Chapter 42: Getting Promoted, Getting Rich, and Losing One's Wife

"Xiao Qing." Fang Yun walked into the room, smiling as she cradled Coal Ball in her arms. "Look who's here?"

"Coal Ball!" Seeing Coal Ball made Xiao Qing even more emotional.

Coal Ball was equally excited. Before Xiao Qing could finish, it wriggled out of Fang Yun's embrace and leaped straight into Xiao Qing's arms with a few quick bounds.

Master and pet rubbed against each other endlessly. A smile graced Xiao Qing's face, yet tears streamed down her cheeks.

"It's great that you're okay, Coal Ball! I knew it, you're the strongest and bravest!"

"Meow, meow, meow!"

Feng Li looked on, nearly moved to tears herself. Fang Yun stood in place, watching them with a smile, her heart filled with an extraordinary sense of fulfillment.

The regrets of her past life were finally being mended in this one.

Even if revenge remained unachieved, the trip to Dongming Mountain was far from wasted.

Xiao Qing was alive, Coal Ball was alive, and they would both live well from now on. The realization filled Fang Yun's heart to the brim.

After a long while, Xiao Qing finally calmed the equally excited Coal Ball and looked up at Fang Yun.

"Sister, thank you!"

"This is what I should do." Fang Yun looked into her face, her gaze distant, as if speaking to the Xiao Qing of her past life.

Yet Xiao Qing was still too young to notice anything amiss with Fang Yun. She shook her head.

"Sister is a good person. You help me, and you help Coal Ball, unlike..." She left the rest unsaid, but Fang Yun knew she meant Ma Zhen and the others.

Fang Yun fell silent as well. She had already learned of Xiao Qing's harrowing experiences in Ma Qibo's camp during her past life.

In this life, she had no wish to reopen Xiao Qing's old wounds, so she interrupted her.

"Don't dwell on it, Xiao Qing. Sister told you, from now on I am your family, and no one will ever hit you again. So be happy, understand? Forget all those unpleasant things from the past. Sister doesn't want to see Xiao Qing unhappy."

Fang Yun's soft words of comfort left Xiao Qing momentarily bewildered.

"Sister... why are you so good to me?"

"Probably... because both Xiao Qing and Coal Ball helped Sister," Fang Yun thought for a moment and smiled.

Though precocious for her age, Xiao Qing was still just an eight-year-old girl, easily placated by any plausible reason.

After chatting for a little while, Xiao Qing, newly recovered from her serious illness, grew sleepy again. Telling her to get some rest, Fang Yun left the room, accompanied by Feng Li.

Closing the door gently, the three of them walked some distance in silence before Feng Li could no longer hold back and asked Fang Yun about Xiao Qing's background.

"She is supposedly the child of Ma Qibo's first love," Fang Yun said after a brief silence, beginning to recount Xiao Qing's life story.

Her background was somewhat absurd and tragic; simply put, Xiao Qing was entirely the victim of an undeserved disaster.

Xiao Qing's mother had been Ma Qibo's first love, staying with him from the days when he was merely a street hoodlum, all the way until Ma Qibo spotted an opportunity and latched onto a local underworld boss.

In pursuit of wealth, Ma Qibo gradually discarded his morals and humanity, but Xiao Qing's mother did not.

Discovering that Ma Qibo was sinking deeper and deeper into power and money, even willing to break the law, she demanded a breakup.

Naturally, Ma Qibo refused, and their youthful affection was worn away amidst endless bickering and rows.

Later, unable to bear the various women constantly surrounding Ma Qibo, Xiao Qing's mother engaged in a hysterical, earth-shattering fight with him, successfully driving him to loathe her.

Seizing the opportunity, she fled Ma Qibo's side, drifting away to a rural village a thousand miles away. After settling down, she found an honest man and married him.

The days passed uneventfully. Aside from the fact that Xiao Qing's mother had never been able to conceive, the minor bumps and bruises of everyday life gave her no cause for complaint.

That was until Ma Qibo rose to power, grew wealthy, and his original wife died. Having stepped into the former position of the local boss and lost his lawful wife, he suddenly remembered Xiao Qing's mother.

At that time, Xiao Qing's mother was pregnant with Xiao Qing, nearing her due date.

Using his connections, Ma Qibo tracked her down. Discovering that she had married and bore a child infuriated him, and he forcibly dragged Xiao Qing's mother away to have an abortion.

During the struggle, Xiao Qing's mother was so deeply distressed that she went into premature labor. Shortly after giving birth to Xiao Qing, she suffered a fatal amniotic fluid embolism and passed away without leaving a single last word.

Ma Qibo was dealt a heavy blow. Refusing to acknowledge that her death was his fault, he shifted all the blame onto Xiao Qing.

He brought Xiao Qing back to the Ma household and dumped her with a nanny, ensuring only that she remained alive while completely ignoring everything else.

Thus, Xiao Qing stumbled her way through a harsh childhood, until the age of five when she accidentally crossed paths with Ma Zhen, and her true nightmare began.

A heavy silence filled the corridor after Xiao Qing's story came to an end.

"And Xiao Qing's father?" Feng Li asked after a long moment, her voice choked with emotion.

Fang Yun paused, then shook her head.

In her past life, Xiao Qing had not only never seen her father, she hadn't even heard a whisper about him, and following the apocalypse, his life or death remained entirely unknown.

In truth, based on Fang Yun's understanding of Ma Qibo, she suspected that Xiao Qing's father had likely met his end not long after Xiao Qing's mother died.

Leaving Xiao Qing alive was probably only because she was the sole remaining bloodline of the woman he once loved.

"How cruel," Feng Li trembled as she offered her verdict, her heart overflowing with pity for Xiao Qing.

"Are you taking Xiao Qing in to help her find her father, or..." Li Wangcheng spoke up at that moment, his tone devoid of any discernible emotion.

Hearing his voice, Fang Yun took a deep breath and turned back to look at him.

"I just want Xiao Qing to stay by my side. Consider it a sudden impulse of benevolence on my part. If you aren't willing, we can part ways right here."

With that, she met Li Wangcheng's eyes directly, letting him see her absolute resolve.

She could hardly tell him about her past life, nor could she explain that she was trying to make amends to Xiao Qing.

Therefore, she had no choice but to let him assume she was merely suffering a sudden bout of sainthood, pitying the child and insisting on keeping her close.

Feng Li wanted to say something, but after a moment of thought, she remained silent.

No matter what, she would always stand by Fang Yun's side.

The two stared at each other for a long while before Li Wangcheng finally averted his gaze, looking past Fang Yun.

"If what you say is true, then Ma Qibo is her enemy, and she has no conflict of interest with us. If you want to keep her, keep her. After all..."

He withdrew his gaze and looked straight at Fang Yun. "Your individual contribution alone is more than enough to convince me to accept them."

By "them," he meant Feng Li and Liao Zhaonan, excluding Xiao Qing.

He certainly held special feelings for Fang Yun, but he was not alone; he could not recklessly disregard the lives of his subordinates simply to please her.

Therefore, although he agreed, he would still secretly arrange for people to monitor Xiao Qing until he was entirely certain she posed no threat whatsoever.

Knowing what he meant, Fang Yun let out a silent sigh of relief, feeling somewhat fortunate that Li Wangcheng had discovered her spatial ability.

The thought flashed through her mind, only for her to instantly dismiss it.

How could she have entertained a thought so perilous?

Before she could recover from the shock of her fleeting thought, Li Wangcheng spoke once more.