Chapter 442: Daughter or Cash Cow?
The whispers of colleagues at the company mixed with Wang Mingxia's crying entered Wen Yang's ears.
She stood at the office door, looking at the bruises on her mother Wang Mingxia's forehead and the broken skin on the corners of her mouth, her fingers clenched white at her sides as if she had been stripped of her clothes.
"Yangyang, you must save your brother this time!"
Wang Mingxia grabbed her wrist, her nails almost digging into her flesh. "Those people said, 'You only have three days. If you don't pay me back within three days, you'll never see him again!'"
"Yangyang, Yangyang! He's your brother. Only you can help him. Mom is begging you!"
Wen Yang stood there like a wooden stake, letting her mother grab her and shake her. She kept muttering mechanically: "800,000...Yu Tian actually gave you 800,000?"
The number was like a piece of red-hot iron, seared into her consciousness.
She could imagine that even if 800,000 was not all of Yu Tian’s savings, it was still most of his savings over the years. Moreover, this money was the start-up capital for the security company he had been preparing recently. How could it be swallowed up by her family like this?
"Your brother has no choice..."
Wang Mingxia seemed to have just heard her whispered question, her eyes dodging as she said in a mournful tone, "Zhang Mei is about to give birth. If you don't give your brother the betrothal gift, he won't be able to get married. By then, our Wen family's grandson will have to take someone else's surname. Yangyang, your brother has no choice..."
"So he went to gamble?!"
Wen Yang's voice suddenly rose, drawing the attention of everyone in the company. "Mom! That's Yu Tian's hard-earned money! He served in the army for fourteen years, and that's the compensation the country gives him! Do you know how many times he nearly died to earn this money?!"
Wang Mingxia's tears welled up again: "Mom knows I'm sorry for you...but he's your brother! You can't just watch him die..."
Wen Yang was on the verge of collapse. The pair of eyes that always contained a smile were now frighteningly empty, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly uncontrollably.
Fang Li hurried over and held her hand tightly.
"Aunt."
Xu Fangli silently pulled Wen Yang behind her and said calmly, "What can Yang Yang do about this? You should call the police about the situation you just described. Illegal detention and trafficking are both criminal offenses. The police will handle this..."
"You can't call the police!"
Unexpectedly, before Fang Li finished speaking, Wang Mingxia screamed as if she was scalded.
"Those people said, if you dare to call the police, they'll chop off your brother's fingers!"
Wen Yang suddenly laughed, and that laugh sent a chill down Xu Fangli's spine. "Okay, then let them chop it off."
She stared into her mother's eyes. "Anyway, people like him use their hands for gambling and stealing."
Wang Mingxia seemed to be meeting her daughter for the first time, her lips trembling: "You...how could you say that about your brother..."
"Then what should I say?"
Wen Yang's voice was soft, yet sharp as a knife. "Calling him a loser? Saying he deserved it? Saying he shouldn't have looked for Zhang Mei in the first place, and that he's not even worthy of Yu Tian's 800,000?!"
Looking at Wen Yang like this, Fang Li's heart ached.
She waved to Ji Tiantian beside her and whispered, "Everyone has been working hard recently. I'll treat everyone to coffee. Please organize the coffee shop across the street."
Ji Tiantian understood that Xu Fangli wanted to save some face for Wen Yang.
He nodded immediately and led everyone to leave the company.
Zhou Yufan stood at the door of the conference room and nodded secretly to Fang Li, indicating that he would not leave and to call him if anything happened.
The office fell silent, and Fang Li heard Wen Yang's breathing, which was different from usual. His breathing was unusually heavy, as if he was suppressing something.
The bright light from overhead made the wrinkles on Wang Mingxia's face even deeper.
She suddenly knelt down and hugged Wen Yang's legs in front of Fang Li and Zhou Yufan: "Yangyang, Mom is begging you... for the last time... Your dad can't let go of his pride and won't care about your brother's affairs at all, but if I can't save your brother, your dad will beat me to death..."
Wen Yang didn't move.
She looked at her mother's gray hair and remembered that this woman also knelt on the ground like this when she was a child, and hugged her and comforted her when her father was in a bad mood and wanted to hit her.
At that time, she felt safe hiding in her arms, but now...
"why always me?"
Wen Yang asked softly, "Why do I always have to clean up the mess?"
Wang Mingxia's crying stopped abruptly.
She looked up, a hint of confusion flashing in her cloudy eyes: "You are his sister..."
"I am your daughter too!"
Wen Yang suddenly erupted, his voice blasting through the office: "I started working and sending you money when I was seventeen! I didn't buy a single new piece of clothing in my four years of college! I couldn't afford to rent an apartment in Haicheng and couldn't even afford instant noodles. Did you ever ask?!"
Xu Fangli silently took a step back to give them space.
She saw Wen Yang's tears falling to the ground, but her back was straight. This was the first time she saw Wen Yang not bend over in front of his family.
"Now you come to beg me for that loser..."
Wen Yang's voice broke. "Please ask me to drain the life out of someone who truly treats me well again... Mom, where's your heart?!"
Wang Mingxia collapsed on the ground, as if all her bones had been pulled out.
She murmured to herself: "I don't want to either...but your father...your brother..."
"Enough! My dad! My brother! It's always them! What about me?"
"You...you are also my favorite daughter!"
"Me? Your...favorite...daughter?"
Wen Yang raised her hand to wipe away her tears. "Is she a daughter or a cash cow?"
Seeing her mother's look of surprise and astonishment as if her questioning had exposed her thoughts, Wen Yang sneered in disappointment: "You should never, ever take Yu Tian's money. You never care about me, so you don't care at all about what kind of situation I will face after you take Yu Tian's money..."
How should she face Yu Tian in the future?
In fact, it was because of his mother's behavior that he dropped out of school ten years ago, and his future was almost ruined.
Ten years later, they still had the nerve to ask him for money!
Wen Yang laughed as if her soul had been sucked out, and she laughed so hard that tears came out.
Yu Tian...Yu Tian...
"Ah!!" Wen Yang suddenly covered her face and screamed in disbelief.
Fang Li was worried and hurried over to support her.
“Yangyang…”
"Lizi, why... do I need a family like this..."
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