Can You Believe It? I Ran into My Ex on a Dating Variety Show - Chapter 25

“Your mission is to make him fall in love with you. Make him a complete ‘love-brain’ who only loves you, and then break up with him.”

“Once the mission is complete, you can go home, and your wish will be granted.”

Shi Yu frowned. “Are you crazy, or am I? You want me to make a move on a minor?”

“You can become friends with him first and wait until he is an adult to make your move.”

Shi Yu remained silent for a long moment. “Can the target be changed? Even if they are older, it would be better.”

“No. If you are very concerned about the age, you can observe him for a period of time first. Once he reaches adulthood, you can act.”

Shi Yu thought about it. The mission target could not be changed. In that case, there was no better solution than the one the system had just suggested. He had to complete the mission to return home; his grandmother was still waiting for him.

Shi Yu truly did not rush into the mission. He kept a secret watch on He Xingzhi, learning about his preferences, behavioral habits, and so on.

He Xingzhi was a child of the He family, one of the four most famous families in the capital. Furthermore, his mother was Ning Yi, the eldest daughter of the Ning family, which ranked among the top ten families in the city.

Years ago, Ning Yi and He Jiang, who was He Xingzhi’s father, were childhood sweethearts. During the first few years of their marriage, their relationship was quite good. They had their eldest daughter, He Xiaozhu, in the second year of their marriage. Afterward, the couple busied themselves with their careers. It was not until ten years later that Ning Yi became pregnant with He Xingzhi.

It was while she was pregnant with He Xingzhi that Ning Yi discovered He Jiang was having an affair with his secretary. It was not just the secretary; there was another woman, someone He Jiang had dated during his school days. That woman had originally gone abroad to study, had a marriage there, and even had a child. After her divorce, she returned to the country with her child.

Within less than two months of her return, she and He Jiang had ended up in bed together. Three months later, she showed up at their door with a pregnancy report. At that time, Ning Yi was over seven months pregnant with He Xingzhi and was nearly due.

She had been kept in the dark by a facade of marital bliss. Everyone around her envied her for marrying an excellent man she had known since childhood, someone who had grown up with her and was thoroughly vetted. After their marriage, he had been attentive and considerate. She, too, believed she was a happy woman who possessed the kind of high-quality love that women all over the world envied.

It was not until that woman returned from abroad, showed up at the company, and presented the pregnancy report that Ning Yi realized how tragically wrong she had been. More fatally, this was only the beginning.

At the time, she was so furious that it nearly affected her pregnancy. For half a month, she went to the hospital to stabilize the fetus. During this period, He Jiang apologized to her constantly. He even knelt by her hospital bed, begging for her forgiveness.

Looking at He Jiang’s tears, Ning Yi’s heart did soften at first. She thought of the unborn child in her womb and did not want the baby to lose the chance to grow up in a complete family before even being born. Perhaps it was the influence of pregnancy hormones, but Ning Yi wanted to be a good mother. She also thought of her eldest daughter, who was still in elementary school.

After weighing her options, she decided to forgive He Jiang. She told He Jiang to tell that woman to abort the child. She would not allow any other bastards to appear and fight her children for the inheritance. To seek her forgiveness, He Jiang initially agreed very straightforwardly.

However, it was not long before Ning Yi discovered that He Jiang had completely lied to her. Not only did he fail to have the woman abort the child, but he also settled her into one of his own properties. He found people specifically to take care of her daily life and even helped arrange for the child she had brought back from abroad to attend the best local elementary school.

Ning Yi, with her large belly, went to find He Jiang. This time, He Jiang was as quick to kneel as ever. In his office, he knelt before Ning Yi and even began to cry. He held Ning Yi’s hand and started explaining his difficulties.

He said the Old Master had forced him to do it.

Ning Yi asked, “Why? On what grounds?”

He Jiang said, “You know that Father is extremely superstitious. A few days ago, he met a very prestigious master. The master told him that he would have a grandson this year who would be a ‘dragon among men.’ However, before this grandson is born, he will encounter a catastrophe and might not be born smoothly. Once this child fails to be born, the glory belonging to the He family for the next hundred years will cease to exist, and the family will decline because of it.”

Ning Yi cried as she struck and scolded He Jiang. “Even if that is the case, why can the person the master spoke of not be my child?”

He Jiang replied, “I said that, but Father said Liu Yuan’ai’s child will also be born this year. Since he is not sure who it is, both children must be kept.”

Ning Yi washed her face with tears every day. Every few days, she had to go to the hospital to protect the fetus. Ultimately, she still had a premature birth.

On the day the child was born prematurely, Old Master He got into a car accident on his way to the hospital. The accident only caused the Old Master to bump his head. However, the superstitious Old Master immediately summoned the master again.

This time, no one knew what the master said to Old Master He. It was only afterward that Old Master He began to show great dislike for Ning Yi and her son. Ning Yi’s premature birth had severely depleted her health, and she lay in her hospital bed for over two months, but the Old Master did not visit her even once. Instead, he frequently sent supplements to Liu Yuan’ai.

Ning Yi was already harboring deep resentment, and after learning about these things, her physical condition grew even worse. She did not recover properly during her postpartum period, and she became much more haggard and aged.

Later, Ning Yi fell even more ill. She even began to suffer from mental instability, often talking nonsense and sometimes showing self-harming tendencies.

At the end of that same year, Liu Yuan’ai gave birth to a son. On that day, whether by coincidence or some truly unexplainable power, Old Master He’s physical examination results came out. What was originally a suspected illness turned out to be a false alarm. Even a partnership He Jiang had been negotiating for months suddenly took a turn for the better and was finalized on that same day.

The already superstitious Old Master He became even more so. He firmly believed that the child Liu Yuan’ai bore was the auspicious child the master had spoken of, the one who would bring a hundred years of prosperity to the He family. To bring this precious grandson into the family tree, he even urged Ning Yi to raise the child as her own.

This dealt multiple blows to Ning Yi’s already poor physical and mental state, and she collapsed immediately. He Jiang sent her to the best nursing home to recover.

At the beginning, his visits were quite frequent. He went at least twice a week. Later, it became twice a month, then once every three months, then once every six months. For the rest of the time, He Jiang stayed with Liu Yuan’ai, and their family lived together in harmony.

When He Xingzhi was three years old, his mother went missing. She vanished suddenly from the nursing home. Surveillance footage showed her walking out of her ward alone in a daze, continuing out of the hospital, and then there was no further trace of her.