novelRuan Keshan Heard Chen Minxia Loudly Exclaim "Hey"
| ← Ch.416 | Ch.418 → |
"Any sensible mother would rather have all the harm in the world to be subjected to herself than to see her own daughter hurt. If her own daughter happens to find herself in any sort of trouble, without a second thought, any normal mother would do everything in their power to shield their daughter from everything. However, not only did you fail to do so, you instead have a hand in spreading rumors, any rumors out there that would potentially ruin my reputation, without hesitation, you would spread it further. Not long ago, the rumors about me online had just stopped spreading. However, you fanned the flames and started spreading it around once more. Have you ever thought about what kind of impact you would cause to the Qi family and to my husband?" Ruan Danchen exclaimed.
"Have you ever thought about, just because of your actions would cause them to dislike me, to treat me poorly? Have you ever thought about the tough position you would eventually place my husband in? Even my colleagues knew about my marital status and me not having children yet. Your very own actions would cause disdain within my in law's family, would place my husband in a very tough spot and furthermore cause people to look down on me." Ruan Danchen added.
Ruan Danchen proceeded to take a step forward closer to Liu Ronghua. By her stance alone, all Liu Ronghua was capable of doing was her incomprehensible silent mutters as she found herself difficult in speaking her mind.
It was unsure if it was due to how long Ruan Danchen had spent with Qi Chenglin that caused her to have such an aggressive and confident stance on her own. She never had anything like this before and now, she possessed a fierce and sharp glare. It was uncanny to Qi Chenglin's presence.
"I happen to be extremely lucky to have such an understanding and compassionate in laws. They were understanding enough to see both you and I as completely different people. They do not blame me for the nonsense you speak out there. My husband understands me, he loves me. He knew that you would be extremely persistent in clinging onto my life, he was worried that you would come over to cause a scene for me hence, he stopped you from getting anywhere close to me. I initially still had remnants of what you call feelings toward you. However, those little feelings left for you was slowly, little by little destroyed by your own doing. I no longer feel anything toward whatever horrible things you say or do to me. However, Miss Liu, not a single living soul would even come close to act exactly like you." Ruan Danchen elaborated.
"You keep claiming that you loved and cared about me, think of me as your actual birth daughter and how you value our relationship. However, just look at what you have done, is this what a woman that valued so deeply about their familial relationships would've done?" Ruan Danchen added further.
After hearing what Ruan Danchen had to say, the people around her seemingly snapped out of their trance while their entire expression changed.
The earlier outburst demonstrated by Liu Ronghua initially made the public perceive Ruan Danchen in a very bad light. However, after Ruan Danchen made her point clear, people were quick to change their minds and sided with Ruan Danchen as they felt just how awful Liu Ronghua truly was.
It was hard for the men not to give this situation a much deeper thought. If one's mother in law made it her mission to ruin her own daughter's reputation and were in fact trash-talking and spreading rumors about her own daughter, how would the man of the house think of her. The outcome would be clear, it would ultimately lead to nights of endless quarrels.
As for the women, if their very mother acted the same way as Liu Ronghua did, not only did she not lessen her worries and aid her in her own struggles and problems, she instead had a hand in adding to her own personal problems. The spectating women could not help but think about what position will she have left to stand in the face of her in-laws family, how else would she live with her own husband. In times like these, the tragic outcome would almost certainly end with spousal quarrels, haunted by the thoughts of divorce and not standing up for herself.
The elderly on the other hand, could only mutter a long and painful sigh for what troubles the in laws like her would bring to them. How they wished to rather die of old age than to spend a second with her.
Hence, the spectating public looked down on Liu Ronghua with stares and gazes of much disdain, disgust and filled to the very brim with judgement
Ruan Danchen proceeded to coldly question Liu Ronghua, "You told the entirety of the Qi family that you were only my adoptive mother, you raised me for all these years and you told them that using me for your selfish reasons was getting back what you were owed by me. It was my responsibility to repay that debt. I have paid more that what you think I've owed. That exorbitant amount of money was generously given to you by Qi Chenglin and you still had the audacity to continue disrupting our lives, dragging my reputation to the dirt. What exactly do you want?"
There was an old lady who stood by the side. Justice was seemingly spilling out from her gaze. As she could watch no further, she pointed at Liu Ronghua and said, "Good lord! What kind of a person are you! Even if she wasn't your own blood, with the length of time spent with her, how could you even destroy your own daughter like that!"
"Lady, you're being extremely unprofessional and disrespectful to have such an outburst in someone else's office. Even if you're doing it for your own daughter, it's still not right for you to do so."
"Shame on you."
"If I have a mother like you, I would not know what I'll do with you."
"It's not like this! It's not like this!" Liu Ronghua frantically explained in a panicked state. Before she could explain further, someone else would yell for her to stop.
In the midst of the chaos, a calm manly voice spoke, "Miss Liu."
Upon hearing the voice, Ruan Danchen turned around only to see Jiang Ruan calmly walking toward the scene.
He proceeded to greet Ruan Danchen before resuming his stroll.
"Who on Earth are you?" Liu Ronghua asked while having her full guard up.
Jiang Ruan greeted with a cordial smile and nod. He was dressed elegantly to showcase his courteous and polite physical presentation of his own personality. He replied, "Greetings, Miss Liu, I am Young Master Qi's personal assistant. I am here to deliver a message from him to you."
This statement made Liu Ronghua extremely anxious as she shuddered nervously. Haunting her very mind in this moment was Qi Chenglin's cold expression and the stern warning he had given to her upon receiving the money.
With a slight grin on Jian Ruan's face, he inched to Liu Ronghua's side and calmly whispered into her ear."Young Master Qi was extremely clear when he had given you the money. You were told to be painfully honest and to leave Madam Ruan alone, or else that generous donation could always be withdrawn at any given moment. Since it's obvious that Miss Liu had forgotten about said warning. The rumors that were spreading in Weibo on top of today's debacle, Young Master Qi had decided to take his money back."
Liu Ronghua's quick thinking replied, "I've spent it all, how are you going to get the money back then?"
Jian Ruan smiled as he calmly said, "Why don't you think about where you've spent the money at Miss Liu?"
Liu Ronghua initially had no reaction in response to that odd question. However, with a much deeper thought, her entire demeanor changed to a much sinister and vile look.
She recalled she had spent most of her money in a private loan, only to be scammed by the CEO of the organization. She had also given a part of her money to a finance manager to help her invest, however, the investment flopped resulting in her paying more money to make up for the losses.
She intended to withdraw her investment by getting her money back from the finance manager only to be declined by the finance manager.
The series of her unfortunate events only happened quite recently.
She initially had made a sizable profit, however, she had lost every single penny recently. It was as if she had cast a fishing line, when the profits increased, it peaked at a very high point, however, her losses were extremely sudden.
"It was Qi Chenglin." Liu Ronghua was shocked at this revelation as her eyes were shot wider than she physically could open as her entire expression grew pale.
Ruan Danchen could not hear what they were discussing. However, upon seeing Liu Ronghua's shocked and pale expression, she knew it was most certainly something terrible.
She was unaware of what exactly Qi Chenglin did to terrify Liu Ronghua to such extent.
"Young Master Qi wanted me to tell you that his money isn't something you could so easily toy with. If only you were honest and responsible, he would not stop you from making any money. However, since you were ignorant, he could not bear to use his money to feed a stray hound. You perhaps have a meager sum left at the moment, if you could leave Madam Ruan alone, you may keep that meager sum. However, if you so much as show your face in the presence of Madam Ruan, or did something that could potentially affect Madam Ruan's reputation, you will be left with nothing." Jiang Ruan calmly explained.
A man with such elegance and calm voice felt inhumanly cold in Liu Ronghua's ears.
Liu Ronghua shuddered as her mind wandered and questioned with the thought of that couple, that shady CEO and the finance manager was all but a pawn to Qi Chenglin in his long game?
He had planned that far?
Was he capable of such foresight, to plan every step, even today's outcome?
It's inhuman to have foresight of this extent!
Jian Ruan had seemingly read Liu Ronghua's mind before she could question what was in her head. He replied with a grin on his face, "It's a rare sight for you to be smart once."
Upon hearing everything Jiang Ruan presented to her, Liu Ronghua had seemingly lost her balance as her knees grew weak while she uncontrollably took a couple steps back.
Jiang Ruan relentlessly inched closer to her, paired with his soft whisper he had done so similarly earlier, "Why don't you think about the Weibo debacle in much deeper scale if that person was truly helping your cause or were you a pawn for that person's game. You may start from this mess and think about if this would benefit you in any possible way. Instead of relentlessly clinging onto our Madam Ruan, I suggest you have your full attention in planning for your future."
All Ruan Danchen could see was Liu Ronghua's increasingly pale face as her expression was akin to pure horror.
Jiang Ruan proceeded to take a step back and coldly exclaimed, "Miss Liu, if you continue to bother our Madam CEO, the CEO had made it clear to get a restraining order placed on you in court."
Upon making his statement, Jiang Ruan turned around and walked toward Ruan Danchen. Seeing Jiang Ruan approaching, Ruan Danchen proceeded to give him a nod as she returned to her office alongside him.
At this very moment, Liu Ronghua was in complete shambles as the people around her were relentlessly pointing and judging her. However, she could not be bothered by their judgment.
She stood by the streets desperately trying to haul a cab for twenty minutes. When she finally got one, she hastily rushed into the cab to give the finance manager a call.
The instant the call went through, she questioned, "You worked for Qi Chenglin don't you?"
"What made you ask that question, Miss Liu?" The finance manager replied with a confused tone.
"Everything I've invested in end up losing spectacularly, was it your doing?" Liu Ronghua questioned coldly.
"Miss. Liu, I suggest you stop with your accusations, I happen to be a very ethical in my conduct of business." The finance manager replied.
Hearing that reply, Liu Ronghua gritted her teeth tightly with frustration, she probed deeper, "Do you dare claim to not know who Qi Chenglin is?"
Upon saying that, she noticed a slight chuckle at the opposite end of her call, the finance manager casually replied, "What a coincidence, Mr. Qi is one of are clients as well."
"..." Liu Ronghua was speechless upon hearing that mocking reply.
No matter what she tried to say, the finance manager was adamant in not admitting to her claims. Feeling it was a waste of time, Liu Ronghua furiously hung up the call.
...
As Ruan Danchen and Jiang Ruan made their way back to the office, Ruan Danchen asked, "Is Qi Chenglin busy at the moment?"
"Young Master Qi is currently in a meeting." Jiang Ruan answered while looking at his watch he added, "it should be over in about 20 minutes."
Ruan Danchen nodded and proceeded to head over to the design department.
She made her way over to Qi Chenglin's office after 20 minutes.
After she got out of the elevator, she walked passed the meeting room at the same time the meeting concluded. Qi Chenglin was the first to step out the meeting room as the doors opened.
Qi Chenglin seemingly foresaw Ruan Danchen's arrival as he was not even the slightest surprised to see her coming. He had a gentle and starstruck gaze the instant he made eye contact with Ruan Danchen. With the biggest smile on his face, he walked over to her and gently held her hands.
The managers from the company's different departments as they were completely used to the scene of intimacy shown by Qi Chenglin to Ruan Danchen as they pretended to pay no mind to the both of them in order to prevent an awkward situation for Madam CEO. Thus, every single manager acted as normally as they could and carried on with their day as they left.
Ruan Danchen silently observed Qi Chenglin calm and gentle expression from the side. She thought about just how much thought and time Qi Chenglin had to put into and spent for Liu Ronghua's mess. She proceeded to squeeze his hands tight as a gesture of compassion.
Qi Chenglin lowered his head to look at Ruan Danchen as he noticed those gentle, beautiful dark eyes had a slight hint of hesitation and confusion.
Ruan Danchen smiled at him as she wrapped his hands in both her palms seemingly holding onto a precious treasure.
Qi Chenglin brought Ruan Danchen back to his office then proceeded to close the door behind him. He asked, "You went downstairs to meet Liu Ronghua earlier didn't you?"
Ruan Danchen nodded and said, "I know you're worried about how awful I'd feel, how tough of a position I'd be so you stopped her from bothering me, and hid the fact that she was here from me."
Qi Chenglin sat on the couch then proceeded to pull Ruan Danchen toward him as he sat her on his lap, while giving her a tight hug.
Ruan Danchen lowered her head to see both his arms were around her waist. It was strong but the grip was not too tight for her. She traced her fingers on his purlicue. Back and forth she playfully ran her fingers down the valleys of his purlicue. She gently ran her fingers on the edge, the proceeded to draw circles on the same spot. Unsatisfied by her mere touch, she gave it a squeeze.
Qi Chenglin's was in excruciating pain after having the palm of his hands played in such fashion by her. He felt a jolt of electricity shot up from the purlicue of his palm directly into his heart. He grabbed onto Ruan Danchen's unconsciously moving hands to pull his own hand out of hers. He proceeded to lower his head to observe her gentle yet adorable face. She did not seem to look sad at all.
Ruan Danchen turned around to look at Qi Chenglin seriously. She said, "You don't need to worry and there's no need to think about how tough of a position I'd be in. I no longer harbor any feelings toward her since she had pushed things to this extent, she had completely destroyed any remnants of possibly feelings toward her. It doesn't matter if she ended up being completely right or wrong, it will always be her own doing. She caused so much disdain at home, put you in a difficult position. So whatever that you plan on doing to her, I no longer mind. Do anything as you see fit, there's no need to worry about me any longer."
Ruan Danchen was worried that Qi Chenglin might not believe what she said, she proceeded to give him a very confident smile. She then said, "As of right now, there is nothing I want more than to be with you and Youxuan. I felt so useless and helpless knowing that you were shouldering such heavy burden because of my problems."
"That is precisely why I do not wish for you to shoulder such weight any longer. I no longer mind." Ruan Danchen explained as she flipped his palm over for a gentle squeeze.
Qi Chenglin had his other hand on Ruan Danchen's face as his fingers extended to reach the back of her head. He proceeded to kiss her lips.
It was second nature for Ruan Danchen to respond to his kiss by wrapping both her arms around Qi Chenglin's neck hugging it until Qi Chenglin released her, then he proceeded to land his soft, warm lips on her forehead, hugging her closer and tighter in his warm embrace.
He lowered his head, brushing aside her hair with his lips alone as he proceeded to kiss her ear lobes, slowly making his way down tiny spot between her earlobes and cheeks. He said, "There's no burden and even less thought went into facing Liu Ronghua."
Given the fact that Liu Ronghua's level of intelligence, she would have been mere leftovers if Qi Chenglin actually had given much thought in her.
Ruan Danchen stared at Qi Chenglin's arrogant and confident expression, perhaps it was due to what she had said earlier causing him to hold nothing back as both his dark, stunning were brighter than usual.
"Since you've already spoken, I will hold nothing back in commencing my game." Qi Chenglin said with a huge smirk causing his eyes to squint while he playfully caressed Ruan Danchen's back.
Ruan Danchen felt as if this man had been waiting forever for that one statement she made earlier.
Ruan Danchen gave him a not- too obvious smile while she proceeded to peck his lips. She said, "In future, if you come across anyone you absolutely resent, no matter what ties they have with me, I want you to not hold back and do as you wished."
Seemingly without warning, Qi Chenglin relentlessly patted her every inch as heavy as he could. He knew all she wanted was not placing him in a tough position, pinning him in between his family and her. Worried that it might affect Qi family in any way.
However, the more she worried about him, the deeper in love he fell for her as he hugged her tighter than he ever could, causing Ruan Danchen to be slightly in paid as her bones were slightly crushed. This very tight hug had also made Ruan Danchen's breathing increasingly difficult but she never told him, leaving him to hug her as tight and as forceful as he wanted. Besides, she was clear about his unwavering position in her heart.
...
Liu Ronghua's apparent outburst earlier was recorded by plenty of people present in the crowd since the entire area was swarmed by people, some of which blatantly recorded the whole ordeal with their cellphones, posting her every speech and act online.
Seizing this rare opportunity, every media reporter wanted a piece of this viral pie as the previous reported news too were extremely viral. Every company were literally fighting for the headlines, every reporter were reporting the incident as they felt they had found purpose in their line of work, finally fulfilling their wish to be a news reporter in the front lines.
Since Liu Ronghua's face and footage was plastered all over the internet, the fading dying flames of online news was once again fueled and lit, making this incident the new headlines of every news media.
The journalists and news reporters were merciless in writing about Liu Ronghua. The articles included Liu Ronghua's past in great detail, it even covered her 8 years living in the Shen household with unknown status.
The article even included an interview with someone who had some info about her. The article stated that Liu Ronghua was not liked and accepted by anyone from the Shen family, it was due to her persistence in staying, coupled with the news that had apparently ruined the reputation of lady Shen that pushed the entirety of the Shen family to kick her out.
Left without a home, Liu Ronghua had no choice but to look for her long-abandoned adoptive daughter. However, who knew that Ruan Danchen had been so hurt by Liu Ronghua since she had wronged Ruan Danchen repeatedly before and now that she was homeless after being kicked out by the Shen family thus, prompting her to look for her daughter that had long since cut ties with her. Nothing in this world could be this nice.
Upon realizing things would not go her way, she proceeded to ruin her own daughter's reputation once more hence, the ugly scene in Qilin earlier today.
As Ruan Danchen read the news article, she could not help but think that whistleblower was none other than Aunt Li of the Shen household.
Unexpectedly, her assumption was right all along. Aunt Li had always been disgusted by how selfish and horrible of a person Liu Ronghua was. Her selfish behavior was resented by all as Aunt Li thought to herself, euthanizing this woman was not worth the hassle as it would be a complete waste of resources.
Thus, while she was pushing a cart for some groceries, she was instantly stopped by the reporters camping outside of the Shen household. Without any second of hesitation, Aunt Li spoke the truth about how vile and horrible this woman was. Without her need of additional information, hearing about that woman's behavior and personality was enough to make anyone's blood boil and exclaim how unbelievable of a person this woman was.
It would be an obvious thing for Aunt Li to not reveal the truth about Liu Ronghua and Shen Zhijing swapping places all those years ago. The incidents after that event alone on top of Aunt Li's additional exaggeration was enough to paint Liu Ronghua as a vile and horrible woman.
Hence, it was hard to believe that every rumor before that went viral online was Liu Ronghua's doing.
...
Since Ruan Zeer was bored, he proceeded to read the news on his Ipad. His eyebrows twitched at the sight of this viral news.
"Zeer, come with me to AU after your summer break, we'll do some research on certain topics with some of my friends" Ruan Keshan told Ruan Zeer. As he was walking back after ending a phone call, he noticed Ruan Zeer was leisurely staring at the screen of his Ipad.
He intended to fully train his son's potential. With his son's current knowledge, it would not be a problem keeping up with his friends.
Ruan Zeer agreed to his father's offer then proceeded to resume reading the news.
Curious to what got his son's full attention, Ruan Keshan sat next to him and proceeded to peer over his screen.
"Why are you so invested in pointless gossip lately?" Ruan Keshan said as he gave his son a quick glance.
"No, it's just I know." Ruan Zeer explained.
"You knew this person?" Ruan Keshan too was intrigued as he peered closer to the screen. The instant he read the article, he frowned. Being an educator, his gaze grew increasingly stern making him seemed extremely strict.
Ruan Keshan thought to himself, when exactly did Ruan Zeer met someone so horrible.
"No I mean, I don't know her, I just happen to know her adoptive daughter." Ruan Zeer proceed to explain his encounter with Ruan Danchen's mother and son duo."Big sister Ruan was impossible to be someone previously described by the news. I was quite worried about what impact the news would bring to both of them. Especially Youxuan, he's extremely adorable, mischievous and a little witty. I have never met another kid as intelligent as him."
Thinking about Qi Youxuan made Ruan Zeer smile extremely wide. He smiling through his teeth. He was not sure what the reason was, he just happened to love that kid. His love was never as trivial as his physical appearance. Unable to explain, Ruan Zeer just happened to love this kid to the core.
"Oh that's right, Big sister Ruan and I made an appointment to visit her in her house. I could meet Qi Youxuan. Let me have a quick check on the time then I'll head out alright?" Ruan Zeer asked.
Ruan Keshan agreed since his son had been accepted by the school, he never minded a bit.
At this moment, a phone call by Li Yiming was heard. Ruan Zeer proceeded to answer the call, leaving the Ipad behind. Ruan Keshan proceeded to pick up the Ipad and started reading the news article.
At the same time, Chen Minxia had just finished making her soup and decided to take a break. Upon noticing Ruan Keshan reading a news article, she proceeded to take a quick look. After a few moments of reading, Ruan Keshan was surprised by the Chen Minxia loud exclaim "Hey".
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