69: Chapter 69 The Dust Settles and a Misunderstanding in the Heart

The plum rain season in Jiangcheng was always wrapped in an inescapable dampness. As the signboard of the Liu Family Mining Machinery Company was slowly taken down by a crane, Liu Zhengguo stood in the rain, his suit trousers splattered with mud, no longer possessing his former dignity.

The day after the Lin family withdrew their capital, the bank came knocking for loan repayments, suppliers blocked the door demanding payment, and veteran employees staged a sit-in downstairs holding their pay stubs—this "backer" that had supported the Liu family for twenty years had finally collapsed.

"Director Liu, this is the bankruptcy liquidation notice." The lawyer held an umbrella and handed over the document, the paper wrinkled from the rain. "The villa and cars under your name will be auctioned off next week to repay the debts."

Liu Zhengguo took the document, his fingers trembling so much he could not hold a pen, rain mixing with his turbid tears as they fell. He had been competitive his whole life, wanting to build the Liu family into a prominent clan in Jiangcheng, but he never expected that he would end up with a broken home and ruined family.

Meanwhile, at Singularity Technology, sunlight was streaming through the glass into the office area. Liu Ruyan sat at her workstation, her fingertips flying across the keyboard. She had optimized the starry sky scene of "stardust leap" once more—the flow of the nebulae was more natural, the halos of the stars had delicate gradients, and even Wang Chengsi could not help but lean over to praise her: "Ruyan, your aesthetic sense is almost on par with professional game artists!"

Liu Ruyan's face flushed slightly as she looked up toward Zhang Fan's office—the door was slightly ajar, and she could see him discussing the cooperation plan for Liwen Group with Zhou Yurou.

Ever since she signed the severance agreement, she had moved to Zhou Yurou's house to stay temporarily. Zhang Fan came over almost every day to cook; sometimes it was the cream strawberries she loved, other times it was the sweet and sour pork ribs that Zhou Yurou preferred. That small kitchen gradually became the warmest corner in her heart.

"Ding-dong—" The front desk doorbell suddenly rang, breaking the quiet of the office area.

Yang Linlin rushed in wearing high heels, her makeup smeared as if she had just been crying. As soon as she saw Zhou Yurou, she lunged at her: "Sister-in-law! You have to go home! That Yuan Mubai is too much!"

Zhou Yurou frowned and pushed her away, her tone cold: "I am no longer your sister-in-law. Say what you have to say."

Yang Linlin steadied herself, her tears falling even harder: "After she moved into our house, she made my mom do her laundry and cooking, she demanded designer bags from my brother, and she even made my brother cut my allowance in half! When I argued with her, she slapped me and called me a 'nobody's money-losing goods'! Sister-in-law, please go back, only you can deal with her!"

Zhou Yurou looked at her tear-streaked face, feeling not a ripple of emotion in her heart.

She still remembered that when she was being domestically abused by Yang Lei, Yang Linlin stood by and sneered: "Brother hits you because you don't listen."

When she was kicked out of the Yang family, Yang Linlin even snatched the last piece of valuable jewelry she had.

Now that Yuan Mubai was bullying her, she suddenly remembered her own good points—it was too selfish.

"I will not go back." Zhou Yurou's voice was firm. "The affairs of the Yang family have nothing to do with me."

Yang Linlin's crying stopped abruptly, the grievance on her face instantly turning into spite: "Of course you don't want to go back! You're here now acting as the boss's mistress, eating well and dressing well, why would you care about the life or death of our Yang family? Zhou Yurou, you're just a whore! Relying on a man to climb up, it's truly disgusting!"

"Say that again!" Zhang Fan suddenly rushed out of the office, his eyes cold, reaching out to grab Yang Linlin's arm. "Contact security! Throw her out! From now on, she is not allowed to step foot into Singularity Technology ever again!"

Before long, two security guards ran over and dragged Yang Linlin out.

Yang Linlin was still screaming: "Zhou Yurou! You bitch! You'll come to a bad end!"

The office area went quiet instantly; Zhou Yurou stood where she was, her fingertips trembling slightly.

Zhang Fan walked over and handed her a cup of warm water: "Don't lower yourself to her level, she's just an ill-bred thing."

Liu Ruyan also walked over and said softly: "Sister Zhou, don't take it to heart, she's just jealous that you're living well now."

Zhou Yurou took the cup and smiled reluctantly: "I'm fine, thank you both."

But only she knew that Yang Linlin's words were like a thorn stuck in her heart—was her relationship with Zhang Fan, in the eyes of outsiders, really like that of a "mistress"?

In the following days, Zhang Fan came even more frequently.

He would buy fresh vegetables in advance and busy himself in Zhou Yurou's kitchen.

However, while caring for Zhou Yurou, he did not forget to care for Liu Ruyan as well: "Ruyan, do you eat spicy food? How about boiled fish today?"

Zhou Yurou sat nearby, watching them interact, feeling inexplicably disappointed.

She thought Zhang Fan came to cook to comfort her, but she did not expect that he was mostly caring for Liu Ruyan.

That was true; Liu Ruyan was young, sensible, and so talented. It was only natural for Zhang Fan to be good to her.

That evening, Zhang Fan made sweet and sour pork ribs, specifically adding extra rock sugar because Zhou Yurou liked it.

He brought the ribs to the table but casually asked Liu Ruyan: "Ruyan, would you like another bowl of rice?"

Zhou Yurou suddenly stood up, her voice a bit hoarse: "I'm a little tired, I'm going back to my room first."

Without waiting for Zhang Fan to respond, she quickly walked into the bedroom and closed the door.

Zhang Fan was stunned for a moment and looked at Liu Ruyan: "Did I say something wrong?"

Liu Ruyan shook her head, a flash of complexity crossing her eyes: "Sister Zhou might... have misunderstood. She thought you came to comfort her, but you kept caring about me..."

Zhang Fan finally realized, his heart skipping a beat.

He had been coming to cook these past few days, clearly wanting to make Zhou Yurou happy, but he had not expected that by taking too much care of Liu Ruyan, he had caused her to misunderstand.

He stood up, walked to the bedroom door, and knocked gently: "Sister Rou, are you there? I have something to tell you."

The door opened, and Zhou Yurou's eyes were a bit red: "What is it?"

"I know you misunderstood." Zhang Fan's voice was very soft. "I came to cook because I wanted to make you happy, after all, Yang Linlin said such nasty things that day. I care about Ruyan because she just went through the Liu family incident, and I'm afraid she's not feeling well inside. In my heart, both you and Ruyan are very important people to me, but the way I care for you is different."

Zhou Yurou's heart skipped a beat, her face burning slightly: "I... I didn't misunderstand."

"You did." Zhang Fan looked into her eyes and said earnestly, "Sister Rou, to me, you are a very special person. I don't want you to misunderstand, and I don't want you to be unhappy."

Zhou Yurou lowered her head; she knew Zhang Fan liked her, but was she really worthy?

A few days later, the court's verdict came down—Liu Mingxuan was sentenced to six years in prison for kidnapping and illegal restriction of personal freedom, and fined 100,000 yuan.

Although there was a letter of forgiveness from Liu Ruyan, the nature of the kidnapping case was severe, so the court only reduced the sentence by one year.

Liu Zhengguo heard the news at the hospital and fainted on the spot.

Zhao Lan cried while guarding the hospital bed, not even having time to go home to get a change of clothes.

But she did not expect that when she returned home the next day, she found the house ransacked, and Liu Mengqi and her suitcase were both gone.

Liu Mengqi had taken the last of the family's cash and jewelry and went to Fu Chengyu.

"Mengqi! You ungrateful wretch!" Zhao Lan sat on the floor, wailing, her voice hoarse. "Our family is already like this, and you still took the money and ran! How could you be so heartless!"

But the only response to her was the empty house and the sound of rain outside the window. The Liu family had ultimately fallen apart.