After Faking My Death, My Iceberg Ex-Wife Went Crazy for Me - Chapter 33

“Aunt Ye!”

The hospital room door burst open as Xue Jiqing rushed in, positioning herself protectively in front of the bed like a mother hen guarding her chicks. “You’ve gone too far!”

Ye Yunzhen glared at her coldly. “I’m disciplining my daughter. What business is it of yours?”

“If you still consider her your daughter, you shouldn’t be saying such things!”

Xue Jiqing desperately suppressed the urge to curse. Ever since childhood, she had found the relationship between this mother and daughter strange, even twisted.

She had never seen a child punished with confinement and starvation simply for calling her own mother “Mom.”

Especially since she had been the one who encouraged Ye Ling to say it. Ye Yunzhen’s gaze at that moment… it was hard to describe, a tangled mix of hatred and disgust.

Terrified and guilt-ridden, Xue Jiqing developed a high fever that lasted two days. It was Ye Ling, released from confinement, who came to comfort her.

After starting high school, Xue Jiqing noticed Ye Ling had changed. She no longer sought Ye Yunzhen’s attention through obedience. Xue Jiqing had assumed Ye Ling had finally seen through her mother’s manipulations, never imagining she had quietly retreated into another dead end.

Xue Jiqing gritted her teeth, barely managing to swallow the curse that had risen to her lips. “The doctor said Ye Ling needs rest. Please leave.”

Ye Yunzhen stared at her, her gaze heavy and oppressive. Xue Jiqing’s shoulders twitched, and she straightened her back even further.

During the silent standoff, Meng Lianqiu quietly entered, carrying a cup of warm water and medicine.

The appearance of this “outsider” seemed to finally remind Ye Yunzhen of the occasion. With a cold huff, she turned and swept out of the room.

The medicine wasn’t needed for another hour. Meng Lianqiu set the items down and left as well.

The sickroom fell silent once more. Ye Ling leaned back against the headboard, her eyes closed, a few strands of hair clinging to her cheek like cracks in porcelain, shattered and then repaired.

Xue Jiqing inexplicably found himself unable to look at her, afraid that even the weight of his gaze might be the final straw.

She twisted her fingers, feeling utterly helpless for the first time. “Auntie was just speaking in anger. Don’t take it to heart…”

Even she didn’t sound convinced. Ye Yunzhen hardly seemed the type to act impulsively.

Was it because of Aunt Jiang? That was half a lifetime ago. Why couldn’t she let it go?

Still, Xue Jiqing finally understood something he’d never grasped before. No wonder Ye Yunzhen treated Xiaoxiao so specially—she was still hung up on the girl’s mother.

What must she be thinking every time Xiaoxiao called her “Godmother”?

Xue Jiqing felt a wave of nausea. He swallowed it down, but the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. “No, I can’t just swallow this!”

“How dare she say that? You were just an embryo back then! What choice did you have? Why is she taking out all her resentment on you?”

Ye Ling didn’t speak aloud, answering only in her heart.

Because… she realized long ago how terribly wrong her decision had been. So she desperately tried to prove she wasn’t wrong.

She toiled day and night, building a commercial empire to declare war on her father. Then she sent her outwardly perfect daughter to her estranged friend, hoping to make her regret the advice she had once given.

But her friend saw through her pretense in an instant. Over the years, even the bitter feud that had severed her ties with her family showed signs of thawing.

So what had she spent the past twenty years striving for?

With her pitifully fragile facade shattered, all that remained was her stubbornly clinging pride.

Ye Yunzhen might tolerate anyone pointing out her mistakes, except for the “mistake” itself.

Ye Ling closed her eyes, countless thoughts flashing through her mind until they coalesced into a piercing, ringing noise.

She knew, deep down, that Ye Yunzhen’s words weren’t just said in anger. Her mother had genuinely wanted her dead.

When she was eight years old.

As the kidnappers dragged her into the van, her mother stood around the corner.

In the shadows, she watched coldly, as if staring at an enemy.

After Ye Yunzhen’s visit, Xue Jiqing initially feared Ye Ling would suffer another emotional breakdown. Instead, she remained remarkably composed, even more so than before.

A quiet night passed. By the third day since Geng Xiaoxiao fell into the sea, the rescue team still had no good news.

That evening, the rescue team called to announce they were suspending the search.

After 72 hours without finding a missing person at sea, it was generally assumed there was no hope of survival. Continuing the search would only waste limited rescue resources.

After hanging up, Ye Ling said nothing. She simply instructed Yuexin to issue a recruitment notice for a purely non-profit maritime rescue organization and donated state-of-the-art equipment to rescue teams across the country.

On the fifth day, the investigators sent to look into the car accident finally had news—bad news.

Shang Yafan’s original surname was Wan. She had moved frequently with her mother since childhood and rarely interacted with neighbors.

The investigation teams visited every place they had lived for extended periods. They finally made a breakthrough in an old urban village.

According to witnesses, when Shang Yafan was four years old, Madam Wan became pregnant again. A well-dressed man in a suit had come to visit them.

His expensive clothes and car immediately drew attention. Shortly after his visit, Madam Wan unexpectedly miscarried and moved away with Shang Yafan.

“According to the elderly woman’s recollection, she vaguely remembers the driver addressing him as ‘President Shang.’ But it was so long ago that she can’t recall his face.”

“Moreover,” Meng Lianqiu paused, “there seems to be something strange about Shang Yafan. Every time we’re about to obtain crucial information, some kind of accident always occurs.”

“Theoretically, the easiest records to verify would be Madam Wan’s hospital admission and payment records after the car accident. But the hospital’s database inexplicably corrupted, losing that specific period’s data.”

“Was it a cyberattack?” Xue Jiqing asked.

Meng Lianqiu shook her head. “They claim it was a staff error. They tried to recover the data, but all attempts failed.”

“What about the paper records? Are those gone too?”

“I was just about to mention that.” Meng Lianqiu forced a bitter smile. “The archive room door wasn’t properly closed. A patient snuck in to smoke, causing a small fire.”

“What about the smoke alarm? Didn’t it trigger?”

“It did—after everything we needed had already burned to ashes. That’s why we’re forced to rely on these more time-consuming and troublesome interviews.”

“……”

Meng Lianqiu continued, “We also investigated that patient. Their background is completely clean, with no social connections to Shang Yafan.”

It was as if some unseen force was preventing them from uncovering the truth.

If Lan Xiao were here, she might have told them that this force was called the “protagonist’s halo” and the “inevitability of the plot.”

The revelation of Shang Yafan’s true parentage was a minor climax in the original novel and a crucial turning point in the emotional development of the two female leads.

Since the main plot of the original story hadn’t even begun to unfold yet, it was only natural that the major villains and minor cannon fodder like themselves wouldn’t be allowed to obtain such critical evidence ahead of time.

Meng Lianqiu said, “Indirect investigations have proven largely fruitless. To obtain conclusive proof, we may have no choice but to conduct a paternity test using the biological samples of Shang Yangheng and Shang Yafan.”

Ye Ling spoke in a low voice, “But if our suspicions are correct, they will undoubtedly have taken precautions against such measures.”

Her voice, still hoarse from the enforced silence, was much lower and raspier than before.

The doctor had warned her that it might never fully recover.

She continued, “Obtaining biological samples from Shang Yangheng and Shang Yafan will be extremely difficult, but there is one person who can do it.”

Meng Lianqiu and Xue Jiqing exchanged surprised glances, both immediately thinking of the same person.

Ye Ling’s next words confirmed their suspicions: “Lianqiu, forget about the evidence for now. Just leak the news that Shang Yafan is Shang Yangheng’s illegitimate daughter. Make sure Shang Mi’er and her maternal family find out.”

“Understood.”

“Also, didn’t Shang Yangheng want to expand into AI technology?”

Meng Lianqiu hesitated before replying, “Yes, he sent his secretary to cozy up to us and even tried to poach some of our engineers, but he failed.”

Ye Ling pondered for a moment, then said, “Have Engineer Li take a few new faces over there and set up some impressive-looking gadgets. Keep Mo Yuan’s benefits the same as before. As for R&D funding… let her use however much she can scam out of them.”

“Understood.”

“Wait,” Xue Jiqing interrupted, having listened to the entire plan. “You’re sending her away? Aren’t you afraid she won’t come back?”

“That might be true for others, but not for Engineer Li,” Meng Lianqiu explained earnestly. “She’s passionate about researching conceptual products with low practicality and little commercial value.”

“Because of this, she never felt comfortable at her previous companies. If she leaves Mo Yuan, she’ll struggle to find another company that allows her such creative freedom.”

It was precisely because of this that she had been “snapped up” by Mo Yuan Technology five years ago, a fledgling company with deep pockets but still finding its footing.

“Hmm,” Ye Ling continued after Meng Lianqiu finished explaining. “Li Zhu and Shang Yafan’s networks overlap. She might have deliberately orchestrated Shang Mi’er’s kidnapping.”

“From this perspective, no one in the Shang Family’s current generation can outmaneuver her. Next, she’ll cultivate some useful pawns and place them around Shang Yangheng’s nephew.”

“Yes, but why Shang Yangheng’s nephew?” Meng Lianqiu asked, puzzled. “If she wanted to create a rival for Shang Yafan, wouldn’t Miss Shang Mi’er be the perfect choice?”

“I know this,” Xue Jiqing interjected. “Shang Yangheng never intended for his daughter to be his heir. Elevating Shang Mi’er would be like serving her up on a platter to Shang Yafan.”

“But someone else is different. They’ll never become allies. That fool, combined with Shang Yangheng’s favoritism, will perfectly compensate for his lack of intelligence.”

“But if that’s the case,” Xue Jiqing said, lowering her eyes meaningfully, “Shang Mi’er’s situation… won’t be very pleasant, will it?”

Ye Ling’s lips curled into a cold smile as she murmured, “If Shang Yangheng hadn’t been uncertain about the Ye Family’s stance and hesitated to go too far, this would have been her rightful place all along.”

By the seventh day, Lan Xiao had nearly finished gathering supplies.

She rented a small apartment in a nearby city online. After the final package arrived, she hired a moving van and relocated her meager belongings there, using it as temporary lodging while waiting for her passport and visa to be processed.

On the tenth day, her national ID card finally arrived by mail.

Lan Xiao finally returned to the airport.

The familiar courtyard wall, now adorned with a fresh bloom of roses, still carried their faint, sweet fragrance.

But the rocking chair in the courtyard was empty. As the weather grew hotter, the calico cat had abandoned the shaded porch for the cooler air-conditioned rooms.

In its sleep, the cat’s white whiskers twitched, as if catching a familiar scent.

It stood up, sniffed the air, then leaped to press down on the door handle, darting into the courtyard with a flurry of paws.

A gray-haired old woman hurried after it, scolding, “You’re letting all the cool air out! Is sunbathing really more comfortable than air conditioning?”

Xiao Hua meowed twice, tilting its head to sniff the air, but the scent had already been carried away by the wind.

The old woman looked down at the cat. “If there’s nothing else, go back inside and enjoy the air conditioning. You’ll get heatstroke in this heat.”

Xiao Hua flicked its tail and turned back toward the house.

The old woman smiled and was about to follow when she suddenly glanced in a particular direction.

The wind rustled through the treetops, and cicadas buzzed noisily.

She saw nothing.

Lan Xiao hid behind the wall, pressing herself as flat against it as possible.

Only when the System confirmed that Jiang Yuheng had returned did she finally exhale in relief.

Grandma’s condition was better than she had expected. The System’s scan showed all her vital signs were normal, indicating that Ye Ling had successfully concealed the news of “Geng Xiaoxiao’s” fall into the sea.

But she wondered how long this lie could hold.

Host.

Since completing the mission, perhaps because she had distanced herself from the main plot and characters, System 823 had begun initiating conversations more frequently.

Lan Xiao wasn’t surprised. She simply hummed in acknowledgment and waited for it to continue.

Based on your behavioral patterns and emotional fluctuations, I deduce that you wish to stay, correct?

“……”

Of course I want to stay, but I won’t.

Avoiding the scattered pedestrians in the residential area, Lan Xiao walked toward the main gate.

What would be the point of staying?

She could never forget that this world was constructed from a novel.

Many of the people she had met had names in the book.

This meant that freedom was an illusion; they were all walking in shackles, and the more significant their roles, the heavier the chains.

Once the gears of the plot began to turn, would they truly remain themselves?

Even the System couldn’t answer that question.

It only repeats. The more crucial the plot point, the harder it is to change. The repeating world possesses the power to correct deviations in the storyline.

Lan Xiao didn’t understand the nature of this power. Perhaps it was like a puppet show, where every laugh, curse, and tear was manipulated by unseen strings.

That’s why she wouldn’t stay, nor would she approach Grandma, giving anyone a chance to discover her.

Otherwise, once she was drawn back into the book’s web of love and hatred, she might become a new puppet under the plot’s corrective force.

Worse still, she might drag those around her into the chaos.

Take Chen Qiao, for example—a completely free individual. Grandma, on the other hand, was a minor character who had only appeared once or twice.

If Lan Xiao stayed, their roles would become unpredictable, and no one could foresee what the future held.

Presumably, they would never join the protagonist’s camp, and their fates wouldn’t be much better.

By then, it would be too late to intervene.

Remaining an outsider was the best choice.

At least for now, minor details could still be altered. For instance, Grandma remained unaware of Lan Xiao’s true relationship with Ye Ling, and might never find out.

Without this knowledge, Grandma wouldn’t target the female lead out of spite.

With Chen Qiao watching over things and Lan Xiao monitoring the situation from afar, at least Grandma would have a chance to change her fate.

The plane pierced through the clouds, the familiar landscape receding into the distance.

Lan Xiao closed the window shade, thinking that someday, she might return, leaving her mark under the name Lan Xiao.

After the story ends.

Ye Ling’s heart skipped a beat. On the second floor of the airport, she suddenly stopped, glancing instinctively at the horizon as if sensing something.

The plane, trailing a long contrail, dwindled into a tiny dot.

Noticing her pause, Meng Lianqiu reminded her, “President Ye, the driver is over there.”

“Mm,” Ye Ling replied with a self-deprecating chuckle, opening the car door.

Just another illusion, she thought.

The black car started, veering onto a trajectory sharply diverging from the snow-white contrail. From that moment on, they drifted further and further apart.