Chapter 48: Coming to Blows

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Coming to Blows

"The Sheng Family was supposed to form a marriage alliance with us. Once Xiao Sheng and Shuangshuang were married, our two families would have joined forces. Do you have any idea how much that would have helped Shen Zhenwu’s career? And you ruined it all!"

"Things have come to this point. Just listening to Shuangshuang isn’t enough. You need to take action yourself. Go to the Sheng Family, bow your head, and admit you were wrong. Whether you have to kneel and beg or kowtow and apologize, you have to do whatever it takes—no matter how humiliating—to get our families back on good terms. You can’t let anything jeopardize Shuangshuang’s marriage."

Song Yao’s lips twitched. She almost laughed out loud.

She hadn’t expected these two to be so shameless.

They took everything from her, yet they still expected her to gratefully go and atone.

"What about all the grievances I’ve suffered over the years? The beatings and scoldings, the days I was trampled on and humiliated? Am I supposed to just swallow all of that and let it rot inside me?"

Yao Yuzhen’s brow furrowed.

"Didn’t you say yourself that this is how you were treated growing up in the Song family? You should be used to it by now. You could endure it before, so why are you acting so delicate all of a sudden?"

Song Yao’s body trembled slightly, and her voice was as cold as shards of ice.

"So according to you, just because I’ve been treated like a dog, I have to keep being one? If someone kicks me, I’m supposed to smile and take it without so much as a whimper?"

Yao Yuzhen slowly straightened her cuffs, her tone flat.

"I didn’t say it so bluntly. But the logic is plain to see. Since you’re already used to a hard life, why cause a scene at such a critical moment? I raised Shuangshuang in the palm of my hand. She’s thin-skinned. If word of this gets out and ruins her reputation, how will she ever show her face in public again?"

"That’s a load of fucking bullshit!"

Song Yao exploded.

Even she was a little stunned after roaring it out.

But she didn’t regret it. On the contrary, she felt a sense of release.

She had held those words in for too long. The anger had long since filled her chest, just waiting for a fuse to be lit.

She started cursing at Yao Yuzhen.

"You old, shameless bitch! If my dad hadn’t given you a roof over your head and food to eat, you’d probably be digging through some garbage heap for scraps right now!"

"And what happens? You live in my family’s house and have the nerve to lecture me? You better tell me straight, is Shen Shuangshuang some bastard child you had? Why else would you protect her like she’s your whole world?"

Yao Yuzhen and Shen Shuangshuang were dumbfounded.

The accusation of infidelity, in particular, made Yao Yuzhen’s face instantly flush a deep, ugly red.

Her lips trembled, and she pointed a finger at Song Yao, unable to form a complete sentence for a long time.

"Song Yao!"

After a long moment, she finally let out a furious roar and raised her hand to slap her.

But this time, Song Yao wasn’t just going to stand there and take it.

Fueled by a surge of vicious adrenaline, she lunged forward, knocked Yao Yuzhen to the ground, straddled her, and started slapping her across the face.

’What other tricks are there when women fight?’

It’s always just hair-pulling and face-slapping.

She didn’t have any other skills, but she was more practiced at these two moves than she was at eating.

When she was ganged up on at school as a child, these were the two moves she used to fight her way out.

"AH!"

Terrified, Shen Shuangshuang rushed over and tugged at the corner of her shirt, trying to pull her hair.

But Song Yao had short hair—there was nothing to grab!

Shen Shuangshuang’s hands missed again and again. Tears of desperation streamed down her face as she resorted to ramming Song Yao with her shoulder and pushing her back, screaming all the while.

"Get off her! Stop hitting my mom!"

Yao Yuzhen was used to a pampered life; how could she possibly withstand such a chaotic brawl?

She tried to fight back, but Song Yao pinned her arms down, immobilizing her.

The mother-daughter duo, together, were being overpowered and beaten by Song Yao alone.

The normally poised and elegant Yao Yuzhen now had a twisted, hideous expression on her face.

She opened her mouth to curse, only for Song Yao to shut her up with another slap.

Shen Shuangshuang was crying and struggling beside them. One of her shoes had been kicked off, and her sock was torn.

The entire hospital room descended into chaos. Tables and chairs were overturned, and the air was filled with constant shouts and curses.

A crowd of gawkers had already gathered at the door, craning their necks to see inside.

Not a single person dared to take a step forward, let alone reach out and push the door open.

The reason was simple: the sordid affairs of Mr. Shen’s family were already common gossip throughout the residential compound.

Song Yao was Mr. Shen’s illegitimate daughter from an affair. She had been abandoned in the countryside as a child and only brought back after she became an adult.

Yao Yuzhen was the official wife. She had never acknowledged this daughter and made her life difficult at every turn.

Shen Shuangshuang was her biological daughter, spoiled rotten and arrogant to everyone she met.

The open and secret struggles between the three of them had been non-stop lately, but for it to escalate to a fight in the hospital was truly unexpected.

After a full ten minutes, the commotion inside finally died down.

Outside, the crowd looked at one another, but no one said a word.

A young nurse swallowed nervously and turned to the doctor beside her.

"Shouldn’t... shouldn’t you go take a look? If someone actually died, we couldn’t take responsibility for that."

The doctor’s face was as white as a sheet, but he still shuffled his feet forward.

Trembling, he reached out, pushed the door open a crack, and squinted to peer inside.

The room was a complete mess.

The nightstand was toppled over, a chair was on its side, and a pillow lay on the floor with cotton stuffing spilling from a tear.

Song Yao’s clothes were wrinkled, and several red marks on her face were still fresh.

Her hair was disheveled and there was a smear of blood at the corner of her mouth. She looked a bit wretched.

But she was standing. She hadn’t fallen.

She had taken on two people on an empty stomach. The only thing keeping her going after a fight like that was sheer willpower.

She looked down at the two on the floor, sneered, and spat forcefully.

The spittle landed right on Yao Yuzhen’s sleeve, leaving a small, wet mark.

The woman on the floor was curled up, one hand protecting her forehead while the other propped her up as she tried to get to her feet.

Shen Shuangshuang lay a short distance away, letting out suppressed sobs.

"The old one is shameless, and the young one is no better! I grew up rough in the countryside; I’ve never been afraid of a fight! You think you can mess with me with your pathetic, clumsy moves?"

"You gave birth to me, but did you ever raise me for a single day? From now on, you’re not my mother! You trampled all over me again and again for that fake, Shen Shuangshuang. What do you take me for? A worn-out shoe to be tossed aside?"

"Do you have any idea how her real mother hurt me back then? You can’t tell good from evil, always siding with outsiders. Even if I disown you today, none of the neighbors have the right to point fingers at me!"

Song Yao’s shouts were thunderous.

A moment ago, when everyone saw the mother and daughter on the floor with their hair disheveled and faces swollen, they had all felt it was an injustice.

They thought that this Song Yao was a real shrew, daring to strike an elder. It was outrageous!

But after hearing her tirade, the crowd was stunned.

Everything she said wasn’t just made up; it was all backed by evidence, every single claim verifiable.

No matter how much they favored Yao Yuzhen, no one could find a flaw in Song Yao’s words.

But looking at the scene before them, they still didn’t dare to intervene.

After all, this was no longer a simple family dispute but a culmination of over a decade of deep-seated resentment.

Of course, that being said, one couldn’t completely ignore social conventions.

Such words were utterly disrespectful no matter where you went.

The neighbors loved to gossip about these things; one wrong word could have people talking for a year.

News of today’s incident would reach the higher-ups within three days, and there would surely be consequences.

Anyone else in this situation would have lowered their head, apologized, and tried to save their reputation.

Even if they didn’t feel it in their heart, they would have to put on an act of remorse.

But Song Yao wasn’t playing that game.

’Endure it?’

She had endured enough in her last life!

’And what was the result?’

She had ended up dying a violent death on the streets.