Return of the Antagonistic Lady Boss

Chapter 23: Don’t Insult My Intelligence, and Don’t Slander That Good Girl

Faced with the apologies from the two in floral shorts, Qian was expressionless.

"I will never forgive you, ever."

The hatred from a past life, the death of her beloved daughter, could not be resolved with an empty, insincere apology.

This hatred cannot be erased. If there were to be a deadline for it, it would be forever.

Qian, like a queen, left without a backward glance. As she brushed past Yu Minglang, she stopped.

"Busybody."

Yu Minglang was not angry. Qian softly added another sentence.

"...Thank you."

"You’re welcome."

Watching Qian leave with the photos, Li Zhen and Ni Jianren were both anxious, seeing as Yu Minglang had no intention of letting them go, they could only beg Yu Minglang in various ways.

"Cousin, please let us go. Look at that woman, so arrogant. You helped her, but she didn’t even thank you. Why would you fall out with your own brothers over an outsider? Let us go, and I’ll explain everything to you."

Yu Minglang couldn’t be bothered to listen to what Li Zhen was saying. He saw Qian leave, and only felt that her departing figure was so lonely.

When a girl encounters something like this, she either cries or makes a fuss. She was very calm, knew how to protect herself with her actions, but isn’t such dangerous evidence collection supposed to be done with family?

But her family just wanted to sell her off. Even for obtaining evidence, she had to do it herself.

A girl being too strong only means one thing: no one is willing to cherish her. Suddenly, Yu Minglang felt a pang of distress.

If someone could cherish her a little more, would the loneliness on her face and the solitude on her body diminish?

At this moment, Li Zhen’s incessant babbling finally drew Yu Minglang’s attention. Looking at the two losers he had been controlling, he loosened his foot and said to the bare-chested Ni Jianren,

"Get lost!"

Ni Jianren was so scared his legs were shaking.

He did not know where this fierce man had come from. Though he looked friendly, handsome, and manly...

He couldn’t help but feel a bit lovestruck, sneaking another glance at Yu Minglang.

Yu Minglang found his lewd gaze disgusting. His eyes narrowed, he lifted his leg again, and kicked him hard. Ni Jianren screamed and ran off without looking back.

Boo hoo, he’s handsome, but too fierce, and has violent tendencies too!

"Don’t go back to the room, just get out!" Yu Minglang’s words made Ni Jianren hurry off so fast that he no longer cared how Yu Minglang would deal with Li Zhen.

Without Yu Minglang’s permission, Ni Jianren didn’t dare go back to the room to get his clothes. He could only run out of the hotel in floral shorts, what a terrifying day, first a female devil, then a male demon!

With Ni Jianren gone, Yu Minglang looked coldly at Li Zhen.

Li Zhen forced a smile, "Cousin, I’ll go back too."

As he headed for the room, he didn’t expect Yu Minglang to follow him. As the door clicked shut behind him, locked by Yu Minglang, Li Zhen’s legs began to shake.

"Tell me what happened with that girl just now."

"Her name is Chen Xiaoqian, she’s a friend of Ni Jianren, likes him, insists on clinging to him. Jianren and I are just colleagues; we were just resting after playing mahjong. That lunatic came charging in, jealous without cause, you see, it’s all just a misunderstanding."

Li Zhen was trying to wash his hands of the situation completely.

So, her name is Qian. A good name... Yu Minglang allowed his thoughts to wander for a moment. His keen gaze swept the room, spotting a torn condom wrapper on the floor.

There were tissues on the nightstand, a messy single bed scattered with two people’s clothes, from the bathroom to the floor beside the bed.

As Yu Minglang listened to Li Zhen continuously defaming Qian, he finally spoke.

"Li Zhen."

"Cousin, what’s wrong?"

What greeted him was Yu Minglang’s iron fist.

"Don’t insult my intelligence, and don’t slander a girl who you have shamelessly hurt with your actions!"

The last sentence was emphasized.

Li Zhen was seeing stars from Yu Minglang’s punches. Thinking of Xiaoqian’s lonely figure, his anger towards this shameless man grew even stronger.

He let Ni Jianren go because he wasn’t family, but Li Zhen, this shameless scoundrel, was family. His own kin engaging in such shameless acts to ruin a person’s life wouldn’t be tolerated.

So, Yu Minglang decided to vent Qian’s anger in a straightforward way.

Cracking his knuckles, he unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks, treating Li Zhen like a punching bag!

"Ah! Yu Minglang, you’re crazy! I’m your cousin!"

Li Zhen had no chance against Yu Minglang’s powerful blows. Li Zhen felt like he was going to be beaten to death.

"She’s just an outsider! I’m your cousin!"

"I don’t have a cousin like you!" Yu Minglang punched again, adding in his heart,

She’s not always going to be an ’outsider’...

After leaving, Qian headed straight for the largest small commodity wholesale market in Q City, found a small shop that supplies to photo studios, and bought a simple film developing kit. She was going to develop the photos herself.

When she got home, the shop door was locked, Qu Xue was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she was scared by Qian into going to the hospital, but that was irrelevant.

Qian unlocked the door and went inside, headed to her room, locked the door behind her, and drew the curtains, turning the room into a darkroom. She then took out the film developing bag, small buckets, and set about preparing the chemicals needed for developing the photos. Once everything was ready, she began developing the film.

In her past life, she loved photography. After her daughter was born, even though she had a digital camera for printing, she was more enamored with the texture that film cameras produced. For her daughter’s sake, she had mastered these photo development skills.

Now, she was using these skills, learned for her daughter’s sake, to take revenge on the scumbag, with ease.

She didn’t buy an enlarger; it was too expensive, but developing small-sized photos was enough to let people see clearly.

When a woman becomes strong to a certain degree, does she still need a man? Qian kept pondering this while handling these things.

She thought she didn’t need a man, but the image of Yu Minglang fighting for her resurfaced in her mind.

He had pulled her behind him to protect her. Watching his back, Qian felt particularly secure.

But for a man and a woman to be together, is just feeling secure enough?

Qian didn’t want to think about it much, because she found that when she was alone considering matters related to Yu Minglang, her compulsive hand-washing would kick in.

With things having progressed to this point, Qian knew there was no turning back. She had to handle the upcoming matters swiftly and decisively.

She casually wrote a note and placed it in the soapbox where Chen Lin hid the admission notice.

Packaged the film negatives, put the camera far away, gathered all the film processing equipment into a bag, and took it out to dispose of.

Once outside, Qian headed straight to a public phone booth and called Ni Jianren.

"Come out, I have a business deal to discuss with you."

Receiving the call from Qian made Ni Jianren’s heart skip a beat as he clutched at the painful bruises inflicted by Yu Minglang.

"Chen Xiaoqian, you madwoman, what on earth do you want?!"