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Rekindled Hearts: The Tycoon's Reluctant Love-Chapter 151 - : Slap in the Face! Exposing the Real Culprit (2)
Chapter 151: Chapter 151: Slap in the Face! Exposing the Real Culprit (2)
Zhou Zhiyan acted as if she had been hurt, leaning into Old Lady Zhou’s embrace, “Grandma, that day I really did hold Mocha for a while, but later there was an emergency at the hospital, so I went to work.”
“I remember giving Mocha back to my Aunt before I left!”
Zhou Zhiyan blinked her eyes, innocence written all over her face, “According to Auntie, it seems like she’s implying that I lost Mocha.”
Old Madam Zhou usually spoiled Zhou Zhiyan the most, not only because of Zhou Zhiyan’s sweet mouth but also because of her high education, which was a source of pride for the Zhou Family.
Especially when compared to Zhou Yanyan, who was introverted and mediocre in every way.
Zhou Zhiyan was simply like a little angel.
...
Old Lady Zhou would suspect anyone but Zhou Zhiyan.
Old Lady Zhou caressed Zhou Zhiyan’s head with affectionate indulgence, saying dotingly, “Zhiyan, Grandma naturally believes you.”
With those words, she turned her head and glared at Su Lan and her daughter with eyes and an expression that were completely different from those she showed to Zhou Zhiyan.
She wished she could tear the mother and daughter apart limb from limb.
“Su Lan, tell me, where did Mocha go? If you can’t explain, from today onward, Zhou Yanyan will no longer need to attend school either!”
Zhou Yanyan was in her senior year of high school, with college entrance exams coming up after the New Year. Keeping her from school would only hinder her academic progress, wouldn’t it?
The college entrance exams were a big deal in life. If she wasn’t allowed to go to school, wouldn’t that ruin her future?
Tears welled up in Su Lan’s eyes, “Mom, I really don’t know. I’ve been worried and anxious since Mocha went missing for several days, but I really didn’t make Mocha disappear!”
Zhou Yanyan looked at Su Lan, who was turning pale, trembling all over, and about to lose her balance, and went forward to support her.
Tears were also brimming in Zhou Yanyan’s eyes. She had been afraid of her stern and fierce grandmother since she was a child; as soon as her grandmother’s eyes widened, her legs would turn to jelly.
But seeing her mother being accused and wronged, she still mustered the courage to stand up.
“Grandma, please don’t blame Mom, it really wasn’t her…”
With a smack.
The Old Madam, holding her walking stick, struck the tea table fiercely, knocking over a celadon teacup which fell to the ground and shattered with a crisp sound.
“Even if it wasn’t your mother who made Mocha disappear, it was her responsibility for not keeping an eye on Mocha. If not her, then who is to blame?”
Madam Zhou chimed in beside Old Madam Zhou, stirring things up, “Mom, I think Su Lan won’t shed a tear until she sees the coffin. You need to show some severity, like the family law—”
The Ming Family’s family law stated that if someone made a mistake, they must be severely lashed with a long whip three times.
Old Madam Zhou nodded her head. She looked toward Su Lan, who was trembling with fear, “If you don’t want your daughter to miss school, then accept the family law punishment yourself!”
With Mocha gone, Old Madam Zhou was filled with anger that had to be vented.
Su Lan and her daughter had become her punching bags!
Zhou Yanyan, hearing that Old Madam Zhou intended to inflict the family punishment on her mother, hurriedly embraced Su Lan in fear.
“Grandma, I’d rather not go to school than have you implement the family law on my mom!”
The whip had thorns; it would flay the skin off anyone it struck.
Su Lan pushed Zhou Yanyan away, her eyes red with rage, “Zhou Yanyan, you dare not go to school and see!”
Su Lan knew the importance of education. If Zhou Yanyan didn’t even go to college, what kind of prospects could she have?
Would she have to endure a life under the Zhou Family’s oppression like her mother?
Given Old Lady Zhou’s degree of dislike for them, she certainly would not arrange a favorable marriage for Yanyan!
“Mom, I can’t let you suffer the family punishment, it’s not your fault…”
Zhou Yanyan’s tears silently streaked across her face.
The three people on the sofa, upon seeing the mother and daughter embraced in tears, all showed faces of indifference and disregard.
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Zhou Zhiyan leaned her face against Old Lady Zhou’s shoulder and curled her lips in disdain, “Grandma, look at how Auntie and Yanyan are crying, as if something major has happened in the family. It’s truly headache-inducing.”
Old Madam Zhou was advanced in years and had experienced the grief of outliving the younger generation. She now disliked it most when people wailed and wept around her, as if preparing her for her own funeral.
She rose furiously, grabbed her walking stick, and swung it forcefully towards Su Lan’s back.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Yanyan instinctively moved to shield Su Lan from the blow.
Zhou Yanyan closed her eyes, bracing for the blow of pain that would hit her back at any moment.
However, after waiting for what felt like a long time, the stick never fell upon her back.
When she opened her eyes and saw what was happening in the living room, she was taken aback.
At some point, two figures had appeared in the living room.
To be precise, a man and a woman.
The woman wore a black leather jacket, tight black pants, and Martin boots on her feet. Her long hair was tied back in a high ponytail, a style that was considerably cool and suave.
The man behind her wore a pair of ripped denim jeans, diamond studs in his ears, and carried a large cardboard box in his hands.
At the sight of the woman, a look of confusion emerged in Zhou Yanyan’s timid eyes, “Sister Yao?”
Su Lan’s grandmother and Old Madam Ming were real sisters.
Ming Yao had to call her ‘Aunt Grandma,’ but her family did not have the well-off condition of Old Madam Ming’s family.
When Eldest Young Master Zhou was still alive, Su Lan and Zhou Yanyan learned that Ming Yao had been found in the countryside by the Ming Family and often visited her at the Imperial Garden.
But at that time, Ming Yao only listened to Ming Wan and looked down upon Zhou Yanyan, who was considered to have a narrow domestic mindset. After one instance when Zhou Yanyan came to play and Ming Yao repelled her harshly, the two rarely saw each other again.
Now as Zhou Yanyan looked at Ming Yao, she felt a sense of unfamiliarity and fear.
Ming Yao, with one hand, grabbed the walking stick that was about to hit Zhou Yanyan’s back, yanked it hard, and the stick ended up in Ming Yao’s hand.
Old Lady Zhou, unsteady, swayed. Zhou Zhiyan and Madam Zhou immediately steadied her.
“Butler, how did you let outsiders in? Has Zhou Mansion become a public market?” Zhou Zhiyan asked with a frown.
The butler came in with two security guards, their faces dirty and disheveled.
Earlier, the butler had instructed the security to stop the man and woman, but they were unable to do so!
Ming Yao twirled the walking stick in her hand and then planted it firmly on the ground, her beautiful eyes coldly fixed on Zhou Zhiyan, “I am Zhou Yanyan’s cousin, why shouldn’t I come?”
“Ming Yao, what did you mean by pushing my grandma? She’s elderly. If something happens to her, can you bear the responsibility?”
Ming Yao’s lips curled into a smile that was not quite a smile, “Miss Zhou, are you aware that Old Lady Zhou is old and can’t stand disturbances?”
Zhou Zhiyan was taken aback.
What did Ming Yao mean?
No, that’s not right. As far as she knew, Ming Yao had been driven out of Imperial Garden by Gu Siting. She should be hiding in some corner crying, so why was she boldly and willfully showing up at Zhou Mansion?
What was Ming Yao trying to do?
And the fashionably dressed young man behind her, who was he?
Fearing that the matters of Zhou Family would involve Ming Yao, Su Lan spoke in a low voice, “Yaoyao, don’t interfere with Aunt Lan’s affairs here, you better go back first!”
Ming Yao looked at the meek and bully-able Su Lan and sighed, “Aunt Lan, I am here because of Mocha.”
Upon hearing the name Mocha, Old Madam Zhou’s eyes narrowed viciously at Ming Yao, “Is Mocha’s disappearance related to you?”