After Encountering My Deceased Wife, I Became the Male Lead's Love Rival - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Confession

Ling Qiu, having little appetite, forced herself to eat a bit of lunch before setting down her chopsticks to watch the woman across from her. Fang Ziyue’s eating style was elegant yet rapid; honestly, it was quite interesting to observe.

Fang Ziyue’s cheeks were puffed out like a cute little hamster. Watching her eat was enough to make anyone feel hungry. Stimulated by her energy, Ling Qiu managed to eat a few more bites.

For Fang Ziyue, this was already a great sense of achievement. In her original reality, her wife had suffered from anorexia and couldn’t keep food down. Back then, Fang Ziyue had scoured the internet for videos of people whose eating style made others hungry just to learn from them. She even studied psychology and trained under master chefs.

Every method she could think of, every way she could manage, she did. That was how she had pulled her wife out of that wretched illness.

Fang Ziyue picked up her water glass and took a large gulp. She had eaten too fast just now and felt a bit choked.

“Eat slower.”

Ling Qiu, whose gaze had remained fixed on her, frowned slightly. A woman in her mid-twenties, yet she still ate like a child rushed and messy, it was unseemly. A sharp tongue but a soft heart; this was one of Ling Qiu’s minor traits.

Fang Ziyue smiled and took the napkin Ling Qiu handed to her. This was a napkin personally offered by the Head of the House herself! See? Hard on the outside, soft on the inside.

Unsure of exactly what Fang Ziyue was smiling about, Ling Qiu shook her head. She began to sort through the messy affairs of her past, picking up a single thread from the tangled web and narrating her suffering with the stillness of an ancient well.

“In the beginning, I lived quite well. Before the age of twelve, I was raised in a greenhouse. I suppose I was like livestock kept for sale; when the time came, I’d be marked with a price and sold off. It was more or less like that.”

Ling Qiu propped her cheek up on her hand. The story she told sounded as if it belonged to someone else, having nothing to do with her. At the very least, Fang Ziyue couldn’t see any emotional ripples on her face.

“Later, Qu Haoyu appeared. My father wanted to sell me to their family.”

Ling Qiu’s father relied on being a kept man by wealthy women to sustain the Ling family. Qu Haoyu’s mother didn’t just support Ling Qiu’s father; she even wanted to find a child bride for her son. Since Ling Qiu was cute and precocious as a child, she became the target.

But Ling Qiu was unwilling. Every time Qu Haoyu came to her house, he would bully her alongside Ling Nianyao, who was staying with them. How could a little princess raised in a greenhouse endure such humiliation to marry a boy she disliked? Even though her father tried to coax and deceive her, she stubbornly refused.

Unfortunately, on the day she was vocally rejecting the idea, Qu Haoyu’s mother happened to be standing right next to her father. To prevent his “gold donor” from getting angry, that useless man personally broke Ling Qiu’s legs.

“What are you keeping such a disobedient child for?! Are you trying to spite me!”

Ling Qiu still remembered that woman’s shrill cursing. Immediately following that, she who was in so much pain she couldn’t even cry out was thrown into the pond.

Ling Qiu later thought her father truly intended to kill her that day. After all, she was just a child. Her father was still young; he had enough energy and time to produce a few more. Fortunately, her “Sea Queen” mother happened to be home that day. Madam Ling fished the unconscious Ling Qiu out, but she didn’t take her to a hospital.

“It’s funny, actually. Because she loved her husband, she never once disobeyed his decisions,” Ling Qiu smiled enigmatically. Even when her husband eventually wanted her dead, Madam Ling went along with it obediently. Who would have thought two “players” would end up so hopelessly entangled with one another?

Because treatment was delayed too long, Ling Qiu’s legs were completely beyond repair. A twelve-year-old girl, already at an age to care about beauty, woke up and didn’t even dare to cry. She feared her father, she feared her mother, and she feared every single person in the Ling family.

Until one day, Qu Haoyu and Ling Nianyao appeared by her bedside.

“Brother Haoyu is so pitiful, actually having to marry a cripple,” Ling Nianyao sobbed, acting as if she felt the situation was beneath Qu Haoyu.

Qu Haoyu, his face flushed with anger, cursed Ling Qiu with disgust: “Why don’t you just go die! Even if you use a ‘self-harm’ ruse, I won’t marry you!”

Heaven knows what Ling Qiu’s father or Qu Haoyu’s mother had told him, or what rumors Ling Nianyao had spread. But Ling Qiu was born with a rebellious streak.

“My legs were broken, but the marriage contract was signed anyway,” the cold, mature woman sneered. “Advantages aren’t that easy to take.”

Because she was precocious, everything around her felt alien even back then. She didn’t understand why Qu Haoyu’s mother had previously looked down on her, yet insisted her son marry her once she became a cripple. Looking back now, it was “Fate” forcing her to be bound to Qu Haoyu’s side, simply to provide for those two parasites, Qu Haoyu and Ling Nianyao.

However, it must be said that while Madam Ling didn’t love her daughter, she had a longer vision than the father. She saw Ling Qiu’s value, so in the following years, she worked hard to find treatment for Ling Qiu’s legs. Though she only thought to mend the fold after the wolves had eaten all but one sheep, the repair was somewhat timely.

In the end, Ling Qiu survived the following years under Madam Ling’s protection. On her eighteenth birthday, she presented her father with a grand gift: a bought-out Qu Corporation and a hollowed-out Ling Corporation. Her father struggled and cursed, wishing Ling Qiu a miserable death.

But the man, who was all style and no substance, was forcibly removed by Ling Qiu. Along with Qu Haoyu’s wicked mother, they were sent to prison. Those two were so crazed they could lay hands even on a minor; staying in prison for a lifetime was too light a punishment for them.

“I don’t believe in love,” Ling Qiu knit her brows. As she spoke, her gaze subconsciously swept over Fang Ziyue, who was clenching her teeth, her eyes full of heartache and fury.

Things like living for love or dying for love she used to think they were stupid. Even when it was revealed that her imprisoned father had instructed her mother to poison her, Ling Qiu couldn’t understand it. When she came out of the emergency room and opened her eyes, her first sentence to her mother was: “Why?”

If she wanted her dead, why fish her out of the pond? Why protect her for five years? Why tell the world she had a daughter?

“I’m sorry, Ling Ling, I’m sorry… Mama loves him, I love him too much…”

The woman had wailed, her habitually exquisite makeup ruined, dealing Ling Qiu the most fatal blow amidst her grief and despair: “You were just an accident…”

Ling Qiu’s arrival was an unwelcome accident for the Ling couple, but due to Madam Ling’s constitution, she couldn’t have an abortion.

“When you have value, you can live for a long time, and live very well.” Ling Qiu put heavy emphasis on the word “live.”

She was able to live until now not because of her parents’ love, nor because of anyone’s help, but simply because she had value. Before twelve, she was raised by her father as a child bride, intended to be sold for a good price to ensure the Ling family’s continuity. So she had a period of carefree life, because those “gold donors” liked pure girls.

From twelve to seventeen, she was kept by her mother because the ability she accidentally displayed made her mother believe she could lead the Ling family to rise in the future and fulfill her father’s wish. So she received five years of protection and treatment from a doctor.

Even though that doctor had administered chronic poison, she had a strong life force. A woman who has lived until now does not dwell on the past.

“One must look forward,” Ling Qiu let go of her cheek. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell Fang Ziyue about her past; it was just unnecessary.

“You used to not even look like a human being, but you’ve become quite decent now. Keep it up.” The sharp-tongued Head of House didn’t forget to lecture Fang Ziyue.

The lectured woman rubbed her nose, wanting to argue but feeling powerless. After all, she couldn’t stand the previous “useless” version of this body either, let alone the serious and strict Ling Qiu.

“I am satisfied with your care, so I will pay you an extra salary.”

Give and take, mutual benefit. A fair trade ensures no favors are owed and no guilt is felt. This was Ling Qiu’s habitual style. She enjoyed Fang Ziyue’s care, so naturally, she would exchange it for something of equal value.

“You are very ambitious; your determination to take over the Ling Corporation is good.” Ling Qiu knew Fang Ziyue was developing her own power outside. Before the change, she had vowed to pull Ling Qiu down; after the change, she still wanted to stand on equal footing with the Ling Corporation.

The calm and indifferent woman promised Fang Ziyue a benefit: “When you take down the Ling Corporation and become the true person in power, you will see a rather nice gift.”

“Hmph?” Fang Ziyue narrowed her eyes with a trace of doubt, letting out an ambiguous laugh. To be honest, she didn’t think this was some “gift.”

According to her investigation, Ling Qiu had been constantly fighting against Qu Haoyu and the others. If Fang Ziyue’s findings were correct, the reason Ling Qiu didn’t let the various heirs use internal Ling Corporation personnel to fight each other was that she feared they would see through the ruse. Because “Fate” wanted Qu Haoyu and Ling Nianyao to have smooth lives, even if the Ling Corporation was full of useless parasites, it would remain prosperous once they took over.

But what if it was full of smart people? Smart people aren’t scary; what’s scary are smart people with ambition. Human desire and greed are things that even “Fate” cannot control. One or two smart people might not shake the foundation of Qu Haoyu and Ling Nianyao, but what if everyone in the Ling Corporation was like that?

Fang Ziyue was curious. She leaned in toward Ling Qiu and whispered: “How did you control them?”

Ling Qiu turned her head to look at her. Fang Ziyue had good looks, good methods, and high net worth. Since the change, her mind worked faster and faster; she was a genuine smart person.

So…

Ling Qiu suddenly reached out and tapped the center of Fang Ziyue’s brow. Her cold fingertip left a faint white mark on the skin.

“Just like this.”

The strict Head of House refused to break down the answer and feed it to her. She wanted Fang Ziyue to figure it out herself.

This vague answer didn’t stump Fang Ziyue. She covered her forehead where she’d been tapped and watched her wife lie back down, a smile of helpless admiration touching her lips. Ling Qiu was right; she was also a greedy, smart person. The weakness of such people is their desire.

Fang Ziyue’s desire was Ling Qiu. Thus, she was easily held in Ling Qiu’s hand. Even if Ling Qiu did nothing, she couldn’t escape. If it could be said that during the first few days at the Ling house, she was leading Ling Qiu by the nose, the situation was now reversed: Ling Qiu was the one in control.

The more she cared about Ling Qiu, the more she would reveal her hand, making Ling Qiu realize that the one who truly couldn’t leave was Fang Ziyue.

Since she had been seen through, Fang Ziyue didn’t mind openly asking for some benefits. Isn’t there such a thing as an advance on one’s salary?

Fang Ziyue simply hugged the person on the bed through the blanket and asked amidst the light fragrance: “Since you don’t have anyone you like, and you think I’m quite decent, why not give me a chance to prove myself?”

Through the soft quilt, Ling Qiu heard the woman’s low, magnetic, and pleasant voice in confession.

“Be with me, Ling Qiu.”

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