Du Feng suddenly looked up and stared fixedly at Xia Lian, his eyes filled with the shock and fury of being betrayed.
Although he had a vague suspicion, being exposed in public still made him extremely ashamed and angry.
Xia Lian trembled all over but still kept her head down, not daring to look at anyone.
Du Changlin was also stunned, and then flew into a rage. "You're talking nonsense!!"
"Nonsense? Do you want to do a paternity test right now?!"
A malicious smile appeared on Du Xixi's face.
"Because of this bastard, Zhaozhao's mother was so angry that she died. I'm different. I have nothing to do with Du Feng. I should live!"
"You?!"
Du Feng finally caught his breath after a series of blows. He pointed at Du Xixi, trembling with anger.
"You heartless snake! Do you think you're any better?!"
"Back then, why did your mother sell Zhaozhao? Wasn't it because you were crying at home all day, saying you wanted to be the only daughter of the Du family?"
"After Zhaozhao went missing, didn't you take over all the things her mother left for her?"
"You've been vicious since childhood. You're just a scourge even if you're alive!"
"What about you?!" Du Xixi retorted without showing any weakness. "You hypocrite! Do you think no one knows about your dirty deeds?"
"You were a son - in - law of the Meng family. You took everything from Meng Ruozhao's mother's family but killed her. You even wanted to kill your only daughter. You deserve to die the most!!"
"Fortunately, Ms. Meng was sober - minded and gave you a sterilization drug long ago. But you were blind and stupid, and you hurt your only flesh and blood."
"Now you're all alone. What's the use of living? Do you think Young Master Pei will let the Du family off? You might as well just die."
Du Feng trembled with anger at these words and could only put on the airs of the family patriarch again, trying to suppress them.
"I at least raised you all!!"
"Raised us?!" Du Xixi shouted hysterically. "All you cared about were your company and your face!"
"When did you ever really care about us? Now that you're about to die, you want to act like a father? It's too late!!"
"Enough! Stop arguing!"
Du Changlin tried to maintain order, but his voice was weak.
"The most important thing now is to survive... We... We can discuss..."
"Discuss? What can we discuss with you bastards?!"
Du Xixi grabbed the third glass of wine closest to her and looked at Du Changlin and Du Feng crazily.
"Go to hell! I'll drink this one! This one must be safe!"
Saying that, she was about to pour it into her mouth.
"Put it down!" Du Feng suddenly lunged forward and tried to snatch the glass from her hand. "This one is mine. Give it to me!"
"Get out of the way, old man!"
"Bitch! Let go!"
The father and two sons immediately fought with each other, vying for the four glasses of liquid that would decide their fates.
They insulted, tore at each other, and exposed more disgraceful and ugly things about each other.
The false masks they had maintained on weekdays were completely shattered, leaving only the most primitive animal instincts to survive.
Only Xia Lian still sat there stupidly on the ground, with a blank look in her eyes, as if nothing around her mattered.
She knew that the non - poisonous glass would definitely not be hers.
Because she knew her own children well, and she also knew Du Feng.
She knew even more that Pei Jiangmu would never let her off easily.
Pei Jiangmu sat on the chair, leisurely watching this farce of human ugliness that he had personally directed.
Watching these people who had once hurt Zhaozhao bite each other in despair was like watching a group of maggots rolling in a cesspit.
It greatly soothed the violent desire for destruction in his heart.
As he watched, his thoughts gradually drifted away involuntarily.
They drifted back many years ago, to that time that was also filled with darkness but had a glimmer of light because of each other.
Du Feng was wrong.
Zhaozhao was not adopted by his father, Pei Ting.
Back then, when he and Zhaozhao escaped together, they rolled down the hillside.
It was Zhaozhao who, at the critical moment, used her thin and scarred body to protect him tightly.
The last impression he had before he fell into a coma was her hugging him tightly and falling into the darkness together.
When he woke up again, he was in the Pei family's private hospital.
Both he and Zhaozhao had been rescued.
Naturally, the Pei family initially planned to find Zhaozhao's family and send her back.
An unknown little girl couldn't stay in the Pei family.
When he dragged his still - unhealed body and secretly went to the next - door ward to see her.
What he saw was Zhaozhao, after waking up, remaining silent for a very long time in the face of the gentle inquiries from the Pei family adults.
Then, that ten - year - old little girl said in an abnormally calm but heart - breaking tone.
"I don't have parents anymore. They've both passed away."
"My step - mother sold me to human traffickers. I was hit by a car when I was running away."
She lied.
Pei Jiangmu was hiding outside the door and heard it clearly.
They had been locked in the same place by the kidnappers for three days.
He knew she had a father and a step - mother, and he also knew why she had been caught by the kidnappers.
But she chose to cut off completely.
She would rather say she was an orphan than go back to that so - called "home" that had abandoned her like garbage.
Although the Pei family felt pity for her.
With the Pei family's status and some special circumstances at that time, they couldn't adopt a child of unknown identity who might bring trouble.
They decided to send her to the best - equipped orphanage after her injuries got better.
During that time, Zhaozhao was very quiet.
She didn't cry or make a fuss. Most of the time, she just sat on the bed hugging her knees and stared out of the window in a daze.
Her eyes were so blank that it seemed as if there was nothing in them, or as if they carried too much heaviness that a child of her age shouldn't bear.
Pei Jiangmu still had injuries on his body, but he would sneak over to see her almost every day.
He didn't say a word. He just sat beside her and stared into space with her.
Sometimes he would secretly bring some snacks for her.
Sometimes he would read some boring financial magazines to her that she might not understand at all -
That was the only "toy" he could find that belonged to him.
He didn't know how to comfort her. He just instinctively felt that he couldn't leave her alone.
The two of them, one just having experienced the trauma of kidnapping and other things, the other being cruelly abandoned by her loved ones.
They were like two little beasts lost in a snowstorm, only able to huddle together to absorb that little bit of pitiful warmth.
A few days before Zhaozhao was about to be sent to the orphanage.
Twelve - year - old Pei Jiangmu did something that no adult could have expected.
He somehow found a well - off Meng couple in the Pei Group who couldn't have children due to physical reasons.
He convinced them to adopt Meng Ruozhao.
The process wasn't easy.
It sounded like a fantasy for a twelve - year - old child to arrange an adoptive family for a ten - year - old child.
But Pei Jiangmu did it.
Maybe it was his precocity and calmness beyond his age.
Maybe it was the influence that belonged to the "young master of the Pei family" that he himself didn't fully understand yet.
Or maybe the couple was really touched by Zhaozhao's cuteness and pitifulness.
Anyway, Meng Ruozhao didn't go to the orphanage.
She had a new family and a new, relatively peaceful life.
The only thing that remained the same was her name, because she said it was the name her mother had given her and she wanted to keep it.