Jiang Qianfeng doted on his daughter and gave Jiang Lai a harsh look. "You are so utterly shameless! You've completely disgraced the Jiang Family!"
Jiang Lai felt not a single ripple in her heart and said bluntly, "Oh, come on. My sister was the one you all spoiled rotten, to the point where she was so reckless she got pregnant with her brother-in-law's child."
In the past, she had always played the obedient and timid role in the Jiang Family. Now that she dared to talk back and throw such pointed sarcasm, Jiang Qianfeng's face turned furious, his back teeth nearly grinding to dust. "Jiang Lai, you—!"
Jiang Lai wore an innocent look. "What about me?"
Jiang Qianfeng: "..."
Seeing that he could do nothing to her, Jiang Qianfeng suddenly raised his voice.
"Now that you have Jin Shengshi backing you up, you dare to show us such disrespect. But don't forget, all these years, the medical expenses for your foster mother and younger brother in Hehua Town have been entirely funded by the Jiang Family! Furthermore, the medication your brother needs to take every month is produced by our own family. With you acting this arrogant, aren't you afraid we'll cut off the funding and the medicine?"
Hearing this kind of threat, Jiang Lai didn't react with the intense hysteria and tearful begging of the past. This time, she was completely calm.
"Suit yourselves."
At this, the three members of the Jiang Family looked at one another in dismay.
Jiang Yi couldn't believe her ears. "That's the foster mother who picked you out of a garbage dump and raised you until you were five! She saved your life! How can you be so cold-blooded?"
Cold-blooded?
Jiang Lai let out a cold laugh. Perhaps she was.
The year she was five, her younger brother, who had just turned one, was diagnosed with leukemia. The treatment for this illness was exorbitantly expensive. With their family destitute and driven to desperation, her foster mother happened to meet the Jiang couple. Under the guise of doing a good deed, the couple bought her for ten thousand yuan to be the Jiang Family's adopted daughter.
At first, her foster mother had been unwilling.
Later on, however, learning of the Jiang Family's status in Jing City and seeing that the couple usually treated the child gently, she figured they would treat her well after the adoption. Not wanting the little girl to continue living a life of hardship and exposure to the elements, the foster mother hardening her heart helped process the adoption papers.
After being adopted by the Jiang Family back then, she had never lived the kind of life her foster mother described to her. Instead, she lived a life worse than a domestic helper, yet she never uttered a single complaint.
During the five years she lived with her foster mother, poor though the family was—and even after her foster mother gave birth to a younger brother later on—her foster mother had always treated her very well. She had always remembered this kindness.
That was why she had never harbored resentment over that ten thousand yuan.
As long as her foster mother and younger brother could eat their fill, stay warm, and have medicine when they fell sick in the future, she would have been satisfied. At the time, her only emotional sustenance lay with her foster mother and brother in Hehua Town.
As long as they were doing well, it didn't matter how badly she lived. Over the years, she had endured humiliation in the Jiang Family, suffering beatings and verbal abuse without daring to shed a single tear, terrified that the family would cut off her foster mother and brother's living and medical expenses.
It wasn't until shortly before, when a medical checkup revealed she had cancer and she returned to Hehua Town in sheer terror, that she accidentally overheard that conversation. Suddenly, she felt how utterly ridiculous the grievances she had suffered for eighteen years truly were.
The kindness her foster mother showed her had all been a lie from the start.
The woman had picked her up and raised her back then because she was over thirty and still childless; she adopted her to provide security for her old age. Later on, when she suddenly became pregnant and gave birth to a son, she didn't abandon Jiang Lai simply because she intended to use Jiang Lai's future dowry to support her younger brother. The only reason she never cut ties over all these years was because Jiang Lai held the status of the Jiang Family's adopted daughter.
As for why the Jiang Family adopted her in the first place: first, because she and Jiang Yi shared the same birth date and hour, they wanted her to act as a shield against misfortune; and second, they bestowed upon her the identity of the Jiang Family's adopted daughter so they could push her out as a favor-currier to trade for benefits.
She had two mothers.
Yet not a single one of them treated her sincerely.
In this world, perhaps only Yunjia had ever treated her with genuine sincerity. But as it happened, the heavens were simply that cruel.
The only person who had ever treated her sincerely had perished in her prime.
By now, she no longer had any soft spots left.
Therefore, Jiang Qianfeng's attempt to threaten her with her foster mother and brother in Hehua Town was a gross miscalculation.
After all, those five years of upbringing had long since been paid back in full over the course of these past eighteen years.
Seeing her apathetic expression, Jiang Yi looked at her as if recognizing her true colors for the very first time. "Jiang Lai, I never took you for this kind of person."
Jiang Lai zipped up her bag and asked a question that didn't fit the current atmosphere at all. "Then what kind of person is Yunjia?"
Hearing those two names, which were by no means unfamiliar, Jiang Yi turned pale. She took two steps backward, her gaze instantly turning shifty.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Jiang Lai had guessed she would play dumb, but there was no rush with this matter.
She packed away her important belongings, bent down, and walked out of the nanny's room with her head lowered. Once outside, she looked at the three people opposite her, each harboring their own secret agendas. Her voice was cold and striking.
"If you've done nothing wrong, you needn't fear a knock on your door at midnight. The three of you better make sure your doors and windows are locked tight tonight." The corners of her eyes curled upward with a teasing, faint smile. "Otherwise, I'm afraid Yunjia might come knocking to claim your lives."
With those words, the hearts of the three Jiang family members involuntarily trembled.
It wasn't until Jiang Lai was almost at the front gate that Jiang Yi snapped out of it, realizing she had been bluffed. She shrieked—
"Jiang Lai, what kind of nonsense are you spouting!"
Her purpose achieved, Jiang Lai didn't bother to reply.
Just as she stepped out of the villa, Jin Shengshi's Maybach happened to pull up.
After getting into the car, Jiang Lai slumped into the seat without a word. Noticing this while still handling work documents, the man asked in a leisurely tone:
"Didn't get much out of your trip to the Jiang Family?"
"I won."
"Then why aren't you happy?"
Jiang Lai was curious. "Am I not happy?"
"Mhm, you look completely listless."
"Fine, you got me."
For the rest of the journey, the two of them didn't speak another word.
However, as the car drove into the estate, Jiang Lai casually asked, "Are we really going to live here for the next three years?"
The man had already finished his work. At the moment, he was wiping his hands with a wet wipe. Hearing this, he raised his eyelids and glanced at her.
"If we don't live here, how else are you going to help me piss people off?"
"..."
Right. She had almost forgotten what her job description actually was.
The Jin Family estate had a poetic name: Wangyue Villa.
Elder Jin had three sons in total, and the sons had sons of their own. Three generations lived together under one roof within this estate.
It was already ten o'clock at night, and Elder Jin had long since gone to bed, leaving the entire estate quiet and still.
After tossing and turning all this time, Jiang Lai felt a faint wave of sleepiness. She lazily gave a small yawn and asked, "Will I need to meet your stepmother tonight?"
"No rush."
The car finally stopped in front of Qingfeng Tower.
Stepping out of the car and catching sight of the prominent plaque hanging high above, Jiang Lai subtly pressed her lips into a pout. As expected, these wealthy people sure had all sorts of fussy rules and rituals.
Following Jin Shengshi all the way inside, she saw quite a few maids in the downstairs foyer busy unboxing gift boxes. Seeing the two of them walk in, every single one of them was impeccably polite. "Good evening, Young Master. Good evening, Young Mistress."
Jin Shengshi nodded in accustomed ease, while Jiang Lai took a good half-moment to collect her wits. It felt so surreal.
Just as she was lost in thought, the man, who had already started heading up the stairs, turned his head to glance at her, his expression drowsy and lazy.
"What are you standing there frozen for? If you're sleepy, hurry upstairs, wash up, and go to bed."