Luo Yingying followed the plan she and her friend had come up with. She decided to treat the Wen family as ordinary relatives, and after Yan Yan came back, they specifically went to visit the Wens.
Zhu Shuangyao had a rare few days of a laid - back life. One thing after another had happened these days, and Huo Qizheng was really afraid to let her go out. So he simply asked her to stay indoors.
Luo Jiu occasionally came to visit. He thought it wasn't good for Zhu Shuangyao to be cooped up inside and wanted her to go out for a walk. But unfortunately, Huo Qizheng privately reminded him of what happened at the Shen family last time. Since there had been a flaw in their protection last time and they hadn't even settled the score yet, Luo Jiu gave up the idea.
Zhu Shuangyao was completely unaware of these undercurrents. She just ate and slept every day, and occasionally did a bit of the project assigned by her professor. Her life was actually quite fulfilling.
Huo Qizheng went to work and came back home on time every day. Liu Yunge had already submitted his resignation. What exactly had happened to him, the secretary - general didn't dare to ask and didn't dare to say either.
Huo Qizheng didn't care what his secretary - general was thinking every day. As the boss, he just needed to manage every employee well.
When he got home, Zhu Shuangyao was watching TV. Hearing the sound of the door opening, she quickly ran up and gave him a light kiss, then helped him take off his coat. "You're five minutes later than yesterday!"
Huo Qizheng put away the vegetables he had just bought and said gently, "When I got to the vegetable market, there were just some freshly - delivered big prawns. I bought some to make braised prawns in oil for you."
Zhu Shuangyao's eyes lit up immediately. She gave him another sweet kiss. "Mr. Huo, you're so nice!"
Mr. Huo touched her cheek and smiled gently. His dark eyes were like two deep whirlpools. His smile made Zhu Shuangyao feel a bit creepy. "If you keep teasing me, Yao Yao, you might not be able to have dinner."
Zhu Shuangyao quickly understood the rather racy meaning of this sentence. She said righteously, "Mr. Huo, as good citizens, we should reject porn, gambling, and drugs."
She also knew she had gone too far with her teasing. After saying this annoying and punch - inducing remark, she immediately made an "X" sign on her lips with her hand and scurried away to watch the news in a hurry.
Huo Qizheng shook his head helplessly and took the things to the kitchen to get busy.
Zhu Shuangyao was watching TV when she heard the door open again. Pei Ying walked in. Even in the dog days of summer, he was still wearing a whole suit. As soon as he entered the door, he started complaining, "It's so hot outside! The sun is killing me. It's good to be back. There's air - conditioning."
Hearing the sound, Zhu Shuangyao immediately turned around and wanted to give him a big hug. But thinking that Mr. Huo was there, she just lay on the sofa and looked at him. She said in surprise, "Brother Ying, you came just in time. Mr. Huo just got back too. We can have dinner together later. By the way, didn't you say you could finish it in one day? Why did it take almost half a month?"
Pei Ying went back to his room to change into home clothes. He always lived in both places, so he had clothes in both places. Hearing Zhu Shuangyao's question, he replied, "Don't you even watch the news?"
"What news?"
After changing his clothes, Pei Ying took the remote control from Zhu Shuangyao's hand and switched to the news channel. It was just reporting the news of these days. "…On the afternoon of July 10th… A criminal case occurred in Jiahua Villa Area in City S. Pei (male, 50 years old) killed his elder brother (male, 52 years old) due to a conflict…"
Zhu Shuangyao couldn't believe it. "This…"
Pei Ying sat down beside her, rubbed his temples, and showed a bit of exhaustion on his face. "My second uncle, Pei Feng, killed my eldest uncle. He's already been imprisoned. I've been busy with this these days, so I came back so late."
Hearing this news, Zhu Shuangyao didn't know what to say. She just patted Brother Ying on the shoulder. "Brother Ying, please accept my condolences."
Pei Ying smiled. "I didn't have much affection for them. I'm not really sad. I'm just a bit melancholy. And my eldest uncle probably didn't expect to end up like this."
He told Zhu Shuangyao the whole story in detail.
Uncle Pei was the eldest son of the Pei family and had quite a high prestige in the family. At first, everyone thought he would inherit the Pei family. But unexpectedly, the old man skipped him and gave the family business to the third son. On the surface, he didn't say anything, but secretly he started to seize power.
To seize power, he did everything. But from beginning to end, he never even got close to the core power. Later, he became crazy. He thought that if he couldn't get something, no one else should either. So he wanted to destroy the Pei Corporation. From that day on, he had no bottom - line and did all kinds of dirty things.
The kidnapping case of Zhu Shuangyao sixteen years ago was also his doing. He colluded with overseas forces to try to bring down her father. But he cleaned up the mess very well. So much time had passed that almost all the evidence had disappeared, but there was still some left. The gang he hired at that time was extremely cruel. To prevent them from turning on him, he deliberately held their把柄. But he didn't expect that this very same handle would also be his own. As long as the evidence chain was formed, he could be convicted.
But his dirty deeds were discovered by Pei Feng. At that time, Pei Feng had just gotten married. He had a happy marriage and a son and a daughter. To make Pei Feng keep quiet, he threatened him with Cheng Lu. Pei Feng had grown up in the shadow of Uncle Pei. He was actually a bit cowardly. He hated his own incompetence and was worried about Cheng Lu's safety. He was afraid that Uncle Pei would suspect that Cheng Lu knew something, so he started to distance himself from her.
But he didn't expect that his son and daughter, threatened by their parents by his elder brother, actually became Uncle Pei's puppets. Uncle Pei kept whispering in Ji Xuelan's ear every day and managed to make her control Cheng Lu. From then on, the whole family was firmly in his control. They weren't unwilling to escape, but their mother was partial, their father had a weak relationship with them, and more importantly, they were all hostages to each other. So they had been in a stalemate for so many years.
It wasn't until Pei Ying's appearance that this situation was broken. He was like a fierce lion, tearing apart the old - fashioned front of the Pei family. They had been under control, so they secretly observed. But Cheng Lu had been well - protected and never knew about Uncle Pei's dirty deeds. She hadn't been hurt by Uncle Pei either. She just thought that her husband and children had drifted away from her because of Ji Xuelan. So she bravely took the first step to ask Pei Ying for help.
It was this step that gave Pei Feng the opportunity to help his children break free from Uncle Pei's control. Then, taking advantage of Pei Ying's plan, he divorced Cheng Lu, eliminating all his concerns. So he took a knife and stabbed Uncle Pei to death in front of Ji Xuelan. Ji Xuelan witnessed all this and had a heart attack and died on the spot.
Zhu Shuangyao opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. After all, it was two lives. Finally, she just said, "Ms. Cheng must be very sad."
Pei Ying's eyes flickered. He sighed. "The night the murder happened, she seemed to have a premonition. She rushed to the Pei family mansion that night, but it was already too late."
That night, the moon was shining brightly. The moonlight was like water, and the bright moon was shining clearly. Cheng Lu thought about what Pei Feng had said to her. The more she thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. So she rushed all the way to the Pei family mansion. Although she was no longer a member of the Pei family, she used to be the mistress of the Pei family. The maids didn't dare to stop her, so she found Ji Xuelan's bedroom without any hindrance.
But it was already too late. Pei Feng was covered in blood. Seeing her break in, he was afraid of scaring her and asked her to go out. But Cheng Lu refused. Pei Feng quickly wiped the blood off his body and showed off to her like a child. "Lulu, from now on, you'll never have to be afraid of being controlled by anyone. I've taken care of the people who hurt you and our children. From now on, you should start a new life. Live well. Find someone who loves you. He must love you more than I do… No… He doesn't need to be compared with me. He must love you very, very much."
Pei Ying didn't know what happened after that because Cheng Lu was already sobbing uncontrollably when she told him this. He only knew that when Pei Feng was being taken away by the police, there was a relieved smile on his face.
Cheng Lu later told him that when she saw him covered in blood, she wasn't scared at all. His eyes lit up for the first time in a long time, and the light in them was like the sun, almost burning Cheng Lu's heart. From that moment on, Cheng Lu realized for the first time what kind of feelings he had for her in the past few decades.
His parents and grandfather rushed back from abroad because of this incident to handle his son and wife's funerals. His once - energetic grandfather seemed to have aged dozens of years overnight. His mother was afraid that his grandfather would think too much and take it out on him. So after the funeral and the mourning period, she sent him back.
Pei Ying touched his nose and said disrespectfully about his grandfather, "Actually, I think grandfather is also responsible. Grandfather had no feelings for grandmother. After grandmother got married into the family, he always ignored her. With the education grandmother received since childhood, after so many years, she must have developed some mental problems. And she took it out on the children, which led to this tragedy."
Zhu Shuangyao didn't want to comment on other people's family affairs. She just listened quietly when Pei Ying was pouring out his feelings. After Pei Ying said this, he sighed again. "If I have a child in the future, I must give her a happy family. I don't want her to spend her whole life healing her childhood."
Zhu Shuangyao took the opportunity to change the topic. "Then when senior sister comes back, Brother Ying, you have to work harder."
Pei Ying tapped her nose. He appreciated her kindness in his heart. "You little rascal. Did senior sister tell you when she's coming back?"
"You think too highly of me." Zhu Shuangyao pouted. "Senior sister is participating in a classified project this time. How would I know when she's coming back? And she took Xingxing with her too."
"We've been chatting for so long. It's time to eat." Huo Qizheng served the dishes up like a good - housekeeper and took care of the two of them. Zhu Shuangyao pushed Pei Ying towards the dining table. "Hurry up and go eat. All your sad feelings will go away after a good meal. If not, just have two meals!"
Pei Ying said helplessly, "You."
But he also understood that Zhu Shuangyao was trying to make him stop thinking about these things. So he just followed her wishes and decided not to think about it anymore.
Zhu Shuangyao had just taken two bites of her meal when her phone rang. She looked at her phone and said happily, "Ling Yu told me that she's back!"