Chapter 71: Dad doesn't need to get involved in my affairs with Shang Youqing

. He Zhimo, who was sitting across from him at the dining table, looked indifferent, as if he didn't want to know anything about "her". He didn't ask anything and continued to concentrate on eating.

After He Zhimo had eaten and drunk his fill, He Cong got up and rubbed He Zhimo's head. He then informed the little guy, "Dad is going out to do something. You stay here and behave yourself. If you get bored staying in your room, someone can play with you in the garden for a while."

He Zhimo said "Oh" calmly, and watched his father get in the car and leave from the villa gate. He then said goodbye to the housekeeper and the maid, returned to his room, turned on the children's watch on his wrist, and called Yu Zhu.

Soon, the call was connected, and Yu Zhu let out a puzzled "Young Master He?"

He Zhimo lifted his wrist and, imitating his father's earlier words, spoke in a low, cool voice, "Uncle Yu, could you please give me Shang Youqing's number? I have something important to talk to her about."

Yu Zhu: "...Young Master, why don't you just ask Mr. He?"

He Zhimo's face was stern. "This is between Shang Youqing and me. Dad doesn't need to get involved."

"...Okay."

He Zhimo fished out a notebook from his bag, grasping a pen in his small hand, and carefully wrote down the number Yu Zhu had given him. He repeated it to Yu Zhu twice to make sure he had it right before thanking Uncle Yu.

He Zhimo couldn't help but pick up the gift from the back of the desk again. He lowered his head and took out the stuffed bird, carefully handling it, afraid to damage it. He fondled

it for a moment before, as if remembering something more serious, he immediately pouted and hummed softly.

"Did you think I'd forgive you just because you gave me such a lovely birthday gift?"

He Zhimo used his little finger to enter the number he'd just memorized into the dialing interface of his phone watch. His face brewed with emotion, anticipating every possible conversation that would ensue after the call was connected. He

resolved that no matter what sweet words Shang Youqing offered to coax him, he would never forgive Shang Youqing.

He would ruthlessly force Shang Youqing to tell him her current address, and then personally return the gift to her!

However, the call took forever, and finally, after a series of beeps, the phone automatically hung up.

He Zhimo bit his lip, but he still tried to call again, but the result was the same.

He Zhimo's eyes quickly welled up, and huge tears fell on the watch screen. He Zhimo wiped them away with his fingers, choking with anger—

"Hateful! Shang Youqing is hateful!"

...

Even elsewhere, in the castle manor.

Mu Weiting had just carried Shang You, who had fallen asleep outside the bedroom door waiting for her mother, back to the room. When he emerged, he saw Mu Jiuhan discussing the details of the treatment with Dr. Zhen. He walked over and stood silently beneath the mural, listening.

When Dr. Zhen returned to the bedroom, he raised his hand to stop Mu Jiuhan, who was about to follow her in.

Mu Weiting stared at him with a deep gaze and spoke.

"You took advantage of me working in the research institute and brought Youyou from Beijing. Are you afraid that Youqing doesn't hate me enough?"

Mu Jiuhan glanced at him and sneered, "If it were you, you would be anxious too."

Mu Weiting: "What do you mean?"

Mu Jiuhan's face was completely devoid of the good attitude he had in front of Shang Youqing. There was no smile in his eyes, and he said coldly, "Junior sister is risking her heart meridians from being backlashed and burned, and delaying her treatment time to celebrate the birthday of the father and son of the He family. Isn't it ridiculous?"

The more he spoke, the more gloomy his tone became, "But what makes me most angry is that I had already stopped junior sister in time, but she forcibly awakened her consciousness and interrupted her treatment last night, and ran to find He Cong in the heavy rain. If I hadn't brought Shang You over, you might not be able to see junior sister now."

After hearing this, Mu Weiting's expression changed slightly. He looked at the closed door again, and his originally calm eyes obviously flashed with a little depression.

Mu Jiuhan continued to speak darkly and twistedly, "When Junior Sister has truly raised those spirit butterflies, the first thing I will do is to take Junior Sister back to Wutong Mountain. Then I will lock her up in Wutong Mountain and never let her come out again."

Mu Weiting: "...You Qing is not a fool."

Mu Jiuhan sneered coldly, "So I said, it's not unreasonable for Junior Sister to hate you. Do you dare to say that deep down in your heart you have never thought about locking Junior Sister up and taking her for yourself? It's just that you were afraid of being killed by Junior Sister, so you came to me, a traitor, to cooperate with you behind the back of your master. We are not all good things, so don't always look disgusting and righteous."

...

Unexpectedly, although Shang Youqing suffered a much more serious backlash this time than the previous times, she did not sleep for as long as before. About half a month later, she woke up from the bed, her black hair scattered, and her whole body was almost as white as paper.

The pinprick bruises on the back of her hand deepened, but Shang Youqing ignored them. She reached for her phone from the bedside counter, but lost her grip, letting it slip from her fingers, weakened by the backlash.

Shang Youqing lowered her face, calmly gathering her spiritual energy to reattach each of her finger joints, burned and fractured by the backlash during treatment.

Perhaps numb from the pain over the past few days, the pain of the fractures was no match for her. After reattaching her fingers, she grasped her phone again, turned it on, and saw several call logs pop up.

Seeing several unanswered calls from an unfamiliar number the morning after He Zhimo's birthday, Shang Youqing's fingertips paused for a long time, but she ultimately didn't call.

She picked up a few messages from the botanical research base and scrolled down to the lengthy explanation Mu Weiting had sent her.

Shang Youqing skipped over the nonsense and went to the end. He saw that he had brought Shang You back to Beijing, and would come to see her with Shang You when she felt better.

Shang Youqing read it coldly, sent a message to Xiao Ni at the base, turned off his phone and got out of bed.

When he put on his coat and went downstairs, Shang Youqing heard a rare piece of good news from the housekeeper.

During the time she was asleep, Mu Jiuhan had offended some forces, and his arms business in North America had been hit by setbacks. He seldom came back to the castle during this period, and was always outside dealing with things.

Shang Youqing didn't ask much. While the housekeeper was still calling Mu Jiuhan to report that she had woken up, she had already gotten into the car that Xiao Ni came to pick her up, and left the castle.

"Sister Youqing, why do you look so bad after your vacation? Are you sick?"

Xiao Ni looked at her worriedly and asked shortly after she got in the car.

Shang Youqing said, "Nothing," leaning listlessly against the car window, her eyes closed. She was mentally planning something when she heard Xiao Ni mention the recent events at the plant base.

He explained that the plant base had recently been collaborating with a branch of a group, as they were promoting a new project that required the use of a special extraction technology from the plant base.

Furthermore, the group had been visiting frequently for inspections and meetings over the past few days.

Shang Youqing initially assumed it was just a normal scientific and commercial collaboration, but when she arrived at the plant base and was personally escorted to a meeting by the dean, she was shocked to see He Cong, dressed in a sharp suit and leading his team into the meeting room. She was shocked to discover that the so-called group branch was actually He Cong's business.

She hadn't fully recovered yet, and her initial visit to the plant base was to pick up a dose of liquid medicine. She hadn't expected to run into He Cong even for a casual meeting.

He Cong's eyes never lingered on her, as if he didn't even recognize her.

Shang Youqing remained absent-minded throughout the meeting.

Finally making it to the end of the meeting, she went to the restroom and splashed cold water on her face to sober up.

As she emerged from the restroom, she was suddenly confronted by He Cong's tall, cold figure standing against the wall in the hallway. His voice was cold as he answered the phone, his dark eyes following her gaze.

Shang Youqing turned around and was about to leave without looking around. He Cong said to the person on the other end of the phone, "Okay, send it to me for a look," and walked towards her with his slender long legs.

Soon, he calmly grasped her pale, transparent, thin wrist in front of her, completely grasping the metacarpal bone. His eyes slowly moved from the protruding arc of her wrist bone to the bruises on the back of her hand where she didn't have time to break free.

Those were the marks left by frequent injections, but to the unsuspecting He Cong, it looked like someone had pinched her like this.

He Cong hung up the phone, narrowed his eyes, and asked her coldly, "What is this?"