“What’s going on? President Xu’s face… doesn’t look right. Could someone have drugged him?”
“Who’s that woman? Why is she supporting President Xu?”
“The Song family’s real daughter is still standing right there! From the looks of things, could it be that she was trying to do something to President Xu, only for this young lady to catch her in the act?”
“Yikes—hard to say. Everyone knows the real daughter has been chasing President Xu relentlessly for two years!”
Song Ruoruo, who had been blocking the way, heard the whispers around her. Her face turned pale, then flushed; her hands and feet trembled, and under everyone’s stares, she could barely stay on her feet.
Just then, Father Song, Mother Song, and the fake daughter, Song Miaomiao, hurried over.
The moment Mother Song saw Xu Shichu’s face, her expression changed.
“Y-You’re Chuchu?”
Mother Song was He Wan, Xu Shichu’s college roommate. The two had gotten along reasonably well.
Xu Shichu didn’t answer. Her expression darkened as she felt the feverish heat radiating from her son. The cold in her eyes seemed almost tangible; she had no time to concern herself with anyone else.
“Move!”
Seeing that something was wrong, He Wan immediately noticed Song Ruoruo cowering in the corner. A calculating glint flashed in her eyes.
She slapped Song Ruoruo hard across the face. “Just as I’d expect from someone raised in the country—not a shred of decency or shame! Hurry up and apologize to President Xu!”
Song Ruoruo said nothing. She simply covered her face, lowered her head, and sobbed.
Seeing that the man she loved had nearly been defiled, Song Miaomiao’s eyes flashed with jealousy, but she hid it well.
“Mom, Older Sister… she’s just too fond of Brother Jingheng. I know Brother Jingheng and I are engaged, but if Older Sister likes him, I-I can give the engagement to her.”
With that, she lowered her head in a show of hurt, tears spilling down her cheeks in big drops.
She looked every bit the picture of someone bearing a terrible indignity.
Xu Shichu turned her head. Her son’s brows were tightly knit, and a fine sheen of sweat covered his forehead. He looked so miserable that her heart ached for him.
How could she waste another moment watching these people put on a show?
With one arm around her son, she scanned the room. Her gaze finally settled on the bottle of red wine on the table.
She paid no attention to the clamor and harsh voices around her.
She grabbed the bottle.
Then hurled it hard at the floor!
Crash!
The sound of shattering glass rang beside their ears.
After the initial shock, everyone in the room fell silent.
Xu Shichu still had some restraint. She hadn’t thrown it at anyone; she’d smashed it beside Song Ruoruo’s feet.
Glass sprayed in every direction, and a sharp shard sliced through the air, cutting a gash into Song Ruoruo’s calf.
A little blood would do. She’d take it as interest on what her son was owed.
“Can I leave now?”
Her voice was cool and indifferent. The crowd that had been watching the spectacle parted at once, clearing a path.
Supporting her son, Xu Shichu walked out step by step beneath everyone’s gaze.
As she passed He Wan, her voice was icy. She couldn’t even be bothered to pretend to be polite.
“If your Song family doesn’t give me a satisfactory explanation for what happened today, my family and the Jiang family will pursue this to the end!”
“And if you ever again use my name to claim there’s some childhood betrothal, your Song family won’t be able to stay in Haicheng!”
Her merciless words tore away the fig leaf the Song family had been hiding behind for years, leaving the onlookers stunned.
So that so-called engagement was fake?
They exchanged glances, excitement gleaming in their eyes.
What a feast of gossip—they were stuffed!
Only the Song family wore looks of utter humiliation. Powerless to stop Xu Shichu and Xu Jingheng, they could only watch the two walk away, their eyes full of unwillingness.
At the banquet hall entrance, the driver hurried over as soon as he saw Xu Jingheng.
He took in his employer’s condition, then looked at the unfamiliar woman supporting him, unsure what to do.
“This…”
Xu Shichu helped the driver get her son into the car.
“He’s been drugged. Take him to the hospital first.”
The driver didn’t dare waste time asking questions. He pressed the accelerator and drove straight to the hospital.
Xu Jingheng sat rigid in the back seat, yet stubbornly clutched his mother’s clothes. Resting his head against her shoulder, he nuzzled her with a trace of dependence.
His usual cold, forceful presence had vanished, leaving only the fragile state the drugs had reduced him to.
He was like a puppy, barely born and without a sense of security, instinctively curling up in his mother’s arms.
He clung to the only warmth that could make him feel safe.
Struggling to hold on to the last thread of his reason, he murmured, “Mom… you were… so fierce just now!”
He had never seen his mother so fierce.
But he didn’t feel the slightest fear. Instead, a secret joy stirred in him.
Mom was protecting him!
Hearing him, Xu Shichu reached out and tapped him lightly on the forehead a few times.
“You ungrateful little thing. You’re complaining that Mom’s fierce now?”
Xu Jingheng was so uncomfortable that his consciousness was growing hazy. But the pain in his arm helped him cling to a sliver of awareness. Drifting between wakefulness and sleep, everything felt unreal.
Even the voices around him sounded as if they came through a barrier, reaching his ears only as broken fragments of noise.
He mumbled incoherently, “Mom… Mom… don’t leave me…”
Xu Shichu’s eyes suddenly stung.
She turned her head slightly and gently stroked his hair, just as she had when he was little.
“Don’t be afraid. Mom’s right here.”
Who could have imagined that the first thing she’d see after coming back was her son in such a wretched state?
Her heart ached for him, and her hatred for the Song family only deepened.
They had put her son through this. She would never let the Song family off lightly!