CHAPTER 111: 111: (3 UPDATES)

He was sent to Canada during its coldest period.

He had made a grave mistake, so his family deliberately sent him away to suffer and be punished. The person escorting him to Canada took him to the basement of a house near Toronto’s Chinatown, left him with a few scattered Canadian Dollars and a letter of recommendation, then hastily departed.

It was a cramped room, with a small bed placed near the corner. To this day, he still remembered the sickeningly bitter, moldy smell that permeated the room.

The young man, once "the proud descendant of nobility riding through the long elm streets," had at that moment become a castaway of the family.

It was all because his elder sister-in-law, who had lost her child in a drowning accident, pointed at him and said, "Ayu is still young, don’t blame him."

He refused to admit his fault, much less apologize.

His own grandmother, looking as though she wanted to devour him, told his father, "If you don’t send this unrepentant curse away, I’ll smash my head against our ancestors’ tablets."

Lying on the cold bed, he suffered insomnia night after night. When he finally managed to sleep, he would dream of his former relatives, each of them looking at him with merciless eyes.

He soon fell ill, isolated and without support.

The young man’s pride wouldn’t allow him to yield; he stubbornly refrained from calling home.

The winters in Canada are extremely cold. He began to lose consciousness bit by bit in the room where his breath fogged the air, thinking he wouldn’t survive.

Later, he was awakened by a voice repeatedly calling, "Brother."

His mother, worried about him, had secretly entrusted Chi Tingshuang to visit. Fearing the Quan Family would discover this, Chi Tingshuang used the excuse of taking her daughter on an overseas trip. After traveling through several North American countries, she eventually found his residence in Toronto.

This unexpectedly saved his life.

Chi Tingshuang and her daughter took care of him for a long time. More than a decade had passed. The daily events of that time had blurred in his memory, but those repeated calls of "Brother" and the girl’s joyful laughter remained deeply etched.

That was the only bright spot in his otherwise dull, gray memories.

Ning Guiwan had fallen into a deep sleep, yet at that moment, the sky outside the window began to faintly lighten.

Quan Yu bent down and gently kissed the corner of her mouth.

She might have already forgotten; she was so little then. But he remembered.

At the Nanchang Group’s annual meeting, where journalists were present, Qiao Youning assaulted Ning Guiwan. Both Quan Yu and Qiao Yishen sent people to manage the reporters, to prevent their pens from straying.

President Niu also had security check the journalists’ cameras, ensuring not a single photo of Qiao Youning or Ning Guiwan was leaked before letting everyone go.

But the very next morning, the headline of Shencheng’s popular Daily Entertainment newspaper shockingly featured a photo of Qiao Youning holding a porcelain bottle, about to smash it on Ning Guiwan. Qiao Youning was pixelated in the image, but Ning Guiwan was not. The camera had captured her walking into the hall, her gaze fixed in a certain direction, seemingly entranced by something and utterly unaware of the danger behind her.

The headline was very straightforward:

[Former beauty of Wutai Mountain, today a professional homewrecker]

The article even more blatantly described her as a femme fatale who relied on her good looks to steal other women’s boyfriends, concluding with the line: "Wrongdoings will eventually lead to self-destruction; it’s still better to be kind."

Once the newspaper was published, the general public saw it as mere entertainment, while those in the upper echelons viewed it as unfolding drama.

Seeing the newspaper, Qiao Yishen had a bad feeling. He immediately made calls through his connections to retract any unsent copies, but someone had acted faster; the issue was already being handled.

Driving to the hospital, he entered Ning Guiwan’s ward. A copy of the Daily Entertainment newspaper lay on a chair.

Ning Guiwan was leaning against the headboard, pale and looking very weak, while Quan Yu was peeling an apple. Qiao Youning had found a stool from somewhere and was dozing off at the ward’s entrance.

Qiao Yishen glanced at the newspaper and then at Quan Yu. "I just contacted President Niu. His invited reporters should be fine. Someone else must have sneaked into the annual meeting."

Quan Yu had already considered this and was investigating, though no results had yet emerged.

He lowered his head, concentrating on peeling the apple. The peel came off in a single, unbroken strip, its thickness and width remarkably consistent, a testament to his patience.

After the effects of the painkiller wore off, her head still throbbed intensely. Ning Guiwan leaned against the headboard, two pillows tucked behind her lower back. Too lethargic to even lift her eyelids, her gaze happened to fall on Quan Yu’s hands.

His hands were well-defined, his fingers long and evenly proportioned, his nails broad and full—they were attractive hands.

The way he peeled the apple was also pleasing to the eye.

The apple peel fell onto his suit trousers, coiling with his movements, one twist after another...

She could hear Qiao Yishen still talking, "There’s been progress with the incident at last night’s annual meeting. We should have some results by tonight at the latest."

Hearing this, Ning Guiwan was slightly taken aback.

She naturally knew the "incident at the annual meeting" referred to Qiao Youning’s attack on her.

When she woke up this morning, the girl who had assaulted her was standing at the doorway, looking exhausted. Later, after the girl introduced herself, Ning Guiwan learned she was the "little princess" of the Qiao Group, Qiao Yishen’s younger sister.

As for why Qiao Youning had attacked her, Ning Guiwan naturally assumed it was because of Lu Ziqi. Qiao Youning herself seemed to think so too. But now, Qiao Yishen’s tone suggested there was more to the story? Could Ning Rongyue, who had also been at the annual meeting, be involved?

This question was answered at eight o’clock that evening.

Qiao Yishen’s subordinate—or to be exact, Zhan Yan alongside one of Qiao Yishen’s men—brought back a person.

When Ning Guiwan saw that person, she was also taken aback.

It was the scruffy drunkard who had mistaken her for someone else.

But now, he was dressed fashionably, his hair slicked back and shiny, bearing no resemblance to the pitiful figure she had seen the previous night.