Zhang Liling was forever grateful to Mr. Fang for not scolding her and bringing up the matter about the rumours.
But something happened that frightened her, and made her feel the shake of her position.
*****************
Mr. Fang comes out from the gym room and makes a beeline for the kitchen.
His chest rose and fell while he slowly panted for air. Sweat covered his face and tricked down all the way to his neck.
His tight white gym T-Shirt, was damp and stuck to his chest. This made his chest muscles to be more visible.
His dark-brown hair fell toward his forehead, making him look less bossy. A small towel hung on his neck.
"Sir, what are you doing here, what can I help you with?" Butler Gu was truly frightened when he saw Mr. Fang come into the kitchen.
He could have made a call, and he would come running to him.
"Where is Zhang Liling?" Mr. Fang asked while making his way straight to the refrigerator to take out a bottle of slightly chilled water.
"Sir, Miss Zhang is studying. Do you need her for anything? Should I call her?" Butler Gu asked immediately after responding.
He was hoping that that girl didn't neglect her duties to Mr. Fang in the name of studying.
In actual fact, Zhang Liling neglected her duties.
The bottle of water Mr. Fang came to take, should have been left in the gym room before he even stepped in, but it looked like she forgot about it.
How was someone so keen to be around Mr. Fang and serve him, forget about her duties? The preparation for the exams, must be taking a toll on her.
"No need," Mr. Fang said and uncapped the bottle of water. He drank half of the content before leaving with the remaining in his left hand.
Since she was studying, it was fine. He never had in mind to call her out for anything, he just wanted to know what she was doing.
Zhang Liling was truly studying. She was taking notes down for later proper reading. She wanted to finish this particular topic before getting ready for school.
Today was the last day of class. This means that she will never get to see Mr. Fang in the lecture hall again, and also, he wouldn't as well, not as an undergraduate.
On his way up the stairs with his bottle of water in hand, he took out his phone from his pocket. Definitely for something, but Chuanli's call came in right at that moment, so he had to answer it.
"Good morning, Mr. Fang," Chuanli greeted lively.
"What do you want from me this early?" Mr. Fang asked as he climbed the stairs steadily. His tone was calm, and his countenance was normal.
He chuckled for a bit before going straight to the point. "I want to know if this is a good time to listen to me talk about something disturbing?"
"What do you want to talk about?" Mr. Fang asked.
This was like him saying that he could go ahead and say anything he wanted to, as he couldn't have called in a more perfect time than this.
"I found out something while speaking with Miss Zhang the other day. You must already know about her stepmother's method of taking blood from her every month."
Yes, Mr. Fang was already aware of this because Zhang Liling had once mentioned it to him.
"What about it?"
Chuanli continued, his tone turning exciting. "Well, I found out that her half-brother Mingyu, might not actually be her half-brother, but a step-brother."
Finally, Mr. Fang's brows furrowed in a tight frown. He didn't like this topic, and immediately cautioned him.
"Shouldn't you be working on your new research, why are you so interested in the Zhang family?"
"Because a member of the Zhang family works for you, and might be the answer to your distress. It's not like I started investigating about that family for no reason." Chuanli said, trying to justify his actions.
"You always have something to say, don't you?" Mr. Fang said in annoyance.
"I don't want you to misunderstand me." Then without waiting for his response, he continued immediately.
"I think Zhang Mingyu is not Zhang Renshu's biological son, because he suffers from one of the bleeding disorders, which is always genetically inherited. Mr. Zhang Renshu is healthy, and I have checked his line, and found no trace of that kind of illness."
"It won't be strange if you didn't find that kind of issue in his bloodline. He is not the only parent, Shi Wenqian is the mother as well." Mr. Fang said.
In essence, he was asking him if he has run a background check on Shi Wenqian.
Of course, Chuanli understood this and let out a frustrated sigh.
"That woman is not simple. Her records looks normal, but it is very shady. Only people with my current mindset can tell that she is a whole lie. I couldn't find anything useful about her, except for the fact that there is no trace of that illness in her family. It also didn't follow her."
Mr. Fang wasn't fazed by the discovery. "You said she is shady, she might have hidden it if that bleeding disorder is from her lineage. Do you think she would want the Zhang family to know about something like that? There is no way Zhang Renshu will marry her and make her son his heir."
"You have a point there, I never thought this way." Chuanli said and let out another frustrated sigh.
He was busy thinking in the direction that Zhang Mingyu may not be biologically related to Zhang Renshu, forgetting that since Shi Wenqian's background was shady, it could also be that he (Zhang Mingyu) got that illness from her side.
Truly, Zhang Renshu is still unaware that his son is suffering from that kind of illness otherwise, he would never bank on him to be his heir.
How could someone whose life was hanging on a thread, and could be easily harmed, rule his empire?
He would have found someone else to have a child with as a second step, or better still, only hope on Zhang Liling to be his successor.
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