"What kind of leverage does he have over you?" Zhai Cheng blurted out instinctively. His intuition told him that this matter was not simple.
Zhang Yao looked embarrassed and hesitated. He couldn't utter a single word for a long while.
Zhai Cheng had already lost all trust in him. Looking indifferent, he didn't want to ask anymore. "Where's my mom?"
Zhang Yao naturally noticed that Zhai Cheng cared deeply about Meng Yajing. He quickly explained, "I didn't touch her."
"Is she in Xu Qin's hands?" Song Ge asked.
Zhang Yao shook his head and sighed. "I've placed her in a small house. Although there's no chance for me and Meng Yajing anymore, I still love her. Back then..."
Zhai Cheng impatiently interrupted Zhang Yao. "You're not worthy of being with my mom at all!" He suddenly felt a bit lucky that he hadn't grown up under the influence of such a person. Otherwise, he didn't know what he would have become.
Zhang Yao was still kneeling. He looked towards the door, planning to run out when Zhai Cheng and Song Ge weren't paying attention, and he did just that.
However, when he rushed to the door, a big hand grabbed him.
Zhang Yao was annoyed. He turned back with a forced smile. "You already know everything you want to know. Please let me go. Besides, I'm still your father. Even a tiger wouldn't eat its own cub."
Zhai Cheng wasn't that angry at first, but when he heard Zhang Yao say he was his father, he couldn't hold back and punched Zhang Yao.
Zhang Yao's head was dizzy, and there was blood oozing from the corner of his mouth.
Zhai Cheng wanted to punch him again, but Song Ge stopped him.
"Don't ever mention that you're my father in front of me again, because you're not worthy!"
Zhang Yao was a coward. He knelt down with a thud. "I beg you to let me go. I promise I'll turn over a new leaf from now on."
Zhai Cheng snorted and didn't believe his words. "Take me to find my mom now."
"Okay, okay, okay." Zhang Yao agreed repeatedly, but his eyes were spinning rapidly. "It's very far from here. We need to prepare a lot of things. Look, it's already dark. Let's go tomorrow. It's not safe to drive at night."
After saying that, he carefully glanced at Zhai Cheng.
Zhai Cheng flatly refused. "No, we're going now."
Song Ge thought Zhang Yao's words made some sense. She pulled at Zhai Cheng's sleeve. "Why don't we just listen to him and set off tomorrow morning?"
Zhai Cheng hesitated for a while and finally nodded helplessly.
Seeing that Zhai Cheng had agreed, Zhang Yao smiled even more obsequiously. He had already started scheming in his mind.
Zhai Cheng and Song Ge didn't leave. After all, it had been quite tiring driving here to find Zhang Yao. They decided to stay here.
The house was very shabby, and the quilts hadn't been used for a long time. Song Ge was itching all over.
Zhai Cheng helped her scratch and felt a bit guilty. "Why don't you go back now?"
Song Ge smiled faintly and motioned for him to look outside. It was gray outside. It was probably a few o'clock in the early morning.
"I'm sorry for making you suffer with me."
Song Ge shook her head. "It's okay." They were the ones who were going to go through thick and thin together.
In the second half of the night, Song Ge slept a bit better. Vaguely, she heard some rustling sounds. She woke Zhai Cheng up, but the two of them fell asleep again soon after.
At dawn, a dark figure sneaked into the room and then sneaked out again.
When it was daylight, Zhang Yao got up early and swaggered around.
He walked into the room where Zhai Cheng and Song Ge were. Seeing them sleeping soundly, his eyes flickered. "Don't blame me for being ruthless. I had no choice but to do this. If you have to blame someone, blame yourselves for showing up here."
Just as he finished speaking, Zhai Cheng threw off the quilt and stood up. He tidied up his clothes, and Song Ge also got up.
Zhang Yao looked at the two of them as if they were monsters. He was terrified. "You, you're not..."
"Are you talking about that plate of sleeping incense?" Zhai Cheng asked as he looked at the extinguished sleeping incense in the corner and smiled faintly.
Zhang Yao naturally saw it too. He slapped his own head hard. This was indeed a mistake on his part.
He had sneaked into the room last night just to knock them out so that he could escape easily. He never expected...
Realizing that his plan had failed, Zhang Yao became a coward again. "I never meant to harm you."
Zhai Cheng looked at Zhang Yao without saying a word.
Zhang Yao's scalp went numb, and he continued to explain. "If I wanted to harm you, I would have done it last night. There was no need to knock you out. Besides, if Xu Qin found out that I had betrayed him, I don't know what my fate would be."
Song Ge looked at Zhang Yao's face and increasingly thought that he didn't deserve anyone's sympathy.
Zhai Cheng didn't want to waste any more words. "Let's go now."
Zhang Yao had no choice but to go out with Zhai Cheng and the others.
Suddenly, he saw a shadow in the grass.
The next second, he covered his stomach. There was sweat on his forehead. "Ouch, my stomach hurts so much. I don't know if I ate something bad."
Zhai Cheng didn't believe a single word Zhang Yao said. He looked cold.
But Song Ge thought he didn't seem to be faking it. "You can deal with it yourself."
Zhang Yao ran into the room and went to the bathroom.
The shadow outside gradually approached the house and then climbed over the wall into it.
Zhai Cheng and Song Ge were completely unaware and were still waiting for Zhang Yao in the living room.
About ten minutes later, Zhang Yao came out of the bathroom looking refreshed. When he saw Zhai Cheng, his expression became a bit more solemn.
"Zhai Cheng, there are some things I want to tell you now. I'm afraid I won't have another chance." Zhang Yao looked affectionate and even shed a couple of tears.
Zhai Cheng admitted that he believed Zhang Yao's words again.
Zhang Yao cried even more loudly, like a child. "Back then, your mom and I were deeply in love. Who would have known that later she was forced to marry someone else? I wanted to go find her, but someone told me that she was dead..."
As he spoke, he glanced at the door and then quickly looked back. He continued, "I never knew about your existence. So when I found out that I had a son, I was really happy. If it weren't for these troubles, I really would have liked to start a new life with you and Meng Yajing."
Hearing these words, it was impossible for Zhai Cheng not to be touched. After all, for so many years, he had always been longing for fatherly love.
"I still remember when you won an award in the sixth grade of primary school and stood on the stage to receive it."
"You were there?" Zhai Cheng squinted his eyes slightly. It was hard to tell what he was thinking.
Zhang Yao looked up slightly. "Yes, but I didn't have the courage to show up in front of you."
Watching Zhang Yao say these things, Song Ge always felt a bit uneasy.
Before she could react, Zhai Cheng suddenly fell to the ground.
She stared in horror at Xu Qin, who was holding a stick. Her mind went blank.