Chapter 13#

Many things happened in the past few days.

First, He Nan’s assistant was taken away for cooking the books. Then, several major companies under He Nan’s control ran into trouble one after another—either directors were reported, or legal representatives had problems.

While He Nan was overwhelmed and unable to attend to himself, Chen Zehe also encountered the same trouble.

After all, when Old Mrs. Chen passed away suddenly, Chen Zehe had borrowed a lot of help from He Nan to compete with Chen Er. Over the years, these two parties were more or less intertwined with interests. With He Nan in trouble, Chen Zehe naturally couldn’t escape either.

The biggest villain in “The Return”—Qiao Ruoye, who was Qiao Nanqi’s cousin by blood relation—also returned from abroad and directly parachuted back to the head office with shares inherited many years ago.

This part was exactly the same as the plot at the end of the original work.

Everything proceeded step by step. Except for the male lead’s romantic storyline being completely changed by Zhao Rong, none of the plots in the original work were missed.

These had nothing to do with Zhao Rong, who was positioned as a marginal cannon fodder in the original work.

It was Chen Zehe who showed his true colors. Having really no way out, he called Zhao Rong, and only then did Zhao Rong know the progress of the plot.

After listening to Chen Zehe’s long speech with a 180-degree change in attitude, he didn’t remember any of the benefits Chen Zehe proposed, just busy yawning.

In the end, he only said: “Cousin, my brain isn’t good. Hearing these on the phone, I don’t understand.”

Chen Zehe was silent for a few seconds, his voice as low as if suppressed in his throat: “You are making me come to beg you in person.”

Zhao Rong sighed pretentiously: “I just remembered Cousin told me that some words, if not understood, are better said face to face.”

Chen Zehe lost his voice completely. There was silence on the other end of the phone, but Zhao Rong could just feel Chen Zehe gritting his teeth.

He knew why Chen Zehe was so angry, and Chen Zehe also knew why he said so.

When he was nineteen, the trajectory of the plot finally extended to him. He was taken back to the Chen family, but the Chen family ignored Zhao Ming’s existence directly. They arranged everything for Zhao Rong and took Zhao Rong to meet other members of the Chen family, but never mentioned Zhao Ming from beginning to end, as if Zhao Rong popped out of a stone without a mother.

At that time, Zhao Rong took quite a lot of money from the Chen family every month. It was easy to bear Zhao Ming’s medical expenses, but Zhao Rong didn’t want to. When he and Zhao Ming depended on each other for life, he was willing to give everything to take care of Zhao Ming. But since the Chen family recognized him back, they must acknowledge Zhao Ming.

Zhao Ming had to enter the best sanatorium and find the best doctors, but all this had to be done in the name of the Chen family, not his personal name.

At that time, Chen Fengnian died of sudden illness, and his grandmother was also seriously ill in bed because of this blow. The decision-making power of all matters was basically in the hands of his eldest cousin.

Zhao Rong called Chen Zehe and said nice words for a long time.

Chen Zehe listened silently and said leisurely: “Little Rong, Grandma is in the hospital, and I’m busy and dizzy. You said so much on the phone, I can’t quite understand.”

So Zhao Rong went to Chen Zehe’s house to find him.

When he arrived at Chen Zehe’s door, the butler told him that Chen Zehe had gone out of town, with an uncertain return date. And when Zhao Rong called Chen Zehe again, the other side either didn’t answer at all or hung up directly.

Zhao Rong knew Chen Zehe was deliberately teasing him.

But if teasing him could make Zhao Ming’s life not a joke that no one acknowledged, he could endure.

He waited in front of Chen Zehe’s house for more than a week before intercepting Chen Zehe and making Chen Zehe agree to this matter face to face. His wretched appearance at that time pleased Chen Zehe. While agreeing to him, Chen Zehe smiled very proudly.

Now that these words were spoken by Zhao Rong, how could Chen Zehe not understand?

He not only understood, but he really came.

Zhao Rong was cleaning up his small apartment, which had been idle for a year or two, with a hired cleaning lady on this day.

This kind of thing could have been entirely handed over to housekeeping, but he had many things, loved buying books, especially liked bits and pieces of small things, and some miscellaneous items kept because of nostalgia. This was a habit he had before transmigrating.

He used to like categorizing and arranging these things well. As long as he was at home, a sweeping glance full of things gave him a sense of security.

But Qiao Nanqi was completely different from him. Qiao Nanqi liked a clean and empty home, just like this person’s guarded heart where nothing could enter. Even if displaying those famous paintings, music scores, and famous wines, Qiao Nanqi would only give these things a harmless cabinet, making the huge home look more like a hotel.

Qiao Nanqi didn’t like these, so Zhao Rong could only keep them at the bottom of the box. Now back to his own place, he took them all out. The cleaning lady couldn’t place these things well, so he had to do it himself.

While others were busy in the ups and downs of the plot, Zhao Rong was also busy in his small place, so much so that when he opened the door and saw Chen Zehe, he almost didn’t react.

Zhao Rong hadn’t seen Chen Zehe for a long time.

Chen Zehe was much more haggard than in his impression. His hair was slightly long, obviously having no mind to take care of it. There was green stubble on his face, and his face was thin. At first glance, he really looked a bit pitiful.

The money in his eldest cousin’s hands over these years was not clean. Being fixed like this by Qiao Nanqi was really deserving.

If Zhao Rong hadn’t read the original work, seeing Chen Zehe like this, he might also have felt compassion—“Zhao Rong” in the original work was coaxed by Chen Zehe to take out half of his property.

He looked at Chen Zehe, with a smile on his face, calm and thoughtful: “Does Cousin want to come in and sit?”

Chen Zehe naturally had no mood, grabbing Zhao Rong’s hand as soon as he came up.

“Little Rong, do you know where half of our family’s assets went before Grandma passed away? The last person Grandma saw was you…”

Zhao Rong knew Chen Zehe would definitely ask this.

Chen Zehe didn’t think this money was with him before. Although he had been looking for who in the Chen family it was given to, he never asked Zhao Rong directly. Now he was obviously desperate.

His eldest cousin must have a lot of unfilled deficits now. If there was that half of the property, it would simply be sending charcoal in snowy weather.

He said: “I know, it’s with me.”

Chen Zehe choked for no reason.

There was still a smile on his haggard face, but his eyes rolled, seeming to subconsciously look at Zhao Rong with contempt.

“Don’t joke, how could Grandma leave it to you. Forget it, you definitely don’t know this… Qiao Nan—where is Young Master Qiao? Did you go say a few words to Young Master Qiao? I looked for the one surnamed Lu…”

His words paused, quite gritting his teeth.

“After all, you have been with him for more than a year. If you go talk, it will definitely be useful. I can give you all the benefits mentioned on the phone—”

“Can’t help, I broke up with Qiao Nanqi.” Zhao Rong pointed to the door behind him, “Don’t you think this address doesn’t look like Qiao Nanqi’s home?”

Chen Zehe’s expression went blank for a moment.

He stared at Zhao Rong, staring at him as if knowing him for the first time, his eyes gradually changing from disbelief to gloom.

He let go of Zhao Rong, immediately put away the weakness just shown, and gritted his teeth: “Are you playing me? You asked me to come beg you in person, I came, and you tell me you broke up with the one surnamed Qiao!?”

He nodded: “Not exactly breaking up, actually considered a divorce.”

Zhao Rong used to neglect proper duties and be rotten inside because he knew the original work too well, knowing Chen Zehe and these people were staring at him all the time, afraid he would achieve something. Now that it was almost the ending, he didn’t need to pretend anymore.

“Then what did you mean on the phone?”

“I just said I didn’t understand on the phone, didn’t say I agreed.”

“You are taking revenge on me for making you come beg me in person back then.”

“Yes.” He paused, and as if remembering something, added: “Oh right, even if not broken up, my words carry no weight in front of him—didn’t you know the relationship clearly when you went to find Lu Xingping first? Cousin, if you are really afraid of trouble, instead of begging me in person, you might as well go beg Qiao Nanqi in person. Don’t engage in those under-the-table actions.”

Both of them were small villains and cannon fodders, not enough to be a side dish in front of the protagonist.

This was his only piece of sincere and honest advice.

But Chen Zehe obviously didn’t listen and left in a rage.

Zhao Rong hummed a song, watching Chen Zehe’s figure disappear, only then realizing that he was a person who held grudges.

When there was no way, he would pretend to forget.

But once there was a chance to fight back, even if borrowing power to bully others, he wouldn’t miss it.