"Mom, you should rest first. Shiyu and I are going outside to talk."
Zhang Ling told her mother to rest and led her friend outside.
At the end of the corridor, Zhang Ling told her friend how she had taken her half-sister's place on a blind date and entered into a flash marriage.
Tang Shiyu reacted just like Mother Zhang had, giving Zhang Mutian a thorough scolding.
However, matters had already reached this point, and scolding him was useless.
At the very least, enough money had been raised for Mother Zhang's surgery.
"Shiyu, I actually think this marriage of mine isn't bad. My husband is truly handsome. Even though he doesn't like women and has no feelings for me—never mind that he likes men, even if he liked a pig, I wouldn't care."
"We're not even living together as partners; we don't interfere with each other, and I'm still free and easy."
Tang Shiyu silently gave her friend a hug.
After a long while, she released Zhang Ling.
"To use your own words, a loss of a horse may turn out to be a blessing in disguise; who knows, it might lead to a good outcome. Lingling, stay strong, everything will get better."
Zhang Ling nodded emphatically.
Right, everything would get better.
Now they were just waiting for a kidney donor so her mother could have the surgery.
Fortunately, Zhang Mutian kept the promise he made to his eldest daughter. A few days later, the hospital notified Zhang Ling and her mother that a suitable kidney donor had been found.
Zhang Ling was both overjoyed and nervous; she was overjoyed that the surgery could finally take place, yet nervous out of fear that the procedure might fail.
A kidney transplant was essentially a gamble. Win, and life could continue; lose, and stepping off the operating table might mark the end of life.
Mu Lingfeng's apartment at Huaxi Gardens was a bit closer to the hospital than the place Zhang Ling rented. To make it easier to look after her mother, she packed a few changes of clothes and moved into Mu Lingfeng's place.
She hadn't given up her rented apartment yet; she needed to ask for Mu Lingfeng's opinion before she would dare let her mother move in there.
On the day they registered their marriage, Mu Lingfeng had been in such a hurry to leave that neither of them had left contact information.
Zhang Ling couldn't even call to ask for his opinion.
She was his wife, and only because he had said she could move in did she dare to do so.
Once Mother Zhang underwent the kidney transplant and the surgery proved successful—though she still needed to spend a period of time in the intensive care unit—Zhang Ling temporarily didn't need to stay at the hospital.
She had some time to check on the progress of the shoe store's renovation.
When she arrived at the shop, the renovation workers hadn't come to work today because it was Friday, and they had to pick up their kids from school.
Zhang Ling had only been in the shop for a moment when she received a phone call from her father.
"Zhang Ling, where are you right now?"
Zhang Mutian asked directly.
He knew her ex-wife had undergone surgery, because it was he who had spent a large sum of money yet again so that the ex-wife could get a kidney donor and have the surgery ahead of schedule.
He hadn't mentioned this matter, afraid that his current wife would find out and make a scene with him again.
"I'm at the shop. What is it?"
Zhang Ling asked coolly and distantly.
Even though her father had ultimately given her two million to help treat her mother, it had come at the cost of making her marry in her sister's place. Zhang Ling still found it hard to let go of the knot in her heart regarding her father.
"Come to my company right now. I'll have my secretary take you to buy a few designer outfits, and then pick out two evening gowns. Tomorrow night, you're coming with us to the Ning family. It's Madam Ning's eightieth birthday, and they're holding a banquet tomorrow night."
Without even thinking, Zhang Ling refused: "I'm not going. Not only am I unsuited for that kind of occasion, but your wife will pull a long face and glare at me the moment she sees me."
If she were forced to attend a banquet with her father and stepmother, she would rather buy several high school math workbooks to solve instead.
Assuming the posture of a father, Zhang Mutian commanded: "You must go. The Ning family is the maternal family of Madam Mu. Tomorrow is her elderly mother's eightieth birthday, and since you've already married the young master of the Mu family, you are Madam Ning's granddaughter-in-law and must be present."
"Besides, your husband's family wants to see you."
After obtaining their marriage certificate, Mu Lingfeng had taken a photo of it and sent it to Madam Mu to let her know he was married, telling her not to pressure him anymore so he could focus on doing what he liked.
Madam Mu never expected her eldest son to have a flash marriage, initially assuming that Mu Lingfeng had fallen in love at first sight with the daughter of the Zhang family.
When she asked a bit further, her eldest son actually said he had no impression of her—it was just because his uncle had introduced her, and he was being hounded so relentlessly about marriage that he simply had a flash marriage to take a wife who satisfied the elders once and for all.
Madam Mu was choked by her eldest son's words and couldn't speak for a long time.
After she looked at the marriage certificate, she discovered that the bride was wrong; it wasn't Zhang Qing, the daughter of the Zhang family.
Yet her eldest son said he had asked the young woman at the time, and the other party acknowledged she was Zhang Mutian's daughter.
Madam Mu then called Zhang Mutian, and only upon asking did she learn that she was indeed Zhang Mutian's daughter, though she was Zhang Ling, the eldest daughter born to his ex-wife. He had babbled something about seniority and order, claiming that since the eldest daughter was unmarried, her marriage naturally had to be arranged first.
Madam Mu had never met the daughters of the Zhang family. The current Madam Zhang was a mistress who had climbed into her position, and even after more than twenty years, she still couldn't integrate into the circles of the original wives in high society.
Consequently, Madam Mu and Madam Zhang were unfamiliar with each other and naturally had never seen Zhang Qing, though she had heard her elder brother and sister-in-law mention the given name of the Zhang family's daughter.
Had it not been for the fact that the Zhang Group was developing very well, combined with her eldest brother's repeated persuasion—taking into consideration that her eldest son had grown up in the countryside, spending year after year at his farm, and was unappreciated by daughters of prestigious families—Madam Mu would never have relented and agreed to let her eldest son go on a blind date with the Zhang family's daughter.
Never did she expect Zhang Mutian to have his eldest daughter by his ex-wife go on a blind date with her eldest son. Being sensitive, Madam Mu felt that Zhang Mutian looked down on her eldest son for growing up in the countryside and not holding a position in the family business, yet he was reluctant to let go of this match, so he arranged for the eldest daughter to take the second daughter's place.
Everyone in their circle knew how heartless Zhang Mutian was toward his ex-wife and her two children.
Madam Mu was furious to the point of nearly dying of anger, but her son had already stated that he had obtained their marriage certificate and his wife was Zhang Ling; he would not swap her for anyone else.
Zhang Mutian, refusing to admit he had swapped brides out of disdain, insisted it was a matter of proper seniority, and that Zhang Ling was indeed his biological daughter.
Unable to overrule her son, Madam Mu had no choice but to pinch her nose and accept Zhang Ling as her daughter-in-law.
She then decided to use her elderly mother's birthday banquet tomorrow night as an opportunity to meet this daughter-in-law, Zhang Ling.
"My husband's family... wants to see me?"
Zhang Ling was suddenly a bit nervous.
Busy with caring for her mother lately, Zhang Ling had almost forgotten that she was already a married woman.
The couple had only met on the day they registered their marriage and hadn't seen each other since; she didn't even have her husband's phone number.
Right after getting their marriage certificate, she had gone to Baidu to search for the Mu Group just to get a general understanding of the company and some background on the Mu family.
Now, with her marriage certificate left at home—if she didn't bring it with her—Zhang Ling might not even recognize her own husband if she ran into him.
To go meet her in-laws under such circumstances—it would be a miracle if Zhang Ling weren't nervous.
"Dad, will the Young Master Mu be coming back tomorrow night?"
"Will he show up at the Ning family's banquet?"
Zhang Ling figured that since they were meeting the in-laws, her husband ought to be back, right? With her husband by her side to accompany her, meeting the in-laws might not make her quite so nervous.
Zhang Mutian replied: "Tomorrow is his maternal grandmother's eightieth birthday, so he will definitely be back. Once he's back, the two of you can properly get acquainted. Don't go getting married and still have no idea what your own husband looks like."
Zhang Ling curled her lips in a silent grimace.
Recalling Mu Lingfeng's rather poor temper and lack of patience, her anticipation of seeing her husband tomorrow night suddenly vanished.