Chapter 176 - Was the Young Lady in Front of Them A So-Called Mistress?! (1/2)
“In fact, the only thing that really irks me is Miss Liang. Time and again, she has insulted and harassed Song Yu both verbally and physically. Nothing seems to give her peace, and nothing can stop her either. She’d turn into a complete lunatic once she goes insane.” Qi Chengzhi ambled over mindlessly to Yu Zidong. “Speaking of which, if your wife was a reasonable person to begin with, it wouldn’t have to come to this, Director Yu. She not only goes around accusing people; she has even offended her own little sister. She’s now willing to throw away her self-respect by begging for forgiveness, but what need is there for all this? If you knew that all these things would happen, wouldn’t you have prevented it before it did?”
“If Liang Lihua wasn’t your wife, then…” Qi Chengzhi left his sentence hanging and merely looked intently at Yu Zidong.
There was a sudden change in Yu Zidong’s expression, and when he finally understood Qi Chengzhi’s insinuation, his face grew red.
“You…” Yu Zidong was so furious that he seemed unable to draw in a proper breath.
Qi Chengzhi was hinting for Yu Zidong and Liang Lihua to get a divorce!
It was a choice between the two—Liang Lihua, or the company.
He had never expected Qi Chengzhi to be so ruthless as to prevent him from having a way out!
He had to toil for years and years to build up the company to its current state, and he would never be willing to give up on it.
Liang Lihua, however, was his wife, and no matter how questionable her character was, the both of them could get along with each other’s temper. Furthermore, their daughter was already an adult, so there was no way he could divorce Liang Lihua for the sake of the company.
He did not have the heart to cast aside his wife of nearly thirty-years.
Furthermore, it would be undoubtedly unpleasant for people to know that he discarded his wife for the sake of protecting his company.
Qi Chengzhi was not one to wait for his answer. He calmly said, “Think long and hard, Director Yu. Dongge, send our guest away.”
Once he finished talking, he left the parlor.
Yu Zidong gnashed his teeth and looked at Cheng Dongge as if the latter was Qi Chengzhi.
As Qi Chengzhi’s assistant, Cheng Dongge was also the subject of Yu Zidong’s intense hatred.
“No need to send me off,” Yu Zidong told him coldly and walked out of Qilin with a burning-red face.
He got into the back seat of a black Mercedes-Benz that was parked at the side of the road. Then, he asked his assistant, who was driving the car, “How’s the situation at the company?”
“The protestors are increasing. Most of them are small clients, but because they come in large numbers, it’s creating a big effect. Some of the bigger clients have even set an ultimatum and gave us a deadline,” the assistant explained.
Yu Zidong closed his eyes. A quiver briefly came over his entire body, and he took a deep breath.
…
…
When Saturday came, Qi Chengzhi had to work overtime at the office, so Song Yu went to her parents’ place alone.
She had the key, but after opening the door and entering, she saw a nicely-dressed Yu Qianying clutching a bag and urging Song Donglin. “Come on, be quick! You’re wasting time!”
“Dad, Mom, where are you going?” Song Yu was startled.
“Mm? Why did you come home so suddenly?” Yu Qianying tossed her bag onto the dining table and took off her jacket.
“Mom, don’t take off your jacket just yet. Where are you planning on going?” Song Yu stopped them and asked.
“Isn’t the department store having some sort of event? It’s Members Day, and most of the things have really huge discounts. It just so happens that I want to get some thinner fabric shirts that I can wear in times like this. I was going to go have a look,” Yu Qianying explained. “But since you’re back, I won’t be going. Oh yes, why are you here alone? Where’s Chengzhi?”
“He needs to be at the company, and since I have nothing to do at home, I decided to come here by myself,” Song Yu said, and then took Yu Qianying’s bag from the table. “Since we don’t have anything to do, I’ll follow you there. Now that I think about it, I haven’t been to the department store in a long time.”
With his jacket still on, Song Donglin came out and responded extremely happily, “Then why not follow your mother. I really don’t enjoy walking around in there, especially when they have those events. There’ll definitely be plenty of people and I’m already getting a headache just thinking about it.”
“I knew it! You were being tardy on purpose because you didn’t want to go with me,” Yu Qianying remarked unhappily. “You stay at home alone then. You’ll probably be really comfortable without me nagging at you.”
She held Song Yu’s wrist and said, “Let’s go.”
Song Yu smiled, said goodbye to Song Donglin, then made her way to the department store with Yu Qianying.
…
…
Such events were held on the regular at that particular department store, with massive discounts being the norm. People went there by the bucketload, and because it was a weekend, it was even more packed with people.
On one floor, there were shelves of cosmetics, jewelry, and leather goods. In addition, there was a large empty space just for the special price sale. Every brand in the space displayed their cut-price goods there.
Yu Qianying just wanted to check out if there were any cheap clothes that she could snag, but Song Yu dragged her away.
“Mom, since we’re here, why not buy a few good clothes. Don’t forget, I’m a rich woman after you gave me that big dowry,” Song Yu said as she dragged her mother up the escalator. They went to the third floor, which was solely devoted to high-quality women’s clothes.
“Mom, do you like this one?” Song Yu took out a knit cardigan, then a thin windbreaker. “This one too. If you like it, we’ll get it.”
Yu Qianying was busy scrutinizing the clothes when she heard a familiar voice. “Xiaolin, what do you think?
“Auntie, it looks too perfect on you! It’s beautiful. You look younger and the color’s nice too. It also gives you character when you wear it.”
“That’s right!” The store attendant chimed in as well. “In our line of clothing, only two pieces of each size are available. If you wear it out in public, you won’t need to worry about your outfit clashing with someone else, since we only sell a limited number. This suits you really well too, so even if you did bump into someone else who wore the same thing, they would not be able to wear it to the same effect as you.
“Madam, I’m sure your family is involved in some big business, right? I think you look exactly like a wealthy man’s wife, and I don’t mean just any kind of rich, I’m talking about the kind of rich that lands you in the Forbes list. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have such a naturally luxurious character. My guess is, your family is one of the rich and powerful, and you yourself came from a scholarly family, am I right?” The store attendant was flattering the lady rather enthusiastically.
Yu Qianying was able to make out that the voice belonged to Jian Yi’s mother, Zhou Mingyan.
She shook her head, smiled, then whispered to Song Yu, “This store attendant’s having a hard time trying to earn that commission. Zhou Mingyan’s only graduated from junior high, yet she’s already being called a scholarly person. Tough job.”
Song Yu looked over as well. She heard Zhou Mingyan call out Xiaolin, and before that, the woman who was talking to Zhou Mingyan did indeed sound like Guan Xiaolin.
Yu Qianying saw them too and expressed shock. “Eh? Isn’t that Guan Xiaolin? Why is she with Zhou Mingyan and acting like she’s trying to get into Zhou Mingyan’s good books?”
Song Yu kept quiet and observed them from behind the clothes rack. They were standing just outside the fitting room, looking at the mirror.
The store attendant then said, “This must be your daughter! She’s already all grown-up, but you don’t look like someone whose daughter is already so grown-up.”
Zhou Mingyan smiled even more jubilantly than before, but she tried hard to keep it in. She pursed her lips tight to prevent herself from chuckling.
“You do have a way with words, but she’s not my daughter,” Zhou Mingyan said.
“She’s not? Then she must be your daughter-in-law? Wow, how lucky of you to have such a beautiful daughter-in-law. She’s a good one too, since she’s here to accompany you while you shop! Most mothers-in-law have pretty tensed-up relationships with their daughters-in-law, unlike yours. Your mother-daughter relationship is a rare one,” the store attendant said again, with the exaggerations getting more and more out of hand.
Zhou Mingyan smiled and neither admitted nor denied it. Her attitude leaned toward ambiguity.
Yu Qianying frowned and mumbled softly, “Jian Yi and Guan Xiaolin are not involved, are they? Jian Yi’s character is a bit shady. Even when he had a girlfriend back then, he still never made it clear to you. Don’t tell me that his hanky-panky old habits die hard even though he’s already married to Qi Chengyue? Well, if that isn’t the case, then why is Guan Xiaolin trying so hard to win over Zhou Mingyan?”
Song Yu’s expression tensed up. Yu Qianying knew nothing, but was able to figure it out with a single guess—Jian Yi and Guan Xiaolin had a past together ever since their high school days, but they both kept it hidden from Song Yu.
If it were not for Song Yu chancing upon Jian Yi and Guan Xiaolin’s exchange that fateful night, Song Yu might have still been kept in the dark about it.
However, Song Yu had never once mentioned a word of it to Yu Qianying.
In a similar manner, Song Yu began to suspect that there was still something going on between Guan Xiaolin and Jian Yi. If not, then perhaps Guan Xiaolin found it hard to forget her old flame. There would be no reason otherwise for Guan Xiaolin to exert so much effort in trying to curry favor with Zhou Mingyan—the way she acted was as though Zhou Mingyan was going to become her future mother-in-law.
Although Song Yu disliked Qi Chengyue, she felt pity for the latter because Qi Chengyue loved Jian Yi blindly. It was a difficult situation, and one that Qi Chengyue was completely unable to extricate herself from.
Qi Chengyue really downgraded herself when she married Jian Yi. She was able to disregard sectarian bias, ignore the disparity between their family backgrounds, and be patient with having Zhou Mingyan as her mother-in-law. In that regard, Song Yu held Qi Chengyue in high respect, despite the fact that she was headstrong and riddled with flaws.
If a woman could make such a big sacrifice out of sheer love, then that woman was not inherently a bad person.
There was also the fact that Qi Chengyue’s animosity had watered down significantly in recent times. Although they still did not speak much when they bumped into each other at the Qi family home, Qi Chengyue would not target her as much as before.
Letting bygones be bygones, Qi Chengyue was still Qi Chengzhi’s younger cousin and the younger sister of Qi Chenglin, whom Song Yu was on rather good terms with.
Having married into the Qi family, Song Yu was willing to treat Qi Chengyue as her own family. She did not wish that Qi Chengyue would be lied to.
As she was thinking of all that, a store attendant came over and remarked politely. “If these two items are to your liking, you may try them on.”
Song Yu smiled and temporarily placed the clothes back on the rack, saying, “Mom, would you like to go over and take a look?”
She then tilted her head over to Zhou Mingyan’s direction.
“Yes, let’s,” Yu Qianying replied happily.
Her temper was especially thin when it came to things that were clearly loathsome. Homewreckers were among the things that she hated with a passion.
Song Donglin was still young when they got married. He was rather dashing then as well, for Song Yu inherited her good looks from him.
Add that to his riches and elegance, he became the fancy of many women—those who liked him genuinely were equally as plentiful as those who loved his money more.
Song Donglin however, had never done something that would disappoint Yu Qianying, He did not even give those other women a chance. He remained untouched. Although he did not seduce other women, other women came voluntarily to him. He simply could not hide from them, and many a time it made Yu Qianying absolutely furious. It was from there that she abhorred women who purposefully tried to wreck a happy family.
The two of them walked over, but neither Zhou Mingyan nor Guan Xiaolin saw them. Yu Qianying put on a smile and called out with much friendliness, “Sister Zhou, what a coincidence! You’re here to buy clothes too?”
Yu Qianying and Song Yu came from behind Zhou Mingyan, and their reflection appeared in the mirror. Nevertheless, Zhou Mingyan was caught unprepared by Yu Qianying’s greeting. She did not even notice the reflection in the mirror, as her first reaction was to turn around abruptly.
When Zhou Mingyan saw that Song Yu was right beside Yu Qianying, a sudden glimmer of shock flashed through her eyes—she was bewildered, but she hurriedly made an attempt to conceal it.
She exerted some effort in order to smile. “Hehe, Qianying, Song Yu, such a coincidence. Are you here to buy some clothes?”
“Auntie,” Song Yu greeted.
“Why yes, we came to buy clothes. We were looking at some over there when we heard your voices. Then we realized you were here too.” Yu Qianying turned her head. “Xiaolin, how coincidental!”
Guan Xiaolin got up from the sofa. “Auntie, Song Yu.”
“Sister Zhou, why did you come here with Xiaolin? It’s a Saturday. Shouldn’t you be going shopping with your daughter-in-law?” Yu Qianying sported a look of shock and curiosity.
Upon hearing Yu Qianying’s words, the store attendant—the one who was previously flattering Zhou Mingyan and Guan Xiaolin—had her eyes opened wide in disbelief. Though she remained silent at one side, she exchanged incredulous looks with her colleague.
She thought that Zhou Mingyan and Guan Xiaolin were mother- and daughter-in-law, or at the very least, future in-laws. When she asked them, Guan Xiaolin was not the only one who did not deny it: Zhou Mingyan’s expression seemed to suggest a cryptic and silent approval notwithstanding the fact that she did not explicitly dispel that notion.
Who knew that the daughter-in-law was another person altogether!
Was the young lady in front of them a so-called mistress?!
The store attendant despised Guan Xiaolin immediately, but for the sake of the business, she did not show it outright.
Zhou Mingyan was a weirdo as well, since she seemed to approve of the mistress.
It was such a pity for the absent daughter-in-law.
“Er…” Zhou Mingyan’s lips twitched awkwardly and she let out a hollow laugh. “Chengyue’s always busy, and she doesn’t have too many weekends, so it’s best to let her rest. Let Jian Yi enjoy the weekend with her. It would be pointless for them to accompany an old lady like me for a walk in the mall.
“I actually came here alone today, and it was also a coincidence that I met with Xiaolin. She saw that I was alone so she accompanied me. It’s nice that she can also give me some fashion advice.” As Zhou Mingyan spoke, her expression turned natural gradually.
“Oh, I see.” Yu Qianying nodded understandably. “We heard your voices when we were choosing clothes over there. We turned to look, thinking that you went shopping with Chengyue. The both of you really do look like mother- and daughter-in-law.”