Chapter 5
Xia Sheng sat down on the sofa at an unhurried pace, a polite smile on her face. “Thank you for the compliment. Many people do say I’m beautiful.”
She wore a smile, but it never reached her eyes, making her seem a little unsettling.
When Yu He met her gaze, she felt a chill run inexplicably through her heart.
Xia Zhiruo, sitting beside Yu He, spoke up: “To think you take ‘vixen’ as a compliment. You really are shameless.”
Xia Sheng replied indifferently, “At least a vixen is easy on the eyes. That’s better than someone like Miss Xia, who is so ugly it’s hard to look at.”
Xia Zhiruo was fuming.
How was she ugly?
Was this little bastard blind?
Back in high school, she was the campus belle!
This Xia Sheng woman was only a bit fairer, a bit taller, and her features a bit more delicate. What right did she have to call her ugly!?
Xia Yanzhi hadn’t called Xia Sheng back today just to watch a few women bicker.
He shot a look at Yu He and Xia Zhiruo, signaling them to be quiet, then turned to Xia Sheng. “I’m sure you already know why I brought you back.
“The Zhou Family is a prominent family in the Imperial Capital, and Zhou Yichuan is a good man. Marrying in his place is a blessing for you…”
Xia Sheng looked up at him, her tone cool. “If it’s such a blessing, why don’t you take it yourself?”
She had already read Zhou Yichuan’s face at the airport today.
Zhou Yichuan had no real abilities of his own; all his wealth came from his parents. Once his father was gone, that wastrel would squander the entire family fortune.
Moreover, he was hot-tempered, greedy, and lecherous. Xia Yanzhi had watched him grow up and must have known his character.
And yet, Xia Yanzhi still had the nerve to call marrying Zhou Yichuan a blessing.
Xia Sheng had never seen anyone so shameless.
Xia Yanzhi had thought his daughter, raised in the countryside, would be ignorant and easy to manipulate. He hadn’t expected her to speak to him with such biting sarcasm, and his face darkened instantly.
Xia Zhiruo secretly laughed at Xia Sheng’s stupidity-passing up such an easy advantage-though on the surface she said kindly, “Sister, Dad is only doing this for your own good…”
Xia Sheng cut her off: “Don’t call me sister. I don’t like fake sweethearts.”
Who was it just now whose eyes were about to pop out? And now she was pretending to be all sisterly?
Xia Zhiruo’s expression stiffened. Xia Yanzhi slapped the table and stood up. “Xia Sheng! We’re planning for your future here. What kind of attitude is this?
“You’re a girl from the countryside. Marrying into the Zhou Family is reaching above your station! If you miss this chance, there won’t be another!”
“I’m not a member of the Xia Family.” Facing Xia Yanzhi’s anger, Xia Sheng remained calm. “Other than providing my mother with a seed before I was born, have you ever done anything for me or my mother?
“Now, just to help Xia Zhiruo, you want me to marry someone she doesn’t like so she can climb higher. How is that for my good?
“Sacrificing me under the guise of doing it for my own good, just to benefit your other daughter-Xia Yanzhi, could you be any more shameless?”
Hearing Xia Sheng’s words, Xia Yanzhi was both furious and shocked that this little bastard actually saw through his scheme.
“How did you know I planned to have Zhiruo marry someone else?”
To keep the Zhou Family from making a fuss over the change in the marriage agreement, he hadn’t said that Xia Zhiruo wanted to break off the engagement because she found someone with a better background. Instead, he announced that his eldest daughter had been found, so the engagement should be fulfilled by the eldest daughter.
He had quietly removed Xia Zhiruo from the situation, preserving her reputation.
Other than his own family, no one knew he intended to marry his daughter off to a man with an even better family background.
How did this little wild brat who just came back from the countryside know about this?
Xia Sheng replied, “I’ve studied a bit of Mystic Arts and calculated it.”
Upon hearing this, Xia Yanzhi sneered. “The people who reported back said you were setting up a fortune-telling stall with that Old Charlatan, swindling people. I didn’t quite believe it at first.
“Now it seems that Old Charlatan really taught you well.”
Xia Sheng ignored his sarcasm and got straight to the point: “Where is my mother? I came today to take her home.”
Although she was only a spirit occupying the original owner’s body, upon inheriting it, the original owner’s karma had also transferred to her.
Fang Rong had carried the original owner for ten months and given birth to her. She owed her the debt of life and was bound to repay it.
Xia Yanzhi said coldly, “I let you come back to get married. If you don’t agree, don’t even think about seeing that cripple!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Sheng’s icy gaze swept over him.
Xia Yanzhi suddenly felt a chill shoot up from his tailbone, his whole body stiffening for several seconds.
When he came back to his senses, he was a bit angry.
He was actually scared stiff by an eighteen-year-old girl!
Xia Sheng’s expression turned completely cold. “Hand my mother over to me. Otherwise, if the whole thing about Xia Zhiruo sleeping with another man and wanting to dump Zhou Yichuan to climb higher gets out, I’ll make sure everyone knows.
“Then let’s see if the Zhou Family, for the sake of their reputation, will let Xia Zhiruo be with another man.”
Xia Yanzhi gritted his teeth. “You little wild brat, are you threatening me?”
Xia Sheng said nothing, just stared at him coldly.
After a long standoff, Xia Zhiruo panicked first. She grabbed Xia Yanzhi’s hand and said, “Dad, this absolutely can’t get out. If things blow up, the Shi Family will never accept me…”
Right now, the Shi Family didn’t know that she had gotten together with Shi Chen while still engaged. If they found out, how could she ever marry into their family?
It was one thing if this little wild brat refused to take her place in the engagement-there were always other ways.
But if what happened to her was exposed by this little wild brat, she would be finished!
In the end, Xia Yanzhi was defeated. With an ugly expression, he ordered the butler, “Go bring Fang Rong here!”
Soon, the butler led in a woman who limped as she walked from the side hall.
Fang Rong’s skin was somewhat dark, and from years of labor, her skin was rougher than Yu He, who was sitting on the sofa.
She was slightly hunched, glancing around the living room nervously.
Eighteen years ago, after Fang Rong gave birth to Xia Sheng, Xia Yanzhi had originally wanted to drive her out, but Yu He forcibly kept her.
Back then, although Fang Rong’s leg was crippled, she was truly a beauty.
Plus, she was honest and hardworking. Even if she was kicked out of the Xia Family, there would still be men willing to marry her.
Yu He harbored resentment toward her-how could she let Fang Rong live freely outside?
So she forced Fang Rong to stay, making her do the dirtiest chores every day, watching as she and Xia Yanzhi lived in luxury.
Yu He never laid a hand on Fang Rong, because she knew that just making Fang Rong watch her and Xia Yanzhi’s glamorous life while she herself was covered in dirt was enough to crush her spirit, making her unable to live or die in peace.
As it turned out, years of psychological torment had worked.
Fang Rong had once been high-spirited, always smiling at everyone.
Now, just standing in front of people, she was already so nervous and uneasy, shrinking back, inferiority etched into her very bones.
Seeing Fang Rong glancing around in fear, Yu He sneered inwardly and mocked in a low voice, “What an ugly freak-crippled and hideous.”
“Smack!”
As soon as she finished speaking, she was slapped hard across the face.