His Beloved Treasure

”I’m indeed his daughter, but whether your daughter is, I can’t be sure of that,” Qin Mu said slowly and deliberately, looking at Zhang Rujia, who seemed angry enough to devour her.

”You... Husband, did you hear what she said?” Zhang Rujia turned and asked Qin Haiming with a look of aggrievement.

”Mumu, you and Mingzhu are both my daughters, don’t say such things from now on,” Qin Haiming said, feeling relieved that Qin Mu had acknowledged him as her father, even though she hadn’t called him ”dad” for a long time.

”Isn’t it funny? You say you want to give me and my mom an explanation, then ask me what I plan to do next. And this woman, can’t the irrelevant people please get as far away as possible when father and daughter are talking?” Qin Mu scoffed in irritation, trying to keep her patience, even though her later words were indeed harsh.

Zhang Rujia turned pale with anger: ”You, you dare tell me to get lost? This is my home, you...”

”Your home? Do you not remember how you got into this house? Have you forgotten the means you used? You caused my family to fall apart, and yet you dare to flaunt your power over me? Do you really think I’m a pushover for you to bully?” Qin Mu stood up, licking her dry lips and furiously rebutted her.

Zhang Rujia had never heard Qin Mu say so much in one go, and each sentence left her unable to make a reckless rebuttal.

Qin Haiming frowned as he listened until Zhang Rujia looked at him. Then he stood up: ”Come with me to the study.”

”Husband...”

”You stay here!” Qin Haiming commanded coldly, then walked ahead leading Qin Mu to the study.

Qin Mu cast a contemptuous glance at Zhang Rujia and followed Qin Haiming without a second look.

Zhang Rujia got up to watch them enter the study one after the other and had to sit down again.

The aide in the corner felt a sense of satisfaction, while another room upstairs was eerily quiet.

Qin Mingzhu opened her door a crack and eavesdropped quietly; she couldn’t make out the voices from below, but quietly closed the door when she heard footsteps. Later, hearing the door to the study close, she opened her door again and tiptoed out: ”Mom, Mom...”

After a moment’s thought, Zhang Rujia also got up and went upstairs. Mother and daughter exchanged glances and then quietly moved to eavesdrop at the study door.

”You’re not happy with me asking for your opinion, so how about I give you an explanation?”

”Fine!”

Qin Haiming thought for a while by the window, then turned to ask Qin Mu.

Qin Mu nodded in response to his words. She also wanted to hear what explanation Qin Haiming had in mind.

She had no intention of letting him get away with a simple brush-off.

If she tolerated this matter, Qin Mingzhu and Zhang Rujia would never take her seriously again and would even trample on her further.

And such a thing could never happen a second time.

Qin Mu was no longer that seven-year-old child, nor was she the helpless person who allowed others to desecrate her mother’s tombstone without taking action.

”I asked Mingzhu to kowtow and apologize at your mother’s grave, then sent her overseas to study, forbidding her from returning to the country for three years. What do you think?”

Qin Haiming pondered for a long time before he proposed his idea to Qin Mu.

When Qin Mu looked at him speaking these words with utmost seriousness, she felt as if he was making a completely pointless joke with her.

”She’s going to kowtow to my mom? You’d first have to ask my mom under the ground if she agrees! She is absolutely not worthy, okay?”

Qin Mu couldn’t help but let out a scoff, mocking her own naivety!

Indeed, she could never again hold any unrealistic hopes or fantasies about this man!

”Fine, then I’ll book her a flight today and send her abroad.”

Qin Haiming anticipated Qin Mu’s refusal, so he eagerly nodded and once again brought up sending Qin Mingzhu abroad.

”Booking her a flight to go abroad? Mayor Qin, are you truly punishing her, or are you sending her on a free trip overseas?”

Qin Mu laughed involuntarily, she really couldn’t stomach it any longer. Did this man think the daughter he had fathered was an idiot?

”She has never been away from Rongcheng by herself! You have no idea what kind of life she would lead if she were to go abroad to study alone.”

”No idea? I was only eight years old when you threw me out, is her life unimaginable, or is it more unimaginable that I was almost sold on the streets of Paris? You randomly handed over my custody to someone else; do you know how they treated me? Unimaginable?”

Qin Mu’s eyes unwittingly filled with tears. How could this man in front of her know what’s truly unimaginable.

She was nearly sold just a few days after she had left, and it was Mu Yichen who arrived in time to avert that tragedy.

He only knew his current position was powerful and authoritative, so after she returned to town, Mu Yichen and she were still polite to him, but he had no idea how much hatred lay behind their civility.

”You said you were almost sold?”

Of course, Qin Haiming had no clue about these things; at that time, his relationship with Zhang Rujia was so intense, he had no time to care for his daughter overseas.

He thought Qin Mu was well-fed and well-educated abroad, and he wouldn’t feel guilty as long as he sent money every month, and he would occasionally make a phone call to check in...

Qin Mu would initially look forward to his calls, but then they became less and less frequent, and afterwards...

She would rather have no further contact with this man.

”You’ve no idea why I hate you so much! You killed my mother with your own hands! You ruined my childhood, and while you, Zhang Rujia, and Qin Mingzhu were living happily in Rongcheng, did you ever remember that you had a daughter who was abandoned and struggling to survive on the outside?”

Qin Haiming suddenly became speechless, merely staring at her in shock.

”Send her abroad to study? If I let her off that easily, consider my very existence, Qin Mu, to have been a useless trip to this world.”

Qin Mu pointed vehemently to the ground as she spoke, her face already streaked with tears without her awareness.

Qin Haiming remained silent, just gazing at her from a distance.

Outside the door, the mother and daughter were both terribly frightened. Qin Mingzhu couldn’t help but feel the tears welling up, and Zhang Rujia warned her with her eyes to stay calm. After all, Qin Haiming had already discussed the worst-case scenario with her: she was reluctant to let her daughter study abroad, but it was better for her daughter to go out and gain some experience than to be caught in the city. Perhaps, after her return, she might transform entirely.

Little did they know what Qin Haiming would do for his daughter after hearing those words.

——

”I want you to kick Qin Mingzhu out of the Qin Family and sever the father-daughter relationship!”