Chapter 273: Trusting the Wrong Person

"Okay."

The little one agreed very readily.

Shi Youxuan said, "Xiaozhu, if Mommy takes you away from L Country, would that be okay?"

"Okay! When are we leaving?"

The daughter agreed so readily that Shi Youxuan breathed a sigh of relief, but she had relaxed too early.

Soon, the little one excitedly asked again, "How long are we going for? Is not telling Daddy because we want to give him a surprise? I want to pick a gift for Daddy myself. Daddy gives me gifts every time he goes out, and he also gives them to Uncle, Qi Heng, Grandma Principal, Teacher Xiaoxiao..."

It turned out the child thought "leaving L Country" meant going abroad for a trip, the kind where you go for a few days and come back.

Shi Youxuan hesitated, hesitating whether to tell her daughter the truth, to tell her that they would never come back, for if she started crying and making a scene, her plan would be ruined.

But she was unwilling to lie to her child.

Taking Shi Ran away from L Country meant changing the trajectory of her growth from now on; she had the right to know and, even more, the right to choose.

After hesitating for a moment, she decided to tell her daughter the original plan: "Xiaozhu, once we leave this time, we will never come back. We are going to a new place to start a new life."

"Is Daddy going with us?"

Shi Youxuan shook her head: "Daddy isn't going. It will only be the two of us, and you cannot tell Daddy about this either."

"Hmm, I won't tell Daddy, and I'm not going either." Shi Ran shook her head in refusal; this time, the rejection was very prompt.

She even tilted her little head and asked, "Mommy, why do we have to leave here? Why do we have to leave Daddy? Isn't it good at home? The outside is so far away; I won't be able to see Daddy, Uncle, or the teachers and friends at kindergarten anymore. I don't want to."

"If Mommy leaves by herself, are you willing to stay behind?"

"I'm not."

The little girl was even more resolute in her opposition this time.

To a child, Daddy and Mommy being together is what makes a home.

She couldn't understand why Daddy and Mommy had to separate, and since Mommy wouldn't let her ask Daddy, that meant he didn't agree.

Shi Youxuan started to get a headache again. How was she supposed to explain this to such a young child?

Just as she was thinking about how to explain it clearly to her daughter—ideally making her happily agree—the car, which had been driving smoothly, suddenly slammed on the brakes. The massive inertia threw her against the soundproof glass, and her head hit it with a "thud."

Shi Ran was instinctively pulled into her arms, so fortunately, the child was unharmed.

"What's going on? Can't you even drive a car?" Shi Youxuan was already holding back anger, and encountering such a thing made her furious.

She shouted, but received no response, only then realizing the soundproof partition was down; the driver couldn't hear her at all.

Just then, someone knocked on the car window. She thought it must be the driver and opened the door without looking. By the time she saw who it was outside and wanted to close it again, it was too late. She was no match for the strength of the person outside, and the door was pulled open even wider.

"Uncle."

The little girl cheered, nimbly climbed over Shi Youxuan, and lunged into Sheng Hanyu's arms!

She tried to pull her back from behind but failed; Sheng Hanyu had already carried the little girl out of the car.

"Did you miss Uncle? Look, this is for you." As if performing magic, Sheng Hanyu pulled out the latest model building kit from behind his back. The little girl was very happy: "Thank you, Uncle! It's perfect, I've already finished building the one at home."

"You finished all of those? My Ranran is just so smart." He was very proud.

Shi Youxuan was seething with rage.

She had called for the child in the car, calling several times without a response.

That hateful Sheng Hanyu, walking a few steps away while holding the child, pretending not to hear.

He had brought quite a few people with him, and the driver and bodyguards were already under the control of his men. Shi Youxuan had no helpers and could only get out of the car herself to "snatch" the child back.

"Give the child back to me!" She reached out to take her back, but Sheng Hanyu nimbly twisted his body. She didn't manage to grab Shi Ran and instead almost ended up in his arms.

"Sheng Hanyu, you bastard." Shi Youxuan kicked him hard, then clutched her own foot, standing on one leg, in immense pain.

It felt like kicking a steel plate. What had this man been doing in Prison for five years?

Was he fighting people every day?

Shi Youxuan didn't expect that she had actually guessed right. That was indeed how Sheng Hanyu had spent his time at the beginning, fighting people every day—fighting life-and-death battles!

He had hoped that the desperate criminals in Prison would beat him to death, or that he would beat them to death.

There was only one goal—he didn't want to live anymore!

As a result, he had forged a body of strong muscles and a reputation that no one dared to provoke.

"Did you kick yourself in pain? Let me see." Sheng Hanyu put the child down and came over to check if Shi Youxuan's foot was injured.

She was just about to shout, "Get lost, don't touch me."

But her shoulder was grabbed by someone; Zhu Yiwen had arrived without her noticing.

He held Shi Youxuan's shoulder intimately and said to Sheng Hanyu, "Mr. Sheng, please show some self-respect. She is my wife."

"A wife in name only. Is there any point in deceiving yourself?" Sheng Hanyu knew that sooner or later he would have a direct confrontation with Zhu Yiwen. Since it had to happen eventually, there was no time like the present, so he chose to show his cards now.

Zhu Yiwen looked at Shi Youxuan; his first reaction was that she had told Sheng Hanyu.

Otherwise, how would he know?

"Don't talk nonsense. Our marriage is very happy. Xiaozhu, come here." Shi Youxuan went to pull Shi Ran's hand.

Shi Ran followed Mommy over, then suddenly blurted out, "Mommy, are you leaving Daddy because of Uncle?" At kindergarten, some of her friends' parents were getting divorced because their daddies had other ladies outside.

That friend was very pitiful, and Shi Ran didn't want to become that pitiful herself.

Originally, she had a very good impression of Sheng Hanyu, but seeing this scene, it instantly turned sour.

Shi Youxuan almost fainted.

She had wanted to talk to her child about "democracy," but this brat had betrayed her.

And she had sold her out in the most inappropriate setting!

Zhu Yiwen didn't even want to maintain his superficial gentleness anymore; he grabbed Shi Youxuan's wrist: "You're really something. Saying one thing to my face and doing another behind my back. If the child hadn't said it, how much longer were you going to hide it?"

"Let go, it hurts!"

Shi Youxuan frowned; it really did hurt, as if her wrist was about to be crushed.

But Zhu Yiwen did not let go; he insisted that Shi Youxuan explain it to him immediately, otherwise this matter would not be over.

Sheng Hanyu endured, and endured, but he could endure no longer.

He gripped Zhu Yiwen's arm and applied force—"Crack!" the sound of bone shattering.

Zhu Yiwen let go of Shi Youxuan in pain, but Shi Youxuan, having gained her freedom, could not care about herself and instead went to check how his arm was.

"Get away, I don't need your fake kindness."

Fine beads of sweat oozed from his forehead; at the very least, it was a bone fracture.

The bodyguards behind saw the Head of the Family suffer a loss and swarmed forward; Wang Yong and his men were no pushovers either, and both sides stood in a standoff, glaring angrily at each other, waiting for their respective bosses to give the order to start fighting immediately.

"Let's go to the hospital, let's go to the hospital to see if there's anything wrong with your arm, and then when we get home you can do whatever you want, okay, okay?" Shi Youxuan shed tears.

She did not know if it was for Zhu Yiwen or for herself; even she herself could not say clearly.

But she knew that the two sides could not fight; Zhu Yiwen had deep roots in L Country, and it was not something Sheng Hanyu could shake as a newcomer, so if they fought, this grudge would become an irreconcilable feud.

She did not want to see anyone on either side die or get hurt, so she could only wrong herself.

If she could not leave, then she would not leave; she could not just watch these two men slaughter each other!