A gust of fierce wind swept past.
The clouds completely obscured the sun, and in an instant, the sky turned gloomy.
Much like Antonio's mood at this very moment.
Anger, resentment, helplessness, and disbelief—a tangled, inseparable mess of emotions ruthlessly battered his reason.
"Where did you get these?"
His voice trembled.
Those eyes, like deep green forest pools, stared fixedly and unblinkingly at Su Ning. His pale face only served to accentuate the beautiful bone structure of his features, resembling a pine or plum blossom battered by wind and frost, making him look all the more moving.
Even knowing the truth of the matter, quite a few people still sighed for him at this moment, and Miss Faust even showed a look of pity.
Perhaps he had his own bitter difficulties...
It had to be said.
Being good-looking definitely had its advantages.
Su Ning keenly caught the shift in the crowd's emotions. It made sense, really. Look at Madam Anna and her children: uniformly pale skin, chins slightly raised—the standard image of aristocratic arrogance.
In contrast, looking at the other side.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. The woman had been crying for so long, yet her eyes weren't swollen. The corners and the areas around her eyes were tinged with a faint red; she looked delicate and had a slender figure.
And let alone Antonio.
If you took this current scene and dropped it exactly as it was into a movie, without even explaining the cause and effect, the audience would be able to tell at a glance who the villain was and who the oppressed protagonist was.
"Is there something wrong with your brain or your ears?" Su Ning sneered mercilessly. "Of course, I bought them with my own money. I originally just wanted to bring some souvenirs back for my family, but I never expected to be so unlucky."
"To think it's a bunch of things meant for a dead man to take into his coffin."
"What terrible luck!"
The subordinates she brought nodded in agreement. Wasn't that the truth? According to custom, the things a dead person loved in life carried dark energy and lingering attachments. If you just took them casually, you'd be haunted. They were meant to be either buried with the deceased or thrown away and burned.
Of course, if they were valuable, people would just ignore that.
But, to their young lady, was there anything in the world that was truly considered valuable?
So it was nothing but bad luck.
"Good thing we ran into Madam Anna, who recognized the origins of these items. Otherwise, carrying these unlucky things thousands of miles back home—even if nothing bad happened, it would still be disgusting enough."
"I was originally just going to throw them away and be done with it."
Su Ning said flatly:
"But Madam Anna, remembering their bond as husband and wife, didn't want Fernand to die with lingering grievances. She wanted to get to the bottom of this. Plus, I was also curious about how these burial items managed to leak out."
"So we can find the person responsible and settle the score."
Hearing the translator dutifully translate these words, the people present couldn't help but click their tongues, especially when they saw the completely matter-of-fact expressions on the faces of that group of Easterners.
They found it simply unbelievable.
Throw them away?
That was way too rich.
On this point, Antonio was not as surprised as they were. God was just unfair like that, choosing to bestow upon a demon like Su Ning wealth that could rival a nation.
What he cared about was the latter sentence.
His heart tightened.
Things had reached a point where he couldn't argue his way out, but the money from selling those things had been invested into that matter. If Su Ning followed the clues and realized something was wrong...
Then it would truly be all over!
Between two evils, one must choose the lesser.
He was just about to grit his teeth, step forward to admit his mistake, and quickly put an end to this matter.
"No need to look for them, the person is right here." Anna raised her eyes to look at Antonio, a flash of deep sorrow and disappointment surprisingly revealing itself in her gaze:
"Why? I originally thought it might be something your mother did secretly, without your knowledge. But looking at it now, you aren't completely ignorant. When Fernand was alive, he doted on you so much. Out of all his children, you were his favorite. He even gave you shares, not to mention plenty of other money and properties. Yet you actually dared to scheme for these burial items. I really don't understand, Antonio, what do you need so much money for?"
As she spoke, she even walked up to the coffin, seemingly quite agitated, and pointed at Fernand, saying:
"In front of your father, explain yourself clearly!"
Su Ning watched all of this with appreciation.
It was like watching a beast at the end of its rope, chased and fleeing blindly straight into a trap the hunter had dug long ago.
Almost there, almost there.
Seeing Madam Anna, who usually cared so much about her image, lose her composure like this, the others couldn't help but be moved. The family elders, in particular, began to speak up sternly one after another:
"That's right, Antonio, why would you do such a thing?"
"To actually lay your hands on burial items just for money."
"As an illegitimate child, Fernand doted on you even more than his legitimate children. You are truly too disappointing. Hell will judge you."
"Despicable morals..."
Antonio lowered his head in a wretched state.
His teeth clenched tightly.
Let them scold him. It was just a slight tarnish on his reputation. As long as he achieved success and fame, no one would ever bring this matter up again. They might even think he was decisive and formidable.
Who would have expected that in the next second.
"Everyone, please stop," Madam Anna actually stopped the others.
She sighed and said:
"I practically watched you grow up. I know you aren't a bad kid. How could you not know how insulting selling his burial items would be to Fernand? Besides, you have money, and Miss Su has money too; you wouldn't do such a thing at all."
"Then there can only be one reason—"
She said with pity:
"It's for your mother. I remember that although Fernand gave her quite a bit of private property, with the extravagance of her food, clothing, and expenses, it probably wouldn't sustain her for long."
"Plus, Miss Su doesn't like her and wouldn't possibly give her money."
"So, she came up with the idea of selling Fernand's burial items for cash, and you found out about it. But it was already too late, so you had to cover it up for her, right?"
These words sounded highly logical, but the crowd found it somewhat hard to believe.
After all.
The love between Fernand and that woman was too famous.
It had remained constant for decades.
It was deeply rooted in people's hearts.
"You're talking nonsense." Sure enough, the woman shook her head frantically and opened her mouth to defend herself. "That's not how it is! Anton, tell them! Actually, it was..."
"Enough!"
Antonio covered his face, speaking extremely fast. "I can't hide it for you anymore, Mother. Apologize. I will apologize to Father with you... It's all because I, as your son, am too useless. I couldn't provide you with the same lifestyle you had when Father was alive. It's my fault."
Hearing him say this as her son, the crowd was pretty much convinced.
The gazes directed at the woman turned to disdain.
Seeing that she was still crying and shaking her head, saying it wasn't like that, they felt even more contempt. Then tell us, what is it like? She couldn't even explain it. Her shamelessness was truly beyond limits.
"Fernand was deceived by her for his entire life," someone couldn't help but say.
"Yes."
"She's too good at acting. Never mind Fernand, even I, a bystander, believed they were true love. Sigh."
"I felt something was wrong a long time ago. When Fernand met her, he was no longer young, and he had a wife and children. How could a normal teenage girl fall in love with a middle-aged foreign man and claim it was true love? It was just for the money."
