Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Even though Mei Yangyang had a weapon with her, there was no way she could defeat the three men, especially since she had a small and petite frame.
Thus, she suffered multiple attacks in her stomach and back, causing her to fall onto the ground in no time. She could not help but lie there helplessly, too weak to even move.
“Wretched woman, how dare you scratch my face!? Aren’t you really tough and capable? C’mon, hit me!” taunted the enraged man as he continued to give her a tight slap across her face. Her ears began to ring from the impact.
“Why aren’t you retaliating? I won’t let you off easily for disfiguring me. You are to pay me a compensation of 2000 dollars,” he hollered.
Mei Yangyang remained silent as she felt her heart grow cold at the thought of her blood sister leaving her in a lurch. No words could describe how disappointed she felt.
“Are you going to compensate me or not?” the man barked as he gave her another slap, but with much more force this time. Blood began to flow out of the corners of Mei Yangyang’s lips.
There was an overwhelming metallic odor in Mei Yangyang’s mouth as it filled with blood. Blood splattered all over the man’s face when she spat at him.
“You chose this!” the man flew into an uncontrollable rage. Just as he was about to stomp his foot onto her face, he was kicked in his gut and thrown off balance all of a sudden. Mei Yangyang looked up and saw Long Tianze, who was dressed in a blue suit, retracting his leg.
“Three men ganging up against one poor woman, aren’t you guys ashamed at all!?! What a disgrace to your parents. They probably would’ve wished that you were never born at all, if they hear about this,” Long Tianze glowered at the other two men.
He bent forward to pick Mei Yangyang up from the ground and left straight away.
Recognizing him to be Long Tianze, Mei Shuangshuang quickly went forward to ask, “Where are you taking my sister?”
At that instant, Long Tianze understood why Mei Yangyang had shown up there. “You were enjoying the show when your sister was getting beat by those guys earlier. You don’t even care if she’s dead or alive, why are you so concerned about where I’m taking her?” he sneered.
As soon as he finished his sentence, he hurriedly left and brought Mei Yangyang to the hospital.
Mei Yangyang did not make a single sound throughout the entire journey.
She then thanked him when they returned from the hospital.
“Sister-in-law Xiaoning is upstairs, come with me.”
“Alright,” Mei Yangyang agreed and followed him upstairs.
Just as Long Tianze entered the room, Ling Ciye said with a smile, “Didn’t you go out to take a breather? Why did you take so long?”
“I saw her getting bullied downstairs, so being the nice person I am, I brought her to the hospital to get her wounds nursed.”
Upon seeing that it was Mei Yangyang, An Xiaoning asked, “What happened?”
Mei Yangyang sat down beside her and told her about the details of everything that had happened from the beginning. Finally, she said, “It was my fault, I shouldn’t have overestimated myself. I continued to put on a brave front despite knowing that I was outnumbered.”
“Don’t blame yourself. You don’t have to go to the store tomorrow, just rest well at home,” said An Xiaoning as she held onto her hand.
“It’s fine, Sis, it’s just a minor injury,” said Mei Yangyang. The swelling had made her doll-like face appear even rounder.
The music resumed blasting in the room. Mei Yangyang soon realized that the three other women in the room were the ones she had seen along the corridor earlier.
One of them was massaging Ling Ciye’s thigh, the other was kneading his leg, and another was toasting next to Long Tianze.
Mei Yangyang gazed at Long Tianze as she began to recall the moment he had appeared to save her, when she was getting bashed. She began to find him rather heroic and admirable.
Seeming to have noticed her staring at him, he turned around and made eye contact with her.
Mei Yangyang froze in shock but did not look away.
Neither did Long Tianze. The two seemed to be engaged in a tacit staring contest.
In the end, Long Tianze burst into laughter. He could not hold it in any longer and mocked, “You really look like a piglet now with that swollen face of yours.”
Mei Yangyang did not take offense. Instead, she began pinching her face and said in response, “It’s not that bad, at least I don’t look deformed.”
All of a sudden, Long Tianze was reminded of their intimate encounter as he stared at her lips.
He felt a tension in his lower body and stopped staring when he began to feel slightly enticed.
“Mr. Long, come here, let me toast you,” said the woman beside him, who raised a goblet of wine in her hands.
Long Tianze glanced at her and clinked his goblet against hers, “You can hold your liquor pretty well, eh?”
“Since you’re here, of course I’d have to drink more, Mr. Long. It’s such a rare occasion to be meeting you. I may not get the chance to see you again.”
“It’s so noisy,” said an irritated Long Tianze as he turned off the music.
He placed the goblet on the table and turned to look at Jin Qingyan, who was leaning against the couch while remaining silent. “What are you thinking about? You’re so engrossed in your thoughts,” he asked.
“I’m thinking about you…”
“Mr. Jin, your wife is sitting right there. Wouldn’t it break her heart to hear you say such words to me?” Long Tianze said teasingly, playing along.
“You’re reading too much into it. I haven’t finished my sentence. I’m thinking about you and your poor taste in women.”
“Ciye, don’t you agree that these three babes are gorgeous?”
“They are. But they’re only good enough to massage my legs,” said Ling Ciye with a smile.
The three women continued to put up a cheery front, seemingly unaffected by their words despite feeling rather hurt and dejected. Just like they had expected, these wealthy heirs would never find them good enough. They all had expectations that were way too high. In the eyes of the wealthy heirs, they were nothing more than mere objects of frivolous entertainment. But then again, it was their job to entertain, anyway.
Nonetheless, they still dreamed of marrying a wealthy husband one day and leaving their past behind. They hoped for a fresh start in life and to become a woman of status as a wealthy man’s wife.
“He said you’re only worthy of being his masseuse. What do you think of that?” Long Tianze asked the woman beside him mockingly.
“Mr. Ling can say anything he wants, as long as he’s happy.”
“Indeed, women who are after nothing but money have no pride or self-esteem at all. Truly born to be slaves,” Long Tianze said distastefully with a sigh.
He stood up and said, “It’s getting late, let’s leave.”
——
Mei Yangyang arrived home in her scooter, only to see that her father was still waiting for her to return.
Noticing how disheveled she looked, he asked worriedly, “Yangyang, what happened to you?”
Mei Yangyang bluntly told her father the truth, without hiding anything at all. “I’m washing my hands off her matters in the future,” she said at last.
Mr. Mei felt bad for her and, at the same time, infuriated with his younger daughter for her behavior.
“Yangyang, I won’t ask you to go look for her at night again. Since she can’t tell right from wrong, there’s no way we can take her in hand, and we’ll have no choice but to let her be.”
“Yes, Father. I’m going to bed.”
“Alright, you still have to go to work tomorrow morning. How about you just take a day off to rest at home?”
“It’s fine.” She returned to her room and laid on her bed. However, she seemed to have a hard time falling asleep.
Suddenly, she heard her phone ring as she received a text message. After taking a look at her mobile phone, she realized that it was a text message from an unfamiliar number. Yet, she felt a strange sense of joy as she read the content of the message.
“Hey little piggy, goodnight.”
She recalled giving him her mobile number in the store, though she had not asked for his. This was the first time he had contacted her since then.
As she read the message, Mei Yangyang felt a sudden urge and replied, “Big piggy, goodnight.”
She put her phone down, feeling much better after reading the message.
She closed her eyes and drifted off to dreamland soon after.
——
Soon, it was the 20th of November, the peak of winter. The weather was freezing. However, Jin Qingyue was still adamant about not revealing the truth, and she remained as tight-lipped as ever. Having had another solution in mind, Jin Qingyan informed the police of his plan and together, they staged an act to get her to speak up.
Before Jin Qingyue had even woken up, the policeman opened the door.
