Leaking the Plot
How did you know
Li Jing stood at the doorway, coughing until her lungs were about to come out.
On the sofa, the two people acting as if no one else was around while being intimate with one another finally separated and smiled at each other.
Luo Ke tidied her clothes and reached out to pull Lin Sifei, “Let’s go.”
Lin Sifei walked by her side, thought for a moment, then took a jacket and draped it over her.
“It’s not cold today.”
“I know, but your right hand just scabbed over. If you bump it somewhere later and knock the scab off, you’ll be in pain.”
As she spoke, she helped Luo Ke pull the clothes tight.
The car followed the highway, driving unimpeded all the way into the Luo family residence. Lin Sifei looked at the sculpture; this time her mood was somewhat different.
She pulled on Luo Ke’s arm, “Is this residence your Mom and Dad’s?”
“Sort of, but originally my Dad bought it for Grandma1.” Luo Ke looked at the sculpture in the courtyard, a bit of nostalgia revealing itself in her eyes. “My Mom went to hire the sculptor for this; I even climbed up it to play in the past.”
She chuckled softly, holding Lin Sifei’s hand, “Let’s go, let’s go inside.”
As soon as they entered the door, Old Madame Luo was sitting on the sofa with a cup placed in front of her. The Nanny Auntie opened the door, and her face turned bitter when she saw Luo Ke. “Miss Luo, you’re here. Hurry and take a look at the Old Madame; these past two days she hasn’t been eating or sleeping well, and I don’t know what’s going on.”
Luo Ke lowered her eyes, her brows slightly furrowed. She pulled Lin Sifei along and walked to the side of the sofa.
“Grandma, why aren’t you eating? It’s bad for your body.”
“Living like this, what use is a healthy body? I might as well die early, then I wouldn’t have to be in such a difficult spot.” Old Madame Luo looked ahead with hollow eyes, her eye sockets reddening uncontrollably as she pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her tears.
Luo Ke took a deep breath, reached out to support her shoulder, and stood somewhat awkwardly, watching her cry.
Lin Sifei was paying attention to her emotions and realized she was falling into self-blame. She reached out, tugged her arm, and pulled her into her embrace.
“What did Grandma call us here for? Surely it wasn’t just to let us watch Grandma cry, right?”
The hand Old Madame Luo was using to wipe her tears gripped tighter. She hammered one hand on her knee and began to wail, “God really can’t stand the sight of me! Letting my child be so possessed by ghosts confusing the apertures of his heart2, and even making me lower my old face like this—how can I even say it!”
“Grandma.” Luo Ke reached out wanting to help her up, but her hand was grabbed by Lin Sifei.
Lin Sifei looked into her eyes and saw her wavering.
“Luo Ke, we have already made a decision regarding the Luo family’s matters; you cannot change it again. Conscience is the most useless thing, because they don’t have a conscience either. The business world is like this, and so is the Luo family. Don’t be muddled.”
Lin Sifei reached out and pulled her behind her back, looking at Old Madame Luo. “You don’t need to pretend to be pitiful in front of Luo Ke; we all know clearly what you are like. Luo Shengping hired a hitman to harm someone, causing Luo Ke to end up in the hospital. She just had stitches on her head and her hand is broken, yet how could a Grandma who loves her granddaughter so much still make her ride in a car to come over here? Since she arrived, there hasn’t been even a single word of concern.”
Old Madame Luo looked at Luo Ke, who was covered in injuries, and a sorrowful expression of betrayal appeared on her face. “If that’s how you think, then I might as well just die. If the child I raised from a young age thinks like this, what am I even living for?!”
“I said those words. You didn’t raise me, and there is nothing worth my respect. Whether you live or die is your business. We came today to talk about Luo Shengping’s matter.” Lin Sifei tilted her head up slightly.
This Old Madame Luo was crying miserably; in comparison, no matter how one looked at it, it seemed like Lin Sifei was not respecting the old and cherishing the young3, but relying on power to bully people.
Luo Ke watched Old Madame Luo shed tears, her heart feeling blocked up. She sat on the sofa and asked the Nanny Auntie to bring another handkerchief over.
“Grandma, stop crying. Second Uncle’s matter cannot be glossed over this time; he went too far.”
“Your Second Uncle didn’t intend to harm you; he was just unable to vent his anger. Our family was originally fine, but look at it now.” Old Madame Luo grabbed Luo Ke’s hand and couldn’t help crying again. “This family isn’t a family anymore.”
“Lin Sifei is the person I like. I have already taken her as my family. By doing this, isn’t Second Uncle just looking down on me?”
Old Madame Luo raised her head quickly. “You can’t say that. Your Second Uncle just does bad things out of a good heart4. It was the same when your Dad took him out to do business back then; he came back and told me his younger brother was too stupid and hard to teach.”
“Doing bad things out of a good heart?” Lin Sifei let out a cold laugh. “So trying to kill me is a good intention.”
Old Madame Luo glared angrily at Lin Sifei, wanting to argue with her.
Luo Ke held her hand. “Grandma, Second Uncle begged you to come to me about this matter. It’s very simple. I can help him cover up this incident, but he can no longer hold onto the Luo Corporation shares.”
Old Madame Luo’s eyes immediately widened. “What did you say? Luo Ke! I raised you until you were this big; are you trying to be a white-eyed wolf5?!”
“You can scold me however you like. A Director of the Luo Corporation hiring a hitman to harm someone—once such a report comes out, the Luo Corporation will suffer a fatal blow. He must go in order to save the Luo Corporation.”
“Then can’t you just suppress the matter?”
“This is a public prosecution case6; it’s not something that goes away just because I don’t pursue it. Even if I help, I can only help him reduce the impact of this incident and shift the charges onto those people who took the job.”
Old Madame Luo grabbed her hand forcefully. “Think of another way; he is your Second Uncle!”
Luo Ke looked at her eyes shimmering with tears and her white hair.
Luo Ke pursed her lips slightly and lowered her eyes. “If he doesn’t transfer his shares, the Luo Corporation will drop a thousand zhang in one fall7. Not just me, but the entire Luo family will be finished. We will go from a top-tier group to becoming just a few small companies, just like when I first took over.”
Old Madame Luo looked at her and released her hand dejectedly. “Is this the only way?”
“Yes.”
Old Madame Luo took a deep breath, her eyes looking at the tabletop. “I’m afraid your Second Uncle won’t agree.”
This meant that she agreed.
Luo Ke’s heart suddenly relaxed. She looked at the old woman in front of her and closed her eyes helplessly.
This was the trap she had set. Upon hearing that it would affect the Luo Corporation and affect the Luo family’s wealth, she immediately gave up her own son. What a truly loving mother.
Luo Ke laughed coldly in her heart; to think she had even wavered for a second.
“I thought Grandma was here to negotiate on behalf of Second Uncle today.”
Old Madame Luo revealed a hateful expression. “Which one of them trusts me?”
After biting and grinding her teeth8, she hurriedly restrained her expression and looked at Luo Ke. “I will try to persuade your Second Uncle again.”
Luo Ke lowered her eyelashes, picked up the bag beside her, and placed a document on the table. “I have prepared the document. After Second Uncle signs it, Grandma, please have someone send it to the company. Once I finish the process, this matter will be over.”
Old Madame Luo looked at the document on the table and took it calmly, even with a hint of joy. “This won’t affect the Luo Corporation then, right?”
“It won’t.” Luo Ke smiled.
Old Madame Luo was somewhat dazed; she hadn’t seen a smile like that from Luo Ke before. In the past, Luo Ke would occasionally smile in front of her, but she didn’t know when it started that she always kept a cold face.
She withdrew her gaze and didn’t pay it any mind. “I’ll send it over once I get it done. You should stay and have a meal.”
Luo Ke stood up, shook her head, and pulled up Lin Sifei. “I still have things to do, I’ll go back first.”
“Eating a meal won’t delay anything.”
“No.”
Luo Ke led Lin Sifei and walked straight to the door. Once out the door, her footsteps quickened. It wasn’t until she sat in the car that she suddenly slumped over the steering wheel and let out a long breath.
Lin Sifei patted her shoulder. “It’s okay now. It will be resolved soon.”
Luo Ke turned her head and smiled at her, then started the car.
Lin Sifei sat in the passenger seat, thinking about Old Madame Luo’s reaction just now, and curled her lips. “I didn’t expect this old lady to value the Luo Corporation so much; I thought she only cared about her son.”
In the plot of the text before, this old lady had her heart broken worrying over her children; supporting a bunch of straw bags must be hard.
“What she values isn’t the Luo Corporation, but her money and her status. If the Luo Corporation drops a thousand zhang and returns to how it was when I first took over, that means she is just an old lady with a bit of money living in a small villa. But now, she is the Grandmother of the Luo Corporation’s President; wherever she goes, there is a crowd of people chasing after her. She can wear evening gowns in glamour to watch shows, buy jewelry, and listen to everyone’s flattery.”
Lin Sifei turned sideways and saw Luo Ke’s eye sockets gradually turning red.
“Luo Ke.” She murmured.
Luo Ke suddenly jerked the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes. Inertia caused the two of them to rush forward, only to be bounced back onto the seats by the seatbelts.
Lin Sifei worriedly embraced Luo Ke. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Luo Ke gasped for breath, somewhat choking with sobs. “I just feel that living in a place like this is too terrible. I flow with the same blood as them, I’m even that kind of person too, I…”
“You are not.” Lin Sifei cupped her face, making her look at herself. “You are not that kind of person like them, and you also flow with different blood.”
“What?” Luo Ke revealed a confused expression.
“Your Dad is not her child.”
Lin Sifei pulled Luo Ke out of the car and contacted Special Assistant Lin to come drive the car away. She and Luo Ke sat in a nearby coffee shop, sitting face to face.
Luo Ke was somewhat anxious. “What did you mean by what you just said?”
“Your Dad was a child your Grandma adopted.” Lin Sifei licked her lips and told her the plot that was only written at the end of the book. “Don’t you find it strange? Why was your Dad so good to the old lady, yet she treats you like this?”
“Isn’t this because they are insatiably greedy? I treated them well for too long, and they took all of this for granted.”
“But when you were still a child fostered by her side, she treated you very strangely. No family would teach a child to bow from a young age; even towards elders, it’s just respect, not being humble like you.”
Lin Sifei scratched her hair, not knowing how to say it best. She went directly to the main topic. “Your Dad has two older sisters above him. Actually, the old lady was pregnant with more than just two earlier, but they all miscarried. She heard there was a folk saying called ‘Songzi9,’ which is to go adopt a boy; this child will ‘send a son,’ and in the coming year, one will conceive their own boy.”
“Your Dad was adopted just like that. So after Luo Shengping was born, the Luo family didn’t treat your Dad well. But thinking of the grace of upbringing, your Dad treated your Grandma quite well and also helped your Aunts and Uncles a bit. But later, as the business grew bigger and bigger, they felt more and more uncomfortable in their hearts.”
“Coincidentally, your parents had an accident, leaving only you as a child. They wanted to swallow the company, but not a single one knew how to do business; instead, they owed debts, so they thought of you. They sold off the companies that could be sold, not to fill the debt, but to embezzle it privately. They just didn’t expect that after you took over the company, the Luo Corporation actually rose up again.”
Luo Ke looked at her in a daze, as if she couldn’t react.
Lin Sifei reached out and grabbed her hand, waiting for her to digest this news.
“Actually, your Dad was good to them because he hoped to cut off all the debts of gratitude with him, so that in the future when you grew up, you would have no more relationship with them.”
Luo Ke raised her hand to support her forehead. “How do you know?”
A simple question, yet it made Lin Sifei panic. She… how should she say it?
The author has something to say:
Recently I have to start preparing for exams, getting gradually busy, so I might not be able to——reply in the comment section, but I will read them! Thank you for always liking it. In this chapter’s comment section, I’ll send eleven red envelopes (reflecting the pen name, haha), love you guys.
Yesterday there were so many little angels! Shocked, holding and rubbing10 against you guys.
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