Diva Alpha Meets Her Biological Daughter on a Parenting Variety Show - Chapter 53

A few security guards stood at the front lines, keeping watch, while the wealthy woman stood in the back, pointing at Ming Yan and snapping, “Where did this unrefined country shrew come from? Watch your mouth.”

The security guards used riot pitchforks to push Ming Yan back. Unable to push through, Ming Yan calmed her temper, raised her arm, and hurled her crutch forward with all her might.

Everyone looked up as the crutch was thrown from Ming Yan’s hand, drawing a sharp arc in the air before crashing down right at the wealthy woman’s feet.

“You old hag painted over with fresh makeup! Did you think that just because you got a facelift and some makeup I wouldn’t see right through your grotesque facade? Let me tell you! I used to train with the shot put team and even won city competitions. If I hadn’t shown mercy just now, you’d be waiting for your rear end to blossom!”

“Ah!” The wealthy woman shrieked in fright, her beautiful face distorting from shock and indignation. “You crazy old crone—”

Ji Suxin considered herself a refined woman. With the art museum staff present and VIPs arriving one after another, she was in a hurry to host the venue. She certainly wouldn’t lower herself to engage in a shouting match with a shrew. Suppressing her fury, she called her people over. “Security, throw her out!”

While resisting the riot pitchforks, Ming Yan twisted her head and shouted to Auntie Wang, “Old Wang! Come closer! Record this clearly!”

Auntie Wang held up her phone, maneuvering for a better angle. “I’m recording! Leave it to me, rest easy!”

Security: “?”

Ji Suxin: “?”

Ji Suxin took two steps forward in her high heels, spreading her palm directly over the lens. “What are you recording? Stop recording! I will sue you for violating my privacy and portrait rights.”

Ming Yan raised her voice to a shout. “Oh, who are you trying to intimidate? This is a public place. I’m recording the beautiful mountains, waters, and scenery. Which part of it is your portrait right? That blade of green grass or that dead fish over there?”

Ji Suxin’s eyes bulged with rage. She instinctively grabbed a stun baton from a nearby security equipment bin and rushed toward Ming Yan and Auntie Wang, ready to strike.

Ming Yan instantly let out a thunderous roar: “Murder!”

“Someone is committing murder here at the art museum!”

“Old Wang! Call 110! Quick, call the police! Get someone over here!”

Auntie Wang decisively hit the emergency speed dial. Moving like lightning, she pulled a small Bluetooth speaker she’d just bought on the cultural street out of her bag and turned it up to maximum volume. Ming Yan’s tragic screams were amplified by the speaker, echoing over ten meters away. People on the bridge and the streets all turned to look.

Seeing a crowd gathering, Ji Suxin immediately dropped the stun baton, covered her face, and spun back toward the inside of the art museum. “Lunatics!”

Several onlookers came over to see what was happening. Finding two women in their fifties or sixties sitting on the ground crying and airing their grievances, the security guards had no choice but to lower their riot pitchforks.

A college student sketching by Baiou Lake spoke up, “How can you grown men use brute force against an auntie!”

Passersby chimed in with their condemnation: “Exactly! This is too much!”

“I was just looking at the auction listings on the bridge earlier, and these two sisters were there too. They only approached the security line and were suddenly attacked by security. It’s completely absurd.”

“Mengka Auctions has always had this vile attitude—kneeling before the wealthy and acting brutish toward ordinary folks. I’ve seen a few of their showcases; they call it an art exhibition, but if you don’t buy anything, they couldn’t care less about you. Sisters, don’t be afraid. I’ll teach you how to file a complaint against them!”

Ming Yan had sustained several bruises from being struck by the fork handles. There were no open wounds, but it still throbbed with pain.

A woman dressed in a business suit emerged from the side door of the venue and stood before Ming Yan. “I am the manager organizing the auction exhibition; my surname is Li. My leadership said that considering you are elders, we won’t press matters with you. You may leave.”

Ming Yan stood up with Auntie Wang’s support. “Won’t press matters with us? Your security pushed me with pitchforks first, and that fresh-faced hag launched a personal attack against me. I say a couple of words back and she actually tries to beat me with a stun baton, and she still thinks she’s in the right? Has her brain been rummaged through by a dung beetle?!”

Manager Li responded, “Auntie, if you continue to make a scene without reason, I will call the police.”

“Go ahead and call!” Ming Yan turned to Auntie Wang. “Why hasn’t the police arrived yet?”

Auntie Wang shrugged her shoulders slightly. “It was too frantic just now; the call didn’t go through.”

Ming Yan: “Call them right now! There are surveillance cameras all over that wall. Let the police come and check to see who initiated the physical confrontation!”

Hearing the mention of surveillance, Manager Li’s brow furrowed slightly. She forced a smile and said, “I’m sorry, aunties. Our security guards handled the situation inappropriately. However, our auction has rules: no entry without an invitation. We are all just employees and must follow company regulations. How about this? I’ll give you each a gift bag and compensate you with two thousand yuan. What do you think?”

Ming Yan crossed her arms, thinking it over. “You think you can dismiss us with just two thousand yuan?”

A flicker of disgust flashed deep in Manager Li’s eyes, but she maintained her smile. “Then you may choose one piece from these ordinary auction items.”

Ming Yan waved her hand. “We don’t need the auction items. Convert the item into cash and give it to me; once I have the money, I’ll leave.”

Manager Li let out a contemptuous chuckle, agreed, and quickly had her assistant bring over a cash red packet. Ming Yan kept her word, leaving the moment she received the money.

Auntie Wang supported her. “Yanzi, are you really letting it go for just this bit of money?”

Ming Yan smiled and told her to look something up on her phone. “Help me find a print shop, and then find the biggest vegetable market around here.”

Puzzled, Auntie Wang asked, “Here? Aren’t we going back to the hotel? That won’t do, Yanzi. I promised Xiao Nuo I’d keep an eye on you—”

“Let’s go, let’s go. Am I her mother or is she mine!”

Ming Yan went to the print shop first, using the compensation money from Manager Li to make banners and posters, and even printed a colored ink painting.

“Diannan Ruihong Art Museum, guilty of fraud, violence, and corruption,” the print shop owner adjusted the digital layout. “Expedited for this afternoon.”

Ming Yan pointed at the computer. “Oh, right, boss. Below this peony painting, write: The work of an artist who was originally supposed to hold an exhibition here.“

Although she didn’t care for Ning Xueqing and Ning Zhixuan scheming around Ming Nuo, that mother and daughter had been very earnest in hosting them. Besides, stealing someone’s venue was fundamentally wrong, let alone that fresh-faced hag being so repulsive. She’d demand justice and settle scores all at once.

The print shop owner noted, “Adding a word costs ten yuan.”

Ming Yan stated, “Add it!” Anyway, the money came out of that hag’s own pocket.

Lanyu Solidarity Vegetable Market.

Ming Yan sat in front of a supermarket running a promotional event, holding a Bluetooth speaker to handle part-time recruitment: “Hiring extras! Two hundred yuan a day including a boxed lunch. Age requirement forty and above, no upper limit. Clear speech, those with an imposing presence preferred!”

A group of elderly folks who had just finished grabbing discounted fresh groceries gathered around. “Oh my, I’ve never been an actor in my life!”

A perm-haired auntie cradling a small brown Teddy bear spoke up in a booming voice, “What are we acting out? Sign me up!”

Seeing a fellow loud-voiced compatriot, Ming Yan’s eyes lit up. “Just act as yourself. When the time comes, you follow me and hold the banners. Whatever I say, you help back me up!”

The perm-haired auntie waved her hand grandly. “That’s simple! I’ll call all my sisters from the square dancing group. You want an imposing presence, right? Our dozen square dancing speakers will be as imposing as it gets!”

And imposing it was. When a dozen speakers started blaring in front of the art museum, the chants of “guilty of fraud, violence, and corruption” instantly drowned out the sound of the auction inside the venue.

Police cars arrived, and television reporters came too. The auction was forced to a halt, leaving the museum director and the head of Mengka Auctions with no choice but to step forward and mediate.

Ming Yan held up a rights-protection red flag, shouting into a megaphone used for square dancing rehearsals: “Ruihong Art Museum—”

The elderly extras behind her chanted: “Untrustworthy! Corrupt and bribed!”

Ming Yan: “Mengka Auction House—”

The extras: “Bullying the weak and fearing the strong! Persecuting innocent citizens!”

Several police officers arrived to coordinate. However, facing a crowd of elderly aunts and uncles who claimed to have high blood pressure or heart conditions, they didn’t dare use force and could only gently pacify and reason with them.

Watching the rabble before her eyes, Ji Suxin’s blood pressure soared. She called Manager Li over and whispered, “Didn’t I tell you to dismiss those beggars? Did you not give them the money?”

Flustered, Manager Li replied, “Chairperson Ji, I gave it to them.”

Ji Suxin: “Then why is she—”

A police officer spoke up, “Elders, please calm down first. Gathering a crowd to cause a disturbance indiscriminately like this is against the law, and it also involves defamation and spreading rumors.”

Ming Yan countered, “I’m demanding justice for myself and for an artist who suffered an injustice. How is that illegal? Officer, I admit to gathering a crowd, but I’m not causing a disturbance indiscriminately, let alone spreading rumors or defaming anyone. You’ll know if they violated the law, breached contracts, or engaged in bribery if you just investigate them thoroughly!”

Ming Yan took hold of the young police officer’s arm, speaking with absolute certainty and reason. “Investigate it clearly. As long as justice is returned to me and the other artist, I will accept criticism for anything I did wrong.”

The locals were well aware of the art museum’s many vile practices and had long been dissatisfied. They took this opportunity to voice their thoughts as well: “That’s right, officer. When my daughter participated in a competition before, there was an issue with the results, and the art museum never gave an explanation.”

“Exactly! My sister applied for a new media position here before. They’d already sent the offer, but then claimed at the last minute that she didn’t meet the requirements. It was completely absurd!”

“Investigate them! Investigate!”

Hearing the demand for an investigation, the art museum’s person-in-charge showed a visible shift in expression.

An older officer observing secretly from behind keenly captured the change in his expression and instructed his subordinates to begin preparing an investigation into the art museum.

Ji Suxin’s brow was furrowed deeply. Her gaze crossed the crowd, glaring at Ming Yan with venomous hatred, gritting her teeth: “Old hag.”

Manager Li leaned into her employer’s ear, “Boss, the painting that shrew is holding… it looks like the style of the one from the Ning family.”

Ji Suxin: “Someone sent by that Ning enchantress? Heh, she’s actually learned to be clever. Unable to lower her own status, she found a shameless person to cause trouble for me.”

“Boss, what do you think about this…?”

Ji Suxin rolled her eyes. “If I can’t handle Ji Yinqi, do you think I can’t discipline Ning Zhixuan? Want to fight me? Fine, I’ll make sure she tastes bitterness.”

“Xiao Li, tell the director to cut all ties with us cleanly. Tell him to be smart, otherwise his wife and child… it won’t be a matter of me showing no mercy.”

Manager Li nodded, “Rest assured, boss. I’ll clean it up thoroughly.”

The crimson clouds in the sky burned from the Lanyu Snow Mountain to Baiou Lake. The moment her flight landed, Ming Nuo rushed to the Baiou Lake police station.

“Mammy, are you okay!” Ming Nuo jogged up to Ming Yan and gave her a tight hug.

Ming Yan returned the hug, patting her back and laughing heartily, “I’m fine! Your Mammy has been through a hundred battles and specializes in dealing with demons and monsters. What’s there to fear?”

The officer on the side finished the log and looked up, “Wow, it really is the singer Ming Nuo. When the elder filled out the children’s section earlier, I thought she was bragging.”

Ming Yan hated being accused of bragging the most, huffing, “I never brag! See if this is the Ming Nuo who sings Wild Rose—my own biological daughter!”

The officer smiled, “Yes! Alright, there are no other issues here. Go back and rest. Sister Ming, your daughter is a public figure. Try not to be too impulsive when encountering things in the future. Resolve matters civilly to avoid causing trouble for the public, which could also affect your daughter.”

Ming Yan responded proudly, “My daughter is a person of absolute integrity. An upright person doesn’t fear a crooked shadow!”

Leaving the station, Ming Nuo hailed a car to take Ming Yan and Auntie Wang to the hotel.

“Mammy, you were far too impulsive this time. This isn’t like the days when you were young and running stalls, fighting with thugs. You have to reason with people.”

“Oh, reason with people. Look at how Ning’s mother reasoned with people, and what happened? She just suffered a silent loss.”

“But you still shouldn’t gather a crowd to cause a disturbance by yourself. What if you encountered danger?”

Ming Yan muttered, “Anyway, they found out this art museum really embezzled money, so I didn’t do anything wrong. Let me tell you, when dealing with unreasonable people, you have to be even more unreasonable than them! What a piece of work, calling me a beggar and telling security to fork me away. Let’s see how I handle her next time I run into her.”

Ming Nuo understood the progression of events and knew that the person who clashed with Ming Yan was Ji Suxin. A wave of fury also rose in her heart. Based on what she knew about Ji Suxin from the Ning family, she worried that since Ming Yan had offended her, Ji Suxin wouldn’t let the matter rest easily.

Ming Nuo stated, “Mammy, stay at home for a while and don’t go out for the time being. If anything happens, contact me first.”

Ming Yan: “Fine. Are you afraid those auction folks will target me? Nuo Nuo, I might be old, but my methods are still intact and my mind is perfectly clear. If they want to play fair, I’m ready; if they want to play dirty, I’m ready too. Don’t be too anxious. Back when your Mama was around, were there few powerful people trying to oppress us? Didn’t I still beat them down one by one?”

“Oh, right, give this to the Ning family’s mother when you get the chance.”

Ming Nuo caught a card handed over to her.

“What’s this?”

“The compensation the art museum and the auction house gave me. Give it to her. I accepted her painting and didn’t give her a return gift. She has a portion of compensation there too, along with an apology letter sent directly to her by the art museum. She should have received it by now.”

Ming Nuo was slightly stunned. She hadn’t expected Ming Yan to be willing to lower her pride and soften her stance toward Ning Zhixuan. “Alright, I’ll give it to Xueqing when I return.”

The hotel was on the other side of Baiou Lake. After Ming Nuo arrived, she upgraded the room, booking a lakeside villa.

As night fell, the moon and stars shone brightly, their reflections casting across the lake water. Ming Yan and Auntie Wang were exhausted from the past few days. After seeing them to their rooms to rest, Ming Nuo sat down by the swimming pool, putting on her headphones to listen to alpha waves for a meditation session.

Buzz, buzz, buzz~

A vibration pinged in her headphones. Ming Nuo clicked open the WeChat message.

Ning Xueqing: 【Real-time Location – Lanyu Qinhu Maers Villa Hotel】

Ming Nuo bolted upright, turning her head to look out into the distance.

“Xueqing?”