The Little Spoiled Brat Divorces with a Child, Driving the Big Boss Crazy - Chapter 86
Chapter 86
It could only have been Jin Meimei.
Now everything made sense.
Mr. Zhou had ordered them to bring Jin Beizhou back. As long as Lu Ying was here, Jin Beizhou would never agree to leave.
Chen Qi had agreed with the idea of making them divorce, but he had not agreed to kidnap Lu Ying, much less murder her afterward.
Yet Chen Zheng had done it anyway.
He had done it for Jin Meimei.
He must have reestablished contact with her long ago.
The return of Lu Ying’s Peace Buckle to the Jin Family had represented an agreement and a pledge of loyalty, proving that he had completed the task Jin Meimei assigned him.
“Chen Zheng helped Jin Meimei…” Chen Qi murmured as he pieced the connections together. “They… What was Third Miss Jin trying to accomplish?”
Jin Beizhou shrugged. “Didn’t our Lu Ying divorce me?”
“…”
Right.
Jin Meimei’s goal had been to make them divorce, which aligned perfectly with Chen Zheng’s objective.
No wonder Chen Zheng had acted behind his back.
Kidnapping Lu Ying would both fulfill Mr. Zhou’s assignment and do Jin Meimei a convenient favor.
As for Lu Ying’s life, Chen Zheng probably considered it worthless.
“He suffered terribly during the years when he had no home,” Chen Qi said. “It made his conduct somewhat extreme.”
“Everyone has their hardships.” Jin Beizhou pulled his lips into a mocking smile, though it was impossible to tell whom he mocked. “Yet he chose to attack the most innocent person of all simply because Lu Ying married me. I really am a curse.”
Chen Qi pressed his lips together.
He had heard that Jin Meimei’s household registration had been transferred back to her hometown two years ago. At the time, she had still been the Yi Family’s daughter-in-law, while Jin Beizhou and Lu Ying were still married.
Transferring her registration before anything had even been decided was far too hasty and reckless.
“Ask your brother,” Jin Beizhou said, no longer interested in explaining. “Maybe he let something slip in front of Jin Meimei. Old Master Jin panicked when he realized I might leave and came up with this rotten scheme.”
Understanding dawned on Chen Qi.
So after Chen Zheng contacted Jin Meimei, Old Master Jin learned that Jin Beizhou’s biological father intended to find him and bring him home.
Afraid that Jin Beizhou would escape his control, the old master had tried to arrange a marriage between him and Jin Meimei.
But the result had been the exact opposite of what the old master planned. He had underestimated Jin Beizhou’s feelings for Lu Ying.
“Those two children.” Jin Beizhou looked at Chen Qi. “Did you send them?”
“…”
At Jin Beizhou’s birthday party, Chen Qi had overheard his phone call and learned that Chen Zheng had chosen that day to act. Chen Qi could not stop him, but he refused to stand by and watch a young woman lose her life.
With no other option, he had found two children and arranged for them to rescue Lu Ying as if by accident.
Fortunately, the outcome had been acceptable. Lu Ying was alive and healthy and had divorced Jin Beizhou. No life had been lost, and the first part of the plan was complete.
When Jin Beizhou broke with the Jin Family, Chen Qi thought everything had proceeded smoothly. Their Young Master was finally alone and would surely agree to return overseas with them.
But then, unexpectedly, Lu Ying became pregnant.
Helpless, Chen Qi could only address the immediate concern first. “Jin Meimei has disappeared?”
Jin Beizhou showed no emotion. “She’s spending some time in the cellar.”
“…” Chen Qi crouched down. “Mr. Zhou never specified which methods we should use, but I understood his meaning. We were to succeed at any cost.”
“Why should I care?” Jin Beizhou rose and brushed off his trousers. “I still remember a little of how difficult it was for my mother to escape with me. She didn’t like sharing her husband with other women, and I don’t like sharing my father with other people.”
Chen Qi sighed. “If Mr. Zhou sends someone else, they may not show as much mercy as I have.”
Jin Beizhou glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “Then let them try.”
“Chen Zheng…” Chen Qi said behind him. “Since I saved your wife, could you spare him?”
“I’ve already taken what you did into account.”
Chen Qi exhaled in relief, knowing this meant Jin Beizhou would not take Chen Zheng’s life.
Jin Beizhou had nowhere to go, so he drove aimlessly around downtown.
A call came in with an update about Jin Meimei. She had cried and made a scene in the cellar, whimpering throughout the night. The nearby villagers were so frightened that they thought the place was haunted and every household had shut its doors and windows tight.
Jin Beizhou sounded bored. “The weather is so warm. She got off easy.”
She deserved to be left in a single layer of clothes amid ice and snow for several hours.
Was she in despair?
Was it anything like the despair Lu Ying had felt back then?
Was it anything like his despair now?
–
Everything had tasted bland to Lu Ying lately. Taking advantage of Auntie Zhang’s inattention, she secretly slipped out alone to eat at KFC.
She ordered a pile of this and that, along with a cup of iced Coke.
She had just finished a crispy chicken wing and had yet to swallow her Coke when her gaze unexpectedly met a man’s through the window.
Jin Beizhou stood with both hands in his pockets and his eyelids drooping, simply staring at her.
His car was parked at an angle across the street. It looked as though he had been passing by and happened to catch her sneaking food.
They stared at each other for a moment. Then Lu Ying slowly swallowed the iced Coke, and a deep sense of contentment and happiness welled within her.
She cried from sheer happiness.
Her tears would not stop falling.
Jin Beizhou’s expression cracked. He rushed inside in a panic, too afraid even to sit, and spoke as humbly as a servant. “I didn’t say anything. I’m not against it. If you want it, eat it. What else do you want…?”
Lu Ying sniffled and wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
Lunatic.
Had he never seen someone cry because they were exceptionally happy?
But Jin Beizhou felt terrible. She was pregnant, and he should have been by her side, accompanying her and taking care of her. The thought of Lu Ying being alone made his heart feel as though it were being ground into blood.
“Don’t cry.” Jin Beizhou’s fingertips brushed her eyelids. “It was my fault.”
Not only this time.
All the times before as well.
Lu Ying knocked his hand away and wiped her tears again. “You’re blocking my sunlight.”
Jin Beizhou pursed his lips and sat in the chair across from her. “Do you want anything else?”
Lu Ying bit into a french fry and mumbled, “No.”
“What about ketchup?”
“…” Lu Ying lowered her eyes and discovered that the employee had forgotten both her ketchup and sweet chili sauce.
No wonder something had seemed missing when she ate the fries.
“Stay here. I’ll get some,” Jin Beizhou said.
The man’s tall, handsome figure instantly drew attention inside the restaurant. Lu Ying stared at the stain on the back of his shirt, wondering where he had picked it up.
This man was usually impossibly particular. He refused to wear clothes unless they had been pressed and ironed, yet now he had allowed such an obvious stain to remain.
When Jin Beizhou returned with the sauces, Lu Ying held her cup of Coke and kindly reminded him, “The back of your shirt is dirty.”
“Hm?” Jin Beizhou tore open a packet of ketchup. “Mm.”
“…”
After handing her the sauce, Jin Beizhou looked at her. “This is what men without wives are like. We’re no better than stray dogs.”
“Even if you had a wife, she wouldn’t wash your clothes.”
That was how they had been in the past. Lu Ying never washed or ironed his clothes. Usually, Jin Beizhou was the one who waited on her.
In truth, he had been right that day. The same behavior was perfectly acceptable from Lu Ying, but if it came from him, dying eight hundred times would not be punishment enough.
Jin Meimei had not been wrong either. Lu Ying only knew how to love irresponsibly, while Jin Beizhou had to support his feelings with countless actions.
Lu Ying offered a perfunctory apology. “You’ve suffered.”
“I don’t need her to do anything for me,” Jin Beizhou said in an utterly ordinary tone. “As long as she’s beside me, I’m willing to do anything.”
Household chores that had once been effortless became things Jin Beizhou postponed day after day once Lu Ying left. He could not even be bothered to call a part-time cleaner.
Everything had become unimportant. Anything was good enough. Whatever happened, happened.
She had not done much, really. All she could do was take every trace of enthusiasm for life away with her.
