Gu Mo Xi's face darkened, and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes. At the sight of Gu Mo Cheng, I felt a hint of danger in my heart.

"Bro, why didn't you invite sister-in-law to dinner? If you keep this up, sister-in-law might find you too dull and dump you." Gu Er Shao sat on the sofa, picked up an orange from the coffee table, and started peeling it.

"Shouldn't we settle our accounts?" A deep and hoarse voice rang out, carrying a unique military coercion, making Gu Mo Cheng's heart race. His eyes darted around, putting the orange back in its place and unconsciously taking a few steps back. He reached for his phone in his pocket, saying hastily, "Bro, you eat it yourself! I... I seem to have something else to do. I'll eat elsewhere." He turned to leave.

Gu Mo Xi saw him trying to escape and kicked him in the buttocks, causing him to fall to the ground. "Bro... Bro... I won't dare anymore..." Gu Er Shao wanted to get up, but he was scared into silence by his brother's sharp gaze. He swallowed nervously, realizing that he was asking for trouble. He really didn't want to go back. Once he went back, his mother would nag again.

"Report back home tomorrow. If I don't see you, you know the consequences," he said, then turned and went to the bathroom.

"Bro." Gu Mo Cheng shouted, about to say he wouldn't go back, but a sharp gaze silenced him. He swallowed the words and kept them to himself. He really didn't want to go back. If he went back, his mother would start nagging again.

Before going to the bank to cash the check, I went to buy some shirts, changed, and booked a flight for three in the afternoon, and bought a new phone. After some thought, I decided to call Li Hu. Since I had received the money, I didn't want to participate in the Night of the Empress's hand-picking anymore, but since I had signed the contract, I didn't intend to break my promise either. After some thought, I decided to call Li Hu first.

"Is this Meng Zhan Yan?" Li Hu answered the phone, sensing her presence even though she hadn't spoken for a while.

"Yes, it's me." Sitting in the airport terminal, I glanced at the screen displaying flight schedules above from time to time as I spoke. "I'd like to take a few days off. Can the competition be rescheduled for next Wednesday?"

"You're at the airport now?" Li Hu occasionally heard the mechanical voice announcing flight schedules from the other side and suddenly asked.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure you want to participate? Zhan Yan, this is not a joke. If you don't want to participate, I won't force you." This was the second time he had asked. He still had some doubts about the young man in his twenties. Was it because he was scared by the fight last time? But thinking about her brave and heroic act of saving Mayor Han suddenly, he decided to give her a chance.

"Yeah, I'll call you when I arrive next Wednesday."

"Okay, I'll wait for your call."

"Okay." I hung up and started boarding the plane.

When I got off the plane, it was already dark, past seven o'clock. I picked up my phone and dialed Han Xin's number.

"Hello, who's this?"

"It's me." After a long pause, I spoke, my voice filled with excitement. "Is my mom here? I'm coming over right now."

"Han Xin, where's my mom... your mom is at F District International Hospital. Where are you? I'll come pick you up."

"No need. I'm coming over right away." I hung up the phone, hailed a taxi, and went straight to the hospital. Han Xin saw me from a distance, his face flushed with excitement, almost unable to believe it. When I approached, he saw the scar on my forehead, his heart skipping a beat. If it had slipped a bit further, her eyes would have been ruined. Who on earth did this to her?

"Han Xin, how's my mom?"

"Zhan Yan, what happened to you? Who dared to hurt you?" Han Xin's gaze burned as he looked at me incessantly, trembling hands wanting to touch the scar on my eye, but I turned my head, letting him touch empty air, and said calmly, "It's okay, just a minor injury. What about my mom? Just tell me, I can handle it."

"Your mom was forcibly sent to F District Mental Hospital by your dad five years ago. In that place, even people with normal mental states would become abnormal. Your mom was there for five years, driven completely crazy by that place. Then, a few days ago, a woman your dad knew outside saw your mom. That night, your mom jumped off a building to commit suicide, but she didn't die. She's now in the hospital, in a vegetative state." Han Xin's eyes were red as he spoke, unable to understand why everything had changed so drastically five years ago.

Despite being mentally prepared, I couldn't help but feel pain when I heard all this. I thought I wouldn't feel pain anymore, but my heart felt inexplicably cold, my fingernails digging into my flesh, feeling no pain at all. It was all because of me. Why did I have to go to China? Why did I have to like that man? If only... If only I hadn't liked him, maybe my mom would be living happily now? My body trembled violently, even my fingertips were in intense pain, everything was because of me. If only I were a son, wouldn't that be better? If only I obediently acted as her son, wouldn't that be better! But time would not turn back, and there was no regret medicine in the world.

"Zhan Yan, are you okay? Are you okay?" Han Xin tried to push her gently, afraid that she might be traumatized.

"I'm fine," Meng Zhan Yan looked at him and said, "I want to see her."

"I'll take you." Han Xin nodded. Leading her into the VIP ward, he pushed open the door and walked in. From afar, he could see her covered in tubes, her face pale, her forehead covered in gray hair, aged significantly, and the blue veins on her forehead were clearly visible.

Suppressing the urge to cry, she approached, gently touching her mother's face. "Mom, I'm sorry, Zhan Yan was wrong. Are you awake? If you wake up, I'll take you back to China. We'll go back to China, okay? Whatever you want to do, it's okay, as long as you wake up."

The only response in the empty room was silence. Perhaps her mother would never wake up again in her lifetime. Her lips quivered, Meng Zhan Yan, why did you have to like that man? If you hadn't fallen in love, your identity wouldn't have been exposed, and your dad wouldn't have been so ruthless as to forcibly send you to a mental hospital. A mental hospital? Of course, she knew what that place was. Her mother bore the brunt of her mistakes, Meng Nuo, how could you? How could you be so heartless? How could you send her to that place? Closing her eyes, she clenched her fists, the veins in her hands bulging, almost bursting.

Leaving the hospital, Han Xin walked beside her, afraid that she couldn't bear it and would do something foolish. "Zhan Yan, you don't look too good. How about we go eat and rest for a while?"

"No need."

Suddenly, a dozen extended black Lincoln cars stopped in front of her, several dozen well-trained black-clad bodyguards got out one after another, with an acquaintance among them - Ning Yuan, dressed in black, his face solemn and handsome. He walked up to her respectfully and said, "Young Master! The old master wants you to come back." Behind him, a dozen bodyguards followed suit.

Meng Zhan Yan glanced at Han Xin, who naturally understood her meaning, and quickly said, "Go."

Meng Zhan Yan nodded, got into the car, and after half an hour of driving, finally stopped in the busiest area of Southeast Asia. Surrounding several thousand acres, built with marble, towering mansions stood tall, surrounded by iron fences, guarded by several guards at the door, opened the password, let the car in, spacious villa, private grounds, swimming pool, this was a place she was extremely familiar with, but also a place where she started to feel unfamiliar. When the car stopped, Ning Bo came forward to open the door, she got out of the car, stood in front of a dozen marble pillars, supported by a palace-like place, her eyes vacant.

"Young Master! You're here?" Ning Bo was still used to calling her young master, looking somewhat excited, but still respectfully standing aside to convey, "The old master is waiting for you in the study."

Meng Zhan Yan nodded and walked in, entering the study, where a man in his forties sat at the top, wearing a Zhongshan suit, his short hair styled with wax, his extraordinary face still youthful despite being almost fifty years old, with fine lines at the corners of his eyes adding a touch of mature charm to him. No wonder her mother loved this man all her life, to the point of losing herself. But this man was ruthless and heartless towards her. Yet she still loved more than hated, she swore she would never fall in love with another man again, never, she was naturally cold-hearted, even if five years of prison life had made her lose her last trace of conscience, she could do it.

"Here?" The man looked up at her, his eyes devoid of any emotion, "Tomorrow, meet Ruo Fan and discuss setting a date for the wedding."

Meng Zhan Yan sneered at the man in front of her, cruel and heartless, was her ruthlessness inherited from him? A more fitting pair of father and daughter? Did he want to abandon her as a pawn once he knew she was a daughter? Wanting her to enter into a business marriage? No way! Wanting to marry her off to Qin Ruo Fan, that pervert, in Southeast Asia, who didn't know that Qin Ruo Fan was cruel and lascivious, playing with how many people? Is this her good father? The one who pushed her into the fire pit? Five years ago, because she was a daughter, he allowed others to push her into a male prison without caring about her life or death. Five years later, he was still the same, with a hint of cunning in his eyes, this time, he dared not order her around again.

"I'm sorry, I'm busy."

"Are you daring to refuse?" Meng Nuo narrowed his eyes, in a high position, the sharp gaze in his eyes was like a dagger, chilling, Meng Zhan Yan met his gaze, her face unchanged, cold without temperature, with an indifferent smile on her face, "Father, after not seeing each other for five years, why talk about engagement as soon as we meet? Wouldn't you be curious about how I've spent these five years?" The smile didn't reach her eyes, squinting, "In these five years, I was framed and sent to prison, I'm sure you know all about it, right?"

Meng Nuo looked at his daughter in surprise, listening to her words carefully, "So what if I know?"

Meng Zhan Yan listened to the man saying the most heartless words, but still had a casual demeanor, a hint of ruthlessness flashed in her eyes, and smiled, "Then, do you think Qin Ruo's power would not know that I've been in prison? Do you think he would allow a woman who has been in prison to marry his son? Or even bear a child for the Qin family?"

Meng Nuo pondered for a moment, looking at her, "So what if you've been in prison? Does my Meng Nuo's daughter not deserve his son?"

Meng Zhan Yan took his words, "If his son is willing to marry me, a woman who is not a virgin, I'll marry him, what do you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Meng Zhan Yan's face was full of sarcasm, "Father, don't tell me you want a woman who's spent five years in a men's prison to still be pure? By the way, after I was released from prison, was this road fare paid for or was it exchanged for my broken body? You tell me, who can this kind of body disgust? Maybe there's already someone's bastard in my belly." The last sentence was raised sharply, she wanted to disgust this man to death.

"Bastard!" Meng Nuo was so angry that he overturned the table, his face turned blue. Meeting the cold eyes, his face remained expressionless, but his heart suddenly ached. After all, she was the child he had doted on since childhood, why couldn't she be a son?

At this moment, a woman in her thirties rushed in, quickly helping him up, soothing him. Meng Zhan Yan narrowed her eyes, seeing the bulging belly, probably three months pregnant, a hint of ruthlessness flashed, looking up openly at the woman, it was this woman who turned her mother into a vegetable? Such a woman dared to snatch her mother's place? A coldness welled up in her heart, she dared to do it, she had to bear the consequences.

"Zhan Yan, how can you be so angry with your dad?" You Ying saw her stunned, of course she knew who she was? Meng Nuo's daughter, with a hint of malice in her eyes, she would never let her become a stumbling block for her son. Thinking of this, she deliberately said.

Meng Zhan Yan certainly didn't miss her maliciousness, sneering in her heart, the position of the legitimate wife hadn't been taken yet, and she wanted to deal with her? Lips curled, "What's it to you? Where does the barking dog even know its master?"

You Ying's face flushed red, almost unable to contain her anger, a hint of malice showing in her eyes as she stared at her. This bastard, she must make her suffer.

"Bastard~!" Meng Nuo picked up the cup on the table and threw it towards her direction, she didn't dodge, the cup hit her face, a large blood stain oozed from her forehead, flowing down half of her face, her face still carried a casual smile, eerie and surreal, the warmth in her eyes faded away, becoming colder and colder, You Ying felt a chill in her heart, this was a madman.

"Done fighting? Since the fight's over, it's my turn to speak." Meng Zhan Yan paused, the smile on her face receding, her whole body bursting with hostility, her sharp gaze locked onto his eyes, "Who is this woman? And why is she here?"