Chapter Nine: Are You Truly Willing to Die?

Mu Xianghua looked at me with a mixture of suspicion and doubt, as if trying to confirm whether I truly had the courage to do what I was about to attempt.

I met his gaze calmly.

“You dare? Are you really willing to die for this?” Mu Ya refused to believe it.

I replied serenely, “Want to find out?”

She fell silent.

Mu Xianghua’s face twitched, as if he had run out of options.

Finally, he relented and stepped back, watching me leave the room while still issuing a threat.

“I’ll give you one night to think it over. Don’t even think about running away—don’t forget your brother is still in the hospital.”

He had found my weak spot. How could I possibly escape?

But I had no intention of running.

Once outside, I headed straight to the hotel, going directly to room 2201 on the twenty-second floor.

The door was opened by a woman.

“You’ve finally come, Yanyan.”

“I almost didn’t make it out,” I said, stepping inside and closing the door casually behind me.

“What’s going on?”

Seeing the worry etched on her face, a warm feeling stirred within me.

She was a close confidante of my mother’s.

Hong Yi.

Also one of my mother’s key allies, holding a critical position in the company.

In the previous life, she had come to see me, revealing some troubling truths about my father, hinting at his wrongdoings.

But back then, I was trapped in a messy marriage. Just as I was ready to talk to her seriously, she disappeared without a trace.

No one knew where she had gone.

Within the entire company, only Hong Yi still stood with my mother; the rest had long been bought off by Mu Xianghua.

“Yanyan, I didn’t expect you to suddenly reach out and ask to meet here. What made you come to your senses all of a sudden? Did your father do something?”

Hong Yi was sharp and immediately guessed the cause.

Since I intended to work with her, there was no point in hiding anything.

I laid out my current predicament in full detail.

Hong Yi was furious after hearing it all. “That bastard! I always knew he was no good. The moment your mother had her accident, he sent me abroad to manage a branch. If it weren’t for my capabilities and achievements, I wouldn’t have been able to come back!”

I understood my father’s calculations all too well.

“He’s afraid you won’t submit to him. He also wants to use your absence to win over the company’s other key players.”

Hong Yi’s expression darkened.

“He’s succeeded in doing so.”

Hearing this, I realized the company’s situation must be dire. “Auntie Hong, do you know about the new energy development project?”

“How do you know about that?”

Hong Yi was surprised. I replied vaguely, “I overheard Zhou Chenyang talking about it.”

Actually, it was something Hong Yi had told me in the previous life.

But this time, Hong Yi didn’t suspect anything. “Your father is useless. He’s nowhere near your mother’s level when it comes to managing the company. Nobody believed in the new energy project, but he insisted on taking it, and it ended up losing money. To appease the shareholders, he said he would take responsibility for the losses and did manage to cover the hole.”

“How did he manage that?”

Hong Yi sneered coldly. “By robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

She stood up and poured me a glass of water.

Holding the cup, I was surprised. “He really dared to do that? Didn’t he fear the truth would come to light one day?”

“That’s still better than being kicked out of the CEO position by the shareholders’ accusations.”

“Auntie Hong, tell me exactly what he’s done.”

Hong Yi was candid. “As far as I know, besides owning this company, he has another shell company for money laundering…”

We talked through the entire night.

Unfortunately, though she knew a lot of what Mu Xianghua had done, she had no hard evidence.

He lacked ability but was cautious and meticulous in his schemes.

By the time dawn broke, we reluctantly paused our conversation.

Hong Yi said, “I don’t know what you’re planning, but whatever it is, remember: I’m on your side.”

“Thank you.”

“This here,” she handed me a document, “It’s not enough to convict your father, but it’ll be enough to scare him.”

This was an unexpected boon—a bargaining chip for negotiations.

After bidding Hong Yi farewell, I hurried home. At the door, I saw my luggage tossed carelessly in the living room.

Mu Xianghua stood there, dressed sharply in a suit.

“Take your luggage and go back to the Mu family now. As for your mother’s memorial tablet, I will have someone come to retrieve it. She was mine in life and will be mine in death. I will never let her leave this place.”

Mu Ya curled her lips. “I don’t see what the fuss is about. In the end, the tablet will be brought back anyway. Honestly, you’re crazy—still fussing over your mother even after her death. Does she hold a grudge against you or what?”

“Ya Ya,” Gong Yue reprimanded softly but firmly, then looked at me. “Yanyan has come back. Looks like she’s made up her mind.”

Looking at this family of three, I felt suffocated. I must be insane to agree to leave my mother’s memorial tablet here.

I stepped into the living room and handed over the file in my hand.

“Before you go to pick up Mom’s tablet, Father, you should take a look at this.”

Mu Xianghua glanced at it disdainfully, clearly not interested.

I mouthed a single word.

“—New energy.”

His expression shifted slightly as he took the file and glanced through it before quickly snapping it shut.

His face darkened considerably.

“Where did you get this?”

“Are you going to negotiate here?” I looked at Mu Ya and Gong Yue and shrugged indifferently. “I don’t mind. Does Father?”

Mu Xianghua’s face flickered through various expressions before he gave me a grim look.

“Go to the study.”

Without another word, he turned and walked upstairs.

Mu Ya blocked my path. “What did you say to Dad? He never lets anyone near his study—not even Mom. What dirty trick did you use?”

I gave her a dismissive glance, too tired to argue. She was stubborn, but Gong Yue was no fool—she pulled Mu Ya aside.

“Stop making trouble. Your father is still waiting upstairs.”

I looked at her deeply. The most fearsome enemy was never Mu Ya.

It was Gong Yue.

She had pushed my mother out, bore only one daughter, yet after decades of marriage with Mu Xianghua, she still held his heart firmly. She even made him overlook the son he once cherished most.

Her cunning was truly terrifying.

In the study, Mu Xianghua sat sullenly on the sofa, surprisingly calm and not angry with me.

“How much do you know?”

I blinked. “Not much. Just curious to see how much your father could achieve in the company without Mom, so I asked Zhou Chenyang to help me check.”

“He helped you?”

“He’s unfaithful to me emotionally but has never shortchanged me materially. And this matter doesn’t harm him, so why wouldn’t he help?”

Of course, it was a lie.

I couldn’t reveal Hong Yi’s involvement, so I pinned the blame on Zhou Chenyang instead.

Sure enough, Mu Xianghua fell into deep thought after hearing this.

I guessed he was brainstorming now.

Perhaps even beginning to spin conspiracies.