The man in black heard this and immediately removed his mask, revealing a face full of anger: it was Wang Junchen.
"Indeed, it was taken by you!"
"Actually, on the day Granny Cai had an incident, she was only going to Y country to help me with something, but you mistook her for me... thinking the ring was hidden on her."
"Why didn’t you say so earlier? Did you do it on purpose? Deliberately leading me... to expose the new members?"
Tang Mei nodded thoughtfully.
"Madam Nan is you, but who is Madam Bei? Is it Granny Cai? Is Madam Bei her?"
"It’s not, she isn’t."
Wang Junchen said in astonishment, "How could that be?"
"Who told you... that both Madam Nan and Madam Bei are women, can’t they be men? And how do you know that there hasn’t been a change of people over the years?"
"Men! How could it be men? Changing people midway, how could there have been changes?"
"It seems you are still not enough..."
Tang Mei suddenly stopped speaking midway and stared intently at Wang Junchen. A sharp glint flashed through her eyes, chilling to the bone, yet the corners of her mouth slightly curved upwards, with a hint of a smile.
Wang Junchen caught his breath.
He was afraid, afraid that he had walked into a trap.
He had experienced the abilities of Madam Nan and Madam Bei long ago, but he hadn’t expected that the person beneath the lifelike mask was a man.
Indeed, they all wore voice changers.
He had even specifically found someone to impersonate her for so long, and in the end, to save trouble, he had designed an assassination.
"What... what have you done to me?"
Wang Junchen suddenly felt weak all over, his forehead covered in cold sweat, and his eyes fierce yet with a hint of panic, then he heavily fell to the ground.
"Don’t worry, you won’t die for now. Since you’ve come, let me help you properly recall the past."
"What do you mean, why revisit?"
"25 years ago, you saved Yi Xiaodan from drowning in Jin City. Her beauty captivated you, and then you spent a lot of money to help her change her identity to Ye Wanhua. Soon after, you used the excuse of an injury to leave the club and took her abroad with you."
"FC Club! Was it Uncle Quan who told you? Or was it... the person he contacted back then was you?" Wang Junchen looked incredulously toward Tang Mei.
She didn’t answer his question, just raised her eyebrows slightly and smiled faintly.
"Four years later, Ye Wanhua became pregnant, but you mistakenly thought the child was Li Zhenshan’s, because before that... Ye Wanhua had secretly run back to the country once and went to Jin City. It happened that the child was premature... and had pulmonary hemorrhaging, you gave up on treatment."
"That time... we were in Y country, the hospitals were very private, how did you know?"
"People from Shen Shiyi are spread all over the world."
Hearing this, Wang Junchen shuddered, it was already that large a scale 20 years ago!
"I was also thinking of the baby’s welfare, even if we hadn’t given up then, the child would have suffered from illness later, rather than living like that... it might be better to end it quickly."
"Is that so? Is that really what you thought?" Tang Mei shook her head and said seriously, "Last year during Children’s Day, you accompanied Ye Wanhua back to the country, and you learned the truth at the orphanage director’s office. The child was yours; Ye Wanhua had not seen Li Zhenshan since going to Y country with you. You felt guilty and confessed the reason for giving up the treatment. Ye Wanhua became emotionally unstable, and that’s when she revealed why she jumped from the Jinyuan Bridge—it wasn’t over a lovers’ quarrel or breakup, but because..."
"Song Dapeng that scum deserved to die! His daughter, his wife, they all deserved their deaths. And Yuan Min that vixen, and Yuan Feng, and Li Wanshan, they all... they were the ones who caused Ah Hua’s death, they must be punished!" Wang Junchen shouted furiously, as if he had gone mad.
"You knew your capabilities were limited, needed the strength of Shen Shiyi... so you meticulously planned a large explosion, knowing well that Uncle Quan was driving, yet you still ruthlessly made your move.
"The power of the Leng Family is so immense, I had no choice, do you think I wanted this, I really wanted this?"
Wang Junchen suddenly loosened his grip on the dagger handle, his lips turning pale. He wasn’t afraid of dying, but he feared failing to eliminate the entire Leng Family and avenge his wife.
Had he known this would happen, he should not have come.
Just go get the certificate and sever the father-son relationship, each going their own way.
No, I have to leave this place.
Without a second thought, Wang Junchen struggled to get up, planning to escape the way he had come, but he barely stood for a few seconds before heavily falling to the ground again.
Clearly, the drug was beginning to take effect.
"One day a teacher, a lifetime a father! Uncle Quan taught you everything he knew, yet you disregarded even his life and death. You probably don’t know, just a few minutes before the explosion, Uncle Quan was still... vouching for you, he truly didn’t believe that his beloved pupil..."
Tang Mei choked up, suddenly pulled open a drawer, and took out a square redwood box.
She was too disappointed, her eyes moistening.
Time and again, she had given him chances. Until just now, she had been thinking, if only he hadn’t come tonight, she would have forgiven him, but unfortunately not only had he come, he had also intended to take her hostage.
"What do you want to do? If it weren’t for..." ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ NoveI-Fire.ɴet
"If it weren’t for me resembling your mother—Tang Canshan, you would probably be dead by now, right?"
"That’s right. I shouldn’t have gone soft."
"The work permit Granny Cai gave you was real, but the person on it wasn’t me, it was Granny Cai in makeup. No one wanted to harm your mother."
"Nonsense, don’t try to excuse yourself!"
"Granny Cai does bear some resemblance to me, and her only task was to protect me."
"Then, your purpose in approaching my father..."
Before Wang Junchen could finish his sentence, he saw Tang Mei take out a ring from a wooden box and slowly put it on, her gaze extremely cold.
He mistakenly thought it contained poison.
The ring, crafted from special materials with an exquisite design, also served as a key that could unlock the underground vault set up by Shen Shiyi in Y country, containing a large amount of gold and jewelry.
This was why Wang Junchen had always been so desperately searching.
Moreover, as the current leader of Shen Shiyi, if he did not have the ring, it was only a matter of time before others would question his authority, given that the supreme gathering happened every two years, and leaders scattered across regions would attend to witness the vault’s grandeur in Y country.
"So, it was with you all along!"
Tang Mei snorted coldly: "It always has been."
"If you are not Madam Nan, then who are you? This ring, no, this key... Why would the boss entrust such an important item to you?"
"Why not guess who I am?"
Tang Mei raised her eyebrows, slowly sitting down in the chair with an imposing posture that made Wang Junchen feel a sense of déjà vu, sending a shiver through his heart.
"No, it can’t be you; the boss is clearly a man, a peculiar old man with a terrible temper."
Tang Mei shook her head, her eyes icy.
"Now you have two options: choose the antidote or keep the chance of living for that poor child you abandoned. Make your choice."
"You mean... baby, she’s still alive?"
"It seems that child was fortunate, happened to be saved by me, has learned quite a few skills over the years, and has grown up quite elegantly."
"Don’t try to deceive me, that dead girl Tang Xiaowan... although she does somewhat resemble my father, she definitely is not. That day in August when I went to Mei Garden to look for the ring, I also took her blood and had it tested with mine, confirming they are not father and daughter."
"Do I have any reason to lie to you? Guess where your daughter might be assigned? You know there are often high-risk missions within the organization."
While saying this, Tang Mei walked toward a storage cabinet, then took out a set of pink baby clothes embroidered with a peony.
Though the baby clothes were sealed in a plastic bag, Wang Junchen could still recognize them at a glance.
Each stitch was filled with Ye Wanhua’s care.
"Baby is still alive, really alive! It was you who saved her, she isn’t dead?" Wang Junchen took the baby clothes, looking at them with a complex expression, his eyes moist.
"I’ll give you three minutes to decide, do you want the antidote or your daughter?"
"You, how can you be so... where is my daughter? What is her name? Is it, could it be Lin Xiaoxiao? She’s also O-negative, is it her? Tell me, is it or isn’t it?"
"It’s better if one does not assume too much."
Hearing this, Wang Junchen felt as though he was going insane, yet he was powerless.
"Who is she? Who is my real daughter?"
"Hurry up and choose while I haven’t changed my mind, and just to let you know, those little traitors waiting outside to help you... have all been taken care of by me."
"You... how can you be so heartless! Even if I betrayed you, there was no need for..."
Heartless? If she were heartless, she wouldn’t have let Wang Junchen usurp the organization for a year.
His ambition was immense, and he had lost all sense of reason.
"From the day Shen Shiyi was founded, my blood has been cold, otherwise, I wouldn’t have survived until today, you have two minutes left, hurry up."
With these words, Tang Mei snatched the baby clothes away and slammed them fiercely onto the table.
Baby is still alive, and has she joined the organization?
No, it definitely must be Lin Xiaoxiao; she is my daughter, it has to be, she went away with Lei Ziyi.
Suddenly, a severe bout of coughing interrupted Wang Junchen’s myriad thoughts and repentance.
His brow furrowed, breathing heavily in agony as if his insides were on fire, unbearable pain coursing through him; his night clothes soaked with sweat, blood now starting to drip from his nostrils.
The drops fell one by one onto the dark red wooden floor, each one like a death knell.
Wang Junchen’s body trembled, he did not want to die.
His vision was blurred, his head throbbing painfully, his limbs still powerless, yet his thoughts remained crystal clear, knowing that now was not the time to act tough, only by staying alive would he have a chance.
"Boss, I was wrong, please give me another chance to make amends."
After these words, Tang Mei felt a shiver in her heart.
She hadn’t expected that after twenty years, Wang Junchen would once again abandon his daughter. The first time was out of suspicion, this time for self-preservation.
"Decided yet, want the antidote?" Tang Mei suppressed the anger in her heart, asking indifferently.