Chasing His Ex: The Tycoon's Hidden Twins

Lu Fan was curious about the stupid thing Jiang Ming had done, so he replied: [What’s wrong? What happened?]

Jiang Ming: [Huang Minghao’s parents came to see me again. They said your company terminated its cooperation with them, and they came to beg me to put in a good word for them. I refused at first, but then the parents guilt-tripped me by forcing their child to kneel. I didn’t agree outright, but I didn’t refuse either. I know it’s not my place to tell you what to do, which is why I said I did something stupid.]

Lu Fan instantly grasped the situation and asked: [Let me ask you this: deep down, do you want to help them or not?]

Jiang Ming: [I don’t.]

Lu Fan: [Why not?]

Jiang Ming: [That entire family is a bunch of bad apples. I don’t want to help people like that make money.]

Lu Fan: [Good. If you don’t want to, then just refuse. I know they’ll probably cause a scene once you turn them down, and your boss will put pressure on you. When that happens, come to me. I’ll take care of it.]

Jiang Ming: [I appreciate the offer, but I can’t come running to you every time they cause a scene. I don’t want to be in your debt.]

Lu Fan: [Then just stand your ground. If your boss fires you over this, I have a pretty big gym in Yangcheng City Center that needs a manager. You can have the job.]

Jiang Ming was stunned when he read Lu Fan’s message.

He was at a loss for words.

After taking a few seconds to compose himself, he finally replied: [Are you helping me so much just because you want me to put in a good word for you with my sister?]

Lu Fan: [I didn’t say that. I help people based on whether I want to help them, not on what they can do for me.]

Lu Fan: [So don’t feel too pressured. I’m only helping you because you helped out so much with Silu and Sifan back in the day. Call it paying you back.]

Reading Lu Fan’s reply, Jiang Ming did feel some of the pressure lift.

Jiang Ming: [Okay. I’ll talk to the department head directly tomorrow.]

Lu Fan: [Good. And like I said, don’t worry. I’ve got your back.]

After ending the chat, Jiang Ming felt like it was all a bit surreal.

At the same time, he felt a sense of confidence he’d never had before.

This confidence didn’t come from just anyone—it came from the very same scoundrel he used to hate.

Before, he’d been so timid simply because he was afraid of losing his 6,000-yuan-a-month job as a PE teacher.

Now, Lu Fan was offering him a job as a gym manager—a prospect that was far more appealing than being a PE teacher!

But this didn’t mean Jiang Ming would choose to betray his sister.

After all, a manager’s job wasn’t enough to make him betray the bond he’d shared with his sister for decades.

Jiang Ming had no intention of quitting his job to go work for Lu Fan right away.

He just saw it as having a fallback plan.

Even though it was a path paved by his former brother-in-law.

He felt both ashamed and resigned at the thought.

’It really must be nice to be rich,’ he thought.

’It can solve so many problems.’

Meanwhile, Jiang Silu asked Lu Fan curiously, "Did something happen?"

"It’s nothing." Lu Fan smiled, deciding to keep her in suspense. "It’s a secret between your uncle and me."

"You two grown men have secrets?" Jiang Silu’s eyes widened in realization. "Don’t tell me you’re asking my uncle to help you win Mom back."

In reality, Jiang Ming’s hatred for Lu Fan was no less than her own or Jiang Sifan’s.

It especially broke his heart to see Jiang Yixia raising two kids on her own while also having to run a street stall at night.

It made him hate that massive scumbag, Lu Fan, all the more.

Lu Fan shook his head. "No. When it comes to winning your mom back, I want to do it on my own."

Hearing the determination in his voice, Jiang Silu gave an affirming nod.

’Maybe Dad has really turned over a new leaf this time,’ she thought.

Of course, whether he had truly changed or not was for her mom to decide.

Right now, she had no right to make that decision for anyone.

Seeing that Jiang Silu had finished her meal, Lu Fan reminded her, "Alright, you need to get some rest. Your project for the competition is submitted, so there’s nothing left to keep you up at all hours. Your only mission now is to rest and sleep."

"Okayyy."

As Lu Fan was about to leave, Jiang Silu couldn’t help but say hopefully, "I really hope my project wins an award."

"An architect from my company saw your project yesterday, and she had nothing but praise for it. She thinks it’s very impressive for a freshman to produce work of this quality," Lu Fan said encouragingly.

Jiang Silu’s face lit up. "Really? That’s great!"

With that, Lu Fan left the hotel and drove toward the manor.

「Meanwhile.」

Jiang Sifan and Wen Wan didn’t have any classes that evening.

They planned to visit some shops farther from campus to promote their bookkeeping and tax filing services.

Over the past couple of days, Jiang Sifan had come up with a name for their startup.

"Starry Studio!" Jiang Sifan announced cheerfully, looking at Wen Wan. "What do you think of the name?"

Wen Wan nodded in approval. "I think it’s great."

"See? You think it’s a good name too, right? Haha, I spent a long time on it." Jiang Sifan said smugly. "I think the name sounds really good."

Since their electric scooter was out of battery, the two of them were on foot to drum up business.

As they walked along the road, Jiang Sifan did most of the talking while Wen Wan listened.

Jiang Sifan spoke with great enthusiasm, and Wen Wan listened intently.

Neither of them noticed that a few people were tailing them from a short distance away.

One of them was Lin Qiang, the same person Jiang Sifan had beaten up not long ago.

Lin Qiang glared at Jiang Sifan up ahead, gritting his teeth in hatred.

He was itching to beat Jiang Sifan to a pulp.

He looked at the handful of bleach-blond punks beside him and said, "Listen up. I’m paying you 500 yuan for this, so you’d better give it your all."

One of the punks rubbed his nose and said cockily, "Brother Qiang, if you want help with studying, we’re not your guys. But when it comes to brawling, if we’re number two in this neighborhood, no one would dare claim to be number one."

"That’s right, Brother Qiang. We’ve got a reputation around here," another one said coolly after spitting on the ground.

Hearing them boast, Lin Qiang was convinced. "Good. I’ll be watching to see how you perform."

His eyes fell on Wen Wan next to Jiang Sifan. From behind, she had a pretty nice figure.

He couldn’t see her face, but he figured any girl with Jiang Sifan had to be attractive.

The thought of how he’d not only failed to steal the other guy’s girlfriend, Huang Hui, but had also wasted over ten thousand yuan trying to impress girls, made him say viciously, "You guys beat up the guy. Leave the girl to me. I’ll be wearing a mask, so I can cop a few feels and she won’t even know who I am."

"Haha, you got it, Brother Qiang. Say, you think we could get a piece of the action too?" one of the punks asked excitedly.

But Lin Qiang shook his head. "If you want to get your rocks off, go hire a prostitute. Beating up the guy will get us administrative detention at worst. But if you assault the girl, we’ll all be in a world of hurt, and I won’t be able to save any of us."

Although Lin Qiang didn’t believe Jiang Sifan came from some incredibly powerful family,

but given what happened last time, he only planned to teach him a lesson and then call it quits.

’And with my face covered,’ he thought, ’no one will recognize me.’

Finally, as Jiang Sifan and Wen Wan walked down an increasingly remote path.

The streetlights grew dim.

Lin Qiang decided this was the perfect moment.

He and the punks behind him charged forward.

At that moment, Jiang Sifan was still fantasizing with Wen Wan about a life where they earned twenty thousand a month.

"Haha, Wen Wan, you won’t have to work part-time in the cafeteria then," Jiang Sifan said cheerfully. "Actually, at our studio’s current scale, you can already make five thousand yuan a month. How about you quit the cafeteria job starting tomorrow?"

Wen Wan shook her head. "My counselor helped me get this part-time job at the beginning of the term. It’s for the whole semester, so I can’t quit halfway through. My counselor might get in trouble if I do."

Jiang Sifan saw her point and said with admiration, "Wen Wan, I really admire you. I admit, I don’t think I could be that principled."

"You’re the amazing one, Class President. Starting a business in your freshman year... no one else in our class could do that," Wen Wan said, blushing.

"That’s only because I have you. That’s the only reason this startup is succeeding," Jiang Sifan said, generously giving her half the credit.

Just then, by the light of the moon, Jiang Sifan looked at Wen Wan’s face and was struck by how incredibly beautiful she was.

He even felt the urge to kiss her.

Wen Wan noticed his gaze, which held an almost aggressive desire, and her face instantly flushed red.

Just as a bit of romantic tension was building between them, the sound of hurried footsteps from behind shattered the mood.

The next moment, the bleach-blond punks had surrounded Jiang Sifan and Wen Wan.

Jiang Sifan saw them and immediately pulled Wen Wan behind him. "What do you want?" he asked, looking at them.

"Hey, buddy, your girl’s not bad. How about you lend her to me for a while?" one of the punks said provocatively.

Jiang Sifan’s heart lurched with panic.

It was clear these guys were up to no good. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He forced himself to remain calm and put on a smile. "We’re students from the Jinling Institute of Technology. My girlfriend’s uncle owns a shop just up ahead. How about this? I’ll give you guys 100 yuan to go get a late-night snack, what do you say?"

"A hundred yuan? Are you trying to get rid of a dog?" another punk spat on the ground, a habitual gesture.

"How about 300? That should be more than enough for all of you to get a late-night snack," Jiang Sifan said, pulling three hundred yuan from his pocket.

A slightly heavier punk roared at Jiang Sifan, "The hell?! You think 300 yuan is a lot of money?"

The atmosphere instantly dropped to a freezing point.

The punks stared at Jiang Sifan and Wen Wan like they were prey.

Lin Qiang whispered to them, "Get a move on! Stop fucking dawdling."

He didn’t dare speak any louder, afraid that Jiang Sifan would recognize his voice.

Seeing this, Wen Wan started to tremble with fear.

She was clutching her phone, her first instinct to call the police.

But she couldn’t just announce her location out loud in front of everyone.

After a moment of frantic thought, an idea came to Wen Wan.

She immediately opened her chat with Lu Fan and shared her live location.

She also sent a message: [Uncle, help!]

At that very moment, Lu Fan was already rushing to Wen Wan and Jiang Sifan’s location, guided by intelligence from Lao Liu and Lao Jiu.

He spoke into his phone to Lao Liu and Lao Jiu, "Don’t show yourselves unless it’s absolutely necessary. I don’t want Sifan to find out you’re tailing him."

Then, Lu Fan said to Chen He, "Chen He, step on it. I’ve got to go save my son and my future daughter-in-law."