While Zhao Youlin was speaking, she abruptly went forward and grabbed Li Hongyu’s chin. Zhao Youlin forced her to look into her eyes. “The reason I came to see you is because I want to tell you this. Li Hongyu, there’s nothing you could be proud of. What’s the point even if you have given birth to a son and daughter for Zhao Shuncheng? You use your children as a bargaining chip to tie Zhao Shuncheng to yourself, but only for a short period of time. You ended up in jail while leaving your children behind. Zhao Shuncheng only values your children instead of you. You finally experienced this yourself, right? The feeling of being betrayed by your closed ones. That’s what my mother had experienced before.”
“You…” Li Hongyu was forced to meet Zhao Youlin’s gaze. Her entire body was shivering. Her lips looked pale, and they kept trembling.
“Li Hongyu, this is the principle of karma, the good is rewarded while the evil is punished. In the past, you went to great lengths to seduce Zhao Shuncheng and murder my mother. You rose to a position of power and, within a short period of time, you became the second madam of the Zhao family. Now, another woman used the same trick to seduce Zhao Shuncheng, and he abandoned you. Tell me, isn’t this considered retribution?”
Li Hongyu completely stopped struggling. Her eyes had still retained some bits of emotions just now, but at this moment, the spark was gone as her eyes became lifeless and still.
Zhao Youlin had finished saying whatever she needed to say. She did not plan to continue to stay on. She turned around and walked out. While she was about to leave through the door, she seemed to have thought of something.
Zhao Youlin paused mid-stride. She turned her head around and said her final words to Li Hongyu, “Oh, by the way, I heard that you son has returned home yesterday by coincidence, which is the day you’ve been arrested. He originally wanted to give you guys a surprise, but never thought in the end, he was the one who was caught by surprise.”
“Youming…” Li Hongyu’s eyes sparkled. Crystalline tears rolled down from her eyes out of the blue.
“Sob… Sob…”
When Zhao Youlin heard the miserable cries coming from behind her, she did not turn her head nor pause mid-stride. She walked resolutely toward the outside.
The setting sun was not as scorching hot as the afternoon sun. But it was equally warm.
Zhao Youlin stood in front of the police station. She closed her eyes and felt the warmth from the sunset that was shining on her face. She heaved a sigh of relief.
While she was about to open her eyes and depart from the place, she suddenly felt a dark figure overshadowing her, blocking the light that shone into her eyes.
Zhao Youlin was stunned. She instinctively opened her eyes and looked ahead, only to be greeted by an unexpected figure. “Why did you come here? Did the doctor allow you to be discharged from the hospital, or… did you sneak out again?”
Mu Tingfeng did not refute her. He stared at Zhao Youlin fixedly. He said matter-of-factly, “I came to look for you.”
His brief reply allowed her to understand the full situation. Indeed, this guy had sneaked out again.
Zhao Youlin rolled her eyes in resignation. She immediately unbuttoned Mu Tingfeng’s shirt to check if his wound opened. She did not want to be nagged by the attending doctor again, who was worse than the old butler, when she returned to the hospital.
Zhao Youlin stayed within close distance to Mu Tingfeng for a long time, and they were so close that Mu Tingfeng could kiss her face the moment he lowered his head.
Looking at Zhao Youlin’s extremely serious looking side profile, the corners of Mu Tingfeng’s lips curled upward discreetly.
In fact, the moment Zhao Youlin and the rest learned about the incident yesterday, Mu Tingfeng had already received the same news. Later, he also got to know that Zhao Youlin would come to visit Li Hongyu today.
After Mu Tingfeng learned about this, the creases between his eyebrows had never smoothed out. He had already found out Zhao Youlin’s true identity. He knew that the current Zhao Youlin would not be deeply upset by the event that had happened many years ago. He also knew that the current Zhao Youlin was very strong, and she would not be easily bullied by others.
However, Mu Tingfeng was uneasy about the fact that Zhao Youlin had taken the initiative to visit Li Hongyu. After all, that woman had wanted to take Zhao Youlin’s life not long ago.
It had not been easy for Mu Tingfeng to regain his wife. He got so worked up that he grew restless and uneasy throughout the day in the hospital. In the end, he could no longer hold back himself. He ran away from the hospital with Xia Zhetao once again.
After checking Mu Tingfeng’s left arm thoroughly and confirming his wound had not reopened, Zhao Youlin heaved a sigh of relief.
“Why couldn’t you just stay inside the hospital? You’re already an adult, how could you simply run away? Must you always make us worry!”
Upon hearing a trace of worry under Zhao Youlin’s rebuke, Mu Tingfeng was in a good mood. He whispered, “It’s okay. I know what I’m doing.”
Upon hearing his words, Zhao Youlin immediately rolled her eyes at him. Who was the one who got himself all battered last time? He was even bleeding all over the place. In the end, the doctor had vented his anger on Xia Zhetao and her and were lectured for a long time.
Mu Tingfeng met Zhao Youlin’s accusatory gaze. His eyes sparkled. He wittily switched the topic. “Have you finished visiting her?”
“How did you know…?” Zhao Youlin swallowed her remaining words and let them die a silent death in her.
How could she forget that the reason Xiao Jingyao had managed to figure out the incident that happened more than a decade ago was because the person in front of her had given him the clues? If so, it was not surprising to know that he knew she would come to visit Li Hongyu today.
Wait. That was not quite right. Could Mu Tingfeng be here because he knew she had learned about the truth and came to confront Li Hongyu? Was he worried that she would be overwhelmed by sadness after she learned the truth, and that was why he…
At that moment, Zhao Youlin still had no idea that her actual identity had been exposed. She mistakenly thought Mu Tingfeng had come here just for the sake of comforting her.
When she was about to explain things to him, she was interrupted by a familiar voice that suddenly rose from behind her. “Good day, Ms. Zhao. Why are you here?”
Zhao Youlin froze. She turned her head around and looked in the direction, only to see Mu Chen’s handsome face. He was grinning stupidly. “Officer Jiang?”
“Just call me Mu Chen. Big Sister Lin used to call me by that name. Ms. Zhao, why are you here?” Mu Chen slowly walked toward Zhao Youlin. His eyes were glued on her, and he did not realize the other person standing next to her.
“Alright, Mu Chen, then. Actually, there’s nothing big. I heard that the main culprit of the incident was caught, so I came here to take a look.”
Mu Chen was struck dumb. It was only then that he remembered that the main culprit who had just been arrested had a complicated relationship with the person in front of him.
While he lamented the fact that wealthy families had a lot of worries, rivalries and schemings, he also sighed with a well of emotions in him and was worried that the person in front of him would be traumatized by the truth.
“Oh, so that’s how it is. I’ve heard about this too. Ms. Zhao, are you feeling… alright?”
The single-minded Mu Chen only saw things on the surface. He thought the person before him was still upset for being betrayed by her stepmother. Little did he know that at that moment, Zhao Youlin did not feel the slightest bit of sadness. Instead, she delighted in Li Hongyu’s misery.
