Four Years Ago, Her Husband Cheated on Her Body - Chapter 6

Jia Qiao walked to the entrance, re-examining the front door. There was no sign of forced entry on the smart lock.

Since he moved into the marital home, no third person had been inside.

So, who could possibly know the entry code, sneak in silently, and only take Zhu Nanyu’s shirt?

—And, specifically, the one he himself had worn.

Jia Qiao scanned the entire room again.

The living room was immaculate, and all valuables were accounted for. If it were a thief, they were incredibly unambitious.

He walked back to the bedroom and stuffed all of Zhu Nanyu’s clothes back into the wardrobe.

Then, he plucked a long strand of hair from his own ends, wrapped it around the connection point between the sliding door and the wardrobe frame, tying a slipknot.

If someone were to pull open the cabinet door, this strand of hair would break.

After thoroughly cleaning up all traces of his presence, Jia Qiao walked out of the room.

He repeated the same process, tying a strand of hair at the bottom of the front door, before turning to leave.

Downstairs at the apartment building, Lu Min spotted Jia Qiao walking out from a distance and quickly opened the car door, scurrying over to greet him.

He looked at Jia Qiao’s left hand, then his right hand, his head filled with question marks.

Didn’t he come back specifically to retrieve clothing for the master’s deceased husband’s cenotaph?

Where is the clothing??

Can only smart people see it???

“Don’t look, I didn’t take anything,” Jia Qiao said flatly, shattering the delusion of the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes.’

“?” Lu Min took out his notepad and scribbled furiously: No clothes, how to establish a cenotaph for Mr. Zhu?

“That matter isn’t urgent,” Jia Qiao sat inside the car and instructed the driver, “Go to the Zhu family’s old residence.”

“Received. Please fasten your seatbelt,” the driver accepted the command and immediately started the engine.

‘Why are we going to the Zhu family’s old residence?’

‘Didn’t we agree to stay outside for a bit and then immediately return to rest?’

‘Doctor Zhou will murder me, ahhh!!!’

Lu Min squeezed next to Jia Qiao, his notepad practically shoved into his master’s face, so anxious he was reduced to babbling sounds.

Jia Qiao casually pushed the notepad away, his tone even and flat, “I need to hold a funeral for Zhu Nanyu. By all accounts, I should inform his relatives.”

If there was anyone in the world most interested in what Zhu Nanyu left behind, it was definitely those members of the Zhu family.

Back then, as soon as the news of the cliff accident broke, they couldn’t wait to calculate how much inheritance they could divide up.

The sound of their abacus beads hitting could be heard all over the world. Unfortunately, the will presented by the lawyer shattered their dream of driving away Jia Qiao and monopolizing the entire estate.

Over the past few years, the Zhu family had used every method to investigate, collect evidence, and even attempted to bribe the lawyer, trying every possible means to prove the will was fake.

Jia Qiao’s trip, ostensibly to inform them about the funeral, was actually a chance to subtly probe whether the person who invaded the marital home was connected to the Zhu family.

Seeing Lu Min still looking as if he were about to burst into tears, Jia Qiao soothed him helplessly, “Don’t worry, Doctor Zhou won’t know about this.”

Lu Min despairingly scrawled a few lines: Your condition has worsened; Doctor Zhou will definitely find out!

“He won’t,” Jia Qiao turned his body, looking out the car window at the increasingly distant marital home, “I think my fever has broken.”

Trying to fool a child!

With injections and medication over the past few days, Jia Qiao’s temperature had hovered around $38^circtext{C}$, and he had even coughed up blood streaks late last night.

How could he possibly… after just half an hour in the marital home…

Lu Min pulled out his portable smart thermometer and aimed it at Jia Qiao’s ear canal, taking a shot.

37.5

“…” The thermometer must be broken.

Lu Min vigorously shook it and shot again.

37.4

Lu Min blinked, looked at the thermometer, then at Jia Qiao, and then back at the apartment which was now just a small dot.

What’s going on?

Did Zhu Nanyu’s ghost hide in the marital home and cast a great healing spell on Jia Qiao?

Lu Min devoutly clasped his hands together, bowing three times toward the apartment, and then reopened his notepad.

‘But, is it okay to change your itinerary so arbitrarily?’ Lu Min wrote worriedly, ‘We were supposed to communicate the cooperation intention with the overseas partner this afternoon.’

“It’s nothing more than showing them Qianhe’s advantages and business capabilities. I don’t directly handle these things; my presence wouldn’t be very useful.”

Jia Qiao recalled Lanner, the representative from the partner company he met at the last charity gala.

That person smiled with hidden daggers and possessed a unique insight; he was likely a formidable character.

During his recovery, the executive assistant received a draft cooperation proposal from Lanner, the contents of which were quite puzzling.

The company behind Lanner held the world’s most cutting-edge technology and possessed substantial assets. The ‘Dawn’ project they proposed this time was a major undertaking that would directly determine the industry’s direction for the next five years, and numerous companies were vying to partner with them.

Judging by Qianhe’s current financial status, development prospects, and market share, its overall competitiveness wasn’t strong.

To secure this opportunity, a reasonable concession would be necessary.

However, the terms stipulated in Lanner’s proposal were so generous they were almost bizarre, far exceeding the normal profit-sharing ratio for cooperation.

It seemed less like a ‘partnership’ and more like a precise, cost-unrestricted transfusion of capital.

This wasn’t the first time Jia Qiao had received such an ‘unequal treaty.’

The motives of those previous people were too obvious: they merely wanted to get close to Jia Qiao through minor favors, seizing the opportunity to take advantage of the delicate, helpless, beautiful widower and the billions in inheritance he received.

As for Lanner…

Jia Qiao recalled that face, which was bling-bling with golden light, so dazzling it was slightly irritating.

That blonde seemed like a total narcissist; his eyes held no covetousness for Jia Qiao, only deep intoxication with his own overwhelming beauty.

Yet, when proposing the partnership, he specifically requested Jia Qiao’s participation in the communication.

—What exactly is his purpose?

“Lu Min, tell my assistant,” Jia Qiao added, “If the other party is genuinely sincere about cooperation after the initial discussion, I will personally meet with them.”

The Zhu family’s old residence is located in the west of the city, a classical, European-style manor. Although it looks grand and imposing, the front gate has been painted multiple times, and the mottled exterior walls are covered in climbing vines, failing to hide its outdated and worn state.

In the 1970s, Old Master Zhu Changlong capitalized on the era’s opportunities and made his fortune by going into business with the support of his first wife.

After becoming wealthy, the first thing Zhu Changlong did was ‘forget his roots.’

He divorced his first wife, forced her to leave with nothing, then immediately married a younger, beautiful woman, while also keeping several mistresses outside.

Zhu Nanyu’s father was the son of the first wife. After his parents divorced, he resolutely abandoned the so-called ‘eldest legitimate son’ status and stayed with his mother.

Perhaps there truly is karma in the world. Zhu Changlong later had two more sons and one daughter, each more incompetent than the last, knowing only how to squander and indulge, and within a couple of years, they had nearly ruined the family fortune the Old Master had given them.

Seeing no successor, Zhu Changlong swallowed his pride and begged his first wife to remarry, asking his eldest son to return and take over the family business.

However, by that time, the Zhu family had been ravaged by the few prodigal sons. Zhu Nanyu’s father worked day and night, struggling to save the situation, which eventually wore him down, and he passed away before the age of forty.

After Zhu Nanyu’s father died, his two half-brothers, in cahoots with Old Master Zhu, concocted a scheme to have the young Zhu Nanyu ‘inherit’ his father’s estate. They then drove the isolated and helpless sister-in-law out of the Zhu family and used their status as ‘Zhu Nanyu’s guardians’ to divide up the assets the eldest brother had left for his wife and son.

It was naked self-interest.

It was for this reason that Zhu Nanyu did not join the Zhu family company after reaching adulthood, instead using the assets his grandmother had secretly managed for him to start his own business.

On the day he married Jia Qiao, he had a will drawn up and notarized by a lawyer.

At the time, Jia Qiao found it strange. Who gets a marriage certificate, and the first thing they do is write a will?

It was only after hearing about the sordid history of the Zhu family that he understood Zhu Nanyu’s foresight.

If not for that will, given the nature of the Zhu family members, they would have probably already turned against Jia Qiao.

“Oh my, what wind brought our nephew-in-law back. After all these years, I thought you didn’t know the way to the Zhu family door anymore.”

As soon as Jia Qiao arrived at the Zhu residence, Zhu Fulu, the third in line, immediately rushed over to greet him, his face creased with so many wrinkles they could trap a fly.

Zhu Xingwang, the second in line, heard the commotion and ran out from the inner room, unwilling to be outdone, “Qiao Qiao, why didn’t you say anything before coming home? I would have asked your Second Aunt to personally cook a few nice dishes!”

Lu Min walked behind, looking at their two hypocritical faces, then at the clearly disgusted Jia Qiao, worried that his master was about to start a rampage.

Jia Qiao’s fist suddenly clenched and then relaxed. His tone was as stable as he could manage, “I am preparing to hold a funeral for Nanyu and came back to inform you all.”

“A funeral only now?” Zhu Ke, the cousin who arrived late, spoke without thinking, “Didn’t he die ages ago?”

Lu Min’s heart jumped, and he looked at Jia Qiao again—this time, Jia Qiao’s fist remained clenched.

“Zhu Ke!” Zhu Xingwang deliberately scolded his son loudly, “How dare you speak like that? We hadn’t been able to find your brother’s body, so Qiao Qiao held onto a shred of hope, thinking he might still be alive.”

Jia Qiao lowered his eyes, his thin lips tightly pressed together.

“Heh, it’s been four years; even if they found him, it would only be a pile of bones,” Zhu Ke rolled his eyes, put his hands in his pockets, and swaggered past Jia Qiao, “I’m telling you, hurry up and finish the funeral rites and return the inheritance to the Zhu family. You’ve gotten enough from my brother, haven’t you? Don’t be too greedy.”

After speaking, Zhu Ke noticed Jia Qiao lowering his head.

The long hair hanging by his temples obscured his eyes, making his expression unreadable.

No way, is he crying already?

Lu Min forcefully pulled Zhu Ke aside, his open notepad displaying four large characters: ‘STOP TALKING!!!’

Shut up now, and you might still save half your life.

“Tch, such a crybaby,” Zhu Ke spat with irritation and walked away, rolling his eyes.

Jia Qiao had another purpose for this visit. He forcefully suppressed the rising hostility, and when he looked up again, he was back to his gentle, frail demeanor, asking the two uncles softly, “The lawyer said the will should be read publicly at the funeral. I remember Nanyu had a revised will, and I forgot where he put it. Have you… seen it?”

The phrase ‘revised will’ was like an adrenaline shot, making both Zhu Xingwang and Zhu Fulu’s eyes light up simultaneously.

“No, we haven’t seen it. Do you remember where you put it?”

“Qiao Qiao, what exactly did that will revise? Did it mention me?”

Jia Qiao shook his head blankly, “It’s been too long; I can’t recall.”

In reality, there was no such thing as a ‘revised will.’

Jia Qiao intentionally put out bait. If the person who intruded into the marital home was connected to the Zhu family, they would surely make a move again, and the markers Jia Qiao had set would then serve their purpose.

“Oh, right, is Grandma home?” Jia Qiao then asked.

Zhu Changlong, after all the detours, eventually remarried his first wife, Ji Fuling.

Ji Fuling had long since severed her feelings for the scumbag husband. She only remarried to reclaim the assets that belonged to her and her son.

She was not the biological mother of Zhu Xingwang and Zhu Fulu. After her only son passed away, Ji Fuling endured the humiliation to stay at the old Zhu residence to protect Zhu Nanyu.

Once Zhu Nanyu was able to stand on his own, Ji Fuling moved into the most secluded room, dedicating herself to simple living and reciting Buddhist scriptures. She rarely came out.

Jia Qiao walked to the simple room and smelled the tranquil sandalwood in the air, a feeling of nostalgia welling up in him.

When Zhu Nanyu first brought him back to the old Zhu residence to announce their marriage, they faced strong opposition.

They feared that once Zhu Nanyu married, he would pour all the assets into his own small family, and they did everything they could to pick faults with Jia Qiao.

“Nanyu, if you like men, playing around outside is enough. Why must you marry him?”

“Exactly, a man can’t have children. How can he carry on your line?”

“Nanyu, don’t be fooled. Look at him; he’s not someone who genuinely loves you; he just wants your money!”

“That’s great,” Zhu Nanyu was not deterred, but genuinely pleased, “If he wants money, I have plenty.”