Chapter 313: You Bullied Her Since Childhood, Didn’t You?
“Boss Su? Boss Su?” Principal Guo called out through the phone.
Su Tao snapped back to reality and hoarsely replied, “Go on, I’m listening.”
Four years old, an orphan—he probably hadn’t even figured out what having a family meant before he was brutally murdered as a sacrifice.
Principal Guo’s eyes felt sore as he said, “I’m deeply sorry. This is my greatest failing. We didn’t even realize the child was missing right away. I’m truly sorry, Boss Su.”
Su Tao took a deep breath. “Handle Yang Yang’s funeral. Leave the rest to me.”
She hadn’t expected Yang Yang’s death to cause such an uproar in Dongyang.
Families with children were now on high alert, convinced that any place without a protective barrier was a killing ground for murderers.
Parents of children attending the Women and Children’s Institute decided not to bring them home anymore, keeping them at the school for safety.
Those who hadn’t enrolled their kids bombarded the school with calls, desperate to secure spots.
Some parents even tried to abandon their own children at the orphanage, pretending they had just found them on the streets—only to be caught when staff checked and discovered the child was their own.
Principal Guo no longer had time to feel guilty; she was busy maintaining order and quickly processing enrollments for suitable children.
Li Ronglian paced around the living room, holding Tangdou in her arms. She finally couldn’t hold back and said to Su Jianming, “I’ve applied to the Women and Children’s Institute so many times, but we still can’t get a spot. If we don’t get in this time, what will we do? It’s too dangerous now…”
Su Jianming, unshaven and reeking of alcohol, took a sip of the beer Jiang Jinwei had brought back for him and slurred, “If she can’t get in, just keep her at home. Don’t take her outside. The kid who died must’ve run off to play. Serves him right.”
He smacked his lips. “By the way, call Jinjin later and tell her to bring me another case of this beer next time she visits. It’s pretty damn good.”
Li Ronglian snatched the beer bottle from his hand. “You don’t even care about Jinjin’s daughter, and you still have the nerve to ask her for beer? You’re not even her real father.”
Before, she would never have dared to talk to Su Jianming like this.
After all, the house belonged to him, not her. Even though she had long despised the man, she had always endured it.
But things were different now. Su Jianming was nothing but a useless old man with nothing left but a crumbling house.
She, on the other hand, had a highly successful and wealthy daughter. In the future, she’d have a son-in-law who was the second-in-command of Xindu—far more promising than this waste of a man.
Not to mention, Su Jianming’s only son still needed to rely on her eldest daughter’s success.
Jinjin was right. She didn’t need to swallow her anger anymore!
Su Jianming was stunned by her outburst, but after thinking about it, he found her words made sense. He relented, “Then what do you want me to do? I don’t know anyone at the Women and Children’s Institute.”
Li Ronglian asked, “Have you lost touch with all your former colleagues? Try reconnecting with someone in Taoyang. They have internal recommendations, don’t they? We can’t count on Su Tao, that wretched girl. We need another way in. If we can get a residence in Taoyang, we’ll have priority for school admissions.”
Su Jianming instinctively resisted the idea.
Among his old colleagues, he was probably doing the worst. Reaching out now would be humiliating.
But Li Ronglian just stared at him.
Feeling embarrassed, he finally mumbled, “Alright, I’ll ask around.”
Meanwhile, Jiang Jinwei, who relied on a man for her status, wasn’t having a great time either. The man, Zhuo Ercheng, was growing colder toward her.
She had planned to attend the trade fair today, bringing Su Zhenglan along to give him some exposure.
But Zhuo Ercheng rejected her outright.
“It’s too hot. Just stay home and rest.”
Jiang Jinwei tried to be clever. “But I already made plans to go with my sister…”
Zhuo Ercheng smirked, his eyes devoid of warmth. “Funny, I heard that at last night’s banquet, you and your sister barely acknowledged each other.”
Jiang Jinwei felt a chill run from her feet to the top of her head.
“You… You knew about that?”
“What do you think?”
Jiang Jinwei pouted. “Su Tao did that on purpose. She’s always been like this. No matter how well I treat her, she never appreciates it…”
Zhuo Ercheng asked, “So you two never got along as kids?”
“No, she was never likable. Even my parents didn’t like her.”
“Then why didn’t you mention this earlier?”
Noticing his off tone, Jiang Jinwei stammered, “I-I did. I told you we had some minor disagreements…”
Zhuo Ercheng laughed in disbelief. “You’ve hated her all your life, haven’t you? Just listen to yourself. ‘No matter how well I treated her, she never appreciated it.’ Do you even hear your own tone when you talk about Su Tao? Your voice changes completely—full of disgust and resentment. And you expect me to believe you were ever kind to her?”
“If you’ve despised her this much since childhood, I bet you bullied her a lot, didn’t you? Otherwise, why would she publicly humiliate you and leave you with no dignity? And you call that a ‘minor disagreement’?”
With that, Zhuo Ercheng angrily hung up.
What a fool.
He cursed Jiang Jinwei, but in reality, he was also cursing himself.
At first, he thought a little sibling rivalry wasn’t a big deal and that they’d reconcile with more interactions.
Now, he realized that Su Tao probably loathed being around Jiang Jinwei.
She was probably more willing to dine with Deng Zilu, an outsider, than entertain any forced sisterly bonding.
As Zhuo Ercheng nursed his frustration, Ling Tianji called to ask if he had found anything.
Zhuo Ercheng sighed. “Jiao Qing is missing. There are two people who might know her whereabouts. One is the youngest daughter of the Chu family, Chu Yue, but we can’t contact her, and we can’t exactly storm the Chu family demanding answers. The other is Su Tao, the girl from Taoyang. But this is just my suspicion—without solid proof, I can’t directly confront her.”
“So this will have to go through Old Mr. Kong.”
Ling Tianji weighed his options.
The Chu family controlled the largest mercenary groups in the North and South. They couldn’t afford to offend them.
Taoyang was a strategic ally. They couldn’t afford to offend them either.
That left them with only one option—forcing Old Man Kong to talk.
But before they could make a move, the old man himself stormed into Dingnan’s trading store, cursing at the top of his lungs.
“Where the hell is Jiao Qing?! She promised to send me a young girl, but instead, she drugged me and disappeared! That damn woman—she left me unconscious, and the girl never arrived! And because of her, I— I—”
He stopped himself, but the morning’s humiliation still burned in his mind.
He had woken up to find himself naked in the streets!
People had even mocked his sagging skin and questioned whether he was still… functional, suggesting that’s why he needed Jiao Qing to send him girls.
Kong Pengzu’s pride took the biggest hit from those comments. He had to clear his name!
The trade fair was packed with people, and once they heard him ranting, their gossiping instincts kicked in.
“What young girl?”
“The only women allowed in the trade fair are from reputable families. What was Madam Jiao up to?”
“Yeah, whose daughter got caught up in this? Good thing nothing happened!”
“Maybe Madam Jiao is twisted—jealous of young women and trying to ruin their lives.”
Dingnan officials turned pale. “What nonsense are you people spouting?!”
The crowd erupted into chaos.
Ling Tianji, who had just been proudly escorting Minister Xu on a tour, arrived at the scene and nearly lost his mind.
He had just finished boasting about how orderly Dingnan’s trade fairs were…
