As Shao Qile had suspected, Li Jianmei's hasty departure from the Shao family compound was undoubtedly due to a promise from the head of the family, Shao Guanjie. Even if it wasn't explicitly stated, her words implied a desire for the eldest son's future spouse to be well-educated, reasonable, and of equal social standing—that said it all. And speaking of equal social standing, who else could be worthy of Qibin besides her!
Now that she has already gone through the formalities, she will not let go of any obstacle that could threaten her or affect Qibin's future!
The thought that Zhang Mengxin was pregnant with Qibin's child made Li Jianmei feel choked up and unable to breathe properly, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
While she was figuring out how to deal with Zhang Mengxin, Zhang Mengxin, to avoid any unforeseen complications, was busy packing her luggage and had even booked a train for 9:30 the next morning, preparing to rush south.
The next day, Li Jianmei arrogantly led a group of people to Zhang Mengxin's residence, only to find it deserted! After some investigation, they learned that Zhang Mengxin had already boarded a train and left the city!
Li Jianmei, her face turning blue with anger, naturally didn't notice Shao Qibin, who had also rushed over to take Zhang Mengxin to have an abortion. Normally, if Shao Qibin were within a hundred miles of her, Li Jianmei would have noticed him long ago.
Seeing Li Jianmei standing menacingly in front of Zhang Mengxin's house, her face ashen, accompanied by a group of burly men, Shao Qibin frowned and remained hidden to the side. Only after Li Jianmei and her entourage left did he enter Zhang Mengxin's room. There, he too discovered that Zhang Mengxin was nowhere to be found.
Upon entering the bedroom, they discovered a letter hidden under the bedside lamp they had bought together.
"Brother Qibin, I was born an orphan and suffered hardship from a young age. Fortunately, I was taken in by adoptive parents, and Brother Qibin has taken care of me. I am so happy that I don't know how to describe it in words. The little one in my belly is a beautiful accident. I know that Brother Qibin is doing this for my own good. However, I am the mother of this child. The thought that this is our child is something I can't bear to part with. My decision to leave on my own was willful, and I beg Brother Qibin to indulge me one more time and let me be willful one more time."
The paper was stained with tear stains, a testament to the struggle and sorrow Zhang Mengxin felt when she wrote those words.
Shao Qibin was not one to let love cloud his judgment. Even though Zhang Mengxin's confession made him waver, he did not change his mind that the child could not be kept. If the child were born, it would become an indelible stain on his political career, giving his political enemies a handle to attack him.
Moreover, Shao Qibin considered himself consistently cautious, always using condoms during sex. Even on his few occasions of indulgence, he chose to do so during Zhang Mengxin's safe period and made her take birth control pills afterwards. Given all this caution, the fact that she still unexpectedly became pregnant is bound to raise suspicions.
Thinking of this, Shao Qibin noticed the bottles of condoms and birth control pills still in the bedside table. After a moment's thought, he took them out and prepared to take them to a specialist for testing.
Upon leaving Zhang Mengxin's apartment, Shao Qibin had already received news that Zhang Mengxin had taken a car south and that Li Jianmei had also led a group in pursuit. After some thought, Shao Qibin ultimately decided against pursuing her himself. It was more appropriate for Li Jianmei to handle this matter than for him to do it himself.
"It's not bad that you can think of so much. However, you still lack a bit in terms of the big picture." Shao Guanjie sat in the main seat of the study, listening to his son Shao Qibin's handling of Zhang Mengxin's matter. He nodded slightly. The disappointment he had felt before because of the foolish things his son, who had been so intelligent since childhood, had done had lessened considerably.
“If the news of you getting a minor pregnant hadn’t leaked out initially, and we had handled it internally, that would have been the best outcome. But unfortunately, Li Jianmei found out. Although Li Jianmei admires you, love is such an intangible thing. Moreover, there’s no guarantee that love won’t turn into hatred later. The most important thing is whether the Li family behind Li Jianmei will let such obvious leverage go to waste.” Although Shao Guanjie had spent half his life in the military, at his current level, he naturally had his own thoughts on the big picture.
After Shao Guanjie's explanation, Shao Qibin suddenly understood: "If it was Li Jianmei, the daughter of the Li family, who caused Mengxin to lose her unborn child, then the Li family committed the crime and got involved in the case. In that case, our Shao family and the Li family are in the same boat."
The father and son were calmly and rationally analyzing how to minimize the harm and maximize the benefits in causing a teenage girl to have an abortion. Meanwhile, Li Jianmei had already taken a plane and arrived at Zhang Mengxin's destination. The moment Zhang Mengxin came out of the train station, she had her kidnapped and dragged to the parking garage without giving her a chance to speak. They then drove her directly to the hospital.
Lost and confused, after the effects of the drug wore off, Zhang Mengxin woke up feeling extremely weak, with an indescribable lack of strength from the waist down.
Remembering how she'd been drugged the moment she stepped out of the train station, she shuddered and instinctively reached for her lower abdomen. Perhaps it was the bond between mother and child, or perhaps she knew something was amiss, but Zhang Mengxin began to tremble uncontrollably. This trembling, when Li Jianmei's beautiful face—a face radiating a mixture of disdain and stubborn pride—appeared in her blurred vision, transformed into a sharp sword piercing her heart. Her face instantly turned deathly pale!
Her child, her child!
“I warned you long ago to stay away from Qibin! What right do you have to stand by Qibin’s side! You even dared to secretly get pregnant with Qibin’s child. Don’t think that just because you have a child, you can keep Qibin firmly in your grasp. Don’t you even think about whether you’re qualified to give birth to the eldest grandson of the Shao family? Qibin wouldn’t allow such a mistake to happen. Now I will take Qibin’s place and properly erase this mistake that should never have happened.”
Thinking of Shao Qibin's reaction when he learned of her pregnancy, and combining that with the few words Li Jianmei uttered at this moment, Zhang Mengxin burst into tears. She seemed to hear the sound of her heart breaking.
Meanwhile, far away in the capital, Shao Qile was pleasantly surprised to receive a notification from the system!
"Ding, congratulations host, you have successfully disrupted the relationship between the local heroine Zhang Mengxin and the mission target. The local heroine has turned evil, turning love into hatred, and her trust and intimacy values have dropped to negative numbers. You have successfully cleared the level! You are rewarded with 20 attribute points and one plot hint opportunity."
Author's Note: Ahem, most male protagonists in harem novels seem to prioritize career over women. Actually, to succeed in this game, besides becoming the harem man's darling, it's also crucial to ruin other women's perceptions of him. Ahem!
Congratulations to the female lead for successfully completing the first level of the challenge! La la la!
18 heart surgeries
Chapter Seventeen: Heart Surgery
"Ding, congratulations host, you have successfully disrupted the relationship between the local heroine Zhang Mengxin and the mission target. The local heroine has turned evil, turning love into hatred, and her trust and intimacy values have dropped to negative numbers. You have successfully cleared the level! You are rewarded with 20 attribute points and one plot hint opportunity."
Shao Qile was enjoying a relaxing shower, drying his hair with a towel, when he suddenly received a system notification, causing him to pause for a moment in surprise. However, he quickly realized something. Based on the information from the detective agency and the movements of Shao Guanjie and his son Shao Qile at home, he deduced that Li Jianmei had already taken action. Perhaps Zhang Mengxin's unborn child had already said goodbye to this world.
Once her hair was almost dry, Shao Qile casually put the dry towel aside, strolled downstairs to the kitchen, grabbed a glass of warm milk, and went back upstairs.
Just as I was about to push open the door, I heard Xia Meiyue's voice.
"Lele, you're still awake."
"Mom, I was just about to finish my milk and go to sleep."
"Okay, Lele, come here. Mommy has some good news for you." Hearing her daughter's obedient reply, and thinking of the news she had just received, Xia Meiyue's eyes lit up with a joyful smile. She took her daughter's hand and led her into her room, where they sat down.
"Mom, what good news? You look so happy." Shao Qile knew that Xia Meiyue cared about him, but it was only because of her frail health. This worried mother always had a hint of worry in her eyes, and even though she tried to hide it, it didn't escape Shao Qile's notice.
"The director of the military hospital just called me and said they've found a suitable heart." Xia Meiyue didn't regret saving Shao Qibin but causing her to go into premature labor. However, she felt guilty towards her daughter, who was born prematurely and was now weak because of her actions. "Get ready, we'll go to the military hospital tomorrow for a thorough check-up to see how your body is doing. If it's suitable, we'll arrange the surgery as soon as possible."
Upon hearing the news, Shao Qile was overjoyed. The mother and son exchanged a few more words, but Xia Meiyue, seeing that it was getting late, stopped talking and told Shao Qile to wash his face, brush his teeth, and go to bed.
"Speak! What happened?" After closing the door, Shao Qile's smile faded. After a brief moment of joy, he recalled a particularly striking detail in the script outline he had previously memorized: the character of Shao Qile in the original story never encountered a suitable heart donor. This situation, combined with the recent system notification, inevitably fueled his suspicions and wariness.
"Given that the host has allocated all 20 free attribute points to health, resulting in a significant improvement in physical fitness, in order not to arouse the vigilance of the world's laws, and also to reward the host for successfully passing the first level, the system is giving a special reward: helping the host find a matching heart."
Shao Qile was always wary of her fragile, almost explosive body; a healthy body was the foundation of everything. Upon receiving the system reward, she naturally and without hesitation added it all to her health points. Her current health points (37/100) finally gave her a slight sense of security. Whether it was the real effect of the health points or just psychological, adding those twenty free attribute points genuinely made her feel much more comfortable.
After hearing the system's explanation, Shao Qile remained silent, having resolved her doubts. She received two more pieces of good news that night, and thought she would have a good dream tonight.
Regarding the ensuing entanglement between Li Jianmei, Zhang Mengxin, and Shao Qibin, Shao Qile simply instructed the detective agency to keep a close eye on things and asked He Shengchao to pay close attention to the dynamics within the industry, without expending any more energy on these matters.
The most urgent tasks are naturally her upcoming surgery and her post-operative recovery.
During this time, Shao Qile learned that Zhang Mengxin had not appeared since fleeing Beijing overnight. Li Jianmei, on the other hand, quickly returned to Beijing and, while Shao Qile was hospitalized to prepare for surgery, she publicly accompanied him several times as his girlfriend. Judging from Shao Qibin's attitude, he didn't seem to object.
It seems that the Shao and Li families reached some tacit understanding without Shao Qile's knowledge. However, given Li Jianmei's age, people in high society seemed to view Shao Qibin and Li Jianmei's public appearances together more as a matter of elders watching younger people play around.
Soon, the date for Shao Qile's final surgery was set. The day before the surgery, Shao Guanjie, who was busy with military affairs, Shao Qibin, who was preparing for his demotion, and Li Jianmei, who would prove her identity as his girlfriend, all came to the hospital.
"Shao Qile, surgery tomorrow, good luck! Qibin and I will be praying for you."
Shao Qile could see clearly that Li Jianmei's words were filled with sincere blessings, but something just didn't quite ring true. Indeed, no matter what, Li Jianmei was still just an inexperienced girl. Now that she had achieved her wish and was by the side of the man she loved, it was inevitable that her tone would be somewhat boastful and lacking in tact.