Shadow and Light: The Bride Who Clicks Her Way to Love-Chapter 284 - 297: The Qin Family in Turmoil

She took it, glanced down at it.

The glaring message instantly changed her expression. She looked up at Lu Shifeng and said, "If... I said I’d never seen this message before, would you believe me?"

Lu Shifeng gazed deeply at her, not speaking.

He didn’t understand what love was, but he had heard many stories of people acting foolishly for love.

The most evident was the story of his grandmother and grandfather. Ever since she married into the Lu Family, his grandmother had been indifferent to his grandfather, all because she still had feelings for another man.

And his Xingyu? Would she be like his grandmother, physically here but mentally elsewhere?

Su Xingyu, seeing his silence, felt her heart slowly sink. So this was how fragile his trust in her was, easily shattered by a mere text message. "Shifeng..." she struggled to speak, feeling as if something was tugging at her heart and lungs, causing waves of pain, "I was just walking on my way home from work today, and then Qin Mu kidnapped me. I don’t love him anymore, and I won’t do anything to betray you. If you don’t believe it, just look at the injuries on my body. If I had feelings for him, how would I end up like this?"

The light in the bedroom was dim and blurred.

Her long lashes, like butterfly wings, cast a faint shadow under her eyelids, giving her a somewhat sorrowful appearance.

His heart stirred, and as if by some mystical force, he said, "I believe you."

She, however, smiled bitterly, exhausted both mentally and physically.

Yes, he believed her, but only after she spent so much effort proving her innocence.

She had not missed the scrutiny and contemplation in his eyes earlier; he believed her only after a process of logical deduction.

Well, if Qin Mu’s plot had been even more seamless;

If she hadn’t been able to kick Qin Mu and escape at the seaside villa;

If he had arrived a moment too late and seen her humiliated by Qin Mu on the bed...

Then, would he have thought she was a promiscuous woman?

She felt so tired, so very tired, the sense of security from being rescued replaced by a deep exhaustion. Her hands hurt, her feet hurt, but most painfully, her heart hurt unbearably.

"I’m tired," she weakly told him, "I want to sleep for a while."

He clumsily continued bandaging her wounds, oblivious to her emotional state, only frowning slightly, "What happened to your hand?"

She wanted to tell him it was Zhuang Heng’s doing, but the thought of his unwavering trust in Zhuang Heng made it seem pointless. She didn’t want to go through the effort of proving herself a victim of Zhuang Heng again, needing only a warm, solid embrace in her time of exhaustion, not a courtroom-like battle to prove right from wrong.

So, she simply said, "I was careless."

Lu Shifeng didn’t ask further, a shadow flickered in his narrow eyes. The Qin Family would pay the price.

His actions were swift.

The next day, the Qin Family’s stock prices plummeted, and by the third day, nearly half of the factories and logistics chains had issues. Within a week, rumors of Qin Corporation’s impending bankruptcy filled the air, with many mid-high-level employees resigning, taking with them the company’s core technologies, resources, and networks...

Media reports flooded in, exposing the Qin Family’s past scandals and kicking them while they were down...

At this critical moment, several collateral branches of the Qin Family were busy creating splits and fighting over the inheritance, throwing the family into unprecedented internal and external turmoil. Mr. Qin was so furious that he had a heart attack and was hospitalized, while Qin Mu, knowing that all this trouble was caused by him, shut himself up at home, afraid to face people.

And Su Xingyu knew nothing of this.

Her ankle was seriously injured. After jumping off the terrace that day and stumbling while running away, she overexerted herself, worsening the injury, and the doctor advised her to rest well.

So she stayed home, not caring about the outside world. Every day she brewed a pot of tea, basked in the sun in a daze, and when she had nothing to do, she polished her photography equipment.

Until Qin Zheng came to visit her.

She was very surprised by this unexpected guest, as they were not familiar with each other and only met briefly a few times in public over the year.

She welcomed Qin Zheng into the living room and instructed Mrs. Gui to serve tea.

Top-quality Yunnan Pu’er tea steamed its slightly bitter fragrance into the air, but Qin Zheng had no interest in tasting it. Looking at Su Xingyu, who was wearing casual home attire and sitting on the sofa, his expression grew complex: "It seems Mr. Lu treats you well, letting you live at home. Xingyu, he values you greatly. One day, you will become the young mistress of the Lu Family. Congratulations."

The young mistress of the Lu Family?

She was already that now.

But she didn’t find it something worth celebrating. Fate had placed her in this position, whether she liked it or not.

She gave a polite, slight smile: "Brother Qin Zheng, you wouldn’t be visiting just to congratulate me?"

Qin Zheng inwardly sighed. This girl was sharp and elegant, with poise and grace. It was truly unfortunate that his brother had no luck. The good match turned into enmity.

Bringing down the whole family.

Adjusting his expression, Qin Zheng said to Su Xingyu, "Xingyu, about my brother, I’m very sorry. Have you heard about Lu Shifeng’s recent actions against the Qin Family? To vent your anger, he’s nearly annihilating our family. If this continues, the Qin Corporation will be bankrupt within a month. I know Qin Mu has been excessive and done many wrongs to you. Whatever compensation you want, I’ll do my best to help you achieve it. I only ask that you show mercy and spare our family this time. After all, many in this big family are innocent, and such misfortune shouldn’t befall them."

Su Xingyu truly didn’t know about these things.

She asked in surprise, "What did Lu Shifeng do?"

Qin Zheng then detailed the Qin Corporation’s recent collapse and downfall.

Su Xingyu was so shocked she couldn’t speak for a long time. She didn’t know that the man’s early departures and late returns every day were to work on this, to destroy the entire Qin family to vent for her? 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Her heart was filled with a bittersweet feeling she couldn’t quite place. Every time she thought he was cold, he would do something to warm her heart again.

But she didn’t want the Qin Family to be truly destroyed because of this.

Yes, even if Qin Mu had done many wrong things to her, and Mrs. Qin wasn’t fond of her, Qin Family still had Qin Zheng, the elder brother-like figure who had always given her respect. He even assisted her at Su Xingqi and Qin Mu’s engagement party. Even if she wanted revenge on Qin Mu, she shouldn’t drag him into it.

However, "I’m not confident I can persuade Lu Shifeng," she told Qin Zheng, "I can only try."