Chapter 31
After Lin Wantang was finally transferred to the new hospital, Wen Zhiqing was frequently seized by an impulse; she often wanted to go and see Lin Wantang immediately, to tell her the truth.
But she suppressed it countless times, only able to fantasize over and over again about the expression Lin Wantang would have upon hearing the truth.
Originally, she only thought about it during her bouts of insomnia at night, but now, she gradually began to think about it during the day as well.
Today was the date for Lin Shen’s scheduled visit. Wen Zhiqing pressed hard against her aching brow, a look of fatigue and annoyance flashing in her eyes that she couldn’t hide. If Lin Shen weren’t Lin Wantang’s mother, she would never have agreed to meet with someone like her.
But thinking of Lin Wantang, who was currently lying in a hospital bed preparing for surgery, Wen Zhiqing suppressed all her resistance. She not only agreed but specifically set aside a very generous amount of time.
Lin Shen arrived exactly on time, still wearing a face full of smiles like a spring breeze, as if all the past friction had never happened.
Wen Zhiqing felt a faint sense of disgust; in her memory, every time she saw Lin Shen, she wore this same gentle and polite face, making it impossible to see her true emotions.
Even now, with Lin Wantang suffering from a terminal illness, this person could still manage a polite smile, as if she were still wearing a hypocritical mask.
She truly hid her real emotions too deeply.
“President Wen, I truly must congratulate you. You are so young and promising, and the merger and acquisition plan is proceeding so methodically. I feel we can sign the letter of intent before long.”
Wen Zhiqing lifted her eyes and looked at Lin Shen.
Lin Shen’s face still held that perfectly measured smile, and her tone betrayed no other emotion.
She seemed to be here only to discuss official business, as if the person lying in the hospital waiting for surgery had absolutely nothing to do with her.
Wen Zhiqing didn’t respond immediately; she felt that Lin Shen’s smile was somewhat grating at this moment.
She put herself in the other’s shoes for a moment—if she were currently terminally ill, Wen Lan and Jiang Qiao would likely have no mind for work and would definitely stay by her side without leaving. Even if they had to handle work, they would never be as calm and composed as Lin Shen.
“Thank you for the kind words.”
After a moment’s pause, Wen Zhiqing finally replied slowly, maintaining a basic level of politeness.
Wen Zhiqing thought that perhaps everyone’s personality is different; some mothers might be more reserved.
Maybe in Lin Shen’s heart, it wasn’t that she didn’t care about her sick daughter, but that her thoughts were buried too deep for outsiders to easily glimpse.
Furthermore, as Lin Wantang’s ex-wife, perhaps Lin Shen thought mentioning Lin Wantang at this time would make everyone feel embarrassed, and thus she refrained from doing so.
“President Wen, our side is currently sorting through our financial system so that we can align as much as possible before the handover.”
Lin Shen’s gaze fell on Wen Zhiqing’s face, her tone carrying a measured sincerity: “But if we are to integrate into the group in the future, there will surely be many areas that need adjustment.”
Observing Wen Zhiqing’s expression, she slowly added: “I am still the most familiar with the financial matters on our side; you likely understand this as well.”
Speaking to this point, Lin Shen leaned forward slightly, as if seriously discussing a matter of mutual concern: “I was thinking that if our side gets involved earlier to align the systems of both parties, we can avoid many detours during the transition period.”
“I wonder if you have any preliminary thoughts regarding the future team structure?”
Wen Zhiqing understood Lin Shen’s meaning; Lin Shen was simply reluctant to let go of her current position and had come to sound her out.
She lowered her eyes, suppressing that trace of unidentifiable emotion.
“You have considered things very thoroughly,” Wen Zhiqing said calmly. “However, it won’t be too late to discuss these matters in detail during the handover.”
As if she had long expected such an answer, Lin Shen showed no expression of disappointment. She remained sitting there composedly, only letting out a soft sigh after a moment.
“President Wen, I originally didn’t want to say these things. You are the acquirer, and I am the one being acquired; we should just finish our business talk.”
She lowered her eyes, and her voice dropped accordingly: “But Wantang is my daughter. She is still ill now, and I don’t know how much longer she can hold on. I can’t have her feeling uneasy at a time like this.”
Hearing Lin Shen’s words, Wen Zhiqing felt as if a long, thin needle had pierced her heart.
Ever since Qi Yishu successfully persuaded Lin Wantang to transfer, Wen Zhiqing had never stepped into the ward to visit Lin Wantang again, fearing that all her previous efforts would be for naught.
Lin Wantang’s physical condition was indeed not great; Wen Zhiqing had heard reports from the hospital staff saying Lin Wantang often woke up with a start in the middle of the night, but they hadn’t completely figured out the reason even after asking her.
Lin Wantang only said it was because of old events from a long time ago.
After that, Wen Zhiqing was even more afraid to go to the hospital.
Now, suddenly hearing Lin Shen’s words again, Wen Zhiqing’s heart felt a sharp sting, and she couldn’t help but frown—but this subtle expression was noticed by Lin Shen almost instantly.
Lin Shen’s gaze fell on the bridge of Wen Zhiqing’s nose, which had gradually begun to relax, as if she had been waiting patiently for a long time and finally reached it.
She truly hadn’t expected that Wen Zhiqing would be far easier to break through than Lin Wantang. Had she known this sooner, why would she have gone to such trouble, traveling specially to waste her breath on Lin Wantang and squandering so much time?
“President Wen, by all rights, you and Wantang no longer have a relationship, and I shouldn’t bring up my daughter to talk shop.”
Lin Shen let out another long sigh, a raspy sound as if she truly couldn’t help but let it slip. “But she is very dependent on me. If I lose my job after the acquisition, she will surely be very distressed.”
After speaking, she lifted her head and looked closely at Wen Zhiqing. Wen Zhiqing was now completely wavering, her whole person lost in thought, her cold expression gradually replaced by worry.
It truly never failed.
Lin Shen lowered her head, hiding that trace of satisfaction.
Wen Zhiqing almost wanted to agree to Lin Shen’s request immediately, but she felt like something was off.
There was nothing wrong with the logic itself, but this was Lin Shen.
Were Lin Shen and Lin Wantang in a normal mother-daughter relationship?
She thought back to the transfer agreement Lin Wantang had signed during the first transfer. She had seen that agreement later, and it explicitly required confidentiality from relatives.
She was already divorced from Lin Wantang; even without a confidentiality agreement, the hospital had no right to inform her of Lin Wantang’s whereabouts. That being the case, the confidentiality agreement was clearly Lin Wantang’s way of guarding against her own blood relatives.
But was she guarding against her blood relatives, or was she worried they would be too heartbroken upon seeing her?
The latter possibility was small, but not non-existent.
Wen Zhiqing looked at Lin Shen again; the woman before her appeared only to be a mother worried about her child. Wen Zhiqing spoke softly, her tone slow, as if carefully recalling something: “When I went to the hospital before, Lin Wantang did indeed mention this matter to me.”
She wasn’t lying; Lin Wantang had indeed mentioned the acquisition case in the ward. But Lin Wantang’s attitude at the time didn’t seem to be on Lin Shen’s side; rather, she didn’t side with anyone.
On this matter, she could indeed understand Lin Wantang. A sick person should rest quietly rather than having their spirit consumed by unnecessary turmoil.
But for a moment, she had actually been following the other’s logic, only thinking of this now.
It was likely because it wasn’t that she had forgotten, but that she didn’t dare think about it. She couldn’t believe there was truly a mother in this world who could treat a daughter in a hospital bed as a mere bargaining chip on a negotiation table without any psychological burden.
Lin Shen instinctively wanted to agree, but almost instantly sensed that something seemed wrong.
“Wantang is a sensitive child. I originally intended to keep it from her, but who knew she seemed to notice something and insisted on questioning me.” She let out a faint sigh: “This child has always been like this, even before…”
Wen Zhiqing still had her brows furrowed, not returning to her initial indifferent and cold expression: “Lin Wantang has been recuperating in the hospital. If you truly mean well for her, why did you tell her about the acquisition case? Letting her prepare for surgery in peace is what a normal mother should do, isn’t it?”
She had originally wanted to tell Lin Shen directly that Lin Wantang had said she didn’t want to get involved at all and begged them to let her go.
But she found herself unable to trust Lin Shen anymore. If she spoke out so rashly, perhaps Lin Shen would become angry out of shame and then take it out on Lin Wantang later. Furthermore, if she revealed the whole truth and Lin Shen was lying, Lin Shen would fabricate a logical lie specifically for that situation.
It would be difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood again. It would be better to only give part of the information and then wait for Lin Shen’s reaction; that way, she could clearly tell if this was all a lie.
Wen Zhiqing truly hoped Lin Shen could give a logical reply; she really didn’t want to believe that Lin Shen was a mother who only used her daughter.
It wasn’t that she didn’t know there were many kinds of mothers in the world. But she was too unwilling to believe that the one Lin Wantang encountered was the worst kind.
“I indeed hadn’t planned to tell her about this.” Even after being questioned, Lin Shen showed no panic: “It’s just that Wantang kept asking. I thought if she didn’t know about this, she wouldn’t be at peace even when undergoing the surgery later.”
She sighed again, as if speaking of something unavoidable: “So it was better to do as I did—tell Wantang directly, and then resolve this matter smoothly before the surgery, so that Wantang can undergo the procedure with a more peaceful mind.”
It seemed a seamless answer—the reasons were sufficient, the logic was self-consistent, and it even exuded a bit of maternal helplessness and thoroughness.
Wen Zhiqing thought that if she hadn’t personally seen Lin Wantang’s exhausted appearance at the time, she might have accepted Lin Shen’s explanation.
She still remembered what Lin Wantang had said then.
She said: “You are all the same. On the surface, you all talk about visiting, but you know what you’re really thinking in your hearts.”
At the time, Wen Zhiqing only felt aggrieved, a feeling mixed with threads of anger. But now, as Wen Zhiqing thought back on that sentence, all the grievance and anger were diluted.
Those emotions were like dried paint on the surface of an oil painting, peeling off piece by piece. Once peeled away, what was revealed underneath was an even more somber base layer.
And her heart felt as if its shell were being gently scraped, a fine, abrasive pain.
Wen Zhiqing didn’t sternly refuse Lin Shen, nor did she even expose the other’s lie.
“I understand your meaning.” Wen Zhiqing looked at Lin Shen, her tone carrying a measured sense of reassurance: “However, this matter still needs to be discussed with other senior management. But rest assured, there shouldn’t be any problem.”
She wanted to temporarily stabilize Lin Shen to gain more time for investigation.
Having achieved her goal, Lin Shen politely took her leave of Wen Zhiqing. After turning to leave, the tension at the corners of her mouth relaxed, finally curling into a satisfied arc.
She thought Wen Zhiqing was still as easy to fool as before.
With Wen Zhiqing as her backing, she could not only firmly keep her position but also continue to climb higher. Once her daughter finished her graduate studies and slowly took over, she could then nibble away at the Wen enterprise bit by bit.
Thinking of her daughter, the arc between Lin Shen’s brows finally softened. Her Xiao Huan was as smart as her and Shi Cen; she would surely achieve great things in the future.
After Lin Shen left, Wen Zhiqing leaned back into her seat as if her spirit had been crushed. The sky behind her was misty, seemingly staining the entire office with a shade of gray. She was trapped in that gray, her gaze hollow, unsure of where to look.
She knew very well that Lin Shen was not exactly a good person. But she had always thought that even if Lin Shen was manipulative toward everyone else, she would at least reserve a shred of sincerity for her own daughter.
It was also for this reason that she believed the goals of Lin Shen and Lin Wantang were absolutely identical.
Wen Zhiqing suddenly thought back to the old days when she had just taken over a portion of the company’s affairs during university.
That was a very long time ago. She rarely recalled it proactively because all her youthful longings and fantasies about love had been extinguished in the panic and anger of being betrayed.
After the incident, everyone mocked her. They laughed at her for being a poor judge of character, for actually believing Lin Shen’s daughter—she had even been planning to proactively confess to that Alpha before it happened; she deserved to be played.
Many were already dissatisfied with Wen Lan’s desire to have her Omega daughter take over the company. For a time, rumors that Wen Zhiqing had fallen for a “honey trap” and had her business secrets stolen were rampant, surging up like a tide and drowning her.
It was indeed her fault that the company’s interests were damaged. She helplessly endured those accusations and didn’t even attend her own graduation ceremony.
She had originally intended to confess to Lin Wantang after attending the ceremony.
Wen Zhiqing had sent many messages to Lin Wantang, but Lin Wantang took a long time to reply. It wasn’t until evening that Lin Wantang finally responded; she sent one message first, admitting she was Lin Shen’s daughter.
Then Lin Wantang denied being involved in the matter. She said she had had no contact with Lin Shen since starting university and hoped the senior could believe her.
But everyone knew that Lin Shen had prepared a grand birthday banquet for Lin Wantang that night. In the end, Lin Wantang hadn’t attended—likely because she felt guilty; that’s what everyone speculated.
At the time, Wen Zhiqing, who was drowned in accusations, also wanted to believe Lin Wantang, but she could find no reason to convince herself. She had tried her best to make amends in a daze until Wen Lan and Jiang Qiao finally rushed back from abroad and cleaned up the mess that she couldn’t handle alone.
But now, as Wen Zhiqing tried to recall the past, all the memories were like looking through frosted glass; she couldn’t see the specific details clearly no matter what.
Likely because the blow was too great, she had deliberately avoided those irritating and painful memories. Those things she had once believed to be true were sealed away layer by layer on the other side of the frosted glass.
It’s just that now, all those things she firmly believed in were starting to waver.
Perhaps they didn’t start wavering just now, but a much longer time ago. It was just that the loosening was too minute for her to ever notice or dare to think deeply about.
But now she knew that those things she thought were as solid as rock were falling apart piece by piece, like a mirage at the end of a desert, fading away bit by bit until one suddenly realized they could only see a phantom image merging into the horizon.
She once firmly believed Lin Wantang was definitely guilty, but now she wasn’t sure if Lin Wantang was innocent.
She opened her computer screen with sluggish movements, yet didn’t know whom to send to investigate, nor where to start.
She didn’t even know how she would face it if something were truly discovered.
Wen Zhiqing sat in the office until evening.
Afterward, she went to the flower shop as usual to buy flowers. Wen Zhiqing personally selected the freshest flowers—the pink of the carnations was vibrant, the lily buds were tightly closed, and the sunflowers were in full bloom. She lowered her head, her fingers very lightly arranging the stems one by one, folding the wrapping paper, and finally tying the ribbon.
But she didn’t write a single word on the blank card in the bouquet, nor did she leave a name, of course.
Wen Zhiqing went to the hospital. Standing at the entrance of Lin Wantang’s ward, she carefully handed the bouquet to the nurse, instructing her to place it by the window of Lin Wantang’s ward—a place where the sunlight could reach.
She thought that when Lin Wantang looked up, she would be able to see the sunlight falling on the bouquet, and her mood would be a bit better. This would also let Lin Wantang know that someone hoped she would recover.
Even though, in all probability, Lin Wantang would mistake that person for Qi Yishu.
Her heart began to ache again. Wen Zhiqing stood in the corridor, looking at that closed door. The flowers had been delivered, and the afterglow of the sunset should be falling inside. Wen Zhiqing didn’t clutch her chest.
She finally understood that this pain was because she was in grief.
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