Yang Jing prepared himself for the worst.
Lily Zhuo would not be easy to deal with, and he knows that the woman had the right to go after his mother and aunt for what they did to her own mother. However, this fact would not stop Yang Jing from meeting with Lily.
“I was surprised that you actually agreed to see me after what you did to my family,” Yang Jing took a seat across from Lily, his eyes were glued to the woman in the blood-red dress in front of him. Yang Jing had already seen photos of Lily. In fact, he had also watched the video of Lily’s launch party to try and analyze her personality, but this… this woman in front of him was very different from the woman in the photos. Maybe she had a tinge of the confidence that she exhibited during her launch speech, but it was too little. He could barely feet it.
The woman in front of him should be Lily Facci-Zhuo, but for some reason he also felt that she was not. She had the same appearance as the Lily in the photos but the atmosphere around her was different. Too different and too mysterious.
“Are you blaming me for what happened to your father?” Lily asked as she gave him a cold smile.
“I am not here to talk about my father’s accident.”
“Oh… but you know it wasn’t an accident right?” Lily countered. She then slowly drummed her fingers on the table while staring intently at the man in front of her.
“I do,” Yang Jing acknowledged. Inwardly he was wondering how much Lily knew. “I am here to negotiate.”
“For some reason, the word negotiate made me a little giddy,” Lily answered. “What does a military man like you want to negotiate with? Is this about the Yang Family?”
“President Zhuo, I am a very direct person so I don’t want to talk in riddles,” Yang Jing said. “I am here because my grandfather asked me to talk to you about what happened seven years ago.” Seeing Lily raise an eyebrow at him, he continued. “It was He Xinlan who drove the car that hit you and your mother. My mother, He Yuyan, was in the back seat while my aunt, Yang Lina, sat in the front seat. The three women were drunk and it truly was an accident.” When Yang Jing saw that Lily’s fingers ceased drumming on the table and the smile on her face had vanished, he thought that perhaps his words had opened up old wounds. Yang Jing was aware that bringing up the past would make her relive that tragic experience, but he still chose to continue talking. “My grandfather agreed to give this information to the police and let the law decide.”
“President Zhuo, I know this makes you very angry, but we have laws for a reason. My grandfather agreed not to interfere with the proceedings and wants to assure you that everyone involved in the accident will be punished,” he added before he swallowed his nonexistent saliva.
Yang Jing was not nervous or intimidated by the coldness that Lily was emitting right now. He assumed that his statement about the law was just making her angry. After all, Lily was adamant about avenging her mother’s death. It was only reasonable for her to be unhappy about dismissing her plans after being told to stop and rely on the justice system instead.
After a few minutes of silence, Yang Jing started to become uncomfortable. He looked at Lily intently and instantly felt frustration when he saw nothing on her face. Not anger nor sadness. It was just blank. Lily was just staring blankly at his… neck. Then, after a long while, Lily slowly lifted her gaze. Her brown eyes instantly met with his dark brown ones but he was still unable to recognize any hint of emotions in her eyes.
The ambiance of the whole place became even more confusing as Lily still did not utter a single word. She just stared at him, engrossed in her own thoughts. Yang Jing was so focused on Lily that he failed to notice the laptop on Lily’s table with its camera blinking in Lily’s direction. On the laptop screen, a vacant office can be seen. Just a while ago Zhuo Jingren was watching Lily from his own laptop as she insisted that he also listened to their conversation, but after hearing Yang Jing’s words, Zhuo Jingren immediately rose from his seat and strode out of his office instructing his people to cancel his remaining meetings for the day.
While Zhuo Jingren was rushing towards Lily’s office, Yang Jing continued to feel discomfort from the suffocating silence that seemed to have reached every part of the room.
“So you want me to refrain from dragging the whole Yang Family along with your aunt and mother?” Lily said after a long while. Her gaze was still glued on to his eyes.
“Yes. That is correct,” he nodded. “The Yang Family have many branches in the provinces of China, all of which are dependent on the family businesses that my great grandfathers created to support the family. I know that you are already aware of this, so I am here to let you know that avenging your mother will also ruin those people. It will be an endless circle of hatred for everyone involved.”
Once again, Lily did not utter a word, creating another awkward silence between the two. “Do you know?” Lily’s question instantly confused Yang Jing. He raised an eyebrow at her and opened his mouth wanting to say something, but Lily beat him to it.
“Do you know how my mother died, Mr. Yang?” Lily asked, her face devoid of any expression. “Did she die because of the accident? Or did someone kill her after realizing that she would survive that accident?”
This time, it was Yang Jing’s turn to be rendered speechless. Why would Lily ask him such a thing? Is it possible that…. Yang Jing’s stoic expression cracked the moment the realization hit him. It was as if a big boulder was crushing his chest, preventing him from breathing. Lily Zhuo… did not know that her mother was killed?
