Another Day of Pretending for the Wealthy Couple - Chapter 64

Ji Tanyuan stared at the voice recorder on the table, her smile fading, replaced by speechless exasperation.

“You recorded it. And then what? Who are you going to send it to?”

Ji Tanyuan: “Send it to my in-laws? Send it to my uncle? Send it to the public? And then what?”

Shen Xichen took a sip of tea. “Are you still thinking about running me over?”

Ji Tanyuan: “Yes. A year ago, when multiple Ji family enterprises faced problems, how much effort did you exert behind the scenes?”

“You’ll stop at nothing to bring down the Ji family.”

“Extreme prosperity leads to decline. The Ji family didn’t know how to rein in their brilliance. It’s only natural for the higher-ups to suppress them a bit. But you actually chose the Zhong family.”

After saying this, Shen Xichen chuckled. “Did you think marrying into the Zhong family would lead to a better outcome?”

Ji Tanyuan said calmly, “Are you treating me like a child? Back then, weren’t the 23 patented technologies under Ji Family Technology coveted by Huijiang Electronics Group? So, it was you who had your eyes on them. You were planning for the Ji family to declare bankruptcy and restructure, then enter the Ji family through my uncle to indirectly gain control, right?”

She smiled faintly. “I had no idea Young Master Shen’s schemes were so grand.”

“If I didn’t marry into the Zhong family, if I didn’t bring them into this, were you just waiting to frame my father with fabricated charges and besiege him?”

“Are you unhappy in Yanjing?” Shen Xichen suddenly asked, changing the topic abruptly.

Ji Tanyuan didn’t answer directly and instead replied with a question of her own: “Was it also you behind the scenes regarding the matter of my brother still being alive?”

“Young Master Shen, why go to such lengths? You’re being a bit underhanded.”

Shen Xichen set down his teacup and didn’t answer directly either. Instead, he said, “Do you think the Yu Jiang now is the real Yu Jiang? If you had just verified it, you wouldn’t only be pointing fingers at me. Besides, just a moment ago, Miss Ji sent her own uncle to the hospital.”

Yu Jiang? The former chairman of Tianzheng Group, which Zhong Yan acquired.

It had indeed been a long time since there was any news about him.

“Let’s leave that aside for now. Mr. Shen, please don’t interfere in my family matters.” Ji Tanyuan wanted to leave.

Today’s conversation was chaotic and disjointed, yet it had clearly revealed their intentions.

Ji Tanyuan stood up to leave. Just as she was about to open the door, Shen Xichen suddenly said, “Does Mr. Zhong know you’re here?”

Shen Xichen chuckled lightly. “He doesn’t, does he? After all, the Zhong family doesn’t want you to have any connection with the Shen family, yet you still came.”

Ji Tanyuan turned around, and their eyes met. Shen Xichen remained seated, his skin pale and sickly, his phoenix eyes sharp and penetrating, his thin lips appearing cold. His beauty, comparable to that of Pan An, was accentuated by his aloof demeanor and pallid complexion, both chilling and captivating.

Snapping out of her daze from his striking appearance, she said, “So what? Do we have any connection?”

Yes, so what? She had no connection with him. They were merely exchanging words.

She was now Mrs. Zhong. When people saw her in Shanghai, they would remember she was married, that she had married far away to the capital.

When they saw Zhong Yan, they would recall that his wife was the eldest daughter of the Ji family.

Shen Xichen looked at Ji Tanyuan. She had matured a lot. Her waist-length hair was smooth and glossy, her peach-blossom eyes always carrying a hint of tenderness when she looked at others. Her black dress was impeccably smooth, her neck slender, adorned with a hanging jade pendant, a testament to her privileged life.

When they had met in the United States before, she was still learning from Duan Huaixu. After returning to China, she was often with his cousin, Shen Xiling. She was always surrounded by many friends, living a carefree life every day.

“So, you never considered what would happen after the divorce, when you’d have no ties to the Zhong family?”

Ji Tanyuan froze, seemingly puzzled by his abrupt question.

Shen Xichen added, “By choosing the northern faction led by the Zhong family, you’ve naturally cut ties with the southern faction. A corporation of this scale can’t avoid dealing with government officials. By opting for a marriage alliance with Beijing over Shanghai, you’ve allowed the Zhongheng faction to disrupt the stable political-business matrix in the south. Aren’t you afraid that after the divorce, both sides will block the Ji Corporation and seek revenge by carving it up?”

“That’s an inevitable outcome. Even if it weren’t the Ji family, it would happen in some other way. A clan is just a clan, trying to turn it into a powerful political faction would be suicidal, wouldn’t it?” Ji Tanyuan replied. “Do you think those at the top don’t see it? Isn’t this marriage of mine a silent warning? Surely you understand that, Young Master Shen.”

She lifted her gaze to Shen Xichen, her expression calm. “Mayor Shen wouldn’t want any more mishaps, would he?”

“Of course. My father is also very concerned about your marriage.”

“Including Xiling.” Shen Xichen added.

Ji Tanyuan glanced at the voice recorder. “My relationship with Shen Xiling has always been innocent. Please stop spreading baseless rumors that could affect the bond between my husband and me.”

“And, Young Master Shen, please go easy on me.” she added sarcastically before leaving.

Shen Xichen remained seated. Ji Tanyuan had come and gone in a hurry. Their conversation had been a series of non-answers, and she had left as if unwilling to stay a moment longer. He chuckled, his eyes crinkling with amusement. His assistant, who had just entered, was startled by the sight.

“Sir.”

Shen Xichen tossed the voice recorder to him. “Deliver this to Ji Ting.”

The assistant took it and left.

Shen Xichen stood up and watched from above as the woman downstairs got into her car and drove away without a backward glance.

Back then, Ji Qing had needed official credibility and bank financing. Shen Xichen had expected Ji Qing to come begging to him, but instead, he had taken a desperate gamble and accepted the Zhong family’s offer.

News of Ji Ting’s car accident spread quickly. It was rumored that his niece had orchestrated it, but the Ji family dismissed it as baseless. When questioned, Ji Ting himself called it nonsense.

It wasn’t yet time to openly break ties, the stakes weren’t high enough. Ji Ting didn’t dare confront the formidable Mrs. Zhong head-on and could only exclude Ji Tanyuan from certain family matters under the pretext that, as a married woman, she could no longer participate in Ji family affairs.

Ji Tanyuan didn’t care. She had no interest in places like the ancestral hall or the family registry. Corporate succession was determined by law, kinship, and shareholding, not by the Y chromosome.

As for Zhong Yan, the prized son-in-law, he stayed out of Ji Tanyuan’s family matters entirely. Too much involvement would be inappropriate, too little would seem neglectful, so he chose a middle path.

He sent someone with lavish gifts to visit Ji Tanyuan’s uncle.

This seemingly ordinary gesture of goodwill, however, was misinterpreted, or perhaps it gave Ji Ting an excuse to approach Zhong Yan.

When Zhong Yan saw Ji Ying arrive with a voice recorder, intending to expose Ji Tanyuan’s “venomous heart” and her alleged crimes of harming relatives for personal gain, he couldn’t help but marvel:

“Your family must have truly blessed ancestors to have produced your fourth uncle.”

Ji Ying blinked. “Brother-in-law?”

Zhong Yan sat in the executive chair, his long legs crossed. The endless meetings over the past few days had left him exhausted, and now yet another pile of matters demanded his attention. His expression was cold, his strikingly handsome features setting him apart from ordinary people. Dressed in a white shirt and black suit pants, he wore blue-light glasses, exuding an air of refined detachment and an unmistakable sense of distance.

He looked at this family, who seemed constantly eager to replace her cousin, and smiled faintly, though not without a hint of mockery:

“Honestly, I don’t really care who Ji Tanyuan hit. What I care about is where the recording pen came from and who she said those words to.”

“Shen Xichen, the eldest son of Shen Qinglin, the Shen family’s heir?”