The Little Spoiled Brat Divorces with a Child, Driving the Big Boss Crazy - Chapter 84
Chapter 84
Hu Chuang was baffled.
He had merely gone to the kitchen and asked the chef to cook a bowl of noodles. How had those two menaces managed to create such a disaster in that brief time?
A huge bowl held fragrant black carp noodles garnished with two glossy green vegetables, steam curling from the surface.
But Jin Beizhou did not touch a single bite.
He curled into the sofa with his head bowed, layer upon layer of blood vessels visible in his eyes. “Am I really that repulsive?”
“…” Hu Chuang had never dated anyone and did not understand such matters. “That doesn’t look like disgust to me. It looks like hatred.”
Jin Beizhou raised his head like a puppet on strings.
Only then did Hu Chuang see the pain Jin Beizhou was holding back in his eyes.
Damn his mouth.
Hadn’t he just poured fuel on the fire?
Jin Beizhou whispered in a breathy voice, “She hates me?”
“…Hatred is better than disgust, isn’t it?” Hu Chuang was going insane. “There’s a saying that the other side of hatred is love. Right?”
Jin Beizhou’s gaze was lifeless and unfocused.
The black carp noodles gradually cooled. The woman next door had probably gone to sleep long ago.
At some point, a muffled voice emerged from Jin Beizhou’s throat. “I can’t do it.”
“…Do what?”
“Stay away from her.”
How could he possibly do it?
He was like a vine growing from Lu Ying’s body, living only by winding around her. If she left, the vine called Jin Beizhou would collapse to the ground and rot into the mud.
Even now, Jin Beizhou could not accept the fact that Lu Ying had already left him.
On that quiet morning when she carried her suitcase away, Jin Beizhou had been terrified, yet he had continued to hold on to hope, believing that she would return.
It had never even occurred to him to wonder what he would do if Lu Ying truly stopped wanting him.
He was used to her chattering and making a commotion beside him. He was used to seeing her presence in matters large and small. He was used to her being part of every day of his life.
Then, without warning, his heart had been carved out.
He truly was an orphan now.
He truly had no one left.
He could do nothing and dared do nothing.
All he could do was work desperately to protect Lu Jiuyue’s existence.
In the days that followed, Jin Beizhou did not even dare visit Caotang. He feared making Lu Ying angry and feared that, in a fit of rage, she would give up their daughter.
Hu Chuang reported on Lu Ying and the baby every day. Jin Beizhou could only look forward to the next prenatal checkup.
Only then did he have a legitimate reason to accompany her.
The torment was close to crushing Jin Beizhou’s heart.
At the end of May, he received a call from Jin Sinian asking him to come to the Jin Corporation.
The weather was hot and dry. Jin Beizhou handed bag after bag to Hu Chuang and repeatedly instructed him, “Tell her the bedding and clothes are from Auntie Hu. You and the chef need to find a way to make her accept the food. There’s also a dress-up book… Tell her it’s from you. She loves playing with those.”
No matter what, Lu Ying could not learn that any of it came from him.
Hu Chuang rolled his eyes repeatedly.
This did not feel like freedom. It felt as though he had merely been transferred somewhere else for reform. He had gone out and gained a son, and at this rate, when he finally returned home, he would be a thoughtful “daughter” too.
Afterward, Jin Beizhou went to the Jin Corporation.
He was not surprised in the slightest to find Chen Qi there.
Jin Sinian said helplessly, “You don’t want the Jin Family anymore, and now you don’t even want your Eldest Brother and Eldest Sister-in-law?”
These days, seeing him even once was nearly impossible.
“I’m busy.” Jin Beizhou sat down on the sofa. “I’m about to become a father, so I need to earn more money. I can’t exactly make my daughter share the life of a homeless dog with me.”
“…” Jin Sinian pressed his temples. “President Chen couldn’t get an appointment with you, so he had no choice but to ask me for help.”
Jin Beizhou tugged at the corner of his mouth, then leisurely boiled water and brewed tea.
Chen Qi wanted to speak with him alone.
Jin Sinian left the office to the two of them.
The only sound in the vast room was the kettle coming to a boil.
Chen Qi spoke first. “President Jin appears to be in a good mood.”
Jin Beizhou gave a barely audible hum through his nose. “I can accompany my wife to her prenatal checkup tomorrow.”
He had been in high spirits since the day before, eagerly waiting for tomorrow to arrive.
“…”
After a brief pause, Chen Qi said evenly, “President Jin cares deeply about Miss Lu. That is why you stationed men in the shadows to protect her.”
“Wouldn’t you worry about your own wife and children?” Jin Beizhou asked.
“I remain single to this day,” Chen Qi replied. “But I’ve seen friends’ and colleagues’ wives go through pregnancy, and none of them received protection on the scale you have arranged.”
The corner of Jin Beizhou’s mouth lifted.
He did not say a word. Calm and composed, he clearly had no shortage of patience.
The fragrance of tea gradually filled the office.
“Or,” Chen Qi asked as he watched him, “does President Jin know something?”
Jin Beizhou raised a brow ever so slightly, his expression indifferent. “What could I know? Someone kidnapped my wife the moment I let down my guard. Shouldn’t I be nervous?”
“Does President Jin have any leads?”
Jin Beizhou gave a mocking smile. “President Chen, have some tea.”
“…”
Steam curled from the tea. Chen Qi understood perfectly well that the man before him was circling around the issue, waiting for Chen Qi to reveal his hand first.
After a long silence, Chen Qi went straight to the point. “Can President Jin release Chen Zheng?”
Jin Beizhou was equally direct. “No.”
“…”
“A fourteen-year-old prodigy,” Jin Beizhou said, reclining halfway into the sofa, his voice neither angry nor agitated. “At nineteen, you achieved a major breakthrough in genetic engineering. At twenty, your adoptive parents died. At twenty-eight, you appeared in Beicheng and secured a partnership with the Jin Corporation.”
Chen Qi’s expression remained calm.
Jin Beizhou continued, “President Chen, may I ask what you were doing between the ages of twenty and twenty-eight?”
“I was too young then and didn’t know how to conceal my abilities,” Chen Qi said evenly. “An underground organization researching gene editing took an interest in me. To force me to focus solely on their work, they murdered my adoptive parents and tried to control my freedom with drugs.”
He raised his tattooed hand. “The tattoo covers the needle marks left from that time.”
Jin Beizhou tilted his head and gave the hand a casual glance.
“I was imprisoned for three years,” Chen Qi continued. “When I was twenty-three, I encountered my younger brother. The force behind him rescued me.”
Jin Beizhou tugged at his lips.
Chen Qi watched him. “Aren’t you curious why I’m telling you everything?”
“Talk if you want,” Jin Beizhou drawled. “If you don’t, forget it.”
“…” Chen Qi smiled. “Then aren’t you curious what kind of force could contend with such a brazen underground organization?”
Jin Beizhou answered with complete honesty. “No.”
“…”
Silence fell.
After a while, Chen Qi said, “I suspect you already know everything.”
Jin Beizhou neither confirmed nor denied it.
Chen Qi was quiet for a long moment before abruptly saying, “He doesn’t have much time left.”
Jin Beizhou raised a brow. “Who?”
“You know.”
“I don’t.”
“…” Chen Qi sighed. “He loved your mother.”
Jin Beizhou sneered. “Who is he?”
“He is your father,” Chen Qi said solemnly. “Mr. Zhou Guowei.”
Jin Beizhou’s expression did not change. “Don’t insult the word love. How many people did he spread his love among?”
“Even the name Zhou Guowei was given to him by your mother,” Chen Qi said. “He has forgotten his birth name and has used this one ever since.”
“Oh. He loved her so deeply that he married dozens of wives and fathered dozens of children?”
“…” Chen Qi shook his head. “Mr. Zhou does have many children, and every one of them covets the businesses under his name. But he wants to give them only to you.”
Here, Chen Qi paused and sighed. “Young Master, it is time for you to return home.”
