Chapter 203: Finally Smart for Once
THUD!
Liu Loulan fell heavily to the ground.
If one of her subordinates hadn't pulled her back at the last moment, the fall might have seriously injured her.
Xiao Ming, looking as if he had gone mad, stormed up to Liu Loulan once more.
He raised his fist and smashed it into her face!
"You wanted to beat me to death? Well, I'll beat you to death first!"
"You old hag, you control freak, you psycho! Being reincarnated as your son must be my karmic punishment!"
"I'm going to kill you! Kill you!"
Xiao Ming was using all his strength, truly trying to beat Liu Loulan to death!
The onlookers saw this but did not intervene.
'This is a matter between mother and son. It's none of our business!'
Besides, if the son killed his own mother, wouldn't that be even better? It would save them the trouble of doing it themselves.
Even Liu Loulan's own confidants, disappointed in Xiao Ming, now hoped that both mother and son would be out of the picture soon.
Xiao Ming could simply be driven out, but for Liu Loulan, death was the only way!
Seeing that Liu Loulan was taking in less air than she was letting out, someone finally received an order.
"Alright, pull them apart!"
Xiao Ming was pulled away. Only then did he seem to snap out of it, and as if all his strength had left him, he collapsed onto the floor.
Liu Loulan lay to the side, her face bruised and swollen. Dried blood was caked in her nostrils, and she looked exceptionally miserable.
"CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!"
The sound of applause rang out.
A tall, slender figure walked in.
It was Xiao Ye, who had now reverted to his original appearance.
He possessed an exceptionally noble air, tinged with a hint of superiority.
The scene left everyone in a bit of a daze.
"Xiao Ling..."
Xiao Ye walked up to Liu Loulan and looked down at her condescendingly.
"What a pity your eyes are blind. Otherwise, I really should have let you see this."
Before, Xiao Ye had been deliberately lowering his voice; this was his natural tone.
Liu Loulan's body trembled uncontrollably. Her vacant eyes turned toward Xiao Ye. "How is this possible..."
"You died long ago! I killed you long ago!"
Even Xiao Ming saw Xiao Ye, his eyes widening in astonishment.
"Xiao Ye! You... You're actually alive!"
"No, that's not right! You're already dead!"
He was Liu Loulan's biological son, so of course, he knew about Xiao Ye.
He just never took it seriously. So what if he was Xiao Ling's eldest son?
'Just a country bumpkin. How could he possibly win against Liu Loulan!'
So, after a cursory inquiry, he went right back to his life of indulgence and never once considered Xiao Ye an enemy.
And indeed, things had gone just as he expected. Xiao Ye died soon after, at the hands of Liu Loulan.
He had even died without ever knowing his true identity.
'He probably died foolishly believing he was just the young master of that second-rate Xiao Family!'
But now, that very person was standing right in front of him, alive and well.
With a mere glance from Xiao Ye, a member of the Xiao Family immediately brought over a chair. "Young Master, please have a seat."
"Well done," Xiao Ye said with a slight smile, his gaze shifting to Liu Loulan.
"You shouldn't have come after me. If you hadn't, your death might have come a little later."
If Liu Loulan hadn't been so clever for her own good, trying to kill him time and again, he wouldn't have discovered his true identity so quickly.
If he had waited a few more years, Xiao Ming might have been the one sitting in this position.
But as long as Xiao Ye knew the truth, his revenge was inevitable. It was only a matter of time.
"What... What in the world is going on!" A deep chill flooded Liu Loulan's heart.
'How could Xiao Ye still be alive... If he's alive, then the person with a similar build I saw before wasn't from the Zhu family!'
'It was Xiao Ye himself!'
'So he was behind it all!'
'But not only did I know nothing, I even went looking in the completely wrong direction.'
No, it would be more accurate to say she was wrong from the very beginning!
Who could have imagined that someone who was buried—with a body that was a perfect match—could actually come back to life!
Xiao Ye wasn't stingy with the details. He smiled and said, "Alright then. I'll let you know exactly what happened."
"I was never dead to begin with. It was merely a fake death."
"After that, everything you encountered was orchestrated by me, including the Zhu family's intervention."
"The Xiao Family's scandals, and all the 'good deeds' committed by that bastard of yours!"
"It was you!" Xiao Ming finally understood. "I was wondering why those women were acting so strange, saying things to provoke me. It turns out they were doing it on purpose!"
"And the casino, and... and the cigarettes! It was all you!"
Xiao Ye nodded. "For once, you're not completely stupid."
Liu Loulan's body was trembling uncontrollably. At this moment, she knew with absolute certainty that she had lost!
She had always been the one to play others for a fool, but today, she was the one who had been thoroughly played, and she had even lost her life in the process!
Xiao Ye continued, "Oh, right. There's one more thing."
"The poison you took isn't the same one Xiao Ling was poisoned with. Remember the fragrance you smelled when you came to the horse farm that day?"
Liu Loulan recalled the situation, and a chill ran through her entire body.
"So... so you've been doing this on purpose all along! This was all part of your plan!"
"Including toying with the Xiao Family, filming that video, making me step forward, then getting poisoned... and even making me drink the poison myself!"
Xiao Ye nodded. "Looks like you're not completely hopeless after all. You're right, it was all part of my plan."
"Honestly, I never thought it would actually work. You were just too eager. So eager that the moment I mentioned a symptom, you couldn't wait to drink the antidote."
If you're not poisoned, an antidote becomes a poison!
When Liu Loulan thought about how she had been the one to drink the "antidote," she almost vomited herself to death!
It was her... She had done this to herself!
She never imagined that she would one day die, let alone in such a way!
'Is this... karmic retribution?'
Liu Loulan was crying and laughing at the same time. Her own son beating her hadn't been as crushing as this realization!
In truth, she had always been incredibly arrogant. She had started as nothing more than an unfavored daughter from a first-rate family.
Even a marriage alliance for her would have been with a family of similar standing.
But she had skipped over the top-tier families and married directly into a reclusive family, and to Xiao Ling, the Patriarch, no less!
It was a meteoric rise!
Originally, she had considered trying to cultivate a good relationship with Xiao Ling and fulfill her role as the Lady of the House for the Xiao Family.
But... Xiao Ling refused to even touch her!
Even when she had drugged herself, he refused, going so far as to threaten suicide!
Liu Loulan's pride was utterly crushed by Xiao Ling. She no longer craved a man's love; instead, she wanted him dead!
'If I can't have him, then I'll destroy him!'
Liu Loulan looked at Xiao Ye, her eyes having turned completely gray. "I don't regret it!"
"Killing Xiao Ling was the best thing I've ever done!"
"He married me, so why wouldn't he touch me? I couldn't be a widow my whole life! Since he didn't love me, I killed him!"