“Liang Meng, the situation at Longquan right now is extremely complicated. Give me some time — I need to sort things out myself. I really can’t help you at the moment.”

Daiwei sent Liang Meng a WeChat message. Though it contained nothing of substance, it was still some comfort to her.

“Why is the fever still this high?”

Wang Zaiwu stared at the reading on the ear thermometer, looking worried.

Lin Mom was fretting anxiously outside the door.

Liang Meng hadn’t let her in — she’d only been told that the girl had a fever.

Unable to enter, she had no choice but to go to the kitchen and boil some red date and ginger soup to help sweat out the fever, leaving it in the most conspicuous spot.

And then there was Lin Qing — she hadn’t come home to sleep for two days running, hadn’t replied to any messages, which had Lin Mom in a complete state of anxiety.

With no other option, she sent a message to Lu Zhou, asking what on earth had happened.

“Auntie, don’t worry! I’ll come over and check on things right now.”

Lu Zhou was out jogging when the message arrived, and he immediately headed over to the apartment.

He went in first to visit Liang Meng, who was running a fever.

In just the few days since he’d last seen her, Liang Meng had visibly taken on the haggard pallor of illness — both her eye sockets had sunken in considerably.

“Wang Zaiwu.”

“Lu Zhou.”

The two young men exchanged brief greetings.

Liang Meng then asked Wang Zaiwu to step outside — she had something to say to Lu Zhou.

Wang Zaiwu shot a glance at the rather good-looking Lu Zhou, then looked back at Liang Meng, uncertain.

Liang Meng gave him a quiet look, telling him not to worry.

“How did you come out?!”

When Lin Mom saw that it was Wang Zaiwu who had emerged, she was taken aback.

“You’re leaving those two — a single man and a single woman — alone in there together?” Lin Mom said, her expression alarmed.

“Aren’t Wang Zaiwu and Liang Meng a single man and single woman too?”

Wang Zaiwu couldn’t be bothered with this nosy busybody. He flopped down on the sofa and switched on the television as though nothing were the matter.

The TV was broadcasting news about a wildfire somewhere in the world — those flames seemed at that moment to be roaring straight through Lin Mom’s heart.

“President Liang, we haven’t seen each other for a few days — have you come down with something?”

Lu Zhou couldn’t bring himself to sit on the edge of the bed either. He folded his arms and leaned against the far wall of his own accord, keeping his distance as he spoke with Liang Meng.

Lu Zhou had nearly forgotten — this place had once been where he lived and slept, day in and day out.

The apartment was his.

The room was his too.

Liang Meng struggled to sit up. She was dishevelled and unkempt, feeling rather self-conscious about it.

Mustering her patience, suppressing her emotions, weak and barely above a whisper, Liang Meng managed — haltingly, in fits and starts — to recount to Lu Zhou everything that had happened over these past few days.

Lu Zhou listened, and assumed Liang Meng’s fever had left her delirious, that she was talking nonsense.

He dismissed it lightly and urged her to lie back down and rest.

“Lu Zhou, I’m sorry. My plan to make you the spokesperson for Longquan — it may have all come to nothing.”

Even now, Liang Meng was still worrying about her inability to honour her promise and the harm it might cause Lu Zhou.

“Hey, don’t even bring that up right now.” Lu Zhou magnanimously reassured her. “Besides, when I was at my most down and out, it was you, President Liang, who wanted to sign me — and who told me that losing once wasn’t the end of the world. One good turn deserves another. The person I ought to be grateful to is you, President Liang — not Longquan.”

“About Lin Qing…”

Liang Meng was aware of the relationship between Lu Zhou and Lin Qing.

She didn’t want to stab him in the heart, but she couldn’t avoid bringing it up.

“My instinct is the same as yours — there must be more to it than this. Perhaps she has some reason she can’t talk about?”

Lu Zhou’s first reaction was exactly the same as Liang Meng’s had been before.

Lin Qing wasn’t the type of person to covet vanity or steal her best friend’s man.

“Mm, but what if—” Liang Meng thought for a moment, then asked Lu Zhou earnestly, “I mean if — what if it’s true, and Lin Qing really has chosen Jiang Han?”

“That can’t be right.” Lu Zhou shrugged with a slight smile, lowering his arms. “I’ve known Lin Qing for more than a decade. If you told me she was drawn to Jiang Han for his looks, I might actually believe that. But for money?? Absolutely impossible!”

His words drew a “pfft” of laughter from Liang Meng, and the knot of anxiety she’d been carrying in her chest for all these days loosened, if only a little.

But just as Liang Meng had begun to feel some relief, at that very moment — Lin Qing walked back in, with Jiang Han in tow.

Wang Zaiwu was in the living room cracking sunflower seeds when he saw the two of them. In an instant, the snack in his mouth lost all its appeal.

“Oh, so you’ve actually got the nerve to walk in here together and make yourselves at home?”

Wang Zaiwu, furious, tossed down the handful of shells in his palm and shot up from the sofa!

“Uncle Jiang~!”

He stepped forward, and it was Jiang Han he chose to provoke first.

Jiang Han, seeing Wang Zaiwu there, was equally full of barely suppressed anger.

“What are you doing here?”

He of course knew Liang Meng was inside.

Wherever Liang Meng was, Wang Zaiwu had no business being there!

Wang Zaiwu didn’t answer. He turned directly to Lin Qing: “What does it mean, bringing him back here?”

“It means…”

Lin Qing looked helplessly at Lin Mom, who stood nearby in a daze, and steeled herself: “It means… meeting the family, obviously. What’s so strange about that?”

“Meeting the family?!”

Another male voice rang out — drawing closer, travelling from inside the apartment to the doorway.

And there was Lu Zhou, his face full of astonishment, leading Liang Meng — wrapped in a dressing gown, her face deathly pale — out from the room, side by side!

Sixteen eyes met. Everyone was startled.

This was probably what they meant by — “one fright leads to another.”

“Lu Zhou?!”

Lin Qing rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

How could Lu Zhou and Liang Meng be walking out of a bedroom at the same time?!

Jiang Han was even more furious.

A moment ago, he’d been enraged that Wang Zaiwu was here in this apartment.

Now he was more enraged still.

Why wasn’t Wang Zaiwu in that bedroom?!

If Wang Zaiwu had been in there, at least… at least it would have made Jiang Han feel slightly better.

He’d have been a third party.

But now — Liang Meng was walking out of a bedroom, composed and unhurried, alongside a tall, handsome, dashingly built young man —

This was an image Jiang Han would sooner have died than see!!!

“Lin Qing — what you said about bringing this man back here, was that really to meet the family?”

Lu Zhou asked again, in utter disbelief.

He truly couldn’t believe what was unfolding before his eyes.

One moment ago, he had stood before Liang Meng and staked his own reputation on Lin Qing’s innocence.

The next moment — and the slap in the face came this swiftly.

Even Lin Mom felt she couldn’t bear the weight of this moment.

This grand spectacle had nearly sent her away on the spot.

Lin Mom clutched her chest and moved to stand right under Jiang Han’s nose, pointing at him and commanding Lin Qing: “This family does not wish to meet him. You get him out of here right now.”

Lin Qing’s expression was tormented, her inner turmoil extreme.

But when her eyes met Jiang Han’s steady, deep gaze — it seemed to be saying: the bigger picture must come first.

The bigger picture!

The bigger PICTURE!

What bigger PICTURE?!

Though she was deeply reluctant, Lin Qing bit her tongue, swallowed down her ten thousand grievances, and forced out the words: “Mom! This is Jiang Han — my new ‘boyfriend.’ Don’t make such a fuss over nothing.”

“Auntie.”

Jiang Han, sharp enough to know his cue, chimed in right on time to acknowledge her.

Lin Mom glanced around the room. She couldn’t bring herself to respond to that “Auntie” — not with Lu Zhou standing right there. She would sooner die than give it so much as one word of recognition.

“Boyfriend?!” Wang Zaiwu laughed, finding Lin Qing utterly shameless.

He exposed her without mercy: “Lin Qing — Jiang Han is married. Your ‘boyfriend’ is a married man?”

“What?!”

Lin Mom had already been dead set against this match to begin with.

Now to hear there was yet another massive bombshell — and to be on the receiving end of it herself, in front of so many people, and with her own daughter at the centre of it!

Lin Mom didn’t waste a single breath. She stepped forward and slapped Lin Qing hard across the face!

Crack!

A scalding smack landed heavily on Lin Qing’s soft, delicate cheek, instantly raising three vivid red welts.

Lin Mom meant it — this was a real blow.

She simply could not accept this reality.

Seeing it, Lu Zhou stepped forward instinctively, pained — but then caught sight of Jiang Han, and was forced to pull himself back, swallowing his anger.

Liang Meng cast Lu Zhou an anxious look. He must be suffering terribly right now.

Everything unfolding before her eyes had, in an instant, assembled all the facts.

The very arguments she and Lu Zhou had just been making inside, in Lin Qing’s defence — they had instantly become a joke.

Liang Meng was unwilling to believe it too, but Jiang Han’s hand rising to cup Lin Qing’s cheek left her no room not to.

“Fine! Fine! You ungrateful, unfilial girl!”

Lin Mom clutched her chest in anguish, her blood pressure surging in waves.

She pointed at her own daughter and launched into a furious tirade: “Your father left early! I raised you by myself, worked myself to the bone from the time you were small! And to think I’d end up raising a mistress! All those years — the meals I cooked, I may as well have been feeding a dog! The clothes I washed dressed you up so filthy! Lin Qing! Today I finally know who you truly are — and who I truly am! I am a foolish old woman who doesn’t know when to die! I once thought this illness was Heaven being blind, unwilling to let a mother and daughter remain close, trying to tear us apart in life and death. But now I understand — it is retribution! Only the retribution of this world, right here, right now!!!”

“Mom.” Lin Qing moved forward, heartbroken, to support her.

Lin Mom shoved her away!

“Don’t you call me Mom! I have no child like you! In the past it was I who wronged you — my fate was hard, I brought ill fortune to your father, and I couldn’t earn money either. From the time you were small, the food you ate — not as good as other children’s. The clothes you wore — not as good as other children’s. We couldn’t even be called a modestly well-off family! I always felt I had materially shortchanged you, and I blamed myself deeply for it! You were perceptive and sensible from childhood, and that was a great comfort to me! I even thought: what one loses in one place, one gains in another, and Heaven is fair. But it was all a lie! Now I understand — there is no such thing as a ‘sensible’ child in this world! Yes, you are perceptive — genuinely so — but you are too perceptive! Perceptive enough to cast aside every moral bond for the sake of fine clothes and rich food!!!”

Lin Mom trembled violently with agitation, tears streaming down her aged face in a torrent, all dignity lost.

Liang Meng, who had still held some resentment toward her, couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy at the sight of the old woman in this state.

Wang Zaiwu’s heart softened too. At this moment only he could step forward to support Lin Mom.

But his mouth remained obstinate: “Auntie, what’s the point of shouting all this right now? You didn’t raise your child right, and now she’s out here causing harm to society. Even if you raged yourself to death, Lin Qing wouldn’t turn over a new leaf on the spot. So just stop yelling!”

Liang Meng looked at Jiang Han. She hadn’t seen him in a long while.

She fixed her eyes on his, searching them for an answer.

But Jiang Han simply set down what he was carrying, offered Lin Mom a show of apology, and said: “Auntie, forgive the intrusion on your home. Please don’t upset yourself. As for my situation with Lin Qing — we can go over the details slowly at another time. What’s done is done now, and regardless of whether you accept it, we are together. I won’t hide it from you — Lin Qing has been staying with me these past days. We are already inseparable.”

At these words, whatever others felt — it was Lu Zhou who was first to find it unbearable. However gentlemanly and refined his nature, in this moment he was like a ball pumped to bursting — and with a tremendous bang, he exploded!!!

Lin Qing had always been, to him, like a sofa of pure white genuine leather — covered all over in immaculate, flawless pearls. Lu Zhou hadn’t even dared touch her, or sit on her, for fear of hurting her, of soiling her — he couldn’t bear the thought of her suffering the slightest reluctance.

But now — Jiang Han had descended like a crude and brutish stranger who had barged in from nowhere.

He had not only seized that white sofa for himself — he was jumping and thrashing on it, making a spectacle, trampling it relentlessly, declaring his claim of ownership before all the world!

Lu Zhou remembered exactly where, in his own living room, the golf club stand was.

He pulled one out, took up a swinging stance, and made to bring the club down on Jiang Han’s head!

Liang Meng moved in a flash — throwing her arms around him!

Jiang Han shifted.

Liang Meng held Lu Zhou tightly, urging him: “Lu Zhou, he’s not worth it! You can’t get into trouble. Listen to me. Listen to me. Put it down!”

In truth, she was afraid Lu Zhou might genuinely hurt Jiang Han.

Liang Meng felt she must be losing her mind herself.

Even now, after everything — she still couldn’t bring herself to immediately hate Jiang Han.

In that split second just now, she had still felt a pang of worry for him.

Lin Qing, seeing Liang Meng with her arms around Lu Zhou, felt a surge of jealousy — but given where things stood in the current scene, she had no choice but to suppress it.

The dark flame of envy in her eyes was like a bullet already chambered, ready to fire at any moment — ready to pierce straight through the person she loved most.

Wang Zaiwu interjected with a sarcastic remark: “Killing someone means paying with your own life. Lu Zhou — I’ve already been to the police station once with Uncle Jiang, and with a woman covering for him, he always walks away clean. Don’t go throwing your life away.”

“Wang Zaiwu!”

Jiang Han couldn’t reveal the truth without incriminating himself, but that didn’t stop him from taking his anger out on this little brat.

“This has nothing to do with you. Get lost.”

He pulled rank with the air of an elder, suppressing him with a low rumble.

Lin Mom had recovered slightly. Perhaps muddled with rage — or perhaps for some other reason — something shifted in her.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

All of a sudden, she was taking up for Wang Zaiwu: “Who dares tell Wang Zaiwu to get lost?! Who dares tell my adopted son to get lost?! Help me up — I’m going to fight him to the death!”

Lin Qing was completely bewildered, her face twisting in disbelief: “Mom! When did Wang Zaiwu become your adopted son?!”

“Why couldn’t Wang Zaiwu be my son?”

And indeed — no one understood how to manage Lin Qing quite like Lin Mom.

She struggled upright, seized Wang Zaiwu firmly with one hand, and Liang Meng with the other.

“From this day forward — you, Lin Qing, are not my daughter! He is my adopted son! She is my adopted daughter!”

Liang Meng and Wang Zaiwu both froze, staring at each other blankly.

The two of them had gained a mother out of thin air.

Lin Mom tightened her grip, and neither of them dared make a peep.

“Now that I have a son and a daughter,” Lin Mom said with a cold laugh, “you two get all the irrelevant people out of my sight!”

Her tone brooked no argument.

True to Lin Mom’s commanding presence.

Befuddled, Wang Zaiwu couldn’t help asking one more thing: “What about Lu Zhou?”

Lin Mom pinched the back of his hand in reminder: “That’s the landlord!”

“Understood. Adoptive Mom.”

With that, Wang Zaiwu — as if he’d been handed an imperial decree — took the golf club from Lu Zhou’s hands and began swinging and brandishing it wildly!

He chased Lin Qing and Jiang Han, sending them fleeing with their heads in their arms, screaming, and driving them out in disarray!