Chapter 40: Fei actually wants to seduce Lu Tian's new identity?!

"Husband... I... I know I was wrong, but I truly had no idea that the lilac tree was a token of love between you and my sister!"

"It must have been! It must be that Nurse Zhao dislikes me and deliberately kept it from me, boo-hoo~"

Even her crying sounded affected and contrived.

Nurse Zhao was bathed in a cold sweat, hurriedly explaining, "Sir, I told her. I swear on my son’s life, I truly warned the young madam."

"A bunch of idiots!"

Fei Jing had an excellent physique, his upper body muscles defined without the need for deliberate training. Wearing only a white dress shirt with a few buttons undone, his towering, imposing figure could easily make anyone submit.

He kicked Lu Youyou aside and commanded, "Plant that tree back for me. No tools allowed—dig it in with your bare hands!"

"What? Husband, my hands are so delicate. If I dig in the dirt, I will..."

"Don't hurt my son. As for your own shell, it doesn't matter if it’s ruined."

The man’s callousness was truly ruthless!

In the courtyard, Lu Youyou was left alone in a thin garment, digging at the soil mixed with jagged branches with her bare hands in the cooling night. Her well-maintained, fair skin was soon etched with bloody scratches.

In truth, she wasn't afraid of pain.

Her first year at the orphanage, a male benefactor had taken a fancy to her delicate, pretty appearance and lured her into the bathroom with ulterior motives. After the incident, the girl, not yet fully developed, had laid on the toilet seat, covered in wounds.

It was truly painful! That kind of pain is the helpless, desolate feeling of having everything beautiful you once cherished ripped away from you.

But there had been a little boy who, carrying a new Ultraman backpack his parents had bought him, ran over happily, grabbed her hand, and said, "Little sister, little sister, don't cry. From now on, big brother will protect you. I'll ask my mom and dad to be your mom and dad too, so you won't be bullied anymore."

"Ah Hao, brother..."

Lu Youyou pulled out her phone and opened a hidden album. In every photo, the girl who had grown up looked bright and pure, while the boy holding her looked tender and affectionate.

They were childhood sweethearts who grew up together. They would talk under the moonlight, dreaming that once they reached the legal age, they would marry and have children, promising each other a lifetime.

"Brother Ah Hao, do you think I’m filthy now too? But please, don't hate me, okay? Once I’ve avenged you, once I’ve completely torn Lu Tian apart, I will definitely come to find you. Just wait a little longer, wait for me!"

In the third-floor study, Chen Yi picked up the pregnancy-preservation medicine and handed it to a servant to take to Lu Youyou. He stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, sighing, "You really are heartless. Lu Youyou is only nineteen, and you’re making her plant a tree with her bare hands? Isn't that a bit too torturous?"

"That tree was saved by Tian Tian and me."

"She said if the tree blossomed, she would agree to date me. But once it withered, it would be the end."

Thus, when Fei Jing returned home from work and saw the scattered remains of the flowering tree in the courtyard, his heart had involuntarily twinged with pain. He was afraid—afraid that the feeling of losing something in the shadows of fate would truly become a reality!

Chen Yi sat across from him and poured tea. "Come on, don't be so superstitious. It’s just a flowering tree. Lu Tian is living just fine, isn't she? Even if she isn't the eldest daughter of the Lu family anymore, she can't leave you, and she won't go anywhere!"

These words were half-truth, half-false. In Chen Yi’s view, Lu Tian was the type of person who couldn't tolerate a single grain of sand in her eyes. She would either leave, or drag Fei Jing down to hell with her!

"Let’s not talk about that. Tian Tian has no place to stay outside and no money to live on; she will come back. I called you over today for another matter."

Fei Jing pushed aside his teacup and poured himself a brandy, neat. He continued, "You are the third investor in the project with the Li family of Northern Europe. There’s a bit of trouble, and I need to give you a heads-up."

"Trouble? Heh, can a duck caught in your jaws actually fly away?" Chen Yi was surprised.

Fei Jing tossed over a document. "A unicorn startup less than a month old. The founder is from Finland..." His well-defined fingers tapped emphatically on the gender column.

"A woman?"

"Yes. There have been rumors that the mysterious head of the Northern European Li family is a woman. Perhaps they want to use this project as a shell for an IPO."

As a capitalist, the ability to see through every detail was essential. He instructed Chen Yi, "Your identity isn't sensitive. This 'Rachel' will personally host a press conference tomorrow; go and probe her true identity."

"Fine, but there’s an eighty percent chance this project won't cooperate with the Fei Group. How do you plan to handle the subsequent losses?" Not to mention the business incompetent Lu Zhi, even those old fossils on the board of directors could eat Fei Jing alive one bite at a time.

"If I can't be the subcontractor, I'll be the client. If the Fei Group merges with this startup... Chen Yi, my net worth won't just be limited to this country anymore!"

He never hid his wolfish ambition.

Chen Yi laughed, "Right, it seems our President Fei is as confident in his own charm as ever."

"A woman can't manage a company well; I’m just being kind by giving her a hand," Fei Jing said with a straight face.

The next day, at the press conference venue.

Lu Tian rushed out of a taxi and headed straight for the backstage preparation area. The WeChat of a certain someone she had added in a muddle was constantly popping up with messages.

—[You ate my food, slept in my place, and took the money from my wallet. Miss Lu, are you really just going to run off like this?]

—[You scum!]

—[You don't want to take responsibility for me?]

Seeing the last message, Lu Tian couldn't hold back and yelled at her phone, "I only ate one bowl of your instant noodles and slept on your living room sofa! You wouldn't even give me a blanket, and you have the nerve to ask me to take responsibility?"

It was strange. She was someone who suffered from such severe insomnia that even strong sleeping pills didn't work. How had she managed to fall into a deep sleep while trying to leave after eating the noodles?!!

Li Yanchen’s voice message played: "My money."

"Money, money, money! I have an urgent need for it, I'll pay you back later! And didn't I leave you an IOU?"

Lu Tian yelled and shut down her phone.

Lawyer Wang walked out from the side, smiling apologetically while holding a custom-made black veil hat that covered half her face. "Miss Lu, have you found a new spring in your life?"

"In his dreams!"

On the north side of the city, in a two-bedroom apartment in an old residential complex.

The little bun squatted on the floor, resting her chin in her hands, blinking as she looked up at her useless daddy, sighing repeatedly. She shook her head. "Dad, what's going on? Is it trendy now to be a pathetic second lead? Aren't you supposed to be winning Mom back? At this rate, I reckon you'll only ever have a wife in your dreams!"

"Mm."

Li Yanchen pressed the IOU written in Lu Tian’s own hand against his chest. He turned over and lay back down.

The little bun rolled her eyes. "Daddy, what are you doing?"

"Sleeping."

"..."

"Dreaming!"

"..."

The press conference officially began.

Chen Yi held his phone, staring dumbfounded at the screen where Lu Tian was wearing the black veil hat. "Hey, hey, Old Fei, does your wife have a beauty mark on her chin too?"