He Fengzhen pleaded desperately, “Officers, please don’t take me away. I know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have beaten and abused the child.”
“Please, just let me go. I promise I won’t hit or abuse her again.”
“Although Muxue isn’t my biological daughter, I raised her with my own hard work. Even if I don’t have merit, I at least deserve credit for the effort.”
“You can’t just side with her like this. Besides, she’s only got minor injuries—just a little medicine and it’ll be fine.”
“If you take me away, how will my two daughters and son find good matches in the future? Won’t this ruin their chances?”
“No matter what you say, I won’t go with you. Why should I? I’ve done nothing wrong. Is disciplining a child a crime?”
The police had seen enough of this kind of tantrum and lawless behavior—they didn’t respond, just proceeded to take her away.
He Fengzhen looked at Su Muxue with sheer hatred as she was led away, wishing she could strike her down on the spot.
But Su Muxue, exuding sheer defiance, silently mouthed, “My dear adoptive mother, enjoy your reform in there.”
She giggled quietly. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of your other children, just as you tried to take care of me. I’ll make sure they’re comfortable and well looked after. Don’t thank me—it’s just returning the favor for how ‘well’ you raised me.”
He Fengzhen’s face turned green with fury; she nearly spat out a mouthful of blood as she cursed while being led away:
“Su Muxue, you little bitch! I curse you to die a miserable death. Don’t think you’re so clever—I’ll see how arrogant you are later!”
“Ha! Once you’re sent to the countryside, you’ll have no easy life. You’ll either starve or freeze to death.”
The onlookers, seeing He Fengzhen being taken away by the police, quickly scattered to avoid trouble.
Once everyone was gone, Su Haijun scowled at Su Muxue and yelled, “You little bastard! Are you happy now? Did you have to go this far?”
“You ungrateful, wolf-hearted little brat! Get in here, or I’ll beat you to death myself!”
Su Haijun, growing angrier by the minute, reached out to strike her—but he didn’t realize that Su Muxue had changed. She was no longer the submissive girl they had abused before.
With lightning-fast reflexes, Su Muxue grabbed his hand and twisted it hard. A loud crack rang out.
“Ah… ah…”
The scream echoed like thunder, and the neighbors, hearing the commotion, wondered what was happening in the Su household now.
No one dared intervene—these days, sticking your nose in someone else’s business could get you in serious trouble.
Su Haijun, seething with fury, cursed: “You little bitch! You’ve been raised for nothing! You actually dared to break my hand. Don’t you fear divine punishment? Won’t you die a miserable death?”
Without another word, Su Muxue delivered several sharp slaps to his face.
“Left one little bastard, right one little bastard—what did you eat, shit? You talk so foully, fine, I’ll give you a proper lesson.”
“Look at that face—you’re just asking for a beating. A donkey kicks, a pig gets stepped on—you’re naturally meant to be a cucumber, meant to be smacked.”
Su Haijun glared at Su Muxue. “You little brat! How dare you strike your elders? Even if we’re not your biological parents, we raised you with hardship!”
“Sending you to school was a waste. You studied all those books and still don’t respect your elders at all.”
Su Muxue interrupted sharply: “Old man Su, stop right there. Don’t give me your moral lectures. They don’t work on me. Just listening to you makes me feel disgusted.”
“I’m sleepy now and going to bed. If you keep nagging, I might do something you’ll regret—so don’t blame me.”
She returned to her room and slammed the door.
This was the room Su Qingrou and Su Qingchu had slept in, of course, and Su Muxue had thrown all their belongings out. She didn’t sleep in their beds either; instead, she immediately entered her private space.
Su Qingrou and Su Qingchu, seeing their things tossed out and the door closed, stomped their feet in anger.
They ran to their father, whining: “Dad, you’ve got to do something! Su Muxue dared to take over our room and throw out our things.”
“Where are we supposed to sleep tonight? Dad, why aren’t you disciplining her? Even if she’s not your biological daughter, you and Mom raised her with such effort.”
“She’s an ungrateful brat with no sense of gratitude. She even cut ties with us and had the police take Mom away!”
“Since Mom isn’t here, you have to manage her. With so many of us around, you should be able to handle just this one brat.”
“And Dad, you have to get Mom back. If she stays at the station, everyone will gossip about it.”
“We don’t want her to affect our chances of marrying well. Those rich and handsome men won’t want us because of her.”
“For those poor and unattractive men, even if they were willing, we wouldn’t agree to marry them anyway.”
Su Haijun, already furious and in pain from his twisted arm, snapped at them:
“You two ungrateful brats! Don’t you see your father’s hand is hurting? Don’t bother me. Figure out where to sleep yourselves. All you do is laze around and compete with each other—I’m about to lose my mind. Now get lost!”
The sisters, seeing their father so angry, were stunned. They realized he was venting his frustration at them because he couldn’t deal with that “little brat” himself.
Feeling utterly helpless, Su Qingrou and Su Qingchu sank to the floor and began crying, realizing in an instant that they had lost everything.
Mom had been taken away, Dad was yelling at them, and all of this had been caused by Su Muxue—the girl who had just taken over their room.