Fell Deeply In Love With My Ex-Husband's Fiancé - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Joint Concealment

Why was Zhai Qiance’s wife at Lance’s place…

Norn was admitted to the hospital this morning, reportedly after being assaulted. The incident was quite a scene, and even Lance heard the news.

Out of curiosity, Lance wanted to know who could possibly land Norn, a physically well-built man who often called the shots at school, in the hospital. He decided to visit.

Outside the SVIP single room, Lance saw several familiar faces. Familiar might be the wrong word; to be precise, they were Lance’s father and brother-in-law.

Old Mr. DeWitt, though over 70, was still vigorous, his body straight and sturdy. He stood outside the door, leaning on his cane. His assistant brought him a comfortable chair, but he remained standing, seemingly waiting for someone.

Only when he saw Lance did a flicker of light appear in Old Mr. DeWitt’s gray-blue eyes.

This was his son, whom he hadn’t seen for a long time and with whom he had once threatened to sever ties.

Lance’s mother was five years older than his father. They had their son late in life, and since his mother was older, her health had been poor after giving birth to Lance.

His mother keenly noticed that Lance was innately different from other children. She immediately dropped her company work, stayed with her son 24 hours a day, and personally supervised his education, which finally allowed Lance to stay on track and finish elementary school obediently.

Lance was precocious. He saw his mother’s companionship as both maternal love and surveillance, but he didn’t care. As long as the mother he loved was by his side, it was enough. Regardless of her intentions, regardless of how genuine her love was, as long as the companionship was real, that was enough.

However, after Lance turned twelve, his already frail mother, advanced in age, died of illness.

It was then that Old Mr. DeWitt took time away from his busy duties to pay attention to his youngest son, and he discovered the psychological diagnostic report of Lance that his wife had hidden.

Coincidentally, the DeWitt family business took a nosedive around that time. Lance’s father was overwhelmed and worried that Lance would go astray without supervision, so he resorted to high-pressure tactics, which caused the already tenuous father-son relationship to completely fall apart.

Lance didn’t care what his father thought of him, nor did he care that his elderly father’s gaze now held more tenderness and remorse. He put on the gentle, practiced fake smile he used for all strangers: “Why aren’t you going in?”

Old Mr. DeWitt didn’t speak. He simply turned his cane in another direction, avoiding Lance’s gaze. His brother-in-law stepped in to ease the tension, speaking in German: “Norn needs to talk to you. He wouldn’t speak to us until you arrived.”

“Willful.” Lance commented simply. He knocked on the door and immediately pushed it open, isolating the irrelevant people outside.

Norn had a bandage wrapped around his head, a patch of hair shaved from his back of his skull, and minor facial abrasions. Otherwise, he seemed fine.

As soon as Lance entered, Norn tried to jump out of bed, but restrained himself. He stared at Lance with his blue eyes, breathing heavily: “Did you know I was assaulted! Zhai Qiance’s wife assaulted me!”

“Impossible.” Lance immediately denied it. He sat down on the sofa and poured himself some black tea, treating Norn’s statement as sheer madness.

Seeing Lance so utterly unconcerned about his injuries, Norn became angrier. He had been following Lance around, doing his bidding and receiving the cold shoulder since childhood. Now he was seriously injured because of Lance, and Lance didn’t care at all!

Who! Who dared to harm Norn DeWitt’s head!

Norn was so furious that his injured area throbbed and swelled. He completely failed to understand Lance. He was this injured; even a dog passing by would spare a glance, yet Lance was treating him like air!

If the doctor hadn’t told him to stay in bed, he really would have jumped down and fought Lance!

“If it wasn’t for your bad idea, how could I have been assaulted!”

“Bad idea?” Lance raised his voice, giving Norn a sidelong glance. “Did the last thing I told you go in one ear and out the other? Without me, your grandfather and mother would have drugged you and put you straight into that person’s bed.”

Norn pouted, unconvinced: “How could that happen!”

Lance just sneered, his forced gentle demeanor disappearing, replaced by the chilling look of a venomous snake, which silenced Norn.

Lance asked, “Who assaulted you?”

Norn rolled his eyes: “Someone surnamed Lu, who said they were Zhai Qiance’s legal partner. My mom was very angry and took people to find Zhai Qiance. The person surnamed Lu has also been detained by my father, and the Lu family is now waiting for negotiations.”

The person who assaulted Norn must have been Lu Xingli. Lance nodded, seemingly missing the subtext of Norn’s words: “So, what’s the purpose of seeking me out? Your parents have already found the responsible party. You don’t need another relative to back you up.”

Norn slammed the hospital bed: “That person surnamed Lu ambushed me at school and smashed a brick directly onto my head! I must make him go to jail!”

“Oh.” Lance was unconcerned about Lu Xingli’s fate.

“So the problem now is, this has blown up. What if Zhai Qiance comes to visit me?” Norn was on the verge of collapsing. “The person he’s been meeting is you! If he comes, won’t our deception be exposed?”

There was some truth to that. Lance nodded, but the problem was easy to solve. All he had to do was pretend to be severely ill or too moody to see anyone.

Lance didn’t understand why Norn’s psychological resilience was so poor. In his opinion, this was much easier than driving Zhai Qiance to bankruptcy.

Lance couldn’t be bothered with Norn. He dropped the phrase “get well soon” and left the room.

Outside the room, the increasingly weary Old Mr. DeWitt called out to him.

Lance, of course, stopped. He played the part of the proper and respectful son, followed his father’s arrangement to have dinner together, and then engaged in a profound conversation about saving the DeWitt family’s centuries-old foundation.

His father knew what Lance had been up to recently. He didn’t object, partly because he knew he couldn’t stop him, but also to signal goodwill to Lance.

If Lance hadn’t left, his daughter could have followed her own desires and continued her academic research at school. If Lance was done having his fun, perhaps he could come back and help him?

However, Lance made no clear commitment throughout the conversation, only asking his father to look after Norn and cultivate him well.

Meanwhile, Mrs. DeWitt strode fiercely into Tuo Wei’s top-floor office in high heels. The ceiling lights were bright, and Mrs. DeWitt, adorned with jewelry, dazzled Zhai Qiance’s eyes.

Zhai Qiance waved his assistant away from the office door: “Why have you come?”

“Zhai Qiance, did I believe your nonsense that the two of you had no feelings for each other, that your marriage was merely a conflict of interest, and that you would divorce before the end of the year?” Mrs. DeWitt demanded angrily. “Your husband assaulted my son! How are you going to handle this!”

“Norn is injured?”

Zhai Qiance was surprised that Lu Feiran would assault someone, but how was that possible? Although Lu Feiran knew Norn, their relationship shouldn’t have been confrontational.

He was more inclined to believe that Lu Feiran was merely playing along, lying in wait beside Norn, waiting for an opportunity to strike back, rather than doing something as absurd as directly assaulting him.

Furthermore, Lu Feiran’s physical condition made it impossible for him to overpower Norn.

Zhai Qiance calmed the furious Mrs. DeWitt. After verifying the information, they learned that the perpetrator was actually Lu Xingli.

“Heh, brotherly love runs deep,” Mrs. DeWitt sneered.

Zhai Qiance’s face turned ashen. He had no choice but to stiffly admit: “Yes, their relationship… is very good.”

This was Zhai Qiance’s mistake. He always chose compliant, sensible lovers with vastly inferior status, but he had fallen hard for Lu Xingli.

Everyone surnamed Lu might have the ‘crazy’ gene. From top to bottom, old to young, they were all slightly abnormal!

“Alright,” Mrs. DeWitt glanced sideways at Zhai Qiance. She hated that her family had fallen so low that they needed to rely on a person like him, but she had to tolerate it. She suppressed her anger repeatedly before calming down. “Don’t wait until the end of the year. The divorce must be settled quickly so our family’s investment can proceed.”

She was also uneasy. Using the investment fund as an excuse to force Zhai Qiance to divorce quickly was a good tactic, but they didn’t actually have that much money. She could only hope that her father and Lance could handle the situation.

“No problem. This is my mistake. The divorce can be finalized today.” Zhai Qiance agreed quickly. He clearly understood the priorities between a two-hundred-billion investment and Lu Feiran’s 30% of the shares.

“Which hospital is Norn recuperating in? I should go visit him,” Zhai Qiance said.

Mrs. DeWitt looked at him: “He’s not seeing anyone. You can try contacting him yourself.”

“Fine.”

Zhai Qiance saw Mrs. DeWitt off. Turning back, he saw six missed calls from Lu Liye pop up on his phone.

He sneered, swiped left to delete the record, and added the number to his blacklist.

…

Before dinner, Norn received a message from his mother—a bright red image. When he opened it, two neat divorce certificates appeared in the center of the screen.

Swiping to the next image showed the inside pages of the divorce certificate. A marriage had ended, and the two men in the high-definition ID photos wore faint smiles.

Norn was stunned. He immediately used two fingers to zoom in on the photo. One of the photos instantly filled the entire screen.

The man on the phone screen had fair skin, large eyes with flat outer corners, making him look both sharp-eyed and inexplicably captivating.

It was a distinctive, beautiful face, unforgettable after a single look.

And if this face was seen at Lance’s home, Norn would never forget it, even if his brains were leaking out from the assault!

This person was Zhai Qiance’s wife, not the person who had assaulted him.

No, never mind that… the main point was, why was Zhai Qiance’s wife at Lance’s place?

As if swept by a sudden gale mixed with hailstones, Norn froze on the hospital bed, his mouth agape, unable to speak for a long time.

He looked at the photo repeatedly, covering his head, carefully recalling, afraid that his memory was impaired from the blow.

Half an hour later, he threw his phone aside and shouted, “Grandpa! Grandpa, come here!”

Damn it, they’re truly despicable. No wonder Lance thought it was fun! So he was using Norn to reel in Zhai Qiance while secretly seducing and pursuing a married person!

Fun? I’ll let you have all the fun you want!!

Lance shouldn’t know about Zhai Qiance’s divorce for the time being. Keep it hidden for as long as possible!

Play! Play! Play!!

“What’s wrong?” Old Mr. DeWitt pushed the door open.

Norn immediately pretended to be weak and collapsed, grabbing his grandfather’s hand. He spoke faintly, “Don’t tell Uncle that Zhai Qiance is divorced. I beg you, Grandpa.”

“Why?” The old man was puzzled.

“You want him to stay, right?” Norn said calmly. “Have you ever considered why he got involved in this matter?”

Old Mr. DeWitt motioned for Norn to continue.

Norn shook his head: “I can’t say, but concealing Zhai Qiance’s divorce is a necessary condition. Trust me, if Lance finds out about this, he’ll be on the other side of the planet the next day, and no one will be able to contact him!”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“You’re not actually going to make me marry him, are you? Keeping Lance here might turn things around. Why are you unwilling?” Norn grew anxious. “If you really make me marry him, I will definitely jump off a building the day before the wedding!”

“Norn!” The ancient wooden cane struck the floor with a loud sound. Old Mr. DeWitt’s eyebrows shot up, and he angrily reprimanded his grandson for his recklessness.

But how absurd. Had their family fallen so low that they had to sell their children for glory? Even fifty years ago, he and his wife had a love match.

Old Mr. DeWitt was already over seventy. With the family in decline, he was powerless to turn the tide. His daughter’s interests lay elsewhere, and she lacked the ability to hold up the crumbling family structure.

Compared to ten years ago, his eyes were much cloudier.

He wanted to question Lance’s actions, but he forced himself to hold his tongue. What good would it do to ask? He had no leverage over Lance whatsoever.

The backstory was no longer important. Old Mr. DeWitt agreed.