Chapter 177: The Handle of Threat

She drew her cloak tighter around herself. "In that case, Zhao Ming doesn't need to support me anymore. From now on, we go our separate ways."

Zhao Chu nodded. "Very well, then return the commercial stall my father gave you."

"You surely don't think your father will give it to you just because I return it, do you?" Han Lanzhi was thoroughly familiar with the Zhao family's situation, and she knew Zhao Chu's pain points all too well. "I've been with your father for over four years; I know his mindset very well. Don't think that buttering him up will earn you a larger share of the family inheritance. As far as I know, your father intends to hand all ten shops in Thirteen Hongs over to Zhao Liang instead."

Hearing this, Zhao Chu's face darkened instantly. "You're talking nonsense."

Han Lanzhi composed herself. "If I'm talking nonsense, you can go test the waters with your father."

Hearing this, Zhao Chu was truly unsettled and lost all mood to dally with Han Lanzhi. He turned and left.

He walked to the parking spot, irritably pulled open the car door, and drove straight to another villa area in Pengcheng.

He Xiangcao was cleaning when she heard the doorbell ring. She hurried to the courtyard to open the gate.

Zhao Chu strode in aggressively. As he passed He Xiangcao, he gave her a deep, piercing look. He Xiangcao was startled by the gaze, instantly feeling a chill run down her spine.

In the past, this young master had never even glanced at her when he returned.

She hurriedly followed him to the main hall and called out, "Madam, the Young Master has arrived."

Hearing the commotion, Zhou Yun poked her head out from her upstairs room. Seeing her son return, she quickly instructed He Xiangcao, "Go brew two cups of tea and bring them up."

He Xiangcao rushed to the kitchen, brewed two cups of tea, and carried them upstairs. Just as she reached the door and raised her hand to knock, she heard Zhao Chu's voice: "That fellow Wang Mingyi actually died. I wonder if it was a real suicide or if someone took care of him."

Hearing this, He Xiangcao froze in her tracks, too terrified to move.

Zhou Yun glanced at her son. "Only a five-year sentence, and his wife is pregnant. Would a normal person commit suicide?"

Zhao Chu fell silent for a moment, understanding the implication, and changed the subject. "I went to see Han Lanzhi today. She said Dad plans to give half of the shops in Thirteen Hongs to Zhao Liang. What should we do?"

Zhao Liang was Zhao Chu's half-brother, the son of Zhao Ming's second wife. It was precisely because of long-term separation from that second wife that Zhao Ming had taken Han Lanzhi in.

Zhou Yun was furious. "If he dares, we'll send He Xiangcao to Kyoto."

He Xiangcao felt a chill crawl down her spine. This Madam Zhou was planning to use her as leverage against Old Master Zhao.

Wasn't this sending her to her death, just like Zhao Ming?

She began to tremble uncontrollably with fear.

Zhao Chu frowned. "So you must be careful. Make sure nobody from Father's side manages to track down He Xiangcao."

"I keep an eye on her every day," Zhou Yun reassured her son.

After saying this, she seemed to realize something. "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. The tea should be ready by now."

After chatting about other matters for a little longer, He Xiangcao finally dared to step forward and knock on the door.

She placed the tea before Zhao Chu and Zhou Yun, then retreated cautiously.

Once she closed the door, she let out a long breath. She went downstairs, changed her clothes, and bolted out of the villa in a panic. After walking for a long time, she found a grocery store with a public telephone.

She dialed a number, and the person on the other end informed her that Wang Chunhua had moved away, taking the children with her.

He Xiangcao returned to the villa in a daze, only to find Zhou Yun standing in the living room with a gloomy expression, waiting for her. "Where have you been? Didn't I tell you not to wander around for no reason?"

He Xiangcao stammered, "I... I went to make a phone call to my sister. I haven't contacted her in a long time."

Zhao Chu glanced at He Xiangcao. A woman like this would become even more obedient if you scared her a little. "Sister He, let me tell you, Professor Shen's daughter just arrived in Pengcheng. She plans to take her mother to Kyoto to appeal, and she's sending people everywhere to look for you. So you'd better not run around."

Hearing this, He Xiangcao thought of the young woman she had surrounded and berated four years ago, and her face turned pale. "Does... does she have that kind of capability?"

"You probably don't know what kind of background her husband has, do you?"

He Xiangcao couldn't imagine what kind of powerful man Shen Qingyi could possibly have married given her situation back then.

"Lu Yan, a first-tier research engineer at the Kyoto Research Institute. He has plenty of connections and capability. So, do you think Shen Qingyi has the ability or not?"

He Xiangcao's brain exploded with a loud buzz. She had heard of this man; he was Shen Huaihan's student, and the two were practically inseparable most of the time.

At the time when she and Wang Mingyi were given that sum of money, there had been a list of two names, and Lu Yan was actually among them.

It was just that he was exceptionally cold and intelligent, showed no mercy toward women, and was utterly unapproachable. Dealing with him would have required much more time, and dragging it out would have made it too easy to expose. Moreover, back then, aside from holding the title of provincial top scorer, he hadn't amounted to much yet, so they ultimately gave up on him.

He Xiangcao thought to herself that if Shen Qingyi found her, she would surely die. Neither Lu Yan nor the people from the Zhao family would let her go.

Because of this, He Xiangcao was absent-minded the entire afternoon.

She couldn't fall asleep at night either.

Wang Mingyi had actually died just like that. A man as smart as him had died just like that.

Without the slightest warning, it was terrifying.

She couldn't stay here any longer; otherwise, the day Zhou Yun decided to use her to threaten Old Master Zhao in order to secure her son's inheritance, she would be finished.

Nor could she let Shen Qingyi find her, because not only had she caused Professor Shen's death, but she had also driven Shen Qingyi to such a miserable state. If she fell into Shen Qingyi's hands, she would meet a gruesome end.

Even at midnight, she still couldn't sleep. She got up and tallied the private savings she had accumulated over the years working for the Zhao family: sixteen hundred yuan, enough to hide in the countryside and survive for a while.

She stuffed all the money into her pockets and packed a change of clothes.

She was ready to make a run for it.

The gates of the Zhao courtyard were always locked at night, and the keys were kept by Zhou Yun.

However, having worked at the Zhao family for so many years, He Xiangcao was intimately familiar with every corner of the estate.

She had thought Zhou Yun locked the courtyard gate at night to keep thieves out, but it turned out to be to keep her in.

She entered a small garden on the left side. There was a low wall in the garden. She climbed up onto the low wall and jumped down heavily onto the ground outside.

It took her a long while to recover her breath. She picked herself up from the ground and hurried toward the train station.

She didn't dare to stop for even a second. As she ran, she had a lingering feeling that someone was following closely behind her. She didn't dare to look back and simply picked up her pace.

Yet no matter how fast she ran, the shadow behind her seemed impossible to shake off.

It was now five o'clock in the morning, and people were beginning to wake up here and there. She wanted to run toward a crowded place, but the moment that thought crossed her mind, her path was blocked.

"Who are you?" He Xiangcao asked in a panic. If these were Zhou Yun's people, she was doomed; she would never be able to escape that villa again.

The woman in front of her remained silent.

When she turned around, a tall, sturdy man had appeared behind her.

He Xiangcao retreated a couple of steps, trying to change direction and run, only to have the woman in front of her grab her arm in a tight grip.

"Comrade He Xiangcao, right?" the woman who grabbed her spoke up.

He Xiangcao tried to break free, but the woman's strength was shockingly immense, and the man behind her was drawing closer and closer.

Driven by helplessness and fear, she cried out, "Let go of me right now, or I'll scream for help!"

"You'd better scream for the Zhao family people to come!" The man's voice came from behind her, cold and hard.