True and False Daughters of a Wealthy Family 5
The plot made it clear that the center-of-attention system could check a target’s background, fate, and favorability, but for anything else, Jin Li would have to find out herself.
Obviously, as someone the system had already benefited from, the original host was no longer in the center-of-attention system’s sights, nor Jin Li’s.
That’s why, when Qin Jingzhou transmigrated, woke up, and was transferred to another hospital, neither the center-of-attention system nor Jin Li knew a thing. Otherwise, Ji Chun wouldn’t have dared to threaten, “I’ll unplug the ventilator,” right in front of her.
An hour later, they finally returned home — after his wife had abandoned both husband and daughter to go abroad, the original host never moved out, just quietly locked the marital bedroom and stopped using it. Qin Jingzhou had still been doing rehabilitation at the hospital that afternoon, but Gao Wen had already contacted a trusted housekeeper to clean the place in advance.
So now, this three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment was not only livable, but looked like father and daughter had barely left at all. After all, once He Chunxi debuted, she moved to a company-arranged apartment.
He Chunxi, who had only recently stopped crying, leaned on her father’s shoulder. Her nose began to prick, so she quickly raised a hand to cover her face.
Seeing this, Qin Jingzhou could only sigh, “Go wash your face. When you come back, let Xiao Gao tell you everything that happened these past hours.”
He Chunxi nodded and went to the bathroom.
The bodyguard carrying the luggage found somewhere to settle himself. In the living room, only Qin Jingzhou and Gao Wen faced each other.
Gao Wen wasted no time. “Boss, I’ve already contacted the Ji family. Ji Chun’s father wants to apologize to you in person. What do you think?”
Qin Jingzhou’s movement stiffened as he lit a cigarette. “Now?”
Gao Wen frowned slightly. “Now works too.”
Qin Jingzhou said, “Let them come, then. Save my daughter from losing sleep over this.”
Xiao Gao dialed straight away.
Qin Jingzhou withdrew his gaze and shook his vial of potion, pondering how to simplify the formula. Now that he’d developed the Awakening Potion, he was preparing to pull out something even more earth-shattering.
At that moment, his little system, newly reconnected to the internet and back with permission, reminded him: the top dog in charge of scientific research had the surname Gao, and Gao Wen was this bigwig’s grandson.
It wasn’t strange for a bigwig’s grandson to work as a secretary. Qin Jingzhou’s own father had started out as a secretary for a bigwig and thus began his meteoric rise.
What intrigued him was Ji Chun’s blood ties to Gao Wen. The real background was deeper than he’d expected — the original novel only ever described Ji Chun as the son of a rich tycoon. Compared to Jin Li’s pond of uniquely eccentric and talented “big fish,” Ji Chun hadn’t stood out.
He Chunxi came out of the bathroom, having washed her face and tied her hair back into a ponytail. At that moment, Gao Wen had just hung up the phone.
The two of them sat facing each other on the sofa. In concise terms, Gao Wen recounted the major events of the past two days.
He Chunxi listened in a daze. She instinctively looked to her father, sitting by the window. Wisps of smoke drifted upward, lending an unfathomable air to his features.
Only then did it dawn on her — dad had changed a lot from before.
He Chunxi’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she listened to Gao Wen introduce her father’s new achievements. “Wow, dad, you’re amazing!”
Qin Jingzhou smiled. “Wait until the Ji family gets here. Daddy’s about to get even more impressive.”
He Chunxi got up and dashed into her father’s arms. “Okay!”
Speak of the devil, and he appears. As soon as she said this, the doorbell rang — it was already four thirty in the morning.
Qin Jingzhou, one arm around his daughter and a cigarette in the other hand, said, “Let them in.”
Xiao Gao stood up. The bodyguard at the door scanned the entry monitor, confirmed the visitors’ identities, and went out to meet them.
Soon, the bodyguard returned with two men and a woman.
The two men were one older, one younger. The young one was Ji Chun, and the woman, in her thirties, was clearly Ji Chun’s older sister.
Father Ji was tall and burly. He entered, glanced around, met Gao Wen’s eyes, then greeted Qin Jingzhou politely.
Qin Jingzhou nodded and gestured to the sofa. “Sit.” There was, of course, no good tea to offer.
He Chunxi perched on the footrest, clutching her father’s arm and giving Ji Chun a very complicated look.
As for Ji Chun… Qin Jingzhou studied him too. At his elementary-schooler level of reading fate, he could sense Ji Chun’s fate had indeed been cut, but as to how much or how, he had no idea.
Luckily, Ji Chun currently seemed perfectly sane. Since Ji Chun was fine, Father Ji and big sister were certainly clearheaded too.
Before he even sat down, Father Ji slapped his son across the face.
The blow caught Ji Chun completely off guard. With staggering force, his father knocked him into a wobble on the spot. Ji Chun instinctively clutched his burning cheek, lips trembling, failing to utter a single word.
Father Ji glared at his idiot son with cold fury, heart burning with anxiety and exasperation.
In the middle of the night, after hearing a few words from Gao Wen and clarifying with his assistant what his idiotic son had done to anger Professor He, Father Ji wasted no time. He immediately called his old connections to investigate Professor He’s background and, after several calls, finally got confirmation from a heavyweight friend: the Second Elder himself went to see Professor He, and Gao Wen had been specifically assigned as Professor He’s assistant.
Just from those two facts, even without knowing exactly what earthshaking thing Professor He had accomplished, Father Ji broke out in a cold sweat, certain: his idiot son had just slammed headfirst into a massive reinforced concrete dam.
He only wished he could shout: if you just killed yourself by ramming into it, you’d save me a lot of trouble!
A man who’d built a multibillion-dollar fortune, Father Ji was nothing if not decisive. He grabbed his daughter, assistant, and bodyguards and set off like the wind, charging straight to his idiot younger son’s “happy den” — this luxury downtown penthouse was his gift to the brat.
Surrounded by bodyguards and building staff, he personally kicked in the door and dragged his younger son out by the collar. The kid, acting like he was possessed, shouted, “You actually dared to scare Lili! You’re not my dad, I’ll fight you to the death!”
Father Ji kicked him again, curling the son up like a shrimp.
That’s when he noticed the dumbfounded girl standing in the entryway… So that idiot son had offended Professor He’s precious daughter all over just for this little girl?
The situation was urgent, so he didn’t bother taking out his anger. He let the bodyguards haul his son out and hurried away.
From the apartment to the car, the idiotic son struggled desperately, his mouth running nonstop. Yet as soon as the bodyguards shoved him in the backseat, he went completely quiet, and had stayed that way ever since.
Now, thinking back, Father Ji found the whole thing strange. He even had a sudden thought that his younger son might have been possessed.
But there was no way he could show weakness in front of Professor He, his daughter, or Gao Wen. He said coldly, “Kneel! Apologize!”
Ji Chun, clutching his face, dropped to his knees without delay.
It seemed Jin Li and her system weren’t all that impressive after all.
With intelligence potions, more and more people in this world would see quantum leaps in their mental strength. Qin Jingzhou played the role to the hilt, pretending to be an ultimate genius with an IQ of 35, but while he could suppress the intensity of his spiritual power, he couldn’t erase its unique quality. In plain terms, his spiritual power had a “tranquility aura.”
So, removed from Jin Li, with his brain slowly clearing, Ji Chun only needed a few seconds in his presence to snap completely awake and immediately notice something was off with himself.
But Qin Jingzhou had no intention of letting Ji Chun off so easily, especially with his beloved daughter still gnashing her teeth.
He said, “You did a good turn for my daughter once, and I owe you a bit for that. But that’s one thing, and this is another — you shouldn’t have bullied her, and you definitely shouldn’t have forced her into that damn film crew.”
Ji Chun turned to Gao Wen. “Brother Wen, find me a partner.”
Gao Wen nodded and took a pair of special nunchaku from the little case carried by the bodyguard at the door.
Ji Chun accepted them, shot meaningful glances at Gao Wen, his father, and his sister, then gritted his teeth and swung hard — straight at his own left arm.
Everyone heard a crisp crack.
He’d actually broken it.
Even Qin Jingzhou found himself looking at Ji Chun differently. No wonder this kid’s fate wasn’t low. He had some guts.
Sweat beaded on Ji Chun’s forehead. Dropping the nunchaku, he scrambled a few steps forward, facing Qin Jingzhou, voice hoarse, “Uncle He, please, spare my dog life! I’ve been cursed!”
Qin Jingzhou: …