"What’s wrong?" Yang Qingyin was leaning in Luo Ziling’s arms, lying there with her eyes closed for a while. When she realized Luo Ziling wasn’t making any intimate moves, she couldn’t help asking in surprise, "Still thinking about things?"
Luo Ziling didn’t stay long with Wang Guoguo. Before eleven o’clock, he had already come over to Yang Qingyin’s place.
When Luo Ziling left, he didn’t give a clear response to Wang Guoguo’s suggestion, but he was still tempted by her proposal.
It was just that he was afraid this was Wang Guoguo’s "lure-the-enemy tactic." He also worried that Wang Guoguo was just bragging, that she said all this and swore loyalty just to get him to help with all his strength, only for her to end up unable to dig up any useful information for him.
Of course, the main reason Luo Ziling didn’t clearly state his position was that he wanted to keep Wang Guoguo hanging; he hoped this woman and her father would eventually fall into his "trap" and be used by him.
Luo Ziling felt that anyone who wanted to accomplish big things definitely needed many helpers, in all kinds of areas.
Having strong supporters in the military was the fundamental basis for remaining invincible. Although the era of "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" had supposedly passed, Luo Ziling still believed that only by holding the "gun" in his own hands could he stand in an invincible position and have a chance to succeed.
Wang Guoguo’s father held a not-insignificant position. Even if he stayed where he was, his influence was considerable.
If things really went as he wished and he was promoted again, his influence would be even greater.
But Luo Ziling knew that if he wanted to make Wang Guoguo and her father work for him, he would have to put in some effort.
An old fox and a young fox were not that easy to tame.
Luo Ziling stayed with Wang Guoguo for less than half an hour before leaving. When he left, he said he had other matters to deal with and just left Wang Guoguo there alone.
Although Wang Guoguo was a woman, she was tougher than most men. No matter where you left her, the odds of something happening to her were about the same as winning the lottery. So Luo Ziling had no intention of playing Flower Protector by her side and escorting her home.
It was the same with Lin Lan, Phoenix, and Wuyue. When he was with them, he never needed to see them off.
After coming over to Yang Qingyin’s place, something suddenly occurred to Luo Ziling, and he fell into deep thought, to the point that he neglected Yang Qingyin.
What Luo Ziling thought of was that Wang Guoguo’s pull in the military was not small, and that couldn’t have been achieved by her alone.
She definitely had her own allies, helpers—maybe more than one.
If he could win her and her allies over, then this particular line of strength could be reinforced.
Thinking of this, Luo Ziling formed a plan.
"There’s been a lot going on these two days, and I suddenly thought of something, so I zoned out!" Luo Ziling pulled Yang Qingyin into his arms and said apologetically, "There are some things I can’t tell you, you’ll just have to know this much: everything that’s happened these last couple of days is very important. I can’t afford to be careless; I have to give it my all and handle it properly. I can’t let anything go wrong!"
Luo Ziling’s words sent a shiver through Yang Qingyin.
"Did something bad happen?" She still couldn’t help asking.
"Your mom and my grandpa told me some things from the past that completely overturned what I thought I knew. I never imagined things back then were that complicated."
After hearing what Luo Ziling said, Yang Qingyin flipped up from the bed, propped her chin in her hands, and looked at Luo Ziling. "What did they tell you?"
Yang Qingyin had taken a shower and was lying on the bed. After she showered, she didn’t put on any underwear; inside, she was completely bare.
In that pose, propping her chin up, the scenery inside was fully exposed. From where Luo Ziling was lying, he could clearly see the enticing view.
"What, trying to use your beauty as a weapon?" Luo Ziling stretched out his "devilish claws" to cop a feel, then chuckled and teased Yang Qingyin, "Didn’t expect Little Yang to learn bad tricks like this."
Having her weak spot caught, Yang Qingyin let out a yelp and collapsed forward, pressing Luo Ziling’s hand down underneath her.
Then, furious and flustered, she sat up, ready to go all out against Luo Ziling, and even gave his arm a hard bite.
Yang Qingyin bit down pretty hard, and Luo Ziling couldn’t help letting out a scream.
After the scream, Luo Ziling sat up to retaliate, and in the end, he tormented Yang Qingyin until she was limp and boneless on the bed.
"What did my mom tell you?" Yang Qingyin lay soft in Luo Ziling’s arms, asking weakly.
"Your mom told me some things from back then. She said she wasn’t Chen Rushan’s biological daughter and that because of this identity, she was persecuted by the Chen Family. But later, when the Chen Family and the Yang Family arranged a marriage, the Chen Family thought of this abandoned daughter again and brought her back, making her shoulder the mission of the alliance. She’s actually quite grateful for that marriage, because it allowed her to avoid your grandma’s tragedy." After summarizing, Luo Ziling lowered his voice and asked Yang Qingyin, "Before she told me all this, I actually hadn’t paid attention to the fact that she was a daughter of the Chen Family, and Chen Yihe and Chen Yiping’s younger sister."
"She hasn’t seen herself as a daughter of the Chen Family for a long time now, and she doesn’t see the Chen Family as her family!" Yang Qingyin let out a faint sigh. "She hates the Chen Family. She cut off contact with them many years ago and never allowed me or Qingye to have any dealings with them. But she never told us about the past. The things she told you, I probably don’t know any of them, right?"
"Do you want to know?"
Yang Qingyin hesitated for a moment, then finally shook her head. "Forget it, I’m not going to ask. Knowing will definitely affect my mood. Anyway, my mom’s life now is fairly happy. My dad has always treated her well, she has a certain level of say in the family, and my grandpa has a good impression of her too. So she’s content with her current life, and I also feel she’s living happily. Why should I make myself uncomfortable? My mom has already cut herself off from the past; I’m not going to stir things up again and go looking for trouble for myself. Whatever she wants to do, I don’t want to get involved, and she wouldn’t let me get involved either."
Luo Ziling nodded, accepting what Yang Qingyin said.
"Your mom and my grandpa also told me some of the conflicts back then between my parents and other people. The reason tragedies befell both families was that too many people’s interests were involved, and all those other people wanted to muddy the waters even more." Luo Ziling didn’t go into detail about those things. He spoke in general terms, then gave his own take. "For your grandpa, the pain of losing a son is something he’ll never fully... forget in his lifetime. And for my parents and my grandpa, the fact that our whole family is separated by such distance shouldn’t be the punishment we have to bear. ’Meeting again with a smile and letting bygones be bygones’—that’s not going to happen with them. It can only be realized by our generation."
Yang Qingyin was silent for quite a while before she gently asked Luo Ziling, "After hearing what my mom and your grandpa said, do you feel that if we want to be together, it’s much harder than we thought? Maybe even impossible?"
"That’s not it!" Luo Ziling shook his head. "If we’re willing to accept reality, then being together would actually be quite easy to achieve."
After a moment of silence, Yang Qingyin gently shook her head. "I don’t want to shoulder the burden of an arranged marriage, because that’s doomed to be a tragedy!"