novelEpilogue (Part I)
| ← Ch.299 | Ch.301 → |
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
He snickered and continued, "It's okay to be stupid as long as you know your place. Being stupid and pretending to be smart is nothing but disgraceful. Your brother's quite smart, and he came from the same father and mother as you. Why is it that you're so f*cking dumb?"
Mu Sisi was fuming so hard that her eyes were bloodshot. She first looked at Yu Keyao, then Gao Jingqiu, then finally Gao Jingqiu's parents. All of them eyed her wryly as though she was truly an idiot.
She raised her trembling hand and pointed at Yu Keyao."The hell are you looking so smugly at me? You think you're so amazing now, huh? Gao Jingqiu changes women constantly. You won't get anything at all. Do you really think he'll treat you as a wife? The Gao family can't be trusted and they always go back on their word. Sure, they'll mention all that casually to achieve their aims, but when you already have the child, they'll just kick you away and turn their backs on you!"
"Speaking of turning one's back, you're one of those people too, aren't you Miss Mu?" Yu Keyao asked frostily.
"Don't be so smug. Frankly speaking, all you're offering is a stomach for the Gao family to raise their child. Even surrogate mothers provide only the stomach. As for you, you've provided him with your lower body, too. Don't you think that's dirty?" Mu Sisi shrieked.
"I can't compare to you though—you've shown yours to the entire country." Yu Keyao did not hold back at all.
The one thing that Mu Sisi absolutely could not take was when people mentioned that incident. It was like a switch that drove her mad immediately. Seeing Yu Keyao's self-satisfied expression made Mu Sisi ran up suddenly with a violent look on her face. She grabbed Yu Keyao's long hair and pulled her down to the ground.
"I'll let you be proud of yourself. You think that you're so good just because you're pregnant? What right do you have to laugh at me when your entire family is crumbling? You think you're so high and mighty because you're a mistress serving as a vessel for someone's child? All you want to do is get revenge on me, right? I'd like to see if you can still give birth to that baby!" Mu Sisi's piercing voice resembled the sound when someone scraped their fingernails over a piece of glass.
Yu Keyao shrieked too, but she was so scared that she protected her stomach with both hands and completely ignored her hair being pulled. At that point, Mu Sisi was like a deranged lunatic that ran out of a mental asylum, and no one knew what she was going to do.
"Mu Sisi, you're insane! What are you doing? Don't make a scene here, ahh..." Yu Keyao was in so much shock that her face went pale. Her stomach was most precious to her at that time, since it was the deciding factor on how her life would be from then onward.
Gao Jingqiu rushed up immediately. He held Yu Keyao's arms to prevent Mu Sisi from dragging her down, and at the same time, he grabbed Mu Sisi's wrist so strongly that the pain forced her to let go.
He shielded Yu Keyao behind him and pushed Mu Sisi onto the ground without hesitation.
The impact against the marble floor was very painful for her backside. With all that pain and suffering she endured, she broke down instantly and cried.
Her parents told her to go over, but it did not occur to her that she would be bullied so harshly when she came. It was the most terrible of humiliation—the Gao family were bastards of the highest order!
Suddenly, she felt a warm moist liquid beneath her. Mu Sisi felt her energy drain from her body, with the kind of dizziness that was reminiscent of getting a high fever.
Gao Jingqiu and the others watched as color drained from her face. They looked again and saw red liquid seeping out from between Mu Sisi's thighs. Very soon, the puddle beneath her expanded largely in size.
Mu Sisi managed to look down and spot the frighteningly-red sight before turning pale and passing out.
"This..." Li Lianna stared in shock at Mu Sisi."She's pregnant!"
Gao Jingqiu did nothing and simply stared at the passed-out Mu Sisi laying on the marble floor. As Li Lianna was about to step forward and help Mu Sisi up, Gao Jingqiu stopped her."Don't touch her just yet."
Li Lianna stopped her actions. Gao Jingqiu's expression was so icy that he was completely emotionless when looking at Mu Sisi.
The profuse bleeding caused Li Lianna to feel anxious."How long are we going to wait? Don't wait till her life is on the line."
Gao Jingqiu kept quiet and sat down, looking absolutely calm. Ye Keyao looked on coldly from one side and did not say anything.
Li Lianna kept a close watch on the time. More than an hour had passed before Gao Jingqiu finally picked up the phone and called an ambulance.
...
...
Mu Sisi gradually regained consciousness. Her listlessness paled in comparison to anything she had ever experienced before.
"Sisi, how are you feeling?" came Fang Anci's voice.
Mu Sisi blinked a couple of times to finally realize that she was inside a ward. Her mind could not think straight for a short while and it took her some time for her to remember what actually happened.
Gao Jingqiu pushed her to the ground and she lost consciousness soon after. She could not remember anything else after that.
The Gao family was there with her parents and Mu Huaisheng. Yu Keyao was not there.
"Mom..." Mu Sisi called out weakly."What happened? Am I okay?"
"You..." A heartbroken Fang Anci paused before resuming, "You had a miscarriage. The doctor said that your body is the kind that has high-risk during pregnancy. This miscarriage is no small injury, and maybe next time..."
Mu Sisi's eyes opened wide. In a frenzy she sat up suddenly and screamed, "Gao Jingqiu, you bastard! I'll kill you! Do you think I enjoy having your child? I'm glad that your baby suffered a miscarriage, but you can't deprive me if my chance to carry someone else's child!"
"Sisi, calm down." Fang Anci held Mu Sisi down."You just had a miscarriage. It's just as important to recuperate as though you've just given birth. Don't do anything risky or you'll contract an illness otherwise. If so, you'll have to deal with it forever."
"I can't give birth to a child now! What other illness can be worse than this?!" Mu Sisi screamed in anguish.
"A child? If you don't carry my baby, whose baby are you going to carry? Qi Chengzhi's?" Gao Jingqiu snarked at her."You're fortunate if he doesn't look at you with disgust."
"Gao Jingqiu, you have the decency to say that to my face? Who's the one that caused the miscarriage in the first place? I was kind enough to visit your parents during the new year since we're married, and it's better for our families to live harmoniously with each other. I was surprised to see that you brought your pregnant mistress home and attend to her. You Gao family people like bullying others, don't you?!" Mu Sisi cried.
All the injustice she suffered throughout her entire life could never add up to the totality of injustice that she suffered after marrying Gao Jingqiu. 'Why is my life so miserable?!'
"Big Brother, it's Yu Keyao. We gave her a job and she said she loved you, but in the end she got pregnant with Gao Jingqiu's child and is living at their home too! Their entire family was grinning while making fun of me, and even though Yu Keyao is their vessel to carry the baby, she's so content with her position that she joined the Gao family in bullying me! She sobbed with abandon."Why... Why must my life become like this..." Mu Sisi wailed. She tugged on Fang Anci's clothes and shook her.
"It's all your fault! You forced me to marry Gao Jingqiu. Perfect, just perfect! Now my shares are gone and I can't even conceive! IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Fang Anci felt her heart twinged in pain when Mu Sisi shook her and began wailing. The shaking alone made Fang Anci's eyes reddened, and it was surely impossible for her to take it when her own daughter suffered such injustice in the Gao family's hands.
"Mr. Mu, Mrs. Mu, we never wanted this to happen. But even if you're not divorcing, Jingqiu and Sisi's relationship has already broken down. After that incident, our two children never... slept together anymore, " said Li Lianna with embarrassment."Even if Gao Jingqiu wanted it, Mu Sisi would probably not give it to him. Her thoughts are completely filled with Qi Chengzhi, and our Jingqiu is a very proud man. He couldn't possibly touch her like that, right? We want the Gao family to continue the practice of burning joss sticks [1], but Sisi just said that she isn't willing to conceive Jingqiu's child. We can't let Gao Jingqiu be childless and let the Gao family just end there, right? Our Gao family needs a successor to continue the family business too. I think there are logic and reason for Gao Jingqiu to make a baby with someone else.
"Perhaps none of you will understand us, but we do have our own difficulties. Our family has to take responsibility for all the things that happened. We didn't inform Sisi about this earlier and gave her no time to prepare. That's the cause of this massive accident." Li Lianna sighed regretfully."We're not trying to shift the blame either. How about this. Even if Sisi can't bear children, she'll continue to be the Gao family's daughter-in-law. She can forever remain the Gao family's daughter-in-law unless she chooses not to. No matter what Gao Jingqiu does outside or who he bears children with, none of those outside women can take away your status. Sisi, you and your family can rest assured that no outsider will come to provoke you. Although Yu Keyao got pregnant, she knows very well that she can't marry Jingqiu and has no intention of doing so."
"What if I don't agree to that?" The angry Mu Sisi smiled bitterly."You say some nice words in front of my family, but your attitude was far from this when I was at your home! Everything you say now sounds so nice, but who the hell knows if how badly you'll talk about us behind our back?"
Li Lianna sighed again."Then what do you have in mind?"
"Hand me back my four shares and I'll divorce immediately. I won't put a burden on your family, and Gao Jingqiu can have babies with whoever he wants. You can choose whichever girl you like to get married to him, " Mu Sisi retorted.
"About this, I think it's best that we go according to the contract." Gao Shenghe began speaking glumly."The contract says that the shares are ours if Mu Sisi's the one who says she wants a divorce."
"Since that's what the contract says, we won't argue with you on this point, " Mu Huaisheng remarked calmly. Mu Sisi became anxious immediately and started worrying that her family will continue to use her as a sacrificial lamb.
She was just about to open her mouth when Fang Anci grabbed her hand and held her down, preventing her from running amok.
"Sisi has already sustained an injury, and a long-lasting one at that. You can't just do nothing about it. Our family may have risked it all for this life and death struggle, but we won't let you torment us as you please. Everyone has a limit, including our family. We, the Mu family, won't allow ourselves to be bullied so easily. Don't be of the mistaken belief that we'll keep quiet and let you do whatever you like. You agreed to Mu Sisi's marriage with Gao Jingqiu because you looked favorably on our family background. Did you forget that our family has a good background too?" Mu Huaisheng said composedly. He did not mince his words and even seemed to mock them slightly, making the Gao family feel very uncomfortable. Clearly, Gao Jingqiu was not on the same status him.
"What do you propose then?" Gao Jingqiu asked solemnly.
"Either let Yu Keyao abort the child, or never recognize that child's status if you want her to give birth to it. If you choose the latter, you cannot raise the child in any way whatsoever and you can't give Yu Keyao any support. It's fine if she insists on giving birth to the child, but she has to raise it by herself. No matter how hard things are for her, the Gao family cannot interfere, even if she's barely surviving." Mu Huaisheng twitched his lip."If you agree to this, then we won't press on about this matter any further."
"Impossible!" Gao Shenghe then continued frigidly, "We won't agree to that condition. The Gao family has taken great pains to get a grandchild, and there's no way we'll do that. We've more than made up for everything by our willingness to retain Mu Sisi's status as the legal wife. If this were to happen to any other family, they would surely not treat you as kindly as we are now. If news of Mu Sisi's infertility is made public, do you really think that other men would want to marry her even if she divorces?"
Gao Shenghe held only four of MU's shares, and as small as it might seem, it was actually a significant amount. Mu Sisi previously had only eight in total even though she was the only daughter of the Mu family. They were thus determined not to let those four shares fall blindly into the hands of the Gao family since the latter wanted more than what had been given.
"I don't care if everyone knows. How further down can my reputation go? I don't plan on marrying again anyway!" Mu Sisi blasted."I'd rather be single my entire life than be with your family. You think I'm willing to put everything on the line just to be known as Mrs. Gao?"
Gao Shenghe's cold gaze turned to Mu Sisi, but what surprised him was Mu Huaisheng's calmness. He was not at all livid and simply said, "If so, we have nothing more to talk about. You may leave."
Gao Shenghe huffed. He regarded Mu Huaisheng as a young man who tried hard to appear like a profound thinker.
Before they all left, he shot Mu Huaisheng a disdainful stare.
...
...
The next day, it came as a complete surprise to the Gao family that news of Gao Jingqiu's mistress, including her pregnancy, made waves in the news.
There were even reports of Gao Jingqiu and the mistress joining hands to bully Mu Sisi and cause her to suffer a miscarriage. Reporters flocked to the hospital to verify the claims. Many were stopped by nurses who said that Mu Sisi was in no condition—both physically and mentally—to be having visitors. Regardless, they were able to peek through the small window on the door and saw Mu Sisi's tear-drenched face.
Gao Jingqiu was not the only one exposed—Yu Keyao was, too. In a flash, various curses were hurled at them on the web, including things like 'douchebag', 'shameless', 'The mistress should go to hell', 'karma is a b*tch'.
Those who once thought that Gao Jingqiu was the ideal man of the new era began cursing at him for being a good actor. He quickly turned from 'the ideal man of a new era' to 'the biggest bastard in the entire world'.
Yu Keyao's background and status were outed as well, including her failure to woo Qi Chengzhi and the collapse of her company. It was stated that her father, Yu Zidong, was a ruthless man who divorced his wife of many years just to save his company.
Others said that Gao Jingqiu specialized in picking up those women that Qi Chengzhi did not want. Mu Sisi's pursuit of Qi Chengzhi was well-known throughout the country, and Gao Jingqiu's mistress was also someone who once could not get over Qi Chengzhi.
Gao Jingqiu was labeled as someone to recycles used goods.
The entire scandal was another blow to Yu Zidong's nearly-collapsing company, but even the Gao family's surging high stock fell dramatically. In fact, it fell so much that it reached the limit down price.
If the situation persisted, those who once had the intention of speculating on stocks and investing in them would dump those shares when they realized the company was not going to give them any benefit.
Their action of dumping those stocks was done privately as there were people who contacted them beforehand and gave them a very high price—at least when compared to the highest price that the company was able to offer at that time. The small-time shareholders weighed the pros and cons and felt that it was feasible since they had in their hands a significant number of other companies' shares. The Gao family company's shares were not that important as they dropped to such a low price already. It benefited them to sell it at a good price and earn a bit of profit, and when it came to the crux, it was no different from speculating on property investments.
The buyer's one request was that the shareholders could not let the Gao patriarch know about it, which the latter party happily obliged.
When Gao Shenghe and Gao Jingqiu finally noticed the shareholders' actions, it was already too late for them to recall the shares because it had all been sold.
"Chairman, Mu Huaisheng from MU came to see you, " the secretary said at the door.
Gao Shenghe was appalled because Mu Huaisheng did not arrange for a meeting. It was solely on Mu Huaisheng's status that the secretary informed Gao Shenghe instead of sending away Mu Huaisheng.
"I understand. Tell Jingqiu to come in as well, " Gao Shenghe ordered sullenly. He had the feeling that Mu Huaisheng came bearing ill will.
When Gao Jingqiu went up, he bumped into Mu Huaisheng, who was already outside Gao Shenghe's office.
Mu Huaisheng curled his lips and smiled. The smile was nearly imperceptible but it seemed to be taunting. He remained unruffled and nodded slightly at Gao Jingqiu. The secretary then opened the door for Mu Huaisheng to enter.
Gao Jingqiu went past the desk and stood behind Gao Shenghe. A file of photocopied documents was placed on the table by Mu Huaisheng. Gao Shenghe took it suspiciously and wondered what tricks Mu Huaisheng was up to. When he finally laid eyes on it, his expression froze and he exclaimed, "It's you!"
He was shocked to see that the hidden hands who bought off all those shares was none other than Mu Huaisheng!
All those small-time shareholders said that they sold off their shares, prompting Gao Shenghe to suspect that they sold them to one person.
The shares Mu Huaisheng held were worth far more than four of MU's shares!
"What's your purpose for showing them to me?" Gao Shenghe asked unhappily.
"Let Yu Keyao abort her baby. The condition has changed now. The child can't be born. Other than that, Mu Sisi will divorce Gao Jingqiu, and MU's shares will be returned in exchange for these." Mu Huaisheng then threatened, "If you don't want this, I'll be happy to become your company's third largest shareholder."
Gao Shenghe gnashed his teeth. He could not make a decision right then, but the truth was that he had no other choice.
It was no wonder then that Mu Huaisheng was so full of confidence back in the hospital. As it turned out, he had been planning everything all along.
"I don't give a damn if Gao Jingqiu wants to impregnate whichever woman he wants after the divorce, but Ye Keyao's baby must be aborted, " Mu Huaisheng said. He did not believe that Gao Jingqiu would marry Yu Keyao after Mu Sisi's divorce.
In Gao Jingqiu's eyes, Yu Keyao's status at the time was suited only for an extramarital relationship, not a proper marriage. Yu Keyao was well aware of that, which was why she told Mu Sisi that she had no intention of making it a proper marriage.
...
...
A week later, Gao Shenghe and Mu Huili signed a new agreement. Yu Keyao was forced to the hospital by Gao Jingqiu, and because Mu Huaisheng had his doubts, he went to the hospital as well.
"NO. I Don't want to abort the baby, Jingqiu, this is your baby!" Yue Keyao pulled on Gao Jingqiu's clothes. She was strapped onto the hospital bed and cried like nobody's business.
"I don't want it too but we can't lose the company just because of a baby." Gao Jingqiu gritted his teeth and said, "Listen to me—you're still early in the pregnancy, and getting the abortion now won't have too big of an effect on you. There will be chances for a child in the future. I won't mistreat you."
| ← Ch. 299 | Ch. 301 → |