Chapter 336: Chapter 336: If Something Is Out of the Ordinary, There Must Be a Monster at Play
"Auntie, you’re already an adult, how can you still be so careless?" Li Juezhou frowned, moving slightly to the side in disgust.
Chu Tian and Li Sulan had just experienced one shock to the core, and before they could recover, a second shock came right on its heels.
Li Juezhou quickly looked around at the three people present, his face expressionless as he said, "Sang Ning, you should all know her, right? She’s my girlfriend. Thanks to you all, she’s gained quite a bit of popularity online recently."
Chu Tian, Li Sulan, and Duan Wenhu were completely thrown off, unable to hold it together. No matter what purpose they had in attending this business banquet, Li Juezhou’s words had completely stripped away their facade, leaving waves of panic and unease visible on their faces.
Li Juezhou naturally understood why Chu Tian and Li Sulan had come to see him. After Duan Wenhu revealed his identity, he chose not to hide anymore and laid everything out directly.
"Cooperating with Hai Chuan isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. The basic principle of becoming my partner is to never cause harm to the people close to me. Unfortunately, my girlfriend has recently suffered a lot of criticism because of you. As her boyfriend, I will, of course, stand with her."
Li Juezhou’s words made it clear: the key to working with him was Sang Ning. But they had put Sang Ning in such a whirlwind of public opinion. The fact that he wasn’t actively suppressing them already showed a degree of mercy—they might as well forget about seeking cooperation.
Duan Wenhu was overcome with an unprecedented sense of fear. Over the past period, she’d been suppressed so intensely within the group. It turned out that it was all Li Juezhou’s deliberate doing—just because she had targeted Sang Ning.
She thought Li Juezhou simply saw Sang Ning as a somewhat attractive minor celebrity, but she never expected that they had already gotten together!
The dinner ended abruptly; besides Li Juezhou, who remained calm and composed throughout, the other three were preoccupied with their own schemes, calculating how to shift responsibility for this disaster onto someone else.
Although he didn’t gain any particularly useful information, Li Juezhou carefully noted the micro-expressions of the three. Doctor Zhou’s death was undoubtedly tied to them. Now it was just a matter of time before their psychological defenses collapsed, revealing incriminating slip-ups.
After the dinner concluded, as soon as Li Juezhou exited, the three in the private room immediately erupted into an argument.
"You’re Li Juezhou’s aunt! How could you not know he’s dating Sang Ning? You’ve pushed us straight into a dead end!" Li Sulan berated Duan Wenhu loudly, beginning to suspect she was deliberately trying to set them up.
"And you two raised Sang Ning for twenty years—how could you not know she’s in a relationship?" Duan Wenhu retorted, her chest heaving in frustration. Why did misfortune always seem to find her?
The two bickered back and forth, not letting up, while Chu Tian felt his head was about to explode and finally intervened harshly: "Enough! Stop arguing! What’s the point of arguing about this now? What’s done is done—we need to figure out how to fix this!"
Li Sulan and Duan Wenhu both turned to Chu Tian: "What else can we do now?"
The best strategy was surely to pray that Li Juezhou wouldn’t take action against them. Judging by his tone, he seemed like someone who held grudges, especially when it came to matters involving his girlfriend.
"There is a way—seek reconciliation," Chu Tian uttered each word deliberately. After all, twenty years of shared history must count for something. He didn’t believe Sang Ning could be heartless enough to cut ties with them completely.
Not long after the dinner ended, Sang Ning received a call from an unfamiliar number.
"Hello, Xiao Ning—"
As soon as Sang Ning heard Chu Tian’s voice, she hung up without hesitation and immediately blocked the number.
Ugh, how irritating! She’d blocked so many unfamiliar numbers already—while Chu Tian didn’t seem tired, Sang Ning certainly felt exhausted.
After hanging up, several other unfamiliar numbers continued calling in succession. Finally, when the last call came, Sang Ning decided to pick up, though her attitude remained cold: "I don’t know why you’re contacting me, but if you want to clear my parents’ names, then I might be interested in talking. If not, then forget it."
She expected nothing good from whoever was calling her, but to her surprise, the voice softened: "Xiao Ning, we’ve been your parents for twenty years, and of course we only want the best for you. What happened to your biological parents is devastating for us too. This must all be some kind of misunderstanding. Don’t worry—we’ll definitely find Doctor Zhou’s family and get to the bottom of this."
The caller turned out to be Li Sulan. Such abnormal behavior was highly suspicious, prompting Sang Ning to respond in an insincere tone: "Well, I really must thank you."
"No need to thank us. Even without blood ties, we’re still family," Li Sulan replied, oblivious to Sang Ning’s derisive undertone. Continuing, she switched to small talk, "Xiao Ning, so you’ve started dating—why didn’t you tell us? We genuinely hope you find someone who treats you well."
Sang Ning didn’t know where Li Sulan had caught wind of her dating life, but it was her private affair. Reluctant to engage, she retorted dismissively, "We’re already not related. Even if I were dating a dog, I wouldn’t be obligated to report it to you."
Sang Ning abruptly ended the call, leaving Li Sulan utterly stunned.
Did Sang Ning even realize what she was saying? That boyfriend of hers was the head of Hai Chuan Group, yet she’d compare him to a dog!
Sang Ning couldn’t tell what had triggered Chu Tian and Li Sulan; all she knew was that the online conversation topic had suddenly shifted.
The Chu Family Group withdrew its accusations against Sang Youming and Hu Zhi, claiming the whole matter was a misunderstanding—resulting from Doctor Zhou’s manipulations. They explained that they’d unknowingly acted on his instigations, leading to harm against Sang Youming and Hu Zhi.
The Chu Family’s official Weibo even released a statement clarifying the incident. It claimed Doctor Zhou suffered from a severe delusional disorder, forcing him to abandon his medical career.
After losing his job, his quality of life deteriorated drastically, and in desperation, he devised a plan to blackmail with false accusations, leveraging the opportunity to obtain a huge sum of money from the Chu Family.
Having received the money, Doctor Zhou’s delusional disorder escalated, causing him to believe his fabrications were factual. Ultimately, unable to bear the guilt, he chose to take his own life.
This bizarre tale was greeted with skepticism by the public, yet Doctor Zhou’s wife emerged to provide corroboration.
She claimed Doctor Zhou indeed suffered from severe delusions and frequently subjected her to violence, prompting her to divorce him as she could no longer endure such a life.
The narrative managed to shift public opinion, with netizens directing their outrage at Doctor Zhou, even posthumously.
Despite Sang Youming and Hu Zhi being released due to insufficient evidence, netizens persistently branded them as domestic abusers of Chu Xi.