Chapter 104: Giving You 100 Million

Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Giving You 100 Million

"I don’t have any brothers. My dad wants me to take over the family in the future. If I marry out, my claim won’t be legitimate. Ouyang Chunqiu refuses to accept this. He’s afraid I’ll marry a live-in son-in-law. Combined with the fact that I’ve recently weakened much of his power, he wants me dead. Yes, that’s pretty much it."

Ouyang Mingruo repeated what Zhang Yun had guessed.

Zhang Yun deliberately refused to give her that satisfaction, saying on purpose, "Ah? So that’s how it is? In the script I made up, Ouyang Chunqiu is your dad’s illegitimate son. Not only does he want to seize power, but he’s also jealous that he can’t step into the light. He feels everything you enjoy rightfully belongs to him, which is why he decided to kill you..."

Ouyang Mingruo shuddered, her tone trembling slightly. "H-how did you know? That’s impossible, this matter..."

"..."

Zhang Yun was rendered speechless. He had literally just made that up. She had stolen his answer, so he was just being contrarian.

But of course, he wasn’t going to admit that. Shrugging, he pushed the remaining bowl of sweet rice wine toward her. "Drink up before you speak."

Ouyang Mingruo shot him a somewhat complicated look before downing the sweet rice wine in one gulp.

"You guessed right... He is the son my dad had with another woman. He was raised by a cousin of my father’s from a young age, so on the surface, he’s my younger cousin. He really is outstanding. Perhaps he knew early on, so he’s been holding in this drive. Replacing me and gaining our father’s recognition is probably his greatest obsession..."

Zhang Yun never expected his casually fabricated soap-opera drama to hit the nail on the head. He could only follow this train of thought.

"But you don’t just rely on your dad to pave the way. You’re also highly capable and have always managed to suppress him, which makes him hate you even more. Now that you’re of marriageable age, he’s afraid you’ll inherit the family business, or rather, he realizes he can’t defeat you openly, so he’s resorted to underhanded methods."

Ouyang Mingruo silently agreed.

"Because of this layer of relationship, your dad didn’t conduct a full investigation. Or maybe he knows but can’t make it public, so he can only reprimand them while forbidding you from taking revenge."

Zhang Yun sighed. "No wonder you said you didn’t dare to sleep... It turns out you aren’t afraid of death, but rather that the situation is simply too complicated. When you talked about taking me in as a live-in husband, you weren’t trying to anger some fiancé, but your dad."

"Now that you know everything, are you willing to help me?" Ouyang Mingruo looked at Zhang Yun, her eyes turning pitiful again. It was clearly still partly an act, but she must have mixed in her true feelings.

"I just need a little more time. I won’t hold you up for too long.

"You thought three months was too short, so let’s set a longer term. Three years at the shortest, five at the most. You’ll still be very young by then. And I will pay you one hundred million!"

"Hold on, I can give you a hundred million tonight, even two hundred million!"

"Get lost! We’re talking business here." Ouyang Mingruo had clearly understood the joke and glared at him.

"Actually, I made it clear to you earlier. It’s not that I don’t want to talk about money; I’m just afraid of dying. Now that I know Ouyang Chunqiu’s attitude, if I pretend to be your husband for three to five years, I’ll inevitably have to endure countless life-threatening situations!"

"It’s a hundred million! Isn’t it worth the risk?"

"For a hundred million, it’s really not worth the risk."

"..." Ouyang Mingruo was helpless. "How much do you want?"

"I’m not haggling. I’m genuinely afraid of dying. I’m my dad’s only son, and my mom... went missing years ago. Nothing can happen to me!"

In the past, Zhang Yun had calmly accepted his mother’s passing, but now he subconsciously changed it to ’went missing.’ Perhaps one day she could truly be found, or maybe there was some hidden story behind it?

Ouyang Mingruo stayed silent for a moment before nodding slightly. "You’re right. Even if I’m willing to pay, I can’t buy your life with money. You’re not afraid of death; you’re making a rational choice."

Zhang Yun tried to persuade her. "Perhaps... you could just let him have it. With your abilities and resources, it wouldn’t be hard to start another grand enterprise elsewhere. At the end of the day, he’s still your half-brother. There’s no need for this internal strife."

"No way!" Ouyang Mingruo refused categorically. "This isn’t about money. It’s the principle of the matter! Besides, if I give way, will he just stop? Wouldn’t he take the opportunity to finish me off? And what about my mom?"

Zhang Yun nodded. Every family had its own cross to bear. It was only because it didn’t concern him that he could speak so lightly.

"It’s really not convenient for me to take this live-in husband job. You should probably think about Plan B."

"Are you just going to watch a weak woman like me be surrounded by danger?" Ouyang Mingruo started playing pitiful again.

Zhang Yun smiled. "You’re definitely no pushover either, or else you would’ve been killed long ago. It feels like you both inherited Ouyang Kunpeng’s genes... Your dad doesn’t want me getting involved, so tomorrow you should head back. Stop coming here to bring me trouble. We can just be friends; there’s no problem with that."

"I escaped from the hospital!

"I traveled a thousand miles to seek refuge with you!

"I threw away a girl’s dignity and shamelessly stayed at your house!

"I..."

Hearing her go on and on, Zhang Yun quickly called a stop. "Say no more. You’re making it sound so tearful, making me look like some heartless scumbag. Miss, I’m just an ordinary little farmer."

"If you get with me, you won’t be ordinary anymore. You’ll become the wealthiest little farmer in your village!" Ouyang Mingruo raised her eyebrows. "No need to answer me right away. Take your time to consider."

Zhang Yun changed the subject. "By the way, if you’re staying tonight, I can only let you sleep in my room."

"Huh? So soon? I haven’t even prepared myself yet." Ouyang Mingruo covered her face with an exaggerated expression.

"..." Zhang Yun laughed and scolded her. "Stop being such a drama queen! We don’t usually have guests, so the other rooms aren’t tidied up and are full of dust. I’ll sleep downstairs in my dad’s room!"

"No way! What if he sends a killer after me? How can you protect me from downstairs? ...Wait, you’re afraid of dying. If a killer breaks in from here, they’ll kill you first!"

Ouyang Mingruo patted his shoulder with one hand and said seriously, "For your own safety, you have to sleep in the same room as me! You can sleep on the floor. It’s actually quite cool on the floor in this weather."

"Holy crap! Talk about a cuckoo in the nest. You come to my house, sleep in my room and my bed, and you still want me to sleep on the floor to keep you company and protect you?" Zhang Yun flatly refused. "No way!"

"What did Uncle Zhang just say? Xiaoyunzi, do you want me to exercise my power as your proxy parent and order you around?"

"..." Zhang Yun deliberately stared at her chest. "Aren’t you afraid I’ll get ’poetic’ in the middle of the night? You know, the classic tale of an old beast claiming a young beauty... Wait, in my case, shouldn’t it be a young stud conquering a delicate flower? Everyone saw you actively ask to sleep at my house. If you cry for help later, they’ll all just think it’s some kinky roleplay you city folks are into!"

Ouyang Mingruo shrugged. "It doesn’t matter! If you were really that kind of person, you definitely would’ve done it while I was unconscious, so I wouldn’t mind you touching me a little more. If you aren’t that kind of person, you definitely won’t lay a hand on me."

"Trying to goad me? Then I really might have to talk to you about a deal worth hundreds of millions!" Zhang Yun reached out and grabbed her shoulders.

Ouyang Mingruo smiled faintly. "Given your personality, as well as Uncle Zhang’s attitude, if you slept with me, you’d take responsibility, wouldn’t you? Then I can just save the hundred million I mentioned earlier! You’re quite good-looking, too, so I wouldn’t mind!"

Zhang Yun lost all his bluster at once. He might not care about a hundred million, but if he sowed ’a hundred million’ only to lose a hundred million and get himself permanently tied down in the process, that would be a terrible deal!