Feng Zhenhua had no intention of helping Catherine this time; he truly believed she needed a serious lesson to learn her ways.
However, Song Lijun's heart softened for Catherine. Since she had already been rescued, Feng Zhenhua could only hope that Catherine would behave from now on and remember this lesson.
But it was evident that Catherine currently had no idea what she had done wrong.
"Dad, the police have investigated and found the truth, and Kay has confessed. Isn't that the truth? Why are you treating me like this? It wasn't me who made a mistake."
As Catherine spoke, tears of sadness streamed down her cheeks.
"I know I messed up the last meeting, but can you blame me? Wei Yumeng suddenly rushed in and ruined everything. Why don't you blame her? You're clearly biased towards her because she's your..."
Before Catherine could finish, Feng Zhenhua slapped her hard. The force of the blow made Catherine's head spin.
Feng Zhenhua regretted his actions immediately but was still furious. He withdrew his hand and turned his back to Catherine.
"How can you still be so stubborn? Have we not done enough for you all these years? If your mother didn't care about you, would she have done such a thing against her conscience? Do you know what Kay will face after taking the blame for you?"
Feng Zhenhua, angered to the point of dizziness, said, "What else are you not satisfied with? Think carefully, has anyone in this family ever wronged you?"
Catherine gritted her teeth and glared stubbornly at Feng Zhenhua. In her mind, Feng Zhenhua's anger and slap were precisely because her words had hit a sore spot, and he slapped her to stop her from continuing.
In the end, wasn't Wei Yumeng the one who started all of this?
Catherine clenched her fists. Since things had come to this point, what did she have to hold back? She had already become the villain in everyone's eyes because of Wei Yumeng.
So even if she did something else wrong, no one would be surprised. Then she could do as she pleased.
As Song Lijun walked through the door, she saw the tense situation. Catherine was on the floor, clutching her cheek, and Feng Zhenhua was clearly very angry.
Her first reaction was to rush to Catherine's side. "Linlin, are you alright?"
But Catherine covered her face, refusing to let Song Lijun see her bruised cheek.
"Zhenhua, what wrong has the child done that you had to hit her? Couldn't you have just talked to her properly?"
Feng Zhenhua snorted, "If she were obedient and knew what she did wrong, I wouldn't have to teach her a lesson like this. Look at how you've spoiled her. Even now, she's still shifting the blame to others."
"Yes, I spoiled her. What about it? Can't I spoil my own child? And since Kay has already confessed, we shouldn't force things onto Linlin."
Song Lijun thought Feng Zhenhua didn't know what she had done privately, but as a family, how could Feng Zhenhua not know what she was up to? He just hadn't said it out loud.
"You're truly muddled! This will only harm her in the end."
After saying this, Feng Zhenhua turned and stormed into his study, even slamming the door shut forcefully.
It seemed he didn't want to see anyone for a while.
Song Lijun helped Catherine up, and Catherine hugged her tightly.
"Mom, Dad still blames me. I really didn't mean to. Now, only you are good to me."
"Silly child, your father is just worried about you; he's not truly angry. Why don't you try to behave better? Perhaps your father will understand you then."
"Mom, I don't want to go abroad to study. I want to stay by your side."
Song Lijun naturally knew about this arrangement, and in fact, she agreed with it. After all, Catherine had caused so much trouble here, and the best way was for her to leave this environment and calm down. Besides this, they had another consideration: if something unexpected happened and the situation reversed again, Catherine would be in danger.
Song Lijun sighed, "Mom can't help you with this one. This decision was made jointly by your father and me."
"Mom, do you really want to drive me out?" Catherine cried, "Although I've been a bit willful and caused you a lot of trouble, you wouldn't really kick me out."
"Silly child, how is this driving you out? We are doing this for your own good." Song Lijun decided to tell Catherine her concerns. "You've seen what happened this time. We managed to find a way to get you out, but we can't guarantee that there won't be any other changes. If there's a slight chance, we want you to be safe."
Catherine then suddenly realized that the real reason for sending her abroad was to lay low. While this was a good idea, she couldn't do it.
She had to settle things with Wei Yumeng. Beyond that, she no longer cared about anything else.
Although Zhan Mohan and Wei Yumeng thought Kay might not cooperate with them, they still intended to talk to Kay personally, perhaps to get some clues and not just wait for things to unfold as they were now.
"Don't ask me anything. I won't say a word," Kay said as soon as she saw them.
"We're not here to interrogate you today. Don't you want to know how Catherine is doing now?" Wei Yumeng said.
As expected, when Catherine was mentioned, Kay's tone softened. "Linlin, is she doing okay lately?"
"She's fine. Now that she's free, she's naturally in a much better situation than you are now. However, her life might not be that easy either."
Kay paused, not quite understanding Wei Yumeng's words. "What do you mean?"
"Do you think that by taking her place, people outside will no longer know the truth?" Wei Yumeng said coldly.
Kay lowered her head and clenched her fists. She could already imagine scenes of Catherine being bullied.
Catherine clearly couldn't go to work anymore, and perhaps even her own family disliked her at home. However, she then thought that since Song Lijun went to great lengths to save her, she wouldn't treat Catherine badly.
It was Feng Zhenhua who might still be angry at Kay for what happened before, so Catherine might indeed have a difficult time at home.