C22 He Is Unwilling to Pursue the Matter Further

"Mom, I'm sorry, don't give up on me—"

Zong Jinghao was surprised for a moment. He looked down at her hands that were grabbing his collar, his gaze slowly falling on her face. She looked in pain, as if she was sick.

Zong Jinghao frowned. "Lin Xinyan?"

Lin Xinyan couldn't hear him. It was as if she had fallen into panic mode. She looked uneasy, but very soon, she regained her composure. She released Zong Jinghao and suddenly fell into deep slumber.

Zong Jinghao slowly straightened his body and looked at her for a few seconds. He turned around and walked out of the room.

Bai Zhuwei sat on the sofa with both of her hands tightly clutching the glass of water. Zong Jinghao had stayed in the bedroom for longer than she would have liked, making her feel nervous.

Shouldn't that woman be taking care of her mother in the hospital right now?

Why had she come back?

She knew that Guan Jin had been about to look for information on Lin Xinyan. But before he could send his people to A Nation, Bai Zhuwei's men had arrived first and killed the woman who had introduced her to Lin Xinyan. They made her death seem like an "accident". As if she fell down the stairs and died.

That was how Guan Jin didn't find out what happened that night.

She spent a lot of time afraid that Zong Jinghao and Lin Xinyan would spend too much time together. She bribed Lin Xinyan's neighbors to talk trash about her, causing Zhuang Zijin to eventually get admitted to the hospital. This way Lin Xinyan would not have any time to spend with Zong Jinghao.

She never expected the woman to come back from the hospital, that too so soon.

She was still being held by Zong Jinghao...

The more she thought about it, the more Bai Zhuwei's heart crumbled.

So much so that she could not restrain her emotions from appearing on her face.

Zong Jinghao came out of the room and took a look at Bai Zhuwei's perturbed face. He walked over without saying a word.

Bai Zhuwei stood up and almost blurted out what she wanted to ask. Luckily, she was still rational enough not to do it. "Is Miss Lin sick?"

Zong Jinghao didn't answer her immediately. Instead, he sat down on the sofa with his slender legs crossed. He slowly raised his eyes and looked at Bai Zhuwei.

Bai Zhuwei's heart suddenly leaped into her throat. Zong Jinghao scared her, so she carefully said, "Hao—"

His lips curled up into a faint smile. "What's wrong?"

When she saw him looking unconcerned, Bai Zhuwei calmed her nerves and tried to sit beside him. He did not stop her.

Her worried heart eased a little.

"This is the contract for the piece of land in Shallow Bay." Guan Jin handed the folder to Zong Jinghao.

The reason Bai Zhuwei had come over with Guan Jin was because he told her that Zong Jinghao wanted the documents for the land.

This piece of land was located in Shallow Bay, which was close to the mountains and the water. It was a good place for vacations and in high demand for tourism purposes, so there were many people who wanted their hands on it.

After the previous two years of bidding, Wanyue held the right to develop the land. But eventually, they did not develop it. So they decided to auction it.

However, Zong Jinghao had out of the blue asked for a contract for the plot of land, which made her a little worried.

After all, Lin Guoan had said he wanted the land when he had come to the company that day. Zong Jinghao hadn't even shown up to see him.

Lin Xinyan was Lin Guoan's daughter. Bai Zhuwei was afraid that because of Lin Xinyan, Zong Jinghao would give this land to Lin's company.

She didn't care a damn about this piece of land, but she cared about Zong Jinghao's attitude toward Lin Xinyan!

"Isn't this land supposed to be auctioned?" Bai Zhuwei asked him casually.

Although her demeanor was casual, Zong Jinghao saw through the mild probing tone.

However, he did not call her out immediately. Instead, he put his arm around her shoulders and asked him, "Zhuwei, when did you change?"

Bai Zhuwei's expression froze. What did he mean?

"I... when did I change?" Bai Zhuwei did not understand.

Zong Jinghao pinched her chin lightly, forcing her to look at him. "You wouldn't have asked me that before."

Bai Zhuwei was stunned as she met his eyes. The coldness in his eyes was something she had never witnessed before.

She could not help but become nervous. "I —"

Suddenly, she transformed from her well-behaved, sensible, and dignified self to an incoherent mess. "I'm afraid... because I'm afraid!"

She struggled out of Zong Jinghao's embrace, covered her face with her hands, and choked out in pain, "I'm afraid that you will give this land to Miss Lin, and I'm afraid that you will fall in love with her because she is your wife! I'm afraid... I'm afraid that you won't want me anymore…"

Bai Zhuwei burst into tears. She looked distressed.

This was a side of her that Zong Jinghao had never seen before.

He closed his eyes, his forehead furrowing. The expression on his face was complicated. One could not make it out at a glance.

After a long while, Bai Zhuwei's crying turned into quiet sobbing.

She knew that she had to endure what she had to, but sometimes she needed to use her tears and express her grievances to keep a man's heart.

Zong Jinghao opened his eyes, calming down.

He reached out and pulled her back into his arms. "Are you so upset?"

Bai Zhuwei sobbed in his arms. "I am just afraid I'll lose you."

Zong Jinghao sighed. "No."

She was a little scheming and calculative in her nature. Bai Zhuwei was not as pure as it seemed on the surface.

But she had been with him for years.

He didn't want to go into the details.

Inside The Room

Lin Xinyan was woken up by the ringing of her cell phone.

Hee Ruize who had sent her a message. It was a photo of the neighborhood she lived in. From the photo, it seemed like someone was talking to a woman.

Her back view...

It looked a little familiar to Lin Xinyan but she couldn't recall who it was. Just as she wondered about her identity, she felt her stomach churning.

She immediately got up and ran out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.

She threw herself against the sink and retched her guts out.

From the living room, Guan Jin was stunned to see this. Lin Xinyan had rushed out all of a sudden.

Moreover, her bathroom door was not closed. It was uncomfortable to see her lying on the floor, vomiting.

"Miss Lin is pregnant." Bai Zhuwei looked at the vomiting figure of Lin Xinyan.

She thought Zong Jinghao didn't know of this and purposely said it out loud.

"It must be the man who hugged her that day..." Bai Zhuwei suggested, deliberately speculating on the 'father' of the child in Lin Xinyan's womb.

Zong Jinghao would only hate her now.

Guan Jin, on the other hand, was so shocked that his jaw dropped. The woman Zong Jinghao married was carrying another man's child in her womb?

Would this not ruin his reputation?

He quietly raised his head and observed Zong Jinghao's face.

He had expected Zong Jinghao to be angry and annoyed, but to his surprise, he was not. He looked surprisingly calm.

Even Bai Zhuwei found his composure hard to believe.

He wasn't angry. Didn't he hate her?

"Hao…"

Zong Jinghao leaned back on the sofa. It was obvious that he didn't want to hear what she had to say.

Bai Zhuwei shut her open mouth.

Although she wanted to blurt out what she really thought, she could not say anything at all.

Feeling disgusted after all the vomiting, Lin Xinyan rinsed her mouth and walked out of the bathroom. She saw the three of them sitting in the living room. She didn't want to disturb Bai Zhuwei who was in Zong Jinghao's arms, so she turned around and entered the room.

Suddenly, like a flashbulb, something clicked in her mind. Bai Zhuwei.

She turned and looked at Bai Zhuwei at once, then back at the picture on her cell phone.

Her pupils contracted. The woman who bribed her neighbors was her?

Thinking about how she had framed her, Lin Xinyan instantly understood what was going on.

Bai Zhuwei must have felt resentful because she married Zong Jinghao and stole what was supposed to be her position.

That was why she bribed her neighbors and intentionally hurt her, causing her mother's mental health to deteriorate.

The more she thought about it, the more Lin Xinyan's chest burned.