Because things had made some progress with Ling Jing, Qin Jingzhou was in an exceptionally good mood. Still, as a man famed for his aloof, unattainable charm, it wasn’t easy to tell from his expression.
Unfortunately, Gu Sheng wasn’t well acquainted with his own father, so when he blurted out, "Are you sure I’m your real son?" it felt like a heavy blow to his heart.
He was genuinely rattled.
Though he’d always said his father favored his little sister, deep down he’d always thought, "No matter what, a son’s got to be worth more than a daughter, hasn’t he?"
He’d even made plans in advance. He couldn’t change his own surname, but his own son, in the future, well, at least one of them ought to carry on the Mi family name.
Waves of panic hit him as he stared at his father. Aside from that fair skin, he really didn’t look much like him at all…
He knew his mother’s tastes only too well. He really couldn’t trust she'd never strayed!
He tried to compose himself and managed to say, his voice unsteady, "Dad, what if we just did a DNA test?"
This time, Ling Jing couldn’t help but laugh out loud. She said to Qin Jingzhou, "You’ve really given him a fright."
Mi Xiaoxiao delighted in her brother’s misfortune—plus, her gut feeling was that her dad and her brother had already done a DNA test. She bent her head, giggling quietly.
Gu Zhiyuan simply kept packing up, as if he hadn’t heard a word.
Qin Jingzhou grabbed a wet wipe and wiped his hands, then thought of something for Gu Sheng to do. "Go up to the second-floor study and pack up all the books in the bookcase."
That perked Gu Sheng up right away. "Okay!"
Once Gu Sheng left, the basement was lively and harmonious again.
Qin Jingzhou took the opportunity to lay it bare for his daughter. "He’s mine, but I just can’t stand the sight of him."
Mi Xiaoxiao wasn’t the least bit surprised. "Dad doesn’t let the smallest imperfection pass. And as for him, with no promise in place at all, he dares scheme to sell your patents for a fortune and pocket the profits!"
"My daughter always sees things with a clear eye." Qin Jingzhou grinned. "Can’t let him get away with those bad habits. Give him an inch and he’ll want a mile."
Mi Xiaoxiao was far more insightful than Gu Sheng. "Everything you’ve poured your life into, Dad—how could it go to the highest bidder?!" She threw herself into her father’s arms. "Dad, I’ll do everything I can to protect it all!"
Qin Jingzhou hugged his daughter, his eyes narrowing with contentment.
Ling Jing was gratified as well. "You really are a devoted little sweetheart."
Snuggled in her father’s arms, Mi Xiaoxiao scrutinized Gu Xin for a while before conceding: either Gu Xin had Oscar-level acting skills, or her feelings were genuine!
Ling Jing caught the probing look in Mi Xiaoxiao’s eyes and set down her cup, speaking frankly. "I won’t marry your father." She placed careful emphasis on "your father," confident the big boss would catch her meaning.
Mi Xiaoxiao was shocked. "Huh?"
Ling Jing seriously explained, "I’m in it for all that Jingzhou is, not his money."
Qin Jingzhou wrapped his arm tighter around his daughter. "Once we’re done moving, Dad will go notarize his will. The patents and properties will all be yours in the future."
Mi Xiaoxiao was utterly alarmed. "Dad!"
Qin Jingzhou cut her off. "If I give them to you, you take them. If you really want to honor my intentions, make sure to study hard and truly learn my skills."
With things said so plainly, what more could Mi Xiaoxiao say?
She could only stay silent, her tears spilling down her cheeks.
Ling Jing didn’t miss the chance to tease Qin Jingzhou. "Made your daughter cry again, I see."
Qin Jingzhou replied, "Watch me." He patted his daughter’s back. "Ever since you came back to me, why are you always crying? Later, maybe I should beat up your brother again, cheer you up a bit?"
"Wow," Mi Xiaoxiao laughed through her tears. "Not a bad idea, actually."
Ling Jing chimed in, "Or put on your dad’s exoskeleton and beat your brother yourself. That’s an option too."
Mi Xiaoxiao burst out laughing.
Throughout, Gu Zhiyuan had silently watched and, in his heart, muttered: Gu Sheng probably really was a bonus from a promotional phone plan…
Upstairs in the study, Gu Sheng was dutifully pulling books from the shelves, sorting them neatly into boxes according to the big bright labels on the floor.
Elizabeth had installed a listening device on herself, and Gu Sheng saw it with his own eyes. Shock and anger aside, his mind still ran with schemes and ways he could shift the narrative.
Come to think of it, Young Master Zhang’s obsession with Elizabeth was due, in large part, to the fact that they were very much the same kind of person.
And as for how he was able to meet with Elizabeth and find common cause in his efforts against Young Master Zhang, even making progress on "the next step"—the real reason was that… he was his father’s son.
He hadn’t been home when the officials came visiting, but hearing his sister say, "We’re moving to the experts’ building, and now you need permission just to come in," was proof enough of their attitude. It suggested his father’s three patents were worth even more than he’d thought.
He’d enlisted experts before to help him analyze the patents. In truth, the core was nothing more than highly-integrated circuits and motor miniaturization—not related at all to the currently trending graphite chips or new energy tech.
Now he wondered, since Elizabeth could sneak him a listening device, why wouldn’t someone else bribe an expert and give him deliberately misleading advice?
Gu Sheng looked at the heavy specialist text in his hands, silently memorized the title, then sighed: Looks like my lack of reading is coming back to bite me.
After he’d cleared out two full bookcases and carefully sealed up the boxes, Gu Sheng stepped out of the study onto the terrace. He flopped onto his father’s rocking chair and lit a cigarette. He was shaking slightly from his earlier exertion.
After working himself up, he first contacted Elizabeth, now taking a leaf from his sister’s book and getting straight to the point. "I found that little gizmo you planted on me."
Elizabeth replied, "Aren’t you something." Though it sounded sarcastic, this time it was sincere praise.
Gu Sheng wasn’t interested in her real thoughts. "Time to show some good faith, or there’s no point working together anymore."
Elizabeth softened her tone. "Fine, fine." She wanted to haggle, but the line was already full of busy signals.
Setting down her phone, Elizabeth chuckled. "Still mad, huh? What a cutie." Then, remembering something, she lit up her phone screen and found Gu Sheng’s sleeping face among her photos. She tapped his cheek in the picture and murmured, "You really are lucky to have such a dad… And I’m honestly just smitten with your looks, no matter where you are."
After admiring his photo, she messaged Young Master Zhang. "How’s it feel to get smacked in the face?"
Faced with his unattainable love, Young Master Zhang never responded with rude words. Instead, he answered every question honestly. "I was just testing the waters. Mi Jingzhou taught me a lesson at our first meeting, so if that hadn’t drawn official attention, I’d be pretty disappointed in myself."
Elizabeth caught his drift. "So you’ve been warned, huh?"
Young Master Zhang admitted, "Yeah. In a few days I’ll go in for a prosthesis fitting—I’ll make sure to apologize then."
Elizabeth smiled. "So you know you’re wrong, but you won’t change, is that it?"
"Enemies now. It’s life or death between us. No making up with a handshake and a laugh."
Elizabeth had a clear sense of things: Young Master Zhang’s illness had only worsened over the years. Just from what he’d said… what normal person would see a disagreement and immediately think of a death feud?
She knew back in college he’d needed daily medication, and by the time he finished his master’s, he needed to be in a psychiatric facility. According to online rumors, he’d really taken philosophy to heart.
That’s right, both his undergraduate and graduate degrees had been in philosophy.
If he wasn’t ill, he wouldn’t be so stubbornly unreasonable.
He’d lost a leg for her—after such a huge "cost," how could he possibly let go? His obsession with her had never waned.
Thinking back on this, Elizabeth felt no sentimentality, only a deeper sense of revulsion. That suitor who caused the car crash that took Young Master Zhang’s leg—and almost her life—was practically the same type.
She wasn’t the sort to feel proud just because madmen liked her. Still, her dislike for Young Master Zhang didn’t prevent her from cooperating with him if it suited her interests.
So Elizabeth casually asked, "You seem really interested in Mi Xiaoxiao?"
Young Master Zhang answered openly, "Yeah, she looks a lot like you."
Elizabeth laughed lightly. "I think Gu Sheng is quite nice, too. Mi Jingzhou only has a son and a daughter—why not each take what we need, one for each of us…"
Young Master Zhang followed seamlessly, "As long as Mi Jingzhou can’t have any more children. Even though he clearly likes his current girlfriend, he’ll never be like me—devoted to just one person all his life. Even if I have to marry Mi Xiaoxiao…" His tone shifted. "I’ll always love you."
Elizabeth was intensely displeased but still managed to answer with a laugh. "Then, wishing us a pleasant partnership?"
Young Master Zhang also laughed. "Pleasant partnership."
In the days that followed, while Qin Jingzhou was busy moving house, Young Master Zhang took on an attitude of "I know I was wrong, I admit defeat," hand-writing an apology letter every day, scanning it, and sending it in a private message to Mi Jingzhou’s social media accounts.
He knew that aside from Mechanical Heaven, the other accounts were managed by Mi Xiaoxiao.
What he didn’t know was that Gu Zhiyuan, on a whim, had used an online recipe to bake a chiffon cake, thereby winning over Mi Xiaoxiao’s and Ling Jing’s...taste buds.
Now, most of the social accounts were monitored jointly by Mi Xiaoxiao and Gu Zhiyuan.
By sheer chance, all of Young Master Zhang’s meticulously crafted apology letters—ostensibly addressed to Mi Jingzhou but with every line actually confessing to Mi Xiaoxiao—had fallen right before Gu Zhiyuan’s eyes.
Instead of deleting them outright, he simply handed them to Mi Xiaoxiao to read.
Coincidentally, after Mi Xiaoxiao had gone through her father’s notarized will and solemnly sworn to be his beloved daughter for life, she became deeply suspicious of anyone approaching her. Everyone seemed to have ulterior motives.
Of course, Gu Zhiyuan, who’d known her since diapers, was a natural exception.
Mi Xiaoxiao glanced at Young Master Zhang’s private messages. "Do I really look that naïve? Write back to him, if you don’t pay the deposit soon, the order’s being canceled."
Gu Zhiyuan grinned, a dimple appearing in his cheek.
At this moment, Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing were on their way to the hospital to visit Yu Guan.
Yu Guan had fainted again after switching to a backup phone, so his assistant had rushed him to the hospital.
After he was admitted, Yu Guan simply stayed, since their thorough examination revealed a small, inconsequential wound on the back of his head—but inside his skull… there was a tumor.
Even though he was an A-list celebrity, with regular expenses already high, he’d bought large apartments outright for his parents and sister, and owned a sizable place in Capital City for himself—over three hundred square meters, with over ten million in mortgages left to pay.
Cash on hand was limited, and the prognosis, judging by the doctors, wasn’t optimistic.
At this vulnerable time, the boss of his agency simply took the chance to pressure him, hoping to get him to sign a waiver.
Yu Guan wasn’t stupid. The boss’s sudden change in attitude made it obvious that Mi Jingzhou was a big shot.
So he held his ground, refusing to cave.
That agency boss was no ordinary man either, being able to run an entertainment company in Capital City. He quickly used his powerful connections to stir up trouble for Yu Guan’s family.
Eventually, Yu Guan couldn’t stand it. Unable to reach Ling Yu, he asked a nurse, via private message, to help him seek assistance.
And so, when Ling Jing saw the message, she dragged Qin Jingzhou to the rescue.
If she didn’t take advantage of his low point now, Yu Guan might just quit the industry for good, and who knew when she’d find another great opportunity to "give him happiness"?