259 Selfish Nature

Sky City

"I heard that Mu Lihua was on her way to China?" Zhuo Jingren asked as he ate the chicken casserole that his lovely wife had  prepared for him. "She probably has connections. I am sure she'll be able to see her aunt tonight."

"First… let's talk about my chicken casserole," Lily chose not to answer him. "Do you like it? How was it? Creamy?"

"This is a chicken and mushroom casserole," Zhuo Jingren said.

"Oh yeah… I added some mushrooms to the recipe," she instantly nodded. The recipe was only for chicken casserole but she found some mushrooms in the fridge so she decided to add those as well.

"I've already told you not to change the recipes just because you feel like it," Zhuo Jingren said. Seeing the smile on Lily's face slowly vanish, Zhuo Jingren instantly added, "But this one tastes really good. I think it would be a good idea to write your own recipes instead of changing recipes that you find online."

As expected, Lily's face instantly lit up. "Really? You think I should publish a recipe book?"

"Ehem… not publish. Just write one for us," He answered.

"Oh… Okay." Lily used a fork to spear some mushrooms. "I love mushrooms. I should write recipes about mushrooms."

"Hmmm… Good idea," he nodded. "Tell me… are you planning something evil again?"

Lily only raised an eyebrow at him before eating another mushroom. "First… I don't have evil ideas, alright? Second…" She paused as she slowly leaned towards Zhuo Jingren.  "How did you know that I wanted something? Am I being too obvious?"

"First, all of your ideas are evil, and second, you are too obvious," he grinned before pinching Lily's nose.

"Aw! And here I thought I could get away with just being pretty and my wonderful cooking skills," she stroked her nose playfully.

"So?"

"Well… I want to see Mu Qingling," Lily answered. "I want to talk to her, personally."

"Why?" Zhuo Jingren's brows instantly furrowed. To be honest, he does not want Lily to be this hands on with her plans. He does not want to put her in danger at all. Zhuo Jingren decided long ago to stand in front of Lily, to be the face  behind all of these ruthless schemes to protect her identity and to protect her personally.

"I know you are aware that I met with  Mu Lihua earlier and… Mu Qingling is not yet ready. She is not yet prepared to face the things that Mu Lihua will do after today."

"What do you mean?"

"Mu Lihua will reveal to the public that her mother and father killed Mu Qingling's parents," Lily said. "She is the type of person who would not even think twice about sacrificing her own parents for her personal gain."

Seeing Zhuo Jingren fall into deep contemplation, Lily continued. "Mu Lihua hates her father for being incapable and for stealing the company. She hates him for not being smart enough to convince their grandfather to make him the heir instead of Mu Qingling's intelligent father. She would not hesitate to ruin his name just to make the investors kick him out of the company."

"While she is close with her mother… Mu Lihua is ruthless. She would use this opportunity to lure her mother and she would even drag He Xinlan towards me just to save herself," Lily added before she scooped some of the creamy sauce and put it on top of her rice.

"How do you know this?" Zhuo Jingren asked. This is a detailed reaction- something that should be very hard to calculate just from Mu Lihua and Lily's conversation.

"Because President Zhuo…" Lily gave him a sly smile as she paused and stared into his eyes, "That is exactly what I would do if I were in her shoes."

Zhuo Jingren instantly nodded. "Why don't we just kidnap Mu Lihua and make Mu Huang call He Xinlan to retrieve her?"

"What are you talking about? We, my dear are not criminals, alright?" Lily said before she leaned towards Zhuo Jingren again. "After Mu Lihua sees He Yuyan, she might or might not confront her father. I am not yet sure about that. But what I am sure about is her revealing this news to the public. She will act as if… she just got hold of this information, and then she'll condemn her parents for their ruthlessness."

"She might even do this first thing tomorrow. That's why I need to prepare Mu Qingling for this, and only I can do this. Not you, and certainly not Bei Tian," she added. Zhuo Jingren's ways are a bit to brutal and direct while Bei Tian is a little bloodthirsty goofball. Lily was sure that both men would not be able to handle a woman breaking down in front of them. What if they ended up leaving Mu Qingling without telling her the plan? That would just ruin everything.

"So you want to manipulate her while her mental state is weak?" Zhuo Jingren surmised.

"What manipulate?" Lily sighed dramatically. "Her mental state has always been weak. She didn't have anyone who loved and could supported her, she was manipulated by her sister from an early age, she was alone, and no one was there for her. This is why she seeks male attention just to make herself feel worthy. A woman who is already weak mentally… doesn't need to be manipulated She will do what you want to gain your approval."

Zhuo Jingren could only sigh at his wife's words before he shook his head in defeat. "Alright, I will accompany you to see her. I am curious about something… Are you planning to help Mu Qingling?" Lily once mentioned to him how Mu Qingling reminded her of her previous self. This was before he released all of her videos online. Moreover, Lily also made sure that he would not kill Mu Qingling.

This made him curious about whether Lily wanted to help Mu Qingling recover everything that she had lost.

In response, Lily smiled at Zhuo Jingren. She did say that  Mu Qingling reminded her of her previous weak self, and to be honest she would love to help the woman reclaim everything that was taken from her, but... "I have no time for that," she answered. Her priority is the murderer of her unborn child and mother. "Mu Qingling does not have the skills to manage a company but the shares that she's supposed to have, the trust fund… she should have control of that."

Zhuo Jingren only nodded at her words. This made sense. Lily was not some self-righteous heroine who would save everyone who was treated unfairly in this world. This was not her battle and he would rather keep it that way. Zhuo Jingren would not want Lily to get involved in some other family's matter. Call him selfish, but he is only thinking about the safety of his wife. "When would you like to talk to her?" he asked.

"After we finish dinner," she answered, her gaze lingering on  Zhuo Jingren's handsome face before she shifted it towards her food. Unlike Mu Qingling, Lily was lucky to have been found by her grandmother. She was lucky to meet Zhuo Jingren. She was lucky that despite everything… she was still loved by a lot of people who would not hesitate to protect her.

While, she wanted to help the woman, Lily would not act as a hypocrite. She would not pretend that she was righteous. She had her own priorities and she was not planning to slow down her plans just to help someone else. She is selfish by nature so Lily will always prioritize herself… and Zhuo Jingren... above everything else.