Seeing the disbelief on Liang Dahui"s face, a pearly white smile appeared on Sheng Jiaoyang"s face."How is it not possible? Do you think a person like her would care about sisterhood in the face of interests? After all, you were the one who helped to find Zhang Yougui to do all the dirty things. How could she get away if she didn"t put the blame on you?"
The disbelief on Liang Dahui"s face slowly dissipated. She had already begun to trust Sheng Jiaoyang"s words.
As for the others, aside from Shen Zhining, their faces were as though they had just heard a piece of terrible and shocking information. Grandfather Yang was burning with fury after his initial shock, but he could see that Sheng Jiaoyang was carrying out her plan. In order to prevent things from deviating from her plan, he held his tongue.
Meanwhile, the Xu family members were utterly dumbstruck.
“Aunt, when the police come for you later, you must tell your side of the story well. Or else, if they really believed the fault lies with you, not only will you have to be jailed, you would also have to bear this criminal record for life," Sheng Jiaoyang"s finger tapped a few times on the screen of the handphone on her thigh.
Suddenly, the sound of wailing sirens could be heard from outside. Liang Dahui could feel her body giving way when she heard the wailing sirens.
"What the h.e.l.l?! Speak of the devil," Zhang Aiyan muttered.
Aunt Zhang approached the group and said, "A police car has stopped outside and said they are looking for Madam Liang Dahui."
"Aunt, you have only one chance. If you don"t speak the truth, this will be a stain on you for the rest of your life. As people always say, "It"s better for others to die than for me to die." All the best!" Sheng Jiaoyang looked at Liang Dahui with a smile on her face.
Her Chinese was now way better than before, and she could easily integrate sayings and idioms into her sentences.
Xu Qi, who was seated next to Liang Dahui, grabbed ahold of her hand and said, "Mother, don"t be silly. Even if she is your sister, you shouldn"t bear the blame for her. Otherwise, our whole family can"t hold our heads high in front of others. Aiyan and I are getting married soon. Don"t forget, your grandson is in Aiyan"s tummy now."
"Qiqi is right. Dahui, speak the truth for the sake of our family!" Xu Ze concurred.
"Let"s go, I"ll see you guys out. I hope to see you back soon." Sheng Jiaoyang stood up.
Other than Grandfather Yang, An Jing and Shen Zhining, everyone stood up to send them off.
After Liang Dahui got onto the police car, Sheng Jiaoyang stealthily pa.s.sed a recording pen about the length of a finger long to the person in the pa.s.senger seat and said, "Officer Zhao, I hope that you can investigate this matter thoroughly and return justice to those who had been wrongly accused."
"Definitely," nodded Officer Zhao. He was one of the officers involved in the suicide case of the pregnant woman jumping off the building.
In the ears of the Xu family members, Sheng Jiaoyang was speaking up for Liang Dahui, and even Liang Dahui herself thought so. Hence, the way she looked at Sheng Jiaoyang was different from before.
In the house, Grandfather Yang waited for everyone to leave before he looked at Shen Zhining and said, "Jiaojiao is still very bothered about being wronged all those years ago. Although we have been speculating that the matter has something to do with that woman, we have never been able to find any evidence. Who would"ve expected that we would suddenly find a lead now."
Shen Zhining had been keeping quiet the whole time, and a smiling glint could now be seen in his eyes. His little girl had become an independent woman who could clear her tarnished name without the help of others. Watching her lay out the trap step-by-step, and then guiding Liang Dahui to jump into it, gave him a sense of pride.
From the planning to the execution, Shen Zhining wasn"t involved at all, and all of it was carried out solely by Sheng Jiaoyang. Since the beginning, he was only a bystander; not only because she didn"t ask for his help, but also because he wanted to see what she was capable of, and how well she would execute the plan.
Indeed, reality had proven that the cute fluffy little rabbit then had morphed into a cunning sly fox now.
Meanwhile, in a certain apartment unit, Liang Xiaohui, who was putting on makeup, wouldn"t know about the turn of events. Just as she was formulating a plan to remove the stone that hindered her daughter"s way, the "thorn in her flesh" had already begun to take action.
Hence, when Liang Xiaohui received the court subpoena, she was stupefied.
After knowing the matter she was being summoned to court for, Liang Xiaohui felt a sense of betrayal. She called Liang Dahui, but the latter did not pick up the call.
Liang Xiaohui sat on the sofa in a daze. A long moment later, she suddenly let out a hysterical scream, and in her frenzied state, she smashed her things onto the floor.
Sheng s.h.i.+yun was shooting an advertis.e.m.e.nt and had been away from home for two days. By the time she knew of the matter, Liang Xiaohui had already been detained.
In the past, the reason why Sheng Jiaoyang wasn"t detained or charged when she was accused of being the perpetrator was primarily because she was still a minor. On top of that, Grandfather Yang pulled some strings and gave a large compensation package to the pregnant woman"s family to mitigate the whole incident. Hence, even though Sheng Jiaoyang was condemned by the public, she didn"t receive any legal repercussions.
But circ.u.mstances were different now. Liang Xiaohui was an adult, and under the pressure of the police interrogation, Liang Dahui, Zhang Yougui, and the others no longer minced their words. They revealed the truth of the case and even retrieved some evidence that only they would know of. With solid evidence, they were able to prove that though the pregnant woman survived the ordeal, it was Liang Xiaohui"s act of sending thugs to threaten the pregnant woman that was the immediate trigger that led to the pregnant woman jumping off the building. Hence, Liang Xiaohui was charged with intentional a.s.sault.
Upon finding out that Liang Xiaohui was detained, Sheng s.h.i.+yun felt as though the sky fell down. Her mother, the one who usually advised her, was locked up. It was a bolt that came out of the blue!
Sheng s.h.i.+yun hurriedly hired a defence lawyer for Liang Xiaohui. However, after the lawyer visited Liang Xiaohui in the cell, he told Sheng s.h.i.+yun that there was no way Liang Xiaohui would be able to get away from this, and that she was certainly going to jail. Not only did Liang Xiaohui have to go to jail, she even had to pay compensation to "Sheng Jiaoyang" for tarnis.h.i.+ng her reputation. As "Sheng Jiaoyang" had pa.s.sed away, the compensation will be at the discretion of her guardian, Yang Wenting.
And in this matter, Liang Dahui had pushed all the blame onto Liang Xiaohui, and hence she wasn"t charged.
Looking at the mess in the room, Sheng s.h.i.+yun could imagine the crazed state her mother was in at that point in time.
Before she could think of a solution to get Liang Xiaohui out of the cell, someone from the bank came knocking on the door and informed her that the apartment had been mortgaged to the bank, and that she could no longer live there. If she couldn"t pay the one million RMB to Grandfather Yang for the damage caused to Sheng Jiaoyang"s reputation, the bank would put the apartment up for auction.
Sheng s.h.i.+yun deeply felt the malevolence of the heavens. Initially, she thought that she was close to gaining happiness after all her suffering. She thought that the tables were going to be turned, and that she could soon have Xu Jiaojiao under her feet. But now, everything had changed.
At this moment, she felt more despair than she was feeling when Sheng Xun drove them out of the house. Her pillar of support, her advisor, had been locked up. Even her place of residence had been taken away; she was now a homeless street wanderer.
Under such circ.u.mstances, the first person Sheng s.h.i.+yun thought of was Lin Yu.
And indeed, she called Lin Yu and sobbed her heart out.
Lin Yu, the good samaritan, felt his heart softened as he heard her cries and asked where she was and said he would go and find her.
At this moment, Sheng s.h.i.+yun had already checked into a hotel.
The moment Sheng s.h.i.+yun heard the knocking on the door, she hurriedly rushed to the door and opened it. When she saw Lin Yu, she threw herself into his arms and started bawling her eyes out.
"Lin Yu, my mother has been arrested," wailed Sheng s.h.i.+yun.
Lin Yu was stunned for a split second, "For what?"
Sheng s.h.i.+yun didn"t answer the question as she didn"t know what she should say. Should I tell him the truth? What would Lin Yu think of my mother and I then?
Hence, she continued to bawl as though she couldn"t control her emotions.
Lin Yu didn"t know about the course of events, and hence he didn"t say much to comfort her. He only asked Sheng s.h.i.+yun, "Why didn"t you go home?"
"Our house has been mortgaged to the bank, and we can"t stay in it anymore," Sheng s.h.i.+yun choked up.
Lin Yu was a little startled. He was completely unaware of what was going on, and he was confused as to why Sheng s.h.i.+yun"s place of residence would be mortgaged to the bank. But, he still gently consoled Sheng s.h.i.+yun and asked if there was anything that she needed help with.
Sheng s.h.i.+yun wanted to speak but stopped on second thought.
"Tell me, I"ll help you if I can," said Lin Yu.
Sheng s.h.i.+yun hurriedly replied, "The bank said I only have to give them one million, but I don"t have so much money."
Lin Yu nodded, "Alright, I will give you the money."
Sheng s.h.i.+yun smiled through her tears, hugged Lin Yu, and gratefully said, "Lin Yu, you are still the best."
"Can you tell me what happened? Why was Aunt Xiaohui arrested? Why was your apartment mortgaged to the bank?" Lin Yu questioned.
When Sheng s.h.i.+yun heard how adamant Lin Yu was in getting to the bottom of the matter, she pondered for a while and adjusted her emotions before she said something that was partly true and partly false. "Lin Yu, I once told you that my elder sister paid someone to threaten my Father"s mistress. Under her instigation, the pregnant mistress tried to commit suicide by jumping off a building. I don"t know what happened, but now they say that my mother is the main perpetrator. Lin Yu, my mother is really innocent, you must believe me!"
Lin Yu raised an eyebrow slightly and continued pressing further, "It has been so many years, why was it suddenly brought up again, and why was the blame suddenly pushed to your mother?"
Sheng s.h.i.+yun parted her mouth, before biting down on her lower lip and said, "My elder sister"s grandfather had a hand in this. He was the one who wanted that one million Yuan."
"Jiaoyang"s grandfather?" Lin Yu was caught by surprise.
"Yes, he wanted that one million RMB I was going to borrow from you. He said it was some compensation for the damage to my elder sister"s reputation."
"Compensation for the damage to her reputation? Does that mean that Jiaoyang"s tarnished name has been cleared?" Lin Yu"s eyes brightened up. He had heard of the malicious story about Sheng Jiaoyang hiring thugs to threaten the pregnant mistress of her father, causing the latter to commit suicide by jumping off a building. That time, although he wanted to speak up for Sheng Jiaoyang, he had no evidence to clear her name and hence kept silent.
"I don"t know what my elder sister"s grandfather did. Not only did he push the blame onto my mother, he even demanded compensation. Lin Yu, why don"t I go kneel before him and beg him to let me and my mother off, and give us a chance to live? Elder Sister"s death has nothing to do with us, so why is he repeatedly making things hard for me and my mother!" Sheng s.h.i.+yun"s words mingled with her sobs.
Lin Yu found himself in an awkward position. *I know Jiaoyang"s grandfather, he"s a wise old man. He wouldn"t shoot an arrow without aiming, would he?"
Lin Yu felt a pounding headache as he looked at Sheng s.h.i.+yun, who was bawling her eyes out. Suddenly, he was reminded that Xu Jiaojiao, who was the victim in this incident, would know all of the details. Hence, he decided to go and ask her in person.Previous ChapterNext Chapter