Not even Mrs. Pei had ever seen Mrs. Song like this, let alone Song Yongming and Song Yuli. Their wife and mother had always been the image of a refined, elegant lady. Even when someone displeased her, her upbringing dictated that she never stoop to bickering.
But now, her hair was a mess, and her necklace was pulled askew. She looked like a furious lioness, someone no one dared to approach.
The young Yuli seemed frightened by her mother's outburst as well. Forgetting her "magic game," she burst into loud sobs.
"Wahhh! Mama! Mama!"
The sound of her daughter's crying seemed to snap Mrs. Song back to her senses. She finally released her grip on Mrs. Pei's collar. Stumbling back to her daughter's side, she threw her arms around the girl, trembling as she tried to soothe her.
"Xiao Li'er, don't cry. Mama's Xiao Li'er, please don't cry..."
"Uuuh, Mama, don't fight. Don't fight, sob..."
"Mama won't fight. Mama scared Xiao Li'er. It's all Mama's fault. Mama didn't protect you well enough..."
As she spoke, tears fell uncontrollably again. She held the weeping Xiao Li'er tight, their sobs mingling.
Seeing the mother and daughter huddled together in grief, Song Yongming and his son, Yuli, felt a stinging bitterness in their eyes. A heavy weight settled in their chests, and when they looked back at Mrs. Pei, their eyes were filled with a chilling, murderous intent.
Mrs. Pei was dazed from the beating, one side of her face rapidly swelling into a red welt. As she finally caught her breath, seeing the two of them crying only made her more indignant.
I'm the one who got hit, and I haven't even cried yet!
What right do you two have to weep?!
Just then, the Pei family matriarch and Mrs. Pei's husband rushed back into the house. They were met with a scene that sent them into an immediate rage.
"What is your Song family trying to do?! Call the police! I'm calling the police!"
Song Yongming hadn't felt right hitting a woman earlier, but seeing President Pei, he stepped forward with a cold sneer. "Go ahead and call them. At most, I'll pay you some compensation. But your Pei family used evil arts to harm my daughter! From this day forward, the Song family will use every connection we have to make the Pei family pay the price!"
Hearing Song Yongming speak so definitively about evil arts, Pei Guodong's heart skipped a beat. He subconsciously looked at his wife, only to see her with her face swollen like a pig's head, wailing miserably.
"They burned the Life-Borrowing Book... uuuuh... my Haohao..."
The news that the Song family had not only found the truth but had even located and burned the Life-Borrowing Book caused Pei Guodong to collapse inward. Beside him, Old Mrs. Pei's eyes widened in horror, looking as if the sky had fallen. She first turned her fury on Mrs. Pei.
"You useless thing! You couldn't even keep watch over a single item!"
Then, she began to howl at the top of her lungs, "How could you burn my Haohao's Life-Borrowing Book! That was my Haohao's life! You Songs are truly cold-blooded and wicked, wahhh..."
The Song family was stunned. They hadn't expected these people to be so shameless as to play the victim after being caught red-handed. Song Yongming was so angry his facial muscles began to twitch. Just as he was about to speak, Old Mrs. Song emerged from somewhere, spat toward the other matriarch, and cursed.
"I spit on you! It was clearly your family plotting against my granddaughter, yet you have the nerve to call us wicked? You old crone, your heart is the one that's truly pitch-black!"
Old Mrs. Pei stiffened her neck, her face showing not a shred of guilt.
"Your granddaughter is a fool anyway! What use is there for a fool to stay alive? It's better to give those years to my precious grandson. He's such a bright child, how could he suddenly be destined for a short life..."
Mrs. Pei also rushed forward, but she turned her pleas toward little Xiao Li'er.
"Xiao Li'er, Auntie had no choice. Your brother Haohao is sick, he has to live! For the sake of him playing with you in the past, help him, okay? Auntie doesn't want much just fifty years will do..."
Mrs. Song felt like she was going to explode listening to this mother-in-law and daughter-in-law pair.
What did they mean, saying her daughter was a fool and didn't deserve to live? Did being simple-minded mean she deserved an early grave?
And "just fifty years"? A normal person only gets two blocks of fifty years in a lifetime. Just because of some childhood playmateship, they wanted fifty years of her daughter's life? How could she have the face to even ask?
Mrs. Song wished she could slap the woman fifty more times.
Unfortunately, her hands were occupied.
The moment Mrs. Pei had opened her mouth, Mrs. Song had reached out to cover her daughter's ears.
But while the mother's hands were full, the son's were not. Song Yuli didn't care about the rule that a man shouldn't hit a woman anymore. He stepped forward, grabbed Mrs. Pei, and yanked her out of his sister's line of sight.
With a face like that, he was afraid his sister would have nightmares if she kept looking.
Since the Life-Borrowing Book was already ashes, the Song family had no desire to stay and look at the Pei family's disgusting faces any longer. The Song family bodyguards immediately escorted them out.
Just before leaving, Guan Xuxu intentionally lagged behind. She turned and gave the resentful, hateful Pei family a faint smile.
"Using evil arts to harm others brings a backlash that the caster cannot escape. As the masterminds, you won't escape either. For the next three years, the Pei family will have no luck left only constant misfortune."
Ignoring the Pei family's grim expressions, she added simply, "Consider this a complimentary word of advice, free of charge."
Standing nearby, Jiang Huai watched his younger sister add that final sentence with such a serious face and found it amusing.
This sister of his didn't just seem to have real talent...
She also seemed to... quite enjoy making money.
Jiang Huai felt instantly relieved.
Money was the one thing the Jiang family had in abundance.
The group returned to the Song residence in a grand procession. The moment they entered, Xiao Li'er seemed to lose her energy, leaning softly against Mrs. Song's chest. "Mama, Xiao Li'er is hungry," she whimpered.
Seeing the girl's lethargy, the Song family tensed up again. "Master Jiang, is there still something wrong with Xiao Li'er?"
Guan Xuxu replied, "Don't worry. It's just a minor side effect of the Life Theft. Give her some nourishment and let her get plenty of sunlight during the day; she'll be fine."
Hearing that she was okay, the Song family breathed a collective sigh of relief. By now, they held Guan Xuxu's words as absolute truth. If she said it was fine, then it was definitely fine.
Just as they were about to relax into smiles, Guan Xuxu spoke again.
"She needs these next two days to recover her spirit. In two days, I will come back to help her perform the Wisdom Restoration and return the One Wit she lost."
She spoke casually, but the Song family froze simultaneously, as if they couldn't believe what they had just heard.
"Ma... Master Jiang, what do you mean by 'Wisdom Restoration'? Are you saying my Xiao Li'er..."
Song Yongming, a man who commanded the business world, found himself stammering with nerves.
Guan Xuxu glanced at the equally stunned Mrs. Song and simply blinked.
"I believe I mentioned this to Mrs. Song before..."
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