Pei Ruoyun sent the address via text message; it was a coffee shop.
When Jiang Cheng arrived, he could see the woman sitting inside through the floor-to-ceiling window.
Pei Ruoyun sat on the chair with her legs crossed, sipping a cup of coffee with her head down, her movements leisurely, her expression unreadable.
Jiang Cheng composed himself and stepped inside.
As he approached Pei Ruoyun's side, she seemed to hear a sound and looked up.
Then, without any hesitation, she looked him up and down.
"Sit down," she said softly.
Jiang Cheng walked over and sat down opposite her.
Then he met Pei Ruoyun's gaze.
Pei Ruoyun's gaze was very calm, and her expression was also very indifferent. Jiang Cheng couldn't figure out her emotions at all.
He didn't know why Pei Ruoyun had called him over.
But his intuition made his heart beat faster; Pei Ruoyun couldn't have come to him for no reason.
"Don't be nervous, just call me Aunt Pei." Pei Ruoyun seemed to notice his tension, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.
"Hello, Aunt Pei," Jiang Cheng said immediately.
He could feel Pei Ruoyun's gaze fixed on him, an undisguised scrutiny, yet she didn't reveal the result she was looking at.
Jiang Cheng's back muscles slowly tightened, and his hands, which were hanging on his knees, unconsciously curled up.
After a few seconds, Pei Ruoyun clearly withdrew her scrutinizing gaze.
Then she got straight to the point: "I saw your mother at the school gate a couple of days ago, or rather, I ran into her by chance."
Jiang Cheng's hands on his knees suddenly clenched.
Looking at his expression, Pei Ruoyun continued, "To be honest, if I hadn't investigated, apart from the fact that our facial features are somewhat similar, I would hardly imagine that you are her biological child."
After hesitating for two seconds, Jiang Cheng asked in a low voice, "What...did she say to you?"
Pei Ruoyun picked up her coffee cup, took a sip, and said, "She asked me for money, and it wasn't a small amount."
The room fell silent as soon as he finished speaking.
The emotion in Jiang Cheng's eyes was darker than ink, and his back was taut like iron.
The moment Pei Ruoyun mentioned Jiang Jin, his alarm bells went off instantly; he had anticipated this.
Jiang Jin didn't know he had moved. She must have been in debt again and couldn't pay it back. When she found he wasn't home and didn't know where to look for him, she went to the school gate to wait for him.
Then, he happened to run into Pei Ruoyun.
Jiang Cheng lowered his eyelashes, his jaw tightened, and he suddenly felt an urge to kill.
His fingernails were digging into his palms, but he felt no pain, only overwhelming shame. He lowered his voice and said to Pei Ruoyun, "I'm sorry, I..."
“I gave it to her,” Pei Ruoyun suddenly interrupted.
Jiang Cheng was taken aback.
“She said if I didn’t give her money, she would have her son kidnap my daughter because my daughter listens to her son. We might end up turning against each other in the future.”
"When I heard that, I was naturally very scared, so I gave it to them."
Pei Ruoyun lowered her head and took another sip of coffee.
Jiang Cheng stared at her, a hint of confusion in his eyes.
He noticed that Pei Ruoyun's tone was calm, even leisurely, and with a hint of a smile.
It wasn't the kind of anger he thought he was experiencing.
After all, no matter how clumsy Jiang Jin's threat was, Pei Ruoyun was not a three-year-old child.
His gaze darkened, and he couldn't quite discern Pei Ruoyun's intentions for a moment. His eyes held a hint of inquiry as he looked at her.
Pei Ruoyun continued, "Now I realize that I should have called the police and accused her of extortion."
Jiang Cheng's gaze suddenly paused.
Pei Ruoyun continued, "But it's not too late now. And I suddenly realized that for the crime of extortion, a completed extortion case will definitely be punished more severely than an attempted one."
“Five hundred thousand is nothing to me, but it is not a small amount in law. As far as I know, the sentence could even be more than ten years.”
"Furthermore, your mother has a history of gambling and theft, which the judge will take into account when sentencing, and will only result in a heavier sentence."
"Moreover, my lawyer is very capable, and he is second to none in handling economic disputes."
Pei Ruoyun said all these words in one breath, subtly observing Jiang Cheng's reaction with her eyes as she spoke each sentence.
She investigated him and found that with a mother like that, he hadn't had a good life growing up.
But his resilience and intelligence seemed to exceed her expectations.
However, Jiang Jin was, after all, his biological mother, and she wanted to see how he would react when he heard her say these words.
If he gets angry because of this, then he is failing to distinguish right from wrong.
Pei Ruoyun's delicate eyebrows lifted slightly, and a mysterious light flashed in her eyes.
Jiang Cheng's reaction was exactly what she expected.
He remained calm and showed no signs of anger.
She even sensed that his tense expression lessened somewhat when he heard she was going to call the police.
"What are you thinking about?" Pei Ruoyun asked directly.
“You’re absolutely right,” Jiang Cheng replied. “Gamblers cannot be tolerated or forgiven.”
Pei Ruoyun raised her eyebrows; she liked the second half of his sentence very much.
She stared straight at Jiang Cheng. Although the boy was deep in thought, he was still completely transparent to her.
She knew he wasn't lying.
Jiang Cheng met her eyes without the slightest fear, his gaze sincere.
From the moment he sat down, he was prepared to face all criticism, blame, and even disgust.
But Pei Ruoyun didn't say anything difficult.
She was just observing him.
He knew that when she said she would send Jiang Jin to prison, she was partly observing his reaction, and partly actually helping him.
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