Chapter 66: Exploiting Chen Ang's Weakness

"Hello, Huilin?" Qu Suping's voice sounded a bit surprised, but still gentle.

"Mom, how is your health lately? Xiaotian has been talking about Grandma a lot these past few days, so I thought I'd call and ask." She adjusted her voice to a gentle frequency.

"Very well, everything is quite good. How is Xiaotian? Is he eating well every day?" A hint of a smile crept into Qu Suping's voice.

But Wen Huilin detected something else beneath that smile; it seemed her mother-in-law had something on her mind.

"Mom, don't worry, Chen Ang and I are taking very good care of Xiaotian. How about I have him video call you tonight?" Wen Huilin said perfunctorily, while pondering how to bring up Chen Ang.

"Your father and I are coming to Bin City today. Didn't Chen Ang tell you?" Qu Suping asked, puzzled.

When Chen Zhuo called this morning to say he was picking them up to bring them to Bin City, he explicitly said it was his brother's idea. She was curious why Wen Huilin was completely unaware.

"Ah... I, I thought he was just mentioning it in passing. I was helping Xiaotian check his homework at the time, so I didn't pay close attention."

Wen Huilin tried her best to keep her tone steady, pretending to be natural, but inside, a storm was raging.

Chen Ang brought his parents here; what does that mean? A showdown?

She wasn't prepared for anything yet. What should she do?

The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became; the muscles on her cheekbones couldn't help but twitch.

"I see. Don't take it to heart; Chen Ang has been careless since he was little." Qu Suping felt a pang of concern and hurriedly explained on Chen Ang's behalf.

In her mind, the younger son's divorce was a foregone conclusion, and the relationship between her elder son and daughter-in-law had never been good; she couldn't let her own loose tongue create conflict between them.

"It's okay, Mom. I'm the one who wasn't listening carefully. When are you arriving? I'll come to pick you up too."

Wen Huilin's fingers tightened slightly around her phone, but her voice remained steady.

"No need, Chen Zhuo is picking us up. We're eating at Lintian Pavilion at noon. If you're not too busy at work, come and join us for a meal."

After declining, Qu Suping extended an invitation to Wen Huilin.

Wen Huilin had gradually calmed her rising emotions. She smiled and said, "Alright, let me see if Xiaotian has time at noon. I'll bring him along; the child has been saying he misses you for a long time."

On the other end of the line, Qu Suping seemed to heave a sigh of relief, her tone becoming lighter. "Come if it doesn't interfere with his classes; we miss the child too."

"Oh, Mom, how many of you are there? I'll see if the house can accommodate you. If not, you can stay at the old house; I'll find time to clean it up." Wen Huilin continued, keeping her composure.

Qu Suping didn't notice the insincerity in her words and laughed, "No need. We brought Jingjing along, and Chen Zhuo has already arranged where we'll stay."

"Alright then. I'm going to pick up Xiaotian now. See you at Lintian Pavilion at noon."

After ending the call, Wen Huilin sat motionless on the bench, deep in thought.

Chen Yijing came too, so why didn't Li Xue come?

Recalling the emotions in Qu Suping's voice when she first answered the phone, she wondered if something had happened at Chen Ang's family home.

She thought of her sister-in-law, whom she rarely met and with whom she had little communication.

One look at that woman was enough to know she wasn't someone who would behave quietly.

People of the same kind are often the best at judging each other.

She also knew that the relationship between Chen Zhuo and Li Xue was not harmonious.

After thinking for a moment, she opened WeChat and scrolled to a profile she basically never contacted: Chen Lei.

She was Chen Ang's cousin, the daughter of Chen Ang's uncle, working at a credit union in Jiangning County, with a mouth looser than the waistband of cotton trousers.

She sent a message, and a reply came back quickly: "??? Is this that sister-in-law from the provincial capital? Rare for you to think of us poor relatives."

Seeing the sarcasm, Wen Huilin was instantly infuriated.

Suppressing her anger, she exchanged a few pleasantries before asking if something had happened at Chen Ang's family home.

Chen Lei didn't disappoint her: "Sister-in-law, you don't know? Your family has brought honor to your ancestors; Chen Zhuo is preparing for a divorce, I heard the agreement has already been signed."

"Yesterday on the street, I saw Li Xue riding in a G-Wagon; looks like someone else had already taken over. Chen Zhuo's head has probably been green for a long time."

"I don't know if my third uncle was so angry he vomited blood, and my poor third aunt, I heard she fainted on the spot that day. It really brings honor to the old Chen family; my grandfather wouldn't be able to keep his coffin lid down."

Wen Huilin didn't care at all about Chen Lei's schadenfreude; Chen Ang's family losing face had nothing to do with her.

What she cared about was the attitude of Chen Ang's parents; they were afraid of their sons getting divorced.

If the couple was already this angry about Chen Zhuo's divorce, what if Chen Ang also announced a divorce?

Two sons, both divorced, and at the same time. What would people who know the Chen family say?

To others, this might just be gossip, but in her hands, it was a usable blade.

Therefore, Chen Ang would absolutely not have a showdown with his parents at this time; he might even hide the fact that he was getting a divorce.

In this way, she would have more time to find evidence, and she had also seized one of Chen Ang's weaknesses.

Just think, what if she told Chen Ang's mother directly that her own grandson wasn't Chen Ang's biological child?

Could she handle that shock?

Chen Ang, aren't you filial? If something happens to your mother, will you regret it for the rest of your life?

Wen Huilin realized that she had no trump cards right now. If Chen Ang proposed a divorce, she could use this to threaten him; at worst, they would both go down together.

Having figured these things out, her expression relaxed quite a bit. She stood up, brushed the dust off her coat, and prepared to pick up Chen Zetian before heading straight to Lintian Pavilion.

Once there, she didn't need to say anything. She just needed Chen Ang to see his parents serving her food and to see Chen Zetian calling her "Grandma."

As long as she made Chen Ang realize that his weakness was closer to her than he imagined, that would be enough.

~

Chen Ang didn't wake up until nearly ten in the morning, only after receiving a call from Chen Zhuo saying he had already set off from their hometown with their parents.

He had been drinking last night and caught a breeze on the balcony, which went to his head, leaving him still feeling a bit dizzy before he left the house.

When he arrived at the Financial Center, Shen Pianran had gone out for another case, and Zhong Yuanxin was busy in the temporary office next door.

Chen Ang didn't disturb her and opened a report Shen Pianran had left in the office to read.

This was a background check on those two office buildings across the way, worth 140 million.

The owner was a local Bin City enterprise, Daqi Real Estate.

Dragged down by the general environment, Daqi Real Estate also needed to quickly recoup its cash flow.

After reading it, Chen Ang sighed to himself. In this day and age, cash is truly king. Look at those renowned enterprises; nowadays, every one of them is struggling to move forward.

This made him feel even more strongly that he shouldn't start a business. Once deeply mired in it, even 2 billion in cash might not be enough to make a splash.

It was better to honestly be a landlord, holding onto real estate, and his family could be wealthy for generations.

Approaching twelve o'clock, Chen Zhuo called to say they had gotten off the highway.

Chen Ang then got up and left. When he arrived at Lintian Pavilion and pushed open the door to the private room, he saw Wen Huilin with Chen Zetian, chatting happily with his parents.

Seeing this scene, he instantly knew that something unexpected might have happened in some part of the plan.