Chapter 76: Song Yao Won

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Song Yao Won

"To back up Song Shuangshuang, you roped in Song Shunqiang and Liu Yumin to put on an act in public! In front of all those leaders from Beijing, you painted me as some shameless, fickle woman!"

"Do you have any idea how strict the conduct investigations are these days? If I’d actually taken the fall for that, losing my job would be the least of my worries. I could have been sent to a study class! And if word of that got out, wouldn’t my dad have been implicated? But you? You didn’t even bat an eye!"

Shen Zhenwu’s face grew even paler after hearing this.

"My daughter is right. Yao Yuzhen, you are my lawfully wedded wife, and she is my own flesh and blood. How could I not cherish her? But you? You were capable of such cruelty toward your own daughter! What does that say? It says that in your heart, I’m worth less than nothing!"

His chest heaved. "I’m going to write the divorce application right now, and I’ll submit it immediately!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Shen Zhenwu turned and walked away.

Yao Yuzhen’s legs gave out on the spot. She collapsed to the floor, her face ashen, as if her soul had been ripped from her body.

"I was just... I was just trying to smooth the path for Shuangshuang! I had it all figured out. Just this once, Song Yao would take a small hit. With you as her father to back her up and me as her mother to protect her, even with a smaller dowry, her in-laws wouldn’t dare to walk all over her..."

Song Yao stood there, watching her quietly, her expression unruffled.

"Comrade Yao Yuzhen, for all your ’thoughtfulness,’ should I really give you a bow?"

A corner of her mouth quirked up. "Thank you for remembering me at all, and for only letting me ’take a small hit.’"

She slowly walked over and squatted down, her gaze fixed directly on Yao Yuzhen’s face.

"But have you ever stopped to think? What if I were timid and thin-skinned? Or what if I valued my reputation more than my life? When Liu Yumin and Song Shunqiang started spewing their venom today, I might have truly been unable to bear it. I could have smashed my head against a wall, or drunk poison... Who, do you suppose, would have come to collect my body?"

Song Yao stared into Yao Yuzhen’s eyes, waiting for an answer.

Yao Yuzhen’s neck was stiff as she muttered, "You? If you were really that type, you would have been crushed ages ago. Shuangshuang and I wouldn’t have made it this far."

Hearing this, Song Yao felt a sour, bitter feeling wash over her, like an overturned jar of aged vinegar.

Her throat tightened, but she said nothing.

Of course, she didn’t tell Yao Yuzhen that in her past life, they had won.

Their open attacks and hidden schemes, the slander and mudslinging, their relentless pressure—it all truly did drive her to a dead end.

She remembered the sound of water dripping from the eaves that day, the sharp CRACK of the medicine bottle rolling onto the floor, and how, as she collapsed, snow was falling outside the window.

At this thought, Song Yao’s eyes became as dark and deep as a dry well.

She didn’t even blink, just kept watching Yao Yuzhen until the other woman looked away.

"Comrade Yao Yuzhen, mark my words. Everything you did today—the frame-up, the trap you laid—I will return it all to you, in full, with my own two hands."

After saying this, she stood up and dusted off her pants.

As for why Yao Yuzhen protected Song Shuangshuang like her life depended on it...

Song Yao couldn’t be bothered to think about it now.

She had gone over numerous possibilities again and again, but right now, none of the clues mattered anymore.

Every excuse Yao Yuzhen made, every time she defended the other girl, was just another nail in her own coffin.

Song Yao had even gotten an unexpected surprise.

This incident had actually hit a raw nerve with Shen Zhenwu, and he was now dead set on divorce!

When that news dropped, Song Yao almost burst out laughing at the door.

Shen Zhenwu had already taken care of the guests outside, sending them all to a restaurant to eat.

The courtyard was now empty except for a few crooked bamboo chairs and scattered melon seed shells on the ground.

At this point, the family reunion banquet was basically over.

Song Yao had won.

She stood in the center of the courtyard and looked up. The sky was a slate gray, the clouds thick, with no sun in sight.

Xiao Li trotted over and said in a low voice, "Young Miss, Mr. Shen is waiting for you in the car."

Song Yao nodded. "My dad and I have to take care of some urgent business first. You stay here and keep a close eye on Song Shuangshuang. If I don’t see her here when I get back, you know the consequences."

Such wonderful news, of course, had to be delivered to Song Shuangshuang in person.

’Song Shuangshuang was currently lying in bed in the east room. How convenient for her to faint, how very fortunate.’

In the car, Shen Zhenwu had already composed himself. There wasn’t a trace of his earlier breakdown on his face.

"Daughter, Dad will take you to get the house title transferred first. Then I’ll go back to my unit and file the report."

Song Yao gave a wry smile. "Dad, do you think... I blew things out of proportion?"

Hearing this, Shen Zhenwu let out a long sigh.

"Daughter, don’t say that. This has nothing to do with you. You’re the one who’s suffered the most."

Shen Zhenwu looked down and rubbed his hands, his voice low and hoarse.

"I’m so sorry, Yaoyao... You were beaten and bullied every day at your adoptive parents’ home. You finally make it back to your real father, only for your own mother to treat you like you’re nothing. In the end, it’s because I’m too much of a coward. I wasn’t able to protect you, and that’s why you’ve had to suffer again and again."

He didn’t say it outright, but the meaning was clear.

Yao Yuzhen looked down on him as a man, and by extension, saw Song Yao as a burden, a good-for-nothing.

Song Yao’s eyes welled up, tears blurring her vision for a moment. She blinked hard, forcing them back before they could fall.

’Half of it was self-pity; in two lifetimes combined, she had barely known a single day of peace.’

’The other half was her heart aching for the man in front of her. He was the only one, this father of hers, who truly cherished her as if his life depended on it.’

She quickly wiped her face and grinned at Shen Zhenwu. "Dad, if you don’t mind this money-losing daughter of yours mooching off you, I’ll just never get married! I’ll serve you tea and keep you company in the sun every day!"

Shen Zhenwu grinned and nodded emphatically. He reached out as if to pat her hair, but then, worrying his hands were dirty, he gently patted his own thigh instead.

Then he shook his head, waving his hand. "No, no! Dad’s greatest wish is for you to meet someone who will care for you and for you to live a happy life."

He paused, then added, "He has to be good to you, and he has to listen to you."

Just as he finished speaking, the car pulled up in front of the housing management office.

Back then, housing was almost exclusively allocated by one’s work unit. Private homeownership?

That was incredibly rare!

Let alone for a veteran official like Shen Zhenwu to have an entire courtyard house registered under his name.

Normally, the transfer process would require several trips, but once he gave his name and showed his credentials, the clerk’s face immediately broke into a smile.

"Please have a seat, sir. I’ll process it right away!"

In just over twenty minutes, Song Yao walked out clutching a bright red property deed.

She looked down at her name on it, and a great weight was finally lifted from her heart.

She wasn’t some noble saint; she was a practical person.

She only believed in one principle: you need a stable life to have peace of mind.

In her past life, to save up enough money to buy a house, she hadn’t dared to get sick or even take a day off. Even when she was in so much pain that she broke out in a cold sweat, she didn’t dare go to a hospital.

But in the end?

She didn’t even have a place where she could close the door and have a good cry...

Song Yao lifted her head, the light in her eyes completely gone, replaced only by a biting chill.

She just stared ahead, as if she wasn’t looking at a sunlit courtyard, but at a gray, cold, unyielding concrete wall.

’This life?’

’Everything you want to snatch away, I will hold on to even tighter. Every path you want to walk, I will stomp on and shatter!’

「A few days later.」

Song Shunqiang and Liu Yumin were taken away by the police and swiftly sentenced.

Liu Yumin was sentenced to death by firing squad for abducting the biological daughter of a high-ranking official. No questions asked.

Song Shunqiang’s crime was less severe, but he was convicted on three counts—harboring a criminal, perjury, and transferring illicit funds—and sentenced to ten years.