“No, don’t!” Zhang Mama immediately stopped her husband.

Lao Zhang was puzzled.

Zhang Mama then said, “Have you forgotten? We’ve talked about this before, haven’t we? What did our son say back then? Didn’t he say we were overthinking it? In my opinion, our son is just like that salesgirl’s younger brother—his head is full of his little darling wife now. How could he possibly listen to us? Much less cooperate with our plan!”

Lao Zhang thought about it and realized she was right, so he asked his wife, “Then what do you suggest we do? We can’t just go running around without any target, can we? We’re not immortals—Ningcheng is such a big city; how are we supposed to find her?”

“That’s a good point too. Ningcheng is so huge; we can’t exactly search the whole city for the Liu family!” Zhang Mama thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll figure something out. For now, don’t tell our son. Find an opportunity to take his ID card first. Once we’ve got a clear picture of the situation, we’ll decide whether this marriage can go ahead or not. We only have one son—there’s no way we’re going to just stand by and watch him jump into the fire!”

“Honey, you really are something! You’ve got the makings of a spy! All right, I’ll do whatever you say—I’ll be your most obedient front-line soldier. If you tell me to go east, I won’t go west; if you tell me to crush a dog, I won’t even scold a chicken.” Lao Zhang said with great confidence, gripping his wife’s hand tightly.

Zhang Mama spat at him, “All you ever do is say nice things to sweet-talk me! You don’t even bother to worry more about your own son’s big deal. If he really runs into a scammer, just wait and see how miserable we’ll be in the years to come!”

“Yes, yes, yes—go ahead, tell me what you’re planning. How are you going to get the address of that Liu Qingqing’s family?” Lao Zhang asked with a grin.

Zhang Mama thought for a moment, then said, “Don’t worry about it—whatever I decide, I’ll handle it.”

She was a woman of action. After discussing the matter with her husband, she immediately called Liu Qingqing, saying she wanted to invite her over for dinner to discuss the details of the upcoming wedding.

Liu Qingqing didn’t suspect a thing and readily agreed, “Okay, Auntie. I’ll tell Zhang Yang, and we’ll head home together after work. Don’t tire yourself out—no need to cook too much; just some simple home-style dishes will do. Your cooking is always delicious; I love it all.”

“Great, great, great! You’re such a delightful girl—it’s settled then! Auntie and Uncle will have dinner ready at home and be waiting for you. No breaking the appointment, okay?” Zhang Mama showed no sign of anything unusual on the phone; she still came across as the kind, caring future mother-in-law she’d always been, leaving Liu Qingqing with absolutely no room for doubt.

After hanging up, Zhang Mama hurried out again. When Lao Zhang asked where she was going, she replied mysteriously that she had something to do but refused to tell him what it was. Lao Zhang didn’t bother asking further and went back to reading his newspaper. Once he finished, he picked up his phone and started scrolling.

As luck would have it, while scrolling he stumbled upon the message where Ming Yue had once hit Ming Shuo with a cup, and then followed it with a series of related posts. Although those messages had long since been suppressed under Ming Shuo’s control, the internet’s memory is impossible to completely erase—especially with Ming Yue secretly stoking the flames. There was simply no way for Lao Zhang to avoid seeing them.

By the time his wife returned, looking mysterious as ever, Lao Zhang had already skimmed through most of the hot comments under those posts. He now had a rough idea of the grudges between Ming Yue and Ming Shuo, as well as some background on what the Ming family had gone through in recent years—and even a general understanding of the key figures in the Ming clan. Especially when he saw the three characters “Liu Qinxin” in the comments, his pupils involuntarily contracted, as if something didn’t quite add up.

End of Chapter 195: Counterattack 121