Reborn as a Fake Heiress Marrying the Tycoon novel Chapter 1197

Chapter 1197: Childless

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Miao had barely managed to pacify Li Li before boarding the creaky long-distance bus back to the city. She sat stiffly in her seat, her brows drawn so tightly together she looked like she might develop permanent frown lines.

Brushing Li Li off with vague promises was simply not going to cut it—money was the only solution. Cold, hard cash. Only once she handed Li Li enough to disappear—at least temporarily—could she breathe a little easier.

Whether that woman would return again in the future was another question, but by then, Li Li would have lost any real leverage.

The real problem? Where on earth was she supposed to get the money?

She was already down to her last few bills. Traveling back and forth between the city and the countryside now meant suffering the indignity of the public bus. And when she inevitably ran into someone she knew, she had to paste on a bright smile and pretend she was just "reconnecting with the common folk."

Oh, how she swallowed that bitter shame. Poverty was simply unbearable.

She thought of Zhang Mei—her own mother—who probably still had a hidden stash of rainy-day savings. But ever since that ill-fated investment disaster, Zhang Mei had made it painfully clear: she would not give Lin Miao another cent. The trust was gone. The love of a mother might still flicker in her heart, but that wouldn’t hold out forever.

As for Gu Shan—well, he was the most pragmatic of them all. Ruthlessly so. He had more than once grumbled that he regretted ever choosing Lin Miao over Gu Zi. The idea of asking him for help was laughable.

But then, like a sudden flash of light through a cracked window, Lin Miao remembered: there was still money. Hidden money.

In the cabinet of Gu Shan’s study, tucked away like some guilty secret, was a stash of 3,000 yuan. Last time, she had quietly taken 1,000 from it to help Lin Cheng in a moment of crisis. She had foolishly believed that the gesture would earn her gratitude from the Lin family, perhaps mend the strained ties. But of course, Li Hua had shut the door on that fantasy, rejecting her overture and cutting off any hope of reconciliation.

Now? Lin Miao had given up on the Lin family entirely. She was in survival mode.

Li Li needed to go—immediately. If the police caught wind of Li Li’s existence and started asking questions, Lin Miao would be utterly ruined. Li Li had to disappear before that could happen. And crucially, Li Li could never find out about the plan Lin Miao was quietly crafting—to shift the blame entirely onto Gu Shan and Zhang Mei.

Because Li Li, for all her volatility, had a mother’s instinct. She was laser-focused on securing her son’s future—getting him born into the right class, as a child of the compound elite. There was no way she would sit back and let Gu Shan take the fall. If Gu Shan went down, so would her meticulously laid plans for her son’s glorious ascent.

That was why Lin Miao would wait. Wait until Li Li had left, and then... act.

The money? It would have to be that hidden 3,000 yuan. Gu Shan wouldn’t be needing it anytime soon. And frankly, giving it to Li Li was a form of karmic irony—after all, it would end up feeding the very love child Gu Shan had fathered in secret.