Zhan Yahui balled her fist, her eyes brimming with tears. "My Dad was not a villain, Lin…It's the Liu family concocting these stupid stories to clean his blood off their hands! How can you fall for that!?"
Hou Lin said, "They have no reason to concoct such an elaborate story just to defend themselves in front of us. They are the wealthy Liu family. We are nothing compared to them. They don't need to lie to us about a thing like Sir's kidnapping. They didn't lie about your father's debts either. They showed you the proof," he softly lowered his gaze, "And you also know, right Yahui? You must have also realized that he had abducted you that day. Not just Sir but you too."
Zhan Yahui bit her lips until they bled. Her heavy and restless breaths heaved her chest up and down.
She knew. After Jinhai told the entire truth from the start to finish, she was quick to remember the last thing she did with Ouyang Haitao and that was to eat the chocolate cake he made for her.
She lost consciousness, and it had nothing to do with Jun or the Liu family. It was only Ouyang Haitao with her at that time. So it could only be him to tamper with the cake.
She knew. She realized it. But it was hard to accept it.
Zhan Yahui had dedicated her whole life to take her revenge. That single emotion was what drove her sanity. But if she took a step back now, it would mean that the entire ordeal was pointless. She waited for so many years to take the Liu family down but in the end, it was all meaningless.
But even more than her revenge going awry, it was harder to accept the sour reality in itself. The fact that Ouyang Haitao was really a bad guy. He was the villain in Jun's life, not the other way around. He used her mother, her feelings, her money all for his benefit.
To accept that Ouyang Haitao didn't consider Zhan Kai-Ming and Zhan Yahui as his family when they did from the bottom of their hearts was a reality she wanted to turn her head away from.
In her eyes, Ouyang Haitao was her father. The man who would complete her family. The man who would make her stop envying the other kids. The man who would protect his daughter like other fathers did.
But to think that that same man never loved her back, that everything was an act and that she was just a property to be sold for him…
It was that certainty that was killing her at this moment.
"They…" Zhan Yahui trembled in the cold, "they killed Mom too…"
Hou Lin said, "Shi Shuren is responsible for her death. You heard that too, Yahui. He confessed it himself."
"That fucker is responsible but that doesn't mean that the Liu family gets to escape scot free! If they hadn't killed Dad, then she wouldn't have been heartbroken and forced to leave the city when she was pregnant! She wouldn't have undergone all that stress! Yes that bastard assaulted Mom but the Liu family is equally responsible for her suicide! They had no right to so creully snatch my family from me! I will…I will never forgive them!"
Hou Lin slowly started to walk towards her, which instantly made the guards surrounding Zhan Yahui cautious. They almost pointed their guns at him, but Jun raised his palm. He shook his head by a tiny fraction, indicating to them to stay put.
Since Hou Lin walked away, there was nobody beside Xing Bi so Nian sprinted towards her at full speed and pulled her into his embrace. He didn't miss the chance to safely secure her.
He slightly shivered but his eyes and lips held a beautiful smile. "Hehe I caught you now~"
Xing Bi, who was stunned for several seconds, finally realized that Nian was already beside her. Her eyes watered and she tightly hugged him back. She inhaled his scent and felt his warmth which she missed like crazy. "You were late!"
Nian seriously admitted. "It was my fault. You can punish me as much as you want."
"That I will!" She sniffled and very, very quietly muttered under her breath, "In bed."
"Did you just say bed?" Nian scintillated like the golden sun.
"..."
What the hell is with his ears!? How sharp are they!?
On the other side, Hou Lin stood before Zhan Yahui. He gazed into her tear-filled irises filled with fury, indignation but pain, grief and blame too.
"Who will you not forgive, Yahui? Is it really Sir and the Liu family? Or is it…your mother?"
She stiffened. Her eyes reddened further with anguish, making her lash out at him. "What nonsense! Why will I blame Mom?"
"Because she killed herself and left you alone. Yes, she suffered a lot but so did you in your own way. Your father's life and death was out of her control but not hers. She was the only family you had but when…she ended her life, she left you to fend for yourself. It wasn't Ouyang Haitao but your mother who truly left you alone."
Zhan Yahui stared at him unblinkingly, but he could see the soft tremors in her body.
"Yahui, I asked you this once when we lived together. What happened when you learned about your mother's suicide? I had always wanted to know more about you. But you always brushed it off."
"Shut up, Lin…"
"But now that I know everything, I thought about my question a lot during the time you were coming here. And I felt I got my answer. When you saw her dead when you were eleven years old, I don't think that you blamed Sir for it. He wasn't the first person in your mind to get angry at. He came later. But the very first person you couldn't forgive was your mother."
It became deadly quiet.
"Suicide…was her choice," how voice trembled with agony, "she was assaulted, she miscarried. It was a devastating time to bear. But she had you too. You felt that she should have lived for your sake. How would an eleven year old girl bear the pain of her mother's loss too when she had already lost her father? She didn't seem to understand that or even if she did, she left it at that. Nevertheless, she made that choice and I now understand Yahui…that it's that very choice you couldn't forgive."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l