14.
As soon as Mr. Khương returned to China, the families of those who had followed Khương Siêu one by one fell on hard times, and Mr. Khương made their lives a living hell.
Trương Vũ was hit especially hard.
Under pressure from Mr. Khương, the Trương couple sent Trương Vũ to live with the family of a wealthy young woman with a violent streak, as her live-in son-in-law.
Word was that on his wedding night, Trương Vũ had his eyes gouged out.
After dealing with those people, Mr. Khương turned his sights on me.
For a while after that, I was repeatedly targeted in car crashes, explosions, kidnappings, and assassination attempts…
When I went to the police station for the tenth time to give a statement, the officer smoothly took the culprit off my hands.
“Haisha’s here again. The rose tea you asked for is ready.”
“This one was a little hard to catch. You have to interrogate him and find out who’s been trying to hurt me.”
After finishing my statement, I took a sip of rose tea.
“If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving. Next time, put a little more sugar in my rose tea. I like sweet drinks.”
15.
Unable to kill me, Mr. Khương simply poured money into every major platform and forbade them from releasing the video.
I went back and asked Triệu Lâm to livestream it.
Less than a minute after it went up, before the livestream had even attracted many viewers, the account was locked.
Oh, I’ve lived for thousands of years. I’ve picked up all sorts of extra skills.
I pulled out my computer and registered 10,000 fake accounts at once to livestream the video simultaneously.
The platforms couldn’t block them all.
In a single night, the video spread across the entire internet.
Khương Siêu alone dominated five trending searches.
Among them, the topic #Khương Family Heir and Pig# shot straight to the top of the trending list.
[Oh my God, that pig is so pitiful.]
[Ahhh! Please give me back the eyes I had before watching this video.]
[Help, the heir’s image is ruined…]
[Rich people get to have that much fun, but I feel like my whole moral compass just collapsed…]
[Does Khương Siêu look like he’s babbling because he was drugged?]
[…]
Overnight, the Khương family’s stock price plunged.
I watched him build a skyscraper, watched him entertain his guests, and watched his tower collapse.
Major shareholders withdrew their investments one after another, while competitors seized the opportunity to move in. Mr. Khương was run ragged.
Khương Siêu fell into a deep depression and was driven out of his mind by the blow.
16.
Taking advantage of the chaos in the Khương family, I made a fortune selling their stock.
While I was busy counting money in my little hideout, the lunatic Khương Siêu escaped from the hospital and kidnapped Triệu Lâm.
Khương Siêu’s voice on the phone was full of excitement.
“Bitch, if you want to save this mutt, come here alone.”
He said to come alone, but he didn’t say I couldn’t bring a cat.
So I carried Tiểu Bạch with me.
I also started a livestream on my phone and tucked the camera outside my pants pocket.
It was an abandoned factory.
When I arrived, Triệu Lâm’s curly hair was caked with dirt, and her clothes were in tatters.
“I know you. You’re Bạch Lộ’s friend. Didn’t your parents take money from my family? So why didn’t they take better care of you?”
“How did you end up teaming up with that bitch Haisha?”
“Why does heaven have to be against me at every turn? I just wanted to have a little fun. Who started this, anyway?”
Triệu Lâm was tied to a chair, her cheeks swollen and flushed red as she stared blankly at Khương Siêu, who was ranting to himself in a frenzy.
I cleared my throat and loosened my hold, letting Tiểu Bạch go inside.
“Nephew, your auntie’s here!”
Khương Siêu suddenly turned around, his bloodshot eyes fixed on me as he brandished the knife in his hand. “Don’t come any closer! Stay away from me!”
I raised an eyebrow and took a few steps forward. “Weren’t you the one who told me to come?”
“Just stay there and don’t move!”
Khương Siêu shouted, “There’s a metal rod at your feet. Kill yourself with it right now, and I’ll let this girl go!”
I slowly picked up the metal rod and twirled it in my hand.
“Khương Siêu, you kidnapped Bạch Lộ’s friend. Aren’t you afraid Bạch Lộ will come back to take your life?”
“Hahahaha…”
Khương Siêu threw his head back and laughed twice, his eyes bloodshot.
“Bạch Lộ couldn’t do anything to me when she was alive. Now she’s dead, so I’m even less afraid…”
“But Bạch Lộ deserved to die. I offered her money and she refused. She just had to jump off a building and drag me into it.”
“Even if she showed up in front of me again, I’d still kill her.”
Triệu Lâm, who had been silent until then, raised her head and shouted furiously, “Khương Siêu, you’re an animal!”
Triệu Lâm suddenly stood up, tossed aside the rope she had already untied, stepped forward, and slapped Khương Siêu.
Khương Siêu was stunned, and the knife slipped from his hand to the ground.
“You dare hit me? I’ll kill you!”
Khương Siêu snapped out of it, rushed forward, shoved Triệu Lâm to the ground, and grabbed her by the throat with one hand.
A little white bun sprang out from behind the chair and bit Khương Siêu’s hand.
The scene was utter chaos.
I ended the livestream, then struck Khương Siêu over the head with the metal rod, knocking him unconscious.
17.
Triệu Lâm clutched her chest, and it took her a while to regain her composure.
She picked up the dust-covered Tiểu Bạch, looking bewildered.
“Haisha, can you tell me where Tiểu Bạch came from?”
“It looks like… so much like…”
I soothed Tiểu Bạch a little, then calmly asked, “What does it look like?”
Triệu Lâm’s voice trembled. “Just now, Tiểu Bạch jumped onto the chair and untied me. It gently tapped my arm three times with its right paw to comfort me.”
“When Bạch Lộ was alive, whenever I needed comfort, she would pat me three times with her right hand. It had become a habit of hers.”
“Why? Why…?”
Tears welled up in Triệu Lâm’s eyes.
“Do I miss Bạch Lộ so much that I’m imagining a cat who looks like her…?”
I looked at Tiểu Bạch, and Tiểu Bạch gently shook its head at me.
In the end, I said nothing.
18.
Khương Siêu was famous again.
More accurately, Khương Siêu had never left the trending lists.
But this time, another name made the trending list: #WhoIsBạchLộ#
That livestream was explosive. My ten thousand followers watched it simultaneously, and it made a huge impact.
Khương Siêu was arrested by the police on suspicion of kidnapping.
The police also launched an in-depth investigation into Bạch Lộ’s case.
Triệu Lâm came forward and handed over to the police all the evidence she had gathered about Bạch Lộ’s case over the past year.
That included a video Khương Siêu had sent to threaten Bạch Lộ.
Although the original had been deleted, Triệu Lâm had secretly copied it to her phone.
It became the key to solving the case and dealt Khương Siêu a fatal blow.
Mr. Khương was so busy at the company that he had no time to deal with Khương Siêu’s affairs.
So the matter fell to Mrs. Khương.
Mrs. Khương was turned away at the police station. Desperate, she decided to contact me.
Mrs. Khương and I sat across from each other in a café. Her elegant, beautiful face was plainly weary.
“Ms. Hải, I’m begging you. Please let my son go. He had no choice…”
I didn’t bother correcting her view of things. I simply cut her off.
“And if I don’t agree?”
“What do you want?” Mrs. Khương’s expression changed at once, and she glared at me.
“You want money, don’t you? I have plenty.”
I shrugged. All three members of that family were cut from the same cloth. Deep down, they all believed money could solve every problem.
But Bạch Lộ was dead. A living human being had lost her life.
No—two lives.
“What I want doesn’t matter. You should go downstairs and ask Bạch Lộ what she wants.”
“You!” Mrs. Khương was so furious she nearly fainted.
“But I think all Bạch Lộ wants is Khương Siêu’s life.”
Mrs. Khương’s expression shifted several times. She forced down her anger and said coldly, “Khương Siêu is my son. Of course I don’t want him sentenced. If you dare lay a finger on him, I won’t let you get away with it!”
All three members of that family had the exact same expression when they made threats.
I took a sip of coffee.
“Your husband and son both threatened me like that. One is in prison now, and the other will be joining him soon.”
“It seems you want the family all together again.”
Mrs. Khương shot me a cold look. “Young lady, you’re too naïve. Our family won’t fall apart. My son will be fine in the end.”
“And then, you…”
I lowered my head, tapped my phone twice, then held the screen right in front of her.
The news report said, “Early this morning, Chairman Khương was arrested by the police. He is reportedly connected to several crimes, including money laundering, murder, and illegal funding…”
Mrs. Khương glanced at my phone screen, her face turning deathly pale.
I set my phone down and tilted my head at Mrs. Khương. “By the way, what were you about to say to me?”
Mrs. Khương stood up, pale-faced, and staggered out, forgetting her phone in the process.
While we were talking, she’d received countless missed calls.
I looked at the calls. It was simply a case of kicking someone when they were down.
There will always be foolish people in this world who think money is everything and deliberately try to control other people’s lives. What they don’t know is that wolves are always watching them from the shadows.
That was the end of my adding fuel to the fire in Khương Siêu’s family affairs.
The law could punish them from here on.
I finished the bitter coffee in my cup, stood, paid, and left.
19.
Bạch Lộ’s case involved so many people that the court decided to broadcast the trial live.
Khương Siêu and his gang were all sentenced to death.
The whole family was implicated as well.
That same day, Mr. Khương was sentenced to death for the complicated case he was involved in.
On the day Mr. Khương was executed, Mrs. Khương caused a public scandal.
She got into a fight with her lover over the family’s remaining assets.
The refined image she had maintained for so long completely collapsed.
Everyone sighed with regret. That golden couple had turned out to be no better than anyone else.
20.
I put all the money from my little safe onto a bank card, then went with Triệu Lâm to visit Bạch Lộ’s parents.
Holding Tiểu Bạch, I smiled at Bạch Lộ’s parents.
“Hello, Uncle and Auntie. We’re Bạch Lộ’s friends. We met before, at the trial.”
On the day Khương Siêu was sentenced, Bạch Lộ’s parents wept in the courtroom. If they hadn’t been stopped, they might have rushed over and beaten that beast to death with their own hands.
“I know you girls. Thank you for getting justice for Tiểu Lộ. Thank you…”
“Tiểu Lộ’s soul can finally rest in peace up in heaven.”
Bạch Lộ’s mother was on the verge of tears again, and her father’s eyes were red.
Tiểu Bạch meowed and leaped into Bạch Lộ’s mother’s lap, stretching out a paw to wipe away her tears.
Bạch Mộc caught Tiểu Bạch and stared at it in a daze.
“Miss, I don’t know why, but your cat feels so familiar to me.”
Bạch Lộ’s father stroked Tiểu Bạch’s head, then took out a fish tail and fed it to the cat.
Instead, Tiểu Bạch turned around, went to pick up the fish head, and ate the crescent-shaped piece of meat from beneath the gills.
Bạch Lộ’s father was stunned. “This cat is as picky as my Tiểu Lộ.”
Bạch Lộ’s father looked at me sheepishly.
“When our family started our business, we were fairly well-off, so my wife and I spoiled Tiểu Lộ’s palate a little.”
“She’d have a whole fish, but wouldn’t eat the belly or the tail. She only wanted the tastiest crescent-shaped piece of meat beneath the gills.”
“Looking at this cat, I feel as if Tiểu Lộ is still alive and right here beside me.”
Triệu Lâm had been silent the whole time, staring blankly at Tiểu Bạch, her lips trembling.
Tiểu Bạch reached out with its right paw and tapped her arm three times.
Triệu Lâm burst into tears. “How did I not realize it until now…?”
21.
Bạch Lộ’s parents hurried to find tissues for Triệu Lâm to wipe her tears.
I took out the bank card and quietly set it on the table with a slip of paper underneath.
“Uncle, Auntie, this is the compensation I asked for on Bạch Lộ’s behalf. I hope it can help you get the company back on its feet.”
“It’s all in the past now. We all have to move forward. Bạch Lộ would want you both to live well, too.”
“This cat is my best friend. I’m leaving it with you, and I hope it can bring everyone happiness.”
“By the way, its name is Tiểu Bạch.”
I smiled as I watched Tiểu Bạch leap back and forth between Bạch Lộ’s parents and Triệu Lâm.
Then I quietly left.