Battered Young Miss

That was Madam Hong getting ready to leave for the burial of the Zhang heiress, even though she couldn"t stand the "late" heiress
She, her husband and children had to make it a point of duty to attend to avoid heavy criticism from their circle of friends and the media. The dress code was black and not the usual white, this was to mark a clear distinction between the rich and poor during a funeral ceremony. At the entrance into the deceased home, pins made from artificial lillies and a arm band of black to be worn on the right arm of those who are paying their paying their respects to the Zhang heiress.

"Why all the shouting, it"s too early for that, what is the problem?!"

President Hong was not in the least bit happy that his wife was making a ruckus so early in the morning, they were already running late, it was seven-fifteen and they hadn"t even left for the home of the Zhang heiress.

"See that crazy B**ch! Couldn"t even set her house in order before dying!"

"Mom! Stop saying that! She just died, we need to show respect to the dead by not saying anything bad about them, especially on the day of burial. What if she doesn"t make it to the afterlife because of all the bad things people are saying about her, please just for today, let us give her the respect she deserves."

Hong Ruolan and Lian were both walking into the living room when they heard the angry outburst.

"Ruolan!Ruolan!Ruolan!Ruolan!Ruolan! How many times did I call you?!"

"Five..times mom."

"Is your name now Zhang?"

"No mom, but.."

"Shus.h.!.+ You spineless child! Why do you always have to put your head into adults talk? Do you have another mother somewhere else?!"

"No mom, I just feel that we need to honor the dead."

"See this....Oh! You make me regret having you as my child! I must have lived wrongly in my past life! Why..."

Her husband finally snapped, his patience with his wife"s winning had already tested his limits to the maximum.

"What is the matter?! Woman! If you have something to say to me spit it out, why all the running around in circles to get your point across?! Ruolan! You and Lian, go wait by the car, I and your mom have serious discussions to do!"

A bewildering look came on the face of Madam Hong, not knowing what to make of her husband"s attack at what she thought was a scandalous behavior of the Zhang heiress.

Lian sent a gentle look at his sister, before patted on the back to say, "Let"s go RuRu."

The childish pet name was something that was long forgotten, he hadn"t addressed his "little sister" in such fas.h.i.+on in close to ten years. That caused a tiny smile to appear on Ruolan"s worried face, looking unhappy by her mother"s behavior.

"Okay, you lead the way."

Infusing a lighter tone in her voice to appear in a way unaffected, the two walked closely together out of the house to the running dark car outside.

"Liena! What is the matter with you? Did our daughter have to make you, who should be wise beyond your years, that bad mouthing the dead is a terrible thing to do, not on this day! I"ve almost had it with your moods!"

"W....hat! I had my reasons for saying that! If you could just look at the morning news, then you will know that I"m not some crazy woman sprouting rubbis.h.!.+"

The veins on Madam Hong"s neck stood out from the white gown suit she wore, there was no makeup, nor jewelry. To mark that it was a period of mourning the dead. Her husband was completely in black suits. The Hong family wrote the same style of dressing only differing in size and height. The b.u.t.tom red headline on the screen read, "Secret son of the late heiress to the Zhang Dyansty revealed"

Hong Yongrui didn"t see the content of the end of the screen, provably because it was too small for him to read from where he was, as he happened to be walking from the area of the wine cellar, which was far apart from the general area leading to the rooms upstairs, from where Ruolan and Lian were coming out from about the same time.

"It could just be a publicity stunt or someone looking at making a quick cash with Miss Zhang"s death."

The President of Hongsheng Holdings abruptly dismissed his wife"s irrational claim.

"I wouldn"t put it pa.s.s her to do that, how is it possible that she wasn"t married, had no child? You want me to believe that?"

"This is not the first time that people will try to say they are the child or wife of a wealthy man. In this case, it doesn"t make sense that someone else is claiming that she has a secret child! It may be true that she was never much in the limelight for a quite some time before the huge scandal about extortion, but come on! A secret child is just not possible! Let"s not drag this longer than necessary. We are already thirty minutes late to the funeral ceremony!"

"Just you wait, you will see that the child is truly hers. I bet they look alike!"

"Liena, let"s move on that topic. Let"s go!"

"Okay."

Madam Hong gave a curt reply not matching her pace with those of her husband"s, as she briskly walked with a dark clutch purse ahead to where the car that will take them to Zhang villa was parked.

The maids and butlers in the room had no expression on, so used were they to Madam Hong"s tirade that it was like nothing unusual to them. When they saw that the couple had finally reached a mid point, they gave a respectful curtsy that lasted until when they left the house and could no longer hear the sound of close doors and moving car.