Living Only For Myself: Make Those Who Hate Me Regret It

Chapter 262: "If You’re Scared, Go Wait in the Car.

Two bodyguards hauled Xu Hao to his feet and ripped the tape from his mouth. He trembled uncontrollably, his eyes filled with terror as he looked at Zhou Mochen.

Xu Su looked at her cousin. He was young, so he probably hadn’t been beaten; there wasn’t a single mark on his face.

She walked over and held out her hand to Xu Hao. "Give my watch back."

Xu Hao wasn’t afraid of her, but with Zhou Mochen nearby, he didn’t dare to put on the arrogant act he had that morning. He was scared to death, and his voice trembled. "It’s... on my wrist."

At his words, one of the bodyguards behind him slammed both of Xu Hao’s hands onto the dining table and shoved up his sleeves. The rose-gold face of the watch on his left wrist glittered in the light.

You could only appreciate the watch’s exquisite quality once you held it. Even though Xu Hao didn’t know the exact price, he knew it was anything but cheap. Having something he’d already pocketed taken away felt like having his own flesh carved off, but he didn’t dare let any of it show on his face.

Zhou Mochen raised an eyebrow and walked over. He took the watch from the bodyguard, glanced at it, and let out a sneer. "So you weren’t telling the truth. All right, I’ll give you one more chance. Tell me how you got this."

Xu Hao trembled all over. He looked at Xu Su, hoping she would cover for him, and stammered, "My... my cousin gave it to me..."

Before he could finish, Zhou Mochen had heard enough. He grabbed Xu Su’s arm and pulled her behind him, then took a step forward. A blade flashed in his hand. The large man holding Xu Hao from behind clamped a hand over his mouth, but a muffled scream still escaped through his fingers.

It was a bloodcurdling sound...

Xu Su’s pupils dilated. She watched as Zhou Mochen drove a dagger straight through Xu Hao’s palm. The blade, at least ten centimeters long, pierced halfway through his hand and embedded itself in the wooden table.

Xu Weiguo and his wife, Yang Yun, whose mouths were sealed with duct tape, let out muffled cries and tried to rush forward, but two bodyguards pinned them firmly to the floor, forcing them to kneel.

The rest of the Xu Family were so terrified by the scene they collapsed to the floor. Unable to scream, they could only weep and shake their heads desperately.

Zhou Mochen glanced back at Xu Su. "If you’re scared, go wait in the car."

A few drops of Xu Hao’s blood had splattered onto his hand. He took a wet wipe from Huang Chao and casually cleaned them off. In the lamplight, his profile was impossibly hard and cold, yet his eyes remained perfectly calm.

Huang Chao walked over and gestured to Xu Su. "Miss Xu, please."

Pinned by a bodyguard, the kneeling Xu Weiguo somehow found the strength to shuffle forward a couple of steps on his knees. His face was a mask of tears as he looked beseechingly at Xu Su, terrified she would actually leave and there would be no one to stop this demon incarnate.

Xu Su said, "...I’m not scared."

She would have once confidently said that she’d seen every side of Zhou Mochen, but this was the first time she had ever seen him use a knife. The sheer decisiveness of the act had given her a considerable shock, and she only snapped out of it when Huang Chao approached.

Zhou Mochen glanced at her again but didn’t insist.

He reached out and pulled the dagger from the table, leaving a visible hole in the wood.

Xu Hao’s face was ashen with pain. With his limbs pinned down, he looked like a cornered animal in its death throes.

Zhou Mochen tossed the dagger to a nearby bodyguard, then suddenly grabbed Xu Hao’s hair and yanked his head up. "My patience is wearing thin. Tell one more lie, and I’ll chop off a finger. Understand?"

Xu Hao nodded frantically, and the bodyguard behind him removed the hand covering his mouth.

His lips trembled, but he didn’t dare cry out in pain. Tears and snot streamed down his face. "...I sto... stole it from my cousin..."

"Now that sounds more like the truth."

Zhou Mochen tapped the table lightly. "What did you all do this morning? Who smashed her phone? What did you say? Recount it, word for word."

Xu Hao’s face went white. Even an idiot like him knew how outrageous the things they’d said that morning were. He couldn’t stop himself from looking toward Xu Su, hoping his cousin would plead for him.

After only a moment’s hesitation, the bodyguard who’d taken the dagger from Zhou Mochen clamped a hand over Xu Hao’s mouth again. In one swift motion, he brought the knife down and chopped off the boy’s index finger. "Talk. Fast," the bodyguard said. "If you’re done in half an hour, we’ll get you to a doctor, and they can reattach this finger. Keep looking around, and we’ll cripple your other hand, too."

Xu Su’s hands clenched into tight fists as she fought back a scream.

The next second, Zhou Mochen covered her eyes. "Don’t you go soft on me now. Come on, I’ll take you out of here."

But Xu Su wouldn’t leave. She grabbed Zhou Mochen’s hand, insisting she would stay.

Meanwhile, the pain was so intense that Xu Hao’s eyes were rolling back in his head. He no longer had the strength to scream, nor did he harbor any fantasy that Xu Su would plead for him. With a quivering, shaky voice, he began to confess everything that had happened that morning.

He was a student, after all, so his memory was decent. Terrified of leaving out a single detail, he spoke with painstaking precision.

The word "mistress" came up several times.

Zhou Mochen listened quietly, his gaze growing darker. When he heard that Mrs. Xu had said, "If she was sold, then she was sold," his composure finally broke. His jaw tightened, a muscle twitching in his cheek as he forced himself to hear the rest.

"My Second Uncle was about to hit her again, but my dad stopped him. After that, my cousin ran out..." Xu Hao finished his trembling account, his body soaked in a cold sweat, his face chalk-white.

The hall was utterly silent. For a long time, Zhou Mochen gave no further instructions. No one dared to move.

Huang Chao silently took half a step back, trying to shrink into a corner. ’I just don’t get it,’ he thought. ’What in the world was the Xu Family thinking, doing something so completely insane?’

Finally, Zhou Mochen released Xu Su’s hand. He walked over to Xu Weiping, crouched down, and slowly peeled the tape from his mouth. "Which hand did you hit her with?" he asked in a low voice.

He held out his open palm, and the bodyguard behind him, understanding the gesture, handed him a small knife.

Xu Weiping’s complexion was no better than Xu Hao’s. His face was as white as a sheet, his lips trembled, and he could only shake his head in terror, unable to speak.

Zhou Mochen waited a few seconds, then his patience evaporated. "Fine, don’t tell me. I’ll take both hands."

"Don’t!" Xu Su cried out, horrified, and rushed over to stop him.

A glimmer of hope instantly lit up Xu Weiping’s despairing face, like a prisoner granted a last-minute stay of execution. He grabbed Xu Su’s leg. "Dad was wrong! I was wrong! Save me, daughter, please save me!"

Beside him, Chen Shulan and the others stirred, wanting to move closer as well.

Zhou Mochen paused. Without turning his head, he jutted his chin in Huang Chao’s direction. "Get her out of here."

"No!" Xu Su stood ramrod straight, staring at Zhou Mochen’s crouching back. "I hate to admit it, but he’s still my biological father. Zhou Mochen, please, let him go this one time. Let this be me repaying them for the gift of life. After this, I’ll have nothing more to do with them."

She refused to leave, and Huang Chao would never dare use force on her...

’I’m such a bleeding-heart fool,’ Xu Su thought. But she just couldn’t stand by and watch Xu Weiping’s hands be crippled.

Even though she now felt nothing for the Xu Family, and even though she still resented Xu Weiping for the slap that had nearly deafened her, she couldn’t just stand by and watch her own boyfriend cripple her biological father’s hands.

’What kind of person would that make me!’