Chapter 172 No Younger Brother

Chapter 172: No Younger Brother

Turning around, she unexpectedly met the gaze of her daughter, Qian Youyou.

Qian Youyou's face twisted into a sneer. "Mr. Qian, your own life is a mess, and now you want to stir up chaos in mine and my sister's lives too. What a saint you are, huh?"

Qian Shu scrambled to defend himself, his voice dripping with bitterness. "I'm sorry, Youyou, I didn't know..."

Qian Youyou cut him off, her words like poison.

"If you've got a problem, take it out on me, but what right do you have to let your wife mess with my sister's life? Does she have a single drop of your blood?

If you can't be a decent husband or father, at least as a teacher, you should know some ethics, morals, and shame."

If their last meeting had just a hint of wariness, now it was pure disgust.

Faced with such venom from his own daughter, Qian Shu's lips trembled, and he staggered back half a step.

Jiang Yuzhou, who'd been chasing after his dad, who was only focused on his wife, glanced back and waved her over.

"Youyou, come on."

Qian Youyou jogged over quickly.

The four of them walked off together, like a real close-knit family.

Qian Shu was panicking.

...

In the conference room.

Qian Shu and Zhang Meiyue sat on one side of the table.

The Jiang family of four sat on the other side.

Qin Shuyi looked around and firmly pulled Ling Jue to sit beside her aunt's family.

Sure, it felt a bit like bullying, six against two, but who cared?

Zhang Meiyue, probably sensing the imbalance, stiffened her neck and said.

"If you want me to stop causing trouble, it's simple. I want two million dollars, and a suitable heart for my son, and get him treated."

Staring at the well-dressed, stunning family across from her, she was seething with malice.

"If you don't agree, I'll come downstairs and cause a scene every day, and go to Qin Shuyi's office and Qian Youyou's school to stir up trouble."

If she couldn't bite them to death, she'd at least annoy them to death.

Her son was dying, so why should this family be living so well?

Honestly, her ideal outcome today was for Ling Jue to just pay her off for his girlfriend.

But who knew he wasn't scared of making a big deal at all? He immediately turned around and ratted her out to his girlfriend, and Qin Shuyi promptly called her aunt's family.

Since things were out in the open, she might as well go full thug.

"I know none of you are hurting for money, and you don't want me to jump off your office building with my son's body one day, or crash into your front door, do you?"

Zhou Tinglan's mocking gaze swept over Qian Shu, whose face was red with shame.

Qian Shu, not daring to look at her, grabbed Zhang Meiyue's arm desperately. "Zhang Meiyue, have you gone crazy?"

Zhang Meiyue slapped him right back.

Looking at his face, it was obvious who'd hit him before—his ex-wife could, so why couldn't she?

She glared at him with hatred.

"If you weren't such a useless coward, would I have to go crazy? Your son is lying in the hospital, dying, and you're still worried about saving face. I've gone mad, and it's because you drove me to it."

Her eyes reddened as she stared at Zhou Tinglan, who sat in the middle, like a queen surrounded by admirers.

"I'm not asking for much. Even if you consider that your daughter and my son have the same father, you should agree to it. Do you want Qian Youyou to live with the guilt of ignoring her own brother's life?"

Zhou Tinglan laughed coldly.

"What brother are you talking about? I only had Youyou. She has a sister and a brother, but no little brother."

Zhang Meiyue screamed, "Deny it all you want, but the blood tie is there. They'll share the same last name forever."

Maybe jolted awake by Zhang Meiyue's slap, Qian Shu also struggled to speak, looking at Zhou Tinglan pleadingly.

"Tinglan, Xiaoyong—Youyou's brother—is really sick and needs money now. Consider it a loan from me, alright? I'll definitely pay you back. Having a brother isn't a bad thing for Youyou; he'll treat her better than any outsider could."

Before Zhou Tinglan could answer, Qian Youyou spoke first.

"I don't need anyone to be nice to me. It's better for me to not have a brother."

Qian Shu looked at her with sadness. "Youyou, I'm not forcing you to accept him, but he's still your blood."

Qian Youyou let out a snort. "Who can prove it?"

"You're all my children."

Shameless bastard.

If Qin Shuyi hadn't held Jiang Yuzhou back, he would've jumped up and cursed.

Ling Jue shot him a look.

Your dad hasn't said anything, so why are you in such a rush?

Jiang Shiheng let Zhou Tinglan handle it.

Zhou Tinglan drummed her fingers on the table, not angry, but smiling.

"After all this talk, it all boils down to a last name."

She turned to Qian Shu. "I forgot to tell you—Youyou already changed her last name. Stop calling her Qian Youyou. She's Zhou Youyou now."

"Different last names, not even in the same family registry. Who's going to acknowledge this sibling relationship?"

Qian Shu's eyes went wide, his face full of shock.

"Tinglan, you said you wouldn't change Youyou's last name?"

Back then, he'd given up everything in the divorce, only asking for this one small thing.

Zhou Tinglan looked calm. "You also said you wouldn't remarry for the rest of your life and wouldn't give Youyou any younger siblings. So what are they, then?"

She lifted her chin, pointing at Zhang Meiyue, whose eyes were blazing.

If they could use blood ties as siblings to threaten her once, there would be a second and third time. She wasn't about to let that start.

Qian Shu looked pained.

"It was a mistake with her. I didn't want to marry her."

It was Zhang Meiyue who had stirred up trouble between them, and after her scheme to badmouth the master's wife got exposed, she ran off in disgrace. Back home, she couldn't find a decent job and her family pressured her to be traded for her brother's bride price, so she came back to S City.

She schemed with Qian Shu's parents, who were desperate for a grandson, to trap him.

The kid was already born; he couldn't just bail on his responsibility.

Zhou Tinglan fixed a sharp gaze on him. "No matter the reason, I only care about the facts."

Qian Shu fell silent.

...

Seeing Zhou Tinglan stand her ground, Zhang Meiyue grew anxious.

She turned her gaze to the relaxed young couple nearby.

"You don't care about your daughter's rep? What about your niece's?"

She prodded deliberately. "Aren't you afraid of ruining her good match?"

If she came to stir up trouble a few more times, she was sure the guy would get sick of it.

Qin Shuyi laughed and asked Ling Jue, "Are you my good match?"

Ling Jue draped an arm over the back of Qin Shuyi's chair, like he was wrapping around her.

"She's barking. Babe, you're the match I want to climb."

He'd barely gotten his foot in the door of the Qin family, and now some random mutt was trying to mess with him.

Zhang Meiyue stared at him, not believing it.

The guy in front of her, laughing with wild arrogance, was nothing like the cold, ruthless figure she'd met alone in his office earlier when she'd explained her purpose.

She'd thought he'd be the type to avoid trouble.

"Can you stand your future wife's freeloading relatives always showing up? Doesn't that bug you?" she couldn't help but ask.

She knew her own behavior was annoying.

Ling Jue finally bothered to glance at her. "First off, you'd have to be actual relatives."

Zhang Meiyue's face darkened.

"Second, my wife's family is my family. I'll do whatever I want, period."

"Besides," he added casually, "who doesn't have annoying relatives? I've got a deadbeat dad myself."

The already-divorced Ling Mufeng got dragged out to be roasted again.

"Cough, cough, cough." Jiang Shiheng, who had been watching from the sidelines, choked on his water.

Having a son like that was truly Ling Mufeng's blessing.

Zhou Tinglan glanced at Ling Jue, and the irritation she had felt from Zhang Meiyue's intrusion into the Ling Corporation suddenly dissipated significantly.

Having her personal affairs drag Shuyi into it and cause a scene in front of her niece's boyfriend, she had also worried about how Ling Jue might perceive it.

Now it seemed he was quite capable of handling it himself.

A note of satisfaction crept into Zhou Tinglan's appraisal.

Under the table, Ling Jue, who was secretly holding his girlfriend's hand, felt the elder's gaze and subtly straightened his back.

Cough, cough. He was doing okay, right?

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