The old house, in particular, retained its original style and design in many areas, exuding a rich ancient ambiance throughout. Immersed within it felt like stepping back in time to antiquity.
On the right wall of the spacious living room was a door leading to the adjacent side room.
Qing Muye and the old madam entered the side room and closed the door.
Standing before Qing Muye, the old Madam Qing looked up at him and asked, "Listen, listen to the kind of woman you've found?"
"What does Grandma want to say?"
"What do I want to say? Listen to Jingwei, she says your Li family are all scoundrels."
"Didn't Grandma see that Meng Jingwei is using you?"
Qing Muye was highly sensitive to this, even feeling intensely displeased.
"I am her grandmother, how could she be using me? Besides, it was I who asked!" the old Madam Qing retorted.
"She knew full well that Grandma had a cerebral hemorrhage and couldn't be stimulated, yet she still told you so much. Her intentions were impure from the start."
The man stood tall and elegant, his handsome features etched with frost.
"Nonsense!"
The old Madam Qing couldn't help but curse, "When did telling the truth become having impure intentions? I don't care about anything else, but you remember this: keep Li Yun'er in check, otherwise, don't blame me for not letting her enter the Qing family."
The old Madam Qing did not ask Qing Muye to break off the engagement directly. Firstly, she was considering his supposed 'liking' for Li Yun'er. Secondly, she was worried that breaking the engagement with the Li family now would affect the Qing family's reputation.
After all, the Qing family was a prominent clan, and any ripple could directly impact the company's interests and development.
Similarly, Qing Muye cared about these matters, but he cared even more about the life-saving grace Li Yun'er had shown him in the past.
Rumors circulated that Qing Muye was cold and unfeeling, but little did they know that he was a man of great loyalty and gratitude!
"Alright, you go out first, I need to make a phone call." The old Madam Qing waved her hand and sat down on the sofa in the side room.
Qing Muye walked out of the side room and closed the door.
He strode into the living room and swept his cold gaze over Meng Jingwei, who was sitting on the sofa. He grabbed her wrist, saying, "Come out with me."
"Ah?"
Meng Jingwei was startled by his sudden action.
But everything was within expectation.
Qing Muye dragged Meng Jingwei out of the living room and into the gazebo in the small garden behind. He pushed her against a pillar, gripped her collar with one hand, and said in a low voice, "What, have you achieved your goal?"
The man's features were chiseled and well-defined. His exquisitely handsome face radiated a chilling aura. With just a glance, he seemed to want to devour her, making him incredibly fearsome.
Meng Jingwei remained unfazed, a smile playing on her lips as she looked at him, "Brother, why are you so angry all of a sudden? She is my grandmother, isn't it natural for me to tell her things?"
She blinked her clear, bright eyes, a shallow smile rippling within them, which was quite piercing.
Meng Jingwei admitted that she had indeed been deliberate in what she had told the old Madam Qing just now.
But that did not mean that her initial contact with the old Madam Qing, or her later saving her, were all part of a premeditated plan!
Qing Muye's sharp eyes narrowed. He raised his hand and pinched her chin, leaning in close, "Are you provoking me?"
"Heh."
Meng Jingwei let out a light scoff, the smile on her face suddenly vanishing. "Provoking?"
She arched her beautiful, slender eyebrows and met Qing Muye's icy gaze. "You brought me back from abroad. If you could find me, wouldn't you know why I was kidnapped? The last fire, wouldn't you know who did it? Qing Muye, you are the one who pretends ignorance while knowing the truth, and you are the one hiding the truth from Grandma."
She reached out and poked Qing Muye's chest, questioning, "You're hiding all the truth from Grandma simply because you like Li Yun'er! If there's 'purposefulness,' don't you think you're the most purposeful?"
"On one hand, you openly express your 'deep love' for Li Yun'er, and on the other hand, you sleep with me behind Li Yun'er's back. Does Li Yun'er know about this?"
"Also, why do you live on the top floor of the Night Color Club? Is it truly because the Night Color Club is close to your Songyu Group? No! It's entirely because the Night Color Club has all sorts of women, plump and slender, for you to choose from, like keeping a harem!"
"Qing Muye, stop acting so noble all the time. Does Grandma truly know what kind of person you are?"
Meng Jingwei blurted out everything that was on her mind.
She was also very angry.
"You keep saying I'm very purposeful? I'm starting to suspect now, you saying you wanted me to come to the Qing family to have a child back then, and deliberately getting engaged to Li Yun'er in haste, was all to let me know about this, thereby forcing me to miscarry the child in my womb! Did you already know my identity then?"
"Otherwise, with a woman as ugly as me, and with your status as CEO of Songyu Group, would you be blind and have slept with me repeatedly!"
Before this moment, Meng Jingwei had never thought about these things.
But at this very instant, Meng Jingwei suddenly felt that Qing Muye was definitely suspicious.
She suspected that Qing Muye knew her identity from the very beginning, that she was Li Yun'er's sister, which was why he forced himself on her; and that was why he hastily got engaged to Li Yun'er and announced it to the world.
Meng Jingwei knew very well that Qing Muye did not want her to give birth to the Qing family's child, and had even sent her directly to the operating table!
She mused that perhaps the child was still hers after she was on the operating table, possibly due to pressure from the old Madam Qing.
Ultimately, Qing Muye was forced to get engaged to Li Yun'er and have her child raised by Li Yun'er, thus forcing her to miscarry.
Everything, pushed forward, was entirely reasonable.
Qing Muye stood there stunned. Listening to the string of words from Meng Jingwei, he found himself unable to refute them.
On the young woman's face, he clearly saw the unconcealed anger and hatred.
She... hated him?
"Why aren't you talking anymore? Feeling guilty?"
Meng Jingwei's red lips curled into a cold smile. "Don't present yourself as so noble, nor do you think that just because you saved me, I owe you gratitude. If Grandma didn't like me, would you have saved me? At best, you just saw me as a plaything to appease Grandma."
"Qing Muye, oh, no, from now on, I should always call you... 'Brother'!"
She placed her hands on his shoulders, tilted her head, and smiled at Qing Muye, "Brother, you and I are just taking what we need, so we should both play our respective roles, don't you think?"
Despite saying this, Meng Jingwei genuinely liked the old Madam Qing.
She was a person who repaid kindness, and she remembered all the good deeds the old Madam Qing had done for her.
Listening to her words, Qing Muye's face turned ashen. The fists hanging at his sides clenched uncontrollably.
His chest felt inexplicably heavy, so much so that he found it difficult to breathe, even feeling a dull ache.
Could this be the reaction to extreme anger?
Qing Muye clearly felt his own anger, but unknowingly, beneath the guise of anger, there was more pain.
A pain stemming from his 'sincerity' ultimately turning into various scheming tactics, and even being misunderstood.
The man's lips curved into a chilling smile. "Very well."
He pinched her chin, tilting it up slightly, and said word by word, "Since you know your position, then properly do what your 'god-granddaughter' should do."