Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Arranged marriage is the quickest way, but those well-matched young ladies are all formidable.

Once you're married, you can forget about being free; once you're divorced, you'll lose half your wealth.

He suddenly realized that the child in Yuan Qiao's belly had come at just the right time.

No need for arranged marriages, no need to deal with the tempers of rich girls, no need to sign prenuptial agreements, and no need to have half of the assets taken away in a divorce.

Yuan Qiao is easy to control. She is a woman from the bottom of society with no background. Giving her a little money will make her grateful for the rest of her life.

He needed a biological child to appease the old man.

This child is just the right person to solve all his problems.

He gave Yuan Qiao two choices.

Either abort the child, take the 200,000 yuan and leave, and the matter is settled.

He'll either give her the baby, or he'll give her money, a house, and help her get urban residency for her child.

But she had to marry an honest man, treat the child as his, and never let anyone know the child was his.

Yuan Qiao chose the second option almost without hesitation.

She cried again after making her choice.

Ming Shao still remembers what she looked like back then.

She sat on the edge of the bed in that cheap hotel, clutching the hem of her clothes with both hands, her knuckles white, tears falling drop by drop onto the back of her hands.

She said, "Can't you be nicer to me?"

He agreed.

He agreed readily because he didn't need to be nice to her at all.

All he needed was for her to obediently give birth to the child and then cooperate with him when needed.

The next step is to find that "honest man".

He asked Zhang Jinshan to find a suitable candidate.

The requirements are simple: poor family, honest personality, no background, easy to control, and good health—able to work, earn money, and support the family, so that Yuan Qiao doesn't have to struggle too much to raise the children.

Zhang Jinshan scoured the construction sites in Zhaoming City and finally chose the Song Dynasty.

That day, Zhang Jinshan showed him some information about the Song Dynasty, pointing to a photo of a dark-skinned man with a simple, honest smile, and said, "Young Master Ming, this one is the most suitable. He's worked on construction sites for five years and has never argued with anyone. The foreman says he's the most honest worker. He's poor, has few relatives, and his parents have passed away. He's also healthy, can carry heavy loads, and can earn three or four thousand a month."

When Ming Shao glanced at the information, he only said two words: "Him."

Then came that "unexpected" arrangement.

He ordered several of his men to ambush Song Chao, who was walking home late at night after finishing overtime work, in an alley near the construction site, put him in a sack, and beat him up.

He specifically instructed that the man should not be crippled, but rather that he should be kicked specifically in the groin, with just the right amount of force—enough to cripple him but not kill him on the spot in the alley.

His subordinates handled it very efficiently.

Song Chao spent half a month in the hospital, and after being discharged, he found that he was failing.

He dared not tell anyone, and secretly saw several doctors and took medicine for half a year, but it was of no use at all.

What he didn't know was that that kick would make it impossible for him to have his own children for the rest of his life.

Then came the arrangement of "sexual misconduct after drinking".

Ming Shao had Zhang Jinshan arrange a dinner party for the workers, and he spiked Song Chao's drink.

Song Chao drank too much and blacked out.

When he woke up the next day, he and Yuan Qiao were lying in a hotel room.

That was because Young Master Ming had them carried together.

Zhang Jinshan, hiding in the next room, could clearly see Song Chao's reaction through the surveillance camera.

He was so frightened that he was trembling all over, and he even put his clothes on backwards. He squatted by the bed with his head down, not daring to look at Yuan Qiao, and kept saying "I'm sorry" over and over again.

As Yuan Qiao had rehearsed beforehand, she didn't blame him, but instead comforted him, saying it was alright.

The Song Dynasty felt even more ashamed.

He felt he had taken advantage of someone and therefore had to take responsibility.

He started sending things to Yuan Qiao every day: steamed buns one day, fruit the next, and a two-hour bike ride to town the day after to buy a cup of milk tea.

After a month of deliveries, Yuan Qiao told him she was pregnant.

Song Chao was so happy that he jumped around three times on the spot at the construction site, almost falling off the scaffolding.

He went and bought a ring that very day, taking out all the savings he had accumulated over the past six months and picking out the brightest one.

He ran up to Yuan Qiao, sweating profusely, his hands trembling so much he could barely hold the ring box, and said he would treat her well for the rest of his life.

Yuan Qiao agreed.

On their wedding day, Song Chao got completely drunk, hugged Yuan Qiao and cried, telling her that even if he worked himself to death, he would never let her suffer any grievances.

Sitting in his office, Ming Shao listened to Zhang Jinshan's vivid description of Song Chao crying his eyes out at his wedding, and found it extremely funny.

That idiot didn't know anything from beginning to end.

The home he desperately tried to protect was a stage built for him by others.

The daughter he treated like his lifeblood had someone else's blood flowing in her veins.

He believed that his wife, whom he had wronged his entire life, had been spying on him for someone else from the very first day he met her.

Over the past three years, he has saved every penny he could and handed it all over to Yuan Qiao.

Yuan Qiao immediately deposited the money into the joint account that Ming Shao had opened for her.

Every time he returned home happily to repair the roof, nail the table, and buy gifts for his daughter, Yuan Qiao would immediately report his whereabouts, what he said, and the amount of money he brought back to Zhang Jinshan in detail.

He thought he was the pillar of the family.

He was a pawn on someone else's chessboard, a pitiful creature whose fate had been predetermined yet remained completely unaware.

Ming Shao looked at his blurry reflection in the windowpane.

His face was reflected in the floor-to-ceiling window; his features were cold and hard, and a cryptic smile played at the corners of his mouth.

For the past three years, the Song Dynasty has lived like a joke.

But now the value of this joke no longer lies with him.

His value lies in being the scapegoat for the Jeolla Province project; he must honestly take the blame and then quietly serve his three years in prison.

The Song Dynasty itself did not think so.

He felt that he was upholding justice, protecting his family, and maintaining his integrity even when he was wronged by the whole world.

Ming Shao thought this was the funniest part.

The kind of person he is, doesn't even know who betrayed him, yet he thinks he's a hero.

Now, it's time to let him see the truth.

He turned around, walked to his desk, picked up his phone, and dialed Zhang Jinshan's number.

I answered the phone after it rang once.

Zhang Jinshan's voice came through the receiver, filled with barely suppressed excitement, like a hunting dog being released from its cage.

"Young Master Ming, everything's ready! The audio and video recordings have been copied into the player. I'm on my way to the interrogation room, with Liu Lei assisting me—"

"Remember one thing."

Ming Shao's voice was calm, like a bucket of cold water poured on Zhang Jinshan's excitement.

"You, you say."

"Don't laugh at him. Don't provoke him. Don't say things like 'You deserve it.' Let him read it quietly, let him break down quietly. Once he breaks down, put the confession in front of him and give him a pen. He will sign it."