After hanging up the phone, Su Ding headed back to Dingxia.
In the afternoon, she inspected the renovation at the shop and gave Wen Yang a few more instructions regarding recruitment. It wasn't until evening that she returned home.
Just as she was entering the main gate, she suddenly felt as if someone was behind her. Su Ding quickly looked back, only to see a dim, silent street with nothing there.
"What's wrong?"
As she walked in, Jin Ye noticed Su Ding's uneasy expression and asked in confusion.
Su Ding frowned, feeling as though she might be overthinking things. She sighed and said, "It's nothing. I'm probably just tired and a bit mentally stressed."
She sat down beside Jin Ye, leaned back on the sofa, and closed her eyes to rest.
Seeing how weary she looked, Jin Ye felt a pang of concern. He gently held her hand. "If you're tired, just rest well tomorrow. Let Wen Yang handle your little shop."
"Mhmm, I know," Su Ding smiled faintly. "You don't need to worry about me. You have so much going on at your company; you need to rest properly too."
A warmth flowed through Jin Ye's heart as he squeezed her hand.
He said in a low voice, "I might have to go on a business trip next month. I'm telling you in advance. Once I'm done with these next two months, I'll have time to properly accompany you."
Lying in his arms, Su Ding softly hummed in acknowledgment.
Words she hadn't intended to say began to spill out. "A while ago, I went to my grandmother's birthday banquet..."
She recounted the entire incident to Jin Ye: how Shao Jun had broken the jade bracelet she'd gifted him, and the truth she later discovered.
"Do you think I'm quite cruel? Making him pay two million!"
Only in front of Jin Ye did Su Ding reveal her more vulnerable side. She said this with a light laugh, yet her voice carried an undercurrent of profound melancholy and worry.
How could Jin Ye not sense her emotions?
He didn't think Su Ding was cruel. In fact, he felt she hadn't done enough. Such profit-driven relatives deserved to be taught a lesson like this.
He gently stroked Su Ding's hair and murmured, "Make him pay, every single penny."
Hearing this, Su Ding's mood gradually lifted. She chuckled, "You're the only one on my side, haha. And what about Shao Zhenggang? His eyes only see those relatives of the Shao family."
As she spoke, a sense of self-mockery and indifference washed over her.
The reason she demanded two million from Shao Jun was to slap his face, to slap the entire Shao family in the face. Why? Not to avenge Su Ding, but for Shao Zhenggang.
How much profit Shao Zhenggang had brought to the Shao family in the past. How much they had fawned over him then.
Now, they were just as indifferent and selfish!
At the banquet, Shao Zhenggang was relegated to a cold seat, easily belittled by anyone. In everyone's eyes, he was a nobody.
And now, Shao Zhenggang was actually asking her for money because of Shao Jun?!
Never mind.
Didn't she guess this from the very beginning?
Su Ding gave a bitter laugh inwardly and looked at the man beside her. "Let's not talk about these people; it's disheartening. Let's rest."
Jin Ye gave her a deep look and nodded.
If the Shao family dared to harm Su Ding again, he wouldn't hesitate to lift a finger and personally dismantle their entire family.
...
Meanwhile, in a presidential suite at a five-star hotel in Jiangcheng.
Wen Min gently rocked the baby crib, humming a lullaby unique to her ethnic group. Gradually, the infant in the crib fell asleep.
The baby had very dark, soft hair, with delicate, small features that looked as if they were painted.
His eyes were large. Even though they were closed, the shape of his eyes was exceptionally beautiful, and his eyelashes were long and curled, fluttering like little fans, full of life.
"So good."
Wen Min lightly kissed the infant's forehead before standing up.
She put the infant's cold medicine away on the table, then stretched. She had just arrived in Jiangcheng two days ago, and unexpectedly, Xiao Dongdong had fallen ill.
She had named this child Ouyang Dong, with Dongdong as his nickname.
His surname was from Ouyang Gong, and she chose his given name. She had previously divined that her great fortune lay in the direction of the East, and Dongdong was a very special existence to her, hence the name Dongdong.
In her eyes, Dongdong was the child of her and Ouyang Gong.
Before, Ouyang Gong had asked her to care for this infant as a final trump card for when he eventually brought down the economic giant, the Jin family. But gradually, she had grown to love this child.
Now that Gong Ge was dead.
Wen Min had once considered using Dongdong to deal with Su Ding and Jin Ye, but she had given up. Because Dongdong was her son, and she had made up her mind about that.
"Dongdong, don't blame Mama for hurting your biological parents, because your father was murdered by them."
"Dongdong, you'll understand Mama, won't you?"
Wen Min thought this in her heart, her mind replaying a photograph over and over.
A photo of Su Ding holding a gun, pulling the trigger herself and killing Ouyang Gong. This photo clearly identified the murderer.
Her return to Jiangcheng this time was for revenge.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, followed by a phone call.
It was a call from a special number.
Wen Min's expression turned cold, devoid of the gentleness from before, replaced by sharp keenness and a murderous intent as she turned towards the door.
She opened the door.