Chapter 273

Shi Li later learned that the incident where Song Ying was randomly harassed on the street was traced back to the Xu family's fake daughter.

To be honest, it had been a long time since anyone had heard that name, and even when occasionally discussing Hong Yan with Huang Jie, they wouldn't think of this person.

Xu Xinxin had a history of bullying classmates at school, so if she felt that Song Ying had taken everything from her, such behavior would seem logical.

The thugs who tried to harass Song Ying were people Xu Xinxin had met during her drug use.

Reportedly, they were short on money for drugs, and Xu Xinxin gave them a thousand yuan to "teach Song Ying a lesson."

Bullying was these thugs' specialty, and they readily agreed when offered money for such a task.

However, the thugs hadn't anticipated that when they were asked to "teach her a lesson," no one had told them this young lady's family wielded such influence.

People naturally prey on the weak and fear the strong. Had they known about the young lady's powerful family background, they wouldn't have dared to offend her, even for money.

At the Police Station, Song Ying heard many tearful promises from them, begging for her forgiveness and lenient legal treatment.

Song ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‍Ying simply said she would let the law take its course.

These people weren't just guilty of harassment; they were also involved in drug use and trafficking.

After this incident, Xu Xing's wife completely lost faith in Xu Xinxin. Despite her soft heart and history of secretly sending money to Xu Xinxin whenever she cried about her circumstances, she never revealed these actions to the Xu family.

But this time, she was truly heartbroken. She prided herself on never having wronged Xu Xinxin, having devoted herself to raising her for over ten years. Even when the child misbehaved and made many mistakes, they as parents never gave up, prioritizing her financial needs and never restricting her choices. They didn't expect her to be exceptionally successful; they just wanted her to grow up healthy and happy, becoming a law-abiding citizen.

Even after discovering she wasn't their biological daughter and the children were returned to their rightful families, she didn't feel she had shortchanged this child. In just that one year, she had given Xu Xinxin between 800,000 and one million yuan.

If Xu Xinxin had grievances, she could have confronted her and old Xu directly, but she should never have tried to hurt Song Ying.

After this incident, she deleted and blocked all contact with Xu Xinxin.

When Shi Li returned to the old family house, Youngest Uncle Shi stopped her twice.

Since Xu Xinxin was Hong Yan's biological daughter, after Hong Yan's imprisonment, although the youngest uncle didn't take Xu Xinxin in, he would occasionally check on her.

Youngest Uncle Shi had been supporting Hong Yan before, and now he was supporting Xu Xinxin, sending her monthly living expenses.

Xu Xinxin spent money very quickly. At first, Youngest Uncle Shi thought she was just used to an extravagant lifestyle and didn't take it seriously, but later discovered she was using drugs.

Youngest Uncle Shi had been indecisive with Hong Yan, which ultimately led to her imprisonment.

So this time, he took a different approach, firmly sending Xu Xinxin to rehab. Despite her fierce cursing, Youngest Uncle Shi didn't regret his decision.

However, Youngest Uncle Shi hadn't expected that even after sending her to rehab, Xu Xinxin could still cause trouble.

Youngest Uncle Shi complained to Shi Li, "It doesn't make sense. They take away phones in rehab, how could she contact those thugs?"

He continued, "Although Xu Xinxin isn't a good kid, and arranging to bully Song Ying seems like something she would do, this situation doesn't add up."

"Could someone be framing her?"

Shi Li rubbed her aching head, "Alright, alright, I'll talk to Mrs. Xu about it."

After relaying this to Song Ying, she stopped involving herself in the matter.

Later, Song Ying mentioned that the message was indeed sent from Xu Xinxin's phone, though Xu Xinxin denied ever sending such a message. According to the timeline, Xu Xinxin was under supervision and shouldn't have had access to a phone to send such a message.

The investigation hit a dead end at this point.

The Xu family continued investigating, but Song Ying felt it unnecessary. As long as such incidents wouldn't happen again, the identity of the mastermind behind it all no longer mattered.

Time passed quickly while staying at home instead of attending school. Shi Li had only been resting at home for a while when summer vacation was approaching.

Her parents didn't pressure her to travel or enroll in interest classes to make use of this time.

They felt Shi Li had been exhausted lately and deserved some rest at home.

Left undisturbed, Shi Li spent over two months lounging at home.

During the first month, Huang Jie was still fine with Shi Li's behavior. By the second month, only their mother-daughter bond kept her patience intact.

Whenever she wanted to urge Shi Li to go out instead of staying cooped up at home, Shi Li's father would persuade her to let their child rest more, saying she wouldn't have much time to rest in the future.

Huang Jie thought her husband was talking nonsense - if Shi Li wanted to, she could live a life of leisure forever; this wasn't the future of hard work he was suggesting.

Being her own daughter, Huang Jie couldn't help but feel protective, so she didn't constantly push Shi Li to go out.

She planned to take Shi Li to several social gatherings at appropriate times, not only to gain experience but also to prevent her from becoming socially awkward from staying home too long.

However, Huang Jie was selective about which gatherings to attend with Shi Li. There was no need to attend boring events and subject themselves to tedium.

Finally finding a suitable gathering, Huang Jie asked Shi Li to dress appropriately and head out.

Even without Huang Jie's prompting, Shi Li had had enough of staying at home.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

When Huang Jie wanted to take her to experience social gatherings, Shi Li naturally had no objections.

It wasn't until they were in the car that Shi Li learned from Huang Jie what kind of gathering they were attending.

Shi Li felt embarrassed hearing those terms from her birth mother.

Shi Li asked Huang Jie with a confused expression, "Do these supreme family patriarchs really exist?"

Huang Jie's expression faltered slightly, "You ask too many questions."

Actually, from the romantic novel-like terms Huang Jie used, Shi Li already knew who was hosting this gathering.

Sheng Qingyun, a very impressive figure in the novel, could be described as an older version of Feng Yunhe.

With his male protagonist's halo and the Feng family's foundation, after thirty more years of effort, Feng Yunhe might become someone like Sheng Qingyun.

In the novel, such powerful figures served only two purposes: either as experience points for the main characters or as tools to support them.

And this Sheng Qingyun wasn't for experience points; he was a tool to support a female protagonist who was an adopted daughter of the Feng family.

Because, coincidentally, the wife Sheng Qingyun had recently married was Liang Rongrong's birth mother, who was also Feng's Father's long-lost love from many years ago.