Pingshan Villa No. 28.
"Yun Hua, what on earth are you good for? I entrusted the child to you to raise, and you actually managed to lose her! That is the only heir of the Mu family! I'm telling you, once Xiaolan is found, I am taking her away! I'm filing a petition with the court for full custody!"
Caught up in her anxiety and shedding tears to herself, the beautiful young woman heard the word "custody."
She looked up sharply and glared at Mu Yongcheng. "You wouldn't dare!"
Yun Hua wished she could scratch her ex-husband's face to shreds. Now she had nothing left—only Xiaolan.
If Mu Yongcheng tried to fight her for Xiaolan again, she would rather die with him.
"Ha! What is there that I wouldn't dare? For all I know, you found Xiaolan to be dead weight and an obstacle to you finding another man, so you deliberately got rid of her! On that ground alone, I can petition the judge for a reassessment!"
Mu Yongcheng wore a rogue's expression. He knew Xiaolan was Yun Hua's lifeline.
As long as he used Xiaolan to threaten this woman, she would surely panic.
"Sigh! I don't want to resort to that either, but it's too hard for you to protect Xiaolan all by yourself! She can't have a mother without a father! Let me be the bigger person—let's remarry! That way we can still be a happy, loving family. Yun Hua, a hundred days of grace come from a single night as husband and wife. I've always felt..."
A beauty in tears—she truly lived up to her past as a wildly popular award-winning actress.
Even her crying was so captivating.
Even though Yun Hua was already a woman in her thirties, she could still drive men out of their minds.
Mu Yongcheng couldn't help stretching out his hand, wanting to touch Yun Hua's cheek.
"Slap!"
Yun Hua knocked Mu Yongcheng's hand away with a fierce strike and quickly retreated a few steps, putting distance between herself and this scum.
This scumbag had some nerve.
Back then, she had reached the peak of her acting career, standing right there on the awards stage.
Just as she was about to accept the Best Actress trophy, a group of officers in uniform informed her that she was being taken in for questioning.
The audience in the hall gasped in shock.
It was only later that she learned Mu Yongcheng, in order to gather gambling funds, had used her name to invest in films and solicited countless investments.
Yet in the end, all that money had been gambled away by Mu Yongcheng at the casino.
When the matter came to light, the creditors banded together and took both Mu Yongcheng and her to court.
Yun Hua felt as though the sky were falling.
She tried desperately to argue that she knew nothing about it.
However, the officers produced a thick stack of documents, and right there on the contracts was Yun Hua's own signature, clear as day.
Mu Yongcheng had cunningly left a way out for himself.
He had previously helped manage Yun Hua's career.
Thus, he would often have Yun Hua sign inconsequential documents, and sometimes she wouldn't even look at them.
Only then did Yun Hua realize how terrifyingly calculated her own pillow-partner had been.
But the damage was done, and the negative press was overwhelming.
To minimize the losses, the debts had to be repaid immediately.
Yet it was at that moment Yun Hua discovered that the money in her bank accounts had long since been emptied out by Mu Yongcheng.
With the scandal blowing up this badly, there was no way the Yun family wouldn't know.
Her father had instructed a legal representative to negotiate with Mu Yongcheng: as long as he was willing to divorce his daughter, the Yun family would help pay off his debts.
Otherwise, he could spend the second half of his life behind bars.
Although Mu Yongcheng knew that once divorced, he would have nothing more to do with the Yun family, in order to avoid prison, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and feign agreement.
He figured that once he got out, he would continue pestering Yun Hua—after all, the two of them had a daughter.
He refused to believe Yun Hua could be that ruthless toward him.
"You're dreaming! Mu Yongcheng, not only did you ruin me, you ruined Xiaolan too, giving her a deadbeat father. What face do you have to ask for a reconciliation? I'm telling you, Xiaolan's last name is Yun now, not Mu! You can forget about that pipe dream!"
Yun Hua pointed at Mu Yongcheng's nose and cursed.
Hearing that his daughter had changed her surname, Mu Yongcheng completely lost his composure. "You stinking bitch, how dare you let the seed of the Mu family change her surname! It seems if I don't teach you a lesson, you won't know the strength of Mu Yongcheng! Back then you were a goddess, a best actress, and I damn well pampered you! Now you're worth less than a fart!"
With that, he reached out to hit Yun Hua.
A frail woman was no match for a man, and there was simply no way she could dodge in time.
Yun Hua only hated herself for sending all the family's domestic help out to search for Xiaolan.
Right now, there was not a single person in the house who could help her.
She quietly pulled out the dagger hidden inside her clothes. The moment Mu Yongcheng tried to harm her, she would take him down with her.
It was just hard on her poor daughter Xiaolan, who already had a deadbeat gambler for a father, and now was about to have a murderer for a mother.
Yet the searing pain never came.
"Mom!"
Was she hearing things?
How did she hear Xiaolan's voice?
"You bad guy, I'll beat you to death! Let you bully Mom! Let you bully Mom!"
Yun Hua opened her eyes to see Xiaolan kicking viciously at Mu Yongcheng, who was sprawled on the ground.
She pulled the child into her arms in a rush, looking her up and down.
Everything was fine. Only then did she clutch Xiaolan tightly to her chest and sob bitterly.
"Mom, don't cry! Look, Xiaolan picked some flowers for you—they're so pretty! Pretty flowers can make people happy, that's what Mom said! Are you happy, Mom?"
Only then did Yun Hua remember the fairy tale she had told Xiaolan a couple of days ago, where the little princess received a bouquet of flowers from the little prince and smiled happily and brightly.
Xiaolan had done this just to make her happy...
Yun Hua cried as she said, "Mom is very happy. Thank you, sweetheart!"
"Cough, cough, cough! Who the hell are you? How dare you hit me!"
Mu Yongcheng looked toward Zhou Yu. The young man was tall and long-legged, and an extraordinarily handsome face was staring coldly down at him.
He couldn't help shivering.
[Ding! Completed the mission to protect Xiaolan's mother. Rewarded with Beginner Strength. Physical strength is now comparable to the world's number one weightlifter!]
Zhou Yu felt the strange sensation rippling through his body.
His muscles and bones seemed to have been readjusted to their absolute optimal state.
Although on the surface he looked unchanged, the explosive power contained within his body told him he could now easily kick the man on the ground flying.
Just as he had carried Xiaolan back, he had heard the sounds of arguing coming from the villa.
Xiaolan had anxiously urged him on, "Big Brother, save Mom quickly! There are bad guys!"
The system mission had followed right after.
Disregarding the system notification, Zhou Yu grabbed the man's wrist, twisted his arm behind his back, and kicked him flat onto the floor.
"Ah! I get it! Yun Hua, you really are so damn cheap, unable to stand a moment of loneliness! How long has it been since we divorced, and you've already found yourself a toy boy?"
Stumbling to his feet, Mu Yongcheng yelled, "Xiaolan, come over to Daddy's side! Your mom found another man, she doesn't want you anymore!"
"You're the big bad guy! You're not my daddy!"
Furious, Mu Yongcheng snapped, "You surnamed Yun, is this how you educate my daughter? I'm telling you, today you have two choices: either Xiaolan comes with me, or you remarry me!"
"And you!"
Mu Yongcheng pointed straight at Zhou Yu. "Go stay wherever it's cool! Selling your body just to cozy up to the Yun family! Young man, I advise you to walk the straight path instead of constantly looking for shortcuts!"
"Mu Yongcheng! Shut your mouth!"
"Oh! Hurting for him already, are we? Did I say something wrong? You pair of adulterers! Let me tell you, Xiaolan is leaving with me today, and you can forget about ever seeing her again!"
Watching this arrogant man who thought he knew it all, Zhou Yu walked over and delivered a sharp slap across his face.
Mu Yongcheng felt his cheek burn like fire, his head rang violently, and his ears seemed to go deaf.
Instantly, he collapsed and passed out cold.
"So noisy."
Tsk, he hadn't controlled his strength well and had actually knocked the guy out with a single slap.