Chapter 262: Blood Sucking Bitches

Qingling Campus.

A mother and son wandered the paths, stopping passersby to ask if they knew someone named Song Zhenyu.

But after five or six attempts, every answer was the same:

“

Never heard of her

.”

“I’m sick of this, I’m tired, I’m not walking anymore,” the son groaned, slumping onto a bench at the edge of a pathway.

The mother’s face twisted with impatience, her tone venomous. “Tired or not, we keep looking. That selfish wretch of a daughter—resigning from her eight-thousand-a-month job just to run off here for graduate school? She clearly wants to cut off the family’s source of money!”

“We need to find her and drag her back to work!”

The son cursed bitterly. “What rotten luck, to have a sister like this. She only cares about herself. Who wastes time and money studying for exams? If she were anyone else’s sister, she’d be breaking her back to earn money for her younger brother’s bride price!”

These two were none other than Song Zhenyu’s mother, Tan Zhen, and her younger brother, Song Feiyu.

Hearing her son’s complaints, Tan Zhen soothed him. “Forget that for now. We’ve already spent nearly thirty thousand at the hotel on food and rooms. They’re chasing us for the bill, and we have no money to pay. We must find your sister quickly—or the hotel will call the police on us.”

“You’re right,” Song Feiyu muttered, startled into anxiety before adding petulantly, “But when we find her, you must teach her a lesson. We came all this way and suffered plenty for it.”

“Don’t worry. When I see that ungrateful wolf, I’ll give her two resounding slaps!” Tan Zhen spat viciously. “What kind of woman refuses to pay for her own brother’s bride price? Even cut off her phone number so we couldn’t reach her? Heaven has no justice!”

Song Feiyu’s eyes gleamed. “Mom, I think fifty thousand for the dowry is too little. Eighty thousand would be better. That way, I can get a bigger house—the small one’s too cramped.”

“You’re right,” Tan Zhen agreed instantly. “She’s your sister. However much she pays is only proper. Then it’s settled—eighty thousand.”

After a while of scheming, the pair rose and began pestering more students.

Just then, Xu Muyan happened to pass by.

“Excuse me, young lady,” Tan Zhen asked, “do you know someone named Song Zhenyu?”

Xu Muyan halted, giving the two a measured glance. Instead of answering, she countered, “And who exactly are you?”

She wasn’t stupid. Without confirming who they were, she wouldn’t give away Song Zhenyu’s information.

“I’m her mother. And this is her younger brother,” Tan Zhen explained.

“Do you have any proof?” Xu Muyan asked coolly.

“Yes, yes,” Tan Zhen nodded quickly, fishing out a family photo and pointing to a girl with a slightly youthful look.

Xu Muyan examined it carefully. Indeed, it was a younger Song Zhenyu. That confirmed their identities.

But suspicion lingered. “If you’re her family, why don’t you have her contact information? Why go around asking strangers?”

Tan Zhen didn’t dare speak the truth. Instead, she lied smoothly, “Her number was canceled recently. We couldn’t reach her, so we came to find her.”

No one needed to know the shameful reality—that their daughter had cut them off completely because she refused to be bled dry for dowry money.

“Wait here a moment.” Xu Muyan stepped aside and pulled out her phone to dial Song Zhenyu.

At their last dinner gathering, Song Zhenyu had exchanged numbers with her and the others.

The call connected. “Teacher Song, I ran into two people at school asking for you. They say they’re your mother and younger brother,” Xu Muyan reported.

“They’ve found me?” Song Zhenyu’s voice trembled. More tension than joy filled her tone.

Sharp-minded Xu Muyan instantly caught the undertone. “Do you want to see them? If not, I won’t tell them where you are.”

After a long silence, Song Zhenyu whispered, “Muyan, let me talk to them. Please hand them the phone.”

“…All right.” Xu Muyan returned and passed her phone to Tan Zhen.

Tan Zhen blinked, then snatched it up.

“Mom,” Song Zhenyu’s voice came through, layered with complicated emotion.

Tan Zhen snorted coldly. “You still dare call me Mom?”

“Mom, I canceled my number in a moment of anger. Please don’t be upset,” Song Zhenyu pleaded gently.

“You’ve made a name for yourself in the big city, haven’t you? Spread your wings, grown hard. Why would I dare be angry at you?” Tan Zhen’s tone dripped with sarcasm.

“Mom, it’s almost dinnertime. You and Feiyu wait for me at the seafood restaurant near campus. Once I finish, I’ll come find you.”

“That cheap place? No. We’ll eat at the Shengting Hotel. You know where that is, don’t you?”

“I know. But that’s a five-star hotel. I can’t afford something like that. The seafood place is already expensive, and the food’s very good.”

“I don’t care. We’re going to Shengting Hotel.”

The reason was obvious—Tan Zhen and her son still owed the Shengting Hotel tens of thousands. Dragging her daughter there would mean she’d have to foot the bill.

Song Feiyu suddenly shoved close to the phone. “Sister, Mom, and I came all this way to see you. Won’t you even put us up at a proper hotel? How does that look?”

“…Fine. Shengting Hotel then.” Song Zhenyu sighed. She had little cash, but at least her credit card could carry them for now. She could only pay first, and worry about the debt later.

“It’s settled then!” Tan Zhen ended the call abruptly, afraid her daughter might change her mind, and handed Xu Muyan back her phone.

Xu Muyan frowned as she watched the pair. She heard the whole conversation, and it left her simmering with indignation.

These were indeed Song Zhenyu’s kin, but their words… they reeked of entitlement, like leeches feeding on her.

Still, she was only an outsider. She said nothing and walked away in silence.

But once she was out of sight, Xu Muyan couldn’t hold back her sympathy. She immediately called Wang Haoran and relayed everything she had witnessed.