Chapter 134: Retaliation!

After Meng's father was imprisoned, the court froze all of the Meng family's visible assets to prevent them from being liquidated or transferred.

Mother Meng was thrown into a state of panic. As the saying goes, when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Companies that had previously partnered with the Meng family scrambled to distance themselves, terrified that they would be the next targets of investigation.

Since her marriage, Mother Meng had never worked; she had always been waited on by domestic staff. Having lived a life of luxury where she never had to lift a finger, she had long since lost the ability to live independently, let alone run a business. Meng Shirui was even worse—she was currently too afraid to even step outside, much less take charge and resolve the company's crisis. With no one at the helm to navigate the storm, the company, much like a festering sore, was left to rot as they watched its inevitable collapse.

The speed at which the Meng family business folded caught everyone by surprise. When Mother Meng and Meng Shirui were finally "invited" to leave their villa, both of them seemed to be in a daze. Looking at the official seals plastered across the villa’s front door, Mother Meng slapped Meng Shirui across the face. The indulgence she had shown in the past was gone, replaced by endless resentment and hatred.

"It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault!"

"How could I have given birth to a daughter like you? Your father was implicated by you and sent to prison; he’s looking at decades behind bars! The company has collapsed! All our assets have been seized to pay off debts, and I will never live a good life again!"

Mother Meng’s eyes were bloodshot. One slap wasn't enough to vent her anger, so she struck her again and again. "You cursed thing! You’ve ruined us! How could you do such a thing? You’ve destroyed my entire life!"

Meng Shirui, caught off guard, took several blows, her cheeks swelling red. She let out a sharp, sudden scream and shoved her mother away, her own eyes burning with just as much hatred.

"If it weren't for your stupid idea that faking a suicide would turn public opinion around, would things have reached this point? If they wanted money, we should have just paid them! You were the one who insisted I stage a 'suicide.' Well, look at us now! A problem that could have been solved with money has been blown up by you until it’s past the point of no return. This is entirely your own fault—you didn't manage those media outlets properly, and you didn't pay them enough! If you had, they wouldn't have turned on us. You didn't plan this right, so don't you dare blame me!"

Mother Meng’s eyes widened, her lips trembling, unable to utter a single word. She finally collapsed onto the ground, wailing and lamenting. "What kind of sin did I commit in my past life? My own daughter sent her father to prison, our home and company are seized, and she’s standing here screaming at me! My life is completely ruined!"

Meng Shirui felt overwhelmed and irritated. The events were unfolding like falling dominoes; her once vibrant and colorful life was collapsing in an instant. How did it come to this? Just a month ago, she was the life of the party, booking out entire bars, where everyone called her "Sister Rui" and hung on her every word. Now, not only had Zhou Xunwen abandoned her, but all those sycophants who used to grovel at her feet had blocked her, terrified of being associated with her.

She looked at her mother—a woman who only ever cared about hair appointments and beauty treatments—who was now rummaging through the jewelry and bags on the floor while cursing her. The sheer scale of the downfall made Meng Shirui feel dizzy, as if the world were spinning. Her eighteenth year was not supposed to be like this!

Yet, even more desperate was the fact that the parents of the students Meng Shirui had bullied in school had joined forces to sue her. The court ordered them to pay a massive sum in damages. Mother Meng had no choice but to raid her private savings and sell off her bags and jewelry to compensate the families, just to bail Meng Shirui out of detention. They were now destitute, forced to move into a low-rent apartment they would have once looked down upon—a damp, foul-smelling room that never saw the light of day.

Mother Meng didn't know how to cook or do laundry, and she refused to look for work. She vented all her pent-up frustration on Meng Shirui. For the first time, Meng Shirui was beaten with a stick. Before she could react, the blows rained down on her back. In a daze, she remembered those she had bullied, who had curled up on the ground in the exact same way. They had cried and begged for mercy, pleading with her to let them go.

And how had she acted back then? She had mocked them for being like dogs, forced them to eat dirt or dog feces, and laughingly asked them what it tasted like. That was how she had established her authority, making everyone fear and revere her. She had felt so smug, as if the whole world belonged to her. But now, those she had once pressed into the dirt had banded together and pressed her into the mud instead. They had stripped her of her wealthy status, taken away her power to do as she pleased, and left her in this pathetic state!

And who was responsible for all of this? Ah, it was Tang Yu—the girl she had once crushed under her boot, shoved into a bathroom to be doused with water, and whose clothes she had torn off to take degrading photos of... Right, she had even gotten into the top university, the one Zhou Xunwen had wanted to attend so badly. Now, billboards across the streets and banners in the busiest areas of the town were all adorned with her name!

The girl she had once despised and trampled upon had pushed her to this brink! Meng Shirui couldn't help but laugh, and soon she was cackling manically. The terrifying sound startled even her mother, who was still brandishing the stick.

"What are you laughing at? You sent your father to prison and ruined this whole family! Do you have the nerve to laugh?!" Mother Meng was driven to the point of madness by her rage.

Meng Shirui gritted her teeth, her heart full of bitter defiance. She scrambled up from the floor, snatched a fruit knife from the table, and bolted out the door. Mother Meng, who had been shoved against the wall, was in pain and assumed the girl was just going out to cause more trouble, so she let her be.

—

It was evening. Tang Yu and her grandfather were sitting in the small courtyard, shelling beans. Her acceptance letter had already arrived. The deans of the Law School and the Medical School had added her on social media, urging her to arrive at the university as soon as possible so that her grandparents could receive treatment early. The family was busy packing to head to the capital.

After finishing the beans, her grandfather went to the kitchen to cook. Tang Yu brushed the vegetable leaves off her clothes and moved her stool toward the wall, just about to help her grandmother weave the last few flower baskets, when a figure suddenly darted into the yard.

The sky was growing dark, and the leaves of the phoenix tree in the yard were cast in shades of ink. Tang Yu recognized the intruder. Meng Shirui was staring at her with pure malice, the knife in her hand reflecting the cold light, a chilling sight.

Tang Yu felt a jolt of alarm. She retreated cautiously, her fingers moving behind her back to quietly call the police. Meng Shirui looked at her like a venomous snake, closing in step by step, as if she intended to skin her alive.

"Tang Yu, you deserve to die! I should have killed you sooner; then things wouldn't have reached this point. I truly underestimated you. You sent my father to prison, and my mother, who used to coddle me, now beats me at every turn. You’ve ruined me! You’ve ruined our family! You’ve ruined our company!"

Her grandfather, hearing the commotion, emerged from the kitchen and was terrified. Tang Yu signaled him with her eyes to stay silent. Meng Shirui was in an unstable state and could lunge with the knife at any moment. Her grandfather seemed to understand; he quietly picked up a stool from the kitchen. The kitchen was in a corner of the yard, obscured by the growing darkness, and Meng Shirui was so fixated on Tang Yu that she didn't notice him approaching from behind.

Tang Yu continued to distract Meng Shirui, terrified she might turn around. "Calm down. Your father was sent to prison because he evaded taxes and used substandard materials. Your mother hits you because you pushed your father and your company to the brink. As for you," she sneered, her tone dripping with irony, "if you hadn't bullied others and committed so many atrocities, why would they have sued you?"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Meng Shirui screamed, pointing the knife at her. "What right do you have to judge me?"

"If it weren't for you, those cowards would never have dared to testify against me! My biggest regret is that I didn't kick you out of Qingyuan back then! That I didn't kill you!"

In her mind, Tang Yu was supposed to be afraid of her, cowering before her, and obedient to her every whim—not standing there with such an air of superiority. Meng Shirui could not accept this, nor would she allow Tang Yu to rise above her. Rage and jealousy had entirely consumed her reason. Her father’s imprisonment, her mother’s beatings, the public mockery online... and the culprit was right in front of her.

She immediately lunged forward with the fruit knife, intent on stabbing her. Suddenly, Meng Shirui felt a sharp pain in her back and let out a cry. Her grandfather had swung the stool at her. Tang Yu and her grandfather seized the opportunity to grab the hand holding the knife.

Meng Shirui screamed, twisting and struggling frantically; the blade flashed menacingly in the dark. Her grandmother watched in terror and began to call for help. The neighbors heard the commotion and rushed over. The sight before them shocked them—Meng Shirui was thrashing about with a knife, and if it weren't for Tang Yu and the elderly man refusing to let go, something terrible would have happened!

The neighbors rushed to help. Having heard that the Tang family was in trouble, everyone came running. The old man had been generous with them, sharing sugar and produce just days before, so there was no way they would stand by. They swarmed in to restrain Meng Shirui, pinning her down and prying the knife from her hand.

Fearing Meng Shirui might go completely berserk, the villagers pushed her out of the yard. In the pitch-black night, she lost her footing and tumbled straight into the cesspit outside the yard. By the time the police and the village head arrived, she was still floundering in the muck.