CHAPTER 63: CHAPTER 61: JIANG YINGZI’S FEAR

Chapter 61: Jiang Yingzi’s Fear

Chen Nuo frowned. "Are you sure you know what you just said?"

"I’m sure."

"Do you realize how absurd and ridiculous your words are?"

"I understand perfectly." Jiang Yingzi took a deep breath, her body bowed, but the words that came out seemed to be said through clenched teeth. "Let her follow you! I know it might even be presumptuous of us! Whether as a servant or a slave, to toil like an animal! This is the Li Family’s sincere plea; please, you must accept it!"

Chen Nuo sighed. He carefully observed the woman bowing before him and suddenly seemed to understand something. He toyed with the wine glass in his hand, murmuring, "Have you encountered any trouble recently?"

Jiang Yingzi’s expression flickered, but she shook her head. "No. This is the only way our Li Family can repay your kindness."

Chen Nuo chuckled. "Repaying kindness, is it?"

He slowly stood up from his chair, walked over, and helped Jiang Yingzi to her feet. Jiang Yingzi seemed to want to struggle, but Chen Nuo’s actions were firm, leaving no room for argument as he almost forcibly pulled Jiang Yingzi up from the ground.

"Actually, you don’t have to do this," Chen Nuo shook his head, glanced again at Li Yingwan, who stood aside with a helpless expression, and ultimately said nothing more.

Chen Nuo walked back to the table, poured himself a glass of wine, and drained it in one gulp. "I understand your gratitude."

Having said that, Chen Nuo turned and strode toward the door.

"Mr. Chen Nuo!"

"Chen Nuo!!"

Jiang Yingzi and Li Yingwan both spoke up from behind him at the same time. Li Yingwan’s face, apart from helplessness, also showed a hint of panic, tinged with a sense of grievance. But Jiang Yingzi tightly grabbed her daughter’s hand and stopped her daughter from speaking further with a stern look.

"Mr. Chen Nuo, I am very serious about making this request! Please seriously consider accepting our Li Family’s gratitude!" With that, the woman bowed her head once more.

Chen Nuo’s lips twitched, and he strode out of the room.

When only the mother and daughter remained, Li Yingwan’s eyes reddened as she looked at her mother, her expression sorrowful.

No matter how much I like that boy. No matter how much I want to be with him. Even if it means following him forever, I’m more than willing. But no girl wants to see her own mother treat her like a commodity or a tool, offering her up to someone else in front of them. Even saying things like "toil like an animal." I like Chen Nuo. But this is a girl’s affection for a young man. If we could be together like a normal couple, formally get together, discuss marriage, with Mom’s blessing, and she entrusted me to him—that would be perfectly fine. But that’s not what’s happening now. Now, my own mother is giving me away like a piece of merchandise!

"Mom..." the girl’s voice trembled, and she burst into tears.

"Shut up!" Jiang Yingzi glared fiercely at her daughter, then, her voice softening slightly, said grimly, "Have you forgotten what I told you earlier today?!"

The girl shuddered.

Jiang Yingzi had always been somewhat paranoid by nature. Indeed, the paranoid streak in Li Yingwan’s personality was largely inherited from her mother. In her life, Jiang Yingzi had endured her husband’s brutal death. Her family had been dragged from their home like dogs by their enemies, taken to a secluded spot in the outskirts.

She was acutely aware: if that miraculous boy hadn’t descended from the sky that night... then her fate, and that of her two children, would have been utterly tragic! They definitely wouldn’t have survived! Worse, she and her daughter would have suffered inhuman humiliation before dying, and her son would undoubtedly have been cruelly killed. The entire Li Family would have been annihilated, utterly uprooted!

With her husband’s tragic death, Jiang Yingzi had lost the greatest, the only support she had known for decades.

That night, she and her children were dragged away without dignity, like dogs... trampled and disposed of at will under their captors’ feet as if they were mere weeds...

This had instilled a profound fear in Jiang Yingzi. Even in the months since their rescue, not a day passed when she wasn’t terrified. Consequently, her already somewhat paranoid nature had become utterly extreme.

Li Yingwan was young, her thoughts often scattered. But Jiang Yingzi was an adult; she had considered everything meticulously.

Why on earth did Chen Nuo descend from the sky that night? Why did he save our family? Who exactly was he?

All of this baffled her. Yet, Jiang Yingzi had grasped one crucial point.

This young man appeared out of nowhere, saving a mother and her two children—but he only came for my daughter, Li Yingwan! I don’t know how he knew my daughter or why he helped. But he definitely came for her!

Though she had no concrete proof, Jiang Yingzi, with her forty years of life, trusted her intuition implicitly. Moreover, in the intervening months, Jiang Yingzi had not fared well. She constantly felt immense pressure, as if walking on thin ice.

The Li Family came from humble origins. Neither her husband, Li Donghe, nor He Zhengzai came from influential backgrounds; they were both self-made men from the streets. They had built their fortunes through grit and ruthlessness.

But what do I, a woman, have? Our shipping business, though it rode the wave of the country’s economic boom during those golden dozen or so years... didn’t its early days involve some shady, semi-legal dealings?

With her husband Li Donghe and He Zhengzai dead... the company was left in a precarious state: the leadership was weak, while powerful subordinates vied for control. As a widow with no remarkable abilities of her own, she struggled arduously to maintain a mere facade of control.

It might seem stable now... but I always feel it’s just an illusion, a castle built on sand. A gust of wind, a surging wave, and it will all crumble.

Even when her husband was alive, He Zhengzai had dared to collude with outsiders, betraying their own, and ultimately caused her husband’s death.

What about the future?

Especially now, with only a widow and orphans left. Especially since the company lacked her husband, Li Donghe, and He Zhengzai—the two leaders who had been there since its inception.

Can a woman like me truly command respect and keep things in order?

A widow and her orphans, holding onto a not insignificant fortune and business.

Wouldn’t people covet it? If not now, then when? For now, many have simply not yet revealed their malicious intentions.

After the police confirmed her husband’s death and she took over the company, several corporations and influential groups had already subtly hinted at their desire to absorb their assets.

It’s like a three-year-old child parading down the street with a king’s ransom. Far too dangerous.

Jiang Yingzi was terrified. There’s an old saying in Hua Country: ’An ordinary man incurs no guilt, but possessing a treasure invites trouble.’

I’m afraid that one day, some power will target the Li Family, plunder our wealth, and then, one night, my children and I will be dragged from our home like stray dogs, to be humiliated and slaughtered! If it happened once, it could happen again. Without He Zhengzai, won’t there be others? Without the Che brothers, won’t others emerge?

Her husband had been found murdered, his body sealed in a concrete-filled iron barrel and dumped into the sea. Jiang Yingzi had nightmares. She dreamed her son was also sealed in an iron barrel with concrete! Jiang Yingzi was petrified.

Jiang Yingzi had considered selling the company.

But what good would that do? A widow and orphans with a vast fortune—wouldn’t that just attract wolves to our door?

As for abandoning the family business and fleeing penniless... that was unthinkable. It’s human nature to fiercely protect what one has painstakingly acquired.

My husband died for this business; how could I just throw away our fortune? Could I let my son fall from a life of privilege back to being a commoner? No one would want that. So, I must find a protector for my son!

In common parlance, find a strong backer.

After taking over the company, Jiang Yingzi had already sensed the covetous eyes of external forces on their family’s assets. But these covetous gazes all retreated when He Zhengzai’s body was recovered a few days ago and his death officially confirmed by the police.

What did this mean? It was deterrence.

Those coveting their assets hadn’t become less greedy; they were just momentarily unsure of the situation. He Zhengzai’s gruesome death had made them temporarily retract their avaricious claws. But this restraint wouldn’t last. If, over time, the Li Family—a widow and her orphans—were revealed to have no real foundation or backing, those wolves would undoubtedly swarm and seize their wealth and business. And in the process, they would tear the widow and orphans to shreds, eradicating them completely.

For the Li Family. More precisely, for her son—so he could one day control the Li Family’s assets and have a steadfast protector. Jiang Yingzi had decided on this desperate measure.

After all... South Korea is a country with deeply ingrained patriarchal values. Sacrificing a daughter to ensure my son can take over the Li Family, giving him enough time and space to mature... it’s worth it!

Broadly speaking, Jiang Yingzi’s thinking stemmed partly from valid concerns and partly from a personality that had become extreme after the family’s tragedy, bordering on persecutory delusion. It seemed absurd, but that was essentially her reasoning.

"Don’t blame me for being cruel! I explained everything to you thoroughly earlier today, over and over again! This man has feelings for you. I don’t know where they come from, but when he saved us that night, he clearly came for you! He said he wanted to dispel your nightmares! Our family is adrift. After your father’s death, it’s too difficult and dangerous for a woman like me to manage the business. Your brother is still young; it will take at least ten years for him to mature. Our family cannot be without strong support, without someone to rely on. Besides, at least this man has feelings for you, and you like him too. Isn’t that perfect?

I’m telling you very clearly, Li Yingwan! If you can’t become his... or if you don’t want to. That’s fine too! Then you’ll obediently return to South Korea with me! I’ll quickly arrange for us to align with a chaebol! Then, you’ll still be given away! Our family background isn’t prestigious. Marrying into one of those chaebol families is impossible for you! At best, you’d become a mistress, providing a shield for your brother so he can mature. Would you want that? At least this young man values you. And you like him."

"...But you don’t have to offer me up like some piece of merchandise!" Li Yingwan shouted. "Can’t I just be with him properly? Maybe even marry him someday? Why did you have to say things about being a slave or toiling like an animal?"

The girl felt her mother had personally trampled her dignity.

Jiang Yingzi sighed, but her tone remained resolute. "Silly child. He may have feelings for you—feelings whose origins even I don’t understand—but he clearly has no intention of being with you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left so abruptly that night without even giving you his name, identity, or any way to contact him. If you hadn’t been clever enough to remember those Hua characters—symbols you didn’t even recognize—you never would have found him. He simply doesn’t intend what you think he does. So, we’re the ones who need him. We can only attach ourselves to him, even if it means sacrificing our dignity, shamelessly pestering him, doing whatever it takes to cling to him! We must use this method to hold onto him tightly! For your brother’s sake!"