"Why did you hit me? How dare you?" Qiu Yizhen glared up at Qiu Liyao, her voice rising in anger as she shot back defiantly.
"How dare I hit you? At this moment, I could just as easily wish you were dead!" Qiu Liyao seethed, his teeth clenched in frustration.
"Then go ahead! Kill me, and see who will take care of you in the end!" Qiu Yizhen stepped closer, defiantly presenting her face to her father, practically begging him to continue.
"You!" Qiu Liyao's eyes were ablaze with fury, yet he didn't strike her again. After all, she was his only daughter.
"Look at the mess you've made! You've completely ruined my reputation!" Qiu Liyao's voice echoed with disappointment as he began to berate her.
"Come on, it's not that big of a deal. Aren't you the chairman of the school? With your power, this should be a piece of cake for you. Just ask the forum administrators to take down the posts, and it's done!"
Qiu Yizhen felt a pang of guilt, but she convinced herself that her father could easily handle the situation. He was just angry because she had embarrassed him.
"Not that big of a deal?" Qiu Liyao inhaled deeply, trying to rein in the urge to slap her again. "Do you think the Jian family is some pushovers? This incident has pulled the Jian family, the Ji family, and our family into this mess. Do you think your father and the Ji family are rivals to the Jian family in Hengyuan City?"
Qiu Yizhen felt her courage wane. Deep down, she understood that her family didn't hold a candle to the influential Jian family. That's why she and Ji Ming had concocted such a seemingly harmless plan—they thought no one would care if someone publicly declared their love for Jian Yiling. Surely, the Jian family wouldn't mobilize their resources over a mere confession, right? But to her horror, less than thirty minutes later, she and Ji Ming found themselves exposed.
"But…" Qiu Yizhen desperately searched for a justification. "But Jian Yiling pushed her brother down the stairs! The Jian family already hates her! She's been sent back to the old Jian residence!"
She had heard this information from Mo Shiyun, who was known to be close to Jian Yunao. However, what Qiu Yizhen didn't know was that Mo Shiyun was actually the daughter of a servant living in the Jian household.
Qiu Liyao, furious, jabbed a finger at Qiu Yizhen's forehead. "What on earth is wrong with you? Is your brain stuffed with cotton? How could I have given birth to such a foolish daughter? Whatever happens with Jian Yiling is their family's issue! Even if she's being ostracized, she's still a child of the Jian family! When you play tricks on her, you're messing with the Jian family! Do you really think that old man in the old residence is powerless?"
What kind of person had the old Master Jian been in his youth? When he ruled Hengyuan City with an iron fist, Qiu Liyao had barely been making his way in life, and Qiu Yizhen hadn't even been born yet!
"Stop scaring yourself! Last time, Jian Yiling didn't do anything to me!" Qiu Yizhen scoffed, brushing off her father's warnings.
"What do you mean, last time? What happened last time?"
Due to the edited nature of the video, Qiu Liyao had no idea that the person she had previously faced was Jian Yiling.
After a moment, he recalled the incident, and his face darkened further, teeth grinding in anger. "Oh, so last time, it was Jian Yiling you provoked? Have you lost your mind? Why do you keep looking for trouble with her?"
His words hung heavily in the air, and Qiu Yizhen felt the weight of his disappointment pressing down on her.