Chapter 242: Her Child is the Legitimate Heir

But at the time he had Situ pull the surveillance footage, it was indeed Ning Huaiqing who had entered his room.

Where was Zhu Yuan at that time?

She was spending the New Year with her parents, brother, and grandfather; how could she possibly have appeared there?

He was truly going mad with longing for her.

Thinking of Zhu Yuan, Sheng Yu frowned, leaned against the headboard, and raised a hand, resting his elbow on his forehead.

Scenes of Zhu Yuan's face flashed through his mind.

Yuanyuan, where exactly are you?

"Young Master Yu, the Old Madam has come to see you." Situ walked to Sheng Yu's side.

Sheng Yu pinched the bridge of his nose, his mind and heart filled with thoughts of Zhu Yuan; he felt both agitated and sour, deeply uncomfortable, and said coldly, "Tell her to go back."

She didn't come here entirely to see him, but rather out of fear that he would kill Sheng Hongyao.

If she had come solely for Sheng Hongyao, he might have seen her once, but coming to visit him with such impure motives—did she take him for a fool?

Once his injuries healed a bit more, it would be time for Sheng Hongyao's death.

……

When Yuan Fengye and Qi Jing arrived at the hospital room, Sheng Yu was staring at the faded light blue Hair Tie on his right wrist.

Yuan Fengye couldn't help but sigh after one glance.

This Hair Tie hadn't been this faded before; it had all been worn down by the touch of Yu Ge's hand.

Thinking that his unruly Yu Ge was actually wearing a woman's Hair Tie, Yuan Fengye still felt incredibly shocked even after so long.

And it was left behind by that "heartless woman" Zhu Yuan; was he really treasuring it that much?

"Yu Ge, I heard that Ning Huaiqing has been discharged with that child?" Yuan Fengye sat on the sofa; it wasn't that he was deliberately bringing up that distressing child in front of Sheng Yu, but he was simply too curious about Yu Ge's own flesh and blood.

However, they knew Yu Ge's temper, so despite their curiosity, they hadn't gone to see the child.

Sheng Yu pulled his sleeve down slightly to cover the Hair Tie and gave a grunt of acknowledgment.

After the paternity test was done, he hadn't forced the child to stay in the hospital any longer.

Because the day before, the child had been in a state of persistent low-grade fever, yet after one night, without any medication, the fever had actually broken.

And since he hadn't yet figured out the true intentions of the person behind the scenes, he couldn't provoke the other party at this time; since Ning Huaiqing wanted to take the child out of the hospital, he would let her take it.

"But there is one thing I still don't quite understand: why did Sheng Hongyao and Shen Yijing's people target the child in Little Sister-in-law... Zhu Yuan's womb? They even... Zhu Yuan's pregnancy..."

Yuan Fengye had stumbled over his words twice in one sentence, his tongue practically tying itself in knots.

Especially after being swept by a sharp glare from Sheng Yu, he didn't dare to speak anymore.

Even though Sheng Yu was severely injured, his gaze remained sharp, perhaps even more lethal than before; Yuan Fengye swallowed hard.

"What did you call her?" Sheng Yu's cold tone carried a hint of displeasure.

Yuan Fengye immediately corrected himself, "Little Sister-in-law, Little Sister-in-law! Yu Ge, I just find it strange; they were able to know the news of Little Sister-in-law's pregnancy, even though it was something even I and Brother Jing didn't know before. Don't they know that Ning Huaiqing has a child here too?"

"Yet they kept their eyes fixed on the child in Little Sister-in-law's womb. Take Sheng Hongyao, for example; hasn't he always hated Yu Ge for causing the death of his and Shen Yijing's child back then? If he couldn't deal with Zhu Yuan, he could have completely gone after Ning Huaiqing's child. Look, so much time has passed, and that child is still perfectly fine."

Yuan Fengye rarely analyzed things so calmly. "In the past few years, Ning Huaiqing hid the child very well, keeping even Yu Ge in the dark, let alone others. It makes sense that the child survived until now, but now that he has returned to Jingdu City, if nothing else, Sheng Hongyao must certainly know."

"This question is indeed easy for the average person to get confused by, but if you clarify one point, you will understand," Qi Jing spoke up.

Yuan Fengye was stunned.

Qi Jing looked at the man on the hospital bed playing with a lighter and sighed silently.

"An unrecognized illegitimate child, with no name or status, who cannot even inherit the family estate, versus a child born to a beloved woman who would be designated as the legitimate heir from birth—if you had to choose a target to strike, which one would you pick?"

"Then I would definitely choose the child in Little Sister-in-law's..." Yuan Fengye blurted out.

He suddenly felt a chill down the back of his neck.

He hurriedly looked at Sheng Yu, whose eyes were flashing with cold light. "Yu Ge, I was just thinking from their perspective. How could I possibly move against your and Little Sister-in-law's child? I would cherish him even more..."

But as soon as he finished speaking, Yuan Fengye immediately raised his hand to slap his own mouth. "My cursed mouth, Yu Ge... I'm sorry."

He looked at Sheng Yu with a heavy expression; he hadn't meant to say that and make Sheng Yu think of the child he hadn't been able to keep.

Come to think of it, Sheng Hongyao hated Yu Ge so much that he wanted Yu Ge to be in unbearable agony.

And Ning Huaiqing's child meant absolutely nothing to Yu Ge.

Thinking of it this way, Yuan Fengye finally understood.

And looking at Yu Ge's reaction, he had clearly seen through those people's plans long ago.

At this moment, he didn't know whether to pity that child or to pity Yu Ge.

Sheng Hongyao and the others hadn't succeeded, but Zhu Yuan had done it herself.

That heartless woman's heart was too cruel!

Thinking of that child, both Qi Jing and Yuan Fengye fell silent.

Especially Qi Jing, thinking that Sheng Yu was much more miserable than him; at least he still had Qi Qi.

……

One month later.

A small town with a pleasant climate on the border.

The weather was good today, and the sun was a bit intense.

Zhu Yuan, wearing a light blue solid-colored dress, walked along a small path; the roadside was covered in colorful little flowers, and as the wind blew, the air was filled with a pleasant fragrance.

Seen from afar, she looked like a fairy who had wandered into an oil painting, untouched by the dust of the mortal world.

Her waterfall-like long hair was tied into a low ponytail at the back of her head with a cream-colored hair tie; she carried a small basket in one hand and held a yellow, black-bottomed parasol in the other.

Suddenly, her footsteps faltered, and she instinctively took a step back.

Before her, a snake with black-bottomed patterns was coiled on the path.

The Qingming Festival had long passed, and the weather was getting hotter; this was the weather when snakes liked to come out most, and she had happened to run into one.

Zhu Yuan looked at the snake coiled up like a mosquito coil and felt a chill of disgust.

She wanted to let out a string of profanities, but remembering something, she swallowed the foul language back; she had to be a person of quality now and couldn't just curse whenever she pleased.

But with a snake like this blocking her path, how was she supposed to get home?

The key was that her stomach was so hungry, hungry to the point where she could eat a whole pig.

Zhu Yuan hooked the basket with her wrist, tilted her head to clamp the umbrella handle in the crook of her shoulder, pressed her palms together and rubbed her hands like a fly, muttering, "Brother Snake, Sister Snake, Great Immortal Snake, please have mercy and let this little one pass, won't you?"

Suddenly, the snake moved and flicked its red tongue.

"Fu—" Zhu Yuan was startled and instinctively took two steps back, when suddenly, a broad, thick palm braced her waist.

A man dressed in black walked past her side, pinched the snake's seven-inch mark with quick, sharp movements, and with a flick of his hand, the snake was dead.

Pei Ling looked back at her, and thinking of how he had just seen her calling a snake brother and sister, he wanted to laugh; how exactly was her brain wired?

He walked slowly to stand before Zhu Yuan, holding the snake in one hand and taking the basket hooked on her wrist with the other, then leaned down to look into her eyes, "I'll stew your Brother Snake into soup to nourish your body, will you drink it?"

Zhu Yuan looked at him, her eyes calm and devoid of any ripples.