Deserved

The dazzling sunlight poured in from the open warehouse door, clearly illuminating the expressions of everyone inside.

Han Shaoheng and Chuntao, one looking ashen, the other distorted with pain and terror, stared blankly at the swarm of reporters at the door, then stared in disbelief at the dock foreman who had ripped off his fake beard and was sneering at them.

The string called reason in my brain broke completely with a bang.

trap!

From the beginning to the end, this was a deadly trap tailor-made for them!

There's no such thing as the Hongyi Clan! This was all a setup by that bitch Ah Xiu!

"A Xiu...it's you! It's you, you bitch!" Chun Tao was the first to react. She ignored her bleeding broken hand and screamed hysterically, her voice as shrill as a devil from hell.

The real planner, Ling Xiuqing, slowly walked out from the shadowy corner of the warehouse.

She was still wearing a plain dress, which looked out of place in this dirty and chaotic environment. There was no smile on her face, and her beautiful eyes were filled with indifference colder than the Siberian cold.

She looked at Han Shaoheng and Chuntao, who were already pale, with cold eyes, as if she was looking at two lifeless objects.

"General Manager Han, Mrs. Han," she began. Her voice was not loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly. It also reached the entire Shanghai through the reporters' microphones. "How are you?"

This plain greeting frightened Han Shaoheng more than any vicious curse.

He looked at Ah Xiu in front of him, at her familiar eyes that were now filled with endless hatred. A figure that he had deliberately forgotten but often disturbed him in his dreams at midnight, inevitably overlapped with the girl in front of him.

Looks like... so much like!

That look, that temperament, that proud spirit of preferring to die in glory rather than live in disgrace... It's exactly the same as the woman he pushed into the river with his own hands!

For the first time, an absurd and terrifying thought emerged from the bottom of his heart so clearly.

"You... who are you?!" He pointed at Ling Xiuqing, his voice trembling with extreme fear.

Ling Xiuqing did not answer his question.

She simply walked slowly to the boxes containing gold bars, gave them a light kick, and calmly stated to Murong Bai and the reporters present:

"Everyone, the story is very simple. General Manager Han Shaoheng and his wife, Mrs. Han, of Han's Textiles, harbored a grudge against my Zhixiufang due to commercial competition. The night before, they bribed this bald-headed man and his accomplices to bring gasoline and attempt to set fire to my shop. Fortunately, we were prepared and caught them red-handed."

She paused, her eyes sweeping over the bald-headed man who had collapsed to the ground. "The witness is here. And these five hundred gold bars are the evidence they used to 'silence' and 'settle' the case privately today. Arson, attempted extortion... I think these charges are enough to keep you two in Tilanqiao Prison for a long time."

Her words were logically clear and supported by solid evidence.

Murong Bai immediately interjected, "As everyone has seen, Mrs. Han's hand was 'accidentally' injured due to an uneven distribution of the spoils. It has nothing to do with us. We are simply assisting the police station as legal citizens to apprehend these criminals attempting arson and extortion!"

He and Ling Xiuqing sang the same tune and completely defined the nature of the entire incident.

Han Shaoheng completely collapsed.

He knew he was finished.

He had hired someone to commit arson, with irrefutable evidence, and had been caught red-handed by the entire Shanghai media. Not only would he face imprisonment, but the "Han's Textiles" he had painstakingly built and the reputation he had worked so hard to build in high society would also be completely reduced to the biggest scandal and laughing stock in Shanghai tomorrow morning!

"No! That's not the case! She framed me! This woman framed me!" He screamed madly, like a trapped beast cornered, pointing at Ling Xiuqing, "She is a demon! She is a ghost! She is Ling... Ling... Xiu..."

He couldn't utter the last word "Qing".

Because the foreman of the dock union was tired of his noisiness, he walked up and covered his mouth with a rag.

Chuntao had already fainted with a scream due to excessive blood loss and extreme fear.

Soon, a police car from the police station, which had received Murong Bai's advance report, came roaring over.

Han Shaoheng, Chuntao, and the gang led by Baldy were all taken away, along with the five hundred gold bars, which were also seized as evidence.

When Han Shaoheng was escorted into the police car, he looked through the car window at Ah Xiu who was standing at the door of the warehouse.

The afterglow of the setting sun gave her a golden outline. She just stood there quietly, looking at him, with no expression on her face.

But behind the calmness, Han Shaoheng clearly saw something that he was most familiar with and also the most afraid of—

That was Ling Xiuqing's unique look.

It was the coldest gaze from the depths of hell.