An Minghe clenched his fists and opened his mouth to reprimand her, but Gu Yuqing grabbed his arm, “Don’t be impulsive!”
“Enough.” Tangxi Li seemed to have had her fill of this absurd drama and interrupted them with a light smile. “How difficult it must have been for you to set up this stage and send someone to invite me to watch the show.”
She clapped her hands, applauding with leisurely amusement.
Then, she pulled out two 100-yuan bills from her handbag and threw them in the direction of the An family, an extremely humiliating gesture.
“Well performed, it seemed so real. I enjoyed it. This is your reward.”
Perhaps feeling it wasn’t enough, she added, “Don’t think it’s too little. You scum are only worth this much!”
“Bang!” An Minghui slammed the table in anger and stood up. Since things had come to this, why bother pretending? He shouted, “Tangxi Li, know your place! Don’t refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit.”
Tangxi Li raised her fair chin, her eyes filled with arrogance. “I do enjoy drinking forfeits. What can you possibly do to me?”
“You…” An Minghui was so angry he was left speechless.
Qian Meng patted An Minghui’s back. “Husband, sit down first. Let me talk to her.”
She turned to Tangxi Li, trying to appeal to her emotions and reason with her. “Xiao Li, your aunt understands that you hold hatred in your heart. But no matter how much you hate us, we are still family, aren’t we?”
“Even if the bone is broken, the tendons remain connected. Even if you change your surname, the blood of the An family still flows in your veins. Just vent a little and let it go.”
After saying this, she glanced at her sister-in-law Gu Yuqing, hoping she would say something too.
Gu Yuqing saw her meaningful look and understood her intention but remained silent.
Because she knew how ruthless Tangxi Li was—impossible to move with belated familial affection.
Moreover, this superficial display of affection was nothing but an act.
Did they really think that a few more words would fool Tangxi Li?
Suddenly, a thought struck Gu Yuqing. She looked at Tangxi Li and suddenly understood why, despite not believing a word, she had been listening with such relish.
She was enjoying the struggle of her prey.
This realization made Gu Yuqing narrow her eyes. So, what would she do next?
Seeing that Gu Yuqing remained silent, Qian Meng was exasperated. Usually so eloquent and articulate, why was she acting as if she had taken a vow of silence today?
It was her sister-in-law An Zhixue who picked up the conversation. “Child, your aunt is right. Even if the bone is broken, the tendons remain connected. We are still family in the end. Tell your aunt, where is that batch of goods? I promise you, everything we said earlier stands. Your father will give you 10% of the An Corporation’s shares.”
Her younger sister-in-law An Xianyue added, pointing to the group of grandchildren sitting at the far end of the sofa, “Your brothers and sisters here each have 5% of the shares. Giving you 10% is our way of making it up to you. Child, be good and tell us the location of that batch of goods.Listening to their highly persuasive and alternating rhetoric, Tangxi Li curled her lips and feigned innocence. “What are you talking about? What goods? I don’t understand.”
“Don’t understand?” An Minghe slammed the table. “What are you pretending for? Tangxi Li, if I’m not mistaken, it was your people who conveyed this message to me, wasn’t it?”
Old Madam An chimed in at this point, “Child, what do you want with that batch of goods? Those goods are radioactive and must be stored using special methods. If you hijack them like this, the harm will be immense.”An Minghui expressed agreement, “Xiao Li, that batch of goods is useless to you. There’s really no need to break the law just to spite your father.”
Even Old Master An joined the persuasion team, “Child, robbery is illegal. As long as you return the goods, Grandpa will definitely have the police drop the case and not pursue it further. Be good, okay?”
Tangxi Li rested her chin on her thumb, tapping her temple with her index finger from time to time, as if listening intently.
When she noticed they had stopped speaking, she revealed an expression of wanting more.
She then pulled out two more banknotes and threw them on the ground, “Continue.”
Every single word must have been coached by professionals, each one luring, each step a trap.
If she were to slip up even slightly, the police would immediately launch an investigation against her as a suspect.
Truly, overestimating themselves.
Tangxi Li curled her lips into a smile and beckoned to Amy beside her. When Amy leaned down, Tangxi whispered a couple of instructions in her ear.
Amy nodded, turned around, and led the other bodyguards to surround the An family.
“What are you doing?” Seeing several foreign women approaching with sharp gazes, the An family immediately grew wary and collectively shouted, “Don’t come any closer, don’t come any closer!”
“Bang!” A loud noise drew the attention of the panicked An family.
They looked toward Tangxi Li and saw the cold, elegant woman in a black dress standing up at some point.
In her hand was a broken piece of porcelain.
The sound just now was from her smashing a vase against the marble TV wall.
“Don’t move, or I’ll tear down the An family,” she said, her eyes like frost and snow, calm yet chilling.
An Minghe, furious, roared, “How dare you!”
“Mr. An…” Tangxi Li tilted her head, her beautiful, jade-like face tinged with a sickly pallor, her eyes innocent and harmless. “I’m the type of person who responds best to provocation. The more you say that, the more I dare.”
She turned and walked to a curio cabinet at the far end of the living room, smiling with childlike innocence. Then, amid Old Master An’s horrified cry of “Don’t—”, she effortlessly pushed over the antiques along with the cabinet.
“Crash—” Priceless antiques were all reduced to nothing.
“Oh my!” Tangxi Li exaggeratedly covered her mouth with both hands in surprise. “They’re all broken. The sound was so lovely, I want to hear more…”
Her eyes gleamed as she set her sights on the curio cabinet opposite.
“No—” Old Master An stretched out a hand in desperation, as if about to sprout wings in his urgency. Leaning on his cane, he rushed toward the cabinet while screaming hysterically, “Stop, stop right there!”
Tangxi Li paused, looking innocently at Old Master An. “Want me to stop? Fine. Have your eldest son kneel and beg me. If he begs me, I’ll stop!”
“What?” The An family collectively froze in disbelief.
She actually wanted her own father to kneel and beg her?
“Tangxi Li, have you gone mad?” Old Madam An’s expression could no longer be described as merely shocked.
Absurd, this was utterly absurd!
The younger generation of the An family, who had been ordered by their elders not to speak or disrupt their plans, could no longer sit still.
Several of them grabbed Old Master An, “Grandpa (Grandfather), let us teach her a proper lesson!”
With that, they all charged toward Tangxi Li.
“You bitch, how dare you cause trouble in our home? I’ll slap you so hard your wisdom teeth turn into front teeth!” An Ning, An Minghui’s daughter, swung her hand to slap Tangxi Li.Tangxi Li did not dodge, instead walking straight toward her and seizing her wrist.
“Knocking a wisdom tooth into a front tooth…” she pondered the words, “I’ve never tried that before. Let’s test it out on you then.”