Chapter 210: Chapter 210: A Beast in Human Skin
Some mothers pointed at the figures on the stage and demanded answers, while some children burst into tears, frightened. The scene instantly descended into chaos.
Cao Daqiang saw them in an instant. His face went ghostly pale, and his heart hammered against his ribs.
’What’s going on?’
’How did these people find me here?’
Yuan Zhihe froze, her hand pressed tightly against her stomach as a cold sweat beaded on her face.
"Cao Daqiang, who... who are they? You explain yourself right now!"
"I..."
He opened his mouth, but his throat was too dry to utter a single word.
His gaze darted between the crowd and his wife, more and more cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
Before the chaos could subside, another group of people surged through the entrance.
Ling Anxun strode forward and stood before Cao Daqiang. He coldly drew out a document and brandished it in his face.
"Cao Daqiang, you are suspected of multiple crimes, including abuse of power. You are now under formal arrest. Come with us."
"Nonsense! That’s impossible!"
Cao Daqiang blurted out the denial, his mind a complete blank.
’He’d always been so meticulous. How could anyone have found evidence against him?’
But the other party wasted no words and directly pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
The commotion on the stage was so loud that all the guests heard everything crystal clear.
Yuan Zhihe’s father, seated at the main table, had a face as black as charcoal.
Cao Daqiang panicked and turned to shout at him, "Father-in-law! Say something! This is definitely a misunderstanding! I could never do something like this!"
Without even raising his eyes, Ling Anxun added coolly, "Captain Yuan is also implicated in several cases. Please come with us to cooperate with the investigation."
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire hall fell deathly silent.
The families who were usually close to the Yuan Family all looked horrified. Some even quietly took half a step back.
Yuan Zhihe stood frozen to the spot, watching helplessly as the two most important men in her life were escorted out the door in front of everyone, on this very day.
’What is she going to do now?’
’The wedding was only half over when the groom was arrested and her father was taken away. How could she and the entire Yuan Family ever show their faces in public again?’
Cao Jiajia couldn’t help but grin and clap softly twice.
But the next second, her eyes met Ling Anxun’s sweeping gaze—it was as cold as an ice blade scraping against her skin.
A shiver ran down her spine. She flinched and quickly hid behind Shanshan.
Shanshan had also intended to pretend she hadn’t seen him, but a moment’s hesitation was all it took for Ling Anxun to catch her red-handed.
"Dad... Hehe, what a coincidence. What are you doing here?"
Ling Anxun didn’t speak. He sighed, then ruffled her hair, messing it up as if he were scrubbing a little kitten caught stealing a snack.
"A coincidence? You make it sound so simple. Weren’t you supposed to be busy with your friends?"
"I was, but we finished up. So I thought I’d drop by and watch the show."
Shanshan shrugged, trying to lighten the mood.
She turned and nudged Cao Jiajia, who was cowering behind her boyfriend, with her shoulder.
"When did you two get together?"
"Oh, Cao Jiajia isn’t actually a bad person. She just used to get fixated on things and was full of pent-up anger. Plus, her mom spoiled her rotten. Now that there’s no one in her family to back her up, life’s gotten hard, so she’s naturally come to her senses."
Ling Anxun raised an eyebrow, a little surprised. He hadn’t expected his daughter to be so magnanimous.
"So all this messy business that’s been happening lately... was it all your doing?"
"Hehe, it was me."
Shanshan smiled and nodded, admitting it without evasion or excuses.
The father and daughter chatted away, completely ignoring Cao Daqiang, who was standing right beside them.
But when his ears picked up on their words, he immediately began to squirm and struggle violently.
"You little bitch! So you were the one plotting against me behind my back! I’m your own father! The heavens won’t forgive you for treating me like this!"
His face was flushed crimson, and his eyes, filled with hatred and madness, were fixed on Shanshan.
"My own father?"
Hearing those words, Shanshan frowned as if she’d stepped in something disgusting.
She stopped less than half a meter in front of him.
"It’s so strange. Grandpa and Grandma were such decent people. How could they have given birth to a beast like you, hiding in human skin?"
After speaking, she casually plucked a strand of hair from his head.
’This will be useful. I’ll get a paternity test later and find out once and for all if I’m actually related to this thing.’
She tucked the hair into a small evidence bag she carried with her, sealed it, and placed it in her purse.
She performed this action so naturally, as if she had been prepared for it all along.
She had her sincere doubts.
"Ha! You call me a beast? Then you’re the spawn of a beast! HAHAHA! Go ahead and check, Ling Xueshan! That stupid woman, your mother, may have been a fool, but she never dared to cheat on me! You can never escape the fact that you’re my daughter!"
Cao Daqiang’s voice was completely distorted with rage.
Furious, Ling Anxun grabbed a damp towel that had been used to wipe off sweat from nearby and, without a word, stuffed it into his mouth.
Shanshan stared at the man before her, his face twisted in a grimace, and felt a storm of emotions.
For a fleeting moment, she too had wished for a complete family, for a father she could rely on.
But now, all that remained was disappointment and a profound sense of exhaustion.
’She really couldn’t understand how a man like this could exist in the world.’
’And he gets to be a father?’
Cao Daqiang was shoved into a police car.
Ling Anxun walked behind, holding Shanshan’s hand.
"Dad, do you think a person like Cao Daqiang... will his children turn out just like him? Will they also become the kind of people who only care about themselves and have no conscience?"
She looked up at Ling Anxun.
She had been holding this question in for a long time and had finally asked it.
"Absolutely not!"
Ling Anxun’s tone was firm and unequivocal.
"Personality isn’t passed down through genes. What matters is the soil you grow in. Take Cao Jiajia, for example. You know what she used to be like, right? But in a different environment, didn’t she slowly become a better person?"
These words were exactly what Shanshan needed to hear, and she nodded enthusiastically.
"You’re so right, Dad! Thank goodness I have a father like you. Otherwise, I might have turned into one of those disgusting people too."
Her voice trembled slightly as she said this, and her eyes grew a little red.
But she smiled—a genuine, relaxed smile.
Ling Anxun smiled back and gently stroked her hair, his voice so soft it could have been made of water.
"No. Even without me, I believe my Shanshan would never become like that. You’re already good enough on your own. No matter where you land, even in the crack of a rock, you can put down roots and grow into a towering tree that touches the sky."
In truth, he hadn’t thought much before saying those words.
He didn’t want to disappoint her, nor did he want her to feel like she had no one supporting her.
And so, the words just tumbled out.
He knew full well that such a statement wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny.
’Who could truly overcome circumstances like that?’
But he said it anyway.
It was purely out of his own selfish desire, not some objective assessment.
But Shanshan was delighted to hear it, her heart filled with a sweet warmth.
Although the future was still a blur, she was willing to believe his words.
At least for now, she was willing to believe.
News of the incident spread quickly throughout the country. Cao Daqiang, who had once been praised to the heavens, finally got a taste of what it was like for public opinion to bite back.
The more people had once seen him as a hero, the more they now hated him to the bone.
His name was being discussed on every street corner.
He had committed too many crimes, was implicated in major cases, and had several deaths on his hands. After the court proceedings, he was sentenced directly to death, with the execution to be carried out immediately.
