“One day, we noticed Zhou Hua’s baby bump. When we questioned her, we found out that she had an illicit relationship with an outsider. My mother was especially angry. She hadn’t gotten married yet and hadn’t earned money for our family, but she was already with a man. We wanted her to undergo an abortion, but we feared the possible medical complications. All we could do was allow her to carry her pregnancy to term.
“S-she’s never helped our family. We had raised her for all those years in vain. So, when she was finally about to give birth, my mother didn’t hire a midwife to help her through it. She made her give birth at home. We couldn’t have foreseen that after giving birth, she would suddenly start heavily bleeding. The bleeding couldn’t be stopped, so…”
Zhou Menglu’s voice grew softer as she spoke more. She noticed Wu Jingzhong’s gaze growing more intense and did not dare continue.
“Continue.”
Wu Jingzhong ordered expressionlessly, scaring Zhou Menglu so much that she shrank back further.
“Zhou Hua bled too much and… died. My mother gave the daughter that she had birthed to me, and I named her Sze Lingyun.”
“Back then, my Wu family put out missing person notices all over Sea District, J District and Z District. Why didn’t you look for us then?”
When the missing person’s notices were mentioned, Zhou Menglu’s eyes shone with a hint of malevolence. She remembered how her family had seen the posters and sighed about not being able to collect the reward money.
She once again thought that she had covered up her emotions well, but everyone present saw through her clearly.
“I’m asking you a question!”
Wu Jingzhong growled in a low voice, scaring Zhou Menglu again. Only then did she return to her senses and reply, “W-what missing person notice? We’ve never seen one!”
“Are… you… sure?” Wu Jingzhong enunciated each word clearly.
“Yes, yes! If we had seen the notice that you guys posted, we would definitely have brought her to you to collect the betrothal gift. My mother raised Zhou Hua specifically to collect a dowry from her future husband later on. If you were going to give us so much as a betrothal gift, why wouldn’t we want it?”
Zhou Menglu’s words seemed to make a lot of sense. However…
“Just now, I only mentioned the notice—not any reward money. If you really didn’t see the notice, how do you know about the reward offered? And how did you know that it was a considerable sum of money?”
Zhou Menglu bit her tongue. She was about to shoot back a response, but Wu Jingzhong interrupted her, “Zhou Menglu, this is the last chance I’m going to give you. Think about your son! If you want him to be sentenced to death by firing squad or a life sentence, you can continue making things up. You’re not fooling anyone. If I find out that you’re lying, even if you kneel crying and beg me, you won’t get another chance. You know who I am, so you know that these aren’t empty threats. With my power, I can easily hire a good team of lawyers who can get your son and the rest of your family sentenced for the most serious crimes. So, think carefully before you say anything else.”
Zhou Menglu was extremely afraid. By now, she had long lost her previous arrogance and despotism. Her eyes were filled with fear and pleading.
If Zhou Menglu had known that one day this little slut would be able to find her real family and learn that she was actually a descendant of the Wu family and that her father was the governor of Sea District, she would never have treated Sze Lingyun so poorly.
