Chapter 146: Intervention Part 1

Secretary Zhou, waiting in the shadows at the side of the hall, felt beads of cold sweat forming on her forehead.

She had only just recovered from the initial shock of the girl’s breathtaking entrance when she realized something was terribly wrong. She never would have expected the Little Ancestor to appear here so abruptly, much less as the companion of the Qin family’s daughter.

Since their first meeting, had there ever been a single day of peace?

The girl was clearly as obedient and timid as she appeared, yet the trouble she stirred up was consistently more heart-stopping and lethal than the last.

At first, Zhou thought CEO Shen’s hostility toward the Young Mistress was merely displaced anger. But hearing Xu Yinian’s name mentioned in that tone made her realize her mistake. She recalled the panic and shame Xu Yinian had displayed when she was nearly caught by Shen Ruoshuang during that chemistry lecture.

The two of them seemed far more familiar than she had imagined.

Could the Young Mistress also be…?!

The realization hit Secretary Zhou with such force she didn’t even dare to finish the thought. CEO Shen and her own daughter… in love with the same person.

In that instant, every strange occurrence and odd detail finally clicked into place. Everything had an explanation: why the girl was so awkward and ashamed; the leverage Shen Yi used to keep a girl who wanted for nothing by her side; and why, for the first time, Shen Yi had been so meticulously cautious about keeping the girl’s existence a secret.

It felt as though she had accidentally stumbled upon a secret that should never be known. Zhou’s breath hitched. In the face of this transgressive, fractured rivalry, even her own hidden, improper feelings for the girl felt like nothing at all.

Knowing the nature of their relationship made the confrontation between the two women feel thick with the scent of something forbidden.

“Since you already suspect it, why bother testing me?” Shen Ruoshuang said. “No matter what you say, you’ve already investigated her thoroughly.”

Her gaze remained as cold as ever, as if she were discussing someone she didn’t care about in the least. Deep down, however, she felt nothing but self-derision.

Every connection she’d had with Yinian over the last three years had been forced by her own hand. The moment she loosened her grip even slightly, they became strangers again. They could live under the same roof for an entire week without seeing each other; there were no traces or evidence to be found.

The paranoid Shen Yi couldn’t have failed to investigate the intruder from that night. The fact that there had been no reaction until now meant she had found nothing. Since then, Ruoshuang had become even more cautious. Before she had enough capital of her own, simply standing beside Xu Yinian was a luxury fraught with immense risk.

“She only thinks she can afford the price of rebellion because she’s leaning on me and the Shen family for support. It’s too easy for her.”

Shen Yi’s gaze, tracking the panicked girl as she looked away, was purely instinctive. It was the same as that night when Yinian had called out the wrong name in a state of delirium.

What Shen Yi didn’t know was that beneath that seemingly weak and timid exterior—an exterior Shen Yi had indulged—there were other complications. The girl hadn’t just tangled with her daughter; she had the audacity to appear intimately as someone else’s companion.

The sight of the Qin family elders whispering affectionately to the girl set Shen Yi’s inner violence ablaze.

“Can she truly afford the consequences?” Shen Yi asked, her voice low and measured, though it was unclear who she was addressing.

Hearing this, Shen Ruoshuang lowered her eyes, the corner of her mouth twitching into a slight smirk. “Even you are afraid of losing control? Mother.”

The rare title felt like a mockery coming from her lips, adding a layer of irony to her usually calm tone. “Isn’t it as you said? Everything I have was given to me by you and the Shen family. How could I ever escape your shackles?”

“And yet, you’re this angry.”

Ruoshuang’s emotionless voice pierced right through Shen Yi’s nameless rage. For the first time in this suffocating, oppressive confrontation, she held the upper hand.

However, she knew when to stop. She had no intention of digging further into the cracks. Provoking someone when you lacked the power to back it up came with a heavy price—a lesson she had learned well when she was forced to withdraw from school.

Shen Yi stared at her daughter with an unreadable expression, sensing the deepening of the girl’s pride and her growing capacity for silent endurance. It was a change clearly spurred by the girl across the room.

As the person who had personally chosen and groomed her perfect successor, Shen Yi knew Ruoshuang was a true genius, even more so than she herself had been. If she hadn’t used that cat as a bargaining chip two years ago to force Ruoshuang to continue with her chemistry competitions and advanced studies, Shen Yi couldn’t even estimate how far Ruoshuang would have gone if given the time to carve out her own path.

But in every sense, it was Ruoshuang’s own weakness that had led to the current situation. Of course, if the day ever came when Ruoshuang had the ability to take the girl back with her own two hands, Shen Yi would respect that.

Shen Yi was, as always, arrogant and conceited. She believed that day would never come.

“Then make sure you remember that,” she said, her red lips curling coldly.