Chapter 48: Was that incident back then actually your doing?

Right at that moment, her phone rang. It was a call from Zhang Zihao.

Chu Mengyao furrowed her brows, feeling utterly annoyed. Why did this persistent nuisance have to call again?

"Zhang Zihao, what is it?" Chu Mengyao's tone was laced with impatience.

"Mengyao, our engagement is tomorrow. Our elders want to get together and have a meal."

Zhang Zihao's voice came through the other end of the line. "Are you at home? I'm coming to pick you up!"

"I'm not home. I have things to deal with at the company and will probably be busy until tonight. I don't have time."

Without even thinking, Chu Mengyao flatly refused.

"As for dinner, forget it. If nothing else, I'm hanging up!"

Giving Zhang Zihao no time to react, she decisively tossed her phone aside and put it on silent mode.

Having finally managed to take a day off to spend with the little one, she had no intention of letting these aggravating matters ruin it.

"Little Peach, come here, let uncle give you a hug!"

A voice drifted over from a distance, catching Little Peach's attention. She turned her little head to look.

Coming into view was a man dressed in a tailored suit and tie—who else could it be but Zhang Zihao?

"How did you get in here?"

Chu Mengyao's beautiful eyes widened in sudden anger.

She hastily grabbed a towel and wrapped it tightly around herself to keep her long legs from being exposed.

Even if they were getting engaged, she would never let him take even the slightest advantage of her.

She had already instructed the security guards not to let Zhang Zihao in. It seemed someone had chosen to completely disregard her orders.

"Mengyao, look at you, insisting you weren't home when you clearly are."

With thick-skinned persistence, Zhang Zihao walked over, fully aware that he was unwelcome yet showing up anyway.

"Our engagement banquet is tomorrow, of course I had to come and see you."

He had long since figured out all of Chu Mengyao's tricks; bribing the servants of the Chu household to gather information was no difficult feat for him.

"Little Peach, did you miss uncle?"

Zhang Zihao squatted down, smiling brightly at Little Peach. Finding her adorable, he reached out, intending to stroke her little cheek.

Truth be told, Zhang Zihao rather liked Little Peach.

The little girl was female, which meant she wouldn't affect his future power and status within the Chu family.

More importantly, Little Peach was deeply adored by Elder Chu and treated like a precious treasure by the entire family.

"No, I have a daddy. I don't miss you at all."

Little Peach hurriedly took a step back and turned around to hide behind Chu Mengyao.

Her bright, sparkling eyes stared at Zhang Zihao with vigilance and unmistakable unease.

"Little Peach, don't be afraid. Uncle can be your daddy starting tomorrow," Zhang Zihao said dismissively, brushing off the remark since the little girl had said the same thing before.

"You are not my daddy, I already have a daddy."

"Mommy, I don't like this uncle. Can we go find daddy instead?"

Little Peach tugged at Chu Mengyao's sleeve, pleading with a pitiful expression.

Zhang Zihao's expression darkened instantly, though he quickly forced a smile and said, "Well, I've seen you. You can leave now."

Chu Mengyao said coldly, "In the past, I merely hated an arranged marriage, but now, I despise you as a person, Zhang Zihao. I finally see you for who you are—a hypocritical beast wearing a gentleman's mask."

With his usual shameless persistence, Zhang Zihao replied, "Mengyao, why are you so resistant to me? Are you worried that I won't treat Little Peach well in the future? Rest assured, I will take good care of both you and your daughter. I genuinely like you, so please just give me a chance!"

He knew very well why Chu Mengyao loathed him. Back then, he had paid a classmate to spike Chu Mengyao's drink at a KTV. Everything had been set in stone, but something went wrong at the last moment and she managed to escape. His goal all along had been to get close to Chu Mengyao quickly, marry her, and have children. Although he had acted with extreme caution and left no hard evidence behind, Chu Mengyao had firmly convinced herself that he was the culprit, and her aversion to him had grown ever since.

Unmoved, Chu Mengyao gave him no pleasant expression. "I've said it before, even after we're engaged, we will live our separate lives and not interfere with one another. Let me ask you this one last time: was it you who had someone spike my drink?"

"Mengyao, I told you, I didn't do that. You have to believe me."

Zhang Zihao refused to confess; he wasn't going to fall into that trap.

"Mommy, that auntie got caught by the police uncle!"

Little Peach clapped her tiny hands together, her face beaming with happiness.

Ignoring Zhang Zihao entirely, Chu Mengyao focused her attention on her phone.

"I never expected Liu Ruyan to face a day like this, actually cheating on a guy named Zhao Qiang."

"Fascinating. The internet is so advanced nowadays, they're even live-streaming it."

"She insisted on a paternity test and even bribed a doctor to fake the results. Now that she's arrested by the police, she totally brought it on herself."

Chu Mengyao spoke loudly, deliberately raising her voice so Zhang Zihao couldn't possibly miss it.

"Liu Ruyan?"

The name slipped past Zhang Zihao's lips, a flash of panic crossing his face.

He suddenly remembered that today was the day of the confrontation between Liu Ruyan and Zhao Qiang. Since everything had supposedly been arranged beforehand, he hadn't paid much attention to it. But upon hearing what Chu Mengyao just said, his face turned deathly pale.

The doctor faked the results? And she got arrested?

He anxiously wanted to make a call to find out what on earth was going on. No matter what, he could not allow the fallout from this incident to spread any further.

"By the way, Zhang Zihao, if I recall correctly, you were pretty close with this Liu Ruyan back in college. Do you still keep in touch?"

Chu Mengyao deliberately probed, eager to observe his reaction.

"Mengyao, what kind of joke is that? How could I possibly have any contact with Liu Ruyan?" Beads of sweat rolled down Zhang Zihao's forehead as his eyes darted around shiftily.

"Getting married doesn't stop someone from being someone else's mistress, wouldn't you say?" The corners of Chu Mengyao's lips curled upward as her lovely eyes fixed directly on Zhang Zihao with a hint of mockery.

"How would I know anything about that? Mengyao, you really know how to joke!" Avoiding Chu Mengyao's gaze out of a guilty conscience, Zhang Zihao figured she likely had no solid proof. If she did, she probably would have already caused a massive scene in front of Elder Chu.

"Well, Mengyao, I suddenly remembered I have matters to attend to at the company," Zhang Zihao hastily changed the subject. "It's quite important, so I need to rush over and handle it. I'll be leaving first."

"Weren't we going to have dinner?" Chu Mengyao smiled. "Why are you leaving so soon?"

"No, no, the company's affairs come first." As he spoke, Zhang Zihao hurried away, his footsteps panicked and erratic.

Watching his retreating figure, Chu Mengyao let out a cold snort. "Hmph, a guilty conscience."

A sanctimonious fraud—he made her sick to her stomach. The thought of him wanting to marry into her family was a pipe dream, not even in the next life!

"Little Peach, come over to grandma!"

An extraordinarily graceful middle-aged woman beckoned to Little Peach. The woman was none other than Chu Mengyao's mother, Yang Xuemi.

Though past fifty, she still retained her charm and elegance. One could easily tell she must have been a stunning beauty in her youth. Back in the day, she was a famous pop singer who had married into high society, and to this day, she remained a household name across Great Xia. Both Chu Mengyao and Chu Siqi had inherited her exceptional genes.

"Grandma!"

A look of joy lit up Little Peach's face as she hastily trotted over on her short little legs.

"Let grandma give you a kiss!" Yang Xuemi scooped Little Peach up, beaming with affection.

Although Little Peach's biological father remained a mystery, she was, after all, the daughter of her beloved daughter, Chu Mengyao. Chu Mengyao's father, Chu Tiankuo, had once relentlessly searched for the man who had shared that one-night stand with Chu Mengyao, but to no avail. If he ever managed to track that man down, he would surely skin him alive.

"Grandma, Little Peach has a daddy now!"

"I want to live with daddy."

With a beaming smile, Little Peach shared the wonderful news with Yang Xuemi. She fluttered her bright, wide eyes, gazing expectantly at her grandmother, knowing grandma loved her the most.

"That's right, Little Peach will have a daddy starting tomorrow." Yang Xuemi smiled as she replied, assuming in her heart that the daddy Little Peach was talking about was Zhang Zihao. She couldn't help gently patting Little Peach's head and said, "It seems our Little Peach has already accepted Uncle Zhang Zihao as her daddy."

"Mengyao, it's about time you changed your perspective on Zhang Zihao." Yang Xuemi turned her head, looking at Chu Mengyao with a serious expression.