Suddenly, a journalist spoke up, and the noisy commotion came to a halt as everyone turned to look at the man who was trying to sneak away. He was a portly man wearing a sky-blue tracksuit and a black hat on his nearly bald head. Despite the low brim of his hat, he was recognized by someone in the crowd.
"Director Li, what are you doing here?" the journalist asked.
"What else could he be doing? He's colluding with others!" The journalist's ambiguous words elicited a chuckle from the onlookers. Everyone knew that Director Li had a penchant for women, in addition to his love for alcohol.
Dong Ru zhu, who was in her forties but well-maintained, had a figure and face that looked no different from those of a woman in her thirties. It was not impossible that she had some sort of relationship with Director Li.
"What nonsense are you spouting? You've got the wrong person," Dong Ru zhu said, suppressing her anger. "He just got lost, that's all. Now get out of here!"
Although Director Li was unhappy with Dong Ru zhu's tone, he weighed the pros and cons and said nothing, pushing his hat down and squeezing his way out.
But then someone stopped him.
He looked down and saw a pair of shiny black shoes. As he followed the shoes up, he saw a face as cold and handsome as ice and snow.
Trembling, he stammered, "Fourth... Fourth Prince?"
"Director Li, nice to meet you," said the Fourth Prince.
Director Li thought to himself, "What rotten luck! I had to run into Huo Siye here!"
"Nice to meet you, nice to meet you."
When the journalist saw Huo Siye, although he wanted to capture his elegant and noble image, his survival instinct did not allow them to do so. They quickly turned off their cameras, which had a high value in news, but had to be abandoned for the sake of their lives.
Dong Ru zhu wondered, "Why is Huo Siye here? Did he send these people?"
No, it's impossible. He's not the kind of person who likes to meddle in other people's business.
While she was still puzzled, she suddenly met a cold gaze. Although the gaze was emotionless, it made her heart beat faster.
It was Shen Xingkong again!
"Mom, I just saw these people outside the coffee shop," Xingkong walked past the journalists and pointed to the people on the ground. "I thought they were sent by you to persuade Qin Zhenzhen and her boyfriend to drop the charges against my sister, but I didn't expect them to try to kidnap Qin Zhenzhen."
"Can you shut up?"
"I want to shut up, but my upbringing and conscience won't allow me to."
Facing Shen Xingkong's fearless gaze, Dong Ru zhu found that there was no trace of weakness or fear in her body and eyes. She was like a warrior, stubbornly wanting to fight to the death with her.
Is it necessary to hate them so much just because she asked her to be a pawn for Xinai? What's so great about being the daughter of Liang Xinyu? She's just as narrow-minded as her mother!
"Although you are my foster mother, I cannot let you distort right and wrong. It's because of your spoiling that my sister has grown up without knowing manners and morals, and doesn't know how to treat people with respect."
It's not fair that one is spoiled while the other is always blamed, even though they are both not biological siblings. What happened to treating everyone equally?
Dong Ru zhu realized that Shen Xingkong was telling the reporter that she had been treated unfairly in the Shen family.
"Whether it's campus violence or drug use, wrong is wrong. What we need to do is figure out how to make up for it, not just blame others for our mistakes."
"Drug use? So the rumors about Shen Xinai being caught for drug use and possession are true!"
"I heard she was caught at Qi Rongchen's place."
"Tsk tsk, she's so bold to use drugs at Qi Rongchen's place!"
Dong Ru zhu's face turned pale. "Let's talk about this at home. Don't make a scene."
"Make a scene? I'm trying to save my second sister from making more mistakes! Or do you think, Mother, that she doesn't matter because she's not your biological daughter? Or maybe you're intentionally raising her to be useless, so that the entire Shen family will be left to my eldest sister?"
Who said that Xinai was born to that bitch Liang Xinying!
Dong Ru zhu almost lost control and revealed the secret that had been hidden for ten years.
"If Miss Shen is really saying that, isn't it too much?"
"Yeah! To put it bluntly, without Liang Xinying, there would be no Shen family today! Madam Shen, what you're doing is really unfair to the late Liang Xinying."
"If I remember correctly, Dong Ru zhu was the third party who rose to power back then."
"... This is awkward. On one hand, she married into a wealthy family by stepping on Liang Xinying's corpse, and on the other hand, she is now praising Liang Xinying's only daughter. Tsk tsk, this scheming is really scary."
The reporters were all talking, and Dong Ru zhu's face was indescribably embarrassed.
Seeing her in such a state, Xingkong was naturally happy.
But when she thought that everyone believed that Shen Xinai was Liang Xinying's biological daughter, she felt disgusted.
One day, she would tell everyone that she was the only biological daughter of her mother!
"I didn't do it! Don't listen to her nonsense. I came to see Director Li today to save Xinai!"
"So, this is indeed Director Li?"
"So, Shen Xinai was really arrested for drug possession?"
Dong Ru zhu, "... "
"Mom, don't stare at me like that. I know you blame me for not standing on your side at this time. But Second Sister has bullied the poor girl so much that she almost had depression and even missed the college entrance examination. Blindly praising her will only harm her. I think her biological mother and grandfather wouldn't want to see her like this, right?"
Killing is not scary, but destroying one's heart is.
Xingkong pushed Dong Ru zhu into the position of a scheming stepmother with just a few words.
"She can bully her classmates today, and tomorrow she can kill someone. She can use and hide drugs now, and tomorrow she can become a drug dealer. But whether it's murder or drug trafficking, it's a dead end," said Xingkong, enunciating each word clearly.
Each word made Dong Ru zhu's heart pound with anxiety.
A dead end...
She still had a bright future ahead of her, she was going to marry Huo Siye and become the mistress of the Huo family. How could she be facing a dead end?
This was just an exaggeration!
"What's your intention in raising the granddaughter of President Liang like this?"
"I..." Dong Ru zhu opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything. She couldn't admit that Shen Xinai was her own daughter, could she?
No, absolutely not.
The prestige that the Liang family brought to Shen Xinai must not be lost!
"If you think I'm too biased and just talking nonsense, then as a stepmother, I have nothing to say," Xingkong said.
"If you have nothing to say, then let Director Li speak?"