Chapter 280: Get Out
"Kexin, Shijun, don’t be so nasty," Su Tang said, his expression turning sour. He glanced at the children with an awkward look on his face. "This is your Aunt Hu. You need to show some basic respect for your elders."
"Respect a homewrecker? Why should we?" Song Kexin scoffed.
"Who are you calling a homewrecker?!" Hu Pinxiang began to tremble with rage, as if her deepest nerve had been struck. Her neck stiffened, her face flushed red, and she shrieked, "You little shit! What filth is coming out of your mouth?"
"What? You did the deed but don’t have the guts to admit it?" Song Kexin tilted her chin up, scowling at the pair. "If you’re not the homewrecker, then who is?"
"You just waltzed into my aunt’s married life. Have you no shame? A foot masseuse, and just a while ago you were pretending to be some proprietor’s wife in front of us. A woman like you? Don’t think I don’t know your type. There’s nothing you wouldn’t do for your own benefit."
"With a despicable character like yours, only a blind man would ever want you."
"You... you..." Hu Pinxiang’s knuckles went white as she clenched her fists. "I’ll rip that filthy mouth of yours off!"
She lunged forward, trying to grab and scratch at Song Kexin.
At a subtle glance from Xie Ning, Xiao Huang Mao stepped forward, grabbed the woman’s arm, and hauled her back.
Hu Pinxiang tried to fight Xiao Huang Mao, but he gave her no opening, ending the confrontation with a single, hard slap.
"Hey, hey, don’t get physical! Stop!" Su Tang frantically intervened. He looked toward the people beside Xie Ning with a troubled expression, seemingly searching for a familiar face in the group.
"What are you even talking about? All this ugly talk about ’homewreckers.’ Xinxin, did you see your aunt? What kind of nonsense has she been filling you kids’ heads with?"
"Xiao Ning, talk some sense into Xinxin. How can she speak to an elder like that?" Su Tang pushed up the black-framed glasses on his nose, a look of impatience on his face.
"Don’t be so disrespectful to your Aunt Hu." Su Tang’s anxious gaze swept past Xie Ning. "And your younger aunt? Nothing happened to your younger aunt, did it?"
Xie Ning gave a slight lift of her chin. Without a word, Wang Zongxuan stepped forward and landed two hard punches right on the man’s mouth.
Su Tang’s glasses were knocked askew, and the corner of his mouth was split open by Zong Xuan’s fist. He looked utterly astonished.
"What right do you have to ask about my aunt?" Xie Ning said coldly. "The moment you abandoned mother and daughter to go find your mistress, any relationship between us was completely severed."
Su Tang shuddered, looking at his niece in disbelief.
It was as if he was seeing this niece of his for the very first time.
"No, what did Song Youxuan tell you?" Su Tang stared at them, his face flushed with agitation as he roared, "Didn’t we agree on this? I told her to stay home with Yueyue, lock the door, and not go anywhere!"
"I went out to get Xiangxiang and her son. The plan was to bring them back to our complex. How was I supposed to know the monsters outside would get so bad, so fast? Overnight, they popped up like mushrooms after a spring rain. I was terrified, okay? I’ve been fighting for my life against those things out there. I wanted to come back to the complex, I really did, but my hand was forced..."
"Hand was forced, my ass!"
"Was your hand forced when you ran off with most of the food? Was your hand forced when you abandoned Yueyue and our aunt in such a dangerous place?" Song Shijun fought the urge to rush forward and land a few more punches himself.
"Do you have any idea what happened to them? If they hadn’t run into the kind Uncle Yong on the road, that mother and her daughter would likely be dead right now."
"You’re a faithless loser."
"Why are we wasting breath on him?" Xie Ning’s voice was dark and faint. "Throw this family of three down the stairs. I don’t want to see them ever again."
"No, Xiao Ning, you can’t throw us out!" Su Tang pleaded, his glasses hanging precariously from his face. In front of the three young people, his formerly refined demeanor had vanished without a trace.
"I’m your uncle-in-law! Xinxin, Shijun, I’m your uncle! We’re family, we’re blood! You can’t do this to me, you can’t!"
"What do you think you’re doing? Get your hands off my mother!" a young man with a five-o’clock shadow of adolescent stubble yelled, shoving Xiao Huang Mao aside.
Hu Pinxiang wrapped an arm around her son, Hu Han, her eyes welling with aggrieved tears. "What gives you the right to kick us out? Even in this world, it’s first come, first served!"
"First come, first served? With a homewrecker like you? Get the hell out." Song Kexin grabbed Hu Pinxiang and yanked.
Hu Han panicked and tried to kick her, but Song Kexin swiftly kicked him back in the shin, sending him to his knees.
Song Kexin’s tone was mocking. "Oh? It’s not a holiday. No need for such a grand bow. If you want to apologize, go kneel in front of my aunt."
"How dare you hit my son?" Hu Pinxiang shrieked, swinging wildly at Song Kexin.
Wang Zongxuan seized her arm. Ignoring the woman’s shrieks and howls, he simply tossed her toward the top of the stairs.
Su Tang and Hu Han were shoved out next. They stood on the small stairwell landing, indignant and still trying to argue their case.
Xie Ning slowly strolled to the top of the stairs, her gaze cold and impassive as she looked down on the three of them.
She wiggled the fingers of her left hand.
A metal gate shot up from the floor. From its top, sharp spikes sprouted with wild abandon.
From the outside of the gate, more sharp metal spikes shot out horizontally, forcing the pale-faced family of three to stumble back several steps down the stairs in terror.
Xie Ning watched them with cold eyes and uttered a single word.
"Scram!"
Su Tang, a mess of shock, anger, and humiliation, grabbed Hu Pinxiang and Hu Han. He turned and stomped down the stairs, nearly colliding with a man and a woman coming up.
"Well, what’s the rush?" Meng Lanfang said with an annoyed expression, brushing off her sleeves.
Then she paused, turning back in surprise to stare at Su Tang’s retreating figure.
"What is it? You know them?"
"He looks a bit like... my sister-in-law’s husband?" Meng Lanfang frowned, then followed Zhong up a few more steps.
Both of their expressions changed as they stared at the row of sharp metal spikes of varying heights and sizes before them.
They had to stop about five steps away from the barrier and call out, "Hey, you two young sirs! Could you get Song Kexin for me? Tell her her mother is here to see her."
Standing guard at the top of the stairs were Xiao Huang Mao and a member of Zuo Li’s team.
Zuo Li’s teammate, not knowing the circumstances, heard she was the mother of the young Song Kexin and stepped forward with a welcoming smile.
Xiao Huang Mao pulled him back and stepped forward. "If you have something to say, say it."
Meng Lanfang looked up at the two men standing above her, gritted her teeth, and said, "I’m just here... to discuss the sleeping arrangements for tonight with her."
"Discuss what?" Xiao Huang Mao said bluntly. "Are you blind? We’ve taken this floor. Find a spot for yourselves downstairs."