Looking at Yun Que'er's confident demeanor, Shen Ling suddenly felt a surge of hatred.
How could there be such a smart person in this world? She was so smart that it made Shen Ling want to go crazy.
But all of a sudden, Shen Ling calmed down.
"I understand. You're trying to stop me."
Yun Que'er watched the ferocious smile on her face and suddenly felt a twinge of unease.
This was wrong. She shouldn't have said so much to Shen Ling.
She didn't know what Shen Ling had been through. Who did she think she was to make high - handed comments?
Maybe even if she had analyzed the pros and cons for Shen Ling, the latter would still charge ahead without a care and kill her enemies with her own hands!
"Stay calm," Yun Que'er said, taking several steps back. "I'm just telling you that this kind of report won't work. Even if people go to investigate, the child was conceived before the regulations were in place!"
"I don't care!" Shen Ling said excitedly, grabbing Yun Que'er by the neck. "You little girl are really annoying!"
Shen Ling glared at Yun Que'er menacingly.
"That bastard Shen Li is so cautious. Even though everyone knows he has a mistress outside, there's not a shred of evidence!"
Shen Ling burst into wild laughter. "Do you know? When I was seven or eight years old, my mother and I were driven out of the house. Because Shen Li wanted a son! He thought his bloodline was the most superior and must have a son to inherit it!"
Yun Que'er struggled but stopped when she heard this.
Just as she had guessed.
"He didn't like my mother and me. Fine! I didn't want such a father either! But do you know what he did?"
Shen Ling laughed maniacally. "He was old and held an official position. He was worried that if he remarried a young woman, people would criticize him, and he might even lose his official hat! So he imprisoned my mother and me in the village, bribed the village head to watch over us, and gave us a little rotten vegetables and moldy steamed buns every day. He didn't care if we got sick. We ate, drank, and relieved ourselves all in that room. As long as we didn't die, that was fine!"
Shen Ling's eyes were bloodshot, and there were glimmers of tears in the corners. Yun Que'er always felt that she would shed blood - tears the next second.
"Why? Because he needed a legal wife to cover for him so that he could find women outside until they gave birth to a child! To the outside world, he said that my mother and I had gone to a foreign land. This kind of life lasted for more than a decade!"
Yun Que'er was greatly shocked.
She didn't know that there could be such a heartless person in the world.
It turned out that the story in the script wasn't fabricated but a real, bleeding truth that had happened to others!
"Many times, my mother and I were on the verge of death. Fortunately, Brother Qiang and his parents were kind - hearted and always secretly helped us. Brother Qiang advised me that a gentleman takes his time to seek revenge. To take revenge, I had to survive first! That's why I didn't hang myself from the beam!"
Before she knew it, Shen Ling had let go of Yun Que'er and slumped to the ground, exhausted.
Yun Que'er looked at her, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
"But he didn't dare to be too blatant either." Shen Ling wiped the tears from her face. "He could only look for those who were easy to control, those he could manipulate!"
So he set his sights on Teacher Lu.
Shen Li met Teacher Lu in a famine - stricken area. At that time, Teacher Lu's family couldn't afford to eat. She had an elder brother and two younger brothers.
Even so, her parents favored sons over daughters.
When Teacher Lu was eighteen or nineteen years old, she couldn't even get a full meal.
Fate was surprisingly similar, or perhaps it was the cycle of cause and effect.
Back then, Teacher Lu, just like her eldest son, had lived in a sheep pen.
When the family's food ran out, her parents finally set their eyes on her.
A young and beautiful girl who had never been betrothed or married could be sold for a good price.
In a village on another mountain, there were many old bachelors who had never married in their lives.
They were willing to buy Teacher Lu for two yuan per person and a load of grain.
It was a very cost - effective deal. It could ensure that the family had enough food and clothing for three months and allow them to survive until the autumn harvest, when the drought - stricken fields would yield a meager amount of grain.
The girl was born in an uncivilized area. Sitting in a shabby sedan chair that was said to have been used for a hundred years, she cried all the way as she crossed mountains to another hell.
Lu Miao had thought of ending her life. She planned to jump off the cliff when the sedan chair reached the top of the mountain.
And Shen Li, who had come here for work, happened to be passing by this mountain when his car broke down.
Their eyes met, and Shen Li knew that he had found the person he wanted.
He told his strong driver to beat up the sedan - chair carriers and then scolded them, accusing them of still being like uncivilized barbarians in the new society.
Shen Li drove those people away and then bent down to ask Lu Miao.
"Now there's a broader world outside. Do you want to come with me?"
"How stupid," Shen Ling said, her eyes blank and her words coming out one by one with difficulty. "Did she think she had found salvation? No, it was just another abyss."
Yun Que'er listened quietly.
But for Teacher Lu at that time, it was indeed salvation.
That man had shone into her once - dark life like a ray of light, arranging a job for her and making her look decent.
Even though she had no proper name or status, and had never been wealthy, and was even a bit poor, at least she could eat her fill and didn't have to be defiled by those old bachelors.
Yun Que'er finally understood why Teacher Lu had stayed with Shen Li even though she wasn't living a good life.
"The most ridiculous thing is that after coming to the city, Lu knew that my father had a wife and children, but she still followed him. She even believed my father when he said that he would marry her as long as she gave birth to a son! She even encouraged my father to kill my mother and me once the son was born!"
Shen Ling chuckled. "It's a pity that her retribution came too quickly."
Their first son was born with cerebral palsy and had no self - care ability from birth.
Such a person had no hope of inheriting the "superior" bloodline, and it was even difficult for him to survive.
A few years later, Teacher Lu gave birth to Shen Qingqing.
She had also damaged her body in the process and couldn't get pregnant for many years after that.
Logically, Shen Li could have thrown her away and found someone else, but maybe he had done too many evil deeds and was doomed not to get what he wanted.
All the women he found either couldn't get pregnant or had miscarriages.
Since he had also invested a fair amount in Teacher Lu, Shen Li didn't abandon her. He gave her some money every month, which was enough for the three of them to survive.
"If that's the case, it's probably your father's problem," Yun Que'er said bluntly.
Shen Ling glanced at her and scoffed.
"You know quite a lot for your age, but Lu Miao still got pregnant."
And this was when it was already very difficult for her to conceive and Shen Li was old.
Yun Que'er frowned and suddenly thought of the man she had seen entering and leaving Teacher Lu's house that night.