He currently held forty percent of the Li Family's shares. Since he had no will, if he died, the shares would naturally fall completely into his wife's hands. Although his son had inheritance rights, he was only fourteen. Before he came of age, the shares would be fully managed by his guardian. So, it was obvious...
Thinking of this, he took a deep breath, feeling a wave of icy coldness in his chest. The freezing air rushed into his lungs, making him unable to stop himself from coughing twice.
"When the police arrive later, what are you going to say?"
Ning Yue said without a second thought, "I think with Mr. Li's power, you are entirely capable of keeping me out of this matter. Don't you agree? I've just started a new life and don't want to make my family worry."
Remembering the young girl's background, Li Zhengmin changed his mind. He then deleted the police number he had already dialed and called his bodyguard directly.
After hanging up, Li Zhengmin formally thanked Ning Yue. "Miss Yan, thank you..."
"My surname is Ning. Ning Yue."
Li Zhengmin quickly corrected himself. "Miss Ning, thank you for saving me this time. I will definitely visit you another day to express my gratitude. It's getting late today; let me send you back first."
"Alright, then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Li," Ning Yue said. She really didn't want to walk all the way down the stairs again. It was too tiring.
System 009 finally found its voice. "Host, you were really too reckless just now. You have to know that you only have one life. Remember, it's truly only one. If you die in a small world, you're dead for real. There's no chance to live again. This isn't a game; you can't reload a save file."
"What other choice did I have?" Ning Yue replied. "Who told me not to have an omnipotent System that could help me?
"Fortunately, I've learned a few Fighting Skill moves, or else I really would have met my end here today."
The grievance in her tone was all too obvious, making 009 feel inexplicably guilty. It felt that the Host was right—it was a useless System that couldn't even give its Host a beginner's gift pack. If it were like other Systems and knew how to trade stocks, the Host wouldn't have to earn money all by herself. Even if it couldn't trade stocks, knowing hacker skills would be fine too. From what it knew, hackers made a lot of money.
Even without any of those, having a System shop would be good enough. Selling Power Pills, secret martial arts manuals, and the like would at least guarantee the Host's safety to some extent. It seemed that it couldn't be so idle in the future. It needed to learn what it should learn and become a good System that could help its Host.
Seeing that 009 had gone silent, Ning Yue walked straight to the corner and picked up her schoolbag. Li Zhengmin's bodyguard came up right at that moment. Li Zhengmin personally escorted Ning Yue down to the elevator, and then dispatched his driver to take her home.
Once Ning Yue got in the car and left, Li Zhengmin's expression turned ice-cold as he called his bodyguard. "Take the man to the West Suburban Villa. I will interrogate him personally. Also, send someone to keep an eye on my wife. I want to know her location at all times."
Because Ning Yue had taken a leave of absence and was driven back by Li Zhengmin's car, she arrived home a bit earlier than usual. However, Mr. Ning and Ning's mother didn't seem to notice this, and their expressions looked somewhat strained.
"Yuanyuan, you're back? Hurry and sit down. Mom stewed some chicken soup for you today. Have a bowl first while I go cook some noodles for you."
Mr. Ning also stood up and went to the kitchen to help Ning's mother.
Ning Yue couldn't help but frown. It seemed that when she came back yesterday, Mr. Ning and Ning's mother hadn't looked well either. She already had a certain guess in her heart. It was obvious that the couple had kept it from her because they were afraid she would worry. Therefore, Ning Yue simply didn't ask. She drank a bowl of Ning's mother's chicken soup, ate a small bowl of steaming hot shredded chicken noodles, and returned to her room.
The heating in the old residential complex was always unsatisfactory. It was eighteen or nineteen degrees Celsius at most inside the house. Ning Yue simply draped a jacket over her shoulders and sat at the desk to do her homework.
This desk was one that Yan Qingqing used to use, but in the past few days, Ning's mother had rearranged it. She had put on a pretty new tablecloth and bought an eye-care desk lamp. Ning Yue didn't say anything, but she took in everything the couple did for her.
As soon as eleven o'clock arrived, Ning Yue rolled her stiff neck, grabbed her pajamas, and went to the bathroom to take a shower. At eleven-thirty, she officially went to bed.
The next day, after finishing the first morning class, Ning Yue called the textile factory where Mr. Ning and Ning's mother worked to ask for them. Just as she suspected, she learned that both of them had been fired three days ago.
She didn't even need to use her brain to know that this wicked deed was definitely Mrs. Yan's doing, and of course, Yan Qingqing was absolutely involved in it.
Hanging up the phone, Ning Yue pursed her lips tightly. She already rarely smiled, but at this moment, she looked even colder.
Yan Qingqing had truly angered her!
"Host, this is simply intolerable," 009 said. "The Yan family members are really scumbags. There's no grudge or hatred between you all. For better or worse, your parents helped raise their daughter for over ten years. To think she would turn around and target them—she is simply unreasonable!"
Ning Yue was speechless. The System felt that the Ning Family raising Yan Qingqing was a favor, but in the eyes of the Yan family members, they had suffered a massive loss.
Seeing that she remained silent, 009 hastily pressed on, "Host, then what do you plan to do? Are you just going to watch and do nothing?"
"It's very simple," Ning Yue said. "Mrs. Yan made my parents lose their jobs because she knows the consequences will cause our family of three the most pain and suffering.
"So, I can only strike their precious daughter where it hurts, to make them suffer a bit too."
As for Mr. Ning and Ning's mother, she would let them rest for a couple of days first. Starting from yesterday when she saved Mr. Li, this little issue was no longer a problem. This was also her purpose in going to the Li Building yesterday. Although the process had exceeded her expectations, fortunately, the outcome was the same.
If she wanted to bring down the Yan family, or even the Gong family, slowly accumulating wealth to compete with them in the business world would be too slow. It would take eight to ten years, and even then, there was no guarantee of success.
However, latching onto the big tree that was the Li Family was a different story...
During the long break between classes, Yan Qingqing appeared in front of Ning Yue once again. Her hair had clearly been carefully styled, with one side pinned back by a diamond-encrusted hair clip. One look and anyone could tell she was very wealthy. She looked at Ning Yue with a smile full of intent, but deep malice was hidden in her eyes!
"Sister, how have you been recently? Is everything okay at home?"
"I've never seen such a despicable person," 009 grumbled. "This is a true portrayal of a villain reveling in their success."
Since 009 had already started cursing and Ning Yue didn't want to listen, its voice automatically vanished.
Suddenly locked in a metaphorical dark room, 009 wondered, "I clearly haven't taught the Host how to block my voice yet, so how does she already know how to do it?"
After glancing at Yan Qingqing, Ning Yue stepped down the stairs, unwilling to waste even a single word on her.
Yan Qingqing's eyes nearly turned green with anger as she watched her back. However, since there were still a few classmates around, she forcefully suppressed the fury in her heart and took the opportunity to smear Ning Yue's name. "Mom said my sister doesn't like interacting with people and I didn't believe it, but I didn't expect it to be true. Forget it. After a long time, my sister will be willing to get close to me."
What a massive hypocrite!