Chapter 13: The True and False Heir

  The party had broken up and it was already late at night, Su Luo was drowsy and was sent home by Qin Ming. Qin Ming took the opportunity to confess his feelings, she didn't refuse, and after a moderate display of shyness, she agreed.

  As for Su Xiao Peng, he received a call from a classmate saying there was an urgent matter that needed his attention, so he left early. As a result, he also missed the reunion with Liu Xiang Ya. However, Liu Xiang Ya later called him and even visited him at school, and in the process, she also eliminated the slight flutter Su Xiao Peng had just started to feel for Su Luo Luo.

  Actually, the hardest person to bear at the party was Liu Xiaoya. On one hand, Suoluo's appearance reminded her of her unbearable childhood and that everything now didn't belong to her, as Liu Zheng's biological daughter was someone else. On the other hand, Qin Hui's infatuation with Suoluo also made her crazily jealous, but she had to put on a smiling face and pretend to be a good sister, which made the anger in her heart even stronger.

  So she went home, removed her makeup and lay in bed, but couldn't sleep no matter what. She kept tossing and turning until dawn was near, when she finally felt a bit sleepy. But even in her dreams, she saw Liu Zheng's daughter coming back, being kicked out of the house, or Su Luo marrying Qin Ming. It made her physically and mentally exhausted.

  Liu Zheng went to work when Liu Xiaya was still not up, and he didn't think much of it. But when he came back from work and heard the servant say that Miss was still not up, he became anxious and didn't care about the difference between men and women, hurriedly opened the door to take a look.

  "Yaya, what's wrong? Are you sick? Where are you uncomfortable? Tell Daddy." Seeing the small figure curled up on the big bed, Liu Zheng felt his heart being twisted and his tone of voice became unusually gentle.

  Liu Xiaoya was tormented by her heart demon and couldn't sleep well. In a half-dreaming, half-waking state, she heard someone calling her. When she finally managed to open her eyes with great effort, she saw Liu Zheng's face filled with anxiety.

  It was actually Dad, great, at least Dad still belongs to me and loves me.

  So, the grievances of the previous night could no longer be held back, and with a loud cry, she threw herself into Liu Zhenghua's arms.

  The girl's slender and curvaceous body gave Liu Zheng a sudden shock, especially since she was only wearing a sexy camisole.

  My Ya Ya...... has really grown up! Liu Zheng was a bit bewildered by the beautiful scenery in front of him.

  She is so good-looking, but I... have grown old already.

  It's okay, and with this father-daughter relationship, I can properly and forever protect her.

  But for now, he couldn't care about these distracting thoughts, as the little one in his arms was crying so hard that it was breaking his heart.

  "Yaya, baby, what's wrong? Who bullied you? Don't cry, tell Daddy, Daddy will help you get revenge."

  "Wuuu~~" Liu Xiao Ya just buried her head and sobbed painfully.

  "Okay, don't cry, it's alright, Daddy will take care of everything."

  "Waaahhh... Dad, do you think I'm not pretty enough, not attractive enough? Why doesn't he like me? Waaahhh... What should I do, it's really so sad, my heart really hurts."

  "Who is he?" Hearing that his precious little treasure had a crush on someone, and it seemed like an unrequited love, Liu Zheng was both shocked and angry. He struggled to control himself, barely suppressing the flames of anger in his heart from questioning Liu Xiaoya. He didn't expect that the little girl who was always by his side would secretly have someone she liked, and he was completely unaware of it. What made him even more unbearable was that his treasure was so good, but the other person didn't like her back, and had even made her cry so sadly. Truly unappreciative. But thinking again, this might be for the best. Since Xiaoya's feelings were one-sided, if they couldn't be together, then she would still be his own precious treasure, wouldn't she?

  "It's... Quan Hui gege. But, Dad, you have to keep it a secret for me, absolutely can't tell anyone else, he still doesn't know I like him." Mentioning her daughter's heart affairs, Liu Xiao Ya felt a bit embarrassed again, especially since she was talking to her own dad, even though he wasn't her biological one.

  "It's him, not a bad young man." Although feeling bitter and jealous in her heart, she had to admit that YaYa's vision was still good. Nowadays, most young people are not reliable, floating and restless, and few can enter his eyes, this Tan Hui is one of them.

  Forget it, since baby likes it, I'll help her out, as long as she's happy that's all that matters.

  "Dad, you think he's great too, but... he doesn't like me." As she said this, Liu Xiaoya's tears, which had just stopped, began to fall again in big drops, wetting a large patch on the front of Liu Zheng's shirt.

  "My daughter is so good, who wouldn't like her?" This was said by him personally. In Liu Zheng's eyes, Liu Xiaoya was perfect in every way, and even marrying a prince would be suitable for her.

  "That's not it, but he already has someone he likes. It's a friend I knew from the orphanage, she was exceptionally pretty even as a kid and now she's even more beautiful. I'm not as good-looking as her, so Brother Qin Hui definitely won't like me, waaah~"

  "Alright, why are you crying again? She's just a slightly pretty little orphan, and she thinks she can surpass my precious daughter? What a ridiculous dream! Don't worry, Daddy will definitely help you snatch Qin Hui away."

  "Really?" Upon hearing Liu Zheng's promise, Liu Xiangya burst into tears of joy. She knew that the man in front of her was incredibly capable, and from a young age, she had hardly ever seen anything he couldn't accomplish. So, as long as he agreed, it was basically a done deal.

  "What's wrong, don't you believe your dad?" Liu Zheng teased, pinching her nose.

  "There is, Dad will always be the best in my heart, I love you to death! ! ! " Liu Xiaoya stretched out her jade arm and hooked around Liu Zheng's neck, leaving a loud kiss on each of his cheeks. However, she didn't know that this intimate move and the unintentional phrase "I love you" would make Uncle Liu feel bittersweet for a long time.

  "But, Qīn Huì's crush is also my friend, what should I do? I really don't want to hurt her, even though she's always been taking things from me since we were little..." After the excitement passed, Liú Xiǎo Yǎ showed a troubled expression again.

  "Silly girl, you're just too kind-hearted, always thinking of others. I'm to blame too, for protecting you too well, that's why you're so naive and don't know the evil ways of human hearts. You think your friend is a good person just because she's a poor orphan who managed to climb up to be with the young master of the Qin family? She must have some unsavory methods. Besides, even if it wasn't for you, the Qin family wouldn't accept such a woman as their young mistress, and her fate would only be worse in the end."

  "Really?"

  "Of course, trust Dad. Alright, at worst, Dad will promise you that as long as she knows her place, he'll give her a way out, and that's us being benevolent to the utmost."

  "Dad, you're so great!"

  "Know that Dad is good, hurry up and eat, don't make me worry, and from now on, you're not allowed to lock yourself in the room like this again, did you hear?"

  "Got it, got it! I promise this won't happen again. I'm starving and have no energy left, Dad can you carry me to wash up?"

  "How mischievous!"

  ……

  The father and daughter duo finished their discussion, feeling delighted as they went to enjoy their dinner. Meanwhile, Suoluo continued to be busy with her livelihood, unaware of the carefully designed plot waiting for her.

  Liu Zhengyi was as good as his word, especially when it came to the promise he made to Liu Xiaoya. By the next morning, all the information about Suoluo had been placed on his desk by his subordinates.

  "As expected, you have a bit of charm, but what a pity. Who made you snatch someone else's man? You had to snatch the one in YaYa's heart. If anyone is to blame, it's yourself for having bad luck." Liu Zheng looked at Su LuoLuo's photo for two seconds, then slapped it on his desk with a "pa" sound, and a faint, sinister smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

  "Little Chen, go contact Qian Shi's young master and tell him I'm interested in investing in his resort project. Let him come over to discuss when he has time."

  "Yes, Director Liu."

  Tan Hui is studying architectural design, and the large resort currently under construction under the Tan family's banner is his work. Due to the huge investment in the early stage, which far exceeded the budget, the board of directors refused to allocate additional funds, resulting in him investing all his savings, but still facing enormous difficulties in the later decoration stage.

  It's not that his family is unwilling to help, but this is his first major independent project and he's eager to prove himself, so he doesn't want to ask for help. At the same time, as a designer, he has a bit of an artistic temperament and hopes that his work can be presented in the most perfect way possible, and is not willing to lower his standards in order to reduce costs. So, he's been busy to the point of exhaustion lately, just to fill the funding gap, and hasn't even had time to meet with Sulolo.

  But this problem will soon be solved.

  One week after Liu Zheng extended the olive branch, both parties finalized the cooperation. Feiya International, controlled by Liu Zheng, invested 100 million yuan as the later-stage decoration funds for the resort village, accounting for 5% of the total project investment, and the payment was made in one lump sum. In addition to the explicit cooperation terms, Liu Zheng also proposed an additional condition, which was to let Liu Xiaya, who studied design together with him, participate in this project as the person in charge on behalf of Feiya, to learn some experience from Qin Hui.

  Fei's condition was so tempting that Qin Hui had no reason to refuse, and he agreed on the spot. As for bringing new people, he originally thought it would be enough to just go through the motions, but unexpectedly, after getting in touch with Liu Xiaoya, she turned out to have a lot of talent, her foundation was solid, and many of her ideas coincided with his own. Moreover, Liu Xiaoya was intentionally trying to get close to him, and as Su Luo's best friend, she quickly became someone he considered a kindred spirit, and the two of them could talk about anything.

  His dates with Suoluo gradually became less frequent, and even when he occasionally took the time to see her, he was always "coincidentally" called back to the company for various reasons as soon as he sat down.

  Time passed like this for several months.

  The two people's relationship became more ambiguous in their daily interactions, and every time Liu Xiangya returned from the construction site, she would borrow Qian Hui's office bathroom to take a bath and change into clean clothes. Sometimes she forgot to bring a change of clothes and would directly borrow one of Qian Hui's shirts to wear until her secretary brought over some clean clothes for her to change into before heading home. Qian Hui also realized that he had developed feelings for Liu Xiangya that went beyond friendship, especially when she would steal glances at him with a look of admiration and restraint in her eyes, and the forced smile on her face whenever Su Lolo was mentioned made him feel both heartache and greatly satisfied his male ego, making him want to hold her in his arms without hesitation. However, he still had a conscience and knew that this was wrong, unfair to Su Lolo, and tried to distance himself from these feelings.