Chapter 44: Who Told You to Livestream? Shut It Off Right Now.

Liu Ruyan felt a sudden surge of panic in her heart. She had calculated every single possibility, but she never imagined that Zhao Qiang would be so fiercely vigilant.

How could the old Zhao Qiang—the one who used to obey her every word and never harbor a single doubt—dare to eavesdrop on her phone call?

She had no idea how much of the conversation he had actually heard.

Yet, she convinced herself that as long as she stubbornly refused to admit to anything, he would have no proof.

"Zhao Qiang, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Liu Ruyan forced a look of composure, though her eyes darted restlessly, refusing to meet his gaze.

"You have no idea? You're still playing dumb with me, aren't you!"

Zhao Qiang's eyes were filled with a sarcastic smile. He stared relentlessly at Liu Ruyan, as if he intended to peel away her layers of pretense one by one with his very gaze.

He wanted to see what other performances she had left in her, and he wanted to learn a thing or two from her masterclass in acting.

In his past life, for ten full years, he had been foolish enough to believe that Liu Ruyan truly loved him.

The man on the phone—wasn't it obviously Zhang Zihao?

He had known this for a long time. Oh, Liu Ruyan, Liu Ruyan, yet you still hid it away like a fool, truly thinking Zhao Qiang was someone easily played for a mug?

Zhao Qiang gritted his teeth, every single word seemingly squeezed out from between them.

"Liu Ruyan, who on earth were you talking to on the phone?

Confess honestly right now!"

"From the sound of it, it seemed to be a man. Calling someone else your husband, don't you think that's entirely inappropriate?

Or have you forgotten that your husband is supposed to be me?"

Zhao Qiang pressed forward step by step, his voice brimming with fury and lingering resentment.

Liu Ruyan's eyes flicked away, utterly terrified of meeting the piercing gaze that seemed to see right through her. In a panic, she stammered, "N—no one. Don't let your imagination run wild, it was just an ordinary friend."

Her voice trembled, and her hands instinctively twisted the hem of her clothes.

Zhao Qiang let out a cold snort, taking another step closer to back her into a corner. The palpable aura of anger radiating from him caused Liu Ruyan to subconsciously retreat. His tone turned even harsher.

"An ordinary friend?

Would an ordinary friend let you call him husband?

Liu Ruyan, do you take me for a three-year-old child? Or do you think Zhao Qiang is just some mindless idiot meant for you to deceive at will?"

"Liu Ruyan, do you really think I would never discover your shady little dealings? Do you think you could keep me in the dark forever?"

"Or could it be that you've been sleeping around behind my back?"

Those words struck Liu Ruyan's heart like a heavy hammer.

Guiltily turning her head away, she mumbled evasively, "Oh, just mind your own business, it has nothing to do with you anyway."

Driven past the point of fury, Zhao Qiang laughed bitterly, raising his voice into a roar. "Has nothing to do with me?"

Don't forget your current status; you are my wife!

You are the legally wedded wife I married through a proper, formal match!

"For you to commit such shameless acts and then claim it has nothing to do with me? You have completely lost your mind, devoid of any moral bottom line!"

Zhao Qiang's voice echoed through the room. Now that he had seized the initiative, he would naturally stand upon the moral high ground to heavily denounce Liu Ruyan.

Previously, failing to secure evidence of her wrongdoings was simply due to trust, but now that Liu Ruyan was riddled with flaws from head to toe, how could Zhao Qiang possibly let her off easily?

Putting on a brave front, Liu Ruyan resorted to unreasonable quibbling. "What shameless acts? Stop hurling baseless accusations! I haven't done a single thing to wrong you, you're just trying to frame me!"

"I don't want to talk about this with you. Think whatever you want."

Attempting to turn and escape, Liu Ruyan simply refused to offer any explanations, nor was she willing to.

"Liu Ruyan, you are going to make things clear to me today, or you're not going anywhere!"

Reaching out, Zhao Qiang seized her arm tightly, his grip fierce enough to cause her genuine pain.

Struggling desperately to break free, Liu Ruyan shrieked in a shrill voice, "Let go of me! I said I don't know anything, I don't know!"

She hurried away in panic, retreating between Li Fengying and Liu Shuangshuang, and cried out with a sob, "Mom, Sis, he's lost his mind! He's trying to beat me to death!"

"Stop right there!"

Li Fengying quickly stepped forward to shield Liu Ruyan behind her, glaring fiercely at Zhao Qiang as she demanded, "Zhao Qiang, my daughter only just got out of bed two days ago, what gives you the right to put your hands on her?"

"Liu Ruyan, do you dare repeat face-to-face what you were just saying to that man?"

"What man? Stop trying to wrong me."

"I don't understand a single word you're saying."

"Zhao Qiang, once the paternity test results come out and prove the children are yours, you'd better honestly and dutifully raise them both to adulthood."
Liu Ruyan brazenly laid out her demands.

"And then, get down on your knees and apologize to me to make up for the emotional and physical trauma you've inflicted upon me."

"Furthermore, go down to the police station and get Tianming released for me," Li Fengying added.

Her precious son was still suffering, and Zhao Qiang was entirely to blame for it all.

By then, Li Fengying had already concocted a hundred different ways to humiliate Zhao Qiang.

"Liu Ruyan, with all these demands you're making, haven't you even considered the possibility that you might lose?"

Zhao Qiang found the whole spectacle laughable. It seemed they still had no idea that Doctor Zhao had been arrested, otherwise they wouldn't dare act so flagrantly arrogant.

"Lose? Why would I lose?"

"The children are yours, how could I possibly lose?"

Confident to the point of blind arrogance, Liu Ruyan had already confirmed everything with Doctor Zhao beforehand; there was absolute certainty that nothing could go wrong.

Having given birth just two days prior, she had already recovered a considerable amount of her glow.

Today, she had even dressed up meticulously—though perhaps not for him, but rather for Zhang Zihao.

"Spare me the nonsense. What if the children turn out not to be mine?"

Since Liu Ruyan was feeling so supremely confident, Zhao Qiang had no intention of raining on her parade just yet.

"If they aren't yours, they aren't yours, what else can you possibly do about it?"

Li Fengying dismissed the thought nonchalantly. For a good-for-nothing son-in-law, managing to latch onto her daughter was already a blessing cultivated over several lifetimes.

Even if he ended up playing the fool and raising another man's children, it was still far too generous a deal for him.

Zhao Hai was shaking with rage. Their entire Zhao family had been played for fools, yet the other side brushed it off with a casual remark.

"Li Fengying, do you still have any shame left when you say things like that?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Just look at how hopelessly pathetic and poor your precious Zhao Qiang is—could he ever hope to support our entire family?"

In Li Fengying's eyes, the only fitting son-in-law was someone of Zhang Zihao's stature as a corporate conglomerate president.

As for Zhao Qiang, she had never once bothered to look at him with respect.

"I'm here! Wait for me..."

Chu Siqi came running from a distance with her school backpack slung over her shoulders. Dashing all the way, fine beads of sweat dotted her forehead while she held her phone up, livestreaming the entire way.

The title of the livestream bore eye-catching keywords like "Grand Finale" and "Paternity Test," drawing a massive wave of curious onlookers as her online viewer count steadily surged.

The video she had uploaded the day before had gone viral, and the comment section was flooded with requests for a sequel.

As the second young miss of the Chu family, she prided herself on being someone who listened to her audience. Today, she skipped classes entirely just to livestream the drama for her viewers.

"Aren't you that internet celebrity? What are you doing here?"

Li Fengying furrowed her brows, her eyes flashing with vigilance and disgust. She had an ominous preachy feeling about this.

After their family was dragged online the last time, they had received no shortage of vicious scoldings, and there was no telling what kind of chaos this girl was going to stir up today.

"Who gave you permission to livestream? Get out of here!"

Li Fengying snapped, instinctively reaching out to grab the phone. But this time, Chu Siqi wasn't about to give her the slightest opening.

Cleverly stepping back a few paces, she maintained a safe distance from Li Fengying.

"Old hag, you lot tried to scam this young lady last time, but it's not going to work today."

Having learned her lesson from the previous encounter, Chu Siqi flashed a triumphant grin.

"Shuangshuang, hurry up and snatch her phone! She's livestreaming us!"

Refusing to give up, Li Fengying knew those scenes absolutely could not be allowed to circulate online for her to spout nonsense about.