Just when Sheng s.h.i.+yun was struggling to come up with what to say, Mo Lan parted her lips unexpectedly."You have a grudge with Xu Jiaojiao?"
When she heard Mo Lan"s question, an idea sprang up in Sheng s.h.i.+yun"s mind and she replied, "Yeah, Sister Mo Lan, you have no idea, but Xu Jiaojiao is actually my father"s illegitimate daughter. Now that my father suffers from cancer and is most probably never coming around, she suddenly appeared. She wants to s.n.a.t.c.h everything that was originally mine!"
"Still, you shouldn"t resort to such means," Mo Lan said, but her words belied the indifference on her face.
When she saw that Mo Lan"s reaction was not very intense or agitated, Sheng s.h.i.+yun knew that she could turn the tables around. She adjusted her emotions, and using a voice thick with resentment, she exclaimed, "Because of Xu Jiaojiao, my father chased my mother and I out of the house. We have a home, but we can"t return to it. I can"t wait for her to just drop dead!"
Mo Lan looked at Sheng s.h.i.+yun in astonishment. "You said she caused you and your mother to be chased out of the house? Didn"t you say that she was just an illegitimate daughter?"
"I don"t know what tricks she used. After she came to our house and kicked up a fuss, my father insisted on divorcing my mother and even chased us out." At this point, Sheng s.h.i.+yun even had tears in her eyes.
"Don"t tell me that her mother is your father"s true love? But didn"t her mother get into a second marriage?"
Sheng s.h.i.+yun halted her whimpering act briefly. She hadn"t expected Mo Lan to be so clear about Xu Jiaojiao"s personal life. She thought for a moment and responded, "Right after that, my father insisted that he wanted to divorce my mother."
Instantly, the plot of an absurd family drama appeared in Mo Lan"s head. As she looked at Sheng s.h.i.+yun, who was bitterly crying, she spoke with a hint of sympathy, "No matter how much you hate Xu Jiaojiao, it"s still not that nice to use such a method to take revenge on her. Instead, you should beat her at the thing she feels the most proud and pleased about, before trampling her under your foot."
"The thing she feels the most proud about?" Sheng s.h.i.+yun lifted her head to look at Mo Lan, "Sister Mo Lan, what do you mean?"
"She is at the prime of her career and has a blissful love life. If you can get your revenge on her from these angles, not only can you deal a huge blow to her, you also won"t be breaking any laws."
Sheng s.h.i.+yun stared at Mo Lan with surprise, "Sister Mo Lan, why are you…"
Could it be that Mo Lan holds a grudge against Xu Jiaojiao as well? Sheng s.h.i.+yun speculated in her heart.
Mo Lan flashed a slight smile and stated, "I just can"t stand seeing her seduce people around her despite already having a boyfriend."
Sheng s.h.i.+yun rolled her eyes and responded as though they were allies that shared their hatred against a common enemy, "She"s the best at seducing men. Even my childhood sweetheart is on her side."
Mo Lan looked at Sheng s.h.i.+yun sympathetically and observed her face in detail before complimenting, "Actually, you look much prettier than her."
"But I don"t have her means. She has a strong backing now. She doesn"t need to strive hard to easily get all the good resources that others could only dream about getting."
"Then why don"t you go find somebody to back you up?"
"It"s not so easy to find a reliable backing." Otherwise, everyone would have already found one. Sheng s.h.i.+yun muttered in her heart.
"That"s true too. All the best to you then." The expression on Mo Lan"s face faded away, and she headed to wash her hands, as if she was signalling that she didn"t want to engage in further conversation.
Suddenly, another scene appeared in Sheng s.h.i.+yun"s mind. Previously, at the hospital, Xu Jiaojiao"s boyfriend was stunned for a split second when he saw me. After that, his gaze fell on my face a few times. At this thought, her heart palpitated fasted, and an idea fostered in her mind.
Meanwhile, Sheng Jiaoyang, accompanied by Shen Zhining, had already arrived at the police station.
With video evidence, it was evident that the five men were at fault for trying to find trouble with them. Though the five men were severely beaten up, they didn"t lose any limbs, and appeared to have only suffered superficial injuries. Hence, the people on Xu Jiaojiao"s side who retaliated were considered to have acted in justifiable defence, and not involuntary a.s.sault.
Sheng Jiaoyang didn"t want to let the matter off so easily. She made a police report and requested the police to investigate thoroughly and uncover the mastermind behind the incident. Hence, the police filed the case and started on the investigation. Indeed, they managed to discover some leads.
These five men were not good citizens and had a criminal history.
Hence, the police checked their cell phones, and they found two suspicious numbers in one of them. One of the numbers, which was also the most recently dialled number, was no longer in use. When they dialled the other number, a woman picked up. The user of this particular cell phone didn"t have the time to delete the call records before he had to turn his phone over to the police. Otherwise, the police couldn"t have managed to find this number so easily.
But Sheng Jiaoyang"s a.s.sault had nothing much to do with this number, as the owner of this number didn"t instruct those hooligans to do it.
"Liang Dahui?" Sheng Jiaoyang was extremely shocked when the police informed her of the ident.i.ty of the woman who had interacted with the hooligans.
It never crossed her mind that Liang Dahui actually knew these people.
Wait, Liang Dahui and Liang Xiaohui are sisters.
Suddenly, it dawned on Sheng Jiaoyang who the mastermind of this incident was.
"Eh? These few people were previously involved in a murder case. Eleven years ago, a pregnant woman committed suicide by jumping from a building because they threatened the woman to abort her child," the young police officer, who was searching for information, said in surprise.
The middle-aged policeman beside him then said, "Oh, that incident."
"Uncle Zhao, you know about that incident? Oh, I forgot that you"ve been here for 15 years already."
Sheng Jiaoyang, who was seated before the office desk, froze for a split second. The words "eleven years ago, a pregnant woman committed suicide by jumping from a building" reminded her of some things from the past.
"Are you talking about the incident from eleven years ago, where a pregnant woman jumped off a building in Ming Hui District?" Sheng Jiaoyang asked.
The young officer looked at her inquisitively, "You know about it too?"
"Did they also claim that a 10-year-old girl paid them to do it?" Sheng Jiaoyang pressed further.
The older officer looked at her rather unexpectedly and asked in a probing manner, "You should"ve been very young then, how do you know about this?"
The hand holding onto Sheng Jiaoyang got tighter, sending her a reminder to be alert. She turned to look at Shen Zhining beside her, recomposed herself, and replied, "This story had previously appeared on the news, and I remembered it till this day because I found it unbelievable."
"It"s really a pity. The woman was almost due, and yet such a thing happened," the old officer sighed.
"A ten-year-old girl already knows how to hire thugs. This is really… tsk tsk. Now that she is all grown up, won"t she become a more vicious person?" The young officer threw out this rhetorical question.
"Isn"t there no proof that the girl hired them?" Sheng Jiaoyang blurted out.
The old officer took another glance at her and answered, "Everyone insisted that she was the one who instructed them. That"s the evidence."
Sheng Jiaoyang shut her mouth and said no more.
When they got out of the police station, Sheng Jiaoyang lost control of her emotions.
"I knew it was her!" Sheng Jiaoyang spat out through her gritted teeth.
Shen Zhining held her in his arms and pacified her, "I will help you get back at them."
"I was stupid enough then to fall into the trap that they set for me, and even till death, I was still wronged. Hah, vicious? Now, I really want to be vicious and kill them all!" Sheng Jiaoyang couldn"t calm the emotions in her. The thought of her being wronged at that time made her want to skin Liang Xiaohui alive.
"You were still young then, and you were also a lone fighter. It"s different now, you can slowly toy them to their death."
Shen Zhining was very clear. Rather than helping Sheng Jiaoyang get back at them, it was better for her to do it herself, as nothing tasted sweeter than enacting revenge on your enemies with your own hands.
"I didn"t know that they were connected, but now that I do, I won"t let them off the hook," Sheng Jiaoyang scorned.
Shen Zhining raised his hand and caressed her cheek, "Don"t rush it, take your time. There"s no fun if they just drop dead," said Shen Zhining.
Sheng Jiaoyang lifted her head to look at Shen Zhining, and she could see his overflowing support for her from his gaze. Instantly, she felt overwhelmed by a sense of joy at having found a person to rely on. Only now did she realize that she was no longer afraid of Shen Zhining"s means of doing things, because she was slowly becoming like him.
She didn"t see anything wrong with it. After all, she wasn"t targeting the people around her, but those who disgusted her. She was just ridding this world of those people with despicable thoughts. What"s wrong with that?
"Come, let"s go home and rest." Shen Zhining wrapped her coat around her tightly and entered the car with her.
The next day, Sheng Jiaoyang asked for Xu Qing and her husband to return.
"Jiaojiao, what"s the matter?" Xu Qing asked the moment she hurried back.
"Sit down first. Let"s have a family meeting," Sheng Jiaoyang said with a solemn look.
Xu Qing grabbed the hem of Li Weiqi"s clothes, with anxiety written on her face. She whispered to Li Weiqi, "What"s wrong with Jiaojiao?"
"We"ll find out," Li Weiqi pacified Xu Qing. He came together with Xu Qing. If Xu Qing didn"t know what happened to her own daughter, how would he, the stepfather know?
Other than Xiao An, who had gone to school, the rest of the family members had all arrived. This included Shen Zhining, a future family member.
"Something happened last night," Sheng Jiaoyang explained.
As Sheng Jiaoyang and Shen Zhining came back after midnight, Grandfather Yang had already turned in for the night and didn"t know what had happened.
"What happened? From Sheng Jiaoyang"s solemn expression, Grandfather Yang knew that this was no small matter.
"Someone hired thugs to try to disfigure me."
"What?!" Xu Qing turned pale in fright.
Grandfather Yang"s brows were tightly furrowed, and he raged loudly, "Which b.a.s.t.a.r.d was it? This won"t do. You"ll have to have a few extra bodyguards."
Previously, because times were peaceful, and because Sheng Jiaoyang found it too spectacular and attention-seeking with so many people behind her, she had her bodyguards reduced to just two of them.
This time, Sheng Jiaoyang didn"t oppose what Grandfather Yang said. She was also quite startled. If Shen Zhining hadn"t appeared in time, she would most likely have been disfigured last night.
"Mother," Sheng Jiaoyang looked at Xu Qing, "If one day, Uncle"s family and I became enemies, will you stand on my side or his?"
Xu Qing was stunned. She was bewildered by her daughter"s question.
"Why would you guys become enemies?" Xu Qing was puzzled.
Sheng Jiaoyang"s eyes narrowed into slits. She wasn"t sure if Liang Dahui"s husband, Xu Ze was also aware of what happened that year, or if he might even be involved in it. If he was, then as sorry as she was, she wouldn"t let him off just because they were relatives now.
"Don"t ask why and just answer the question," Sheng Jiaoyang looked at Xu Qing.Previous ChapterNext Chapter