Read Novel Full Chapter 114 Part 1 – Out of Character (I)
Chapter 114 Part 1 – Out of Character (I)
After Jiang Ruo finished her words, Tong Xu was silent for a long moment, “You think too highly of me.”
Jiang Ruo smiled softly, “Does Mr. Tong have some concerns?”
Tong Xu responded, “Do you have a grudge against Tong Yi?”
Jiang Ruo was caught off guard. “Why do you say that?”
Tong Xu gave her a cold smile, laced with mockery. “You and Tong Yi barely know each other, so I doubt there’s any real grudge there. If you’re holding a grudge against anyone, it’s probably Jiang Li.”
Jiang Ruo pursed her lips, her expression flickering for a moment before she regained her composure. “I don’t have a problem with Jiang Li. But Tong Yi set my brother up, so I simply can’t stand watching him doing better.”
Tong Xu saw right through her. “You can’t stand seeing Tong Yi succeed, so you come to me hoping I’ll stir things up between him and Old Master Feng? Even if I pull it off, Jiang Li will end up hating me—so tell me, what do I gain from it?”
If what Jiang Ruo said was true, Old Master Feng might indeed object to Jiang Li and Tong Yi being together—but that didn’t mean the Feng family would turn around and support Jiang Li being with him. No matter how it played out, it would still be a wasted effort on his part.
In a worst-case scenario, Jiang Li might even run crying to Third Master Feng, and when that happened, he’d be the one to suffer.
Jiang Ruo was quiet for a while before speaking up again, “Even if you do find evidence that Tong Yi set my brother up, you don’t have to deliver it yourself. I believe you can find a way to let Old Master Feng know.”
At this, Tong Xu fell deep into thought. He liked Jiang Li, so of course he wanted to separate her from Tong Yi—but he didn’t want to take that risk if it meant offending her.
However, as Jiang Ruo said, if Tong Yi really had plotted against Jiang Zhou, he didn’t have to step forward himself. He just needed to create an opportunity for Old Master Feng to discover it.
Seeing Tong Xu’s expression, Jiang Ruo knew she’d achieved her goal. She looked at him and said, “I’ve already told you the secret about Jiang Li and Tong Yi. As for what you choose to do with it, that’s up to you, Mr. Tong. I won’t interfere with your decision.”
With that, she turned and walked away without a single glance behind. She kept walking for a long time before finally coming to a stop, sinking onto a nearby bench. As she sat, it felt as if every ounce of strength had left her body.
She hadn’t wanted to go this far either, but she truly had no other choice—her brother was locked in a detention center, facing a long jail sentence. Even the smallest chance, she had to seize it.
And besides, she wasn’t actually framing anyone. Jiang Li had known about the kidney match results from the start, but she pretended not to and waited for Brother to act, which led to him being abandoned by Grandpa.
As for the kidney incident this time—if it really had nothing to do with Jiang Li and Tong Yi, then Tong Xu wouldn’t be able to find anything. If they were indeed involved, however…
‘I’m only trying to save Brother—I hadn’t done anything to wrong them! ‘
After reminding herself over and over not to feel guilty, Jiang Ruo finally exhaled softly. That faint glimmer of hope was enough to lift some of the weight off her chest.
…
As Feng Qi’s dutiful assistant, Kong Tao was used to going several days without seeing his boss. That was because Feng Qi often locked himself away for experiments, and during those times, no one dared to disturb him.
Back when Jiang Li was still at home, Feng Qi’s schedule had suddenly become regular again. But ever since she left for university, he gradually reverted to his old habits.
Even though Kong Tao couldn’t see his employer often, he knew very well how much Feng Qi cared about his only niece. So during those stretches of isolation, Kong Tao, being a capable assistant, always made a point of checking up on her from time to time.
Since Jiang Li was practically a campus celebrity, keeping track of her was easy—just scrolling the forum was enough.
Whenever Kong Tao came across posts speculating that Jiang Li and Tong Yi were dating, he would immediately skip over them. He’d seen how the two interacted—Miss Jiang Li constantly called the younger son of the Tong family her ‘nephew.’ The idea that she was dating him was basically impossible, and those CP-shipping posts were just bored people messing around.
Since Jiang Li herself didn’t care, Kong Tao saw no need to mention these random gossips to the busy Feng Qi.
But when he saw the post about Tong Xu’s public confession, his expression immediately changed.
‘What a big scene! If someone who didn’t know better saw it, they might actually believe something was going on between Miss Jiang Li and him!’
‘Is Tong Xu good enough for Miss Jiang Li?’
Kong Tao asked himself, and the answer was a firm ‘no.’
Since Feng Qi had yet to come out of the lab, Kong Tao didn’t dare make any decisions on his own. As a temporary measure, he assigned someone to keep an eye on Tong Xu, just in case he tried to stir up trouble after being turned down.
The person Kong Tao sent kept a close watch on Tong Xu for several days and reported back that he appeared to have given up on troubling Jiang Li. Only then did the assistant breathe a quiet sigh of relief, figuring he could simply give an honest report once his boss came out of seclusion.
But just as he began to relax, word came that Jiang Ruo had approached Tong Xu. No one knew exactly what they discussed, but not long after their meeting, Tong Xu started digging into Jiang Zhou’s case.
Kong Tao’s heart skipped a beat—but he soon calmed down. His boss had never gotten involved in the case, so even if Tong Xu investigated, at most he’d find a trail leading to Tong Yi.
Once he had sorted things out, Kong Tao waited until Feng Qi emerged to report the matter to him.
After listening, Feng Qi’s face turned icy. “Why didn’t you report it earlier?”
Kong Tao froze for a moment, then quickly explained, “I figured he wouldn’t be able to trace it back to us. After all, we didn’t take any direct action.”
“He can’t trace it to us, but he can trace it to Tong Yi. Even if he can’t find hard evidence that Tong Yi had people watching Jiang Zhou, that panda-blood boy is in Tong Yi’s class—do you really think it would be that hard for Tong Xu to follow the trail?”
Kong Tao muttered, “But Sir, didn’t you say back then that the one who dug the hole was Second Young Master Tong, and that it had nothing to do with us?”
Feng Qi’s face darkened further. “You couldn’t tell I was complimenting him?”
“…!!!” Kong Tao was stunned. He really hadn’t caught that at the time!
“If my dad finds out this is connected to Tong Yi, do you think he won’t associate it with Xiao Lizi? What reason would Tong Yi have to go after Bai Guolin and Jiang Zhou?”
Kong Tao was stunned at first but quickly grasped the seriousness of the situation. “Should I go warn Tong Xu, tell him not to cross the line?”
‘Sure enough, Third Master only cares about Miss Jiang Li! Anything that involved her instantly shakes him out of his usual composure.’
Feng Qi shook his head. “Go find something to keep Jiang Ruo busy. I think she’s had too much free time lately.”
Kong Tao nodded right away. “Understood, I’ll get someone on it immediately—she won’t be having a good time, that’s for sure.” But he still couldn’t help asking, worried, “And what about Tong Xu…?”
Feng Qi let out a cold sneer. “Why don’t you think of a way to make him trace everything back to me? We shall see what choice he makes then.”
Kong Tao looked puzzled. “But if that’s the case, won’t the Old Master…””
Feng Qi tapped his fingers lightly on the table. “Any deed that’s been done will leave some trace. Rather than let my dad think this has anything to do with Xiao Lizi, I’d rather have him believe it was me.”
This time, Kong Tao didn’t argue. He understood very well that, in the Third Master’s eyes, Miss Jiang Li was like a daughter. If anyone dared to touch her, it was the same as touching the Third Master himself—and when it came to that choice, the Third Master would always protect her first.
Therefore, his role as an assistant now was to dutifully perform the instruction to create trouble for Jiang Ruo; otherwise, she might really think the Feng family was full of pushovers.
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