Chapter 156: Your Fate is Too Hard

Chapter 156: Chapter 156: Your Fate is Too Hard

Pointing at the door panel by the entrance, she shrieked, "Who tore this down?! Is there no law anymore?!"

Shen Zhenwu slowly stood up, his gaze chillingly cold.

"The law?"

He sneered. "Are you even worthy of mentioning those words?"

"You conspired with an outsider and abandoned your own daughter with your own two hands."

"Have you forgotten all about that so conveniently?"

Yao Yuzhen froze on the spot. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

Shen Zhenwu took half a step forward. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was firm and resonant. "You had the guts to do it, but now you don’t have the guts to hear about it?"

"Didn’t you always call me a wimp?"

He patted his chest. "No matter how much of a coward I, Shen Zhenwu, am, I own up to what I’ve done."

"You did it, so why can’t you even open your mouth?"

Yao Yuzhen stiffened her neck defiantly. "Own up to what? What is there for me to own up to?"

Her lips turned pale. She took a breath, then whipped her head around and roared, "Where’s Yongxing? Where have you hidden him?"

Before she finished speaking, she lunged forward to grab his collar. But before her hand could touch him, Shen Zhenwu raised an arm and shoved her away.

She staggered, stumbling back several steps and crashing into the doorframe. She sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.

She steadied herself against the doorframe, clutching her left shoulder and biting her lower lip, saying nothing.

This time, none of the three men of the Shen Family moved. They didn’t even blink.

Her shoulder throbbed with a burning pain, but it felt as if a basin of cold water had been thrown in her face.

She looked up, staring at the three of them.

One had a cold face, one was tense, and one was expressionless—nothing like the way they used to dote on her.

Her hand trembled slightly as she pointed a finger straight at them. "You..."

Shen Rongdan couldn’t hold it in any longer, his voice tight. "Mom, you’re the one who abandoned our little sister, right?"

He still couldn’t believe it.

Yao Yuzhen clutched her shoulder. Hearing his words, her eyes bulged as she spoke through gritted teeth.

"Abandon her? I wanted to get rid of you along with her! What a pity."

She suddenly let out a derisive laugh, her lips twisting into a sneer. "Your life is just too tough. I couldn’t break you."

Shen Zhenwu’s pupils contracted violently, and his breath hitched for a moment.

"That year, Jiajia said you jumped down the stairs on purpose... Was she telling the truth?"

As if throwing all caution to the wind, Yao Yuzhen rolled her eyes, tilted her head, and raised her chin even higher.

"You don’t believe it? And now you’re blaming me?"

Shen Zhenwu sucked in a cold breath, his chest heaving. "What on earth did I do to make you hate me this much?"

She grinned, baring her deathly white teeth in a terrifyingly grim smile. "I want to swallow you whole and drink all your blood."

Shen Zhenwu’s brows knitted into a tight knot as his heavy gaze swept over her. "How have I wronged you? To the point that you won’t even spare the children?"

"You’ve wronged me in every single way!"

Her voice suddenly shot up as she jabbed a finger at him. "Marrying you was the biggest mistake of my life!"

"I didn’t force you. You’re the one who agreed."

Shen Zhenwu’s voice was deep and resonant.

Yao Yuzhen was speechless. She stood stunned for a few seconds, then suddenly burst into laughter. The sound was dry and grating. As she laughed, tears streamed down her face.

"Right... I’m the one who agreed. I can’t blame anyone else, I can’t blame anyone..."

But the next second, she screamed, her voice hoarse.

"I won’t accept it! On what grounds does someone like you get to walk all over me just because the tides have turned? How could you marry me?"

"Shen Zhenwu, search your conscience and tell me, if it weren’t for this new era, would you even be worthy of standing before me?"

Shen Zhenwu watched her quietly, his jaw tight, his gaze never wavering.

Shen Rongjing opened his mouth to interject, but his father raised a hand to stop him and spoke himself.

"The year I married you, I was twenty-two and already a regiment commander."

"When you gave birth to Rong Jing, I was a deputy brigade commander."

"By the time you were pregnant with Rong Dan, I had already become a division commander."

"When I first met you, you were the daughter of a fallen capitalist, and I was the youngest commanding officer in the army, with a very bright future."

"You, Yao Yuzhen, are beautiful, but I, Shen Zhenwu, am not ugly either!"

He suddenly roared, the veins on his forehead bulging slightly. "How am I not worthy?"

"Is it just because I don’t know how to say all that sweet-talk?"

He shook his head in anger.

"To put it bluntly, your life has been too comfortable. You’ve had it too easy, and now you can’t even think straight about something so simple."

Yao Yuzhen was completely stunned.

The man who had served her tea, bowed his head, and catered to her every whim for over thirty years was now standing up to her, matching her blow for blow.

Her lips trembled for a long time before she finally squeezed out, "...Fine. So this is your true face."

"Hmph, what an act!"

Furious, she spat in Shen Zhenwu’s face.

The spittle landed on his cheek. Shen Zhenwu didn’t flinch or wipe it away. He just stared right at her.

"Yao Yuzhen, are these the manners your father taught you?"

His voice was steady, without a trace of emotion.

"Fooling around behind your husband’s back and pushing your own daughter to her death."

"Is this what it means to come from a prestigious family?"

"Is this what you call dignity?"

Yao Yuzhen’s chest heaved. She suddenly flew into a rage again, lunging at him, pinching and scratching.

"Shut up! Just shut your mouth! Who do you think you are, lecturing me..."

And Shen Zhenwu really did stop talking.

His lips pressed into a thin line, his jaw clenched, like an unmoving wall.

’Arguing is fine for venting emotions, but hoping to talk sense into someone?’

’A complete waste of breath.’

’How this ends is what matters most.’

He grabbed her flailing wrist. His voice, cold and heavy, exposed her.

"You hate that I’m shameless and cruel because everything I’m saying is the truth."

"You’re not my wife anymore. I have no reason to coddle you."

He stared at her flushed face and asked, word by word.

"Regarding Song Yao, are you going to turn yourself in, or should I escort you to the nearby police station?"

Yao Yuzhen shoved him away forcefully.

"I’m her biological mother! I didn’t want to raise her, I didn’t like her, so I gave her to someone else to raise. What law did I break?"

She stumbled back half a step and bumped into the sofa with a dull thud.

"She’s the child I gave birth to. I’ll deal with her however I want. Who are you to point fingers?"

She lifted her chin, her breathing heavy. "Does the law say a mother has to love her child?"

She took a step closer, her voice suddenly rising.

"Back in those days, when babies were thrown into manure pits or smothered with quilts, who went door to door investigating?"

After saying this, she actually grinned, a chilling, unsettling smile.

Shen Rongjing couldn’t listen anymore. "Even if we can’t get you, Ruan Yongxing can’t run."

At these words, Yao Yuzhen’s mouth snapped shut, as if her throat had been seized.

"He was just listening to me! I made him do everything!"

she cried out desperately.

She reached for Shen Rongjing’s arm, her hand shaking violently.

"Every single word he said, I told him to say!"

Shen Rongjing gave her a quiet look, his eyes holding no anger, only exhaustion. "So?"

"He’s not a child. He’s an able-bodied adult who agreed to do something wrong. That’s knowingly breaking the law."

As soon as he finished, he turned and took Shen Zhenwu and his younger brother, preparing to leave.

Panicked, Yao Yuzhen grabbed Shen Zhenwu’s clothes.

"I... I’m a bastard, I’m worse than an animal! You... just don’t go after Yongxing, I’m begging you... I’ll give you half the savings! No, we don’t have to divorce, I won’t divorce you..."

Hearing this, Shen Zhenwu was speechless, his chest so tight he could barely breathe.

"Yao Yuzhen, seeing you like this, even I feel ashamed for you."

Shen Rongjing’s voice was calm and even.

"We can agree not to report this, but the terms must be crystal clear."

"All the savings go to my dad. That house goes to my dad. Everything in the home goes to my dad."