Chapter 78: I'm Back Again, Ready for Battle~

“This Life, I Will Not Change”

Ling Ziheng pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, gazing intently at the pensive young woman before him, certain that, in this moment, she held a place for him in her heart.

Lin Zhiwei nodded, but the mischievous smile at the corner of her lips slowly spread. “A man’s words are nothing but lies. Let’s call it an assessment for now, and wait for further notice.”

Ling Ziheng was caught off guard by her response—it was so typically Lin Zhiwei, he thought with a helpless shake of his head. Let her have her way.

“How long will this assessment last?”

“That depends on my mood,” Lin Zhiwei answered triumphantly. After the liberties you’ve taken with me, do you think I care about saving face?

“Alright,” Ling Ziheng replied. If his lady wanted an assessment, he would wait as long as it took. He only wondered how much longer he’d have to wait to hold her in his arms again; the thought made him itch with impatience.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside.

“Young Master Liang, the boss is busy right now. Please wait in the reception room,” Pei Xi’s anxious voice intruded on the tender atmosphere inside. Lin Zhiwei looked over, puzzled.

“How dare you try to stop me! What’s Ling Ziheng up to, locking himself away like this? There’s nothing to hide from me. I knew him before you were even out of diapers, so get out of my way!”

“You can’t go in—!”

The door swung open with a loud crash.

“You sly fox, I’m back! Where have you hidden my little angel? Come out and face me—"

As the door burst open, Lin Zhiwei’s face shifted between shadows and light, while Ling Ziheng looked on, unruffled, as though nothing were amiss.

With a heavy thud, Liang Qisheng’s suitcase hit the floor the moment he took in the scene inside.

His face went from anxious on entering to livid and bruised in an instant. In mere seconds, he marched up to Ling Ziheng, glaring, and pointed at Lin Zhiwei, shouting, “Damn it, Ling Ziheng, you beast! I knew it—you really do like men! Where’s my little angel? I’m going to tell her what you’re up to in here and take her away!”

He stormed around the office, visibly furious.

Pei Xi started forward to explain, but Ling Ziheng’s glance told her to stay back, so she closed the door and left.

“Young Master Liang?” Lin Zhiwei ventured, slipping out of the circle of Ling Ziheng’s arm. She watched him pour himself a glass of whiskey, looking as calm as ever, and could only groan inwardly. Is this man not afraid of losing all his friends?

“Don’t call me. I don’t know you. No matter what you say, I won’t let this go. You—both of you—adulterers!” Liang Qisheng grew more and more incensed, itching to tear the two of them apart.

Thankfully, he’d had the foresight to beg his grandfather hundreds of times to let him come to S City. Good thing he’d come, or he wouldn’t have witnessed Ling Ziheng’s utter depravity with his own eyes. He could only imagine what his little angel was enduring at home—cooking and cleaning, waiting in seductive outfits, while this scoundrel dallied about.

“Ling Ziheng, you owe me an explanation today!” He flung himself onto the sofa opposite them, glaring daggers at Ling Ziheng.

Lin Zhiwei was about to speak when Ling Ziheng stopped her.

With practiced elegance, Ling Ziheng poured a small glass of whiskey and slid it across the table to the indignant man opposite, his dark eyes glinting with a mix of challenge and amused detachment.

Liang Qisheng’s face turned red with fury. “Trying to bribe me? It won’t work! Just tell me where my little angel is and I’ll take her away. For the sake of our years of friendship, I won’t breathe a word of your misdeeds.”

Lin Zhiwei couldn’t help but laugh at his indignation, touched by the sliver of pride he kept for his friend. She no longer wanted to watch him get mercilessly tormented.

“Young Master Liang, I am Lin Zhiwei.”

“Nonsense! I don’t believe a word of that. Trying to deny it? No way.” Liang Qisheng turned his head away, refusing to listen or look.

Lin Zhiwei gave a helpless half-smile. There was no explaining her way out of this now. She had no makeup remover on hand, and Ling Ziheng showed no hurry to clarify—the very picture of cunning indifference.

After a long silence, Ling Ziheng looked up. “So what do you want to do?”

Liang Qisheng, seizing the opening, turned to face him, righteous and resolute. “Tell me where my little angel is. I’ll take her home! I want to marry her!”

Faced with Liang Qisheng’s dramatic posture, Lin Zhiwei could only look to Ling Ziheng in exasperation. Fine, let the two of you work this out. I’m done here.

“Go ahead then—200 Beijing Road. If she’s willing to go with you, be my guest. I already have someone new here. Though, with her bodyguard around, I doubt you’ll get in.” Ling Ziheng raised an eyebrow, his tone nonchalant as he winked at Lin Zhiwei, then downed the last of his drink, the hint of a smile lingering on his lips, his features alluring and enigmatic.

Lin Zhiwei promptly spit out the water she had just sipped. Ruthless—this move was ruthless.

“Fine! Even if it kills me, I’ll see my little angel today. One day, I’ll strip away your false, wicked mask. Just you wait!” Liang Qisheng declared heroically, scooped up his suitcase, and marched out of the office in a blaze of indignation.

Lin Zhiwei’s gaze followed that glittering figure to the doorway, only snapping out of her daze when the door slammed shut. She clapped her hands in admiration. “You two really know how to put on a show. Seriously, Ling Ziheng, that was brutal.”

“He interrupted us,” Ling Ziheng replied indifferently, turning to his paperwork.

Lin Zhiwei silently concluded: never offend a schemer, and never be friends with one. That’s right.

“Couldn’t you have just found an excuse to send him away? Why send him off to look for Nanyu…” Lin Zhiwei massaged her temples.

Ling Ziheng replied, “Serves as payback for you.”

Lin Zhiwei was once again left at a loss for words. It did make a certain twisted sense; Nanyu had yet to answer for selling her out over a few cups of milk tea.

Just then, Pei Xi entered with their meals, silently mourning for Nanyu—he was only trying to do a good deed this time…