Chapter 85: A Humiliating Disgrace

For a long moment, Qu Wuyan snapped back to his senses, forcing a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Well, isn’t this a rare sight—the sun must be rising in the west today.”

“What do you want from me?” Fan Chi didn’t bother to offer Lian Youyou an easy way out. On the contrary, his tone was imperious. “You, the great young lady, are so capable. Even when I, the chairman, personally invited you to Yunyan, you didn’t care to come. You’d better leave now—our humble little company can’t accommodate a goddess like you.”

Fan Chi’s attitude was precisely what Lian Youyou expected, so she was prepared and didn’t get angry.

“Dad, I suppose you already know why I’m here today,” Lian Youyou took a deep breath, keeping her tone calm. “I know you, Aunt Qu, and Xiaoyun all dislike me. We both want to see the other suffer, but Dad, let’s be honest—our grudge shouldn’t involve my family, should it?”

She caught a flicker of guilt in Fan Chi’s eyes.

Ha, so he knows his actions are far from honorable.

Lian Youyou pressed on, “Dad, tell me—have I ever taken my resentment toward you out on anyone else around you? I haven’t, right? This past New Year, even though I barely knew your parents and even though you hit me before, you said they wanted to see me, and I agreed, didn’t I? I set aside my hatred, pretended everything was fine, and had New Year’s Eve dinner at your house. I didn’t say a single word that would upset the elders. Isn’t that enough?”

“...”

She’d already said everything that needed to be said—what could he possibly add?

Fan Chi felt a pang of shame and couldn’t meet Lian Youyou’s gaze, looking away instead.

Qu Wuyan, however, was relentless. “You say you never involved anyone else? Hmph, Lian Youyou, I understand you hate me and your father. But why do you always go after Xiaoyun? What did she ever do to you?”

“Aunt Qu, if you insist on putting it that way, then I’m afraid I’ll have to bring up my fall from the building last year,” Lian Youyou replied. “We all know perfectly well how I ended up falling. I never pursued that matter.”

“What are you implying? You fell from the building yourself. What does that have to do with my Xiaoyun? She wasn’t even there at the time...” Qu Wuyan’s voice trembled with guilt, lacking conviction.

This girl was clearly using that incident as a warning!

Sigh, if anyone was to blame, it was Xiaoyun for choosing a public place like the school for her scheme—she was still too inexperienced. Even if Xiaoyun insisted her hired hand would never be caught, there was no guarantee there hadn’t been witnesses...

Still, it wasn’t entirely Xiaoyun’s fault. Who could have predicted that Lian Youyou would survive a fall from the sixth floor?

“Aunt Qu, please don’t mistake my forbearance for ignorance. And, up to now, I have never deliberately targeted Fan Xiaoyun! Every single time, she framed me first. All I’ve done is defend myself.”

Fan Chi held a cigarette between his fingers, watching Qu Wuyan and Lian Youyou face off. Unbeknownst to him, the cigarette had already burned halfway down.

“Youyou, it wouldn’t be hard for me to help your uncle,” Fan Chi said, frowning, his brow furrowed deeply. “But you shouldn’t blame me for this. I’ve helped your uncle plenty lately, and yes, I took him to Macau this time and introduced him to a big client. But you can ask him yourself—was it my idea to go to the casino? Ask him if he and his wife weren’t the ones hoping to strike it rich and snuck off to the casino behind my back?”

“What?” Lian Youyou’s mind exploded, her thoughts a tangled mess.

Fan Chi was a liar through and through, but she knew that this time, he was telling the truth.

She knew Lian Kewei all too well—he’d been a good-for-nothing since childhood. He stole from home, shoplifted, looked up to older delinquents, bullied honest younger students...

If she had to compare Fan Chi and Lian Kewei, she’d actually rate Fan Chi a bit higher. At least Fan Chi had some ambition, some brains—though he didn’t use them for good.

Lian Kewei, on the other hand, was spineless and timid, meek outside, henpecked at home, but a constant source of trouble for his parents.

Seeing Lian Youyou frozen in shock, Fan Chi spun the ring on his thumb and said with a grand air, “Youyou, I know your mother’s death in childbirth has left you grieving all these years. But your Aunt Qu has now lost an eye. How long will this cycle of vengeance go on? If you agree to two conditions, I’ll pay off your uncle’s twenty million immediately. What do you say?”

So this was what he’d been waiting for.

“What are the two conditions?” Lian Youyou asked.

Fan Chi held up two fingers. “First, you must resign from Xin Cheng and sign with Yunyan. From now on, Yunyan will make all the decisions about your image, the roles and variety shows you take—you’ll have no say.”

Letting Yunyan control all her packaging meant selling herself to them completely. Whatever persona Yunyan wanted to create for her, whatever publicity stunts they orchestrated—she’d have to comply. Even if it meant attending parties or worse, she’d have no choice...

It was nothing short of signing her life away.

“I need to think about it,” Lian Youyou replied.

“Then you’d better not take too long. The people at the casino won’t wait forever,” Fan Chi warned, wagging his finger.

“As for the second condition...” A mocking smile played on Fan Chi’s lips as he enunciated each word. “You must change your surname to Fan.”

This condition was even more humiliating than if they’d asked her to kneel and kowtow!

A man who killed her mother, stole her inheritance, never gave her a cent, and let his youngest daughter’s accomplices push her off a building—now wanted her to take his surname?

Where did he get the nerve?

But in moments like this, the best response was a light touch.

Suddenly, Lian Youyou thought of a retort. With a faint smile, she said, “I’ll consider joining Yunyan. But changing my surname—that’s a bit much, isn’t it? If anyone’s to change their name, shouldn’t Aunt Qu go first and become Fan-Qu?”

“Lian Youyou!” Outraged, Qu Wuyan, who had avoided looking at her for fear of drawing attention to her injured eye, now turned and shouted at her.

Qu Wuyan’s reaction was just like her own back then.

A flash of anger crossed Fan Chi’s dark face. “Youyou, this isn’t a negotiation! Don’t forget, you’re the one begging me!”

How could she possibly accept such disgrace?

Qu Wuyan, eager to stir the pot, sneered, “Let it go, honey. You treat her as family, but she’s never thought of us that way.”

“Shut up! This isn’t your place to speak!” Fan Chi shot her a murderous glare. “Youyou, think carefully. Don’t let your pride cost your uncle his life.”

At that moment, her mother, Shi Xue Zhen, called.

“Hello, Grandma...”

“Youyou, two men have come to the house demanding money! They say they won’t leave until we pay. Where are we supposed to find that kind of money?”

Disaster!

Lian Youyou hung up and bolted from the room, ignoring the shouts of Fan Chi and Qu Wuyan, and the schadenfreude of Fan Cheng outside the door. She dashed out like a sprinter at the starting gun.

...

Sure enough, when she drove up to her house, a black sedan was already parked out front.

Just seeing that car filled her with a sense of foreboding.

Her parents and Meng Jiao were standing in the middle of the courtyard; Lian Haohao was nowhere to be seen. Opposite them stood two men.

Lian Youyou approached and got a good look at the men—one tall and burly, the other with a shaved head and a face thick with horizontal flesh.

Neither looked like good news...

No matter how tough Lian Youyou was, or how much she’d seen, her palms broke into a cold sweat at the sight of those two.

If only she’d called Lu Ming...

Given the state of her family—parents old, children young, and not one of them capable of putting up a fight—the only one who looked young and strong, Lian Haohao, was glued to his phone. Useless!

Lian Youyou stepped in front of her parents, summoning her courage. “Gentlemen, what brings you here?”

“What brings us here? Pay up!” the bald man bellowed. “A debt must be repaid!”

Meng Jiao was so scared her legs were shaking. Clutching Lian Youyou’s sleeve, she whimpered, “Youyou, didn’t you go to see Fan Chi? Didn’t he agree to help us? Why didn’t you beg him harder? Only Fan Chi can save us now...”

Lian Youyou shot her a furious glare. “If you didn’t want this to happen, why did you sneak off to the casino with my uncle in the first place? Instead of begging him, maybe you should reflect on your own choices.”

Hearing this, Meng Jiao realized Lian Youyou had learned the truth from Fan Chi and sheepishly let go of her.

“This one’s quite the looker,” the tall man said, grabbing Lian Youyou’s chin and forcing her to look at him. “How about you come with us? Maybe we can put in a word with the boss—knock a few million off your debt.”

“No, no! She’s our granddaughter! Please, for the sake of our dead daughter and our only grandchild, don’t hurt this poor child!” Lian Changsheng and Shi Xue Zhen pleaded, pulling Lian Youyou behind them to protect her.

Meng Jiao, though, clung to Shi Xue Zhen’s arm and said, “Mom, you’re too naïve. These two look like reliable men. That Professor Lu is just a poor teacher anyway. Maybe if Youyou went with these two, she’d enjoy the good life for a change...”