Chapter 337: Chapter 337: Femme Fatale
"Get out? Dad, do you have any idea what you’re saying? I’m Qingtong, your daughter! How can you throw us out?"
Mu Qingtong stared at her father in disbelief. He usually had a short temper, but he had never stopped her from coming home before.
"You come in here spouting nonsense. What’s wrong with me throwing you out?"
Mr. Mu’s voice was still laced with anger. His sharp eyes fixed on his biological daughter, as if he wanted to eat her alive.
"Dad, what do you mean I’m spouting nonsense? I heard some country bumpkin showed up, and both you and Ziquan..."
Mu Qingtong argued, complaining tearfully, but her father impatiently cut her off before she could finish.
"I’m not senile yet! You don’t understand a thing, and you come in here running your mouth. Get out now."
Mr. Mu pointed a finger at the door and snapped. He was doing it for her own good; if his daughter said another word, he wasn’t sure he could stop himself from hitting her.
"Dad... have you been bewitched by that vixen, too? Has she clouded your..."
"Get out! Get out now, Qingtong! Where are your manners?"
Furious, Mr. Mu cut his daughter off before she could say anything uglier, slamming his palm on the coffee table with a sharp CRACK.
He was so enraged by his daughter’s foolishness that he staggered, and would have fallen to the floor if an attendant hadn’t caught him in time.
’If this foolish daughter of mine offends Jiaojiao, what future will the Mu Family have?!’
Old Mu knew his daughter had been led astray by her own adoptive mother. Otherwise, she would never act so rashly, unable to tell right from wrong.
The behavior of his adoptive granddaughter made Old Mu’s heart ache with indignation. He shot a vicious glare at Wang Yuting, who stood beside his daughter.
Terrified by her father’s unprecedented rage, Mu Qingtong trembled and didn’t dare lift her head. She reached to pull her adopted daughter away so they could leave.
But Wang Yuting, standing beside her, didn’t budge. In her heart, she despised her adoptive mother’s incompetence.
’Always so weak and timid.’ She had truly always loathed her adoptive mother.
’I’m obviously so much stronger than her, so much smarter, and so much prettier. Why should I have to swallow my pride and live so meekly?’
’I’ve wanted to marry Mu Ziquan since I was fifteen. Then I would be the matriarch of the Mu Family. Would I still have to fear this stupid woman?’
’But six years have passed, and I still haven’t married Mu Ziquan. I haven’t even had a chance to get close to him, not even after he was crippled.’
’I have to rely on this useless adoptive mother just for a chance to see him, so I have no choice but to suck up to her.’
’My adoptive mother may be an idiot, but she was born lucky—born into the Mu Family, with a powerful father like Old Man Mu and an outstanding nephew.’
’Thanks to Old Man Mu’s help, my adoptive father and two older brothers hold high-ranking official positions, so they all spoil that stupid woman rotten.’
’Fools really do have all the luck.’ The more Wang Yuting thought about it, the more unwilling she was to leave just like that. She had to stay and drive this vixen away.
Seeing how her grandfather was protecting the "vixen," and especially how her cold-blooded cousin was hiding in his room and refusing to come out...
Wang Yuting’s pretty face contorted with fury, but her expression showed none of it.
Instead, she feigned terror, shrinking back and trembling like a wounded little bunny.
She said in a soft, fragile voice, "Grandfather, why are you so angry with Mom? If you don’t tell her, how will she ever understand?"
"Fine. Then let me ask you this, Qingtong. Why did you walk in here and call my honored guest a ’country bumpkin’? Do you know who she is? Where did you get such false information?"
Mu Qingtong: ...
’How was I supposed to know?’
She had been at work when her adopted daughter rushed to her office, claiming there was a "country vixen" at her grandfather’s house.
Alarmed, she had rushed over at once. In the back of her mind, Ziquan belonged to her Yuting, and no one was allowed to steal him away.
But she knew her father disliked Yuting, so she didn’t dare tell the truth.
Mu Qingtong herself didn’t know when her father had started to dislike her sweet, well-behaved adopted daughter.
Everyone had been quite fond of Yuting when she was a child. After Mu Qingtong’s own daughter died at age three, her husband, seeing her overcome with grief, had adopted Wang Yuting.
It was this sensible, well-behaved girl who had helped her through that painful period. Yuting wanted to marry Ziquan, and Mu Qingtong was happy to make their family ties even closer.
Mu Qingtong stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room, lips trembling, unable to come up with an answer.
Finally, she could only turn and glare resentfully at Gu Jiaojiao. "I’ve never seen you before, so you must be from the countryside! What are your motives for getting close to my father?"
"There are plenty of people you’ve never met. Does that make them all from the countryside? What’s your problem with people from the countryside? Did they eat your family’s rice?"
Gu Jiaojiao, who had been sipping her water, immediately retorted upon hearing Mu Qingtong’s accusation. She had no intention of indulging her.
Although she had never been a country person in either of her two lives, she had always been grateful for the hard work of farmers.
"I heard that you’re deliberately trying to seduce our Ziquan. Why don’t you take a look in the mirror? Are you even worthy?"
"Oh, really? You ’heard’ it from someone? You’re a grown woman, yet you still just parrot whatever people say. No wonder Old Mu told you to get out.
Don’t act like being loud makes you right. Is running your mouth the only thing you know how to do?"
Mu Qingtong: ...
Rendered speechless by Gu Jiaojiao’s retort, she swayed on her feet. ’That’s right,’ she thought. ’How could I look down on people from the countryside!’
’My parents-in-law and my adopted daughter’s biological parents are all from the countryside. Will Yuting look down on me now?’
She looked up at her daughter and saw, just as she’d feared, a look of disdain on her face. "Yuting, I’m sorry. I don’t look down on people from the countryside."
Wang Yuting gritted her teeth. ’I *do* look down on people from the countryside, and there’s nothing wrong with it. What is she even apologizing for?’
She lifted her tear-streaked face and said, "Mom, you didn’t say anything wrong. It’s all this vixen’s fault."
’Just focus on driving this vixen away, you useless thing!’
While the mother and daughter were speaking, Gu Jiaojiao took a few steps closer until she had a clear view of Mu Qingtong.
Though middle-aged, she still possessed a lingering charm and grace. It was clear she had inherited the Mu Family’s excellent genes; she must have been a great beauty in her youth.
The daughter beside her, though not her spitting image, was also stunning. She had flawless, delicate skin and refined, elegant features, like a beauty from an ink wash painting.
Gu Jiaojiao felt she had seen her fair share of beautiful women—especially considering all the major celebrities she’d encountered in her past life.
Even the rich young ladies she had met recently were all beautiful in their own unique ways.
For example, Dong Yuanyuan was bold and dazzling, Jiang Ruyan was coquettish and enchanting, and Sheng Yueyue had a sweet, girl-next-door charm...
But none of them could compare to the Mu family’s granddaughter and her pitiable, damsel-in-distress type of beauty.
’She could easily become the kind of femme fatale that men would fight to the death for.’
If Gu Jiaojiao hadn’t caught the momentary, hideous twist of her expression, she might have even taken a liking to this girl who seemed too fragile to care for herself.
It was fleeting, but Gu Jiaojiao caught it. She particularly despised this kind of "white lotus."
So Gu Jiaojiao poked Wang Yuting on the forehead. "If you dare say another word, I’ll have the bodyguards drag you out and toss you into the street."
