Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Qu Xiujie was sure that the sincerity in his eyes touched Pei Ge. When she looked at him, there was a hint of sadness in her voice. “Let’s skip this topic for now. I believe that Ziming has spoken about your motive for looking for us. Since it’s so clear, let’s just speak frankly.”
“Sure. Your husband has great foresight.”
The middle-aged man was genuinely impressed from the bottom of his heart. He finally understood why this chap could calmly plan his moves.
That was because the latter had known about everything long ago, and all he had to do was to wait for someone.
Such as him.
“I don’t have great foresight. I’m merely speaking the truth, so I hope that you won’t blame me.”
As the man leaned on the sofa, his cold aura made Qu Xiujie pause for a moment. The latter thought for a bit, then smiled. “How could that be? Since Young Master Ji knows about it already, I’ll speak frankly. I want a safe place to stay and your people to protect me.”
“What’s in it for me?”
The man smiled, his frosty eyes exuding kingly aura.
“I can exchange information I gathered about my family with you. This is first-hand information, and nobody else is clearer about it than I am. Plus, don’t forget that I’m a Qu. Within that family, how is it possible that my father won’t give me anything I want?”
This was Qu Xiujie’s only advantage. Whether he could gain Ji Ziming’s trust or not, it would all depend on this smokeless war.
“Are you betraying your family?”
The other’s lips and eyes curled. He looked dignified even without being angry, and there was a heavy feeling overcasting his face.
“No, to put it more accurately, I’m betraying Old Lady Qu. She’s been arrogant in my family long enough—it’s high time that I pull out such a poisonous tooth.”
The moment he spoke of that old woman, the hatred that had appeared on his face and the gnashing of his teeth were witnessed by the couple. To hate a person so intensely, it had probably accumulated over time.
“I heard that those two elderlies are very loving. A traitor like you will be known to them before you leave my family’s door; will it still be worthwhile for me?”
The shrewdness in Ji Ziming’s eyes was like a mirror that could reflect the deepest part of a person’s heart. He looked straight at Qu Xiujie, making the latter shudder internally.
“Your office and properties can’t possibly be so defenseless. Everyone in the capital looks up to you, and I’m merely someone seeking your protection. Aren’t you going to provide me shelter?”
The laughter in the other’s eyes did not fool the man but rather made him even more suspicious.
“You’re a Qu, though, and Jingwan is your family, not the Jis.”
The insinuation in his words was very obvious to Pei Ge, so how could Qu Xiujie not understand it? There was confidence in his playful eyes as though he feared nothing.
“Don’t forget that I’m here to seek refuge; if you can’t even do this, how can I survive in the capital?”
His nonchalance did not fool the man.
“I have never used the word ‘survive’. Plus, if you want me to do something but not give anything in return, why should I help you?”
Ji Ziming knew that this person would keep some information to himself, so what he was doing now was extracting that last piece from him.
A house and several bodyguards were nothing.
His heart would never ache for such things.
He only cared about Pei Ge and the one plotting against her.
“Very well!”
Qu Xiujie was infuriated, but there was nothing he could do since he came to this man’s place alone seeking protection. He indeed had nothing to show and was mocked for it.
It seemed that this man had predicted everything.
He could not believe it and was unwilling to admit his loss. He looked even more shrewdly at the younger man as sarcasm filled his voice. “You’re the sky of the capital; just because my surname is Qu, I can’t look for you?”
“I’m a businessman, so I’ll need something in return for my efforts. If you’re unable to give me what I want, why should I protect you? There are so many people in this world who require protection, so why are you different from them?”
Ji Ziming calmly leaned on the sofa.
Qu Xiujie could not hold it in anymore. His final trump card was the conditions that he had negotiated with Old Lady Qu. If he revealed this to the man now, and if the latter did not protect him, he would die.
“Sure. I’ll tell you how I’m different from the rest.”
He sat on the sofa and looked at the man; whether it would fail or succeed, it all hinged on this moment.
Meanwhile, in the Qu family’s mansion, Old Lady Qu was massaging her husband’s shoulders with just the right amount of strength. The old man kept praising her for it. “It has been so many years, yet you still know my body the best.”
“We’ve been husband and wife for so long; how can I not know your body?”
Old Lady Qu sounded shy, just like a teenager in her best years. When she looked at the newspaper in Old Master Qu’s hands, the headline was about Red Star Real Estate being acquired.
It was widely known in the industry that Red Star had been acquired. Ji Ziming would always overcome all obstacles no matter where he went, and the industry had long thought of him as a deity, but what was more mysterious was the woman behind him.
The old man was about to flip to the next page when his wife snatched it away. “Hey, stop reading the newspaper. This isn’t good for your eyes.”
“Now, now. I want to see how the real-estate industry perceives that boy as a deity and sees the woman behind him as someone very formidable. I wanna see how great she is; can she be as good as my wife?”
Old Master Qu laughed.
