Chapter 107#
“Whether it’s worth it or not isn’t that important.”#
The guard glanced at him inconspicuously.
“Your father, Qin Yanchen.”
Qin Mu’s footsteps faltered slightly.
He hadn’t expected that the person coming to bail him out would actually be Qin Yanchen.
Logically, for someone like him whose case was so serious and egregious, bail shouldn’t have been granted; he shouldn’t even have been allowed to see family members. He truly didn’t know what kind of means Qin Yanchen had used to get him out.
Behind the door, sure enough, was that familiar yet distant face.
Qin Yanchen sat on a chair, the cold white light of the incandescent lamp hitting his stark features. Hearing the sound, he slowly raised his head, and after a brief exchange of looks with Qin Mu, he led the way out.
Qin Mu shrugged and followed behind with an air of indifference.
A low-profile black Maybach traveled through the dark night.
Time ticked away, minute by minute, until they were nearly at the old family estate.
Qin Yanchen spoke softly:
“The Old Master has passed away.”
Qin Mu’s slightly lowered eyelids flickered.
The car pulled up next to the main house. Qin Mu looked up toward the gate; the interior was brightly lit and crowded with people. Qin Zheng stood at the very edge of the corner, his figure hidden in the shadows.
As if sensing a gaze, Qin Zheng turned and locked eyes with Qin Mu across the sea of people.
A few seconds later, he looked away as if nothing had happened.
Qin Mu opened the door and got out of the car, entering with Qin Yanchen. During the few steps they walked side-by-side, Qin Yanchen glanced at him quietly. The moment they stepped through the main entrance, he withdrew his gaze and said coldly, “The will will be read tomorrow.”
A will?
Thinking of that document, Qin Mu curled his lips and spared him a glance.
The Old Master’s death wasn’t exactly sudden; his illness had long been beyond cure. He had been snatched back from the gates of hell several times already and was like a spent arrow at the end of its flight. At 8:05 tonight, he passed away after resuscitation efforts failed.
The massive living room was packed. People were waiting to enter the room one by one according to the closeness of their kinship to bid the Old Master a final farewell.
Qin Mu’s arrival made the air even more tense. Fleeting gazes swirled around him, all secretly taking note of the mottled, dried bloodstains on his body and face. Qin Mu being taken into custody for bribery was major news; there wasn’t a single person present who didn’t know about it.
How long had it been, and he had already transformed from a noble young master into a common thug?
A sense of regret flickered in the eyes of everyone present, yet deep down, there was a hidden, profound sense of disdain and schadenfreude.
The door opened, and a lawyer stepped out, standing by the railing on the second floor.
Qin Zheng withdrew his gaze and began walking toward the staircase. Before his outstretched hand could touch the banister—
A sharp female voice abruptly cut him off.
“Since when does the son of a mistress get to go ahead of the legitimate eldest grandson?”
Yu Shu slowly descended from the floor above.
She wore a long black dress, her hair pinned up meticulously. The pearl necklace at her chest shimmered with a moist, cold light under the lamps. There was no extra expression on her well-maintained face, but her eyes looked as if they were quenched in ice.
Such blunt words were like an invisible slap delivered hard across Qin Zheng’s face, catching Qin Yanchen in the process.
Whispers broke out. Usually, Yu Shu valued appearances above all else and would never expose family scandals so bluntly.
Qin Zheng stood rooted to the spot, his face turning pale as the murmurs pierced him like sharp swords.
In the next second, Qin Yanchen stepped forward. His face held a faint, reddened anger as he rebuked her in a low voice, “Do you have to make a scene on a day like this? The house is full of people today—”
Yu Shu glared at him coldly. Standing on the steps, she looked down at the man she had been married to for nearly thirty years.
A loveless marriage is tragic, but even a tragic marriage cannot be built upon betrayal.
If Qin Yanchen had been loyal to her and respected her for a lifetime, Yu Shu believed she wouldn’t have reached this point.
The rules and etiquette she had been taught her whole life were nothing more than a pile of incorporeal shackles. The tragedy was that Yu Shu had lived for over forty years and was only just realizing this truth.
She curled her lips into a cold smirk and threw a folder of documents at Qin Yanchen’s face.
The papers rustled as they hit the floor, scattering everywhere.
Yu Shu announced word by word, clear and powerful:
“Let’s get a divorce.”
Qin Yanchen’s eyes widened, looking at the cold indifference in the woman’s eyes with disbelief. These were the words he had yearned for half his life. This marriage, which had been nothing but Qin Linze’s stubborn insistence, had finally been declared over by Yu Shu’s own mouth.
But at this moment, Qin Yanchen felt his limbs grow stiff, unable to move his body.
Yu Shu didn’t bother with him as he stood there stunned. She walked right past him toward Qin Mu.
Taking Qin Mu by the wrist, she turned and headed for the stairs.
Seeing that Qin Yanchen was offering no reaction, Qin Zheng could no longer endure it and spoke up to stop them: “What right does Qin Mu have?! He committed such a massive mistake, and he’s still under investigation. Do you know how much the Qin Group’s stock price has dropped because of him—”
Yu Shu stopped in her tracks. She turned and looked coldly at the person she had always looked down upon.
The contempt in her eyes was undisguised: “So what? Even if Qin Mu murdered someone or committed arson, his status will always be one rank higher than yours.”
She tilted her chin up, eyeing Qin Zheng dismissively. “You—remember your place.”
Having said that, she pulled Qin Mu toward the second floor, her high heels stepping firmly on the stairs, emitting one crisp tap after another.
Qin Zheng’s fingertips tightened into a fist, his eyes fixed deathly on their retreating backs. That sound of footsteps felt as if it were treading heavily upon his heart, step by step, leaving it mangled and bloodied.
The funeral proceeded in an orderly fashion.
In the early morning of the following day, a fine drizzle fell from the sky.
Qin Mu held a large black umbrella, the veins on the back of his hand prominent. His eyes were downcast and weary, his face devoid of expression.
Yu Shu stood in front of him, wearing a black form-fitting pencil skirt with a white flower pinned to her chest. The black umbrella covered her securely, yet many strands of rain were still blown by the wind to dampen her face.
Everyone was immersed in the atmosphere of sorrow. Qin Yanchen knelt on the ground, his face covered in either rain or tears as they trickled down his cheeks.
The ceremony ended. The photo on the tombstone had been washed bright by the rain; the old man’s gaze was firm, a confident smile curling at his lips.
Qin Mu looked at the photo as if silently meeting his gaze.
As the crowd dispersed, Yu Shu walked down the mountain side-by-side with him.
After the rain, the mountain path had become slippery and muddy. Yu Shu’s high heels made the walk difficult, so Qin Mu supported her as they walked down slowly.
The two gradually fell behind the group.
The rain slowly stopped, revealing a vast stretch of azure sky.
Yu Shu kept her head lowered, her expression calm. “My flight is the day after tomorrow.”
Qin Mu gave a casual “Mm.”
“Are you coming with me?”
Qin Mu refused without much thought: “No. Take Qin Zhao with you, and take good care of yourself.”
After a moment of silence, Yu Shu let out a slow sigh.
“Is it worth it, doing so much for Jian Yunchen?”
Qin Mu didn’t look up and didn’t answer immediately.
He didn’t know.
He wasn’t sure if it was worth it.
“I wanted to do it, so I did,” he said. “Whether it’s worth it or not isn’t that important.”
Yu Shu choked up, not expecting the Qin family to actually produce a romantic.
She took a slow, deep breath:
“I’ll be taking Jian Xin with me as well.”