I Want a Lifetime with You
Chapter 347

"Mr. Li, Li Cenbei has asked L Company from C Country to invest in the Li Group. Take a look at this." "Just as I'd expected!" Li Heng glanced at Zhou Zheng and asked, "What does Fu Chengyan think?" "Mr. Fu wants me to stick with you for the time being."

Li Heng smiled darkly. "You don't have to do that; I barely have anything for you to as it is!" Waving his hand dismissively, he handed the documents to Zhou Zheng and told him to pass them to Fu Chengyan. "Liang Lin is at Sheen City right now. If you have the time, drop by and help him."

"What about the Li Group?"

"In less than a week, I guarantee you that Li Group will experience a reform like never before. I'll handle it!"

"I'll take my leave then, Mr. Li."

Zhou Zheng had visited Li Heng on his master's orders. Since Li Heng didn't require his help, Zhou Zheng had no choice but to return to Fu Chengyan. When he heard what Li Heng had said, Fu Chengyan's eyes narrowed in displeasure. "Did he really say that?"

"Yes, those were Mr. Li's words exactly. He said that Li Group will experience a reform like never before in less than a week. Is he planning to abandon the Li family once and for all?"

After all, Li Heng belonged to the Li clan. Zhou Zheng thought that Li Heng would show some sympathy towards his blood relatives despite the family's internal conflict. To his surprise, however, Li Heng had shown no remorse about destroying the Li Group.

On the other hand, Fu Chengyan broke into a slight smile.

"Alright, understood. You may leave now."

After Zhou Zheng left, Fu Chengyan sat in his office for a long while, thinking in silence. Immediately, he gave his contact in C Country a call. After confirming that L Company had indeed decided to invest in the Li Group, he broke into a relieved smile.

He had underestimated Li Heng's abilities-that rascal had a backup plan! They had cast the net, and now all they could do was wait for the fishes to swim into the trap. Fu Chengyan got up and walked out of the study room. At that moment, Shi Nuan came out of Pei Huan's room. He waved her over. "Come here!"

Shi Nuan walked over to him immediately. "What's up?"

"Is Bao asleep?"

Shi Nuan nodded. "I just managed to get him to sleep. Huan is staying at the hospital tonight, and she won't be back until tomorrow. I think I'll keep Bao company in his room tonight."

Fu Chengyan's eyes narrowed dangerously as a look of displeasure flashed across his face. Hastily, Shi Nuan tried to reassure him. "I'm just worried about Bao! He's infected with the virus, but unlike Huan, he's still a child. If anything happens to him at night, at least I'll be able to attend to him immediately."

Regardless of her explanation, Fu Chengyan continued to frown. "Maybe I should give Li Heng a call and have him take the boy away!"

Shi Nuan felt a little exasperated. "You're being so unreasonable! Why would you get jealous of a kid? Besides, Bao is your nephew!"

"I don't care that he's my nephew! As long as it's a male, I won't allow you to sleep next to them!" As he spoke, Fu Chengyan enveloped her in an embrace. "You're mine."

"Behave yourself!" Shi Nuan's face turned red with embarrassment. Patting Fu Chengyan lightly, she said, "Alright, Aunt Ning will be undergoing her surgery very soon. After the surgery, Bao will return to live at the Fu family home for a while. Aunt Ning and Uncle Heng adore him to death."

Fu Chengyan sighed wistfully. "When can we have a child of our own?"

Shi Nuan looked up at him. Meeting Fu Chengyan's gaze, she smiled mischievously and said, "Do you like children?"

Fu Chengyan leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips. "Of course! As long as you're the one who gives birth to it."

"Really?" Shi Nuan's lips curved into a smile. "Well, as far as kids are concerned, we have to let nature take its own course. However..." Shi Nuan leaned against Fu Chengyan and tiptoed to pressed a kiss to his chin. "We'll have to put in some effort ourselves too."

Fu Chengyan grinned at her joyfully. Sweeping her up into his arms, he exclaimed, "Come on! Time for us to put in some effort."

Over the next few days, the Li Group underwent a rollercoaster-like series of events. There was much speculation, but nobody knew for sure what was going on in the secretive depths of its meeting rooms. The next thing everyone knew, Li Heng had made so many changes to the company that it was barely recognizable as the Li Group.

On the other hand, something had gone wrong with Li Cenbei's plan-L Company suddenly went back on their agreement and canceled their investment plans for the Li Group. Immediately after that, they agreed to channel their funds into Li Heng's company instead. Li Cenbei wasn't the only one who was caught unaware by this unexpected turn of events-his father hadn't seen it coming either.

Following that, the Li Group was quickly acquired by Li Heng's company. No one knew how the man had managed to do it.

Li Cenbei vanished that day, throwing the entire Li clan into chaos. The next morning, Li Xinzhi received a manila envelope that contained an important secret of the Li family. Upon opening the envelope, he found a piece of paper documenting events that had happened thirty years ago—namely the truth behind his eldest son, Li Cendong's mysterious death.

After he read the document, Li Xinzhi came down with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized. It seemed to be the end of the Li clan.

Li Xufan promptly came across the document that Li Xinzhi had left lying on the floor of his study room. As the former read through it, he felt as though he had been struck by lightning.

"Li Xufan? What are you doing in here?" Jiang Xinyuan appeared in the doorway, holding her child. Glancing rapidly between Li Xufan's furious expression and the piece of paper in his hands, she stuttered, "You..."

"Get out of my way!" Li Xufan pushed her aside and dashed out of the Li Residence. He headed straight to the hospital and barged into Li Xinzhi's hospital room.

"Great-grandpa? Wait, no. I should be calling you Grandpa instead, right? "Li Xufan balled his hands into fists as he gazed bitterly at the shivering old man, who was lying on the bed. Li Xinzhi was basically a walking corpse now. His eyes were already cloudy; it was an omen of his impending death.

Li Xufan shook the document in his hand at Li Xinzhi. Li Xinzhi's eyes widened as he tried to sit up and snatch the piece of paper away from Li Xufan. However, the old man was so frail that he couldn't move at all, much less open his mouth to speak.

Li Xufan's eyes were bloodshot. Shaking uncontrollably, he said, "You treated my mother and I so well because you felt guilty, didn't you? You must have known that your youngest son caused the fatal acciden that killed my maternal grandparents. By tampering with the car, he also caused my mother to be widowed at such a young age. That car was supposed to be driving you that day, but my grandparents got into the car instead because they were heading to the airport. Is that true?"

Li Xinzhi grunted as though he wanted to speak, but his words were completely unintelligible. "You knew perfectly well that Li Cenbei caused the deaths of my grandparents, but you pretended that you didn't know! You caused my mother to become an orphan and sent her off to live with Li Cennan. My mother always thought that my grandparents' deaths had something to do with Li Cennan because you made him the majority shareholder immediately after the accident!"

Li Xufan continued, "You knew about Li Cenbei's grudge against the Li family, so you must've known that he would never have the family's best interests at heart. Even so, you let him get close to my mother- how cruel can you get? He broke my mother's heart and left her pregnant with me." Li Xufan flung the piece of paper at Li Xinzhi. "You've always been so biased towards Li Cenbei. Isn't it because of that dead mother of his, He Xinyuan?"

Li Xinzhi's eyes widened in horror. "You... You..."

"How did I replace out about this when the document mentioned nothing about He Xinyuan?" Li Xufan laughed humorlessly. "The person I've hated for so many years didn't turn out to be an enemy after all. My dear Grandpa, you weren't just cruel to us-you nearly ruined my uncle's life as well!"

"..."

"As for how I found out about this," Li Xufan continued, "That's because I received a document in a manila folder, just like you did. If my mother found out that the man she has loved for so many years is her biological uncle, don't you think she might die from the shock? From the moment you decided to protect Li Cenbei all those years ago, everything started going wrong. It was only a matter of time before Li Group collapsed into itself. Between Li Cenbei and Li Heng, I'd much rather see the company destroyed by Li Heng!"

"You... You worked with Li Heng?" Li Xinzhi managed to sputter out a complete sentence after much difficulty. "You..."

"Yep. You know what they say he who understands the times emerges victorious. Li Cenbei might be very capable, but he's nothing compared to someone like Li Heng. Li Cenbei waited for so many days to take his revenge, but his plans were completely foiled the moment Li Heng put his own into action."

"But there's something else you want to know, don't you? You probably want to know where Li Cenbei is now." Li Xufan approached the bed slowly. "Don't worry. He won't leave Jiang City before you die. He'll appear very soon. Just wait a little while more!"

Li Xufan then turned and left the room. There was only Li Xinzhi in the room now. The older man wanted to get up and chase after Li Xufan, but try as he might, he was unable to move an inch.

The room soon fell silent. Li Xinzhi removed his oxygen mask and tried to get up, but he soon fell painfully back onto the bed.

A long, slender pair of arms appeared before his eyes. The person picked up the oxygen mask and swept a disdainful look across Li Xinzhi's face. "Long time no see, Father!"

Li Cenbei's lips curled into a smile. Gazing at the receding figure of Li Xufan as he disappeared down the corridor, he dragged a chair over and sat down by Li Xinzhi's bed. His dark eyes took in the pitiful figure of Li Xinzhi, but there was no hint of emotion in them.

"Are you curious about why I came back after leaving so suddenly?" Li Cenbei took a fruit knife and started peeling an apple carefully. "My mother told me that I mustn't go easy on anyone who has wronged her!" Here, he looked pointedly at Li Xinzhi. "What do you think about that?"

"Ahh-" Li Xinzhi croaked, trying desperately to say something. However, he couldn't seem to say anything at all.

Li Cenbei smiled again. "Is there something you want to say?"

"Ahh-"

"Don't worry; I'll wait!" Li Cenbei smiled at the older man as he continued peeling the apple. "Li Xufan said so many things to you just now, but there's something I need to correct. The first person I'm going to kill isn't you. It'll be Li Cendong."

"You..."

Li Cenbei's lips curled into a smile. "Aren't you to blame for all of it? My mother and Li Cendong were deeply in love back then, but you had to get in between and mess everything up. Li Cendong wound up marrying Li Min's mother instead, and you took the opportunity to lock my mother up while her family's fortunes declined."

Li Xinzhi's eyes widened in shock. "Don't you want to know how I found out about it all?" Li Cenbei handed the perfectly peeled apple to him and gazed coldly at the older man. "You locked my mother up in that dark, windowless room while Li Cendong was on honeymoon with his wife. Meanwhile, you..."

Li Xinzhi's lips moved wordlessly as he tried in vain to speak.

"Li Xufan told me that you helped cover up the truth behind my car accident because you adored me. He was wrong! You only did so because you felt guilty." Li Cenbei grinned manically. "You already knew very early on that I wanted to get my revenge on you. Wasn't that why you refused to get in the car that day?"

"You..."

"Actually, I never wanted to take your life that day. I wanted you to live and see the Li family's collapse for yourself." Li Cenbei's cold, soulless eyes bore into Li Xinzhi's terrified ones. "It's just too bad that I underestimated that rascal, Li Heng."

"You..."

"Back then, you did your very best to send him away, but he returned anyway. Did you think that I... Who's that?" Li Cenbei suddenly swung around and looked at the doorway.

Li Min pushed the door open and stepped into the room, trembling. Her eyes were swimming with tears. "Cenbei, you were making that up, right? You aren't biologically related to me, you had no part to play in my parents' deaths, and you never used me to hurt Li Heng, right?"