“Zhenhua, it must have been so hard for you, living with that shrew of a sister for over twenty years.”
“Huilan, as long as I think about how you took her name to go to university and secured a bright future, I don’t feel the least bit slighted.”
“Zhenhua, how did I get so lucky to have your love? Boohoo…”
Hearing the conversation inside the room, Su Mulan’s hand, which had been about to open the door, froze.
Peering through the crack in the door at the two people embracing passionately, a bolt of thunder seemed to explode in her mind, leaving her stunned for a long time.
The two people in the room—one was her husband, Zhao Zhenhua, and the other was her own younger sister, Su Huilan. These two had actually gotten involved with each other?
Furthermore, she was the one who had passed the university entrance exam back then?
She clenched her right hand into a fist, the stinging pain in her palm reminding her that this was not a dream.
The conversation inside continued.
She took a deep breath and pressed her ear closer.
“Zhenhua, sometimes I really envy my sister. She married a man as capable as you and lives a life of leisure, with endless blessings to enjoy. Unlike me, working myself to the bone just to survive, having to endure the moods of my superiors…”
Hearing this, Zhao Zhenhua was overjoyed. He held the woman in his arms and asked, “Huilan, does saying this mean you regret it? You’re finally willing to be with me, aren’t you?”
Su Huilan hesitated. “Zhenhua, honestly, I’ve always had you in my heart, but my sister…”
Zhao Zhenhua said with absolute certainty, “Don’t worry, she won’t stand in our way!”
Su Huilan’s tone was filled with concern. “Then are you going to get a divorce? If you do, won’t she take half of the family assets you worked so hard to build? I can’t bear to let you suffer such a loss.”
Eager to make Su Huilan reach a decision quickly, Zhao Zhenhua’s voice turned urgent. “The money at home was earned for you. What right does she have to split the assets? Let me tell you a secret: I’ve already swapped the vitamins she takes every day. Before long, she’ll become a fool. When that time comes, I’ll trick her into signing a divorce agreement so she leaves with nothing, and then I’ll send her to a mental hospital. As long as your father keeps his mouth shut, no one will ever suspect anything, even if Su Mulan dies in that asylum.”
Su Huilan started crying again. “Zhenhua, why are you so good to me?”
“You silly girl, you’re my little star of fortune, born to enjoy a life of luxury.”
Zhao Zhenhua wiped away Su Huilan’s tears and coaxed her softly, “Even though your family suffered hardships when you were born, your father loved your mother, so he sent the real Su Huilan to the countryside and kept you in the city to enjoy life. Even Su Mulan, his biological daughter, can’t compare to you. The university she got into and the family business she built—won’t they all end up benefiting you in the end?”
“Zhenhua…”
After a bout of nauseating moans, Zhao Zhenhua’s voice grew slightly hoarse. “Huilan, once we get married, I’ll go for a vasectomy reversal surgery. Maybe we can even have a child of our own.”
Outside the room, Su Mulan’s teeth were clenched so hard her gums almost bled.
It turned out her real sister had long ago been treated as a disposable pawn by her father and discarded in the countryside, replaced by Su Huilan so she could stay in the city. Her real sister’s fate was now unknown.
Her husband had undergone a vasectomy and then claimed the fertility issues were hers, making her live with guilt for decades.
And then there was Su Huilan, who had ruined her life…
She forcibly suppressed the urge to kill.
There were two of them inside, and Zhao Zhenhua worked out regularly; she definitely wouldn’t win in a physical fight.
She had to think of a better way.
Dragging her legs, which felt as heavy as lead, back to her car, she reached into the glove compartment and pulled out her medical records.
The doctor’s words echoed in her ears once more: Late-stage stomach cancer, with about three to six months left. Treatment wouldn’t do much good.
She felt the heavens were unjust.
She had been a law-abiding citizen her whole life, always helping others. Why did she have to get this disease?
And how could those subhuman creatures live comfortably using the money she had worked so hard to earn?
She would never allow it!
She took a deep breath, picked up her phone, and started making calls.
“Dad, a client gave me a bottle of excellent medicinal wine and some wild game. Come over to the suburban villa for dinner tonight.”
“Zhenhua, I’ve invited Dad to the suburban house for dinner tonight. Bring Huilan along…”
In the evening, the three of them arrived one after another, with Su Huilan being the last.
Like a carefree young girl, she lunged at Su Mulan as soon as she entered the door. “Sis, it’s been so long since I’ve eaten your cooking. I’ve been craving it to death!”
Su Guoqiang chimed in upon hearing this, his voice filled with dissatisfaction. “Mulan, how many times have I told you? A woman should spend less time showing her face in public and take good care of the home. That’s more important than anything. Your sister has to practically beg you for a meal; do you even act like an older sister?”
Su Mulan looked at the wine decanter in her hand and smiled sincerely. “Dad, you’re right. I called you all here today to announce some news. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be resigning from the company and handing everything over to Zhenhua. Let’s all have a toast to Zhenhua.”
Suspecting nothing, they all raised their glasses and drank.
After finishing his glass, Su Guoqiang smacked his lips. “This taste is quite unique, different from any wine I’ve had before.”
Su Mulan stood up and poured him another. “Dad, if you like it, have some more. I’ll get more of it another day.”
She then refilled Su Huilan and Zhao Zhenhua’s glasses.
The medicinal wine—spiked with various pesticides like Paraquat, Dichlorvos, and “Three-Step-Drop”—took effect quickly.
Su Guoqiang, who had drunk the most, was the first to realize something was wrong. “My stomach… my stomach hurts so much.”
Zhao Zhenhua’s eyes first landed on Su Huilan’s paling lips. He pointed at his wife and roared, “Su Mulan, what on earth did you put in this? What if Huilan has—”
Before he could finish, Zhao Zhenhua violently spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Immediately after, Su Huilan and Su Guoqiang also began vomiting blood.
Su Mulan’s gaze swept over the three of them, highly satisfied with the result.
She was dying anyway, so why should these wretches get to live?
Only by sending them all to the underworld together could she die in peace!
“Mulan, let’s go see a movie tonight. I have something to tell you.”
Su Mulan raised her head in a daze, only to see Zhao Zhenhua’s enlarged face.
She hadn’t expected this bastard’s soul to still be haunting her even in the underworld.
Subconsciously, she raised her hand and—Slap!—delivered a stinging blow.
Caught off guard, Zhao Zhenhua was knocked onto the ground. Holding his face, he looked up in shock and confusion. “Mulan, what’s wrong with you?”
Su Mulan looked at the younger version of Zhao Zhenhua, then down at her tingling hand, finally realizing something was wrong.
A hypothesis surfaced in her mind, and her heart suddenly raced.
She quickly turned her head to survey her surroundings and discovered that this was the room where she had lived for eighteen years before her marriage.
The calendar on the wall was stuck on September 1985.
Coupled with what Zhao Zhenhua had just said, she immediately understood her current situation.
This was the year she had failed the university entrance exam. Not willing to give up, she had planned to repeat the year.
Her mother had agreed, but her father was strongly opposed, so she could only study at home.
On September 12th, Zhao Zhenhua asked her out to a movie.
She did indeed have feelings for Zhao Zhenhua at the time, so she agreed to the date.
But she had waited at the cinema entrance for a long time and he never showed up, so she had to walk home.
As a result, on her way back, she was dragged into an alley by a thug and nearly raped.
At the critical moment, Zhao Zhenhua appeared and chased the thug away.
However, many neighbors were right behind Zhao Zhenhua, and many people saw her in her disheveled state.
The next day, the rumors were flying everywhere.
Zhao Zhenhua braved the gossip to come to her house and propose. With her father playing matchmaker, she hurriedly got married, and repeating her studies became an impossibility.
Thinking about it now, that so-called thug was likely someone Zhao Zhenhua had hired.
After all, if she had repeated the year, the fact that Su Huilan had stolen her identity to go to university wouldn’t have stayed hidden.
Zhao Zhenhua clutched his face, asking somewhat aggrievedly, “Mulan, did you have a nightmare?”
Without a word, Su Mulan stood up and delivered another slap…