The child born to the true love mistress would openly possess everything the legitimate wife had left for her own son.
Even without bragging about it, just thinking about it in one’s heart could make a psychologically twisted person gloat.
Not to mention, it was the old master Quan who had arranged it all, wasn’t it?
Now, he watched as things slipped out of control.
Ever since Quan Jinbei married Shi Yaoguang, he had been growing increasingly disobedient by the day.
This troubled him deeply.
He even had thoughts of hastening Quan Jinbei’s death.
But this thought was only momentary.
The reason he didn’t dare continue down that path wasn’t that he cared much about Quan Jinbei or couldn’t bear to see him die.
He simply didn’t dare to gamble.
If Quan Jinbei died a natural death, nobody could trace it back to him.
What if he were murdered?
If there were even a hint of suspicion in his death, the powers behind Quan Jinbei’s maternal family would certainly not give up investigating.
If it were traced back to him in the end, the consequences would be unimaginable.
After all, he too was afraid of dying.
He didn’t dare to take that risk, so he had to suppress the thought of sending Quan Jinbei to an early grave.
At the same time he suppressed this thought, he couldn’t help but worry about Quan Sicheng.
Fearing that he couldn’t outplay Quan Jinbei and Shi Yaoguang.
Therefore, after much hesitation, the old master still decided to divulge some information to Brother Sicheng.
Compared to Brother Sicheng, Shi Yiqing guessed the truth even earlier.
Others didn’t have such thought processes and naturally wouldn’t think in that direction.
But... Shi Yiqing wasn’t a normal person.
She naturally thought about some abnormal possibilities.
Once these thoughts were entertained, wasn’t it very normal to conceive of others?
Therefore, aside from the protagonists themselves, she was the earliest to guess the truth.
Certain of the relationship between Quan Sicheng and the old master, she became even more unbridled.
Such acts, the old master Quan, dared to do but might not dare to acknowledge.
If he admitted it, what awaited him would definitely be a blow he could not accept.
For this reason, even if he wanted to scheme, he could only do so cautiously, never revealing any flaws.
This also gave Shi Yiqing sufficient confidence.
She didn’t just want to be with Quan Sicheng for love.
In addition to love, she needed more material things.
And the old master Quan could provide her with these.
Of course, this definitely didn’t mean she wanted to debase herself with an old man.
She was simply certain that old master Quan would inevitably stand by her side, after all, they were both holders of a common secret.
When Brother Sicheng was called to the old house by a phone call from the old master, he was somewhat out of it.
He didn’t know why the old master was summoning him and was mulling over this when he saw Shi Yiqing at home.
Of course, he was aware of Shi Yiqing’s setback with the Wei Family.
To say he felt nothing about it would be a lie; he had imagined the great help it would bring him if Shi Yiqing truly became the heir to the Wei Family.
For this reason, even though he knew that Shi Yiqing deliberately slandered Shi Yaoguang, he did not intervene.
After the college entrance exams were over, he talked about these things with Shi Yiqing right away.
He even told her about the motorcycle owner’s attempt to hit someone; Shi Yiqing was exceptionally calm about it and even sounded somewhat regretful to hear it.
Quan Sicheng might not have spoken about it, but deep down, there were some knots in his heart.
Of course, these were not the main point.
The main point was...
Quan Sicheng didn’t know why Shi Yaoguang would appear in the Quan Family’s home.
And she seemed very familiar with Grandfather.
He remembered Shi Yiqing’s last visit to the old man, which had been somewhat uneasy.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, yet she was now so calm...
"Brother Sicheng, you’re back~"
When Shi Yiqing saw him, she waved at him enthusiastically.
Quan Sicheng walked over and greeted his grandfather as well, "Grandfather."
The old Mr. Quan looked at him with a tone that carried a touch of pity.
"You’ve gotten so thin..."
Due to recent company business and the college entrance exams, Quan Sicheng indeed had lost much weight.
The flesh on his cheeks had hollowed slightly, and his face had taken on a more weathered look, the youthful aspect gradually replaced by a mature young man’s bearing, giving him a steadier appearance.
Meeting his grandfather’s concerned gaze, Quan Sicheng felt a warmth at the corner of his eyes, an impulse to cry welling up for no clear reason.
Since he was a child, he had been brought over by his grandfather to be raised as Quan Jinbei’s son.
Although nominally Quan Jinbei’s son, he felt more like his grandfather’s child.
After all, it was the grandfather, not Quan Jinbei, who had always taken care of him.
As a child, Quan Sicheng had wondered why, if his grandfather liked him so much, he didn’t raise him himself instead of registering him under Quan Jinbei’s name.
As he grew older, he realized that compared to being a foster son to his grandfather, there were immeasurable benefits to being Quan Jinbei’s foster son.
It was precisely because of these benefits dangled before him that he had maintained a sense of balance.
After years of patient waiting, just as he was about to pluck the fruits of his labor, to be told at the finish line that there were no fruits left—how could he not go mad?
He even blamed his grandfather inwardly.
If the old man truly had his best interests at heart, he should have handed everything directly to him, rather than this feigned concern!
Without Quan Sicheng realizing, his heart had become twisted.
He didn’t know what he wanted.
Or rather, he knew what he wanted but was unable to attain it.
So, he blamed all on the old Mr. Quan.
If the old man had handled things better, he would have already obtained everything he wanted to possess, wouldn’t he?
With this thought, his gaze toward the old man carried a resentment he himself was unaware of.
The old man naturally did not notice, after all...
Quan Sicheng was the most precious bloodline in his heart.
For him, the old man had carefully planned for many years.
If it hadn’t been for an unforeseen occurrence like Shi Yaoguang, he would never have disclosed the truth.
But now, he couldn’t afford to think about ’if’ anymore.
When the old Mr. Quan thought about revealing the secret that had been hidden for years, his heart was filled with indescribable emotions.
His gaze toward Quan Sicheng was also unspeakably complex.
Quan Sicheng didn’t know what he was thinking, and even imagined in his mind the scenario of being kicked out of the family.
But soon, he accepted it.
Given the old man’s attitude toward him, being kicked out of the door seemed unlikely.
If it were so, Shi Yiqing wouldn’t sit here so calmly.
If Shi Yaoguang knew his thoughts, and were standing in front of him, she might say something .
—"You don’t know yet? Shi Yiqing sitting here isn’t because she doesn’t feel sad for you, she just has another way out! Although the old man is getting on in years, his word still carries a bit of weight. To get what she wants, sacrificing a little beauty shouldn’t be hard to understand, right?"