After the divorce, my ex-husband's cousin tricked me into getting a marriage certificate.

Shen Qingzhu was stunned, staring at her mother-in-law in astonishment.

If someone else had said these words, Shen Qingzhu wouldn't have paid any attention to them.

But these words came from my mother-in-law's mouth.

That means something else entirely.

Xu Ying, the mother-in-law, has always been the backbone of this family. Now that Lin Zhihong has passed away, she will be in charge of the family from now on.

If Xu Ying were younger, she might have gone to Zhuohai to take over as chairman herself.

Shen Qingzhu dared not utter another word; Sheng Shi's domineering arrogance had been extinguished.

The Qi family members didn't want to stay a second longer.

Originally, everyone came because they felt sorry for Shen Qingzhu, who had lost her husband at such a young age.

But she couldn't distinguish between good and bad, and forcibly pinned her own misfortunes on Qiao Ran.

Xiang Wanli walked to Qiao Ran's side, took Qiao Ran's arm, and said, "Let's go. If we stay any longer, we'll all become jinxes. It's like our good intentions have been taken for granted."

Qiao Ran nodded slightly and followed Xiang Wanli.

She had only taken two steps when Lin Mengchuan called out to her, "Qiao Ran, wait a minute."

Xiang Wanli stopped and glared at her grandson, "Lin Mengchuan, what do you want to do? Do you want to make things difficult for Ranran again?"

Lin Mengchuan: "Grandma, I don't mean to make things difficult for her. I apologize to her on behalf of my mother. Please forgive my mother for talking nonsense just now. She became like this because she was so anxious after my father passed away."

"Mom, apologize to Qiao Ran."

"What?" Shen Qingzhu stared at her son, mouth agape. "Lin Mengchuan, what did you say?"

Lin Mengchuan's expression was serious. "Mom, I'm asking you to apologize to Qiao Ran for your nonsense just now. I didn't go abroad because I didn't like her. On the contrary, I actually fell in love with her a long time ago, but I just didn't know it at the time."

“We can’t blame her for our divorce. That was my fault. As for my father’s death, it was half his fault. He shouldn’t have gone to see the workers so rashly. The other half of the responsibility should be attributed to the company’s security.”

"After my father's funeral, I will reorganize our Zhuohai Group's security team."

As soon as Lin Mengchuan finished speaking, everyone looked at Shen Qingzhu. Only Qiao Ran stared at Lin Mengchuan, her expression changing from astonishment to a self-deprecating bitter smile. What was this all about?

A heartfelt confession?

Qiao Ran felt no emotion whatsoever, only disgust.

Lin Mengchuan knew perfectly well that she had remarried Qi Muci, yet he still said such things in front of Qi Muci and the Qi family.

Is she trying to make everyone misunderstand that she and he are still entangled?

Shen Qingzhu was unwilling, but feeling uneasy under her son's sharp gaze, she had no choice but to say, "I'm sorry, Qiao Ran. I was depressed because of the loss of my husband, which is why I talked nonsense and made accusations. I apologize to you."

The excuse that he talks nonsense because he's feeling down is really good.

Looking at Shen Qingzhu's arrogant attitude, Qiao Ran couldn't see any sincerity in him at all.

This shows that Shen Qingzhu only apologized because of pressure from her son Lin Mengchuan; she didn't think she had done anything wrong at all.

Qiao Ran felt as if she had been treated like a busybody for coming to her former father-in-law's memorial service despite having put aside past grievances.

If she had known it would turn out this way, she would have preferred to be criticized behind her back rather than come here and be publicly labeled.

After a moment of silence, Qiao Ran said coldly, "Auntie, I will not accept your apology."

After saying that, she turned and quickly walked out of the mourning hall.

With a dark expression, Qi Muci turned to look at Lin Mengchuan and Shen Qingzhu, and said in a low voice, "I'll remember this debt."

Then he turned and left.

The others followed suit.

Shen Qingzhu scoffed, "If you don't want to accept it, then don't. Do you think I want to apologize to you? If it weren't for my son, I wouldn't apologize to you at all!"

As Shen Qingzhu spoke, she inadvertently glanced at Su Wenshan and his wife standing at the door, with a girl standing next to them.

"Vice Chairman Su, Mrs. Su, when did you arrive?" Shen Qingzhu immediately put on a polite smile.

Su Wenshan raised an eyebrow. "It's been a few minutes."

Shen Qingzhu was stunned. Did that mean they had witnessed her scolding Qiao Ran?

"I'm sorry for the neglect," Shen Qingzhu said with a thick-skinned smile. "As you can see, we just got rid of an annoying person. I don't know where she got the nerve to come here."

Xu Ying rolled her eyes and retorted, "Speaking of annoying people, you're the most annoying one."

Shen Qingzhu turned to look at her mother-in-law, "Mom, do you really have to say such things in front of Vice Chairman Su?"

Xu Ying: "So you really have to deliberately target Qiao Ran?"

Shen Qingzhu: "I'm not targeting her at all. I'm just telling the truth. She's already divorced Meng Chuan, so she has nothing to do with our family anymore. My husband is dead, what is she doing here?"

Xu Ying: "Don't flatter yourself. Qiao Ran came to see me, not you."

Shen Qingzhu choked.

Su Wenshan ignored Shen Qingzhu and walked over with his wife and the girl. He said to Lin Mengchuan, "Mengchuan, do you still recognize my daughter Ya Ni? Ya Ni, say hello quickly."

"Hello Grandma, hello Auntie, hello Meng Chuan," Su Yani greeted generously.

Shen Qingzhu was surprised and stared at Su Yani from head to toe, "Oh my, Yani, you've really changed a lot since you grew up. You've become so beautiful. Auntie really didn't recognize you."

Lin Mengchuan didn't recognize Su Yani either, because the girl in front of him had completely changed her appearance.

Shen Qingzhu said that girls change a lot as they grow up, but that was just a polite way of putting it. In reality, Su Yani's face clearly showed that she had undergone plastic surgery.

Lin Mengchuan now understands why Su Yani went abroad to study.

Studying abroad is just a pretense; getting plastic surgery is the real reason, isn't it?

Lin Mengchuan hated this kind of artificial face the most, and his feelings towards Su Yani went from not liking her to loathing her.

The thought of having promised his father to marry Su Yani made his heart race.

He had come to terms with it these past two days; it didn't matter which woman he married, except for Qiao Ran.

It's all just about completing tasks and continuing the family line.

But now, seeing Su Yani, all he can think about is Qiao Ran.

He wanted to call off the engagement.

I will never get married.

Shen Qingzhu tugged at Lin Mengchuan forcefully, "You go out for a walk with Ya Ni. Your grandma and I are fine here. You two can discuss the engagement together and pick a date to get engaged."

Lin Mengchuan frowned. "Mom, my dad hasn't even passed his seventh day memorial yet, and you're already so eager for me to get engaged?"

Shen Qingzhu was furious. "You brat, your father is dead. Don't the living have to live their lives? Your marriage with Ya Ni was arranged before your father passed away. You should do what you're supposed to do."

Lin Mengchuan quickly gave his grandmother Xu Ying a look, but Xu Ying sighed deeply, "Sister Ju, help me to sit for a while. I'm old and won't live for many more years. Help me find a temple tomorrow, and I'll go to the mountains to cultivate and wait for death."

Lin Mengchuan: "..."

Shen Qingzhu: "..."

Su Yani is a smart woman, and she was standing at the door when she heard Lin Mengchuan's heartfelt confession to Qiao Ran.

Now that Lin Mengchuan is acting this way, she's even more certain that he still loves Qiao Ran and that's why he's unwilling to marry her.

But Su Yani also knew very well that Lin Mengchuan had to marry her now in order to save the Zhuohai Group.

She looked at Lin Mengchuan and said with a faint smile, "Mengchuan, I need to go to the restroom, but I'm scared to go alone. Can you come with me?"