Chapter 356: The Formidable Mama Wu
All of this was Wu Sheng’s doing.
But before Ye Xilan could face the consequences, she had an even tougher ordeal to get through.
An ordeal that was none other than Wu Qihua herself.
Of all the people Ye Xilan feared in her life, her husband, Li Xian, only ranked second.
The first was Wu Qihua.
Ye Xilan was a relative from Li Xian’s maternal side, so she and Li Xian had practically grown up together as childhood friends.
When they were young, Ye Xilan often came to the Li family’s home to play and was always following Li Xian around.
Li Xian, a typical young boy, had no patience for a little girl tagging along and never really liked her.
Through all the bumps and scrapes of childhood, they slowly grew up.
Girls often mature faster, and Ye Xilan was no exception. When she had her first crush, it was on Li Xian.
Unfortunately, Li Xian was like most boys—oblivious and carefree. He was still a long way from any romantic awakening, and all he felt for Ye Xilan was impatience.
Li Xian’s own romantic awakening only came when he met Wu Qihua. When a boy meets a girl he truly likes, he suddenly matures, as if he understands everything overnight.
Li Xian’s mother had always considered Ye Xilan her future daughter-in-law, and Ye Xilan, too, had long since seen herself as belonging to Li Xian.
But when Li Xian returned from half a year in a foreign country, he was already in love with Wu Qihua.
Ye Xilan absolutely despised Wu Qihua.
Later, after bitterly waiting for two or three years, she finally married Li Xian with Mrs. Li’s help, just as she had always wished.
But fate was cruel. Her married life turned bleak after a miscarriage left her unable to have any more children.
Although Li Xian had never truly loved Ye Xilan, they had grown up together, and that shared history created a bond. Besides, he had married her, and he felt a duty to be responsible for her for the rest of their lives.
Li Xian patiently helped Ye Xilan through her depression and made the decisive choice to adopt Li Kai Xuan, all to reassure her that he would never leave her, even if she could never bear a child.
With great effort, Ye Xilan finally emerged from her depression and enjoyed a period of happiness.
But then, Wu Qihua and Wu Sheng appeared.
And as fate would have it, Wu Sheng was Li Xian’s son. The resemblance was so uncanny it was undeniable.
From that moment on, Ye Xilan became radicalized by her jealousy. She hated Wu Qihua so much she wished she were dead.
At first, she hated Wu Sheng too, but somehow, that hatred twisted into a desperate wish that he had been her son.
She descended into madness, kidnapping Wu Sheng and holding him captive for a month, forcing him to call her "Mama." In her paranoid mind, she believed, ’This is my child.’
’The child I was meant to have.’
This fantasy of Ye Xilan’s was shattered the moment Wu Qihua found Wu Sheng.
From that day forward, in Ye Xilan’s world, Wu Qihua transformed from the person she hated most into the person she feared most.
A mother’s strength is the most formidable force on earth.
After a month of her son being missing, Wu Qihua’s emotions were stretched to their breaking point.
In that moment, all she wanted was to tear Ye Xilan to shreds.
And Wu Qihua nearly did just that.
Wu Qihua’s strength erupted with primal fury.
"You dare touch my Wu Sheng? I’ll make you regret the day you were born."
A large patch of Ye Xilan’s scalp was ripped clean off. To this day, she still has a bald spot on the back of her head that she must keep hidden.
Her nose was broken, her jaw knocked out of place, and her wrist fractured. Even now, it aches with a dull pain whenever it rains.
It took several grown men to pull Wu Qihua off and save Ye Xilan’s life.
Even at the very end, as two men were dragging her away, Wu Qihua lunged forward and sank her teeth into Ye Xilan’s arm, ripping out a chunk of flesh.
From that moment on, Ye Xilan was left with a deep psychological trauma where Wu Qihua was concerned.
After Wu Sheng was rescued, Ye Xilan—thanks to Li Xian’s intervention—avoided arrest, but she spent a full month in the hospital recovering.
Ever since, no matter how defiant her words, Ye Xilan’s greatest fear was Wu Qihua. She avoided her whenever possible.
The sentencing hearing was a prime example.
Out of concern, both Ye Xilan and Bai Xinyue had come to the courthouse.
However, to avoid Wu Qihua, Ye Xilan didn’t dare get close.
After hiding and waiting, she thought Wu Qihua had left, but the moment she stepped out, she ran right into her.
The moment Wu Qihua laid eyes on Ye Xilan, a murderous glint flashed in their depths.
"Ye Xilan, I told you long ago: stay away from Wu Sheng, and stay away from me. Otherwise, I’ll beat you every single time I see you. Have you forgotten?"
Ye Xilan froze instantly.
Wu Qihua strode up to Ye Xilan, looking down at her imperiously.
"I hear you’ve been calling yourself Wu Sheng’s mother again, stirring up trouble everywhere? Do you have a death wish?"
Wu Qihua’s tone was glacial.
Ye Xilan didn’t dare move a muscle.
Out of fear of Wu Qihua, Ye Xilan usually kept her behavior in check. Though she haunted their lives like a lingering ghost, she didn’t dare appear before Wu Sheng without reason.
At most, she would do what she had been doing recently: throwing her weight around in front of Su Li or making trouble behind the scenes while claiming to be Wu Sheng’s mother.
Again and again, her pride and resentment drove her to test the boundaries, hoping that by finding a "wife" for Wu Sheng, she could somehow bridge the gap and make him finally acknowledge her.
But all that defiance, all those schemes, all that resentment—it all vanished the instant she came face to face with Wu Qihua.
"I didn’t."
After a long moment, Ye Xilan finally found her voice and replied with what she hoped was a firm tone.
"Still denying it? Are you looking for another beating? Wasn’t the last one enough for you?"
"I’m busy with work. I don’t have as much free time as you. But don’t for a second think I don’t know what you’ve been up to."
Wu Qihua’s gaze turned icy. "And you dare to go and harass my future daughter-in-law!"
Hearing this, Ye Xilan couldn’t stop herself from retorting, "That Su Li is nowhere near good enough for Wu Sheng—AH!"
The rest of her words turned into a terrified shriek as Wu Qihua suddenly raised her hand.
The moment Wu Qihua’s hand went up, the memory of having flesh torn from her arm flashed through Ye Xilan’s mind. She let out an involuntary scream, cowering and covering her head in absolute terror.
Wu Qihua stared down at the trembling woman, taking one deep breath after another to restrain the urge to punch her.
’A scene just like this... It had happened several times before.’
Ye Xilan would act up every year, and every few years, Wu Qihua would have to come and teach her a lesson. Only then would she behave for a while.
Ye Xilan feared Wu Qihua to her very core, a feeling mixed with hatred, terror, and resentment.
And how could Wu Qihua not be furious herself?
’This woman is like a ghost you can’t exorcise, and I can’t just beat her up every time she appears.’
As time went on, Wu Qihua grew increasingly impatient—impatient with Ye Xilan, and even more so with Li Xian, who couldn’t seem to control her.
Wu Qihua understood Li Xian’s thinking. He couldn’t openly acknowledge Wu Sheng, nor could he abuse his power to give his son special treatment.
But he still wanted to compensate and protect Wu Sheng. As ugly as Ye Xilan’s scenes were, they also served an indirect purpose: they made others wary, making them hesitant to harm Wu Sheng.
Over the years, Wu Qihua had grown truly tired of all of it.
"Ye Xilan, my patience has its limits. If you dare to pull another stunt, I can’t even promise you what I might do."
Wu Qihua bent down, grabbing Ye Xilan’s wrist.
"Do you know the saying ’three strikes and you’re out’?"
Ye Xilan looked up at Wu Qihua, her eyes a maelstrom of terror and hatred.
Wu Qihua’s gaze was frigid. "I want you to remember this fear and this hatred. Get yourself under control. If you keep stirring up trouble, that support you’ve been relying on might just crumble."
"A great dam can be brought down by a single anthill. Don’t let someone take you all down at once. When that happens, let’s see how you’ll manage to keep living your pampered life."
Wu Qihua’s words were aimed squarely at Li Xian, and the color drained from Ye Xilan’s face.