Since the patient in the room was a prominent figure in the business world, the nurse didn’t dare to be careless. She turned and asked, “Old Master An, what is this lady’s relationship to you?”
Old Master An was half-reclining on the hospital bed, an IV drip in his arm. His face was pale and tinged with the weariness of illness.
“She is my granddaughter. All of you, please leave,” he said weakly.
Hearing that she was his granddaughter, the nurse gave Tangxi Li a strange look. It was said that wealthy families were full of strife, and it seemed to be true.
After all, who would send white chrysanthemums to their still-living grandfather?
Respecting the patient’s wishes, the nurse gestured to the other two nurses to leave with her.
As they passed the door, she noticed An Qian eavesdropping outside and promptly escorted her away.
The room fell silent, with only the soft beeping of the monitor tracking Old Madam An’s vital signs.
Tangxi Li signaled for the bodyguards to leave as well and placed the two bouquets of flowers on the table between the two beds.
Having weathered many storms, Old Master An remained unruffled upon seeing the white chrysanthemums and the funeral couplet attached to them.
If she had dared to strike someone in the An Family the night before, what was so surprising about sending white chrysanthemums?
He wouldn’t even have been shocked if she had sent a funeral wreath.
In fact, Tangxi Li had indeed considered sending a wreath, but without a prior order, it couldn’t be prepared in time, so she had settled for bouquets.
“Yang Yang… no, Xiao Li, you’ve already beaten our family members and vented your anger. It’s time to stop…” Old Master An pleaded sincerely.
Even now, he still believed that as a seasoned businessman, he could easily handle a young girl.
Seeing his calm, composed demeanor, Tangxi Li smiled faintly. She snapped her folding fan shut and pointed casually toward the window bathed in morning light. “Fine. Jump from there, and I’ll stop.”
Glancing in the direction she pointed, Old Master An’s expression darkened, his eyes turning stern and cold. Yet his tone remained steady. “I can transfer all the shares under my name to you.”
“All the shares under your name…” Tangxi Li blinked her deer-like eyes, idly twirling the fan in her left hand as if considering the offer. “That does sound tempting. As far as I know, you currently hold 30% of An Corporation’s shares, valued at 700 billion. It’s certainly a substantial sum, but what a pity…”
She drew out the last words with a sigh, as though troubled by some concern.
But the next moment, as if suddenly switching moods, she flashed a mischievous grin. “Even if you handed over the entire An Corporation to me, I wouldn’t change my mind. Old An, you might as well give up!”
At her words, a flicker of murderous intent flashed in Old Master An’s eyes. He closed them wearily and issued a dismissal. “You’re still young, blinded by hatred. You have no idea what money truly means. We’ll talk another time. I won’t see you out.”
Seeing his frustration, Tangxi Li clicked her tongue and twirled her fan skillfully as she strolled over to Old Madam An’s bedside.
She fell silent for several seconds, lost in thought.
When she turned back to Old Master An, her backlit eyes grew dark and menacing. She spoke in a low, haunting tone, “An Baoshan, what were you doing on your eldest son’s wedding night twenty-four years ago?”The light, airy remark struck Old Master An like a bolt from the blue, exploding in his mind with a deafening “boom.”
His eyes snapped open, wide with utter astonishment as he stared at Tangxi Li. “You…”
“Shh—” Tangxi Li raised her right index finger to her lips in a silencing gesture, her smile as beautiful and dangerous as a poisonous poppy.
She said, “No need to be so shocked. If you don’t want others to know, don’t do it in the first place.”
In an instant, Old Master An felt as though he had plunged into an abyss, his earlier composure completely gone. His lips trembled as he stammered, “You know… you actually know…”
“Yes, I know.” Tangxi Li gazed at him, her tone unhurried. “I know all of your family’s sins.”
“I know that An Minghe and Gu Yuqing were originally lovers and even had An Youxuan. But to seize my grandparents’ research results, you had An Minghe emotionally deceive my mother, marrying her under false pretenses to steal the research results.”
“Of course, that’s not all. Your two sons and their wives have been cheating on each other—the elder brother with the younger brother’s wife, the elder sister-in-law with the younger brother.”
As if to ensure his fury, she raised an eyebrow. “Oh, and neither of your second son An Minghui’s children are biologically his. The son belongs to his elder brother, and the daughter is from some other man she had an affair with.”
“And your live-in son-in-law, Wang Fan, has been keeping a mistress and even fathered a son with her.”
“As for your youngest daughter, An Xianyue… do you know why she’s never married? Do you know why An Youxuan never returns to the country?”
“Because, you see, An Xianyue is madly infatuated with her own nephew… Hahaha… How twisted, even more dramatic than a TV show.”
By the end, she couldn’t hold back her laughter.
The brighter her smile, the colder her eyes became.
With every word she spoke, Old Master An’s face grew paler.
As if struck by lightning, by the time she finished, his soul seemed to have been drained from his body, aging him over a decade in an instant.
He shook his head in disbelief. “Impossible! You’re spouting nonsense!”
“Spouting nonsense?” Tangxi Li laughed, her chest shaking with mirth. “You can go verify it yourself. Oh, and one more thing…”
As if suddenly remembering something, her smile vanished abruptly. “There’s also me.”
She tilted her head, her hollow eyes fixed on Old Master An’s, like a soulless puppet on strings, her voice eerily light. “Guess, whose child am I, really?”
That single sentence sent a chill down Old Master An’s spine.
His eyes flickered uncontrollably. “How is that possible?”
Tangxi Li wouldn’t allow him to deny it. “How is it impossible? Have you thought of it? Yes, it’s exactly what you’re thinking. Hahaha…”
Her icy laughter echoed through the hospital room, growing louder, tinged with distortion and madness, sending shivers down one’s spine.
Old Master An’s vitality drained away in an instant, leaving him in a state of utter desolation and decline.
He kept muttering the same phrase over and over, “Impossible, impossible…”
Tangxi Li paid him no further mind. Turning her gaze to Old Madam An, who was sleeping like a log, her laughter ceased, and she frowned in displeasure.
“How could you miss something this important?”
Slap! Slap!—She reached out and struck Old Madam An twice across the face. “Hey, wake up!”
Old Madam An, who had been sleeping soundly, was jolted awake by the sudden blows.
After weakly staring at the ceiling for a couple of seconds, her gaze shifted to Tangxi Li standing by the bed.
Her pupils contracted sharply.The immense humiliation of being shoved into a toilet before passing out surged in her mind. Instantly enraged, she trembled as she raised a feeble finger, weakly cursing, “You beast! You absolute beast!”
Tangxi Li lazily brushed her hair back and said, “Don’t get worked up just yet. Savor this beautiful moment, because later…” She smiled, “You’ll have plenty to be worked up about…”