Upon learning that Tang Jizhong, Li Hongmei, and the others had been arrested, Li Yi had anticipated that members of the Tang family might come to harass Tang Xue, but he hadn’t expected them to arrive so quickly.
It had only been a few hours, yet they were already there, specifically waiting to block the entrance to the guesthouse.
Upon seeing the two elderly women leading the group, Tang Xue froze in shock.
Taking advantage of Tang Xue’s daze, the old woman suddenly shouted, “Xiao Xue… how could you be so heartless? Calling the police to arrest your own father? That’s the height of disobedience!”
No sooner had she finished speaking than her sons and daughters-in-law chimed in: “Exactly! What kind of daughter harms her own parents? Don’t you fear being struck by lightning?”
“Who could disagree? There’s no such thing as a bad parent in this world—it’s truly unfilial!”
“Exactly. After all, they raised you all these years—how could you do this to them…”
Hearing the accusations from these so-called “relatives,” Tang Xue remained expressionless, completely unfazed!
Tang Xue knew exactly what these people were like.
Having lived in the Tang household for so many years, she was all too familiar with their shameless faces and sordid motives, so she didn’t care in the slightest what they were saying.
“Are you done? If so, please leave. We need to go back to our room to rest!” Tang Xue said coldly.
The old lady immediately protested, shouting angrily, “What kind of attitude is that, you ungrateful girl? I’m your grandmother! Is that how you talk to me?”
“Hah. I treat you as my grandmother, but have you ever treated me as your granddaughter?”
Tang Xue continued, “You’ve known all along that I’m not your biological granddaughter. That’s why you’ve been pressuring Tang Jizhong for years to make me drop out of school, so I could go home with you and make a living by pasting paper boxes.”
Old Mrs. Tang’s face flushed, but she still shouted, “What’s the point of a girl like you studying so much? Besides, doesn’t education cost money?”
“Hah, are you senile or just playing dumb? Don’t you know that the factory-run school is free for employees’ children? Why would I need to spend the family’s money?”
“Well… but you can’t let the police arrest your parents! After all, they raised you to this age—even if they didn’t deserve credit, they certainly put in the hard work!”
By then, a crowd had gathered around to watch the spectacle. Upon hearing Old Lady Tang’s words, the onlookers began pointing and whispering at Tang Xue.
Li Yi wasn’t about to put up with them. He was about to step forward and confront this old woman who was abusing her seniority, but Tang Xue stopped him.
With a cold look on her face, Tang Xue said, “First of all, let me make it clear: they are not my parents, and they owe me no so-called kindness—only a blood feud!”
“You… you ungrateful brat! How can you be so ungrateful?” Old Lady Tang shouted.
“What do you mean, ungrateful? I was never part of the Tang family to begin with. It was Tang Jizhong who shamelessly swapped me for a stillborn infant right from my mother’s arms. My mother still doesn’t even know that a daughter like me is alive in this world!”
Tang Xue continued, “After you stole me back home, you deliberately hid my true origins, yet you favored him in everything. In the end, you even sent me to the bitterly cold northern frontier to work on a commune in Tang Lei’s place. Do you have any idea how I’ve survived these past years?”
“I had actually grown accustomed to life in the commune, but just because Tang Lei was getting married, and just because Tang Bing didn’t have a job, you sold me off—forcing me to marry that fat, middle-aged widower who could be my father.”
“And to stop me from investigating my own origins, Tang Jizhong went so far as to set fire to the Xinjing Town Health Center. Now that the case has been uncovered and he’s been arrested by the police, you’re trying to smear me with this. How dare the Tang family do this?”
After hearing Tang Xue’s words, everyone around her froze, staring at the Tang family members in disbelief.
These revelations were utterly shocking. If what this young girl was saying was true, then these people were truly shameless to the core.
But the Tang family clearly didn’t see it that way. At that moment, Tang Jihong, the second son of the Tang family, shouted, “You little brat! No matter what, you were raised by my older brother and sister-in-law—there’s no denying that!”
“Did I ask them to raise me? I have my own biological parents. If it weren’t for their shameless behavior, would I have had to endure so many years of abuse in the Tang family?” Tang Xue shouted back.
Tang Jihong’s face flushed crimson at the retort, and in a fit of rage and humiliation, he roared, “You little brat! I’m your second uncle—how dare you talk to me like that?!”
With that, he strode toward Tang Xue, his face twisted with fury.
Li Yi, of course, wasn’t about to let him get away with it. He immediately stepped in front of Tang Jihong and said coldly, “Watch your mouth, or I won’t hesitate to teach you what you should and shouldn’t say!”
“You must be that damn lover this brat brought home. I’ll tell you…”
Before Tang Jihong could finish speaking, Li Yi slapped him across the face.
Li Yi struck with all his might, his hand lashing out with lightning speed.
There was a loud “smack,” followed by Tang Jihong’s body spinning several times before crashing to the ground.
“Ah…”
After a piercing scream, Tang Jihong opened his mouth and spat out several blood-stained teeth.
Seeing this, Tang Jihong’s gang members flew into a rage and immediately charged at Li Yi, cursing and swearing as they went.
Li Yi was completely unfazed. Even though Long Zhanjun, Ni Qiu, and the others weren’t by his side, he could take down this bunch of trash all by himself.
But just as Li Yi was about to teach these bastards a lesson, a loud shout rang out from behind him: “Everyone, stop!”
Li Yi turned to look and saw Xiao Zhanwu striding toward them with several police officers, while a jeep was parked not far away.
Xiao Zhanwu had originally come to discuss something with Li Yi, but he hadn’t expected to witness this scene the moment he arrived, so he immediately stepped in to stop it.
Seeing the police, the Tang brothers immediately lost their nerve and stopped in their tracks.
“What’s going on here? How dare you cause trouble in public? Looks like you’re just itching to spend a few days behind bars!” Xiao Zhanwu bellowed.
Li Yi immediately said, “Officers, I’d like to file a report. These people have repeatedly come here to harass us, and they even tried to gang up on me. Please open an investigation into this matter!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Old Lady Tang shouted, “It’s not like that! We’re here to look for my granddaughter…”
“Who is your granddaughter?” Xiao Zhanwu asked immediately.
“It’s her!” Old Lady Tang said, pointing at Tang Xue.
“Are you her granddaughter?” Xiao Zhanwu asked, feigning ignorance.
Tang Xue replied decisively, “No! I have no such relative. Please, Comrades of the Public Security Bureau, do us justice!”
Xiao Zhanwu immediately fixed his gaze on Mrs. Tang and said, “Do you have anything else to say?”
“I… we…”
“Take them away!”
At that moment, several police officers following Xiao Zhanwu stepped forward and immediately handcuffed Tang Jihong and the others!
This terrified the Tang family members, including the men who had been putting on a brave front just moments ago.
Handcuffs are easy to put on, but hard to take off.
Once they were taken away and locked up, regardless of whether they’d ever get out, their reputations would be utterly ruined.
They wanted to flee, but Tang Xue knew their home addresses—you can run but you can’t hide—so they had no choice but to submit to being handcuffed by Xiao Zhanwu and his men.
After subduing the Tang family members, Xiao Zhanwu turned to Li Yi and explained the purpose of his visit!