234— Gao Zhipeng, I Want A Divorce!

Even though this was what the others suspected, everyone was still astounded. Qiao Mingran almost reeled from the shock. If she wasn't already sitting down, she would have fallen to the ground.

The man she married, the one she thought loved her at a point, watched her wallow in misery and self blame for more than three decades, when he knew what could have put her out of it?

She couldn't believe it. She really couldn't believe that her own husband would do such a thing.

But the truth was staring at her right in the face.

Gao Zhipeng was still trying to explain, "I did it for the good of everyone. She—we all would not have survived if we brought her home, and you wouldn't have been able to remain calm if I told you, that why I—"

His words were cut off by the resounding sound of a palm hitting flesh, followed immediately by the feeling of pain on his cheek.

"Mingran." He called her name in disbelief. She actually slapped him?

"Don't you ever call my name again with that despicable, lying mouth of yours!" Qiao Mingran almost growled, her eyes shining brightly with a mix of anger, sorrow and disappointment.

Word by word, she firmly said, "Gao Zhipeng, I hate you! For what you have done to me and my daughter, I hate you and I would never forgive you!"

Panicking, Gao Zhipeng got up and moved to crouch by his wife's side. He didn't mean to hide it for so long, it was just that he couldn't find the right moment at first.

Then as the years passed and they had other children, he didn't think it was that important. Finally, they grew estranged, and it became an even more unfamiliar topic.

"Qiao Mingran, don't say such words. Listen to my explanation first. I really did this in order to protect everyone."

The only sentence she threw back at him, stunned the entire family.

"Gao Zhipeng, I want a divorce!"

The dining hall became eerily silent. It was a good thing that the house workers had been told to leave after preparing the dinner in order to give them privacy, else the news would have been hard to hide.

Gao Tingxiu's eyes were as round as saucers. She didn't have her mother's characteristic brown eyes, but she was still a classic beauty.

What was this situation? This was even more ridiculous than the melodramas her agency usually sponsored.

No wonder she had always loved acting. Her family was composed of some of the best actors she had ever seen!

Gao Zhipeng sat down hard when her words came out. Although he no longer loved her and they had lived like strangers for many years, he had never once thought of divorcing her. She was his wife, the one he had spent most of his life with.

Unfortunately, she was becoming more and more unfamiliar to him nowadays.

Gone was the gentle and docile woman he liked at first sight, and in her place was this elegant woman that had fire hidden under her soft exterior.

What was even more shocking was that he just realized he liked her more like this, making the thought of a divorce even more unbearable.

"What did you say?" Only now did he react foolishly.

Without even looking at him, Qiao Mingran got up and walked away, "Just wait for my lawyers to serve you the papers."

Gao Zhipeng was shocked. His voice actually shook as he said, "Don't do this Mingran, please."

The person called didn't even pause her steps. The only thought on her mind was to pack her bags and leave the house. As she went, she added, "Once signed, just give it to my lawyer. If you want to discuss about the dowry, come to the Qiao family villa."

Desperate, Gao Zhipeng shouted, "Do you think I did this alone? Your brother was also involved as well. He too knew it was for the best. Try to understand."

Qiao Mingran's steps faltered. When she thought her heart could not feel worse, those words directly pierced and tore it into pieces. What a family she had. Even her biological brother could treat her like this.

After standing still for a few moments, she eventually continued walking. Her mind was made up, but now, she had nowhere to go.

But the children that were listening couldn't take it anymore.

"Father just stop it! How could you do this? This behavior is not human, infact, it's worse than that of an animal!" Gao Tinghua spat before walking out.

After dropping the sentences, "I'm sorry to say, but you should be ashamed of yourself. Please reflect," Gao Tingxiu hurried out after her brother, then changed her mind and went in the direction of her mother.

Gao Zhipeng was left alone in the dining hall, sitting on the cold floor and wondering how things came to this point.

Leaving Qiao Mingran in the dark was really not his original intention.

Because the organization was so dangerous, his first thought was to leave the baby where she was in order to protect her.

That year, he didn't know where the baby was at first, but he was able to find out that the organization had lost her as well, so he relaxed a bit.

He felt that as long as neither of them knew where she was, it could be considered a forceful truce.

His conjecture was further confirmed when the organization sent him a message to say that if his family ever finds or celebrates the birth of that child, the organization will make sure they all die together.

After sharing this message with his brother-in-law, both of them agreed to the organization's terms, and also began to clean up their act. Slowly, they closed down all their illegal businesses, so that they would no longer have anything to do with the organization in the future.

Still, as the father of the child, Gao Zhipeng could not deny that he was inevitably worried, even if it was just a little.

He felt it was easy for his brother-in-law to say "forget the child," since she was not his, not to mention that he wasn't the one having to face Qiao Mingran's sorrow day in, day out.

So he also tried searching for the child discreetly, but with no success for almost half a year. It was like she had vanished indeed.

Infact, finding her happened as an accident, entirely by chance.

According to one of the detectives he hired, the man said it was just after he was about to stop searching for the day that he managed to overhear a banal story from two women gossiping as they returned from the market.