Strike Back, Proud Goddess!

Without giving Lin Ru a chance to continue speaking, He Wanning nodded to them and said, “I’m sorry, but I have something to attend to, so I’ll leave first. See you.”

Xiao Jing smiled and said, “Let’s have a drink together when you’re free.”

He Wanning replied with a nod, “Okay, call me when you’re available.”

Xiao Jing smiled and nodded his head, thinking that though He Wanning usually looked unapproachable, he was quite sensible today.

Xiao Sa continued to play with the phone in his hand as he gave a smile and looked up at Xiao Hongyi and Lin Ru. “Aunt, now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, we’re going to leave now. Here is more suitable for you.”

With that, Xiao Jing turned to go outside, while Xiao Jing shrugged and smiled. Just as he turned around to go, however, someone suddenly called out to him, “President Xiao!”

A man walked over to Xiao Jing with a glass of wine in his hand. Xiao Jing looked at Xiao Sa’s receding figure and cursed in his heart. Why did you run away so fast? And why didn’t you drag me along with you while running away?

As a child of the Xiao Family, Xiao Jing owned some shares of Xiao’s Group, and he would always show up at the annual shareholders’ meeting on time. However, he was also the vice president of Qiao’s International Group, so many people only knew he was working for them. Seeing this person coming up to him, Lin Ru sneered at Xiao Jing, “Deceitful lying piece of trash!”

Xiao Jing sneered and sniffed back, “What makes you think you can call me that?”

In fact, the shares of Xiao’s Group that Xiao Hongli and his family currently held didn’t belong to Grandpa Xiao, who hadn’t divided his shares to his sons. Xiao Hongyi also had some shares, but it was not much despite that he was the chairman of the board, namely the so-called CEO of Xiao’s Group. Therefore, Lin Ru was really not in a position to call Xiao Jing what she did.

Xiao Jing glanced at Xiao Hongyi and then saw that the man who was walking to him was stopped by someone else in the midway, so he sneered and said, “If Aunt and Uncle really don’t like us, I can tell my mom and dad to make a statement in the newspapers that we want to sell the shares of Xiao’s Group, and that from now on, our family will have nothing to do with Xiao’s Group.”

Xiao Hongyi’s face immediately changed. God, if Xiao Hongli publicly said that he would sell the shares of Xiao’s Group, would anyone dare to buy their shares anymore? Besides, it was thanks to the background of the Yang Family and Xiao Hongli’s political background that Xiao’s Group had its status today. If they claimed they had no connection with Xiao’s Group, they would lose the most of its customers, or even collapse!

At this thought, Xiao Hongyi forced a smile, looked at Xiao Jing kindly and said, “Your aunt is joking with you. What are you talking about? I know you young people have your own working circle and the things you like to do. We will only be glad to support you. Your generation is the pillar of Xiao’s Group. It cannot do without you.”

Xiao Jing raised his eyebrows and said, “But I just heard Aunt calling me a ‘deceitful lying piece of trash’.”

“That’s just b*llshit. Don’t take it seriously,” Xiao Hongyi said with a smile.

Seeing that Lin Ru’s face was growing darker and darker, Xiao Jing was finally satisfied. So he nodded and said, “I was kidding too. We are from the same family, so of course we will help our own family instead of outsiders. Right, Uncle?”

“Yes, yes.” Xiao Hongyi nodded repeatedly. “Xiao Jing, you make a good point.”

At this moment, the man who had just called out to Xiao Jing came over. Xiao Hongyi took Lin Ru along with him to leave, saying, “Enjoy your chat.”

Dragged to one side by Xiao Hongyi, Lin Ru shook off his hand and shouted sullenly, “You Xiao Family people are really great! How can you look down on me with the two brothers? I’ve done so much for your Xiao Family over the years! Have you forgotten about it?”

Xiao Hongyi looked around and said with a low voice, “There are many people here. Pay attention to your image!”

“You still care about your image?” Lin Ru looked up angrily at Xiao Hongyi and continued, “I was scorned by him like that, yet you didn’t stand up to defend your wife! Xiao Hongyi, you’re such a coward!”

“How can you blame me for this?” Xiao Hongyi also became angry. He pulled Lin Ru into a corner and said, “If your parents had some ability or background, we wouldn’t have to grovel before them, but do your parents have those? Do they?”

Lin Ru, deeply disappointed, looked up at the repulsive expression Xiao Hongyi was wearing and sneered, “So are you blaming me now? Then why did you marry me? Now you regret marrying me, right?”

Xiao Hongyi said coldly, “I didn’t say that!”

“You just meant that!” Tears ran down from Lin Ru’s eyes. “Xiao Hongyi, put your hand over your heart and think how much I have paid for your Xiao Family over the years! I worked hard day and night for the Xiao Family. My water broke on the way to a business trip, so I had to give birth to my daughter in a hospital in City W, and now she’s come back to keep spiting me. Now you’re also trying to spite me, right?”

“How can you say that?” Xiao Hongyi shouted angrily. “You refused to acknowledge her. I only respected your choice!”

“Acknowledge her?!” Lin Ru shouted hysterically. “How could I acknowledge her? I, Lin Ru, was looked down upon by others because of my family background, but I managed to climb to my current position. If anyone finds out that my daughter was a beggar in the mountains for more than twenty years, how will they think of me? Both of us, and the current Xiao’s Group, need a daughter like Jinning, not a beggar! If we acknowledge her, whenever she makes a mistake, you will blame me for not giving her proper education.”

Xiao Hongyi frowned. “That’s not my fault…”

“Is that my fault? Is it my fault that I mistook another girl for my daughter?” Lin Ru asked sadly. “How can you punish me like this? Do you think I don’t want to acknowledge her? But if I take her back, how many people will gossip about us behind our back?! How many people will laugh at us?! Think of how cowardly she looked the day she came back, think! We’ll only lose face if we take her out and tell people she is our daughter! I can’t bear the consequences of acknowledging her!”

“So we didn’t acknowledge her, did we?” Xiao Hongyi said with a low voice. “Stop talking about this topic!”

“Do you think we’ll simply be fine by not acknowledging her?” Lin Ru asked with an angry voice. “Since she came back, everything has changed. Don’t you feel that? Your father’s attitude, your brother’s attitude, now all of them can’t wait to have a good laugh at us!”

She even dreamed at night of that girl crying and complaining about her, so she couldn’t sleep well every night! This was why she hated that girl so much. Why did she still pester her since she was living a good life now? Why couldn’t she just live her life quietly and stop bothering her?

Xiao Hongyi said coldly, “My brother must have been out of his mind that day! We should have taken Xiao Rou back and told the public she was our adopted daughter.”

“You wish!” Lin Ru sneered, turning around and walking outside.