“What’s wrong?”
Mo Xuan, who had just returned, saw Luo Muqi staring at her phone and went over to hold her hand.
“Nothing, brother.”
Luo Muqi smiled as usual, giving Mo Xuan a psychological hint. She was merely an assistant in the matter of hypnosis, and since Luo Shiya didn’t seem to care, she saw no reason to dwell on it either.
When Luo Shiya established the pharmaceutical laboratory, it was not only to expand their market in the medical field but also to serve the sisters’ personal interests.
The incense and drugs targeting Mo Xuan were all produced in this laboratory, exclusively for the sisters’ private use.
With their wealth and the Luo Family’s status, those involved naturally dared not spread the word. Besides, they weren’t fools—the quantities the sisters requested were clearly intended for one person. To them, it might just seem like the peculiar preferences of these wealthy heiresses.
After all, while these drugs might be considered contraband, they caused minimal harm to the body. The incense was purely for calming the nerves, though the dosage was… slightly excessive.
Moreover, given the Luo Family’s standing, such matters were hardly worth mentioning.
Luo Muqi looked at Mo Xuan, and a thought suddenly crossed her mind…
If, by any chance, he were to get angry and want to leave, even if it meant he would hate her, she would still keep him by her side…
“What’s wrong?” Mo Xuan noticed Luo Muqi’s rare moment of distraction and reached out to touch her forehead. “Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, I’m fine. I was just thinking about something,” Luo Muqi held Mo Xuan’s hand. “Brother, you really won’t leave us, right?”
“Why are you asking such a silly question?” Mo Xuan chuckled. “After all this time, how could you still think I’d leave?”
A pathological dependence often comes with a deep sense of insecurity, always fearing that the person one cherishes might leave.
Even though they had children with Mo Xuan and he was almost entirely integrated into their lives, Luo Muqi still occasionally worried that he might leave.
Those years without Mo Xuan were something she never wanted to experience again…
“Let’s go, I’ll take you out for something delicious,” Mo Xuan’s gentle voice brought Luo Muqi back to reality. “Didn’t you say the other day that you wanted to eat grilled steak? Shall we go?”
“No, brother, I feel like having candied hawthorn instead.”
Luo Muqi seemed to have a particular fondness for candied hawthorn. Not just that one time at the amusement park, but whenever they went out together, she would ask Mo Xuan to buy her one.
He probably didn’t remember the time when Luo Muqi had wanted to see her parents but couldn’t, and she cried in the courtyard. He had brought her candied hawthorn to comfort her.
When she wasn’t with Mo Xuan, she had gone out to buy it herself, but for some reason, it didn’t taste the same. She would only take one bite and lose interest.
It was then she realized that what truly made it sweet was the person, not the candied hawthorn itself…
Qin Ni had been wondering if Mo Xuan would ever remember her, his biological mother. At this moment, she thought more about her younger son.
But she was overthinking it. Mo Xuan sometimes even forgot about his beloved daughter, let alone the rest of the family. Thinking about them would only bring him discomfort.
When she found out that Mo Xuan was with Luo Muqi, Qin Ni felt that her actions in the sanatorium back then were nothing more than a clown’s performance.
Back then, they had let Mo Jinpeng take Su Yanran away, but now the person by Mo Xuan’s side was someone whose status and influence far surpassed even ten Su Yanrans.
Shaking her head to rid herself of these futile thoughts, Qin Ni focused on the present.
She still had some properties, jewelry, and luxury items in her name. The remaining funds from the company’s sale would take some time to arrive, and she had already made arrangements to ensure the money would go to Mo Tingting.
She hadn’t thought about running away—it was pointless. From the moment she pulled the plug on her husband’s life support, she had known how things would end.
After organizing everything, Qin Ni quickly contacted a lawyer to handle the matters on her behalf. She wasn’t sure how much time she had left.
Once that was done, Qin Ni took out her phone, intending to call her daughter, but after some thought, she decided against it.
Perhaps the hospital or the police had already notified her, but Qin Ni didn’t care anymore.
After a moment’s hesitation, she called Mo Qingqing. The call almost went unanswered before Mo Qingqing finally picked up.
“Qingqing, how are you?”
Qin Ni’s voice was hoarse, and after a brief silence, Mo Qingqing responded coldly, “What do you want?”
“Nothing, I just didn’t know who else to talk to,” Qin Ni’s expression was blank, her eyes empty. “Do you really hate me and your father that much?”
“Shouldn’t I?” Mo Qingqing laughed, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “You’re a woman yourself, and you’ve managed a company. Why couldn’t I do the same?”
“Let me tell you this, Mom. Back then, I told Mo Xuan something that was true. If you and Dad had given up on that waste Mo Jinpeng and let Mo Xuan take over the family business, I would’ve been willing to help him.”
“At least Mo Xuan wouldn’t be as useless and greedy as Mo Jinpeng, thinking everything in the Mo Family should be his.”
Whether Mo Qingqing’s words were true or not, only she knew. But bringing this up now was like twisting the knife in Qin Ni’s heart.
“If your company can’t survive, then let it go. Don’t worry, once I’ve sorted things out here, I won’t abandon you.”
Qin Ni sighed, then forced a bitter smile. “Your dad… never mind, it’s fine. As long as you’re happy.”
Mo Qingqing didn’t say anything more and simply hung up. Qin Ni didn’t know what Mo Qingqing’s situation was like in the Ye Family, but even if she did, what could she do?
Sitting in her office, Qin Ni stared out the window as the sky gradually darkened. A profound sense of emptiness and despair slowly enveloped her. The family photo on her desk, where everyone was smiling, now seemed to mock her, including her own image in the picture.
Suddenly, Qin Ni grabbed the photo and hurled it to the ground. She ignored the repeated calls and messages from Mo Tingting, eventually turning off her phone altogether.
As the sky grew darker, Qin Ni slowly got up, picked up her bag, and left. The once bustling floor was now eerily silent, and Qin Ni found it all laughable.
Mo Xuan had only done three things: handed over the evidence to her and her husband, met with Mo Changshan once, and sold his shares to Mo Qingqing.
As he had said, he had only done what needed to be done, nothing more.
Descending to the underground parking lot, Qin Ni walked aimlessly toward her car. She didn’t know where to go—home? Was that villa still a home?
As she stood there lost in thought, a shadowy figure stealthily approached her from behind. Under the hood was a man wearing a disposable mask, his eyes sunken and filled with malice.
Qin Ni didn’t truly understand Mo Jinpeng, or perhaps no one really understood the depths of his selfishness and depravity.
His revenge on Su Yanran was proof enough—he always blamed others for his mistakes, never acknowledging that he was the one at fault.
As Luo Shiya had once said, Mo Changshan was Mo Jinpeng’s last hope. He had been hiding all this time, hoping that Mo Changshan would wake up and help him. He had been lurking around Qin Ni’s company, hoping to use their twenty-plus years of mother-son relationship to at least get some money from her, even if she wouldn’t forgive him, so he could flee abroad.
But then he received an anonymous message and an email. The email contained a secretly taken photo of Mo Changshan’s body being discovered by doctors, as well as a video of Qin Ni leaving Mo Changshan’s room in a panic.
The message was brief: «The one who killed your father is Qin Ni.»
Mo Jinpeng’s bank cards had all been frozen by Qin Ni. After hiding for so long, his nerves were already frayed, and this news pushed him over the edge.
When he stabbed Su Yanran, he had done so with the mindset of “if I’m going down, you’re coming with me.” Now, knowing that Qin Ni had killed Mo Changshan and that he had no chance of escape, Mo Jinpeng was even more desperate, his hatred burning deeper than ever.
In a black car that neither he nor Qin Ni had noticed, three tall men were closely observing their every move.
“Has Sister Hui given any instructions yet?” the man in the driver’s seat asked, turning around. “What does the young lady want? When are we supposed to make our move?”
A man in the back seat was staring at his phone. After a moment, he looked up and said, “The young lady is in a meeting. Sister Hui said she’ll ask the second young lady…”
“Hurry up, or else if he makes a move, are we supposed to save him or not?”
Shortly after, the man in the back seemed to receive a message. He quickly glanced at his phone, then sighed helplessly. “The second young lady’s instructions are to wait until there’s bloodshed…”
The other two exchanged puzzled looks. Wait until there’s bloodshed… but what exactly does that mean?