"She told me that the Helian family gave me a new life, a new future. Is there anything wrong with me repaying them? Even my life was given by her," Helian Diejin said with a look of hatred. "People outside all say I'm jealous of Helian Lingruo. Only Helian Lingruo herself knows that seeing my increasing excellence, she started to get more and more anxious. She no longer dares to be as willful as before, doing whatever she wants, because my brilliance is gradually catching up to her, and she's starting to panic."
Helian Diejin spoke with pride in her eyes.
However, as Lin Xingwan listened, she felt that what Helian Diejin was saying was completely opposite to what Duan Muxing had told her.
"Helian Diejin, you don't need to deceive me anymore. What you've fabricated is all false!" Although Lin Xingwan's memory of her mother was very vague, at least for her, her mother would never be such a person.
Helian Diejin looked at Lin Xingwan's determined expression, and a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes.
This Lin Xingwan was indeed not easy to fool.
Helian Diejin could only speak again, "What you're telling me is just who you want to be in your heart. In fact, you are just an ungrateful wretch. You've been jealous of my mother all these years, wishing you could snatch away everything that belonged to my mother, but you failed in the end, so you fabricated a perfect version of yourself. Helian Diejin, you are truly pathetic. You didn't deceive everyone twenty years ago, and your clumsy tricks over the past twenty years still can't deceive me."
Lin Xingwan said it directly, and Helian Diejin's shock was beyond words.
She looked at Lin Xingwan, and even though the woman was wearing a mask, she felt as if she were seeing Helian Lingruo.
"You've gone to such lengths to tell me all this today just to make me sympathize with you, just like you wanted my grandparents to dote on you more back then. You're simply delusional. My mother is their biological daughter. No matter how excellent you are, they won't love you more; even if you slander my mother now, it only shows how guilty you are, nothing more."
As soon as Lin Xingwan finished speaking, Helian Diejin forcefully cut a rose in her hand with the scissors she was holding.
Her emotions were uncontrollable. She roared at Lin Xingwan, "Yes, I want to snatch away everything that belongs to Helian Lingruo! She was just born better than me. If I had her birth, I would be the number one socialite in Yanjing. But why is that woman Helian Lingruo so lucky? She always gets things easily that I can't get no matter how hard I try. I don't think I'm inferior to her in any way. Since everyone thinks she's a chosen girl, full of kindness and justice, then I will destroy her, hahaha. Who would have known that Helian Lingruo, who was once famous in Yanjing, would end up so tragically? Hahahaha."
After Helian Diejin finished speaking, two burly men appeared from the room and walked towards Lin Xingwan.
Their ferocious faces showed a predatory glint, like hunters spotting their prey.
Lin Xingwan instinctively wanted to get up from the sofa, but no matter how fast she was, she was no match for these people, not to mention that there couldn't be only a few bodyguards in this manor.
Before Lin Xingwan could even run far, she was restrained by the two men.
Her hands were roughly twisted behind her back, and the intense pain made Lin Xingwan feel as if her arms were dislocated.
"I'm telling you, I won't let you die immediately. Since you refuse to cooperate and have caused me so much financial loss these past few days, I will make you follow in your mother's footsteps!"
Helian Diejin walked up to Lin Xingwan, her expression extremely arrogant at this moment.
She looked at Lin Xingwan, as if seeing something offensive. She placed a hand on Lin Xingwan's face, fumbled, and when she felt a raised area, she tore it off forcefully!
A sharp pain spread across her face. In the next second, the mask Lin Xingwan was wearing was ripped off.
Revealing a face that closely resembled Helian Lingruo.
Although Helian Diejin had seen Lin Xingwan in secret before, seeing her up close like this instantly brought back many memories.
Lin Xingwan, although not a hundred percent identical to Helian Lingruo, had the same eyes and aura.
*Slap*
A loud slap echoed. Lin Xingwan felt as if her cheek was about to split open, the pain so intense that her ears felt deafened.
"Bitch! Looking at this face of yours makes me sick! Don't worry, I will inflict ten times, a hundred times more suffering on you than I did on your mother back then."
Just as Helian Diejin finished speaking, the sound of gunshots came from outside.
Helian Diejin frowned. A subordinate, covered in wounds, appeared at the doorway. Seeing Helian Diejin, the subordinate's eyes were filled with fear. He stammered, "The people outside... they... they... are rushing in. We can't stop them. There are too many of them..."
After speaking, the subordinate collapsed in front of Lin Xingwan and the others.
"I didn't expect that woman Zhou Jinbai would be so devoted, paying such a price for you. But now that he's out of prison and can't return to the Dongfang family, he's just a stray dog!"
Helian Diejin said, then ordered the two subordinates, "Take this woman with us, we're leaving."
Helian Diejin led the way in one direction.
The two subordinates restrained Lin Xingwan. Since Lin Xingwan was uncooperative, they knocked her unconscious, and then the group fled quickly.
About a minute later, Zhou Jinbai and his group finally subdued all the bodyguards hidden in the manor, but when they entered the house, there was nothing but scattered roses.
"We've searched this manor thoroughly, and there's no one else. Helian Diejin must have designed a secret passage in this manor to escape," Xuan Zhu said to Zhou Jinbai after coming down from upstairs.
Zhou Jinbai's face was ashen. Xuan Yin, standing beside him, said, "They didn't kill the young madam immediately, which means Helian Diejin will only torment her. Young master, we still have a chance to rescue the young madam."
Xuan Yin had clashed with Helian Diejin's subordinates over the years. These men were brutal and vicious. For anyone who fell into their hands, leaving a whole corpse was a luxury.
As Zhou Jinbai, with a grim expression, was about to speak, Duan Muxing, with Qingluan's help, arrived in a wheelchair.
"Instead of worrying about my fiancée, you should worry about the entire Dongfang family first. You have nothing now. Do you really think you can break into Helian Diejin's lair with just these few subordinates? Zhou Jinbai, remember why she was willing to risk her life to leave you. It's because you couldn't protect her completely. You couldn't before, and you can't now!"
Duan Muxing's words were like a dagger to the heart.
Zhou Jinbai's handsome face was ashen, filled with the impending storm, but he knew this was his fault and had no excuse to retort.
"Let's go."
Zhou Jinbai turned and left first. He knew clearly that as long as his position was unstable, finding Lin Xingwan would be a pipe dream.
Furthermore, with the current turmoil in the Dongfang family, everyone thought he was a rat crossing the street. It would be impossible for him to find resources now.
The most urgent thing was to rally the people of the Dongfang family.
However, just as Zhou Jinbai walked a short distance, he saw Xu Jingkuan and Cen Jue appear in his line of sight.
These two had left together, but their expressions were not good, and the distance between them was the widest it could be on the road.
They seemed to detest each other, yet they had to come.
When Xu Jingkuan approached Duan Muxing, he immediately asked, "Where is my daughter? That crazy woman Helian Diejin kidnapped my daughter?"
Xu Jingkuan's face was full of anxiety. Especially when he didn't see Lin Xingwan, his expression was worse than crying.
He had finally mustered the courage to use the entire Xu family to help his daughter, but who would have thought that the final outcome would be learning that his daughter had been kidnapped by that old witch Helian Diejin?
Cen Jue glanced coldly at Xu Jingkuan and couldn't help but ask, "How are you so sure that's your daughter? What if it's my daughter?"
Cen Jue had only recently learned that Helian Lingruo had a daughter named Lin Xingwan, and that this child was willing to sacrifice her life to avenge her mother.
Cen Jue already felt sorry and regretful about what happened back then. He knew he had wronged Helian Lingruo, but heaven had given him no chance to regret it. Over the years, Cen Jue had transformed from a renowned young master of Yanjing into a decadent and violent middle-aged man!
Upon learning that Helian Lingruo had a daughter in this world, Cen Jue would protect this child even at the cost of his own life. What if... it was his?
Xu Jingkuan didn't like what Cen Jue said.
"If you think that way, there's nothing I can do. But Cen Jue, do you think your relationship with Lingruo was so bad that if she knew this child was yours, why wouldn't she look for you? And weren't you in a cold war at that time?"
Seeing that Xu Jingkuan and Cen Jue were about to argue again, Cen Zhiyuan, who was behind them, coughed awkwardly.
Xu Jingkuan and Cen Jue then got down to business.
"Jinbai, we are now on the same side as you. If you need our help with anything, just say the word." After speaking, Xu Jingkuan began to explain, "Although I've been living on the mountain all these years, I've also accumulated considerable wealth."
It was less of an explanation to Zhou Jinbai and more of a boast to Cen Jue.
Although he was indeed less business-minded than Cen Jue in the past, the tortoise eventually won the race.
While Cen Jue was wallowing in self-pity and living in a daze, Xu Jingkuan had been working hard to improve.
The gap of decades was not something Cen Jue could easily catch up to.
Cen Jue glanced coldly at Xu Jingkuan, not taking his boasting to heart. He said, "Our Cen family originally didn't want to get involved in these matters, as the forces behind Helian Diejin are too complex. But since Helian Diejin has made a mistake this time, I will avenge Lingruo no matter what!"
Cen Jue had already learned some things about Helian Diejin.
Moreover, the reason he made mistakes in the past was precisely because this woman had set a trap for him. Of course, Cen Jue also admitted that he was too flirtatious and didn't know how to cherish what he had.
But the thought of being toyed with and framed by Helian Diejin like a monkey, and ultimately marrying her, made Cen Jue feel disgusted.
This was why, despite being married to Helian Diejin, he had never touched her since then!
"Okay, I thank you both for your kindness. If I, Zhou Jinbai, need your help, I will definitely tell you."
Zhou Jinbai had never imagined that at his lowest point, the people who would help him would be the unrelated Xu Jingkuan and Cen Jue.
As Zhou Jinbai continued to walk forward, he saw a boy, thin as a skeleton, following behind Cen Zhiyuan.
He was covered in dirt, and his clothes were tattered.
But he was nearly 1.85 meters tall. The most striking feature of his entire being was his eyes.
They looked wild, like an untamed wolf.
Zhou Jinbai asked nothing, but his gaze fell on Cen Zhiyuan. Cen Zhiyuan said, "Aren't you curious about this person's identity?"
Cen Zhiyuan knew very well that Zhou Jinbai only cared about matters concerning Lin Xingwan and ignored everything else.
But she still asked.
As Cen Zhiyuan had predicted, Zhou Jinbai not only didn't answer but didn't even spare Cen Zhiyuan an extra glance.
Cen Zhiyuan: I'm so angry! I'm so glad I came to my senses in time and didn't marry this man Zhou Jinbai, or I would have been angered to death in this lifetime.