Chapter 157 - Chapter 157: You Can’t Decide For Me
Chapter 157: You Can’t Decide For Me
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Chen Kexin had always been loyal to Lu Zhi.
But he had been so cruel to her, so he shouldn’t blame her for retaliating.
When Elder Tao heard her words, his face was so cold and angry that it could freeze the very air around it. He immediately walked to the gallery and asked someone to bring out the painting.
He looked it over carefully, but he couldn’t see any trace of fraud.
He asked suspiciously, “Are you lying to me?”
“What I said is absolutely true. If I lied, you can do whatever you want with me.” Chen Kexin said confidently. “1 heard Jiang Yining say with my own ears that she painted it and not Qi Bai!”
Elder Tao pondered in silence as his grip on the painting tightened.
After a moment, he rolled up the painting and handed it to his assistant.
“Find a few more experts to authenticate it.”
“Yes.”
After Elder Tao’s assistant left, Chen Kexin said impatiently, “Old Master Tao, Lu Zhi cheated you of so much money. You mustn’t let him off. Jiang Yining was also an accomplice. You must settle the score with them both!”
Settle the score?
What with?
This painting had been entrusted to the auction house, not in Lu Zhi’s name for sure.
Even if they found out that the painting was a fake, he could only hold the auction house responsible.
The consignor would be long gone by then.
As for Lu Zhi, he would have already thought of a strategy that hid his involvement from the start.
He was doomed to suffer this time even if he was unwilling.
Lu Zhi was indeed cunning…
The Phantom incident was barely over, and he already started a new round of attacks!
Elder Tao was bleeding from his heart, but his face was as calm as a still lake as he glanced at Chen Kexin and asked, “Aren’t you from the Lu family? 1 remember that you like Lu Zhi, right? Why did you expose his scam?”
“Because he doesn’t love me back and I want revenge!”
Chen Kexin’s eyes were filled with madness.
Elder Tao chuckled and took out his name card. He handed it to her and said, “I’ll deal with tonight’s matter. Please contact me in future if you have any information. In return, I will give you whatever you want as long as I can afford it.”
Chen Kexin said resolutely, “1 don’t want anything from you except to help me kick Jiang Yining out of the Lu family.”
“Deal,” Elder Tao agreed readily.
Chen Kexin bit her lower lip, her heart filled with hatred and determination.
From this moment on, she would work with anyone who could help her get rid of Jiang Yining!
Jiang Yining just need to wait for her retribution!
Back at the Lu residence…
As expected, Lu Zhi kept his word and wrote Jiang Yining a check for 200 million yuan.
Jiang Yining was about to take the check from him happily when he suddenly withdrew his hand.
“Lu Zhi, you miser! You earned more than three billion yuan so easily and you can’t even bear to give me a fraction of that?” Jiang Yining asked angrily.
“Of course, I can give it to you,” Lu Zhi replied calmly. “After you explain to me what’s the deal with you and Xiao Lang.”
It wasn’t that he mind her being close with other men. After all, they were a fake couple and had no feelings for each other.
But in front of other people, he would always protect her and never allow anyone to say anything bad about her.
“Xiao Lang? What deal can exist between me and him?”
Jiang Yining felt a little guilty guessing that Lu Zhi had found out about her transaction with Xiao Lang.
Had she been found out?
Seeing that Jiang Yining did not dare to look at him, Lu Zhi held her chin and forced her to look at him.
“Who did you go to the auction with tonight?”
When Jiang Yining heard this, she knew that he must have seen her with Xiao Lang.
Denying it would only worsen his misunderstanding. But she couldn’t tell him the truth either.
Lu Zhi looked at her wandering eyes and guessed that she was trying to lie to him. He said in a deep voice, “I’ll give you three seconds to answer my question. If you don’t, I’ll just send someone to investigate.”
“Three, two…”
Jiang Yining didn’t expect him to be so pushy.
Her forehead was covered in sweat.
“One,” The last countdown came out from Lu Zhi’s thin and cold lips.
Jiang Yining braced herself and said loudly, “I owe Xiao Lang a favor. I returned the favor by going to the auction with him!”
“What kind of favor do you owe him?” Lu Zhi asked.
Jiang Yining secretly heaved a sigh of relief and mumbled, “Why are you asking so many questions? I’m not a criminal. Didn’t we agree not to invade each other’s privacy?”
“I was the one who suggested the agreement, so naturally, the scope is defined by me.” Lu Zhi said bossily. “Xiao Lang is very close to the Tao family, and I’m still fighting with the Toa family. Wouldn’t he have ulterior motives when he’s so close to you at a time like this? For the sake of Lu Corporation and your personal safety, stay away from him in future.”
“Why should I?”
Jiang Yining knew very well that Xiao Lang would never help the Tao family fight against the Lu family!
If he wanted to help them, he wouldn’t have lent her 200 million yuan during the Phantom crisis.
“Because in this family, I make the decisions.” Lu Zhi enunciated every word.
“You can’t decide for me. Lu Zhi, I can decide who 1 want to be friends with. Don’t even think about interfering in my matters.”
Jiang Yining would indulge him in other matters, but she would never compromise her freedom to choose her friends.
Lu Zhi eyes narrowed instantly, and anger and displeasure filled his handsome face.
The air suddenly felt heavy and cold to the point of freezing.
The servants and bodyguards around them didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly.
But Jiang Yining wasn’t afraid of him. She reached out and snatched the check from him. “I’m not having dinner, you can eat by yourself.”
After she said that, she ran upstairs and left Lu Zhi alone in the huge living room.
The words she had just said kept echoing in his ears.
After a long time, the corners of his lips curled into a cold smile.
Well done, Jiang Yining, for having a fight with him over someone as unrelated as Xiao Lang.
He would really like to know which was tougher: his methods or her relationship with Xiao Lang?
Lu Zhi then looked at Ah Man and said, “Find out what Xiao Lang has been up to lately. The more detailed, the better.”
“Yes.” Ah Man nodded respectfully while she secretly complained in her heart if CEO Lu was jealous…
But the young madam had also been blind. It was so obvious that CEO Lu wasn’t stopping her from making friends. He just felt that his position was threatened, and he protected it out of instinct.
Persons engaged in the game were often confused while the onlookers could always see clearly.
Ah Man felt that she should remind the young madam in private if she got the chance.
This was so that the grass didn’t get trampled when the two elephants fought.
Jiang Yining closed her bedroom door and thought about what Lu Zhi had just said. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that he was becoming more overbearing and unreasonable.
She was not his possession.
What right did he have to decide who she could associate with?
After wallowing in her frustration for a while, she shook her head to clear her mind and then turned on her laptop and opened a tracking software.
This was her real purpose of going to the auction.
The 1-million-yuan mission she accepted previously on the dark web was to investigate Yan Shumo’s extramarital affair.
She took advantage of the climaxes during the auction and bribed someone to splash water on Yan Shumo while she swap out his phone.
After installing a tracking app on his phone, she swapped it back.
If she observed Yan Shumo’s movements carefully over the next few days, she should be able to locate the love nest that he shared with his mistress very quickly.
Jiang Yining was engrossed in her work when suddenly, there was a knock on her door.
She quickly turned off her computer screen, walked to the door, and opened it.
It was the housekeeper.
“Young Madam, someone came to the house for you tonight and asked me to give you this.”
The housekeeper sneakily handed her a key pendant.
Jiang Yining’s expression changed instantly. “Where’s that person now?”
“He has left,” The housekeeper said. “Don’t worry, Young Madam. I didn’t tell anyone.”
One look at the visitor’s attire told the housekeeper that he was no ordinary person.
Moreover, the visitor kept asking for Jiang Yining.
The housekeeper figured that the matter was not simple, so he dismissed the others and met the visitor alone.
“What else did he say?”
“He said that they’ll come and find you again. But the visitor won’t be him next time but Mr. Gu.” The housekeeper then asked casually, “Young Madam, who is Mr. Gu?”
“Someone I know.” Jiang Yining was slightly flustered.
This key pendant was her birthday present from Jiang Rou.
She did not bring it with her when she ran away from the Gu residence.
The only people who could get their hands on it were people from the Gu family.
Its appearance now meant that the Gu family had found her..