Chapter 404: Chilling Call
The two of them sat and talked under the camphor tree. Dudi told Wen Nuan about everything to do with the Long family—the history, the curse, their relationship with the Du and Miao families, the feuds, and the stories he knew about the Long family’s successors.
She listened quietly, as if she were listening to a good story. Still recovering from her illness, her face was not well. She looked haggard and pale, with little to no expression. Dudi tried to tell her some of the more pleasant stories about the Long family, but he said very little about her biological parents. All Wen Nuan knew was that her father had died a violent death at the age of twenty-seven.
It seemed that all the Long family’s sons-in-law were destined for the same fate.
The girls of the Long family seemed to be cursed by fate, never to find happiness. They all wilted at the prime of their lives. In Dudi’s stories, the Long family daughters never lived very long. The one who lived the longest was only thirty.
The curse...
The bloody butterfly she often dreamed of had been warning her for a long time.
"Are you hungry? I’ll go buy you something to eat," Dudi asked. Wen Nuan shook her head. He had seen her sitting there for a few hours, and she didn’t look like she had eaten anything before coming out. He insisted on going out to buy her something to eat, and Wen Nuan didn’t stop him.
Wen Nuan sat alone under the tree. The sun was scorching at one or two in the afternoon. The children had left, running to the shade to cool off, and then they left with their small backpacks. Wen Nuan watched them leave and just smiled faintly. The fresh scent of grass filled the air. Wen Nuan closed her eyes.
The phone rang. It was the house phone.
Wen Nuan answered it. Her mother asked where she was. Wen Nuan didn’t say. She just said she would be home in a little while because another call was coming in. Wen Nuan took the phone away and saw that it was Fang Liucheng.
He had come to see her when she was in the hospital and at home, and he was filled with self-blame.
At the time, Wen Nuan was preoccupied with her own issues with Feimo and with the Long family, so she didn’t pay much attention to Fang Liucheng. She didn’t blame him in her heart.
"Brother Liucheng..."
"You’re finally willing to talk," Fang Liucheng said, sighing in relief. "Your mom said you went out for some fresh air today. Where are you?"
"I’m fine. I’m meeting a friend to ask about something. Brother Liucheng, I’m sorry for getting you involved."
"You don’t blame me?" Fang Liucheng sighed. "If I hadn’t suggested you and Han Bi film a movie together, you wouldn’t have gone with us that night. I didn’t expect Han Bi to do something like that. I really regret it. It’s all my fault. I indirectly caused all this and the loss of your baby. Wen Nuan, I shouldn’t have..."
"Brother Liucheng, all that is in the past. We don’t need to talk about it anymore. I don’t blame you, and nothing happened between us, so you don’t need to blame yourself," Wen Nuan said with a smile. "It was all just a delusion. I don’t want to bring it up again."
"Okay, we won’t. Are you feeling better?" Fang Liucheng asked with concern. "I will get justice for you. ’Beautiful Woman of the World’ has been put on hold. I won’t work with Han Bi again. I don’t think she’ll have an easy time from now on."
Wen Nuan pursed her lips. Han Bi?
"Brother Liucheng, you should make your own decisions about the investment. You don’t need to do anything for me. We were almost done filming ’Beautiful Woman of the World.’ You invested hundreds of millions. Why would you just waste it? It’s not worth it. Besides, the person who really hurt me wasn’t Han Bi," Wen Nuan said. "You should make your own decisions about business."
She said a few more words to Fang Liucheng and then hung up.
Everyone came to her and apologized, but who should she apologize to?
She should also apologize.
After all, no one wanted things to turn out this way.
But now that they had, she couldn’t do anything about it. She could only take it one step at a time.
It was as if everyone had agreed to call her at the same time. As soon as she hung up on Fang Liucheng, another call came in. Wen Nuan frowned when she saw the prefix. It was a strange number from the US.
"Wen Nuan, how are you feeling?" Du Yueying’s voice, laced with a smile, came through the phone. Wen Nuan’s back went cold. The thought of this woman causing a rift between her and Feimo, her losing her baby, and her reputation being ruined from thousands of miles away made her shudder. This woman was so calculating. What other tricks did she have up her sleeve? The Du family was also known for witchcraft. What other witchcraft did she want to use on her?
There was no way to guard against it.
Xu Nuo knew about the mind control. She sent people to investigate the Du family, which alerted Du Yueying’s parents. Du Yueying knew that she couldn’t keep this a secret, so she decided to call Wen Nuan. She never thought that someone would be able to recognize that she used mind control, and that they weren’t even from the Dragon Gate. It seemed that the Ye family had a lot of talented and strange people.
Since that was the case, she was even more eager to make Wen Nuan lose the Ye family as her support.
"Miss Du, what did I do to offend you that you want to see me dead?" Wen Nuan asked calmly. No matter how much she feared that voice, she wouldn’t show it.
"You didn’t do anything to offend me. I just don’t like you, okay?" Du Yueying said with a laugh. "I think your marriage with Ye Feimo is over now. Once you lose the Ye family as your support, I’ll figure out how to ruin you. You should blame yourself for not being born into the right family. Don’t blame me. It’s just your bad luck. By the way, no Long family daughter or son-in-law has ever lived long. How long do you think you and Ye Feimo will live?"
The malicious question sent a chill through Wen Nuan’s heart. "Do you know something?"
Du Yueying knew the Long family’s witchcraft. Did she also know how to break the curse?
"Beg me. If you beg me, I’ll tell you. Ha ha..." Du Yueying let out a sharp, triumphant laugh. The background was quiet, with only the pleasant chirping of birds.
Wen Nuan didn’t hesitate. "I’m begging you. How do I break it?"
Du Yueying laughed even more triumphantly. Wen Nuan knew that this was a trap, a scam. It was something Dudi didn’t even know, so it was possible that Du Yueying didn’t either. But she was still willing to humble herself. Whatever Du Yueying wanted, no matter how degrading, she would do it. She was betting on that one in ten chance that Du Yueying might actually know.
"It seems you’re very afraid of dying. What happened to the arrogance you had when you let your man slap me? You’re giving up so quickly. You’re too weak. I’m not done playing with you yet. Maybe when I get tired of playing, I’ll be nice enough to tell you how to break the curse." Du Yueying laughed wildly. "I’d rather watch you and him suffer now. Once you lose the Ye family as your support, no one will be there to back you up. I want to see how you’re going to be so arrogant then."