Chapter 156

Xie Shiqing had been completely struck at the deepest core of her hidden fears. In an instant, she erected her defenses, putting on an air of indifference like a hedgehog bristling with spines. She let out a cold laugh: “Zhong Ning? Heh, just a bit of fun. Did you really think I cared about her?”

Her hand, hidden beneath the table, clenched tightly around her thigh, but her face showed only a mocking expression. “There isn’t a single person in the Zhong family I’ll let off the hook—she’s no exception. If you think this is enough to strike a blow against me, then you’re gravely mistaken!”

“Zhong Lin, you’re a complete and utter failure. Stop clinging to some imagined leverage over me. I’m not like you.”

She declared firmly, “I don’t have any weaknesses. You’re overthinking it!”

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Xie Shiqing fired back rapidly, her act convincingly put together—but unfortunately, that brief instant of stiffness at the very start had already been noticed by Zhong Lin.

Instinctive reactions couldn’t be faked.

What slipped out in a moment of vulnerability was always the most genuine thought.

Zhong Ning had indeed fallen for Xie Shiqing, but it wasn’t some blind, one-sided love. She wasn’t hopelessly infatuated.

What no one would have imagined was that the person before them actually had a soft spot; capable of loving someone.

Zhong Lin felt she had already won a round. How could a truly successful person be tripped up by something as trivial as love? At the same time, a faint urge for revenge drifted through her mind.

She deliberately feigned a look of surprise, putting on a performance of heart-wrenching grief: “You think I’m attacking you? Shiqing… no matter what, I’m still a mother. Zhong Ning is my daughter. If I lose in business, I accept it. But for you to use such despicable means to hurt her feelings…”

Zhong Lin’s eyes shimmered slightly with moisture, as if she were truly heartbroken over her daughter’s plight. All her words turned into one long sigh.

She bent slightly, as if she had suddenly aged. The traces of time climbed over the corners of her eyes and brows. In the moment when her shoulders drooped, there was finally a sense that she was no longer young, no longer full of ambition and drive.

“Since the Zhong Corporation is in your hands now, then manage it well.”

Zhong Lin rose and slowly walked out of the office.

How could she be willing to hand over the effort of her lifetime so easily? A mountain cannot hold two tigers—unless one is dead.

The moment she stepped out the door, she ordered someone to copy the surveillance footage from just now and had it sent to Zhong Zinuan’s trusted confidant at the company.

This daughter of hers might not have the best ability when it came to handling affairs, but when it came to winning people over, she was top-notch. She had already gathered quite a few like-minded employees within the company.

Zhong Lin had known everything all along, but hadn’t intervened—now was exactly the time for that knowledge to come into play.

She left the company, but it wasn’t a true surrender. Instead, she found the butler and sought out her most trusted confidantes, instructing them to seize the moment and quickly wipe out those deadly pieces of leverage.

Zhong Zinuan… this disappointing daughter of hers could serve as a scapegoat for Xie Shiqing’s fury. After all, she had been the true culprit from the start. Using her to divert attention couldn’t be more fitting.

After all these years, she had given her so many resources, so much money, even helped cover up the truth about that car accident. Now, it was time to demand a return.

Zhong Lin’s eyes were icy cold, without a trace of familial warmth.

When Zhong Zinuan received the news, her shock was beyond words—“earth-shattering” didn’t even begin to describe it.

Zhong Corporation had been in chaos recently, and she was feeling the heat as well. Even if Zhong Ning had become the heir, so what? No one ever said having a title meant you could just sit back and relax.

But Eden Entertainment was also in crisis mode and couldn’t help her. This was clearly a targeted purge. The petty tricks Zhong Zinuan had always been proud of were completely useless in the face of such a major disaster.

She was at a total loss, able only to watch helplessly.

She was in class when she got the message. Her phone lit up on the desk. Glancing at it, she saw the top message—【Something huge just happened!!!】

Her heart gave a heavy thump. She slid her phone into the middle of her book and tapped open the message.

【President Xie just came over and took control of Zhong Corporation with 43% of the shares—she’s the new chairwoman now!! My god, it was so sudden. I have a friend who’s Secretary Fang’s assistant, and she said President Xie used a scheme to get Zhong Ning’s shares, that’s the only way she got so many.】

【You have to see the surveillance footage—wow, what a bombshell!】

【What do we do now? Is Zhong Corporation really changing hands?!】

Zhong Zinuan was completely dumbfounded. It felt like a symphony was blaring inside her head, or like a Buddhist ritual with drums and cymbals was being performed in her brain—it pounded until her skull felt like it was spinning in a centrifuge.

Xie Shiqing was now the largest shareholder of Zhong Corporation???

Then what was she? What did that make her? Was there even any point in still trying to fight for the inheritance? Zhong Corporation is finished!

She shot up from her seat, grabbed her phone, and rushed out of the classroom, completely ignoring the surprised stares from her classmates and the professor.

The surveillance footage was crystal clear—her mother was confronting Xie Shiqing, and Xie Shiqing was retorting mockingly.

Why was it that scene? She had thought it was going to be from the shareholders’ meeting.

Just as she was frowning in confusion, another message came through—

【Looks like President Xie really has feelings for Zhong Ning. Let’s send this video to Zhong Ning—it’s bound to upset her!】

Zhong Zinuan was completely dazed by the blow. She had worked so hard for so many years. Ever since learning she was Zhong Lin’s daughter, she had been preparing to inherit the Zhong family. She never imagined that the one to defeat her wouldn’t be Zhong Ning—but Xie Shiqing, an outsider.

That was Zhong Lin—the all-powerful Head of the Zhong family, a mountain she could never climb, a woman as glorious as an empire. And yet, just like that, Zhong Corporation had become Xie Shiqing’s possession.

Overcome by emotion, Zhong Zinuan sent the video over without thinking.

"Little Ning, Xie Shiqing used the shares you gave her to take over Zhong Corporation. Did you know about this?"

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