As the last man’s baton swung down, Su Wan had already spun close to him. Her elbow struck like a hammer, slamming hard into his Tanzhong point!
“Gah!” The man spat out a mouthful of sour bile and was sent flying. He crashed into an ornamental stone in the courtyard and slid down, groaning and unable to get back up.
From the moment the security guards began their encirclement to the moment they were all on the ground, barely ten seconds had passed.
The courtyard was a mess, littered with people groaning on the ground.
Su Wan stood in the center, rubber baton in hand, her icy gaze sweeping over the other servants who were huddled in terrified silence and the security captain who was paralyzed with fear.
She casually tossed the rubber baton onto the ground with a soft “clatter” that sounded exceptionally clear in the silent courtyard.
Then, she picked up Lele with one hand and took Liu Xin’s hand with the other, walking straight toward the main entrance of the villa leading to the living room.
This time, no one dared to stop them.
Su Wan led Liu Xin and Lele into the living room.
She ignored the suspicious and wary looks of the surrounding servants, walking straight to the expensive leather sofa set in the center and signaling for Liu Xin to sit down with the child.
Liu Xin sat on the soft sofa holding Lele, but her body remained tense. She kept her head down, not daring to look around.
Lele seemed frightened by the conflict at the gate. He gripped the corner of his mother’s clothes tightly, his large eyes timidly observing this place that was both familiar and strange.
Su Wan sat down calmly on an adjacent armchair, her back straight.
Her gaze swept over the butler, whose face was pale yet struggling to remain composed.
“Go and invite your old master down,” Su Wan said calmly, her tone carrying an unquestionable authority.
“Tell him Su Wan has a deal to discuss with him.”
The butler’s face flushed red then turned pale. His lips quivered a few times, but in the end, he said nothing more.
He gave Su Wan a deep look, then turned and hurried upstairs toward the study.
A strange silence temporarily fell over the living room.
Only the expensive antique clock on the wall made a rhythmic ticking sound.
Before long, a series of hurried footsteps came from the direction of the stairs.
It was a middle-aged couple—Liu Xin’s parents, Liu Chengren and his wife, Zhao Yufen.
There wasn't a hint of worry for their long-lost daughter on their faces. Instead, they were filled with anxious impatience and undisguised resentment and blame.
Zhao Yufen’s well-maintained face was twisted in a deep frown, while Liu Chengren wore an expression of disgust as if he were facing a family misfortune.
Lele, who had been shrinking in his mother’s arms, instinctively looked up when he saw his grandparents appear. With a mix of expectation and grievance, he called out softly, “Grandpa, Grandma…”
He slid down from Liu Xin’s lap and took small steps toward Zhao Yufen, who was closest. He reached out his little hand, wanting to seek a hug and comfort just like he used to.
However, as Zhao Yufen looked at Lele approaching her, a flicker of complex emotion crossed her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by irritation and a desire to stay away.
The moment Lele’s little hand was about to touch her skirt, a look of disgust appeared on her face, and she instinctively reached out and gave him a hard push!
“Ah!” Lele cried out in surprise, staggering backward before falling onto his bottom on the smooth, cold marble floor.
He sat on the floor dazed, looking up at his grandmother’s cold expression. His large eyes quickly filled with tears, brimming with disbelief, shock, and hurt.
He didn't understand why his grandmother, who used to adore him, now refused to even give him a hug and had pushed him instead.
“Lele!” Liu Xin’s heart nearly broke. She immediately rushed over and pulled her son into a tight embrace, her tears falling instantly.
She patted her son’s back to comfort him while looking up at her mother, her eyes full of heartache and confusion.
Zhao Yufen felt somewhat uncomfortable under Liu Xin’s gaze, but that was soon replaced by even greater anger.
She didn't look at her grandson on the floor. Instead, she aimed her fury directly at Liu Xin, her voice shrill: “You wretched girl! What did you come back for?! Haven't you caused enough trouble for the Third Branch?!”
She pointed at Liu Xin, then at Su Wan, who was watching coldly from the sofa. “Look at you! You brought Su Wan here and even beat up the household staff! Are you trying to get us killed?!”
Liu Chengren chimed in from the side, his tone full of impatience and reprimand: “Xin’er, you are being far too thoughtless! Have you forgotten the old master’s words? Don't you know the current situation of the Su family?”
“Are the Bai family and the Gu family people you can afford to offend? If you won't think for yourself, you should think of us, and think of your younger brother and sister!”
“Our Third Branch’s position in the Liu family is already… already difficult. Do you have to drag the whole family down and make us the laughingstock of the other branches? Will you only be satisfied when the old master completely abandons us?!”
He paused, looking at his daughter’s miserable state, but ultimately said something even more heartless: “The fact that you’ve fallen to this state today is just your own bad luck for being involved with the Su family!”
“As your parents, we are powerless to help you now!”
“If you have any conscience, take the child and leave immediately. Find a place where no one knows you and live a quiet life. Don't come back and cause trouble for your maternal family anymore!”
“Consider it… consider it your way of repaying us for the debt of your birth!”
Each sentence was like a blade dipped in ice, stabbing deep into Liu Xin’s heart.
She held Lele and sobbed uncontrollably, lacking even the strength to argue. She felt cold all over, her blood seemingly turning to ice.
These were her biological parents…
“Heh.”
A cold laugh filled with heavy mockery broke the parents’ one-sided verbal assault.
Su Wan slowly rose from the sofa, her icy gaze sweeping over Liu Chengren and Zhao Yufen.
“What a wonderful pair of parents,” Su Wan’s voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear, carrying a bone-chilling coldness and relentless sarcasm.
“Listening to you, I’m almost moved to tears by your ‘painstaking efforts.’”
She stepped forward and stood in front of Liu Xin, shielding her as she faced Liu Xin’s parents directly.
“Liu Xin has bad luck? Because of the Su family?” A highly ironic curve formed at the corner of Su Wan’s mouth.
“How do I remember that when Liu Xin married my brother, the entire Liu family—especially your Third Branch—didn't say that?”
“Back then, weren't you all overjoyed, feeling like you had climbed the social ladder? Weren't you eager to tell the whole world?”
Her sharp gaze pinned itself to Liu Chengren’s face. “Third Master Liu, weren't you walking with a swagger back then?”
“Relying on your daughter’s marriage, didn't you—a sidelined nobody in the Liu family’s businesses—immediately receive ten percent of the company’s shares from the old master? And you,”
She turned to Zhao Yufen. “Third Madam Liu, your gatherings in socialite circles, your jewelry and designer clothes, the benefits your own maternal family received…”
“Which of those wasn't obtained by relying on the Su family’s influence and Liu Xin’s status as the ‘eldest daughter-in-law of the Su family’?”
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