“Going home to what? We’re waiting for someone.”

Liang Meng picked up her bag, folded her arms again, and said.

Jiang Han received the location Liang Meng had sent from the small garden, and drove personally with Lin Qing to get there.

“Do you have a clear idea in your mind of what to say when the moment comes?”

Jiang Han asked as they waited at a red light.

Lin Qing nodded.

Jiang Han told Lin Qing: the reason Liang Meng deliberately sent her location to him could only be one of two things — first, she hoped he and Lin Qing would come and take Lin Mom away; second, she was still testing Jiang Han.

Lin Qing stared at the front windscreen, uncertain: “You keep saying Liang Meng doesn’t believe us anymore — and yet you still want me to keep performing. Performing in front of someone who’s already seen through the act — even thinking about it makes me feel like a complete fool.”

Jiang Han said nothing, hands on the wheel, and glanced at the “complete fool” sitting beside him.

“You’d best keep performing. If Liang Meng is convinced, that proves your acting is extraordinary.” Jiang Han said. “And if Liang Meng isn’t convinced — at least let her mother be convinced, let Wang Zaiwu be convinced. Once Wang Zaiwu believes it, Wang Xiancheng will believe it. Only when everyone outside believes I’ve parted ways with Liang Meng and Liang Xing will what comes next not implicate them…”

“Director Jiang, let me interrupt.” At that point, Lin Qing stirred and, unable to hold back her concern, asked Jiang Han directly: “Based on the instructions you’ve given me — stainless steel 2589 has been falling steadily, and we’ve been buying all the way down. How much longer can the funds in the account hold out?”

What Lin Qing was really saying was: no matter how convincingly she performed, even if she gave everything she had, Jiang Han’s plan still carried enormous risk.

Jiang Han had money, yes — but Sansheng was not a printing press.

“That’s what I want to tell you.” Jiang Han reminded Lin Qing, “The one sitting across the table from us in this game is Wang Xiancheng — a man who has outlasted every opponent he’s ever faced. I have never beaten him. All I can do is take it one move at a time. If you want me to give you a definite answer, the numbers in Sansheng’s account are the only definite answer.”

“Ten billion?” Lin Qing asked.

Jiang Han nodded.

Lin Qing’s heart sank. By the model she’d built, even throwing ten billion in might not be enough to bottom out the price.

“This is practically gambling!” Lin Qing muttered.

Jiang Han smiled, one hand on the wheel: “How do you think I built all this? Every win is just one more round of survival, stacked on top of the last.”

“And if you lose?” Lin Qing asked.

“As long as you survive, you can always come back.”

Lin Qing was speechless. She had no choice but to admire it.

No wonder she’d never be rich — people who had money all played with their lives on the line.

“Mom!!! How did you end up out here?”

Spotting Lin Mom sitting on a stone bench in the small garden, Lin Qing’s heart ached, and she wanted nothing more than to scoop her up and take her home right then.

She crouched down and took Lin Mom’s cold hands in her own, rubbing them again and again.

But Lin Mom coolly withdrew her hands, her face turning away with an indifferent expression.

“If I didn’t move out, what reason would I have to go on imposing on someone else’s home?”

Lin Qing glanced up at Lu Zhou nearby. Lu Zhou quickly looked away.

That small act of pulling away spoke volumes — it dropped them back into the murky, undefined space of unspoken things.

Lin Qing turned to look at Liang Meng. Liang Meng’s gaze was cold, a hint of scorn visible on her face.

“Mom! Come stay with me and Jiang Han. He has a four-hundred-square-metre penthouse in the city centre — driver, housekeeper, all sorted. Several rooms, and close to the hospital.” Lin Qing said to Lin Mom.

The moment Lin Mom heard that, the fury rose from her core and erupted immediately!

She drew on the courage of the beer, and stood up.

Lin Mom was shorter than Lin Qing, which she apparently found unsatisfying — so she climbed up onto the stone bench and glared down at her own daughter with righteous fury.

Lin Mom pointed one finger at Lin Qing’s nose, the other hand pressed against her own chest, and began: “Lin Qing, I thought you were a smart child! I’m your own mother — I’m not going to morally lecture you. Things like being a gilded caged bird, or receiving divine punishment for being a mistress — I’ll leave those ugly words aside. But you tell me: even if you’re going to be with Jiang Han, shouldn’t there be some proper sequence of steps? He divorces first! Bigamy is illegal — do you understand? And you’ve just moved yourself into his home without so much as a word! Whose name is the property in? Is your name on the deed? Doesn’t your youth count for anything? Are you completely senseless?!”

Still not satisfied, Lin Mom climbed back down from the bench and went on: “And you want me to come and live at Jiang Han’s place? What would that make me? You may have no shame, but this old face of mine still has some!”

Lin Qing replied quietly: “But you were living at Lu Zhou’s place too, and that was no different…”

“It is completely different!” Lin Mom’s voice shot up, and everyone gave a start. “When I was living at Lu Zhou’s, I was there as his future mother-in-law! I wasn’t embarrassed to say so to anyone! But Jiang Han — no matter how rich he is, he’s a married man!”

“Jiang Han is not married!” Lin Qing blurted out in a flash of anxiety, laying out the truth directly. “Jiang Han and my sister never officially registered their marriage! Legally, Jiang Han is also single!”

“What?!” Lin Mom was stunned.

Lu Zhou felt a jolt too.

Only Liang Meng.

Jiang Han glanced sideways at her. Liang Meng’s expression, cold as ice, showed nothing but contempt and disbelief.

She immediately retaliated with pointed sarcasm: “Lin Qing, you are absolutely shameless! Willing to spread false rumours about my sister and Jiang Han never registering their marriage just to justify your own ambitions! I don’t know what I was thinking, hiring someone like you as my assistant in the first place!”

Lin Qing had nowhere to plead her innocence, and the Yellow River itself couldn’t wash her clean.

Not that she wanted to.

She asked Lin Mom: “Do you believe me — or someone else?”

That was a difficult question.

“Mom — please come back with me and Jiang Han.” Lin Qing pleaded.

Jiang Han put in a word on the side: “Auntie, everything at the house is ready. Come back with us.”

Lin Mom thought about it, then made up her mind.

“I’m not going with you.” Lin Mom said.

“If not with us, then where will you go?” Lin Qing asked anxiously.

Lin Mom bit her lip with fierce resolve and looked at Liang Meng.

“I’ll go back with Liang Meng!”

“What?!” Lin Qing grabbed Lin Mom’s sleeve. “Mom! Are you losing your mind? I’m your own daughter! Liang Meng is an outsider. What reason do you have to go live with a stranger? And whether she’d even take you in is another question entirely! Besides, I’d be worried…”

“And what is there to worry about?”

At that moment, Liang Meng stepped forward.

Lin Mom and Lin Qing both looked at her.

“I’m currently staying in Lu Zhou’s apartment. We need someone to help with the housework.” Liang Meng said.

“We?!”

“We?!“

Lin Qing and Jiang Han both seized on that word.

“Yes.” Liang Meng continued, unmoved. “Lin Qing — now that you’ve flown to a higher branch and risen in the world, then Lu Zhou doesn’t need to keep staying in a budget hotel for your sake. He has his own home — why shouldn’t he come back? Isn’t that right, Lu Zhou?”

Liang Meng put the pressure on Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou looked at Lin Qing and Jiang Han, and said nothing.

Lin Qing was agitated, clutching Lu Zhou’s arm: “Lu Zhou, you’re coming back? So is Liang Meng moving out then?”

Looking at the urgency in Lin Qing’s eyes, Lu Zhou felt deeply reluctant — but in the end he hardened his heart and pried Lin Qing’s hand away from his sleeve.

“Lin Qing, whatever the reason you chose Jiang Han so quickly — now that you’ve made that choice, the things that involve me going forward no longer require your opinion.”

“What?!” Lin Qing pretended not to follow.

“Liang Meng is also a friend of mine, and she currently has nowhere to go — the same kind of difficulty you once faced.” Lu Zhou said. “I’m willing to help her.”

“What do you mean.”

Before Lin Qing was done being anxious, it was Jiang Han’s turn.

He stepped forward, and the sharp edge in his gaze was like a hand already fisted in Lu Zhou’s collar.

“I mean that going forward, Liang Meng and I will be living under the same roof.” Lu Zhou’s voice was steady and clear. He then looked at Lin Mom. “We do need a live-in housekeeper — if Lin Mom is willing, we’d love to have her.”

“What a complete mess.”

Lin Qing was lost and at a loss.

Jiang Han’s brow was knotted even tighter.

Lin Mom, on the other hand, had perked right up: “Wonderful! Wonderful! Lu Zhou, you take me then! Auntie can cook and clean — I can do everything! And you don’t need to pay me! The wages can count as rent! Perfect! Perfect! I’ll go with you!”

“Mom! I am your own daughter — your only family in this world!”

Lin Qing was so agitated she was stamping her foot.

Lin Mom turned away coquettishly, linked her arms through Lu Zhou’s and Liang Meng’s, and said with a teasing smile: “Oh? Is that right? Well, not anymore! That page — torn out! Given everything you’ve been up to, I wouldn’t even know how to explain myself to your father on the other side. It’s shameful in this world and the next! Liang Meng, Lu Zhou — let’s go!”

“Mom!!!”

Lin Qing was nearly in tears now, calling out after Lin Mom’s retreating figure.

Jiang Han walked over and came to stand behind her, steadying her.

Liang Meng and Lin Mom walked away, resolute, showing only their backs. Lu Zhou, despite himself, cast one last, lingering glance behind him.

When they had gone far enough, Lin Qing turned and buried herself in Jiang Han’s arms, crying.

It didn’t have to be Jiang Han in particular — anyone at this moment, anyone who could lend a shoulder, would have been the most precious thing in the world.

“Everything comes at a cost.”

Jiang Han gently patted Lin Qing’s back to comfort her.

“But for now, your mother has them looking after her. If you can’t trust Liang Meng, can you not trust your beloved Lu Zhou? You need to summon every ounce of resolve. If we can’t beat Wang Xiancheng, everyone loses everything. At that point, we could hardly all move into Lu Zhou’s apartment, could we?”

“Ha!”

Lin Qing wanted to punch Jiang Han through the wall. Of all the times to deliver a deadpan joke.

“Are you even human? How can you be this calm — do you even have feelings?”

Though she helplessly understood — this was the only path forward.

“This road now goes in one direction only. My heart hurts too. My feelings for Liang Meng run deeper than you could imagine. But right now I still have my arms around you — because the bigger picture must come first.”

Jiang Han pulled Lin Qing close, and with a man’s provocative gaze, met the eyes of Lu Zhou, who had glanced back.

In that flash of an instant, the two men completed their first duel.

Two dead, two wounded — no one came away unscathed.

The spring air still carried a chill. The warmth found within that coldness was the most tenderly lingering of all; and the coldness hidden within warmth — the most piercing.

Back in the car, Lin Qing was still quietly sniffling.

Jiang Han, without ceremony, tossed an invitation into her hands.

“What’s this?” Lin Qing picked up the copper-coloured envelope, baffled.

“An invitation to the Mengchuan Elegant Gathering.” Jiang Han.

“The Mengchuan Elegant Gathering?”

“Yes — it’s a gathering of wealthy and prominent women. I got you a spot.” Jiang Han said.

“For me? What use would I have for this?”

Lin Qing wiped her tears and turned the envelope over to look at it.

“As I said. Right now, our relationship needs to be publicly known. You are to attend these social events in our circle as my girlfriend, in an open and visible way, and make the outside world believe it.”

“And what about Liang Xing?” Lin Qing asked, on guard.

She could hardly go around explaining to every person she met that Jiang Han had never actually registered a marriage, could she.

“Liang Xing won’t believe our relationship.” Jiang Han was confident. “But she won’t expose it either.”

“Wouldn’t that be incredibly humiliating for her?” Lin Qing’s head was practically splitting.

Was Jiang Han intending to publicly stage a “main palace versus second palace” situation, with the supposed “original wife” and the apparent “mistress” appearing in the same social circles at the same time?

“He who sleeps beside another’s bed will not long tolerate their snoring.” Lin Qing tossed the invitation back to Jiang Han. “If I were Liang Xing, I’d pick up a dinner knife right then and there and stab the two of us to death on the spot.”

“That’s the difference between you and her. She wouldn’t.” Jiang Han said.

“You rich people are all out of your minds!”

Lin Qing murmured, completely at a loss for words.