Chapter 573 Experiencing the Taste of Being Betrayed and Abandoned
Xu Meimei had clearly come prepared. After hearing her words, Qiao Ying scoffed, "Why do you think everyone will believe you?"
“I didn’t ask anyone to believe me, but think about it, if I really posted these photos, wouldn’t the online media exaggerate, and wouldn’t netizens cyberbully me? I’m already in this situation, so I don’t care anymore, but what about you, your mother, and your brother? You know how netizens are these days, no matter who’s right or wrong, they will always attack anyone indiscriminately.”
Qiao Ying glared at her angrily, "You're shameless!"
"I'm shameless? Your father swindled all my money, and now I have nothing. I have to think about my future. Am I supposed to sleep on the streets from now on?"
Xu Meimei took the USB drive out of her bag and waved it in her hand. "Stop pretending. Your father caused your family to break up and the couple was torn apart. Last time he almost ran you over with his car. I don't believe you really don't hate him."
Xu Meimei's words stirred something within Qiao Ying.
Her expression caught Xu Meimei's eye, and Xu Meimei immediately felt that she had made the right choice in seeking out Qiao Ying.
"Your dad invested all that money in projects. If the projects succeed, he'll be completely rich. If he can cheat on me, he can cheat on the next one. You don't really think that he'll treat your family well once he makes money, do you?"
When Xu Meimei said these words, there was a hint of self-mockery in her tone.
She learned through painful lessons that in this world, apart from money, there is no one or nothing that is worthy of her trust.
Qiao Ying remained silent, and Xu Meimei waited patiently for her.
Because she believed that, given Qiao Ying's temperament, it was absolutely impossible for her to forgive Qiao Hong so easily.
To help her make up her mind, Xu Meimei even gave her some advice: "I know you definitely know where your father is. If you really hate him, this is the only way to get revenge. He loves to save face in front of others. You probably don't want him to divorce your mother and abandon your family after winning that project, or to cheat on you with another woman, right?"
Sure enough, Qiao Ying gritted her teeth and asked Xu Meimei, "How many do you want?"
"Five hundred thousand."
"You!" Qiao Ying stood up agitatedly. "This is extortion!"
Xu Meimei said frankly, "I am who I am. Whether you want to or not is your own business."
Qiao Ying gritted her teeth and said, "I don't have that much right now, how about I give you 100,000 first?"
She had thought Xu Meimei wouldn't agree, but to her surprise, Xu Meimei readily agreed, "Okay."
Her demand for 500,000 yuan was a test of Qiao Ying's bottom line. She knew Qiao Ying couldn't come up with it. Anyway, once Qiao Ying got the video, she definitely wouldn't hide it. Even if she couldn't get that much money, she was willing to make Qiao Hong pay the price.
Although she only had 100,000 yuan, Qiao Ying didn't have that much money on her, so she went home.
"Borrow money?"
Cao Yun looked at Qiao Ying in disbelief, "Yingying, where would we get so much money to lend to others right now, especially 100,000!"
Qiao Ying didn't care. "But she's my best friend. Her family is going through such a big problem. How can I just ignore it? Besides, my dad's situation has had such a big impact on me at school. If I do this, my classmates will definitely stop talking about me. Mom, don't lie to me. Do you think our family can't even come up with 100,000 yuan right now?"
Although their family wasn't extremely wealthy, their economic situation was at least upper-middle class. Moreover, Qiao Ying knew that Cao Yun and Qiao Hong had saved a large sum of money—100,000 yuan—to buy a house for Qiao Xi's wedding, which they could easily come up with.
Cao Yun asked worriedly, "But that money is..."
"Mom!" Qiao Ying stood up abruptly and shouted, "I'm already in this state, can't you think about me? Besides, it's not like I'll never get the money back. She promised to pay me back in a month. I can also use this money to change my classmates' impression of me. What's wrong with that? Do you want me to keep my head down at school from now on?"
Cao Yun looked at Qiao Ying with a hesitant expression, wanting to say something, but swallowed the words that were about to come out.
She finally gave in, "Okay, Mom will transfer the money to you now."
After receiving the money, Qiao Ying went out immediately.
Cao Yun stood by the window, calmly watching Qiao Ying's departing figure.
She stood there for a full hour, and finally, her phone rang.
"I have received the money, and I have given the items to your daughter."
It's Xu Meimei's voice.
Cao Yun simply gave a faint "hmm".
Just as she was about to hang up, Xu Meimei quickly asked, "Why did you do that?"
"What's the meaning?"
"Why... are you giving me money?"
Actually, the person Xu Meimei initially wanted to threaten was Cao Yun.
When Cao Yun received Xu Meimei's call, he showed no anger; his tone was calm and even completely unfazed.
She seemed to have anticipated that Xu Meimei would contact her, and when she heard Xu Meimei's request, she simply said calmly, "I can agree to that."
However, Cao Yun had conditions: she would only give Xu Meimei 100,000 yuan and would tell Xu Meimei to go directly to Qiao Ying.
She knew her daughter's personality best. All of Cao Yun's actions were designed to make Qiao Ying realize that Qiao Hong was the cause of all this.
He ruined their lives.
She knew that once Qiao Ying got her hands on the video and photos, she would definitely do something.
This is also what Cao Yun wanted to see. She wanted Qiao Hong to know that the person who hurt him the most was the daughter he had loved all his life.
She had to make Qiao Hong experience what it felt like to be betrayed and abandoned by everyone.
In fact, she wasn't afraid of Xu Meimei's talk about being cyberbullied or gossiped about. These words were just meant to scare Qiao Ying, and they had no effect on Cao Yun.
But she still agreed to Xu Meimei's request, not only because of Qiao Hong, but also because of her pity for Xu Meimei.
Cao Yun had long since let go of the fact that Qiao Hong had betrayed her.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have disregarded Qiao Ying and Qiao Xi, only thinking about how to make Qiao Hong pay the price.
So even though Xu Meimei should be despised by thousands, Cao Yun felt that Xu Meimei was more pitiful than her.
Looking at the clear sky outside the window, Cao Yun slowly breathed a sigh of relief and said to Xu Meimei, "You're still young. Go somewhere else and live a good life."
...
Three days later is the birthday banquet of the Qiao family patriarch.
The Qiao family held a very large birthday banquet this time, and relatives who hadn't been in contact for many years all came.
The Qiao family had many children, and consequently, many relatives, ranging from toddlers who had just started walking to those of the same generation as Old Master Qiao; basically, everyone who could attend was there.
Qiao Hong was the first to arrive. His third uncle had called him in advance to invite him to the birthday banquet, and he couldn't refuse, so he arrived early.
The Qiao Family Compound was bustling with activity. Everyone had specially dressed Old Master Qiao in a red Zhongshan suit, which looked very festive.
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