historical

Li Caiyi sat with a straight back and cold face. She had been staring at Gu Xue like that for some time, making the latter extra vigilant now.

Gu Xue was actually nervous and intimidated by the oppressive aura she exuded, but as a prideful woman, she would rather die before she admitted it. With a clenched jaw and raised chin, she asked Li Caiyi, "What business do you have with me?"

Li Caiyi said nothing and threw a file to the table. "Open this first."

"What is this?" Gu Xue asked suspiciously, but seeing Li Caiyi showed no intention to explain, she reluctantly reached out to the file and opened it.

As soon as she read the stack of paper compiled neatly into the single file, all blood was drained from her face, and her hands were trembling violently. "T-this.."

Li Caiyi didn't give her time to think as she slapped a stack of photos on top of the table. All of them were pictures of Gu Xue going out with several men. Looking at those pictures, Gu Xue really wasn't picky in choosing her target because some of those men were practically twice her age.

It satisfied Li Caiyi seeing her shocked face gradually escalate to a mortified level, as she said in a mocking tone. "This should be enough answer for your question, right?"

Gu Xue was flustered seeing Li Caiyi bring up all her affairs and past deeds in front of her, but she quickly collected herself and smiled haughtily instead.

"I thought this was going to be something serious, but what? You're here to seek justice for your man's affair? To even dig up so much about me like this, are you that desperate?"

She didn't bother to sound polite anymore as she folded her legs proudly. "It's not my fault if your charm is too weak and your man runs to me for comfort. Looking at how obsessed you are, I can understand why that man wants to run away from you, though. What a pitiful attempt to display your authority.

You aren't the first woman and won't be the last one who blames me for your own lack of charms. Some women really find it easy to blame other people instead of looking at themselves in the mirror."

Gu Xue laughed. "What can I do if your man prefers me more than you? Instead of bullying me like this, talk to your man and coax him to return to you. If you can, that is."

Li Caiyi listened to her talking about how it wasn't her fault at all, and although most of her words were self-entitled, she agreed with some of them. Those who were tempted with another woman/man were the ones at fault here. No matter how beautiful the woman was, if the man was genuinely loyal to his spouse, then he wouldn't even think of cheating at all.

Even so, that didn't make what Gu Xue had done suddenly become pardonable!

"I don't even want to bother arguing with you. My business here with you is about your affair with Li Jirong." Li Caiyi interrupted her long speech with a low voice.

"Ah? So it's him? I have a feeling he has another woman behind me, but that's okay. That's just how it is in upper-class society. I'm not the kind of woman who picks on trivial details like this. In the end, he would always come back to me because I'm smart enough to understand that," Gu Xue smiled proudly.

"Do you know that he even bought a villa, especially for me? He said it was a love nest for us, hidden from his wife and family. What about you? What did he give you so far? Don't tell me you dare to come here and question me while he only gave you those cheap clothes you wear?"

Li Caiyi had already known about that, so there was no ripple on her expression at all.

Her father often told her to get Gu Xue some things and secretly delivered them to the villa. For her, that place was like an immovable rock inside her heart. A manifestation of guilt she had towards her mother.

Thinking how Li Jirong often spent the night with this woman in that villa compared with her mother, who waited for him at their house, made her feel wronged on her mother's behalf.

"You got nothing to say? As expected, you are only worth that much for him, anyway. Your status is no different from his pitiful and stupid wife, so I don't understand what makes you so brave to flaunt yourself in front of me. Or what? He didn't even tell you he got a wife and children?"

Snap.

Something inside Li Caiyi just snapped when she heard Gu Xue mention her mother. She had been so patient all this time, but she really couldn't hold it anymore.

SLAP!

Using all the force she could muster, Li Caiyi swung her arms and landed a fierce slap on Gu Xue's white face, making the latter yelp in surprise before she fell onto the couch.

Gu Xue was disoriented and couldn't register what had just happened immediately. "Did you.. just slap me?"

"You seem to be proud of having control over men. Unfortunately for you, my father would never leave my mother for a slut he conveniently finds on the side of the road like you."

Li Jirong never once acknowledged Gu Xue's existence in her previous life and showed no intention of marrying her. It proved that even if lust sometimes clouded his judgment, he still had a brain to know which woman was more qualified to be by his side. A woman with low background and manner like Gu Xue wouldn't stand a chance. He would never dare to show her up in public, even if it killed him.

Meanwhile, Gu Xue was baffled when Li Caiyi mentioned 'my father'. With one hand on her reddened cheek and her eyes scanning Li Caiyi up to down, she asked in disbelief. "Y-you are Rong's daughter?"

Li Caiyi felt disgusted hearing this woman call her father's nickname and swung her hand once time on Gu Xue's other side of the cheek.

SLAP!

Li Caiyi's hand was hurting, but she strangely felt a sense of liberation inside. Perhaps this was the reason people like to fight so much. She had never felt this sensation before. It was very...refreshing?

"You just saw me yesterday, yet you already forgot about me? Your memory must be as bad as your ugly face." Li Caiyi spoke in a chilling tone that could even freeze the whole hell. She poured all injustice she felt for her mother in both of her lives into her actions and words.

"The first slap is for my mother, and the second is for my sister. How dare you play your affair game in front of my family so shamelessly like that?" Li Caiyi scoffed mockingly. "True love? Love nest? You must be delusional or sick in your mind if you think that trashy father of mine can have such feelings. You are just one of many mistresses my father kept; what are you so proud of?"

Gu Xue lost her momentum entirely and could only blink her eyes stupidly at Li Caiyi, who looked like a guardian of hell with two horns on her head right now. The thing was, she didn't expect that the woman she ridiculed up until now was her boyfriend's daughter.

What if she told her father about it, and he broke up with her for disturbing his family? Gu Xue couldn't lose Li Jirong just yet! At least, until she made her debut in upper-class society!

"Gu Xue. 25 years old. A nurse working in S Health Hospital. She came from the countryside of northern G city and made a lot of 'mishap' in her youth."

Gu Xue's eyes widened when she heard that. With a trembling voice, she said, "S-stop it."

Li Caiyi didn't care and continued speaking in a story-telling manner, "Gu Xue was a thrill-seeking and adventurous youth who liked to learn about the way of adults since her student days. She accidentally got pregnant for the first time in her life at the age of 15. The baby was aborted soon after, but who could have known that this adventurous girl couldn't stop her desire for the thrill? Not only did she not learn from her mistake, but she also found herself pregnant three more times after that; all of them were from different men and aborted too."

"Stop it!" Gu Xue covered her ears with her hands as if she didn't want to hear about it, but Li Caiyi prevented him from doing so. She caught Gu Xue's hand in hers and grinned amusedly while looking down at the frightened nurse.

"You don't seem ashamed at all when you tell me all about your affairs. How does adding a baby or two babies make a difference to you? Spare me your hypocritical act. You're only afraid that the rich people you got in your hands would leave you after they heard about how disgusting you are. Who can guarantee you are not infected with STD with a background like that? If they broke up with you, forget about stepping into the upper-class society, you probably wouldn't be able to step outside of your house."

"What? H-how did you?" Gu Xue was sure she never mentioned anything about wanting to go to a higher level in front of her.

Li Caiyi caressed her underjaw gently as if seducing her. "Do you really think you are a phoenix that will soon rise from ashes? How cute. You aren't a phoenix but a chicken. One that men used as cattle. Wait, no, comparing you to a chicken is an insult to all chickens because they at least could lay eggs. As for you..."

Li Caiyi squeezed her jaw hard before leaning down and whispered beside her ear. "After all those abortions you had done, you are just a barren woman who couldn't produce egg anymore. A chicken waiting to be chopped. You deserved that retribution."