“Mm-mm—” Guan Yiling struggled wildly, but could only let out muffled sobs.
Right in front of her, Jiang Fuyue dialed the number.
Everyone stared at the surveillance feed.
After two dial tones, one of the kidnappers on the screen took out his phone—
“Hello?”
“……” Jiang Fuyue said nothing.
The kidnapper looked at the screen, his expression changing slightly. He abruptly hung up.
Clearly, he had realized something was wrong.
Jiang Fuyue’s call also ended at the same moment.
Now the timing of answering and hanging up matched perfectly—Guan Yiling was indeed in contact with the kidnappers!
The old madam’s gaze toward her changed.
Qin Lin looked shocked, but deep in his eyes was a flicker of confusion.
Was this really his wife?
Why would she do such a thing?
It seemed he didn’t know her at all.
Jiang Da protected Han Yunru more tightly: “Don’t be afraid, honey…”
“I’m not afraid.”
“……”
The old madam walked up to Guan Yiling, her voice trembling: “Why?”
Her eyes were full of disbelief. “Why would you do this? Old Qin has never treated you badly all these years…”
A daughter-in-law conspiring with criminals to kidnap her father-in-law?
Qin Lin stepped forward, looking at his bound wife as if she were a stranger.
Jiang Fuyue gave Jiang Da a look.
Jiang Da: “?” What?
Jiang Fuyue twitched the corner of her mouth: “Take the gag out of her mouth and let her speak.”
“Oh, oh.”
Jiang Da immediately did so.
Guan Yiling no longer struggled. Looking at the questioning eyes of the old madam and Qin Lin, she suddenly burst into laughter.
“Hahaha…”
As she laughed, tears flowed down her face and her whole body trembled.
“Why? Ah Lin, don’t you know?”
Qin Lin frowned: “My father has never wronged you.”
“That’s right, your father didn’t wrong me. But what about you? Do you even care about me?”
“That’s not a reason to conspire with kidnappers!”
“The moment Han Yunru returned, you were completely lost to her. What was I supposed to feel? Since you couldn’t give me a sense of security, I turned to money instead.”
“For money, you kidnapped my father?!” Qin Lin couldn’t believe it.
Guan Yiling curled her lips: “People change, but money doesn’t.”
Qin Lin felt it was absurd.
The old madam said, “If you wanted money, you could’ve said so. Why resort to this?”
“Heh… I want a hundred million dollars—would you give it to me?”
The old madam was speechless.
“…Is a Qin family daughter-in-law not worth a hundred million dollars? After Old Qin and I pass, the whole Qin family will belong to you and Qin Lin. Why couldn’t you wait a little longer?”
“Auntie,” Guan Yiling smiled slightly, lips curled up, “now that your daughter is back, will Qin Lin really live peacefully with me and let me stay as the Qin family’s daughter-in-law?”
“In your eyes, is Ah Lin really such an irresponsible man? Twenty years of marriage—can’t you see even that?” the old madam cried in anguish.
“Yes, twenty years of marriage, but it still couldn’t beat one Han Yunru. Haha, what a joke…”
Shi Qingzhi couldn’t understand why she kept bringing up Han Yunru.
It was like…
As soon as Han Yunru returned, Qin Lin was bound to abandon her.
Why was she so sure?
Qin Lin didn’t get it either: “You could’ve talked to me. I’d have explained and reassured you. But you said nothing, so I assumed you understood.”
Guan Yiling turned away. “There’s nothing more to say. Do what you want.”
Just then, Jiang Fuyue suddenly spoke: “Because you were afraid.”
The old madam froze.
Qin Lin instinctively looked at her: “Afraid? What do you mean?”
Guan Yiling still faced away, hiding her expression, but her bound hands behind her back clenched, fingers turning pale.
Jiang Fuyue: “Doesn’t it seem strange? A wealthy housewife who’s lived in luxury for twenty years conspires with outsiders to kidnap her own father-in-law for money?”
“Aunt Guan managed to marry Uncle Qin after my mom’s disappearance. She’s clearly not stupid—why would she make such a foolish move?”
“Like the old madam said, just wait a few more years and she’d inherit half the Qin family estate. Is a hundred million dollars really that tempting?”
“She says she was afraid my mom would take her place as Mrs. Qin, and she wouldn’t get the inheritance. But that reasoning doesn’t hold up.”
“Not to mention the decades-old relationship between Han Yunru and Qin Lin, everyone can see what’s more important. My mom already married my dad and had me and Jiang Chenxing—she’d never get back with Uncle Qin. Anyone with sense knows a divorce isn’t happening.”
“So why risk it all for something impossible? How dumb would you have to be to do that?”
“Unless—” Jiang Fuyue raised her eyes, staring directly at Guan Yiling, “—she had no choice!”
Qin Lin: “What reason?”
Jiang Fuyue: “That’s something we’ll have to ask the kidnappers.”
Guan Yiling’s heart skipped a beat.
“Oh no—look—!”
Han Yunru pointed at the screen. After that phone call, the kidnappers seemed to be planning to kill the hostage!
The old madam screamed, “Yueyue—”
Jiang Fuyue rushed to the computer. The old master was being dragged out of the cave and thrown to the ground. One kidnapper raised an iron bar over his head.
“No… No… Old Qin!” Shi Qingzhi rushed to the screen, sobbing.
Though she knew it wouldn’t help, she couldn’t help begging: “Yueyue, save Old Qin—save him—”
At that critical moment, just as the iron bar was about to strike—
A group of men in black suddenly charged out of the woods and subdued the five kidnappers in an instant.
The old master was carried aside to be checked and treated.
The situation flipped in a blink.
The old madam hadn’t even had time to wipe her tears.
Qin Lin still looked terrified.
Han Yunru covered her face, unable to bear watching, burying her head in Jiang Da’s chest.
“Honey, look…”
“I don’t dare.”
“It’s over.”
“What’s over?”
“You’ll see.”
Han Yunru: “Can I really look?”
Jiang Da: “Yes.”
Han Yunru turned around, slowly lowering her hands and looking at the screen.
“…Huh? What happened?”
Jiang Da shook his head: “Don’t know. Ask Yueyue.”
At that moment, the phone rang.
Jiang Fuyue answered—
“Miss Jiang, it’s done.”
“How’s the old master?”
“Mild dehydration. No serious injuries. Life not in danger.”
“Good. Ask what kind of deal they had with Guan Yiling. If they won’t talk, make them.”
“Yes!”
On the screen—
The lead man in black grabbed a kidnapper by the neck. After a few words, he suddenly began beating him.
The old madam clenched her jaw.
Qin Lin’s expression darkened.
Blood soon appeared.
Jiang Fuyue narrowed her eyes and dialed: “Next.”
The man in black dropped the first and moved to the second.
By the third, the interrogation took longer.
After the conversation, the man in black nodded slightly toward the camera.
Sure enough, less than ten seconds later, Jiang Fuyue’s phone rang again.
“…Got it.”
This time, she didn’t put it on speaker. Only she could hear it.
The old madam and Qin Lin instinctively strained to listen but heard nothing.
“Yueyue, what did they say?”
Qin Lin: “It’s related to her, isn’t it?”
Jiang Fuyue: “Mm.”
Qin Lin’s gaze tightened: “Why?”
Jiang Fuyue suddenly looked at Han Yunru, who was completely lost.
“Back then, my mom’s kidnapping—it was those people who did it.”
Han Yunru’s pupils shrank: “Impossible…”
The old madam froze.
“Wasn’t Little Ru’s disappearance orchestrated by Ji Lanyue?”
Jiang Fuyue shook her head: “My uncle and I investigated. The hotel surveillance was wiped, key witnesses disappeared—this kind of clean-up requires careful planning. Ji Lanyue couldn’t have done it alone.”
“So she had help—someone hiding in the shadows, using her to get rid of my mom.”
“And that person was—Guan. Yi. Ling!”
Each word struck like thunder, leaving everyone stunned—
Even Han Yunru.
“I didn’t even know her before—no grudges. Why would she do this?”
Jiang Fuyue looked at Qin Lin.
He seemed to understand. His tall frame swayed as he staggered back half a step.
He shook his head in disbelief.
But the truth is always cruel—
Jiang Fuyue: “Because Guan Yiling liked you. But you were about to get engaged to my mom. Ji Lanyue was ambitious and restless—so Guan Yiling came up with a plan to kill with a borrowed knife.”
Using Ji Lanyue to lure Han Yunru to the hotel garden, then the five kidnappers acted. They drugged her and hid her. When the hotel lockdown failed to find her, she was smuggled out for disposal.
But Han Yunru woke up midway, jumped off a bridge to escape, and was eventually rescued by the Jiang family.
She began a new life.
And Guan Yiling, by staying by Qin Lin’s side after his heartbreak, eventually became Mrs. Qin.
The truth had been buried for over twenty years, never expected to see daylight.
But then, Han Yunru turned out to be alive—and was found by the Han family!
When Guan Yiling heard, it was like a blade hanging over her head.
Worse, the five kidnappers reappeared, demanding a hundred million dollars.
Guan Yiling couldn’t afford it.
Qin Lin handled all the finances. She had no access.
Shi Qingzhi’s company had nothing to do with her either.
The kidnappers knew they couldn’t squeeze more money, so they devised a new plan—kidnap Qin Yuanchen and demand ransom from the old madam.
Guan Yiling had to cooperate, hoping they’d take the money and disappear forever.
“You fool! These people are like leeches—a hundred million will only whet their appetite. Next time it could be me or Ah Lin! Eventually, you’ll bring down the Qin family and the SZ Group!” the old madam cried in grief.
“You’re lying…” Guan Yiling shook her head. “They promised—just this once! After they get the money, no one will ever talk!”
“You really trust a gang of criminals?”
“I know, but I had no choice…” Guan Yiling’s eyes lost focus, lips pale. “If Ah Lin knew, he’d definitely divorce me! I worked so hard, used every means to become his wife—I can’t let him leave me and go back to Han Yunru!”
“So you helped kidnap Old Qin? Did you think about the consequences if you got caught?”
“Of course I did… What’s worse than divorce? I had nothing left to lose!”
The old madam was speechless.
Maybe, even now, Guan Yiling still saw herself as a noble defender of her marriage.
“You’re confused!” After those words, the old madam said no more.
She turned away, silently wiping her tears.
Guan Yiling didn’t care. Her heart was filled with just one person—
“Ah Lin…”
She called his name.
But his gaze was now filled with hatred: “So all these years I’ve been a complete fool, tricked, used—played in your palm!”
“I caused Little Ru’s disappearance! And now nearly killed my own father! Guan Yiling, you’ve stained me with sins I’ll never wash away!”
She trembled, eyes widening.
Her husband’s hate pierced her like a knife.
She suddenly felt ridiculous.
After all her schemes and careful steps, it still came to this.
So, things that don’t belong to you—no matter how hard you fight for them, even if you get them temporarily, they’ll never last?
She loved only one man in her life. But fate made her fall for him at the wrong time.
Back then, Qin Lin only had eyes for Han Yunru—no other woman existed for him.
Guan Yiling couldn’t accept it!
She’d often wonder: if Han Yunru didn’t exist, would Qin Lin have looked her way?
Turns out, she was right.
She did become his wife, the Qin family’s daughter-in-law—“Mrs. Qin” in others’ mouths!
Jiang Fuyue spoke coldly: “You’re wrong. Divorce isn’t the worst outcome—prison is. Abandoned by all, hated by everyone.”
She would lose not just her marriage and husband, but also her freedom for the rest of her life.
“Yueyue, what are you going to do?”
“The truth is out—we can call the police now. Like I said, everyone involved in this will pay the price!”
— Sister Yue: Please call me the Light of Justice~ Thanks~
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