Yu Xiaxing ran straight over and grabbed Huo Mian’s suitcase.
Planning to avoid a confrontation, Huo Mian forced a faint smile. “Of course not. I had nothing to do with those scams. I only returned to the country recently—you know that. I just felt there was nothing more I could help with here, so I decided to leave first.”
Yu Xiaxing said, “Is that so? What about spreading rumors about your classmates? There are still plenty of people waiting to sue you. If you flee abroad, where are they supposed to go to demand compensation for emotional distress?”
Huo Mian’s eyes reddened again. “Yu Xiaxing, the Huo family has helped the Yu family before! Don’t drive us into the ground like this. Otherwise, your grandfather’s reputation for repaying kindness will be ruined!”
Yu Xiaxing thought about it for a moment.
Considering Huo Mian’s behavior over all these years… Whenever she liked someone, she destroyed them.
Qin Mei had been teaching her daughter this way for so long. Could it be that she had used the same tactic herself in the past?
Yu Xiaxing said, “When your father returned from Nanyang back then, my grandfather clearly hired specialists for him and bought him the best medicine available at the time.”
“That illness from Nanyang was reported in the news back then. You can still find the reports online. It wasn’t actually that serious. Your father had access to the best medical care, yet he still never recovered…”
Huo Mian’s expression darkened. “What are you implying?”
Yu Xiaxing boldly put forward a theory. “Your mother destroys anyone she wants to keep all to herself. Back then, with my grandfather’s help, your father became a rising star in Pucheng, which made your mother feel threatened. Could she have interfered with his treatment and switched his medication?”
A flash of panic crossed Huo Mian’s eyes, and she immediately denied it. “Stop making things up! It happened so many years ago. Do you have any evidence?”
Yu Zhining had also walked over. “Because my grandfather cared deeply about your father, he had people preserve your father’s medical records from back then. I seem to remember that there were also some blood samples kept for long-term storage… Things that couldn’t be detected by medical science at the time might not escape detection with today’s technology.”
Huo Mian stared at Yu Zhining in disappointment, as if she were seeing him clearly for the first time.
“Yu Zhining, I’m already in this state, and you still want to kick me while I’m down? I’ve finally seen how cold-blooded you are!”
“I’m telling you, from this day forward, I will never love you again!”
Yu Zhining let out a quiet sigh of relief. “Thanks for letting me off.”
Yu Xiaxing couldn’t hold back her laughter.
Huo Mian was provoked again. “What are you laughing at? Yu Xiaxing, don’t you think you’re truly pathetic?”
Yu Xiaxing humbly asked, “And where, exactly, am I pathetic?”
Huo Mian stared straight at her. “Because no one in this world will ever choose you without hesitation. You aren’t your parents’ only child. Your brothers and sisters may have a good relationship with you, but they also have good relationships with other people.”
“But I do have that. I have a mother who spends her entire life planning everything for me.”
“You will never have the kind of love I possess.”
“Unique, passionate, all-consuming love.”
After hearing this, Yu Zheng felt that Huo Mian had run out of options and had begun spouting nonsense.
How could words like that possibly hurt his little sister?
How could his sister lack a sense of security when it came to family affection?
But when he lowered his head, he saw that his sister’s gaze had turned dark and heavy, as if it were filled with intense negative emotions…
Yu Zheng suddenly felt uneasy. It seemed that his sister really did have some hidden fear he knew nothing about…
He hurriedly comforted her. “Don’t listen to her nonsense. Anyone who gets involved with that kind of love is doomed.”
Yu Xiaxing suddenly smiled and said to Huo Mian, “You’re right. I can’t have the kind of unique and passionate love your mother gives you. But it doesn’t matter. You’re about to lose it too, aren’t you?”
Huo Mian said, “What?”
Yu Xiaxing continued, “Because your mother is going to marry Professor Zhong. She has a new lover now, so her love has been divided.”
Huo Mian laughed. “What are you talking about? Everything my mother has done all these years has been for me. She’s marrying Professor Zhong to secure a future of wealth and glory for me. Otherwise, who would want to marry an old man with cancer?”
Yu Xiaxing nodded.
Then, in the next second, she suddenly took out her phone and said to the person on the other end, “Professor Zhong, you heard that, right?”
“In their eyes, you’re nothing more than an old man with cancer. She only approached you to secure a future for her daughter.”
Huo Mian instinctively glanced at the screen of her phone.
Professor Zhong… was on a call.
Huo Mian’s face instantly turned as white as a corpse that had been dead for three days. “Yu Xiaxing! When did you make that call?”
—
In the conference room.
When Professor Zhong answered the call, he immediately turned on the speakerphone.
Now that he had heard everything, he felt utterly exhausted and desolate.
When Qin Mei had approached him, she had said that she understood his ideals and beliefs.
So when they discussed getting married, he had been willing to leave a large sum of money to the mother and daughter, ensuring that they would have food, clothing, and a secure life after his death.
But he had never expected that they saw him as nothing more than a tool.
The elderly people who had been gathered together, along with their children, had heard everything as well.
“Mom, didn’t you keep telling me that Huo Mian could be hit and insulted without ever fighting back? Do you understand now?”
“That mother and daughter were putting on an act together to deceive you! They love each other very much!”
“And why were you making us become like Huo Mian—children who never fight back against anything? Times have changed. Does that mean your understanding of things is automatically correct?”
“And you kept using Huo Mian as the example to criticize us…”
—
By the lotus pond.
Huo Mian was utterly distraught.
She had no idea what to do now.
When her mother had been taken away by the police, Qin Mei had secretly comforted her.
“Your mother will be fine. I wasn’t the one who organized everything in the first place, and Professor Zhong loves me deeply. He’ll definitely pay to settle this for me.”
“But there may be a lot of news coverage about this in the days ahead. Go abroad and lie low for a while so you won’t have to face the public backlash.”
“Once the attention dies down, your mother will probably be released too. You can come back then.”
…But now she had destroyed her mother’s only way out!
Yu Xiaxing came over to comfort her. “It’s all right, don’t be sad. Even though your mother can no longer protect you, the ‘Heaven Umbrella’ she made in prison can still shield you from the storm!”
