“You have to understand that Zhang Yifei and Qin Hao threatened me. One wrong move and they would’ve hurt you, your mother and also Yuanfeng,” Qin Chuan said. “I know I sound cowardly right now… but my hands were tied. Moreover, my father – your grandfather – is wary of me now. I believe he thinks that I am out to take the company from Qin Hao. I’ll bet it’s all because of Zhang Yifei’s or Qin Hao’s lies…”
“Hmmm…” Lily nodded in agreement. Everything that she heard from Qin Chuan and Qin Yuanfeng actually made sense. It connected the dots and answered her remaining questions.
“Moreover, Zhang Yifei’s manipulation worked because my father always felt guilty about the things that happened to her family. I have no idea why she resents my father and continues to blame him. All I know is that my father has given her everything. He even made her my fiancée as a goodwill gesture, to ensure that she has a good life,” Qin Chuan said. He could not understand his father’s generosity towards Zhang Yifei for all these years and this was the only explanation that he could come up with.
“I understand,” Lily answered shortly. There was only one reason why Old Man Qin would feel guilt and pity towards Zhang Yifei and that was if he really did use her father as a shield and his conscience couldn’t take it. To compensate, he gave her everything he possibly could.
“Here,” Qin Chuan interrupted Lily’s thoughts when he handed her a flash drive. “I kept this with me all the time. I knew… I knew that we would meet soon. This contains all the information that I have gathered against her and Qin Hao. This also contains the addresses of her brother, their bases and their men.”
“So thorough. How did you obtain it?” Lily asked as she accepted the flash drive.
“My uncle,” he answered.
“Qin Wuyang…” Lily uttered slowly. “Do you trust him?” she asked.
“I… I can’t say that I fully trust him but he is the only one who has helped me,” Qin Chuan said.
“He must have really hated his own brother to have chosen you over him,” Lily thought out loud. If Qin Wuyang was really concerned about the Qin Family, then he would have warned his brother instead of Qin Chuan. After all, without Old Man Qin’s support, Zhang Yifei and Qin Hao would have been useless. However, this Qin Wuyang chose to work with Qin Chuan instead.
“Actually, I have heard stories about how much he hates my father,” Qin Chuan said. “But I never thought that it was important enough to take a deeper look into it. I was desperate for anyone’s help and he was the only one who offered a hand.”
“Makes sense,” Lily nodded before she rose from her seat. “Thank you for the talk. I will see you again soon.”
“You’re making it sound as if I am your prisoner.”
“You are indeed my prisoner,” Lily said with a laugh. “I’m kidding. You can leave this place any time you want to, and I think it’s high time that you stop pretending to be a cripple. It bugs me to see how good you are at acting weak,” she exposed him casually as she walked towards the door. “I don’t want to see you sitting in that wheelchair anymore. It doesn’t suit you at all.”
“How did you…”
“Secret,” Lily interjected before leaving the room. It was actually very easy for her to see through her father’s act. Lily’s eyes had been trained to notice minute details, especially when it came to body language. She could detect subtle changes in people’s reactions and interpret them on the spot. This ability of hers was especially useful when it came to dealing with her enemies. Micro expressions is what they are called. She was used to studying people’s faces. She noticed every little twitch and muscle movement that usually went unnoticed by most people.
This was a skill that Lilian had drilled into her head. Lilian wanted her to hone this skill so she could use it to assess her opponents.
So she applied her skills on Qin Chuan. She observed that he would unknowingly move his feet every time Lily didn’t show any reaction to what he’d said. Now, how could a paralyzed man move his feet?
…
“It’s Qin Wuyang,” Lily declared the second she slid into the passenger seat of the car. She watched as Zhuo Jingren started driving before she continued, “That man is causing chaos within the entire Qin Family. I’m not sure why he is acting like a god and playing with the fate of everyone in the Qin Family, but I will find out as soon as possible.”
“So your suspicions were correct after all. Someone else is behind it,” he murmured.
“Yes… he was directing everything behind the scenes, and I would not be surprised if he was the one who told Zhang Chen about their father’s death, creating hatred in Zhang Yifei,” Lily said.
“Are we still going to continue with our plans against Zhang Yifei and Qin Hao?” he asked.
“Of course. Qin Wuyang only instigated this chaos. He gave them the knife and they chose to wield it to stab people. All of them deserve their own punishment,” Lily answered. “However, if we kill them… it would only satisfy Qin Wuyang’s plans to use us as leverage against them. And I don’t want that to happen.”
“You think he wants to use us against them?”
“Isn’t he using each and every one of them like a pawn in his game already? He wants to turn everyone in the Qin Family against each other. Brother against brother. Wife against husband. Brother against sister. Father against daughter. This time he wants to include me, us against them.”
“Hmmm… I had my men locate him before you even started talking to Qin Chuan. With his cunning mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d decided not to stay at his listed address and instead was hiding somewhere safe,” Zhuo Jingren said. “Regardless, once they locate him, I will have them pick him up and transport him to another location. Then we can deal with him as fast as possible.”
“You are getting impatient,” Lily stated.
“I don’t like prolonging this game. A person like that is extremely treacherous. It would not be good to fight him face to face. We don’t know what he is capable of and he has been watching us for far too long. I don’t want to risk anything,” he answered. An enemy who has been lurking in the dark for years is extremely dangerous. Their patience is what makes them really frightening.
“I would have to agree with you this time,” Lily nodded at her husband’s words. “As for Zhang Yifei… I would not give Qin Wuyang the satisfaction of making me do what he desires.”
“So you are planning to have Zhang Yifei fight Qin Hao?”
“Nah…” Lily smiled at Zhuo Jingren. “That would be too boring. Let me give her a taste of her own medicine by having her fight her own brother and sister.”
“Cunning,” he said, as a tinge of pride could be seen swirling in his dark brown orbs. “I want to finish this as soon as possible so we can enjoy a vacation. How about Bali?” Zhuo Jingren changed the topic as he found talks about killing people a little boring. However, before Lily could answer him, his face morphed into a frown.
He hit the pedal as the car accelerated, prompting Lily to look at him. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Someone is following us,” he said. “Check out the secret compartment beneath your seat. You will find a Glock there…”
“I… uhh…” Lily stared at Zhuo Jingren for a while as she swallowed her nonexistent saliva. “What am I going to do with a gun?”
