Plunder
Chapter 101 - 101 101 Disaster Descends from the Sky

Chapter 101: Chapter 101 Disaster Descends from the Sky Chapter 101: Chapter 101 Disaster Descends from the Sky Qiao En only felt a buzz in her head, as she had never known that Ding Hao actually had a past romance with Su Nian.

At that moment, time seemed to stand still, and she could only feel her heart pounding incessantly.

“Ruyi, Ding Hao brought his fiancée over today, why are you bringing this up? If Qiao En overhears, then what will Ding Hao…”

Ding Ruxin’s voice lowered, and Qiao En couldn’t hear any more.

“En’en, how are you feeling?”

Outside the door, Ding Hao’s voice could be heard. Qiao En had not locked the bathroom door, and he simply reached out and pushed it open.

“I’m fine.”

Qiao En slowly got up, her complexion very pale.

“It’s all your fault, I should have told my mom in advance that you are in a special condition now and can’t eat seafood.”

Ding Hao said considerately.

“Oh, dad, do you know something big happened today?”

At the dining table, Ding Ruyi’s voice, teasing with suspense, rose high.

“What happened? You’re always making a fuss. When will you ever be sensible?”

The one who answered her was not Ding Father, but Ding Mother.

Supporting Qiao En, Ding Hao walked towards the dining table where Ding Mother had made light noodles for Qiao En.

“Blame this rascal here, almost a father and still didn’t notify us. You’re pregnant now, you should avoid seafood and just eat some noodles to fill your stomach, I’ll cook soup for you later tonight.”

Ding Ruyi rolled her eyes at Qiao En, “Mom, no one said they were staying for dinner tonight, why are you so eager to offer?”

“Shut your mouth! No one thinks you’re mute if you don’t speak.”

Ding Hao snapped angrily.

Father Ding, who had been silent at the head of the table, finally spoke up, “You said something big happened today, what is it?”

Everyone’s attention was once again pulled back to the topic.

Ding Ruyi cast a meaningful look at Qiao En, her eyes seemingly brimming with deep implications.

Qiao En just felt a natural hostility toward her from Ding Ruyi, but she did not know that the next thing Ding Ruyi would reveal was going to be related to Zhou Jin’an.

“Big changes at the Zhou family, Zhou Jin’an has been driven out of Nanchen Group, and Zhou Ziyan is about to take over as CEO of Nanchen. Isn’t this news explosive?”

“I heard about it too, the media is making a big fuss, it might be true. With the old Mr. Zhou gone, Zhou Jin’an really hit bad luck.”

Ding Ruxin chimed in with her two cents.

Qiao En sat there calmly, but a tidal wave had risen in her heart.

Everything that was to happen, and not supposed to happen, all had occurred now.

She pretended to be nonchalant, continued eating her clear noodle soup, but after just one mouthful, the nausea surged up again.

She quickly covered her mouth and rushed back into the bathroom, and behind her, Ding Ruyi’s sarcastic voice came once more.

“I said it, there must be a problem with the two of them, you all didn’t believe it. Look, once Zhou Jin’an got into trouble, her face turned pale.”

“Ruyi, be kind with your words.”

Ding Mother, who had been silent, finally spoke up to put a stop to it.

That meal, none felt at ease eating, and when they left the Ding family house, Qiao En felt utterly drained.

Ding Hao acted his part well, wrapping his arm around Qiao En’s shoulder as they got into the car. As the car left the Ding family estate, Qiao En pushed his hand away.

“What’s the matter?”

Ding Hao asked.

Qiao En shook her head, “I’m not feeling well, I need to rest for a bit.”

Feeling sick was true, but there was more discomfort in her heart.

She couldn’t care to ask about Ding Hao’s relationship with Su Nian, her mind was full of news about Zhou Jin’an stepping down from the CEO position of Nanchen.

Was Zhou Jin’an okay now?

Reason told her that this matter no longer had anything to do with her, but emotionally, she couldn’t help worrying about him.

When they arrived at the Qiao Family house, Ding Hao, as the future son-in-law, was warmly received since Qiao Father and Qiao Mother were already pleased with him, now more so than ever.

After dinner, Ding Hao escorted Qiao En back to Chengnan Apartment.

Her mood was down the entire time, and Ding Hao had somewhat guessed something, but he didn’t expose it.

When they got out of the car, he wanted to escort Qiao En upstairs, but she refused.

“It’s late, you should head back now.”

She said, turning and walking towards the building entrance without looking back.

Ding Hao, with one hand in his pocket, couldn’t hold back and asked, “Do you have regrets?”

Regrets about what?

Regret leaving Zhou Jin’an? Or regret choosing him?

Qiao En’s steps faltered slightly, she stopped, turned back to face Ding Hao, her lips curved into a faint smile.

“Doctor Ding, what do you think I regret?”

She countered his question, but her words were ambiguous.

Playing with words was Qiao En’s forte; even Zhou Jin’an might not necessarily be her match, let alone Ding Hao?

“As long as you have no regrets that’s good. Zhou Jin’an is now a clay Buddha crossing a river, barely able to save himself. En’en, I don’t want you to get involved, do you understand?”

He was actually hinting to Qiao En to keep her distance from Zhou Jin’an.

This kind of hint was kindly meant, yet also assertive.

Qiao En’s greatest wit lay in her understanding of all this, yet she never easily exposed it.

“I won’t, don’t worry. It’s late, and I’m a bit tired, I want to rest early. Doctor Ding, good night.”

Qiao En said goodbye to him and then disappeared at the entrance of the unit.

Not until Qiao En’s window lit up did Ding Hao leave with peace of mind.

In the study, Qiao En browsed the news about the Zhou family’s disputes on her computer.

Whether the news was true or false, she didn’t miss a single piece.

Zhou Jin’an had truly fallen.

The Nanchen Group’s official website had already announced his resignation.

And the biggest beneficiary, Zhou Ziyan, had already taken over as CEO of Nanchen.

It had been only a week since the will became public when he was exposed as having an illegitimate child of nearly five months.

To outsiders, this might not seem surprising: a wealthy playboy causing a scandal or fathering a few children didn’t seem out of the ordinary.

But what was odd was that the timing was too coincidental.

Qiao En always felt there was something fishy about this, but she was neither a policeman nor a detective. Her suspicions were subjective, incapable of making an objective judgment.

That night, Qiao En listed the Chengnan Apartment online for 3.5 million yuan.

This price wasn’t high, and early the next morning, she got a call from a real estate agent wanting to view the apartment.

The apartments in Chengnan were always in hot demand because of their good location, school district, and convenient transportation.

That morning, three different agents came to see the place.

That day, she originally had plans with Ding Hao to take wedding photos.

Strangely enough, Ding Hao hadn’t contacted her all day, and Qiao En, busy with other things, had also forgotten about it.

Luckily, that afternoon an agent contacted Qiao En saying that a client was willing to pay 3.5 million yuan to buy the apartment.

Things were going smoothly; the client paid an advance of one million yuan, with the rest to be paid in full once all the transfer procedures were completed.

Qiao En had not expected to sell the apartment so easily.

She went to the supermarket to buy packing bags and came back. What needed to be kept she packed into bags, and what couldn’t be taken she left in the apartment.

She was so busy that before she knew it, it was already late at night.

Later, she was so tired she just collapsed on the bed and stared at the ceiling in a daze.

She remembered how happy she was when Zhou Jin’an had given her the keys to the apartment.

At that moment, she thought he wanted to give her a home.

She decorated everything carefully, like any girl in love, looking forward to that man’s love.

Qiao En hadn’t awaited the love she hoped for, but rather, she had been met with a harsh reality.

Just a stand-in after all, when all is said and done, just a cuckoo occupying another’s nest.

So selling this place, there shouldn’t be any regrets.

Early the next morning, Ding Hao appeared again.

“Bang, bang, bang…”

He kept knocking on the door.

Once Qiao En spoke up, he immediately opened his arms to embrace her, but she stopped him with a cold look.

“En’en, have you finally decided to move in with me?”

Ding Hao saw the packed bags at a glance, and joy instantly filled his mischievous eyes.

“Wishful thinking; I’m just planning to go back and stay with my parents for a while.”

Qiao En didn’t mention the sale of the apartment.

“That’s so much trouble. After we get married, aren’t you going to move in with me anyway? En’en, if you don’t want to leave your uncle and aunt, why not have them move in with me too? There’s plenty of space at my place. It would be lively, having the whole family there!”

Ding Hao liked to act impulsively, but Qiao En didn’t indulge him.

“We’ll talk about that later.”

After receiving that one million last night, Qiao En had sent Xu Mei a message, arranging to handle her resignation procedures today.

They agreed to meet at four o’clock in the afternoon, but when Qiao En arrived, Xu Mei had been called away on some errand and hadn’t returned.

Qiao En waited at her own desk, but little did she expect disaster was about to strike from above.