After Setting Me Up With My Ex, The Aloof Alpha Regrets It - Chapter 42.2

Chapter 42.2: Does Your Girlfriend Love You?

If only Zhu Yunqi could just disappear…

…

When Zhu Yunqi returned to the villa, she found the atmosphere had become a bit strange.

Shen Qinghe wasn’t home. Zhu Shengxi was silent in the study. And Zhu Jingshan was crying.

Zhu Yunqi temporarily put aside her plan to let Zhu Shengxi listen to the recording and went to ask Zhu Jingshan what had happened.

A rare hatred burned in Zhu Jingshan’s eyes. Zhu Yunqi looked at her sister and felt like she was a stranger. In her memory, Zhu Jingshan had always been gentle and calm, and she had never seen her so emotionally broken.

Zhu Jingshan sobbed and said, “Yunqi, my mom passed away.”

She told Zhu Yunqi what had happened through her tears. Zhu Jingshan’s birth mother had died of an illness. Zhu Jingshan wanted to go back and bury her, but Shen Qinghe said that if Zhu Jingshan and Zhu Shengxi went back to see that woman, Zhu Jingshan would never be her daughter again.

Zhu Shengxi didn’t care. She had indeed loved Zhu Jingshan’s poor Omega mother, but after nearly thirty years, her feelings had long since faded.

Zhu Jingshan was brought back to the Zhu family when she was five years old and started calling Shen Qinghe her mother. She had been doing it for over two decades, even though Shen Qinghe had never responded.

“Yunqi, when you were first born, I actually hated you.” Zhu Jingshan wiped away the tears from her eyes, but new ones quickly flowed out. “I don’t understand. My mom fell in love with Mother earlier than your mom did. I was born earlier than you, yet I’m the illegitimate daughter. But then I saw you, a little pink ball, so cute, like a big, hairless mouse…”

Zhu Yunqi pretended to be angry. “Sister, no matter how cute, you can’t be a mouse.”

Zhu Jingshan suddenly broke out into a tearful laugh. Then, her eyes and eyebrows drooped again. “It was Mother’s mistake, but both of our mothers were the ones who were sad. So I don’t blame Auntie Shen.”

She no longer referred to Shen Qinghe as “Mom” and switched to “Auntie.”

“But all these years, when did she ever treat me like a daughter? And now, when I want to go back and see my biological mother for the last time, she’s starting to say I’m her daughter!”

Zhu Jingshan was trembling. “Yunqi, I can’t accept this… This family has never truly accepted me. Now I don’t want to pretend to be the eldest daughter of the Zhu family every day anymore. Let’s expose it to the media. Expose that I’m an illegitimate daughter, that my biological mother is dead, so she won’t hear those vicious words anymore… and it’s perfect, because then you won’t have to marry someone you don’t like either…”

Zhu Yunqi hugged Zhu Jingshan. Only then did she realize that her sister was also quite petite. The sister who always planned everything for her would also have her vulnerable moments.

“You’ve always been my sister, and that will never change,” Zhu Yunqi said, patting Zhu Jingshan’s back with a heavy heart. “But, Sister, if you’re doing this because of a momentary impulse, to defy or get revenge on my mother, I don’t recommend you expose it to the media. It’s a lose-lose situation. If you’re doing it for your future development, to give yourself a better future after leaving this family, then I support you.”

“I want to see my mom. I also want you to be able to successfully cancel your engagement with Wen Yue.” Zhu Jingshan was very helpless. With Shen Qinghe’s pressure, she almost impulsively exposed her identity.

Zhu Yunqi said, “How about I just announce that I’m leaving the Zhu family? I’m not interested in running the group anyway. It’s more reliable to leave the group to you than to me.”

Zhu Jingshan immediately sat up, her eyes filled with panic. “No, you can’t!”

Her first thought was that Zhu Yunqi doing this would completely break Zhu Shengxi’s and Shen Qinghe’s hearts.

At that moment, Zhu Shengxi walked out of the study. She was wearing a white dress, with her long, curly hair casually draped over her shoulders, showing obvious signs of exhaustion. All of this was because she had insisted on being with Zhu Jingshan’s mother against her family’s wishes, marking her no matter what, thinking that if the Omega got pregnant and had a child, she would get the approval of the elders…

“Shan’er, stop throwing a tantrum.” Although she was exhausted, Zhu Shengxi’s voice was still cold and unwavering. “You’ve always been a good girl. You’ve been given a lot of the group’s shares over the years, and Qinghe hasn’t stopped you from being involved in the group’s affairs. I already know that you secretly gave Yunqi money behind our backs. I haven’t told your mom—”

Zhu Jingshan corrected her coolly. “It’s Auntie Shen.”

“Whatever. It’s just a title. Just remember to call her ‘Mom’ in public,” Zhu Shengxi rubbed her forehead. “I didn’t tell your Auntie Shen because I was worried you would argue again. I’m already trying to maintain your relationship. Don’t make things difficult for me.”

Zhu Jingshan became strangely calm. “Mother, I just want to go and see my biological mother.”

“Auntie Shen doesn’t want you to see her. Don’t you understand? If this insignificant matter causes a difficult situation, you’ll be the one to lose your shares.”

Zhu Yunqi stood up and blocked Zhu Shengxi and Zhu Jingshan. “Mother, I’ll go talk to Mom. It’s not too much to ask for my sister to go to a funeral.”

At that moment, when Zhu Shengxi saw Zhu Yunqi, her already aching head hurt even more. “Zhu Yunqi, get out. Don’t get involved in this. The most important thing for you right now is to marry Wen Yue—oh, and your mom said that as long as you marry Wen Yue obediently, she’ll let Shan’er go see her mom.”

Hearing this, Zhu Yunqi and Zhu Jingshan were both stunned.

They hadn’t expected Shen Qinghe to use this method to force her to marry Wen Yue.

After a moment of silence, Zhu Yunqi took out the recording of Wen Yue. “Mother, listen to this first.”

After listening, Zhu Shengxi also fell silent.

Zhu Yunqi observed Zhu Shengxi’s expression and knew that she was beginning to have a slight change of heart.

Convincing Zhu Shengxi was much simpler than convincing Shen Qinghe. Zhu Shengxi would never do something that would be a net loss. Once she realized that the benefits of something were not as big as she had anticipated, she would reconsider whether to continue.

“Why doesn’t Wen Yue want to marry you?” Zhu Shengxi asked in a low voice.

Zhu Yunqi hadn’t recorded the part where Wen Yue said she had a girlfriend.

Zhu Yunqi feigned ignorance. “I don’t know. You should go ask her.”

“How would I ask her?” Zhu Shengxi said reproachfully.

Zhu Yunqi continued, “Mother, Wen Yue is very likely to harm the interests of the Zhu Group for her own benefit. Marrying someone like that would be a huge liability… So I think, even if you and Mom don’t want to cancel the engagement right now, at least postpone it for a while and observe her.”

Zhu Shengxi didn’t agree to Zhu Yunqi’s request, but she didn’t object either.

She asked Zhu Yunqi for the original recording so she could determine its authenticity before making a decision.

After Zhu Shengxi left, Zhu Yunqi said to Zhu Jingshan, “I’m going to find Mom now and talk to her about you seeing Auntie. But you have to stay calm. Don’t do anything that would harm yourself and others.”

Zhu Jingshan picked at her fingers, her expression a little unnatural.

“Yunqi, have you thought about what Wen Yue said? Do you also think that I stole your position as an heir?”

“Of course not.” Zhu Yunqi said honestly. “Sister, don’t you know me?”

“But Wen Yue was right. If it weren’t for me, everything in the group would have been yours…”

“That’s not what I want. So there’s no such thing as stealing.”

Zhu Yunqi looked out at the balcony. There, the green leaves of the broadleaf trees swayed in the summer breeze.

She had her own things she wanted.

…

Zhu Yunqi went to the research institute to pick up Shen Qinghe.

Shen Qinghe looked very ill.

As soon as she saw Zhu Yunqi, Shen Qinghe said directly, “I know you’re here about Jingshan. I’ve made myself very clear. If you no longer object to the engagement with Wen Yue, I’ll agree to let her attend that woman’s funeral.”

With that, Shen Qinghe said mockingly, “Aren’t you two sisters usually very close?”

Zhu Yunqi’s relationship with Zhu Jingshan was closer than with her, her biological mother. Even for this vacation, Zhu Yunqi had only heard about the specific dates from Zhu Jingshan.

Zhu Yunqi played some soft music in the car. The gentle music eased the tense atmosphere in the car.

“I don’t object,” Zhu Yunqi said.

But now there might be others who object. Like Zhu Shengxi.

Zhu Jingshan knew Zhu Shengxi much better than she did. Before she went to pick up Shen Qinghe, Zhu Jingshan told her that her mother had a more than ninety percent chance of reconsidering the engagement.

After all, no one wanted a ticking time bomb next to them.

Shen Qinghe glanced at her, not believing her.

Zhu Yunqi said, “I went out to dinner with Wen Yue today, and we talked for a while. Besides, Mom, if you let the media expose my sister’s illegitimate status, she’ll lose her right to inherit and her shares at most. But she’s not alone now. She has a wife and a child. Her wife’s family’s business will also be affected, and they’ll be unhappy. As for that auntie, she’s already passed away. All the gossip in the world won’t affect her at all—the media isn’t going to print out the insults and burn them for her, are they?”

“But it’s different for you and Mother. All the criticism will be directed at you two. Especially Mother. When people mention the Zhu Holdings Group, they’ll think of a controlling person who got pregnant before marriage and a poor wife who mistreated her stepdaughter… You’ll be the ones being gossiped about.”

Shen Qinghe’s face changed slightly. Her face, which looked five or six parts like Zhu Yunqi’s, was clouded over.

She had to admit that Zhu Yunqi had a point. When she was arguing with Zhu Jingshan at home, she hadn’t thought that far ahead. Zhu Jingshan had almost never argued with her before, so when she suddenly started, Shen Qinghe had said a lot of terrible things.

Now that she had calmed down, she belatedly considered the inevitable problems that would follow.

“Did Jingshan tell you to come and tell me this?”

“No, she didn’t. She wanted to fight you to the death.” Zhu Yunqi deliberately exaggerated the situation and then stood on Shen Qinghe’s side to comfort her. “Mom, to be honest, that auntie has passed away. Let the dead rest in peace. Mother was the one who made the mistake back then. You don’t need to keep punishing yourself and my sister, do you?”

Shen Qinghe snorted coldly. “As long as you can marry Wen Yue smoothly, I can’t be bothered with anything else.”

Zhu Yunqi replied, “Okay, I’ll continue to talk to Wen Yue in detail. Mom, have you eaten? I’m hungry. Let’s go eat.”

“Do you have money?” Shen Qinghe’s attitude was still cold, but judging by her tone, she had already tacitly agreed to let Zhu Jingshan attend her mother’s funeral, as long as she didn’t know about it publicly.

Zhu Yunqi was about to say yes but suddenly remembered what Zhu Shengxi had said: Shen Qinghe didn’t know that Zhu Jingshan was secretly giving her money. In Shen Qinghe’s eyes, she should be a penniless pauper right now.

So she shook her head and said no.

Shen Qinghe tapped her finger, opened a sub-account on one of her accounts, and transferred a hundred thousand star coins to it for Zhu Yunqi to use for dinner.

“Thank you, Mom.”

The mother-daughter relationship was harmonized for a rare moment.

Zhu Yunqi didn’t forget to send messages to Zhu Jingshan and Shi Li separately, telling Zhu Jingshan that she could go and hold the funeral and reminding Shi Li to meet with Wen Yue less often lately.

This was also something Zhu Jingshan had reminded her of. Zhu Shengxi wouldn’t personally ask Wen Yue why she didn’t want the arranged marriage, but she might investigate behind the scenes. If she found out about Shi Li, it would be bad.

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