Chapter 22.1

The photo was like a feather, drifting lightly as it swayed.

Cheng Lingxue wanted to step forward and grab it, but she failed. It fell onto the surface of the fish tank, sending out faint ripples before it was quickly swallowed by the water.

The clear image on it gradually became blurred, as if symbolizing that that family had already scattered and could never return to those happy days of the past.

This made Cheng Lingxue feel as though she could not breathe. A faint glimmer of moisture appeared in her eyes.

She gently rolled up her sleeve and took the photo out. Although the photograph was already ruined and blurred, her movements were still gentle, as if she were holding a priceless treasure.

Her eyes became somewhat dazed.

At this time, Cheng Lingxue should have been Xie Shuyun’s forbidden possession. Later, when she found out the house had been sold, she had fought for it, only to receive countless laughs and mockery. It was only when that person returned the house to her that she had even felt grateful…

Back then, she had never been able to find this photo, and it had become a knot in her heart.

Now, seeing this result, the possibility that it had been damaged was undoubtedly very high.

Although she did not know whether it had been ruined by this person the first time, since the other party was selling her house now, he was definitely connected to it.

A trace of ridicule flashed through her eyes.

Cheng Lingxue gently placed the read the original at bailiantales.com photo on a clean low cabinet, her fingertips feeling the wet texture on it.

And now, she finally had the chance to stop this.

But she still could not save everything.

Remembering everything Cheng Wenchi’s family had done to her, the coldness and pain in Cheng Lingxue’s eyes slowly disappeared, replaced by anger.

Some people had to pay the price for everything they had done.

The atmosphere had now dropped to freezing point.

Cheng Wenchi had originally thought Cheng Lingxue would immediately explode. He carefully looked at the girl’s back and felt that for a moment, the girl seemed like duckweed isolated from the world.

They were clearly so close to each other, yet it felt as if they were separated by a distance of a thousand miles.

This undoubtedly made people even more uncertain.

Thinking about what the girl would do next, the unknown situation made cold sweat seep from Cheng Wenchi’s forehead.

But there was one thing he knew.

Everyone had their own bottom line, and Cheng Lingxue’s bottom line was obviously her deceased parents. His daughter had just happened to step directly on that point.

He could not help grabbing his daughter’s hand.

“Cheng Mengmeng, don’t act recklessly. Do you know what you just did?”

“You’re hurting me!”

Cheng Mengmeng shook off Cheng Wenchi’s hand. Her eyes were full of anger as she looked at him, with faint disdain hidden inside.

Every time, she wondered why her aunt and younger uncle were both S-rank alphas, while only her father was a beta.

He ate, drank, fooled around, gambled outside, then came home and went crazy after drinking. Her mother was mercenary and had a bad temper too. The couple had a small fight every three days and a big fight every five days.

Unlike Cheng Lingxue, who had outstanding mothers, a happy and complete family, and was loved by everyone. Her grades were excellent, her looks were top-tier, and everything about her made Cheng Mengmeng jealous.

When she saw young Cheng Lingxue standing before the funeral bier, her heart had been full of malice.

The little princess who had always stood high above had finally fallen into the mud, and even an ordinary person like her could step on her.

Thinking of the period when Cheng Lingxue had lived in her home, she remembered how Cheng Lingxue had stayed in the smallest, least ventilated room in the house. Those exquisite clothes and accessories had been sent into Cheng Mengmeng’s wardrobe, while Cheng Lingxue could only wear her old clothes.

She knew that her father had planned to wait until Cheng Lingxue was a little older. If she differentiated into an omega, that would be even better. At that time, they could marry her off and ensure their family would have no worries about food or clothing.

That should have been the perfect ending!

However, Xie Yun had appeared.

No one knew where she had received the news from, but she had taken Cheng Lingxue in as her adopted daughter, and Cheng Lingxue’s status had instantly turned upside down again.

It should not have been like this.

Why was this person always so lucky?

On what basis did Cheng Lingxue always get to stand high above, pressing down on her since childhood, and even now?

This repeated change made Cheng Mengmeng hate Cheng Lingxue even more.

She believed Cheng Lingxue should be married off to a potbellied old uncle. That was the value an orphan girl should have!

Now, looking at the simple yet exquisitely tailored clothes Cheng Lingxue was wearing, obviously branded and showing no sign that she had suffered any grievance, Cheng Mengmeng felt even more stimulated.

Her father might be a bastard, but she was not.

Did Cheng Lingxue really think she was afraid of her?

Cheng Mengmeng’s ordinary little face twisted, and her tone was sharp.

“Cheng Lingxue, I remember Eldest Miss Xie hates you a lot, right? You’re throwing around the Xie family’s name here and acting recklessly. Do you really think you’re still that little princess standing high above everyone?”

“Cheng Mengmeng!”

Cheng Wenchi had not expected that even after he had already shouted at her, his daughter would still speak without restraint. He could not help reaching out to grab Cheng Mengmeng, only for Cheng Mengmeng to slap his hand away.

“What’s there that I can’t say? Everyone says it. They say Cheng Lingxue brought misfortune to both her parents, and that she even tried to seduce Eldest Miss Xie but failed, and then was—”

Before she could finish speaking, there was a crisp slap.

Cheng Mengmeng’s eyes trembled slightly.

At this moment, her face had been slapped to the side. A faint palm print appeared on her fairly pale face. Unfortunately, because her makeup was too thick, it was still not very clear.

“Your mouth… is too filthy. It seems Cheng Wenchi never taught you how to speak. I don’t mind educating you properly.”

Cheng Lingxue still maintained the posture of having swung her hand, her tone utterly icy.

Cheng Mengmeng held her aching cheek, madness flickering in her eyes.

But when she met Cheng Lingxue’s eyes, her words stopped.

Those eyes were deep and cold, as if they could pull a person in and cut them apart with the icy blades hidden inside.

Yet at the same time, they also carried a weathered heaviness, as if she had seen hell itself. Countless pitch-black hands seemed to lurk in that abyss.

Cheng Lingxue was extremely restrained. She only revealed this side of bailiantales.comherself to those she regarded as enemies.

“You… What do you want to do?”

Cheng Mengmeng did not know how she had made herself become like this.

She felt that in the other party’s eyes, she was nothing more than a lifeless object. Cheng Lingxue was like a fierce beast hidden in the darkness, as if she could rush up at any moment and twist her neck off.

That feeling frightened Cheng Mengmeng.

Cheng Lingxue seemed to know what she was thinking. Her gaze landed on Cheng Mengmeng’s neck, making her feel a chill there, as if an invisible blade were pressed against it.

Cheng Mengmeng, who usually threw her weight around elsewhere and naturally shouted about beating and killing, finally felt afraid now.

She screamed and turned around, wanting to get away from the girl. She did not want to keep facing her.

But in the next second, she only felt pain in her shoulder. Turning her head, she realized Cheng Lingxue had grabbed her.

The other girl also carried a chill as she spoke lightly.

“Weren’t you very bold in doing and saying things? Why are you shrinking back now? Why are you trying to run?”

Her voice was like a vicious poisonous snake coiling around Cheng Mengmeng’s body.

Cheng Mengmeng felt as though she could see that snake’s bloody mouth, larger than her head, hissing and baring its fangs at her. She could not help letting out an even sharper, higher-pitched scream.

“Cheng Lingxue, what are you doing?”

Although he did not like Cheng Mengmeng, his daughter, very much, Cheng Wenchi would not let her be bullied right in front of him. He reached out, wanting to push Cheng Lingxue away.

Unexpectedly, Cheng Lingxue released Cheng Mengmeng first and instead grabbed Cheng Wenchi’s wrist, speaking faintly.

“As expected, when a daughter turns out like this, one should look for the family’s reason. That is the true root of everything.”

“Cheng Lingxue, Cheng Lingxue, let go! I’m your second uncle. What do you want to do?!”

Cheng Wenchi looked at Cheng Lingxue in both shock and anger.

Even if he was only a beta, he was still an adult man. Yet now, he only felt that his wrist seemed to be imprisoned by something. It hurt more and more, and no matter what, he could not shake her off.

Long untrained and practically useless from indulgence, he could only watch helplessly as Cheng Lingxue slowly raised her leg, then kicked his ankle before he could dodge.

The intense pain made Cheng Wenchi let out a shrill scream, and he staggered backward, falling into a seated position.

However, he did not fall straight down.

Instead, he felt pain in his wrist as someone gripped him even tighter. Then came a forceful pull.

In an instant, the world spun.

Cheng Wenchi saw his own legs being thrown high into the air, the pale ceiling above him, and the glaring lights blurring his eyes.

The back of his head struck the ground heavily, followed by his back and both legs.

The force was so great that it felt as if the entire villa shook.

As the person involved, Cheng Wenchi could be said to see stars. White light flashed before his eyes, and he could not see anything clearly. From head to toe, there was not a single place he could move.

“Ahhh! She hit someone! Cheng Lingxue, you actually dared to hit someone!”

Cheng Mengmeng, who had hidden far away on the sofa, did not show the slightest intention of caring about her father’s condition. Instead, she pointed at Cheng Lingxue and cried and screamed. Snot and tears streamed down her face, smearing the heavy makeup on her face into a mess and making her already ordinary face even uglier.

Her noisy, sandpaper-like wailing made Cheng Lingxue rub her temples. She threw aside Cheng Wenchi’s hand, took a handkerchief from her pocket, and wiped her hands.

Because of Cheng Mengmeng’s voice, Cheng Lingxue even lost interest in continuing.

She felt that this father and daughter, who only knew how to bully others by relying on power, were simply wasting her time.

“…Shut—”

She was about to scold Cheng Mengmeng and make her shut up, but at that moment, the door was forcefully knocked open.

Xie Shuyun ran in, followed by a large group of bodyguards. In the blink of an eye, they [unauthorized copy]filled the entire living room.

“Lingxue, are you—”

Xie Shuyun’s second half of the sentence stuck in her throat.

Because Cheng Lingxue, the only person standing, had a back as straight as a green pine. No matter how one looked at her, she did not look like she had suffered any grievance.

Instead, the girl on the sofa, covering her mouth while both crying and laughing as if she had facial nerve disorder, her face smeared beyond recognition, and the man lying spread-eagle on the ground, motionless with his eyes rolled back, looked more like the ones who had problems.

But looking at Cheng Lingxue wiping her hands, Xie Shuyun guessed that this man had probably been taken down by her.

She glanced at him with disgust and waved her hand for the bodyguards to drag this person blocking the way aside. In the end, her gaze landed on the item on the nearby cabinet.

Although the image on it had been ruined by water and was basically impossible to see clearly, since it had gotten wet and had still been picked up, it must be something very important to Cheng Lingxue.

Thinking this, Xie Shuyun’s guilt exploded.

She shuffled over to Cheng Lingxue’s side, lowered her head, scratched her cheek, and murmured hesitantly,

“I’m here, but it seems… I’m a little late… It looks like everything is almost solved already…”

Cheng Lingxue looked at the regretful and disappointed girl in front of her.

She had clearly just had a high fever. There unauthorized copy was still a sickly blush on her face. Yet she had still been willing to come for her.

“But let me tell you, everyone outside has already been subdued by my family’s bodyguards. Not a single one ran away. They don’t look like good people either. Smoking, chewing betel nut—how could street thugs like that get into a rich residential area like this?”

The girl chattered on, her hands constantly gesturing about everything that had happened outside just now. She hoped to use this method to smooth out the slight furrow in Cheng Lingxue’s brows.

Cheng Lingxue’s small mouth parted slightly.

She did not know how to describe her own feelings.

Should she be happy that this person had come to help her?

Or should she be angry that this person had run around while sick?

She only felt that her heart, which had been struck into cold silence just now, had begun to beat slightly again.

In the end, she slowly closed her eyes, then opened them again and pointed at the man who had been dragged into the corner by the bodyguards.

“He was the one who brought the bodyguards. Cheng Wenchi… my second uncle…”

When she said those final three words, Cheng Lingxue could not help feeling a surge of shame in her heart. She completely did not want to admit that the other party was related to her by blood.

“Ah? …Second uncle…”

Xie Shuyun’s mouth parted slightly. She looked at Cheng Lingxue, then at Cheng Wenchi.

So she had beaten up her own second uncle?

Was she that fierce?

She glanced at the sofa, where a girl was hugging her own arms and looking over in fear. Xie Shuyun guessed that she was probably also Cheng Lingxue’s relative, the second uncle’s daughter.

As for Cheng Mengmeng on the sofa, seeing that many people had arrived, although she did not know their identities, she could tell from the group of well-trained black-clad bodyguards that the other party’s background definitely was not simple.

She assumed Cheng Lingxue would not dare act recklessly in front of them.

Especially the heroic-looking girl standing at the very front. Cheng Mengmeng could not help swallowing. She quickly began tidying up her appearance, but unfortunately, she did not know just how badly her face had been smeared.

Standing up, Cheng Mengmeng took a few steps and ran toward Xie Shuyun. Her voice carried a sob as she pointed at Cheng Lingxue and spoke pitifully.

“Can you help me call the police? I… Cheng… Cheng Ling… My cousin has gone crazy! She maliciously hurt someone! You all saw it. My dad is still lying there!”

As she spoke, she even tried to grab Xie Shuyun’s arm.

Xie Shuyun was left stunned by Cheng Mengmeng’s baffling maneuver and quickly dodged the other girl’s touch.

She looked somewhat awkwardly at Cheng Lingxue, who was watching her with a meaningful gaze.

She had not expected the other girl to suddenly come and cling to her either!