Chapter 7

Shu Xia waited for ten minutes, but did not wait for Fu Chenyan to return the money.

She knew Fu Chenyan would not return the money.

Within ten minutes, she collected various records of the money she had transferred to Fu Chenyan over the past few years, as well as screenshots of chat logs where Fu Chenyan said every single time that he would pay her back later.

This evidence was enough to sue in court, or even... she could first go to the police station to report being defrauded by a scumbag.

Next, she opened the WeChat of Chen Xiuyue and Lin Guanda; both were blaming her for being disobedient, especially Lin Guanda, who wanted to cancel her credit card.

She remembered there was indeed such a card, which Lin Guanda gave her when she first returned to the Lin Family.

She had never used it once.

What Lin Miao sent was very simple: showing off the love of Lin Guanda and Chen Xiuyue, while sarcastically mocking her between the lines.

In her previous life, she would feel very sad every time she faced Lin Miao's showing off.

Fortunately, she had the opportunity to start over in this life.

From now on, she would only acknowledge her foster mother, Jiang Ye.

Her foster father passed away in an accident when she was three, and Jiang Ye single-handedly raised her, her two older brothers, and her younger brother through all sorts of hardships.

Just as she was about to put down her phone to sleep, a message popped up on WeChat.

【Xia Xia, are you used to living in the Lin Family recently?】

It was Shu Xuan, the older brother who had doted on her the most since she was a child.

Her long eyelashes trembled.

【Big Brother, I miss you.】

Shu Xuan sent a voice message the next second, "Xia Xia, if you miss home, just come back. Mom has also been talking about you these past two days."

"I also miss her very, very much... I really miss Mom. I'll come home tomorrow."

"I'll cook for you myself and wait for you to come back."

"How have you been lately, Big Brother? I remember you said before that you were going to publish a paper, right?"

Shu Xuan was silent for a few seconds before saying with a smile, "Everything is fine on my end."

After hanging up the phone, Shu Xia found a photo of their family in her album.

Looking at the family in the photo, teardrops hung on her long eyelashes.

Ever since she was paralyzed from a car accident, she had never seen them again; occasionally, when she received a call, it was only when they were in a good mood that they let her answer.

Lin Guanda and the others refused everyone who wanted to visit her, and everyone thought she was being well taken care of; after all, everyone believed that if she hadn't pushed Chen Xiuyue away, it would have been absolutely impossible for her to have a high-level amputation.

Therefore, as her biological mother, how could Chen Xiuyue not take good care of her?

She raised her hand to wipe away her tears.

She turned off her phone.

She needed to rest well; her eyes could not be swollen when she went home tomorrow.

At six in the morning, the phone alarm rang on time.

Shu Xia was used to waking up early, and after washing up, she went downstairs.

When leaving the Laozhai yesterday, Qiao Muting told her that he didn't like having live-in servants at home; usually, people from the Laozhai would come every day to clean, and he rarely ate at home.

Therefore, she went downstairs to the kitchen to check the refrigerator.

Fortunately, there was some food inside; the people from the Laozhai must come every day to restock and tidy up the refrigerator, and all kinds of vegetables and fruits were very fresh.

Seeing a bag of hand-pulled noodles in the refrigerator, she set about making chicken shredded noodle soup.

Qiao Muting had just come downstairs in a suit and leather shoes when he smelled an appetizing aroma.

He had not yet adapted to his status as a married man, so he was stunned when he saw Shu Xia in the kitchen wearing an apron, which could not hide her slender waist and long legs.

When Shu Xia walked out with the noodles and saw Qiao Muting, she was also a bit unaccustomed to it.

She asked politely, "Mr. Qiao, would you like to have breakfast? I made chicken shredded noodles."

The chicken shredded noodles had shiitake mushrooms and greens in them.

She didn't really like eating Western-style breakfasts.

"Thank you, I'm not used to eating breakfast in the morning," Qiao Muting refused directly.

Just as he was about to push the door open to leave, he put down a black card, "Use this card for your daily expenses and household costs."

Shu Xia glanced at the black card placed on the table and accepted it.

She would earn her own money, so she didn't need the card he gave her.

But refusing his card would surely invite his suspicion, so it was better to accept it first and return it when the agreement expired.

Qiao Group building.

Just as Qiao Muting sat down, Zhang Tezhu brought him a cup of coffee according to his daily habit.

The aroma of coffee wafted over, and Qiao Muting picked it up and took a sip.

As the liquid slid down his throat and into his stomach, Qiao Muting suddenly thought of the steaming bowl of chicken shredded noodles that Shu Xia had served that morning.

Zhang Tezhu was reporting the day's itinerary on the side.

In two hours, they were going on a business trip to Linshi.

"Go to the restaurant across the street and pack a portion of chicken shredded noodles to bring back."

Hearing an order unrelated to work, Zhang Tezhu thought he had misheard, "Chicken shredded noodles?"

Didn't the boss not like to eat in the morning?

"Yes."

Zhang Tezhu was now certain he hadn't misheard, and with a face full of questions as to why the boss suddenly wanted to eat chicken shredded noodles, he went out to find someone to buy them.

Half an hour later, a bowl of steaming chicken shredded noodles arrived in front of Qiao Muting.

Qiao Muting took a bite.

The rich flavor of chicken soup exploded in his mouth.

A feeling of nausea surged up from his stomach.

Shredded chicken noodles should not be this rich.

He put down his chopsticks.

Zhang Tezhu could not understand this, "Qiao, is the noodle too hot?"

"Take it away."

"Ah, yes."

When Zhang Tezhu walked out carrying the noodles, his heart was full of question marks; had he lost so many brain cells after the elevator scare yesterday that he could no longer understand his boss today?

However, the shredded chicken noodles smelled truly fragrant; he must go eat some when he returns from his business trip!

After Shu Xia left Xinghai Villa in the morning, she first went to find a lawyer.

Then she went to the police station to file a report.

She caught a taxi back to the Jiang Family just in time for noon.

Three years ago, her younger brother Qiao Hong came to Jing City with the results of a county-level top scorer in the high school entrance exam, and the whole family moved over as well.

In the car, Fu Chenyan's calls came in one after another.

Shu Xia glanced at them and set Fu Chenyan's phone calls to "Do Not Disturb."

At the same time, inside the office building where the Lin Group was located.

Two police officers looked expressionlessly at Fu Chenyan, who was making constant phone calls.

Colleagues pointed at Fu Chenyan, discussing what had happened.

Fu Chenyan saw that he had dialed so many calls, yet Shu Xia would not even answer.

"Listen to me, this is a misunderstanding. Shu Xia and I are boyfriend and girlfriend; it is impossible for me to defraud her. We just had an argument, which is why she went to file a false report."

Fu Chenyan explained calmly to the police.

"Please come with us to make a statement," the police said.

Fu Chenyan lowered his head to check the time; it was almost time for his appointment with Lin Miao. Ever since he learned of the relationship between Shu Xia and Lin Miao, he dared to hope for a step closer to Lin Miao; she was the "white moonlight" he had kept in his heart since his university days.

His feelings for Shu Xia had long since lost their passion after so many years.

But she had a good personality and was kind, and his mother liked Shu Xia, so he had never thought about breaking up.

Upon seeing the police, he suddenly understood that when Shu Xia said they were breaking up, it was a real breakup, and when she said she wanted him to pay back the money, she really wanted him to pay it back.

He would not give up and sent a WeChat video call to Shu Xia again.

As a result, Shu Xia still ignored him.

In the end, Fu Chenyan had no choice but to follow the police to the police station.

Yueran Mall, Gate 1.

Dressed in designer brands, Lin Miao looked at her phone impatiently.

It had already been three minutes past the agreed-upon time.

Just as she was about to call Fu Chenyan, she saw several people walking out of the Qiao Group building opposite.

Among them was Qiao Muting, the president of the Qiao Group, who frequently appeared in various financial news reports.