Inside the tree house, the moment Su Qinglan lowered the hide curtain and shut every small window and opening, her entire expression changed.
All the fake softness and polite daughter act vanished within a heartbeat. Her smile turned a little smug, and before Mu Lihua could even understand what was happening, Su Qinglan grabbed her shoulders and shoved her down so hard that her body hit the wooden floor with a loud THUD!!
Mu Lihuaâs eyes flew wide open. She looked like a startled chicken as she screamed, "SâSu Qinglan! What are you doing?! I am your mother! How dare you..."
But Su Qinglan didnât give her even one second to finish her nonsense. She was not in the mood to hear a single word from this old bitch.
Without hesitation, she grabbed a thick strip of hide from the side and wrapped it tightly around Mu Lihuaâs mouth, gagging her completely before she could scream again.
Mu Lihuaâs eyes almost popped out from shock. This fat bitch actually gagged her?
She kicked her legs uselessly, her eyes filling with intense rage, but the more she struggled, the more Su Qinglanâs evil smile grew.
Su Qinglan cracked her fingers one by one, making sharp popping sounds. Each pop felt like a hammer dropping on Mu Lihuaâs heart, and she trembled violently.
Even with her mouth gagged, she let out muffled screams, shaking her head like a frightened beast, as if begging for mercy.
Su Qinglan didnât even blink.
She stepped closer, crouched down, and in a low, cold voice whispered, "My dear fake mother... now tell me. Am I your daughter or not?"
Mu Lihua tried to scream again, shaking her head, pretending to act like she was Su Qinglanâs true mother, but Su Qinglanâs patience snapped.
Her hand moved fast, and she slapped Mu Lihua so hard that the older womanâs head whipped to the side. The force made her ears ring and her cheeks burn, and blood instantly appeared inside her mouth. But with her mouth gagged, she couldnât spit it out. It only dripped uselessly.
Mu Lihua flinched and stared at Su Qinglan with wide, trembling eyes. That slap told her very clearly this fat bitch was not joking today.
Su Qinglan slapped her again, this time even harder.
Mu Lihua finally stopped fighting. She realized something was very wrong.
She felt scared... truly scared.
Her heart pounded like a trapped rabbit as she thought, How?! How could she know?! It must definitely be me imagining it. She must be just dissatisfied with me that she does not treat me equally as Xu Meiyan... thatâs it and nothing else.
She slowly tapped her hand against her gag, motioning Su Qinglan to remove it. She forced herself to sound calm and said through the gag, "Mmmâremove... Iâll talk..."
But the moment Su Qinglan loosened the gag even slightly, Mu Lihua tried to act innocent again, even sounding offended. "WâWhat nonsense! If you are not my daughter, then whose womb did you arrive from? It was me who carried you for one and a half months, huh? I gave birth to you! And you dare hit me? Have you no shame? How will you show your ugly face to your father after beating your..."
Another violent slap cut her words off.
Su Qinglanâs eyes burned now, not with anger but with icy calm.
"Donât act innocent with me," she said, her voice steady like a hunter talking to its prey. "I know everything. Stop pretending. Now tell me the truth. Or should I change the question?"
"How did you steal me from my mother?"
Mu Lihuaâs heart dropped into her stomach, her expression widening like she was caught stealing, and Su Qinglan immediately knew she had hit the nail on the head.
On the other hand, Mu Lihua was screaming inside her mind. Su Qinglan really knew. But how?! Her mind raced.
But they never told anyone... only I knew... only the witch doctor knew... and the witch doctor is not even here, so howâhow did this fat bitch find out?!
Fear crawled up her spine like icy insects. Su Qinglanâs eyes looked like a beast ready to tear her apart the moment she said something wrong. Mu Lihua was terrified, but she still refused to admit the truth. So she tried to act pitiful again.
That was her biggest mistake.
Su Qinglan lost the last bit of patience and slapped her again, harder than before. Mu Lihuaâs weak body rolled a little on the floor from the impact, and a third loud THUD echoed through the house.
Outside, Han Jue heard it clearly. But he didnât move from his position. He didnât even flinch.
Instead, his lips slowly curled into a small, strange smile. A smile he tried to hide but couldnât. The smile was stubbornly proud that it refused to hide.
Han Jueâs expressions were shining. He knew very well... none of those sounds belonged to his female.
And whoever was being hit inside... deserved every single slap.
Inside, Su Qinglanâs eyes turned cold. At first, she had truly tried to hold herself back when dealing with this old woman.
Back then, she thought this old hag was really the original ownerâs mother. And if she really had been her real mother, Qinglan wouldnât have bothered to argue, wouldnât have bothered to teach her a lesson, and definitely wouldnât have wanted to get involved in any emotional grudges.
She had already decided that if the woman was truly the original ownerâs mother, she would simply avoid her as much as possible and let the past rot on its own... just like she had done in the past month.
Even if this woman was bitchy, unreasonable, and deserved a slap every second, Qinglan still planned to ignore her existence completely. After all, she didnât want to interfere with the original ownerâs family matters.
But now that she had realized this woman wasnât even her mother... everything snapped.
The disgust hit her like a bucket of acid. This woman had not only pretended to be the original ownerâs motherâshe had even committed things so horrible that anyone with a heart would want to rip her apart.
Su Qinglan remembered everything clearly, every torture the original owner faced, every moment that pushed her into madness.
And because she now lived in the original ownerâs body, she felt all those emotions as if they were her own.
Mistreating the original owner meant mistreating her. Hurting the original owner meant hurting her. And when she thought about how this old hag had pushed the original owner to the point of losing her mind, she felt a deep, boiling anger spreading through her entire chest.
She had no choice but to admit it... she wanted revenge. After all, the old hag in front of her was the reason behind the original ownerâs trauma and the cause of her death.
Now Su Qinglan felt all the emotions left behind by the original owner as if they were her own, and she knew the burning rage inside her wasnât only hers, it was the resentment of the original owner as well.
So she would definitely take revenge. The old hag deserved far worse, but she would start with a little.