Chapter 89: Taken Advantage of  

Sitting in his study, Shangguan Zheng was both astonished and outraged, after disconnecting the call.

He was the Deputy Mayor of A City, and someone just dared to threaten him!

He was blamed for using his daughter to salvage his company but wasn’t it his daughter’s duty to save her father’s company? Wasn’t it her obligation to help him, in time of need?

Liyu Science & Technology had grown exponentially. It generated hundreds of millions of yuan in profits, annually. His share was a staggering fifty percent. How could he just be an innocent bystander while the company fought its way to stay afloat?

He wasn’t sure who that man on the phone was. He sounded so proud and didn’t have any manners. How dare he tell him to quit the political arena? Shangguan Zheng wasn’t one to be easily threatened. He had been making the rounds of political circles, for years now. He had seen too many ups and downs in his political career, to pay any heed to advice coming from a novice.

He was more upset with his own daughter. How could she discuss personal family affairs with an outsider? He had just pampered her too much, when she was younger. Maybe that’s why she was so spoilt now.

Shangguan Zheng suspected that the man who spoke with him today, must have been the man they ran into at the beach in N City. He had been so full of himself, even back then.

Shangguan Zheng knew that this man was someone powerful. Honestly, it didn’t matter who he was. All that mattered was that Shangguan Ning stay away from him. He would never allow his own daughter to be with a man who didn’t respect the seniors.

He left the study on the second floor and went downstairs to the living room. Seeing his wife, daughter and future son-in-law chatting animatedly over cups of tea, elevated his mood. He was still not over this man, though.

Shangguan Rouxue looked up at him and smiled sweetly. “Daddy, come and have some tea. Zhuojun has just bought you Oolong, that you enjoy so much!”

Shangguan Zheng felt much better already. He nodded at Xie Zhuojun, in a show of gratitude and then turned to Shangguan Rouxue. “Xue, get your sister back home tomorrow. She is a single girl living all by herself. What does she think? Does she never want to come back home? Let me know if that is the case. Then I will disown her and think that I have always had only one daughter.”

Xie Zhuojun stiffened up at these words. Shangguan Ning had kept everyone in the dark,about her marriage.

What a ruthless woman! She had not only hidden her marriage from the world, but also kept it from her own father.

No one knew what had caused this sudden change in Shangguan Zheng. His expression was enough to dissuade anyone from asking him for any reasons, though. Yang Wenshu noticed that something was not right. Shangguan Rouxue smiled at Xie Zhuojun and said “Zhuojun, let’s go and get Sister home tomorrow.”

Xie Zhuojun saw Shangguan Rouxue and couldn’t help but feel sad for her. He agreed to go with her but he knew that the entire exercise would prove to be futile. He knew that Shangguan Ning wasn’t coming home.

He still wanted to meet her and ask her why she chose to marry someone else..why did she hide it from him..? Did she marry someone else, in order to spite him?

The following day, Shangguan Ning didn’t finish her work until 8 in the evening. By then, everyone else in the company had left already. She was about to leave the office premises when someone stopped her.

Shangguan Rouxue grabbed her arms and said chirpily, “Sister, we have been waiting for you for so long. Finally, you’re here.”

Shangguan Ning pulled out of her grasp and said, coldly, “Please stay away from me, or you will hurt yourself again, somehow. Then your man will assume that it is me who hurt you. I am not interested in doing this little show with you again and again!”

Shangguan Rouxue stiffened. Her tender face that was happy a few moments ago, turned sad. She mumbled, “Sister, please don’t say all this. It upsets me to hear you speak this way.”

Xie Zhuojun, who was standing beside her, felt anger rise inside of him. Innocent Xue had done nothing wrong except speak to her sister with love.

“Ning, why can’t you just talk normally? What did Xue do for you to be so cruel to her?”

Shangguan Ning turned to him and smiled mockingly. ” I didn’t do anything wrong too, but you were still so cruel to me, weren’t you ?”

Xie Zhuojun was lost for words. He then realised that Shangguan Ning had had a haircut. Why? Why had she cut her beautiful hair?

She had been sporting long hair, since she was a little girl. She had cherished her hair so much. What must have made her want to cut it?

It is said that women generally have a hair cut to signify a huge change in their life. Was she trying to start anew by getting rid of his presence in her life?

Besides, she had never dyed her hair before. Now it was a fashionable shade of brown instead of black. This was so unlike her. She was not the Shangguan Ning he knew before.

What he couldn’t deny though, was that she looked even prettier now. So pretty that he couldn’t look away from her. Her hair framed her delicate facial features perfectly. She looked fresh and even younger than before.

On her ears, he spotted exquisite solitaires. They made her look so elegant. She had never been into jewellery. In fact, she had never worn any jewellery before. All these were subtle changes but they did not miss his eye. She had changed so much.

Seeing him stare at Shangguan Ning speechlessly, Shagguan Rouxue felt strangely possessive. She held his arm and said to him, “Zhuojun, please tell her what Daddy said. She doesn’t seem... to want to forgive me. I am so afraid that anything I say, will annoy her further.”

Xie Zhuojun came back to present reality and held Shangguan Rouxue. He explained, “Ning, Uncle is worried about your safety. It is unsafe for you to live all by yourself like this. He wishes for you to come back home. Please come back home with us. Won’t it be nice to live with your family, once again ?”

Shangguan Ning really wanted to laugh out loud but held herself back.

Home? Was that even her home?

“Worried about me?” Shangguan Ning sneered. She tried suppressing her anger but to no avail, “No one was worried about me when I was living alone, abroad, for four years. But now when the company is almost bankrupt, he suddenly starts to worry about me? Is he worried about my safety or about my refusal to sleep with the person who holds his company to ransom?”

Xie Zhuojun had no idea that Liyu Science and Technology was going through such major problems. He was shocked by Shangguan Ning’s words and asked, “What do you mean? Your family’s company has run into financial problems?”

Shangguan Ning realised that Xie Zhuojun had been taken advantage of, again. He had been dragged into the matter without even understanding what was going on.