simply remarked,

"Your love is really cheap."

Whether it was toward marriage or children.

Ling Mufeng seemed genuinely attacked and, in his anger, blurted out, "I am your father! Do you think the woman you like will see you the same way after all this? Such an upright and righteous family—do you think they can accept someone who stops at nothing?"

"Don't trouble yourself with that," Ling Jue's voice sounded as if it came through the snow of a harsh winter.

Ling Mufeng's hurtful words stuck in his throat.

"I'm sorry," he slumped his shoulders in defeat and said this.

"I will find her." He would not divorce Qi Manjun.

"You have two days left." Ling Jue hung up the phone.

He didn't think Ling Mufeng could hold out.

...

"Why are you here?" The door to the break room opened, and Qin Shuyi peeked in.

"It's about time to go home."

They had just finished the meeting regarding Bai Ling's case and would soon implement the planning and funeral arrangements.

Bai Ling didn't have much time left.

Ling Jue sat on the sofa, his expression grim.

Qin Shuyi walked over to him, and he pulled her into an embrace, then shifted her to sit sideways on his lap.

Qin Shuyi sat obediently, reaching up to pat his head. "What's wrong?"

Ling Jue said, "A bit tired."

He vaguely asked, "Is this client's request difficult?"

Qin Shuyi shook her head. "Not particularly difficult. It's just that she's only eighteen, which is a pity."

As she described Bai Ling's situation and mentioned how she was constantly suffering from illness and pain,

Ling Jue suddenly asked, "What would you do if one day you found out I did something bad?"

Qin Shuyi looked at him. "Like what? It depends on how bad it is and the reason behind it."

"For example, hurting others to achieve my own goals."

"Were they innocent people?"

"Not exactly."

Qin Shuyi smiled and pinched his cheek. "Ling Jue, am I the kind of person who unconditionally values kindness?"

Ling Jue shook his head.

Qin Shuyi met his gaze seriously and said, "So, as long as it doesn't cross a line, you matter more to me than morality."

Ling Jue suddenly felt relieved.

He had been led astray by Ling Mufeng.

He forgot that his dear one was also someone who held grudges.

It was just Tong Xiaoya, after all—someone who deserved to die anyway.

Besides, when he first met Qin Shuyi, he wasn't exactly a saint either.

It was because he loved her so much that he hesitated and felt afraid.

He laughed, "Babe, what did you think of me when we first met?"

Qin Shuyi glanced at him, "You sure you wanna hear this?"

Ling Jue hesitated.

...

An hour later.

Ling Jue pulled up to the Jiangs' place.

In the car, he firmly gripped the slender waist of the woman straddling him, nipping at her lip, "Still think I'm a bad guy who takes advantage, huh?"

She'd actually said a lot more.

Like being domineering and arrogant, or a shameless flirt with no sense of boundaries—aside from 'handsome,' nothing good.

The kissing left Qin Shuyi's chest heaving, her face flushed.

She stopped his hand, "Now you're an even worse bad guy."

Ling Jue buried his face in her chest, unable to hold back a laugh.

He bounced his leg, "Really not coming home with me?"

Knowing his girlfriend's initial impression of him pretty much sucked was bad enough, but hearing she was staying at her aunt's on their first day back together made it even harder.

Yet no matter how he coaxed her, she wouldn't budge.

They'd done it too many times last night; she was now in her "sage mode."

Ling Jue couldn't help but regret feeding her too well.

What a heartless woman.

Thinking about it, he laughed again.

"Feel like we've been here before?"

He'd sent Qin Shuyi back to her aunt's before, and they'd kissed in the car just like this.

Only back then, it was purely physical attraction; now, there was an added reluctance between lovers.

"I'll find a time to come by for a proper visit."

Qin Shuyi tapped his nose, "Dream on. Get through tonight's family meeting first."

Ling Jue immediately pulled her close, nuzzling her cheek, "Babe~"

He truly lacked confidence.

After all, all four members of the Jiang family seemed to have some kind of problem with him.

So much so that when Qin Shuyi skillfully rolled off his lap again and got out of the car, he couldn't help but catch her pinky with his, "Babe, will we still be boyfriend and girlfriend tomorrow morning?"

Qin Shuyi hooked back and gave it a little shake, "Maybe."

Ling Jue felt like his world had collapsed.

"Maybe we should go in another day."

Avoidance might be shameful, but it works.

Qin Shuyi let go, her eyes smiling, "Goodbye~"

With that, she left as breezily as she always had before.

Only this time, the car didn't drive away, and she looked back.

"Ling Jue, remember to go home and feed Princess."

A chilly evening breeze blew in. Seeing her turn back to look at him with a smile, Ling Jue's anxious heart suddenly settled.

The handsome, unruly man called out from the lowered car window:

"Qin Shuyi, I'll pick you up for work tomorrow."

----------------------------------------