The Little Spoiled Brat Divorces with a Child, Driving the Big Boss Crazy - Chapter 71

Chapter 71

The Luo Family stood outside the villa for three hours.

Every member of the family had lived a life of luxury. Forced to stand beneath the blazing sun without warning, Mrs. Luo’s lips dried until they cracked.

The villa grounds were enormous. A servant led the three of them inside on foot.

Beneath a shaded veranda, a man lounged sideways in a chair, his long legs casually crossed as he slowly turned a page of his book.

Another stack sat on the wicker table beside him.

Every one was a pregnancy manual or guide to postpartum care.

Mr. Luo spoke with extreme caution. “President Jin, my daughter was ignorant and offended Mrs. Jin. My wife and I brought her here specifically to apologize.”

The sound of paper turning drifted through the breeze.

The man said nothing. Most of his face remained hidden behind the book, and he didn’t spare them a single glance.

Mr. Luo coughed and nudged his daughter forward.

Luo Binfen looked as though she had been crying. Her eyes were swollen like peaches as she stumbled ahead. “Second Young Master, I know I was wrong. Lu Ying and I have never gotten along, but Meimei is my friend, and I-I also…” had feelings for him.

That was why she could never control her mouth whenever she saw Lu Ying.

As for truly vicious deeds, she had never done anything to Lu Ying.

The man beneath the veranda remained motionless.

Mr. and Mrs. Luo were both shrewd. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have forced their daughter to apologize the moment they received the dismembered doll. When Jin Beizhou remained unmoved, they knew this apology did not satisfy him.

“President Jin, we failed to discipline Binfen properly,” Mr. Luo said. “She has a nasty mouth, but she truly doesn’t know how to hurt anyone. Her mother questioned her at length this morning. She only acted that way because someone kept provoking her…”

Jin Beizhou slowly raised his eyes. “Who provoked her?”

Mrs. Luo answered immediately, “Jin Meimei.”

“Oh?” Jin Beizhou straightened slightly, interest entering his voice. “How did she do that?”

Mrs. Luo shoved her daughter, signaling for her to tell the truth.

Before Luo Binfen could begin, Jin Beizhou lifted one finger. Dajun brought over a video camera.

In a cool voice, Jin Beizhou said, “To prevent Miss Luo from denying her words afterward, you won’t mind if we record this, will you?”

“…” Mr. Luo looked embarrassed. “N-no, we don’t mind.”

Luo Binfen stumbled through her account. Seemingly desperate to free herself and her family from their predicament, she held nothing back and described every detail.

When they were ten, for example, they invited Lu Ying to play hide-and-seek at the park. Then the entire group quietly left, abandoning Lu Ying in her hiding place until nightfall with no one ever coming to find her.

When they were eleven, Jin Meimei used a dress Lu Ying gave her to wrap a stray cat beside a garbage bin.

When they were thirteen, they left Lu Ying’s group birthday gift overnight at the home of a relative whose child had hand, foot, and mouth disease before giving it to her.

Fortunately, Lu Ying had been healthy enough to escape their deliberate malice unharmed.

Luo Binfen also said that Jin Meimei voluntarily changed her surname to Jin because Jin Beizhou had begun suspecting she was secretly framing Lu Ying. She had been forced to act.

Jin Beizhou remembered that period.

Lu Ying had fought with him especially fiercely. Every meeting ended in an argument. Finally, her grandfather issued an order and imposed a curfew. The driver picked Lu Ying up the moment classes ended and no longer allowed her to visit the Jin Family, completely eliminating any chance for the two to meet.

Jin Beizhou climbed over the Lu Family’s wall and appeared outside Lu Ying’s window to make peace.

Lu Ying refused. She wouldn’t even open the window.

Jin Beizhou stubbornly remained there from morning until dark.

Although Lu Ying refused to see him, she didn’t alert anyone else.

When he remained stationed outside her window, Lu Ying became afraid she’d have nightmares. She opened the window a crack, told him to get lost, and rambled about everything and nothing, cursing both Jin Meimei and him in the process.

Jin Beizhou began reevaluating Jin Meimei, the foster sister living in his family.

Jin Meimei was sensitive by nature. Perhaps she sensed the change.
Not long afterward, Jin Meimei voluntarily asked to change her surname to Jin. She said, “Yingying and Second Brother are always fighting because of me. If I become his biological sister and my name is placed in the same household register, no one will have anything more to say.”

Old Master Jin and Old Madam naturally opposed the idea. They hoped Jin Beizhou would marry Jin Meimei.

But Jin Beizhou’s adoptive parents supported her, and the matter was settled.

Afterward, the two elders disliked Lu Ying even more and grew even fonder of Jin Meimei as their granddaughter.

“I admit I participated in all those things,” Luo Binfen said. “But at most, I was only a foot soldier…”

Mrs. Luo nodded. “She’s impulsive. Third Miss Jin acted gentle and weak in front of her, so it was easy to use her as a weapon…”

Jin Beizhou’s eyes resembled a dead lake. Even a stone thrown into their depths could not stir a ripple.

Luo Binfen’s words were not evidence of Jin Meimei’s crimes.

They were evidence of his.

Jin Beizhou had never understood the bloodless schemes these girls used against one another. Lu Ying hadn’t understood them either. She only knew they made her feel uncomfortable and disgusted, but she couldn’t explain exactly why or produce evidence.

That hidden malice, wrapped in false kindness, had been inflicted on Lu Ying again and again.

No one believed she had been wronged.

Jin Beizhou had always claimed he believed her. But his belief was weightless. He said he trusted Lu Ying, yet continued taking care of Jin Meimei as before. Could that truly be called belief?

It had been perfunctory reassurance. A way to brush her off.

His trust had no strength behind it. It couldn’t stand on its own.

He had used the words “I believe you” to build a castle in the air. The moment Lu Ying saw through his hypocrisy, that castle collapsed. With nothing real supporting it, its fragments scattered in every direction.

What did his difficulties matter?

The fact was that he had hurt Lu Ying.

The result was that Lu Ying would never forgive him.

The Luo family was escorted out by the servants.

Jin Beizhou remained alone beneath the veranda. At some point, his back bent, radiating pain and despair.

The wind turned two pages of the pregnancy manual beside him.

Amid the soft rustle, he seemed to understand clearly for the first time that there was no longer any possibility for him and Lu Ying.

At lunch, Ge Qi sat beside Lu Ying while Jin Beizhou sat across from them alone.

The dining room was silent.

Ge Qi wanted to offer some advice, but before she could speak, she remembered she was also one of the people who had concealed the pregnancy. She quietly closed her mouth again.

Jin Beizhou removed the bones from the fish in front of him and placed the meat in Lu Ying’s bowl.

But Lu Ying refused it. She hugged her bowl and pulled away. “I hate fish.”

“…” Jin Beizhou’s arm remained extended. “You never hated it before.”

“I hate it now,” Lu Ying said. “I don’t have to accept whatever you decide to give me.”

Her words carried an obvious deeper meaning.

She seemed to be mocking the selfishness of his love. He had always given whatever he wanted to give without ever asking what she wanted.

Ge Qi coughed lightly and tried to smooth things over. “Fish is good for the baby’s development.”

Lu Ying said, “I don’t want anything from him.”

Ge Qi placed a piece of fish belly in her bowl. “Then Eldest Sister-in-law will give it to you.”

Lu Ying said nothing more.

Jin Beizhou’s eyes darkened. Without a word, he withdrew his bowl.

“Xiao Er,” Ge Qi said, trying to change the subject, “what did you have delivered to your Eldest Brother earlier?”

Jin Beizhou answered, “I told him to keep an eye on Jin Meimei and stop her from stirring up more trouble. You should be careful too, Eldest Sister-in-law…”

“Seriously?” Lu Ying looked up, bristling with hostility. “You defended her with your life before, and now you’ve turned against her in an instant. If I were you, I’d stick with my mistake and protect her to the bitter end.”

Jin Beizhou stared directly at her. “When you and she had conflicts, when did I ever defend her? By your logic, when Grandpa punished me, you didn’t protect me, take my side, or cut ties with him. Should you be sentenced to life in prison for that?”