MY BEAUTIFUL BRIDE, VOLUME 7 - Season 11 Episode 51

“Then, are there any other factions? Like a fourth faction?”

“Of course, there’s a fourth faction. The fourth faction is from the internal clan. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Why?”

“Because the fourth faction is mine,” he said calmly.

Lin Che understood. So that was the case.

Lin Che thought to herself that it was unexpected for a family to have so many cunning people. But this was something she had never thought of in the past.

Previously, Lin Che had truly never come into contact with such faction wars. The wars had probably been at their most intense before Gu Jingze had become the head of the household. Furthermore, it was precisely now that Gu Jingze even sent her abroad to take refuge. Thus, Lin Che had actually lived in the Gu family but had never experienced the strong clan atmosphere of the Gu family. Now, she had been implicated and involved in the matter because of the position of mistress. She had no choice but to face a situation as complex as this one.

Gu Jingze said, “You don’t have to worry. Even though they have many cheap tricks up their sleeves, they can only execute these tricks on the condition that they don’t endanger the entire clan. That’s how it is for the Xue family. It’s also the same for the second clan where Third Uncle is. Thus, their open rivalry and covert fights won’t affect us that much.”

Lin Che knew that at most, the position of mistress would be snatched away.

In actual fact, if not for Gu Jingze, she would not want to vie for anything either. But it was important to have an unyielding character. No matter what, she had to fight it out for Gu Jingze’s sake. She could not allow him to become a laughing stock.

With these thoughts in mind, Lin Che hung up the phone. She wanted Gu Jingze to go to bed a little earlier. She did not want him to exert himself too much.

She had just hung up when she heard a faint voice calling out to her.

“Lin Che.”

She turned her head and immediately saw Qin Qing standing in the corner.

She said, “Ah… you…”

Qin Qing smiled. He was about to walk over to her but Dongzi immediately blocked him.

Qin Qing froze. He vaguely saw a few people in Lin Che’s surroundings following her.

They did not wear Gu Jingze’s blue symbol and he did not know who they were.

Lin Che stood there and said softly, “Dongzi, it’s alright. He’s someone I know.”

Only then did Dongzi nod his head and step backward. He continued to gaze in Qin Qing’s direction in a cautious posture.

Qin Qing stared at Dongzi and looked at him skeptically for a long time. It was only after examining him for ages that his heart thumped. He thought to himself in surprise that these people were not Gu Jingze’s; they were Lin Che’s own men.

Qin Qing looked at Lin Che. “Are these people your subordinates?”

Lin Che gestured for Dongzi to withdraw. “Yes, they are mine.”

Qin Qing’s eyes flashed as he looked at Lin Che.

Sure enough, she was different now.

She had already started to have her own power, her own personal army.

Qin Qing had heard from Xue Mengqi about the Gu family’s personal army. After being trained, these people seemed to be loyal only to their master. They would follow the first person they pledged allegiance to until they could no longer move. These people were what they called personal guards. People like these listened only to the instructions of their master and did not listen to anyone else’s command.

And even in the Gu family, not many had their own personal army. Xue Mengqi had one, which her father had specially trained for her. But he could not believe that Lin Che also had one now.

Didn’t that mean that Lin Che’s status had long been different from in the past? Right now, she had finally and thoroughly made her way to one of the most central positions in the Gu family. She now had the special privileges enjoyed by the people at the spire of the Gu family pyramid.

Qin Qing was dazed for a moment. Lin Che asked him, “Why are you here today?”

In reality, of course, she knew why he was here. She was merely asking a question to which she knew the answer. She wanted to ask him why he wanted her to greet him while pretending not to know him, instead of telling others that they had already known each other in the past.

Naturally, Qin Qing understood what she meant. He looked in front and said, “I know you must be thinking that I pretended not to know you because I don’t want Mengqi to overthink. But that’s not the reason. It’s just that I’ve been working hard for the past few years and I want to forget who I was in the past. Right now, I just don’t ever want to mention that useless me of the past.”

That useless him of the past?

Alright then. Now, he was indeed different from how he had been.

Lin Che said, “If that’s what you think, I’ll definitely respect your wishes.”

Of course, Lin Che hoped that he would do well. After all, they had been friends for so many years before this. Although so many things had happened and the friendship they had had no longer existed, he was still Qin Qing.

Qin Qing said, “But I still hope that you will live happily. I’m relieved to see that you’re doing very well now.”

Lin Che was also very glad that he could achieve success. She looked at Qin Qing and said, “I hope that you can be happy too. But I didn’t expect you to get together with Xue Mengqi. Have you been together for a long time?

Qin Qing nodded. “It’s been half a year.”

“Really?”

She felt that Xue Mengqi had returned to the Gu family with an objective, but she did not want Qin Qing to be implicated in her fulfillment of her objective and to become her tool.

Qin Qing said, “Mengqi is a very good person. She taught me many things. Back then, I wasn’t aware that she was part of the Gu family. But this world is really small…”

Indeed, there were few wealthy families, to begin with, so naturally, their world was small.

Lin Che said, “Yes. What a coincidence.”

Just then, Mu Wanqing walked towards them in an extremely graceful manner.

Sensing the situation, Qin Qing smiled at Lin Che and left.

Qin Qing only turned to look at Lin Che after taking a few steps. He saw Mu Wanqing appearing to be very concerned about her. She was looking down at Lin Che’s stomach and looked very worried.

He could not believe that Lin Che really was pregnant.

Pregnant with Gu Jingze’s child.

This was already Gu Jingze’s second child. Logically speaking, Lin Che’s current status was very stable. Qin Qing sighed internally to himself. He did not expect them to meet again in such a situation. Although he had said that he would be relieved to see her doing well, he nevertheless felt a little disheartened to see things going so well for her right now.

Because the person who had given her such happiness was not him but Gu Jingze. Even though he respected Gu Jingze, he still felt very disappointed.

But at the moment, he really did not know if his relationship with Xue Mengqi would really come to fruition in the future. If that happened, wouldn’t they have to keep meeting like this?

—

Yu Minmin was still criticizing him on their way back. “Qin Qing made it sound so dignified. He just doesn’t want too much trouble to affect his relationship with Xue Mengqi.”

“Forget it. I’m just worried that Xue Mengqi is just using him. If he himself doesn’t feel that way, then there’s nothing we can do about it either.”

Yu Minmin said, “By the way, our company is going to hold an annual gathering in a few days. The company is going to travel quite far. Can you go?”

“Where are we going?” Lin Che asked.

Yu Minmin said, “We’re definitely just going to the outskirts.”

“That’s fine then. I can go.” Lin Che continued, “Anyway, Gu Jingze isn’t around now. I definitely must go to our company’s annual gathering. I’ve never attended it for the past few years. It’s been a bit unbecoming of me.”

“Alright then. Actually, I’m going too. I’ll treat it as a chance to relax as well. My belly is so big, but I feel very gloomy staying at home.” Yu Minmin genuinely felt stifled when she was stuck at home. Although no one dared to treat her poorly right now, she was already used to it at work and it was difficult for her to adapt to her new role all of a sudden.