Chapter 1: Isn't the Man That Night My Fiancé?
Under the scorching sun, Ruan Qiao struggled to stand at the entrance of the Gu's residence, supporting her eight-month pregnant belly.
"Please step aside. I have matters of great importance to discuss with Gu Ye."
"Mr. Gu has instructed that he will not meet with outsiders."
"But I'm not an outsider! I am his fiancée!"
With a heart full of urgency, Ruan Qiao disregarded the guards' obstruction and, cradling her belly, she shouted desperately outside the Gu household.
"Gu Ye, the Ruan family is in trouble! You're the only one who can help me now... at least for the sake of our child, please come out and see me!"
The child she was carrying was Gu Ye's flesh and blood. Ruan Qiao believed that he would not stand by and watch the Ruan Corporation crumble when it concerned their child.
"Who is making such a ruckus? Which dog dares to cause trouble at the entrance of the Gu's residence?" A disdainful female voice flowed from the villa.
Following this, a woman clad in a sexy red nightgown, her face made-up glamorously, emerged.
"Ruan Yu?"
Ruan Qiao's eyes widened in surprise as she saw her own stepsister come out from her fiancé's house.
Ruan Yu was the daughter that her stepmother had brought into the Ruan family when she remarried more than a decade ago. In name, she was also a daughter of the Ruan family.
With her stepmother's instigation, she had constantly been at odds with Ruan Qiao. Their relationship had always been tense.
Ruan Qiao remembered that Gu Ye and her stepsister Ruan Yu were not at all familiar. Why would she appear at Gu's?
Ruan Yu glanced her up and down, laughing in a eerie manner, "Oh my, who do I have here? So it's the famous Miss Ruan of Haicheng. But since the Ruan's are almost gone, it's more apt to call you a homeless dog now."
Ruan Qiao asked in a deep voice, "Why are you here?"
"I'm here because Ah Ye can't be without me. He insisted that I stay the night," she proclaimed.
Ruan Qiao froze, "You and Gu Ye, you two...”
Ruan Yu gloated proudly, "Surprised, aren't you? He's been with me all this while. Ah Ye is such a brave one. Look at how much he adores me."
She provocatively stroked her open collar of her sleepwear, revealing a few dark marks at her collarbone, which were extremely eye-catching.
It wasn't difficult to guess what they had just done.
Ruan Qiao was stabbed by those marks, she gritted her teeth and bellowed harshly, "No, I don’t believe it, you shameless woman. Haven't you done enough to drive a wedge in our family? I'm pregnant with his child, he wouldn't do this to me. I want to see him, I need to hear him tell me outright!"
"Gu Ye, come out!"
"Who are you calling a shameless woman?" Ruan Yu's eyes hardened, she suddenly moved forward and roughly shoved Ruan Qiao.
Ruan Qiao hadn't expected her to be so malicious, she was taken by surprise and fell backwards, tumbling down the steps.
The eight-month pregnant belly hit the ground brutally.
"It hurts…"
Her vision started to blacken, nearly fainting.
A crimson warmth streamed slowly down her thigh, soaking her trousers.
Blood...
Ruan Qiao, clutching her painfully aching stomach, frantic and scared, was gasping for breath, pleading for help to the bodyguards.
"Hurry, call the doctor, save me..."
Ruan Yu scoffed, "Save? They won't save you."
Sure enough, the bodyguards averted their gaze with a cold indifference.
Ruan Qiao's face was as pale as paper, she was sweating profusely, her voice trembling, "You dare to hurt Gu Ye's child, he will never let you go."
Ruan Yu sneered, "Ha, you really believe that this child is Gu Ye's? You carry the seed of another man in your belly and you have the audacity to confront Gu Ye? He could only wish for the child in your womb to die quickly!"
"What, what?"
"Don't you know yet? Eight months ago, on the evening of Ruan's birthday banquet at the Imperial Duke Hotel, Ah Ye spent the whole night with me."
"That drink, I personally prepared for you, served by Ah Ye himself, tasted good, didn't it? Hahaha."
Ruan Qiao, as if being struck by a lightning bolt internally, was stunned on the ground.
That drink, she had passed out after drinking it.
Wasn't the man that night Gu Ye?
Tears welled up instantly, Ruan Qiao, pushing herself against the ground, cried out, "No, you're talking nonsense... This is impossible!"
Ruan Yu laughed heartily, thoroughly enjoying Ruan Qiao's torment.
Feeling this was not enough.
She bent over to Ruan Qiao, speaking softly, "However, I should thank that wild man who slept with you."
"Had they not thought you were carrying Ayue's child, why would Ruan Tiancheng, that old miser, be so eager to hug his grandson that he let go of his power over the Ruan Group?"
"It gave me the opportunity to take over the entire group."
"That old man, before his death, still held my hand tightly, haha."
Ruan Qiao suddenly opened her eyes wide, her body trembled, and her eyes were filled with shock and surging hatred.
"It was you... was my grandfather... killed by you too?!"
"Ruan Yu, you're so cruel. You poisonous snake, I will kill you!"
Ruan Qiao, who was on the verge of breakdown, managed to exert strength out of nowhere.
Fueled by desperation, she lunged at Ruan Yu.
Ruan Yu was startled, and dodged backwards swiftly.
Yet, she was still scratched by Ruan Qiao, a thin scratch appearing on her cheek.
She had always been fond of her own looks, her eyes immediately turned gloomy, gnashing her teeth, she grabbed Ruan Qiao's hair and slammed her to the ground.
"Bam——"
"Slut, how dare you scratch my face! Die!"
Ruan Qiao let out a painful moan, no longer having the strength to fight back.
Enraged and humiliated, Ruan Yu was like a madman, repeatedly smashing Ruan Qiao's head onto the hard ground.
Until Ruan Qiao's cute and pretty face was covered in bloodstains.
She lay in a pool of blood, close to unconsciousness.
After Ruan Yu vented his rage, he tossed Ruan Qiao aside like a piece of trash, and gave his bodyguards an order in a somber tone.
"Bring me the stock transfer agreement of Ruan Corporation immediately. Make this wench sign it!"
The bodyguard took Ruan Qiao's hand, using the pool of fresh blood to make a red fingerprint on the agreement.
Ruan Qiao weakly opened her eyes to a blur of red. Ruan Yu's face was in her view, laughing maniacally.
She hated him!
How she hated him...
Suddenly, a sharp contraction and unbearable pain came from her lower abdomen.
Ruan Qiao curled up, clutching her stomach tightly. She fell into the boundless darkness amidst the pool of blood, "My baby....Who...can come and..... save... my baby...."