Dipping her hand inside her handbag, Zhang Xiaoling brought out a polythene bag and handed it to her.
"I separated the toothbrushes in different plastic bags and made tagged their owners with a paper tape for easy differentiation."
Taking the bag from her, Zhang Liling opened it and peeped inside. To be sure of how many toothbrushes were inside it she dipped her hand inside the bag and fiddled with them.
Satisfied with the result she folded the bag and put it on her thighs before turning her attention to her.
"How did you get these without any difficulties?" Zhang Liling was curious to know her means. If she knew that this kind of task would be so easy for her, she would have ropped her in a long time ago.
Even she couldn't do this so easily.
Meeting her gaze, Zhang Xiaoling explained casually.
"I have been leaving with the trio for more than 25 years, so I can say that I know them very well more than you. Knowing the kind of toothbrushes they used was something I noted a long time ago.
I only needed to buy the same type and swap them when no one was watching."
Seeing the way she spoke as if the task given to her was an easy one, Zhang Liling almost thought of her as a smooth criminal and almost choked on her saliva.
Patting her chest gently, she said, "I must applaud you for having a talent that could be worthy for a time as this. Once the results are out, I will forward them to you."
Nodding in understanding, Zhang Xiaoling turned her gaze away and became lost in thought.
Although Zhang Liling noticed that she was troubled by something, she refused to ask about it as she believed that if it was something she had to know, then she wouldn't hold it back from her.
As their food arrived, they didn't waste time before started to eat as they had to leave for their various work places.
As soon as they finished eating, Zhang Liling picked up her bag and got ready to leave. "Since you made the effort of bringing these items to me, I will drop you off at anywhere you are supposed to be at now."
"Hold on a minute."
As Zhang Xiaoling noticed that she was about to leave, she made up her mind and stopped her. Not telling her the reason, she opened her handbag and brought out a bunch of keys to reveal a nail cutter as the key holder.
Without wasting time, she easily took off the fake plastic nail on her left thumb finger before using the nail cutter to cut the long natural nails off.
Still not satisfied with the quantity that had been cut off, she repeated the same action with her index finger as Zhang Liling continued to watch her in surprise.
"What are you doing?" She asked as she didn't want to dwell on the possible answer that just came into her head just in case she was misunderstanding something.
Taking out a handkerchief from her handbag, Zhang Xiaoling put in the pieces of her finger nails and tied it up properly before passing it to her.
"Just in case, I want to confirm if she is actually my biological mother."
Hearing her reason which matched with the one in her head, Zhang Liling was taken aback as she began to wonder what would have led to this action.
"Are you by any chance doubting you came from her?" Zhang Liling asked.
As that question made its way to her ears, Zhang Xiaoling lowered her gaze. "Yes. My mother had let me know several times that I can't trust or depend on her if she isn't going to benefit from it."
Seeing how her supposed mother, loved and supported someone else that is het to be confirmed to not be her child more than her, she had every right to doubt her originality.
Maybe, if Shi Wenqian was not her birth mother, she would understand that she was just unlucky and this way, she would be able to accept the reason she seemed to be treating Zhang Mingyu better than her, even though she was aiming to get something huge in return.
***
Some minutes later, Zhang Liling dropped Zhang Xiaoling in front of Zhang Corp before the chauffeur drove off.
Having settled the matter with her step-sister she picked up her phone to give Fang Bingwen a call.
"Honey, I just got the stuff."
"Good. Where are you now?" Fang Bingwen asked as he got up and picked up his suit jacket from the backrest of his seat while Bolin carried his suit case as they walked out of his office together.
They both seemed to be in a hurry.
"I just left Zhang Corp. After having breakfast together, I dropped her off in front of the company." She explained.
"Okay. I have to visit a site right now, so we can't see now." He quickly explained as he walked into the elevator and turned around to face the door.
"Oh... Then I can come later..."
Since he wouldn't be in the office in the morning, she could come around later to give the things to him. Although she was impatient and wanted the test to get started immediately, she had no choice but to exercise some patience here.
"No. Go straight to Glint. I will ask Chuanli to go over. He would be the one to get the test settled on my behalf." Fang Bingwen instructed.
As he also didn't want any delays with the results, he had to get the test started as soon as possible.
"I will pick you up after work." He added.
Instantly, a smile turned up on Zhang Liling's face. "I will miss you, bye." She said before pressing the 'end' call button.
*******
~Zhang Family Residence~
"Where is Xiaoling?" Shi Wenqian asked as she looked at the empty chair the supposed young lady usually sat on.
Coming down to the breakfast table, she saw it empty and couldn't help asking about it as she took her seat.
"She has left." Zhang Mingyu replied.
Waking up in the morning, he washed up and got dressed for work. And as he had wanted to thank his sister for the pair of expensive shoes she got him, he didn't find anyone inside her room.
Asking around for her, one of the servants who saw her leaving an hour ago, revealed her whereabouts to him.
"She has left, how? It's still early. Did you check around the house for her?" Shi Wenqian asked as her brows furrowed slightly.
Her gaze was confused and doubtful, and she seemed to have forgotten about the exchange with Zhang Xiaoling the previous night.
"Her car is not at the car park. Like she told you yesterday, she would leave first thing in the morning," Zhang Mingyu said, repeating Zhang Xiaoling's words to her just in case she had forgotten all about it.
Just then, Zhang Renshu stepped into the dining area.
"I heard that Xiaoling was the one that got those leather goods as presents for me." Sitting at the head table, he inquired, unaware of what was going on before his arrival.
"Where is she?"
Immediately, Shi Wenqian covered the whole thing up. "She left about an hour ago as she had some work left to do before office hours commences."
"She is here, what was the need for a rush?" Zhang Renshu mumbled to himself before changing the topic to ask about how the wedding plans was going.
Seeing the signs that it was time to leave, Zhang Mingyu ate a bit more before taking their permission to leave.
Although Shi Wenqian knew the reason he was leaving, she didn't rat him out.
Outside the house, Zhang Mingyu got into his car and drove off before putting a call to Mikayla but after several rings, there was no answer.
"Is she on her way already?" He muttered under his breath as he put his phone away and focused his attention on the road.
There were plenty of things for him to be worried about which is inclusive with the result from the pregnancy test he had asked her to carry out.
Since they worked in the same company, he figured that he would meet her as soon as he stepped foot into the building.
Just as he thought, he did. But he was a little unfortunate to not see Mikayla on seat when he arrived.
'She is not here yet?' He wondered.
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, his eyes jammed with Tungmei who didn't bother to hide her gaze from him.
Seeing her, he recalled that his half-sister's friend worked in the Zhang Corp. Flashing her a smile, he waved his hand turned on his heels to leave without waiting for her response.
He didn't care about it anyway because all that was in his mind at the moment was how to not arouse her suspicion.
A soft sigh escaped Tungmei's lips as she watched him leave. Letting her gaze land on Mikayla's desk, she thought to herself.
'I don't think he knows.'
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